I recently bought the Sonnet Breakaway Box 750ex for my laptop. Some of the time when I plug it in, the eGPU actually turns on and works properly but most of the time, the PSU and board make faint clicking sounds (In the video below, I plugged in a louder 300W PSU to record the clicking. Both PSUs work ftr). I know that PSU keeps turning on and off again rapidly, but beyond that I don’t know what is going on. Any ideas on what is happening and how to stop this?
Video link: https://emalm.com/?v=7wBV9
The 300w not turning on is something I’m not too surprised with.
I don’t know what card you’re running in there but 300 watts is not enough for most current day gpus. Especially with a grey box 300watt psu.
If the card works flawlessly sometimes but most of the times not and the psu is clicking… Then the cause from where I’m standing is clear: there is a short. In the psu, the card or the cabling.
I see a lot of cables/connectors right against the card. Are you sure there is nothing creating a short?
Does the box start without a gpu in it? (leds on, fan starts turning) If it also clicks in that config with both psu’s… Check the cabling.
Does the card work flawlessly in another system?
Solution 1: get another hefty psu like the 750w which normally is in that box. Check with that.
Solution 2: check for shorts, all cables clear and not damaged? no marks, no connectors against a piece of metal? No weird marks on the card?
Solution 3: send it back and get it replaced. If it looks faulty it probably is.
The GPU I am using is an rx480 8gb from Asus and the TDP is around 150W. The same thing occurs with the built in PSU but much quieter such that I wasn’t able to pick up the sound.