The Geforce GTX 780 Ti connects externally via Thunderbolt 2 to the Macbook Pro

There has long been talk of various forms of external graphics cards, not least to make it possible to run cumbersome games without being forced to acquire an often large and awkward gaming-rated laptop. Despite the occasional odd solution and several demonstrations in the area, no easy-to-handle solutions are visible on the market, perhaps because Intel refuses to certify external graphics cards for Thunderbolt.

However, this does not prevent homebuilders from screwing together their own constructions. In the Techinferno forum, the user Squinks shows how a Geforce GTX 780 Ti can be connected to a Macbook Pro (with Windows 8.1) and an external monitor by using the Thunderbolt 2 interface.

Although the external connection does not deliver as high bandwidth as PCI Express 3.0 x16, it all still provides a real performance boost. According to the test results, this is in the order of 85 to 90 percent of the performance of the same graphics card in a desktop computer.

To repeat the feat, however, requires an extremely well-stocked wallet. In addition to the laptop, graphics card, an extra power supply and a screen, a cabinet from Sonnet is used for as much as 979 dollars, corresponding to approximately 8,000 kronor including VAT. This means that the total cost (minus the computer) amounts to more than SEK 15,000.