External GPU Enclosure (eGPU) Compatible with Thunderbolt 3/4,USB4 PD 85W Charging,Daisy Chain Support eGPU Dock Station 40Gbps Rate Support NVIDIA/AMD and PCIE Cards,ATX Power Supply Black

Hard to set up in the first time

IN THE BOX In addition to the unit's base and front panel, they provide post-assembly instructions, 4 screws to mount your ATX poser supply, 1 adjustable brace to prop up the loose end of your power supply, 2 screws to mount your GPU, 1 small extra screw (for connecting the front plate to the base plate?), a small screwdriver, and a data cable. The listing shows it's a TB4 cable with the official ThunderBolt logo, but it's a 32 inch "unmarked" cable that works. The instructions assume you can put everything together, but it provides lots of trouble-shooting tips. The base with the circuit board already attached has 4 hard plastic feet and a yellow jumper used to cut power when removed. (No need to pull off the jumper as you should cut power via the switch on your ATX power supply.) The circuit board is marked TB3U4, indicating ThunderBolt3 and USB4 support. The "Link" port connects your PC to the eGPU. The "Power" port also links, but it delivers 85W PD, so it can potentially charge your notebook or other device. Instead of a GPU, you could potentially install a different PCIe card, such as data storage, sound card, etc. I didn't test those options. ASSEMBLY 1) Attach the front plate to the base plate via the screws already in position. 2) With the power supply unplugged into AC, attach the 24-pin ATX power cable to the circuit board now because the only thing holding the 24-pin socket down is solder. It's usually a very firm push to set the cable, so hold the socket very steady. It should lock into place. 3) Screw the power supply into the front plate. I used the good screws that came with the power supply instead of the 4 minimal screws provided. 4) Use the little adjustable brace to prop up the unsupported rear of the ATX -- not touching the circuit board. Unfortunately it's not magnetic, but both ends have a rubber compression grid. Well, it's just too short, so I had to add shims. 5) Remove the 2 silver GPU screws and carefully insert your GPU into the PCIe slot. Make sure your GPU is fully seated in it's slot -- yes, look under it to make sure all the gold pins are fully down into the slot. There is no lock on the PCIe slot -- so secure your GPU with those 2 screws to the front plate. Connect the appropriate cable(s) from your power supply to the top of your GPU. (Yes, the cables aren't tidy.) 6) Make sure your power supply is switched off. Connect it to an AC outlet. Plug the supplied data cable fully into into the front port labeled "Link" or "Power". 7) With your notebook PC or Mini PC turned off, plug the other end of that data cable into your ThunderBolt 3 or 4 port, or into a genuine USB4 port. USB-C ports won't work unless it really a "USB4" port (found on better PCs starting in 2022). 8) Turn on the ATX power supply. Verify that your GPU has power (fans spin a bit and any GPU lights turn on.) Turn on your PC. APPLE SETUP Unfortunately, the seller's listing shows their eGPU and an NVIDIA GPU connected to an Apple -- according to the printed instructions, that has lots of problems. From the instructions: MacBooks with M1, M2, M3, or M4 CPUs won't work at all. For a MacBook, MacOS doesn't support NVIDIA GPUs -- but using Windows via Bootcamp only supports NVIDIA GPUs. Really? So you need an old Mac with an Intel CPU, but with a modern TB3, TB4, or USB4 port -- and only with a non NVIDIA GPU? Or maybe any Mac running Windows Bootcamp, but only with NVIDIA GPUs? Clear as mud. I Googled "apple egpu" and found great advice from Apple. WINDOWS DRIVER SETUP From the printed instructions: If you have bitlocker turned on, you might have to shut down the eGPU and disable bitlocker to continue. If you have a "gaming" notebook with a descrete (separate internal) GPU, you might have to disable it. But most notebook and Mini PCs just have an AMD or Intel CPU with integrated graphics, and that doesn't cause issues with this eGPU. 1) Now turn on your Windows PC. 2) Based on your GPU brand and model, you need to download and install the appropriate graphics driver software from NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel. If the drivers install, you're all set. Otherwise, your PC can't see the eGPU so the driver installation will fail. Lots of reasons for this: like a regular USB port instead of a USB4 port, starting the PC before the eGPU powers on, your GPU not seated properly in its slot, under-powered ATX for your GPU, loose ATX cables, etc. For me, sometimes the eGPU connected and sometimes it didn't. My problem was the cable connection to the eGPU. So in Windows Device Manager (Google it), expand the Display Adapters section: a) If you see Microsoft Basic Display Adapter, then the eGPU was found and you can install the driver. b) If you see a GPU driver, like NVIDIA Geforce RTX xxxx, then you're all set. c) If you don't see either of the above, then try re-plugging the data cable. If nothing happens in a few seconds, try again. If you don't have a real USB4 port (or TB3/TB4 port) or if it's a bad cable, then you'll never see: a) or b) scenarios. This is covered in the printed instructions -- but for me, it was good to know that everything worked except the loose cable connection. LINUX DRIVER SETUP I was unable to get this working on Ubuntu 24. RESULTS It worked great for me on Windows 11. My RTX 4070 was recognized. My old 1650 GTX also worked despite the fact that it pulls 75 Watts max from the PCIe slot and nothing directly from the power supply. That tells me that the PCIe slot was properly implemented. ISSUES It won't accommodate a triple slot GPU! The corner of the base plate blocks the 3rd GPU slot tab. The adjustable brace for the back of the power supply doesn't extend far enough to adequately provide support, so I had to add a shim. 1.2 inches is needed. The 4 little screws for your power supply are too minimal for serious support. The holes in the face plate are usable, but don't perfectly fit an ATX power supply. Connecting the supplied data cable can be flaky. Shutting off your PC won't shut off the GPU. Even though your GPU will run at full speed, the data between it and your CPU is limited to 40Gbps max. A PCIe 3.0x16 bus in a full motherboard is designed to run almost 4 times faster, and PCIe 4.0x16 is almost 8 times faster. This eGPU uses PCIe 3.0 -- your 4.0 card will work, just slower. All those exposed wires might not be your style -- and try to keep fingers, loose papers, and your cat out of the GPU intake fans. BENCHMARK TESTS PassMark 11.1 Advanced 3D Test: ========================= Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 (12282MB) Driver : 580.97 (8-7-2025) Test Type : DirectX 12 Resolution : 1920x1080 Anti Aliasing : Off Scene Detail : 25K Asteroids V-Sync : No Windowed : No Test Duration : 30 seconds Results: ======= Frame Rate : 164.17 Frames/sec Frame Latency : Avg: 6.09ms, Min: 4.61ms, Max: 17.01ms Frame Jitter : 0.20ms (3.35%) Passmark 11.1 NBodyGravity Test: ========================= Advanced 3D test 1920x1080 DirectX 12 25K Asteroids, 30 seconds = 162.1 f/s Double Precision FP (OpenCL) = 515643.6 BOTTOM LINE Suitable for Windows. Problematic for an Apple computer, unless you work out a solution. A bridge too far for Linux? I also compared this eGPU dock with an Oculink eGPU dock (same PC and same GPU) and found that the Oculink is about 10% faster. All things considered, if you can get this rig up and running, it's a good solution. PassMark showed smooth graphics when a monitor was plugged directly into the GPU. Passing all that graphics back into your notebook PC screen will show lots of dropped frames.