Wolfpack completes Kickstarter campaign, offers external GPU configurations for MacBook Pro notebooks

It’s a cool idea if it comes true.

The Wolfe Pro Kickstarter campaign which became fully funded after one day is offering a choice of two external GPUs for MacBook Pros that offer up to ten times the performance of the top-end built-in one. Connected via Thunderbolt 2 or 3, the Wolfe Pro gets you an NVIDIA GTX 970 GPU for $599, with estimated delivery in March 2017.

The GTX 970 has 1664 cores operating at 1050MHz, for a peak computing power of 3.49 teraflops, with rendering speeds almost ten times higher than a maxed-out 15-inch MacBook Pro with AMD R9 M370X GPU. Frame rates exceed 70 frames per second, creating a machine suitable for high-end gaming and VR applications.

Wolfpack, Inc., the company behind the effort, has promised that backers will be given the option of upgrading to the next-gen GTX 1060 when it become available.

The standard model features an NVIDIA GTX 950 GPU, which offers 768 cores operating at 1024MHz for a peak computing power of 1.57 teraflops. That still gets you more than 50fps and rendering speeds four-times faster than a top-end 15-inch MBP for approximately $449.

There’s also a $269 DIY box allowing you to use your own GPU. All three boxes give you three DisplayPort 1.3 outputs and one HDMI.

If you miss your chance to grab an Early Bird Pro model, Apple is rumored to be shipping an AMD Polaris GPU in its upcoming MacBook Pro notebook. This won’t be equivalent to what Wolfpack is offering, but is still a significant improvement on the current MacBook Pro GPU.

Apple is also rumored to be working on a new 5K monitor with built-in external GPU. There’s no word yet on which GPU, or whether more than one option will be available.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via 9to5Mac and Kickstarter