SoNNeT eGFX Breakaway Box 550W (GPU-550W-TB3)

I purchased this to attach a more powerful GPU to my Lenovo P52 mobile workstation. Physical installation was no different than installing a video card in a desktop PC (arguably easier). The laptop was already loaded with Nvidia software for the built-in GPU, so setup was very little more than "plug it in and wait." Some things I wish I'd have been able to find more information on before I ordered it: -Yes, at least with a Lenovo P series running Windows 10, you can have both the onboard discrete GPU and the eGPU enabled. The onboard GPU can be configured to drive an external display attached to the laptop itself and the built-in panel, or it can be configured as a dedicated PhysX coprocessor to offload those operations from the main GPU. Windows generally disables the onboard GPU when an eGPU is connected, but if you re-enable it in the Device Manager under Control Panel, you can then assign the GPU to a display(s), or configure it as a dedicated PhysX processor. Whichever is more useful (disabled, enabled on the laptop display + displays attached to the laptop, or dedicated PhysX) will depend on your specific intended use. -The speed, if using adequate cabling, is on par with having the GPU connected via an internal PCIe slot. I am using an Nvidia GTX 2060 which had previously been in my desktop workstation that was built mainly for CAD. The machine was built around a pair of relatively dated hex-core Xeons, and though the motherboard had a 16 lane PCIe slot, the slot operated electrically as an 8x PCIe 2.0 interface. This was mostly fine for CAD and other applications that don't need to load lots of texture data, but it did show its limitations when running applications such as games. Migrating from an 8x PCIe 2.0 interface to a Thunderbolt 3 interface has produced a noticeable reduction in average load times (between 15 to 50% depending on the game) and I have had no issues at all with performance or stability. -Hot-plugging: Yes, you can hot-plug the Thunderbolt 3 cable. I often come home, drop my suspended laptop into a laptop stand, and connect both this, and a second Thunderbolt 3 PCIe enclosure containing NVMe storage and a discrete sound card before opening the lid. Upon waking the machine up, it takes about 20 seconds to initialize the external hardware, but I've not encountered any issues with things not working when hot-plugged. -Hot-unplugging: This has been a little more problematic, but those issues had more to do with specific software not recognizing the change. The worst that happens is I have to reboot the machine and manually specify what sound hardware to use. -Noise: Some people have complained about the noise level of the internal fan, but I have no complaints. I use this setup for professional audio recording, and the noise levels aren't meaningfully higher than the fans in the laptop itself, and I don't have to do anything beyond what I'd normally do to remove background hiss from recordings. If you are particularly sensitive to the sound levels, the fan is just a standard PC fan that plugs into a regular fan header on the adapter board inside of the enclosure so you could easily replace it with a quieter fan. (in which case, I would highly recommend Noctua.) One last note on cabling, the cable that comes with this is fairly short, but that's because actual 40gbps Thunderbolt 3 cables are fairly expensive items. You can get a longer cable, but you will want to make *absolutely certain* that it's a legitimate, certified cable, and that it's rated for 40gbps, and not 20gbps. A 20gbps cable *will* work, but it will obviously make certain things slower, but a standard USB-C cable WILL NOT WORK. When buying cables for any Thunderbolt device, it is imperative that you purchase legitimate, certified cables and not one of the cheap ones you find floating around, not just because those cables are likely to be slower and increase the risk of crashes, but in some cases they can actually damage your hardware. In all, I'm very happy with my Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Box, and would recommend it to anyone who was contemplating an eGPU setup. Just be sure to do the necessary research to determine if the card you intend to use supports eGPU in general, that it's on the hardware compatibility list for the enclosure (on Sonnet's website), and that it's supported by your OS.

I was a bit concerned based on some of the reviews here however the sonnet 550w breakaway box has worked flawlessly and is so easy to use. Firstly the box is whisper quiet and relatively easy to install. Once installed sure the back of the thunderbolt cable sticks out a little bit however it has never fallen out nor does it feels loose, no issues there, just a visual thing. I already have a 1050Ti as a dGPU all i did was download the nvidia drivers for the GIgabyte RTX 2070, installed them and that is all. Nvidia has a taskbar icon which shows you which gpu is acive and you can connect or disconnect it through there. It is literally plug and play. I plug the thunderbolt cable in and the egpu intiates. To disconnect i click on the nviida taskbar icon and hit disconnet. Easy. Box is quiet, temps reach a max of 74c with only a dual fan gpu and 15% overclock on the card. I get about a 20% loss due to thunderbolt 3 as expected. Also works plug and play when used just with my laptop as oppose to laptop and external monitor. No issues. All the plug and play issues seem to have been ironed out as the software side from drivers, bios etc are matured now.

Pros: Bleeding edge technology with eGPUs provides desktop class graphics performance Nvidia 2070 Super GPU runs Half-Life Alyx perfectly through my HTC Vive Cons: AMD GPUs work well in Mac OS for games specifically updated to use an eGPU. Other games won't run at all or are highly unstable. AMD GPUs are at best hit-or-miss in bootcamp. Some users report success with rigging them up to work. I was not able to get an AMD Radeon RX480 to connect successfully. Nvidia GPUs work great in bootcamp (see pros above) but are unsupported in Mac OS and don't work at all. Windows 10 seems to have stability issues with the eGPU connected. For instance, do NOT attempt to boot with the eGPU connected. Do not let the computer hibernate. Do not let the computer sleep. Be careful not to plug in peripherals too fast or the whole system (including built-in trackpad and keyboard) will become unresponsive. Final Thoughts: Even with the above cons this was still a good purchase. I look forward to future system updates bringing greater stability. Now if we could just get some Nvidia drivers for Mac OS...

Using with 2018 13" rMBP and Radeon rx580 macOS 10.14.4. Charges and performs just fine. Synthetically there is 10-20% performance hit with eGPU, however in real word I seldom notice. Can direct connect monitor to video card or can connect monitor to dock and utilize eGPU for graphics boost (my most common use). Runs most of my steam games maxed on 2K monitor at 60FPS. RX580 throws out a lot of heat, however box keeps it cool and fan noise is very minimal. Sits under my desk and rarely hear it. Getting the box open is a little difficult (slide back and pull bottom out and up). The included thunderbolt cable works, but is comically short. Only one TB port on the box, which it had another or extra USB/NIC ports to decrease need for having a dock.

I tried a couple other eGPUs (Mantiz and Razer Core V2), neither of which worked correctly with my Lenovo Yoga C930. The problem seemed to be related to the USB connections that the other eGPUs had. Blue screens, USB disconnects, failure to wake from sleep, failure to recognize the video card, etc. etc.... It was a nice concept - plug in 1 cable and transform your ultrabook into a powerful gaming PC. However, the current state of things isn't ready for that. The Sonnet box does one thing only and it does it well. It works perfectly with my 1080ti. It's quiet, has good air flow and comes with a slightly longer Thunderbolt 3 cable than the others. For all the other connections that I need, I just bought a cheap USB-C hub with ethernet, USB 3.1 and HDMI. Plug both in and everything just works like it's supposed to.