Jump to content

DIY eGPU Macbook experiences


oripash

Recommended Posts

@anilpani:

1. Since the GPU is not flashed, it can't output before OSX loaded the drivers. Normal problem with non-Apple GPUs since ages. You could use a 2nd input directly from the Mini to the monitor and disable the display in OSX. With auto input the display would switch automatically to the monitor connected to the eGPU.

2. It's safe to enable it again! And you are right, that you would have to re-enable it to re-run the script.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was just a guess that it is defect, maybe we could verify that with some pics, informations and testing...

I've just got the new Akitio box hooked up and its working fine this time, shows up as a thunderbolt device in system report and my GPU seems to be detected. I can run the automate-eGPU.sh script and everything looks like its being setup fine.

My setup is:

Macbook pro retina - mid 2015 - 15inch

OS X 10.11.1 El Capitan

Zotac GTX 970

Nvidia web driver: 346.03.03f02

Problems is that when I look in the system report again, I see this under graphics/displays. Using an external display connected to the HDMI of the 970, I get no output at all.

NVIDIA Chip Model:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA Chip Model

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x4

VRAM (Total): 256 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x13c2

Revision ID: 0x00a1

ROM Revision: preset 1.0.0

From what I can find, people are having huge issues with 2015 MBPs, does anyone know the reason as to why its different to all the MPBs? As far as I can tell, I have the latest nvidia driver and everything is setup fine.

I've even tried installing the nvidia driver on a Windows 10 bootcamp. The driver installs fine and boots with eGPU connected. In device manager however I see the 970 connected but "not running due to a problem" (yellow exclamation mark).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've even tried installing the nvidia driver on a Windows 10 bootcamp. The driver installs fine and boots with eGPU connected. In device manager however I see the 970 connected but "not running due to a problem" (yellow exclamation mark).

ARGHHH I FIXED IT!!!!

First I started with a fresh windows 8.1 install to see if it made any difference. Nothing changed and the result was the same "device has been stopped due to a problem". If I disabled the device and re-enabled it again, the problem would go away and GPU-Z would show the card. I noticed however that everything looked good except the core and memory clock were showing 0MHz, indicating the card was powered but not running.

Then thanks to a post on tomshardware PCI Express Auxiliary Graphics Power Connectors - Power Supply 101: A Reference Of Specifications I noticed that I forgot to solder the two 6pin PCIe sense wires to ground! I'd connected the +12V and ground lines, but not the sense! Gods sake!

After this the card shows up in device manager as expected and GPU-Z shows all the status as good.

I'm running windows 8.1 now... wish I'd figured this out before I nuked my win10 partition :(

The card also shows up correctly in OS X too.

Anyway, I'll try to hook the card up to my monitor when I get home and see if I can get some benchmarks. I guess nvidia optimus is the next step to use the internal display?

I can't believe it was a PSU wiring issue.. I've built so many PCs and re-cabled so many PSUs. It still gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why did you drop one of the connectors in that plug in the first place? :o

I was quickly throwing it together last night and ran out of space to fit these last two sense wires into my terminal blocks, I ended forgetting about them after that and half assumed it was just an extra ground connection that would be shorted on the GPU anyway >.<

Still need to clean the build up so there's wires everywhere. I ended up dropping the watercooling idea I had. Looking at one of your builds with the noctua fans, I've decided to do the exact same thing and go with space saving enclosed solution rather than insane performance. How's that running by the way?

This does mean I have a full water loop sitting doing nothing now :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you found that mistake! :D

Mine is running pretty good. Packing it up every weekend and moving to my girlfriends place with it.

Since I overclocked the card and the fans running at full speed (2200rpm - not that loud since that are small fans) I will hit the 79-80°C in demanding games like FarCry4 or GTA V. Without the OC it should be much better. Additionally there is a gap between the fans and the cooler since it has some crossbars on it. I guess there is some air not beeing pushed through the cooler and I will try to build some air tunnels for that on the weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you found that mistake! :D

Mine is running pretty good. Packing it up every weekend and moving to my girlfriends place with it.

Since I overclocked the card and the fans running at full speed (2200rpm - not that loud since that are small fans) I will hit the 79-80°C in demanding games like FarCry4 or GTA V. Without the OC it should be much better. Additionally there is a gap between the fans and the cooler since it has some crossbars on it. I guess there is some air not beeing pushed through the cooler and I will try to build some air tunnels for that on the weekend.

Yeah my Zotac card has little nibs on it too that keep the fans about 1cm above the fins. This makes them sit a little high for the case to close. I'll have to grind the nibs down a bit so it closes. It should be a nice snug fit after that though. I've also made a plastic shroud that holds the fans in place and directs the air through the fins rather than around them. The plan is to drill holes all over the side top and bottom of the enclosure so it can get air. I was going to go with fan grills like yours but decided this would be easier.

I don't plan to use this a huge amount, I only play 3 - 4 high graphics games per year so it's mostly going to sit at home. Saying that, this macbook is my first laptop in about 5 years so maybe that will change :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if it is the Iris driver, but there is a system task using 10-20% all the time in my setup.

I noticed the same thing but assumed it was Windows doing it's indexing or something like that. Will look again when I get back.

I I tried to disable/uninstall the iris gpu but it re-enables and reinstalls itself everytime I reboot. Doing this though makes the internal screen slow and unresponsive and seems to disable things like screen brightness control

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hibernate to resolve the issue. If you're using Windows without eGPU you can hibernate just as normal as you would with every other device. With the eGPU attached I only could hibernate with the Optimus mod applied -> http://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/8558-%5Bguide%5D-macbook-enabling-optimus-internal-lcd-mode.html as Hibernation is disabled due to the Thunderbolt device normally.

After waking up in either cases you have the interrupts gone, using this for over half a year already. I wouldn't count on Apple fixing a Windows issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Morv: Could you please exactly explain what your actions are and how you Mac behaves?

E.g. how do you wake it up after you send to hibernate?

Just boot it up again like you would a non-hibernated Windows.

My boot sequence with a not yet hibernated Windows(e.g. after Windows updates have been installed or crash etc.):

1.

- Power up Macbook, wait for chime

- Press ALT for the boot menu to come up

- Power up the already plugged in eGPU

- Wait a few seconds

- Boot Windows

You do this additionally if you boot a not-yet hibernated Windows:

2.

- At login screen right click on the power button and choose hibernate. Macbook will "shutdown", it's powered off completely(=hibernate, not standby). You can also login and hibernate afterwards, doesn't matter.

- Leave eGPU powered on, you are allowed switch it off at this point though.

Essentially step 1 again:

- Power Macbook up again, wait for chime

- Press ALT for the boot menu to come up

- Wait a few seconds

- Boot Windows

Done. No constant load on System. I don't know how often I have to tell this to people complaining about this load.

Instead of shutting down Windows, you simply hibernate it again. You do this all the time where you do not actually have to reboot(e.g mentioned updates or driver installations). You power off the eGPU when the Macbook is shut off. When booting again you simply follow step 1 again.

You should notice that the circle indicating booting Windows will only take a small time of the usual boot time due to being hibernated.

I'm using Windows 8.1.

  • Thumbs Up 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Morv: Thanks, but after I send the MB to hibernate, I wait, power it up again, have the booting procedure you explaint, but when I reach the login screen, it crashs :(

Optimus mod is correctly applied?

I also just set this up again last week after I wanted to install Ubuntu and messed up my boot partition. Clean Windows 8.1 install, installed updates and Bootcamp drivers afterwards. Then applied Optimus mod and it's working like before.

My standard booting OS is OS X, not Windows. If that might mess up something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't really find an explanation for that as we're both having a Iris Pro only Macbook and even the same graphics card. So it shouldn't differ like it does.

Do you have fast boot enabled? How to disable or enable Fast Startup in Windows 8.1

Default boot OS?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Help!!!

Hello im new to this egpu world but i really like the idea.

Im using el captain, macbook air 2013, akitio thunder2, msi gtx 970 4gb, corsair cx500m.

Im trying to get my egpu to work but when i follow the steps of qoalque with the automatic setup, my terminal says: "Thunderbolt device is connected, but no external GPU detected".

I want to use my external monitor.

Does anyone know what im doing wrong?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So i just got a Zotac 750 Ti to not have an external pwer supply.. Interesting thing.. my computer now randomly crashes... thoughts?

What power supply are you using to power the Akitio and the card? I hope you're not using the 60W one delivered with the Akitio, it's way too weak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone,

My eGPU setup has been working okay, but I've started to notice kernel panics, primarily while web browsing using Chrome.

My configuration is:

2012 Mac Mini running Mac OS 10.11.1 (El Capitan)

Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Enclosure

12V 10A 120W power supply connected directly to Akitio via barrel connector

EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti SC

Here is what the kernel panic report looks like:

Thu Nov 5 18:16:30 2015

*** Panic Report ***

panic(cpu 5 caller 0xffffff7f855cfb50): NVRM[0/193:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000200: CFG 0xffffffff 0x138010de 0x40100100, BAR0 0xa1000000 0xffffff91f2b25000 0x117000a2, D0, P1/2

Backtrace (CPU 5), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff81ed323ad0 : 0xffffff80048e5307

0xffffff81ed323b50 : 0xffffff7f855cfb50

0xffffff81ed323c10 : 0xffffff7f856ab553

0xffffff81ed323c70 : 0xffffff7f85968aa3

0xffffff81ed323d00 : 0xffffff7f85991941

0xffffff81ed323d40 : 0xffffff7f857867b2

0xffffff81ed323d60 : 0xffffff7f85786c20

0xffffff81ed323db0 : 0xffffff7f85966793

0xffffff81ed323e20 : 0xffffff7f856d8083

0xffffff81ed323e40 : 0xffffff7f855d618d

0xffffff81ed323ef0 : 0xffffff8004eb7536

0xffffff81ed323f40 : 0xffffff8004eb53a1

0xffffff81ed323f80 : 0xffffff8004eb559c

0xffffff81ed323fb0 : 0xffffff80049d15d7

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

com.nvidia.web.NVDAResmanWeb(10.0.7)[53A7D683-CD5C-3EDD-A58E-5BB7FF28BDE9]@0xffffff7f8556b000->0xffffff7f85841fff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[8E5F549E-0055-3C0E-93F8-E872A048E31B]@0xffffff7f8512d000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.4.1)[814A7F4B-03EF-384A-B205-9840F0594421]@0xffffff7f85555000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.4.1)[48AC8EA9-BD3C-3FDC-908D-09850215AA32]@0xffffff7f8550e000

dependency: com.apple.AppleGraphicsDeviceControl(3.11.33b1)[2BA0BB49-9DFD-3851-984F-8816AE3A1964]@0xffffff7f85565000

com.nvidia.web.NVDAGM100HalWeb(10.0.7)[1C1114D7-6B7D-370C-BDDC-DBFA42222D6A]@0xffffff7f85851000->0xffffff7f85a4dfff

dependency: com.nvidia.web.NVDAResmanWeb(10.0.7)[53A7D683-CD5C-3EDD-A58E-5BB7FF28BDE9]@0xffffff7f8556b000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.9)[8E5F549E-0055-3C0E-93F8-E872A048E31B]@0xffffff7f8512d000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Boot args: nvda_drv=1

Mac OS version:

15B42

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 15.0.0: Sat Sep 19 15:53:46 PDT 2015; root:xnu-3247.10.11~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: AB5FC1B4-12E7-311E-8E6F-9023985D8C1D

Kernel slide: 0x0000000004600000

Kernel text base: 0xffffff8004800000

__HIB text base: 0xffffff8004700000

System model name: Macmini6,2 (Mac-F65AE981FFA204ED)

Any thoughts as to what is going on or things that I could try?

As always thanks for your help!

-Pani

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Nando

I am getting error code 43

How can I fix this

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.