AKiTiO has introduced a new Thunderbolt 3 eGFX enclosure that has been designed specifically with professional users in mind. The Node Titan can house power-hungry professional-grade graphics cards due to its 650 W power supply unit.
AKiTiO was among the first companies to introduce a TB3 eGFX chassis for video cards back in late 2016. A little over three years later, after learning from its customers about their needs, AKiTiO comes up with its Node Titan that upgrades the original Node in every possible way. The new enclosure is somewhat more compact, yet it can house full-length (32 cm) full-height (17 cm) 2.5-wide (6 cm) graphics cards that consume up to 500 W of power and need two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. In particular, the box can accommodate all the latest video cards from AMD and NVIDIA and is certified for high-end professional boards, including NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000.
To ensure that the cards used inside AKiTiO’s Node Titan get enough cooling, the enclosure is equipped with two fans: one is used for the PSU and the other cools down the board itself. Meanwhile, the enclosure has a handle to make it easier to carry it around. As for dimensions, the enclosure measures 35.7 × 13.5 × 26.6 cm (14.06 × 5.31 × 10.47 inches), so it is actually more compact than the predecessor. Still, since the box is made of stainless steel, not aluminum, so it is not exactly lightweight.
| Comparison of Thunderbolt 3 eGFX Chassis | |||
| AKiTiO Node |
AKiTiO Node Titan |
||
| Chassis Dimensions | Length | 42.8 cm 16.85 in |
35.7 cm 14.06 in |
| Height | 22.7 cm 8.94 in |
26.6 cm 10.47 in |
|
| Width | 14.5 cm 5.71 in |
13.5 cm 5.31 in |
|
| Max Dimension of Compatible Graphics Card | Length | 32 cm 12.59 in |
|
| Height (PCB+Cables) |
17 cm 6.7 in |
||
| Width | 6 cm 2.36 in |
||
| Maximum GPU Power | 300 W (?) | 500 W | |
| PSU | Wattage | 400 W | 650 W |
| Form-Factor | SFX | ? | |
| Cooling Fans | 1 × 120 mm | 2 × ?? mm | |
| Connectivity | Thunderbolt | 1 × TB3 | 1 × TB3 |
| Ethernet | – | – | |
| USB | – | ||
| SATA | – | ||
| DisplayPort | – | – | |
| Availability | December 2016 | March 2020 |
|
| Price | $299 | $334.75 |
AKiTiO’s Node Titan is available directly from the company as well as from its partners. Notably, the Node Titan is a pure eGFX enclosure and does not feature a GbE port or a USB hub, so it is relatively cheap by eGFX chassis standards at $334.75.
Source: AKiTiO