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2014 Mac Mini + GTX960@16Gbps-TB2 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + OSX 10.11 [lilins]


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Hi. I've been working on a setup for my mac mini, being thrilled to see that there was finally a way to use thunderbolt for eGPU.

I open this subject now with a final picture, and i will be posting later all the process to get there and go further.

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The actual Setup. V1.0

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Yes it is!

So the goal for me was to inspire me from all the works here and do my own with one goal: i wanted to keep the Akitio box closed.

I did it!

Envoyé de mon EVA-L09 en utilisant Tapatalk

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  • Tech Inferno Fan changed the title to 2014 Mac Mini + GTX960@16Gbps-TB2 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + OSX 10.11 [lilins]
How did you managed to install GTX 960 driver? and which driver did you use?

The driver part is the most easy part, but for now, on the Mac Mini, it can only work if you connect display to the eGPU.

http://www.egpukit.com

There is a shell script to download and run :)

For now you don't have display until the login window. (After the whole boot process). But i'm following a thread where someone has worked on an efi boot egpu enabler for mac. I'll test that end of week.

So up until now, what did i used:

1) Akitio Thunder 2 PCI-E chassis

2) Zotac GFX 960 video card

3) power supply seasonic m12ii (after failing with a dell DA-2 220)

4) a low profile pcie 6 pins cable

5) a 1*pcie 6 pins female to 2* pcie 6 pins Y cable

6) a 8 pins pcie cable

7) a dc barrel + cable

8) a driller and a dremel

9) a 60*60*10mm 12v fan

10) some patience for reading all the threads, testing, and working on it

Here are some of the pictures of the work in progress:

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Envoyé de mon EVA-L09 en utilisant Tapatalk

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So, next i am going to try use only the seasonic PSU to power both Akitio board and GPU, I'll make some more holes to vent the case, and i'm going to change the small fan (the akitio case fan i already replaced by a 60*60*10 and put just behind the front panel) by a new, quieter one.

 

During normal use, the zotac don't launch the fans

 

During Load, the fans launch and the akitio case heat up. As the case look like aluminium I'm not especially worried, looks like a Mac heating up, but if i can lower the case temperature a little by opening more vent, i'll do that.

 

The goal is to have a quiet case under 20Db for normal use, and not too hot under load.

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Looks great! I hope your able to write up a more detailed description of how you did it soon.

 

I also have a mac-mini and perhaps foolishly ordered the Akito Thunder 2 from France several days ago after having spent a day reading through the forums and thinking it wouldn't be too complex a task. But upon further research today I reaslise that setting up and powering the device with a graphics card is probably more complicated than I thought and perhaps beyond my abilities without clear instructions. The descriptions I have read in the forums already about power supply have me quite flummoxed!

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I've finally made the barrel connector out of the information i received on another thread. It works well.

The thing is to keep it simple. So i simplified the design.

The design i came with has only one power connector, suitable for both a Dell DA/2 with included shorted power on port and pci-e 6pin from an atx type PSU.

a756d1ed7afe654a648615a4fd41587b.jpg the updated pcie 6 plug with barrel power connection

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The PCIe 8 connected to Pcie 6 low profile cable with the power on short for Dell DA-2

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The power on short for Dell DA-2 i'll shorten it or link it to a 12v power button if i can.

Envoyé de mon EVA-L09 en utilisant Tapatalk

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