http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2013/07/macbook-air-external-gpu-larry-gadea.jpgThe MacBook Air’s integrated graphics all but rule it out as a serious gaming machine. However, Larry Gadea at the Tech Inferno forums has found a way to make the Air a powerhouse through an ad hoc external GPU. His design mates a PCI Express video card to the Mac’s Thunderbolt port through a combination of two adapters, a Boot Camp 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 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/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget) ultraportable, though, you’ll find Gadea’s instructions at the source link.
Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Peripherals, Apple, NVIDIA
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Via: MacRumors
Source: Tech Inferno