Breakaway Box 350/550/650
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Manual (4)
FAQ (34)
IDArticle TitlePost Date
907 Can I upgrade the power supply in the Sonnet eGFx Breakaway Box or Breakaway Box 550?Sep-20-19
Sonnet has Thunderbolt certified the eGFX Breakaway box including its power supply, and we cannot recommend changing the power supply.

Sonnet uses the FSP FSP550-50SGGBA in the Breakaway Box 550.

Sonnet uses the Enermax ERV650SWT SFX 80 Plus Gold in the original Breakaway Box 650. (The newest Breakaway Box 650OC uses an ATX power supply.) Sonnet uses the higher-performance Akasa AK-FN059 fan in Breakaway Box 650.

If you upgrade the power supply and fan, you will have more power available to a graphics card, but you will not alter the upstream power delivery, which is programmed into the unit. Note that upstream power continues to be provided even when the computer is sleeping.
 
913 Does an eGPU accelerate Adobe After Effects?Jun-21-21
See this Adobe reference page for GPU-accelerated effects.
 
914 Does the Breakaway Box support the AMD Radeon Vega 64, FE, WX8200 or WX9100, Radeon VII, or Radeon 5700 or 5700 XT?Jan-12-20
915 The GPU-350W-TB3 and GPU-350W-TB3Z both have 350W power supplies, but only GPU-350W-TB3Z supports some higher end cards. Why?Oct-21-19
925 My Breakaway Box won't turn on.Jan-06-21
926 I have a Windows computer with a discrete (internal) NVIDIA Quadro dGPU, and the external NViDIA GeForce or Titan eGPU is not recognized.Jun-21-21
929 Can I use a Sonnet eGPU with Boot Camp?Jun-21-21
930 What kind of performance can I expect from the NVIDIA Titan Xp (Pascal) with the eGFX Breakaway Box?Nov-06-17
In a Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box, the Titan Xp was performing at:
Single-precision Float 12.4 Tflops/s
Double-precision Float 416 Gflop/s

Note: You may have read that some other manufacturers' external graphics boxes--even some with a higher power supply rating--fail under heavy load with the NVIDIA Titan Xp (Pascal) card. Not so with a Sonnet Breakaway Box. In choosing a power supply, Sonnet carefully considers not only the eGFX Box nominal power rating, but also its instantaneous peak power delivery capability. Sonnet runs many rigorous tests (including the CUDA-Z benchmark, set to Heavy Load Test Mode). The Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box must pass the most stringent tests before we put it in your hands.
 
932 How can I use the Sonnet eGPUs to accelerate games on the MacBook Pro or iMac internal video?Jun-21-21
938 What power cable do I need for the Avid HDX card?Jun-21-21
Sonnet has made a power cable for the Avid HDX card that is compatible with the Breakaway Box. The part number is TCB-HDXB and is available from Sonnet or Sonnet-authorized resellers.
 
970 How do I use the Breakaway Box or RX 560/570 Puck with the LG Ultrafine 5K Display sold on the Apple store?Jan-06-21
978 Sonnet's macOS-compatible external graphics supports up to 5 displays. How can I tile them into one large display?Jan-06-21
991 What is the maximum size GPU card that will fit in a Breakaway Box?Jan-06-21
995 Which NVIDIA cards are supported as external GPUs.Oct-21-19
998 I need to ship the Breakaway Box. Do I need to remove the card?Jan-06-21
999 How do I get external graphics working on a Gigabyte motherboard?Feb-03-23
1001 My display is not being detected on macOS.Jun-21-21
1002 My 4K display is connecting only at 30Hz. Why I can't set it to 60Hz?Jun-21-21
Your display may not support 60Hz. Your display might require a firmware update to support 60Hz operation. Contact the maker of your display for details.

Many early 4K displays use Multi-Stream Transport (MST) to achieve 4k @ 60Hz. Follow these steps to use the display's built-in controls to enable this feature:
Sharp PN-K321: Choose Menu > Setup > DisplayPort STREAM > MST > SET
ASUS PQ321Q: Choose OSD menu > Setup > DisplayPort Stream
Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q: Choose Menu > Display Setting > DisplayPort 1.2 > Enable
Panasonic TC-L65WT600: Choose Menu > Display Port Settings > Stream Setting > Auto
Other DisplayPort displays: check with the display manufacturer for compatibility information.

HDMI:
Make sure the HDMI cable you are using is a Premium High-Speed HDMI Cable certified by HDMI.org.

If you are trying to connect at 4k@60Hz via HDMI 2.0, you may have to set the color depth to 8-bit at 4:4:4, 10-bit at 4:2:2, or 12-bit at 4:2:0, or you may exceed the HDMI 2.0 bandwidth. A few 4K TVs (2017 Element Fire TV and 2017 LeEco Super 4, for example) don't support 4K@60Hz@4:4:4 at all.

For connecting to a 4K TV, you may need make a custom color resolution. Set resolution to 3840x2160 at 60Hz and set Timing standard to CVT-RB (reduced blanking). Some TVs require you to turn on "UHD Color" or "Advanced" or "Enhanced" setting manually in the picture settings for the HDMI port.
 
1004 How to Solve the DP No Video / Wrong Resolution Issue with the Dell P2715Q / P2415Q Flat Panel MonitorsJun-21-21
1025 Will a Sonnet eGPU accelerate internal video on a Mac?Jun-21-21
1026 Does Final Cut Pro use the external GPU in a Breakaway Box, or Breakaway Puck, or DuoModo eGPU Module?Jun-21-21
1028 Does the Breakaway Box or RX 560/570 Puck support the LG UltraFine 4k Display sold by Apple?Jan-06-21
The DisplayPort output of a graphics card is not compatible with the Alt Mode DisplayPort input of the LG UltraFine 4K Display.

The LG Ultrafine 4K Display can be connected to one of the Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports. To give both the display and the Breakaway Box/Puck each maximum bandwidth, connect them to independent Thunderbolt 3 controllers, if possible.

The 13" Macbook Pro with Touchbar, 15" MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac Pro have two independent Thunderbolt controllers. Connect the Display and the Breakaway Box/Puck to ports on different sides.

The 13" MacBook Pro without Touchbar and the iMac with Retina display and the have only one Thunderbolt controller. The LG Ultrafine 4K Display will reserve all the bandwidth it needs, and the Breakaway Box/Puck will be allocated the remaining bandwidth, which may affect performance of the Breakaway Box/Puck.

If you are using macOS 10.14.4+, you can accelerate applications and games with the eGPU if they support GPU acceleration...
• Select the app in Finder
• Get Info
• Select Prefer External GPU

Professional applications that use an external GPU generally may have a preference selection inside the app to select the external GPU.
 
1038 I purchased a Breakaway Box bundled with a Radeon GPU card and now I need warranty service on the GPU card.Sep-20-19
1051 I'm connecting from a DVI (or sometimes DP) port on my GPU Card--via an adapter cable--to an HDMI port on my monitor and the display looks magenta.Jun-21-21
1054 How do I extend the length of a DisplayPort cable?Jun-21-21
1084 I connected my monitor to the Breakaway Box, Breakaway Puck, or DuoModo eGPU Module on my 2018 or newer Mac mini, but it boots with a black screen.Jun-21-21
1110 I'm trying to use four HDMI monitors by adding DP-to-HDMI adapters, but it doesn't work.Jun-21-21
1111 I'm trying to use an additional HDMI monitor by adding a DP-to-HDMI adapter, but it doesn't work.Jun-21-21
1145 Do not disconnect or power off you eGPU during sleep or your Mac will crash.Apr-20-21
1191 I upgraded to macOS 12.4 and my Vega 56 is no longer seen by macOS.Nov-25-22
1212 My computer will randomly freezeFeb-25-23
1225 My Windows PC freezes without a blue screen when using an NVIDIA GPU.Jun-05-23
1246 Disconnecting my eGPU crashes macOS 14+�Sep-09-24
1252 Acer Swift 5 does not support eGPUsOct-22-24