DIY eGPU Case Proposal (Thunderbolt)

Hello everybody! This is my first post here but I have been following the DIY eGPU thread in this forum for quite a while now. Epic!

I would like to share with you a proposal for a DIY eGPU chassis I was working on in my spare time (see images attached). Hoping that hwtools is going to provide the world sooner or later with all the necessary parts for a Thunderbolt eGPU, I fired up my CAD program and got started. It does look good for Thunderbolt in 2012 I guess. After all the last years Mac-only crap Thunderbolt might make its way into PC systems soon... and along with it new DIY parts from "hwtools & friends" I hope

A few assumptions first
If hwtools applies the same logic as I do, they would like to keep their existing hardware and make it compatible to Thunderbolt. A way to do that would be a small module consisting of a Thunderbolt chipset, two PCIe cable connectors and two Thunderbolt connectors (from my humble understanding of the matter). This module could be hooked up to the existing PCIe expansion card via two PCIe cables and... well... make my dreams come true Such a module would provide more flexibility for all their customers by giving them great freedom where to place their Thunderbolt ports. Of corse another way to argue would be that hwtools wants to sell brand new stuff for lots of money and therefore develops a completely new expansion card - but even then - the overall format/size would likely not change much from what is existing. Let's see what they come up with (if at all)... Basically I am just guessing here.

Case study ;-)
But lets get started with the case. As a basis I took the existing hwtools PCIe expansion card and a GTX570 to build the case around. I decided that it should be placed on the desk and stay there. It should, however, survive an occasional transport. Ah and yes, worth mentioning that I own a 2011 MacBook Air along with a Thunderbolt display. Display and laptop are sleek pieces of hardware! So you DIY case better blend in nicely! :-D Another thing worth mentioning: Because of the displays connectivity, Ethernet, USB or Firewire are not an issue for me. To round it up, all I want is well dressed, decent graphic power!





Looking at the case from the front, the cover is perforated on the left side for GPU airflow and features two thunderbolt connections on the right side. Since I would like to place the case to the left of my screen and laptop with the GPU fan pointing away from me (might reduce the noise a bit) it seemed to be a good spot for the Thunderbolt connectors.





Both main parts (base and cover) would be sleekest if made of sheet metal (laser/water/CNC-cut, and maybe even professionally pre-bent). But that is likely getting expensive - especially the cover with all its holes. Not quite as chic but cheaper would be antistatic acrylic glass instead of metal. As long as the parts are treated with care the case would still look high quality. One would not even have to let go of the metal finish for the base if it was nicely spray painted. Unless one is physically touching the part, it's hardly noticeable that it is not made of actual metal... However, I would like to be "honest" and prefer to show the material stuff is made of. It will be a matter of price.



The exploded case visualisation should give you a good overview of all the other necessary parts such as a thin sheet metal part to cover the sides of the GPU at the back, a power connector (for an external power adapter of approx. 350-400W ;-) ) a power switch (it could even be an original PowerMac Switch which I found on welovemacs.com) and a bunch of screws and distance holders. Of more structural nature are the two metal rods connecting the open ends of the base part. They are meant add to the overall rigidness.

...why do I share this?
Let's face it: I have no experience with eGPU or DIY electronics just yet. I am quite confident about my planing and handicraft capabilities though. With your knowledge and my hands I might feel confident enough to actually go for it.
But there is also another reason. By the time all necessary parts for a Thunderbolt eGPU are available I want to adjust the case accordingly and build a prototype... and if some of you should be interested, I want to make it open source, providing all details necessary to rebuild it (something like a downloadable package with technical drawings, shop list for parts and of course including the files for the lasercut guy near you...). I never did something like this before, but some sort of community based project could emerge from this!

Hope you are excited as I am! Cant wait for your feedback!!!

Cheers
redback79

 

GREAT work!
One quick question for you then! I'm working on an enclosure too (but for the upcoming new PE4H only + an ATX PSU). Are the screws in the right positions? I've looked at the PE4L and i found where the holes are, but on PE4H i had some issue finding them. My design is far behind yours (starting from the point i'm not a designer at all ), attached a screen (with a GTX560 model inside).

Just 2 things i noticed:

1- the cable from the "PE4H" to the TB PCB, probably you have to consider the curve of the cable so adjust a bit the width of the case (i hope they put the connectors on the short side)

2- GPU --> PSU cables (through 6-8pins cables). Beware that not all the cards has the connectors in front of the card, some has them above, so make room for them for a multipurpose installation. Furthermore, TB can bring only 10W of power (at least now), so i haven't understood where those 6-8 pins cables are coming out to the PSU.

 

Hello SimoxTA,

Nice case you are working on there! Including an ATX PSU is definitely another way to go. All in one case. NICE! Did you ever look at a 1U server PSU's? They are different in format (and maybe a bit more expensive) but you could shrink the case significantly.

Thanks for the input about the power connectors! I will have to give the card a bit more head room. First entry in my change log Also the PCIe cables might need more room. Although from what I have seen on pictures on hwtools website ( PE4H (PCIe passive adapter ver2.4)) the connectors seem quite tiny. I would certainly order all the parts first, measure their dimensions, wire everything see how much space is actually needed before cutting the first parts.

As for the PE4H screw holes visit the link above. At the button of the page are detailed PDF's for download. They don't contain the a lot of measurements but a clearly defined width and length of the card. I imported the PDF into Illustrator, resized it to a 1:1 scale and measured the centers of the holes. Hope I got you right!?

redback

PS. One more question: What material are you planning to use for your case?

 

Thanks for the suggestions about the screw holes, i'll try to handle the thing with similar tools ^_^ (not enough money for the Adobe suite ) ! I've also made a model with a 1U PSU ( this one exactly) that has a reasonable price, but my main worries are about the loudness of the PSU (4cm fans have to spin faster to keep the the temperature low), and the lack of a forth molex, that brings the need to have one of the two 6pin connectors on a 1-1 adapter with the molex (while usually it's a 2 molex to 1 6pins to have less current on the cable). I'm also studying about an adapter that can take advantage from a flexible PCIe riser to rotate the card and the PE4H and keep both horizontally.

About the material probably it will be polycarbon, because i have people in my company able to work it and it should cost less than making it in aluminum/metal (with the risk of reverb of the fan). From what i know, the raw material should cost about 5-6€ per Kg, so the biggest cost is to model it.

 

Good point! Didn't think about the noise level of a server PSU. After looking at some of them more closely I also get the connector problem...

Speaking of PSU's. I want to get the power necessary from an external power brick but didn't look into ways on how to distribute it within the case itself yet. Could turn out to be a tricky task.

An alternative to the current design could be: A 6- and a 8pin extension cable plugged to the graphics card and a "Floppy" extension cable plugged to the PCI extension card which are both routed trough the case to be connected to a normal ATX PSU. Not really a sleek solution considering that I would have another case lying around on my desk with cables (and a switch to turn it on) hanging from it. :-(

I'm happy about suggestions?

 

Using an Xbox 360 PSU like someone already did could be one solution, but i don't think i would be able to "cannibalize" it

Anyway, Villagetronic use a brick that can handle up to 225W, so i think that they could be rare but not "non-existant". Another solution (but i have to check it with colleagues) is to take an open frame PSU with multiple output, like the one that Meanwell sells.

 

Firstly, a great thread there redback79. The enclosure design you propose is a piece of artwork

Villagetronic use a two AC adapters to achieve 225W: a large 150W one and a smaller 75W one.

Masaharu Adachi (Bplus) replied with the following after being pointed to this thread:

 

Thanks nando4

First a compliment from YOU! and then a the direction to this thread send straight to the executive floor! :-D

Can't wait for more info on the PE5H adapter! I definitely see potential here for more "looks orientated" case builders. I know many people out there that would die getting their hands dirty building a case. It's great fun and as a nice side-effect they get the kick-a** modeling and rendering power to their laptops (or iMac's) they were always dreaming of. Also consider that most design or engineering students have all kinds of nice machinery waiting to be used somewhere downstairs in their faculty. I bet some would soon rapid prototype the whole thing... or mill it out of a solid block of aluminum.

From my point of view the choice between two new DIY Thunderbolt eGPU kits would be ultimate: One allowing for a sleek desktop case with an external power source (300-400W) including the necessary power brick(s) and another one for the less space savvy and enthusiasts with the possibility to connect an ATX PSU inside the case (400W+).

 

Had to be done. design appeals more than anything I've seen from the commercial manufacturers, eg: Villagetronic, Magma. So of course, I alerted bplus to this thread so as to:

1. hasten production of the PE5 product (Thunderbolt) so you'd have the electronic board to play with
2. consider how the boards will integrated with their own and/or third party enclosures

Saw them use this sort of tech on Mythbusters 'Killer Surfboard' episode. The crew did a CAD design of their board and then printed (milled) a small surfboard for aerodynamic testing. Was very impressed at how easy it was.

Means passionate artists/designers can unleash their creative potential. Maybe we'll have a gallery of DIY eGPU enclosures to choose from in the future?

 

this is an awesome thread, I've seen a lot about eGPU and power supply, but this is the first considering standardized approaches to casing. keep it up!

 

I love the design of the first one. Just don't see room for PSU unless an external PSU exists that has the proper connections?

 

@nando4: An "official" collection/gallery of DiY cases would be great for inspiration. You might see a case and probably think: "Wait a minute... why didn't he?... that I could do better!" As soon as competition is on there are no boundaries. I already started to compete with myself by thinking a bit about that side sentence yesterday... milling a case from a solid block of aluminum... Interesting what could be achieved in terms of (water)cooling. It's not what I am aiming for but imagine putting a "naked" graphics card (no fan, no nothing) inside such a block. If cleverly done the case could become the cooler and vice versa... sorry I'm trailing off here :-D

@nthony: Thanks! I just think it would make a lot of sense for hwtools to offer different DIY parts/kits for different customer needs. Thanks to nando4's contacts they might even listen

@ HTWingNut: You caught me off guard! ;-) So far that's the main issue here... For a smaller footprint on the desk there is no other way than banning the PSU from the case. With the communities ingenuity (and maybe even a little help from hwtools) a solution might be found. We're on it!

 

5.25" bay GPU power supplies exist like this one:

Amazon.com: 450W Graphics Power Supply Juice Box: Electronics

Dedicated Graphics card PSU | VisionTek ATI/AMD Radeon Graphics Partner

Problem is that you'd need a way to get power to the PCI-e slot, but this or even one of the Shuttle power supplies, or a 1U rack power supply would do.

Something like this: Shuttle Global - PC61J

or this:

Newegg.com - Athena Power AP-U1ATX30A 1U 300W Server Power Supply - Server Power Supplies

Then of course all the circuitry to switch it on/off, convert it to the PCB PCI-e slot, but it should already have the 6-pin connectors if the card requires it.

I think most of that has been managed with the DIY eGPU though in a thread floating around here.

Not sure the width of your enclosure, but with a 4" width and possibly make it slightly taller you could fit it underneath the GPU.

But I'm probably just spouting out things you already know or know better.

 

What's to stop you from using an external power brick and have it behind a desk or something along the lines? It's worked fine for laptops for years.

 

You would need a way to convert the power to the PCI-e board somehow. They do make external PSU's with typical 4-pin Molex connectors like this one:
Amazon.com: Coolerguys 110v AC to 12 / 5v DC 4pin molex Power Adapter: Electronics

But I think the adapters available to power the PCI-e board utilize the typical PC motherboard power connector.

To be honest I love the concept of this. An external shell would be nice, but just a bracket to hold the components neatly would be enough for me. Just your biggest issue I think is going to be finding a small enough power supply that can connect to your components properly. If thunderbolt takes off, this idea could probably be profitable if mass produced.

 

Whenever I get some quality home time, I'm going to convert an old shuttle XPC case into portable case for eGPU. It already has a good 2 slot mounting system meant for expansion cards and plenty of room for a spare ATX PSU.

Its a bit larger than some 100% DIY ideas so far but its already built and will also be able to hold an external optical drive and power brick, though I will use a usb one for simplicity. Maybe an extra fan as well, I'm thinking of integrating the laptop power brick inside of it too. If there is a crazy way to put a mini power strip inside it, having just one cord going into the wall would be awesome.

I don't think I will have to cut very much metal either, just remove some of the internal brackets and possibly tap a few holes and grommet them.

Stole the idea from the really long thread, someone else did it first. If anyone else is interested, I bet there are a ton older or dead shuttle boxes out there collecting dust or available cheap on craigslist etc. Most models look quite nice and all are well built. Heck, I have two different ones to choose from: a silver P4 and black A64 system with a mirrored front.

I looked at a lot of ITX cases for one that could handle dual slot and a larger PSU (obviously with no motherboard installed) without breaking the bank or modding so much you are making a brand new case, but they just aren't out there.

 

LOL. I have about a half dozen USEABLE Shuttle machines at home. I would just use the machine itself instead of as an enclosure. Unless you don't have all the components.

To be honest if I were to make something like this I would just make it out of wood. Easy to work with. A bracket and enclosure if already available would be awesome, but having to fork over a significant amount of money for the bracket would not be cost effective unless someone ate the initial tooling costs.

 

PCIe mainly uses 12V. There is a 3.3V supply but it's not used much, you could probably use a DC-DC converter for that since not much is drawn from it.

 

I found this:

Prodotti - ALUMINIUM - 42 - Teko Enclosure Solutions

Model 425.18

Should be enough to handle the GPU with some space for cables. Surely I'll have to do some adaptation to handle the PCB and the holes for the output plate. What do you think?

 

Thanks to all! Great resources!

...in addition I found a 300W external power brick for a true monster of a laptop: Specifications (check the power supply under accessories) If suitable the thing wouldn't come cheap though! (200$/160€

 

If you want a power supply, 12V would be the way to go.

Just looked it up, if you can find a suitable 12V power supply, and a DC-DC converter capable or 10W output then you're plain sailing.

 

I spent quite some time digging into possible power supplies and might have found some promising candidates such as this one ( GS220 Series - 220W AC-DC Single Output Desktop Adaptor). The 1th gen. XBOX360 adaptor-mod would be another way to go. However, both solutions have one downside: I can not find a counterpart to the plug mountable on the case.

Horrendously expensive once more, but maybe another solution would be something like this:



Feasible at all or just plane stupid?


PS. One thing I am still confused about is the fact that a GTX 560 Ti can run off a 203W XBOX360 power adaptor. According to nando4 75W are gone for the PCIe expansion board, 75W for the 6pin connector and another 75 or 150W (depending on 6 or 8pin connection) for the second power connection to the card... (???) That's 225-300W!

@ funky monk: Could you provide me with an example of a DC-DC converter? I can't follow your suggestion just yet

 

http://www.sunpower-uk.com/products...DC-Output-Converter/SKA15A-Series/default.htm

There's an example. Basically you would have a 12V main power supply, and then use this converter internally to drop down to the 3.3V needed for PCIe.

What would be theoretical max you could assume someone might use? Some of the really high power cards can suck getting on for 400W, but the question is whether anyone would use them because of the reduced bandwidth?

Also, I'm nw finding differing info in the max which can be drawn from the 3.3V supply. I originally found 10W as beiong the answer, but now I've seen someone mention 15W. If the PCIe specs were available to the general public then this would be so much easier.

 

PCI-e draws up to 75W. With an external 6-pin, it may draw less, but it still can draw up to 75W, and I thought it was 12v.

 

The 6/8 pin cables are solely 12V, but there is a 3.3V supply on the connector which makes things a pain.

 

Perhaps make it wider so it can accomodate 3rd party heatsinks

 

Ok I'm starting to work on my enclosure ^_^

Here there is the album with some photos (with components involved in)

eGPU | Facebook

The PSU will be a Silverstone ST45SF ( SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.- ST45SF) SFX form factor, considering the small space available inside the case, i'm thinking to keep the PSU open frame or make a hole leaving the "tail" (with frame in this case) of the PSU outside of the case for about 2cm.

 

Between case, power supply, and just a way to connect it, looks like everything is coming together. Still interested to see how you do your power configuration SimoxTA.

Get all the kinks worked out then someone just needs to mass produce it. Maybe TechTarget can put forward some funds and make i with the NBR logo.

Problem is we need to get Thunderbolt mainstream now. The expansion slots on most laptops are going away, and Thunderbolt is a couple years away at minimum from being somewhat mainstream.

 

Back again! Was busy getting ready for the holidays

Completely agree with HTWingNut. Thunderbolt should become mainstream - quick! It's a perfect substitute for the dying breed of laptop expansion slots. A fast and slim port for fast and slim laptops. Many peripherals can be connected via daisy-chaining and at the same time Tunderbolt gets away with the need for a monitor connector… Makes perfect sense! (At least to me...)

As for my case proposal:

As long as there is no news about the Thunderbolt expansion board from hwtools (or any other producer) there is no point in pushing the design any further. I am mainly investigating on PSU's and keep an eye on the next generation GPU's (and their predicted power consumption). Unless the upcoming GPU's will also ship as low power consumption models - taking advantage of the manufacturing shrink to 28nm on the power side instead of a performance boost - I might have to abandon my plan of using an external PSU (a GTX 580 shrink to 28nm would be a dream! ). Everything above 200W seems difficult to achieve with external power. Still the most promising (external power) solution to me is an adaptor & PicoPSU kit I found here:

picoPSU-160-XT + 192W Adapter Power Kit

No matter the power supply solution, the case should stay as small as possible. I looked into SFX/Micro ATX,... PSU's and found some promising candidates for an alternative solution with internal PSU. However, didn't think about a case design for that yet… A few rainy days during holidays and I might give it a shot - stay tuned.

A good reference about different types of PSU's and their dimension I found via SimoxTa's link to SilverStone:

SilverStone Technology Co., Ltd.

@ SimoxTa: Great case you are working on there! Really curious about your DIY insights. Would be cool if you would keep on sharing your progress here.

 

I'll do, i'm still waiting for my PSU from caseking.de (I hope to receive it before friday) to begin the REAL brainstorming (probably between Christmas and New Year's eve). I actually have 2 ideas in mind, but having a "final" design from HWtools for cable positioning in PE4H 3.0 PCB would make it far easier. (At least something like "It will be in the same position of the today mHDMI port").

 

@redback79 - That external PSU looks good, but I think you're better off with a conventional internal PSU to keep everything confined, but also because of the 3.3V requirement.

 

That's the answer about the positioning process of the cable. From the answer sounds like there is still hope to have the connector instead of the cable.

 

I updated the album with some concepts about the final product. I still have to find a place for the SWEX (but i think I will opt for a standard aluminum button instead) and I have to choose where let the EC2C cable exit from the case (I think it could below the PSU or on the backplate side. In both cases there is enough room to let the cable curve inside the case.

eGPU | Facebook

 

Just received a newsletter from Magma about their upcoming Thunderbolt ExpressBox 3T... what worries me is the "Thunderbolt aware driver" they are talking about when using OS-X and the "incompatibility with external graphics cards".

Magma Thunderbolt Expansion | ExpressBox 3T

 

sry wrong topic

 

From the first day I purchased my first PE4L and a 4870 (albatron 1GB) I was dreaming of my enclosure. But I didn't have enough time to build one. I wanted it to be lightweight and small and all in one (no external psu) so I could take it around. I recently found an old 3.5' floppy holder, so I used my afternoon to mod it. Only thing left is painting but I haven't decided the color yet...

Since a picture is 1000 words, 28 pictures are 28000 words. I don't think any of you would like to read 30000 words ...
Enjoy



PSU

The PSU is a cheap one claim to have 230W on single 12V rail. All I have to do was to take it of its cell, desolder the unnecessary cables and screw inside my little box. This way I loose weight, volume and unfortunately guaranty. picture 1 and 2 show which cables were taken off and what was left from the cell. Picture 4 shows how I connected the Green power on/off cable directly to GND so I can power on and off directly from the AC
considering the fact that the PSU cell was almost 6' x 4' x '3' while now it is only 4' x 3' x 1,8'. That's a matter of the PSU offcourse. Different manufacturers result different dimensions. But you will certainly save space and weight

Less than 1.3kgs!!!

My opinion is that modding a cheap PSU is better than using a pico PSU, since you can also have 5V and 3.3V without extra circuits. Total cost 0$. (card and PSU not included )

 

Joss27's enclosure is receiving plenty of praise in the DIY eGPU experiences thread. Rightly so, so definitely worthy quoting in this thread as a great example.

 

Hi everyone,

WOW! The above are both very nice enclosures! I like timohour's PSU mod a lot. A great way to save space and weight I haven't considered yet. Joss27's enclosure is a true beauty - inside as well as outside. Great work guys!

With the first PCIe to Thunderbolt hardware hitting the stores any moment (as it seems) I will revive this thread. Intentions are still strong to design a DIY solution for Thunderbolt. I will try to approach the enclosure in such a way that it will be as universal as possible and therefore easily adoptable by the majority of DIY folks out there. Can't wait to get my hands dirty!

 

I would like to suggest also this new TFX PSU - (SS-350TGM) the form factor is quite nice to keep the overall size small and it's modular and powerful to manage also a GTX 680 ^^

 

Really like the idea of the cases I'm thinking I want to build one but I also want to integrate a storage solution of say 4tb. Will look in to it more

 

I share the same thoughts as you.

If you run Windows, the PCIe cards seems to work with default drivers (although developers can make performance adjustments). In that case, Thunderbolt will work directly through PCIe lanes acting like a PCIe slot (I think).
On Mac OS X, Apple made something like a bridge between the OS and the device connected to/through Thunderbolt.

The Thunderbolt Device Driver Programming Guide from Apple Developer database says developers must build their drivers through those guidelines, making an "universal" driver (the driver will work for a direct connected PCIe card and a PCIe card connected through Thunderbolt). I don't how much of that is really true or if every card really need this universal driver (I really wanted GPU was a exception).

Anyway, I imagine to make that is something really easy and don't take much effort from the developer. If a developer don't has interest to make their driver universal, maybe someone could try modd the drivers.

I've noticed NVIDIA has released in a very fast timing compatible drivers (last one here) for Mac OS X Lion every time Apple released a significant update (10.7.1, 10.7.2...). In additional, their drivers are compatible with most (or every) GTX 5XX series and a lot of other cards just Out-of-the-Box despite this is not in the release notes.

Here is what I think: I think NVIDIA (and probably AMD) are very aware of eGPU world out there (here in that case). NVIDIA kinda likes Windows and Mac OS X users making use of powerful cards on notebooks. They cannot promote that openly because the market of expensives notebooks could be harmed... but they still love us. So maybe WE can send emails or make an ONLINE PETITION to ask NVIDIA to make their drivers universal (Thunderbolt-aware so called). They could do that even "secretly" (without quoting in releasing notes) and make a lot of us happy.

Also I know problaly is to early to ask something like that since a Thunderbolt eGPU setup in current days are very dificult to get and expensive.

I'm new on this eGPU world and I'm really curious to see all this works and let Apple users choose Mac OS X or Windows for an eGPU setup regardless of compatibility.

Sorry if my english sounds weirds sometimes. I hope it is at least understandable. I'm not a native.

Thanks for reading.

 

HA!!!
It might soon be time to revive this thread! Because...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/e-g...lt-egpu-solution-available-8.html#post8591454

Let's just hope this time it will be the real thing, on time and affordable...
If so: THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS @ BPLUS!

 

A good enclosure. But really, without a thunderbolt product it's all worthless.

 

I will add a hole in the back of my case, and it will be compliant to the upcoming TH05

 

The GUS II interior shot is new to me. Thanks for posting!
It looks very clean and there seems to be just enough headroom to connect an external power source to the GPU. I was actually expecting the case to be much more packed inside. If MSI brings it to market it will be a good modding candidate that makes a DIY case obsolete. Anyhow, the price might be quite high and/or it comes equipped with some useless GPU...

PS. A nice idea of MSI to remove the GPU's metal backplate. Anyone knows if that would be possible with most cards?

 

It has one currently blocking problem. The backplate where the video outputs are located, can only be 1 slot wide.

 

I didnt like that as well, however you can see that they removed the backplating on the 7850 twin frozr that they used as a test card in there, hopefuly we can do the same. Not likely though, since it requires the OEM to ship numerous backplatings with the GUS II. The other problem is that the current design wont allow the backplating to be inserted there as well, due to lack of space.

 

a good thing we known is that the card is not soldered! at least that is very good news.

 

Oh wow! That looks great. I have a question regarding the ST45SF PSU. I tried using ST45SF-G (the modular verion of ST45SF) for my egpu setup but the PSU would automatically shut off a split second after I power it on with the bplus swex. The fan on both the PSU and egpu would spin up for a split second and then stop. Did you experience anything like that with the ST45SF?

 

Hi there!

With the engineering samples of the TH05 out I thought it was time to do the math:

OPTION 1 (Total: ~ €500)

Thunderbolt Adapter: €140
TH05 Engineering Sample bundle (incl. shipping, ATX Power Supply Power-On Switch, Thunderbolt Cable 100cm, Dupont 2PIN, External 5V/12V power supply cable)

GPU: ~ €280
Asus GTX-660 Ti DirectCU II 2GB GDDR5, PCI-E x16 3.0

PSU: ~ €80
350W, 80+, ???


OPTION 2 (Total: ~ €420)

Thunderbolt Adapter: €140
TH05 Engineering Sample bundle (incl. shipping, ATX Power Supply Power-On Switch, Thunderbolt Cable 100cm, Dupont 2PIN, External 5V/12V power supply cable)

GPU: ~ €220
Asus GTX-660 DirectCU II 2GB GDDR5, PCI-E x16 3.0 (non Ti)

PSU: ~ €60
300W, 80+, ???


That's both pretty steep... What are the chances that prices will come down for the production version of the TH05? BPlus has released engineering samples before. Was there any price difference at all?

Cheers!