Macbook Pro 15 2011 and Vidock 4+

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???

 

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.

 

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

 

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
http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-g...ussion/660311-diy-egpu-macos-experiences.html

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

Even at x1, an eGPU is a huge upgrade from an HD 3000, probably still leagues above the HD 4000 too.

 

they were talking about x1 vs a 6750m, not an HD 3000.

 

I'm running my2011 13inch macbook pro with a vidock 4+ and sonnet echo. My card is a 1gb 560.

My 3D mark06 score went from ~4000 to 14693. I am able to play games like Metro 2033, Battlefield 3, Crysis 2, and Skyrim on high or ultra settings.

This is all at a 1.1opt connection. Compared to a 1.2opt (achievable with the sonnet echo pro) the different is actually huge.

I would strongly suggest this setup. My scores from my 13inch dual core beat your laptop. Pair an egpu with a quad core.. That would be a setup.

I would suggest a 560ti. I like my 560, but it's never bad to buy a better card. If you want more power, I believe the new 680 is under the requirements of the Vidock 4+

 

something like an AMD 7850 would use significantly less power, and get you more performance than a 560 Ti, and it costs about the same.

 

Not when Nvidia cards have optimus enabled. A 560 at 1.2opt compared to an amd card at 2.0 is lightyears ahead. And if you want an Nvidia card with power, buy a 670 (or wait a bit for a 660ti).

 

what does optimus have to do with this?

 

on that bandwidth it enables compression and plug and play facilities. Indeed currently for low bandwidth links, its best to use nvidia.

We have to wait and see how that fares on pcie x4 connections like thunderbolt.

 

When it comes to egpus, bandwidth has almost everything to to do with performance. A lower end card with a high bandwidth compared to a higher end card with low bandwidth could perform as well or even better.

If the bandwidth is not high enough, buying a better card literally does nothing. The bandwidth actually caps the performance.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/8550783-post10314.html

As you can see here, even though the 5850 is a better card than the 460 at full pci-e 2.0 x16, Optimus gives the 460 an overall better performance than AMD cards at the lower bandwidth and optimus enabled.

 

yes, i understand the bandwidth bottleneck on modern eGPU systems, i just didn't understand what optimus had to do with that. Mr MM clarified.

 

Ah, my bad for misunderstanding :l

 

So Vidock 4+ and Sonnet Echo does work at enough performance to game at high/ultra settings (when combined with a good GPU, of course)? The people saying it wouldn't are wrong?

 

Yes, very much so with your laptop. Just make sure that if you are going to purchase this setup, buy the sonnet echo pro to get pci-e 2.0 instead of 1.0. If your reaction is the same as mine, you will be very pleased to finally be able to play games on a macbook

Heads up: On Crysis 2 max settings (sadly not the dx11 upgrade though) I am hitting a solid 50fps at 1080p. On Battlefield 3 singleplayer with the settings set at high and 1080p, I'm hitting a solid 30. With your quad core and sonnet pro, you will be very pleased with the results.