Macbook Pro 15 2011 and Vidock 4+

[trooper1414]

Hey guys , wanted to get some info on the Vidock 4+ Sonnet echo pro adapter....so that i can get an EGPU and connect it to my mbp 15 2011 ....4+ dock can only support cards unto 225w....so what kinda cards am i looking at .....also ....since the adapter is limited to 5Gb/s (instead of 10 for thunderbolt) ...do you think ...this would be a matter for concern.

And finally with this setup would i be apple to connect a cinema display to game on the big screen...or is that not possible???

[Datamonger]

Honestly, unless you're trying to play some fairly new games that are only available on Windows, there's really no point in doing an eGPU setup on the revision of MBP you have. As seen in my sig, I have the Early 2011 17-inch model and games run just fine on that. If you plan on using your computer mainly for games, you probably should have stuck with your Alienware.

[trooper1414]

Thanks for the input....but I use my MBP for work also.. anyways...I am trying to get rid of my console switch to being a PC gamer and desktop isn't a option for me

[KCETech1]

1, the sonnet + vidock is not the way to go, the sonnet to expresscard adaptor runs at 1x pcie lane for video. and is not too fast overall compared to your 15"' dGPU

nando and everyone at the diy eGPU thread have much more information. for now its a waiting game to see if we get an ACTUAL TB-eGPU adaptor anytime soon

have a read
DIY eGPU MacOS Experiences

Q: Can I attach an eGPU on my Macbook?


A:There are some successful implementations so far on the older 15.4" C2D unibody with dGPU 8600GT which were shipped with EC slot, but older MacBooks (or Mac Mini) can run a eGPU from an internal minipci-e port using a PM3N-PE4L adapter on the wifi slot. On current 2011 MacBooks with a thunderbolt adapter you can either use Sonnet Echo Pro ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adapter (PCIe 2.0) adapter plus a PE4L 2.1 or a PE3A-R modded adapter to achieve x1 2.0 or wait for Thunderbolt combatible adapter to achieve either x2 2.0 (MBA 11.6" & 13.3" and MBP 13.3") or x4 2.0 (MBP 15.4" & 17")

[trooper1414]

1, the sonnet + vidock is not the way to go, the sonnet to expresscard adaptor runs at 1x pcie lane for video. and is not too fast overall compared to your 15"' dGPU

nando and everyone at the diy eGPU thread have much more information. for now its a waiting game to see if we get an ACTUAL TB-eGPU adaptor anytime soon

have a read
DIY eGPU MacOS Experiences

Thanks for the response....i heard with the sonnet echo pro ..you can achieve speeds of 5gb /s where as with thunderbolt ...its going to be 10gb/sec....how is 5gb/s compared to the dGPU on the 15 2011???

[Karamazovmm]

Thanks for the response....i heard with the sonnet echo pro ..you can achieve speeds of 5gb /s where as with thunderbolt ...its going to be 10gb/sec....how is 5gb/s compared to the dGPU on the 15 2011???

there is no meaningful comparison.

The idea is that bandwidth would function like a dam in a river, it will bottleneck what you have

[KCETech1]

at a guess, with the sonnet as a bottleneck ( x1 only ) you will have next to 0 increase. now with x2 its noticable since i run an egpu on a laptop with an expresscard slot and a 560ti, and its noticably faster than the 6770, im guessing 6970 level.

[trooper1414]

So the sonnet echo pro with pcie 2.0 ...will show considerable gpu difference since I come from a 6750m??

[KCETech1]

So the sonnet echo pro with pcie 2.0 ...will show considerable gpu difference since I come from a 6750m??

no, because the sonnet echo acts as a huge bottleneck and will prevent the vidock or eGPU from running at capacity, only about half or less of its ability. im guessing you may see little to no difference

[saturnotaku]

im guessing you may see little to no difference

Even if there were a difference, it certainly would not be enough to justify the cost. If the OP had a 13-inch MBP, that might be a different story.