The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Macbook Air thunderbolt GPU - Possible CPU bottleneck?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Defo, Jan 11, 2012.

  1. Defo

    Defo Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hey,

    I'm thinking about the possible external thunderbolt GPU solutions coming up in 2012, and using that with a Macbook Air 13 inch.

    How much will the ULV i5 and i7 processors bottleneck the gaming peformence in such a setup? :)

    Cheers
     
    Defo, Jan 11, 2012
    #1
  2. Defo

    Defo Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Bump :)

    10 chars..
     
    Defo, Jan 12, 2012
    #2
  3. DEagleson

    DEagleson Gamer extraordinaire

    Reputations:
    2,529
    Messages:
    3,107
    Likes Received:
    30
    Trophy Points:
    116
    Actually i have no idea.

    The highest clock rate without turbo boost is 1.8GHz for the i7 2677M and with Turbo it can reach 2.9GHz on a single thread.
    But that depends on how efficient a MacBook Air can cool it down and i already have my doubts.

    So i conclude that it might be a bottleneck, but that would be with the high end GPUs.
     
    DEagleson, Jan 12, 2012
    #3
  4. Defo

    Defo Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    So you imagine that with say... a Nvidia GTX 550 or GTS 450 - the CPU will not be a big enough bottleneck to ruin the experience? :)
     
    Defo, Jan 12, 2012
    #4
  5. DEagleson

    DEagleson Gamer extraordinaire

    Reputations:
    2,529
    Messages:
    3,107
    Likes Received:
    30
    Trophy Points:
    116
    I doubt it would bottleneck at the GPUs listed.
    Im no expert on external GPU solutions but it should work with a GTX 550 or even 560.
     
    DEagleson, Jan 12, 2012
    #5
  6. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    The only way to really know is to try it. Since that kind of hardware isn't even available yet this entire thread is going to be speculation.
     
    Greg, Jan 12, 2012
    #6
  7. KernalPanic

    KernalPanic White Knight

    Reputations:
    2,125
    Messages:
    1,934
    Likes Received:
    130
    Trophy Points:
    81
    Well, it also depends on what the interface and assorted equipment to make it work costs.

    At one point you have to add it all up and ask yourself if it wasn't just a better idea to buy a full desktop...
     
    KernalPanic, Jan 12, 2012
    #7
  8. ThinkPaid

    ThinkPaid Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    127
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    whats the status of this technology? has any actual product been announced? I know about about the expresscard type, but the only mac that can do that is the 17" MBP and thats $2500 on its own.
     
    ThinkPaid, Jan 13, 2012
    #8
  9. Defo

    Defo Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    6
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Both the Vidock and HWTools guys are developing thunderbolt external GPU solutions as we speak. In addition to some other companies which will probably be overpriced.
     
    Defo, Jan 13, 2012
    #9
  10. crpcookie

    crpcookie Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    98
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    MSI GUS II is said to be around $150.
     
    crpcookie, Jan 13, 2012
    #10