Question EGPU enclosure usage

Timmah!

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2010
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Anyone having any experience with using GPU in that external box, connected via Thunderbolt?

I just got new rig with new Nvidia 4000 cards, for Octane rendering. Recently, the Octane kinda changed their tiering, allowing unlimited number of GPUs even for its base tier (former Studio version, which was limited to 2 GPUs).
So it crossed my mind that i could actually to keep my current 3090, and not sell it as was my initial idea (since it would not fit the new case, nor there are any remaining PCI-E links for it on the new rig, lol). But i could buy the external enclosure and connect it tothe new rig that way?

My new mobo is Asus X670E Hero. It has 2 USB-C 40Gbps ports, that are USB4, which apparently is the same as Thunderbolt. Any idea if these would work to connect the GPU and if they use any of the available PCIE links on the mobo (since i intend to use all of them, with 2x 4090 (thats 8x + 8x), 1x Samsung 990Pro (4x) and 1x Kingston KC3000 (4x)... Not 100 percent sure if the functionality of these ports is optional, as long you dont plug in that second M2, cause they otherwise share the same PCIE links, or its connected separately outside of that 24 links count.

Thanks for any of your input!
 

Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
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Should work but, using the usb4 ports might share bandwidth with other devices not connected to the CPU directly.

Should be able to figure it out though based on the block diagram for the X670E like your can with Intel.
 

Timmah!

Golden Member
Jul 24, 2010
1,524
856
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Should work but, using the usb4 ports might share bandwidth with other devices not connected to the CPU directly.

Should be able to figure it out though based on the block diagram for the X670E like your can with Intel.

Thanks. You reckon those USB4 ports are connected to chipset, not directly to CPU?

Regarding the diagram, this one?


It has has some of those superspeed USB ports connected directly to the CPU, on top of the 24 lanes for the GPU and M2, but it says only 10Gbps, not 40. So i presume it does not cover it.

Here is another diagram:


That has USB 4 controller, but there is no second M2 straight to the CPU. Not sure which exact board it is.

Unfortunate part about ASUS, they do not make those diagrams for their boards apparently.