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Thunderbolt 3 really is amazing. Im using a OWC Thunderbolt Dock to connect my MacBook to: an eGPU thats driving a 5K monitor, a 1TB TB3 SSD, and 24/96 USB audi

Thunderbolt 3 really is amazing. Im using a OWC Thunderbolt Dock to connect my MacBook to: an eGPU thats driving a 5K monitor, a 1TB TB3 SSD, and 24/96 USB audio to my stereo. All over one cable. BTW if your using TB3 as your main connection to your laptop I highly recommend a magnetic TB3 adapter. This has been working great in my setup for over a year and makes docking/undocking a snap. https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Thunderbolt3-Connector-Transfer-Compatible/dp/B0896QK2J5 https://www.amazon.com/Magnetic-Thunderbolt3-Connector-Trans...

rmorey 6y ago
what egpu do you have?
- gehwartzen 6y ago
  Right now it's a Radeon Vega 64 in a Sonnet Breakaway Box. My monitor is a HP Z27Q and its being driving over two Diplayport Cables to get 5K resolution.
tutfbhuf 6y ago
Is it possible to buy an PCIe to TB3 adapter cable and connect any modern graphics card to a laptop or mini atx board that has TB3?
- opencl 6y ago
  That's basically what all of those eGPU boxes are. You can buy just the enclosure and pop whatever GPU you want in, provided the enclosure has an adequate power supply.
- nicolas_t 6y ago
  Yes, it is. There's a few egpu enclosure. Take a look at egpu.info There's a small performance penalty and it's not always perfectly reliable but it works well enough and is very convenient.
- komali2 6y ago
  As other people mentioned, egpu container. For what it's worth, I didn't find this to be, well, worth it. I got a razer egpu enclosure and while it was certainly very well engineered, it was comically over-engineered. Weighed something crazy even without my gpu in it, I wanna say 10lbs, maybe even 15. Plus, it was huge, as big as an itx case. Then I had to drop 60$ on a long enough thunderbolt Cable to let me have the case under my desk. Then there was all the issues with plugging in a laptop. Windows on a lenovo x1 carbon worked fine, with plug in/out capabilities. Ubuntu 18.04 on same machine wasn't plug and play, but I got it working after about an hour of fiddling. Never got plug in/out working. Plug in worked, but unplug without shutting down lead to a crash. All this and the enclosure was like 300$, and I was bottlenecked by my laptop processor anyway. In the end I think it's just simpler to buy that expensive graphics card you're looking at, then build a simple pc around it, and then make use of some kind of network based workflow for data sharing (git server for your code, networked hard drives for video, photo, music editing etc. Much easier, much more flexible, and imo in the end cheaper.
  - tutfbhuf 6y ago
    Yup, this is what I have heard from others as well, that's why I am specifically looking for an adapter/cable without enclosure.
    - izacus 6y ago
      It's not going to be just an adapter because you'll need a beefy power supply with PCIe power outlets as well (modern cards pull up to 400W of power). This is why mostly you get a box to house all that.
      - tutfbhuf 6y ago
        Yes, I know and I already have a beefy enough power supply. I just want that adapter. So is there any cable or not? If yes, where can I buy it?
        komali2 6y ago
benfrain 6y ago
Amazing, like MagSafe again. I'm thinking that may be the way forward to avoid a KVM. With TB — can you literally just unplug from one Laptop/PC and connect to another and everything is back up and running on the 2nd computer?
- gehwartzen 6y ago
  Yep! As long as each PC is setup with all the necessary drivers and such its all plug and play. No issues with just ripping the cable out of my MacBook without "undocking" anything. It just reverts to the internal display without issues. I kind of wish there were manual/dumb TB3 switches for this sort of thing but I have not seen any.
  - benfrain 6y ago
    Fantastic, thanks for the clarification. I'll be swapping Macbook Pro (work) for Mac Mini (personal) so this could be the way forward. Thanks.
    - muro 6y ago
      If you are getting one of the new M1 based mac minis, eGPU doesn't work.
  - benfrain 6y ago
    One more question — those magnetic connections, can it connect both ways? What I mean it, cable running away in either direction or is it orientation specific?
    - gehwartzen 6y ago
      Just tested for you. Yep! It works plugged in either direction.
  - js2 6y ago
    You're not ejecting the external SSD before disconnecting? I have a TB2 dock which I connect to using Apple's TB3 to TB2 adapter. I keep my Time Machine backup drive connected to the dock (along with 4K monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers). If I don't eject the drive before disconnecting from the dock, macOS complains about disconnecting the drive without ejecting it first.
robotnikman 6y ago
Same. My workplace provided me with a thunderbolt dock for home, and I use it to connect my work laptop or personal laptop to my multi monitor setup. Its easy to just swap between them.
bnt 6y ago
Offtopic: if you plug in a pair of Apple ear/headphones into the headphone jack on the OWC, can you control the volume via the built in controls on the cable of the headphones, like you can when connected to the Macbook?
- gehwartzen 6y ago
  Yes you can. Also if you want even more control over multiple audio outputs including individual control by application check out the App SoundSource by RogueAmoeba for Mac.
  - bnt 6y ago
    Oh, awesome! Thanks for the feedback!
potatochup 6y ago
I have a HP "cube" G2 dock feeding a 4k60hz monitor, usb peripherals, ethernet and power to my macbook, that I want to be able to plug into my desktop PC. I don't have USB-C on my desktop, does anyone know what kind of PCI-E expansion card to get so this will work?

rmorey 6y ago

what egpu do you have?

gehwartzen 6y ago
Right now it's a Radeon Vega 64 in a Sonnet Breakaway Box. My monitor is a HP Z27Q and its being driving over two Diplayport Cables to get 5K resolution.

tutfbhuf 6y ago

Is it possible to buy an PCIe to TB3 adapter cable and connect any modern graphics card to a laptop or mini atx board that has TB3?

opencl 6y ago
That's basically what all of those eGPU boxes are. You can buy just the enclosure and pop whatever GPU you want in, provided the enclosure has an adequate power supply.
nicolas_t 6y ago
Yes, it is. There's a few egpu enclosure. Take a look at egpu.info There's a small performance penalty and it's not always perfectly reliable but it works well enough and is very convenient.
komali2 6y ago
As other people mentioned, egpu container. For what it's worth, I didn't find this to be, well, worth it. I got a razer egpu enclosure and while it was certainly very well engineered, it was comically over-engineered. Weighed something crazy even without my gpu in it, I wanna say 10lbs, maybe even 15. Plus, it was huge, as big as an itx case. Then I had to drop 60$ on a long enough thunderbolt Cable to let me have the case under my desk. Then there was all the issues with plugging in a laptop. Windows on a lenovo x1 carbon worked fine, with plug in/out capabilities. Ubuntu 18.04 on same machine wasn't plug and play, but I got it working after about an hour of fiddling. Never got plug in/out working. Plug in worked, but unplug without shutting down lead to a crash. All this and the enclosure was like 300$, and I was bottlenecked by my laptop processor anyway. In the end I think it's just simpler to buy that expensive graphics card you're looking at, then build a simple pc around it, and then make use of some kind of network based workflow for data sharing (git server for your code, networked hard drives for video, photo, music editing etc. Much easier, much more flexible, and imo in the end cheaper.
- tutfbhuf 6y ago
  Yup, this is what I have heard from others as well, that's why I am specifically looking for an adapter/cable without enclosure.
  - izacus 6y ago
    It's not going to be just an adapter because you'll need a beefy power supply with PCIe power outlets as well (modern cards pull up to 400W of power). This is why mostly you get a box to house all that.
    - tutfbhuf 6y ago
      Yes, I know and I already have a beefy enough power supply. I just want that adapter. So is there any cable or not? If yes, where can I buy it?
      - komali2 6y ago

benfrain 6y ago

Amazing, like MagSafe again. I'm thinking that may be the way forward to avoid a KVM. With TB — can you literally just unplug from one Laptop/PC and connect to another and everything is back up and running on the 2nd computer?

gehwartzen 6y ago
Yep! As long as each PC is setup with all the necessary drivers and such its all plug and play. No issues with just ripping the cable out of my MacBook without "undocking" anything. It just reverts to the internal display without issues. I kind of wish there were manual/dumb TB3 switches for this sort of thing but I have not seen any.
- benfrain 6y ago
  Fantastic, thanks for the clarification. I'll be swapping Macbook Pro (work) for Mac Mini (personal) so this could be the way forward. Thanks.
  - muro 6y ago
    If you are getting one of the new M1 based mac minis, eGPU doesn't work.
- benfrain 6y ago
  One more question — those magnetic connections, can it connect both ways? What I mean it, cable running away in either direction or is it orientation specific?
  - gehwartzen 6y ago
    Just tested for you. Yep! It works plugged in either direction.
- js2 6y ago
  You're not ejecting the external SSD before disconnecting? I have a TB2 dock which I connect to using Apple's TB3 to TB2 adapter. I keep my Time Machine backup drive connected to the dock (along with 4K monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers). If I don't eject the drive before disconnecting from the dock, macOS complains about disconnecting the drive without ejecting it first.

robotnikman 6y ago

Same. My workplace provided me with a thunderbolt dock for home, and I use it to connect my work laptop or personal laptop to my multi monitor setup. Its easy to just swap between them.

bnt 6y ago

Offtopic: if you plug in a pair of Apple ear/headphones into the headphone jack on the OWC, can you control the volume via the built in controls on the cable of the headphones, like you can when connected to the Macbook?

gehwartzen 6y ago
Yes you can. Also if you want even more control over multiple audio outputs including individual control by application check out the App SoundSource by RogueAmoeba for Mac.
- bnt 6y ago
  Oh, awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

potatochup 6y ago

I have a HP "cube" G2 dock feeding a 4k60hz monitor, usb peripherals, ethernet and power to my macbook, that I want to be able to plug into my desktop PC. I don't have USB-C on my desktop, does anyone know what kind of PCI-E expansion card to get so this will work?