OWC Akitio Node Titan

Powerful graphics upgrade for Thunderbolt 3 Macs

- Cliff Joseph

From £330/£699.99 for review model with Radeon RX 580 FROM OWC, owc.com FEATURES 1x PCIe expansion slot, 650W power supply, 85W for charging laptop

OWC is best known for its docks and storage devices, but about a year ago it bought a company called Akitio that made the popular Node range of eGPU devices. An eGPU – or ‘external GPU’ – is a great upgrade for Mac models that don’t have internal expansion slots. It’s essentially an empty box that contains a PCIe expansion slot, into which you insert a new graphics card (GPU) in order to boost your Mac’s graphics performance. That’s a great option for people who need to run high-end graphics or video software, or just have some fun with the latest 3D games. The only drawback is that the Node Titan – like most eGPUs – needs to be connected to a Mac with Thunderbolt 3, running High Sierra or later, in order to work properly.