wraggster
July 31st, 2013, 22:17
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/07/macbook-air-external-gpu-larry-gadea_620x340.jpgThe MacBook Air's (http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/13/macbook-air-review/) integrated graphics all but rule it out as a serious gaming machine. However, Larry Gadea at the Tech Inferno forums has found a way (http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/4271-2013-11-macbook-air-win7-sonnet-echo-expresscard-pe4l-internal-lcd-%5Bus%24250%5D.html) to make the Air a powerhouse through an ad hoc external GPU (http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/25/sony-vaio-z-gets-the-in-house-teardown-treatment-video/). His design mates a PCI Express video card to the Mac's Thunderbolt port through a combination of two adapters, a Boot Camp (http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/14/os-x-10-8-3-update/) installation of Windows 7 and third-party software. The performance improvement is appropriately dramatic, leading to frame rates up to seven times faster than what Intel's HD 5000 (http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/01/intel-details-4th-gen-cores-hd-5000-iris-and-iris-pro-graphics/) can manage. Just don't expect to buy a pre-assembled version anytime soon -- the peripheral needs a desktop-class power supply just to run, and Intel won't issue the licenses needed to commercialize Thunderbolt GPUs. If you're absolutely determined to get a Crysis-worthy (http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/10/crysis-3-trailer-with-crytek-cryengine-3/) ultraportable, though, you'll find Gadea's instructions at the source link.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/31/macbook-air-home-built-external-gpu/
http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/31/macbook-air-home-built-external-gpu/