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2013 15" MBP GT750M + GTX970@16Gbps-TB2 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win8.1 [th3v3rn]


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Setup:

- Late 2013 rMBP 15" w/ 750m

- AKiTiO Thunder2

- Antec 520m PSU - 12v is 40w ceiling I think.

- GTX 970 SSC (04G-P4-3975)

- Powered risers and molex to barrel adapter (only using the powered riser now).

List of things I had to do:

1. Installed windows 8.1 through EFI boot from a bootcamp-made thumb drive.

2. Installed bootcamp drivers 5.1.5640 - Here

3. Installed nNidia drivers

4. For what ever reason I had to disconnect and reconnected the HDMI cable before the mac would recognize it.

Future:

1. I am still waiting on the right riser as I bought a right angles 90 degree riser and I needed a left so I have to wait for it to come from China, its going to take awhile but it will clean up nicely once that is here!

2. I will get a longer thunderbolt cable so that I don't have to have the Macbook right by the eGPU. Does anyone know if this will slow things down?

Benchmarks

Without eGPU - Here (1879)

With eGPU - Here Graphics score - 10815

I noticed people got much better results. The internal monitor was on so next time I will try to disable it and see how it runs.

Far Cry 4: YouTube

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Here is what it took to get it running and some notes:

I have a been trouble shooting this the last couple days. I'll turn this into a guide once I get things going to help those that may be having this same problem.

First off I threw everything together but the powered riser was not powering the AKiTiO because there were a few 12v lanes that were not going back to the male end of the riser.

The next day I received another riser that was complete and it did power the AKiTiO. Upon plugging the thunderbolt cable w/ the Mac I could not get it to recognize. The fans would wiggle though every 5 secs, one after the other. I tried every combo of booting it up.

I also tried reinstalling Nvidia driver and that didn't work

I tried reinstalling window 8.1 to make sure I selected EFI boot.

Niether of these worked

I then went and bought a barrel plug at radioshack and made a barrel to molex connector. This shows the same behavior as before.

Here are some notes on what I have tried:

I made sure the PSU was good by first doing the paperclip trick and powering some fans and everything seems to be good as they turn on and the PSU fan turns on as well.

I am using my TV through HDMI plugged into the GPU.

I am also just using the PSU on off switch on the back of the PSU. Is that enough?

I have also not tried booting into OS X as it seems much more difficult than windows.

Thanks!

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I have a been trouble shooting this the last couple days. I'll turn this into a guide once I get things going to help those that may be having this same problem.

I have:

- Late 2013 rMBP 15" + 750m

- AKiTiO Thunder2

- antec 520m PSU - 12v is 40w ceiling I think.

- GTX 970 SSC (3975)

- risers and molex to barrel

First off I threw everything together but the powered riser was not powering the AKiTiO because there were a few 12v lanes that were not going back to the male end of the riser.

The next day I received another riser that was complete and it did power the AKiTiO. Upon plugging the thunderbolt cable w/ the Mac I could not get it to recognize. The fans would wiggle though every 5 secs, one after the other. I tried every combo of booting it up.

I also tried reinstalling Nvidia driver and that didn't work

I tried reinstalling window 8.1 to make sure I selected EFI boot.

Niether of these worked

I then went and bought a barrel plug at radioshack and made a barrel to molex connector. This shows the same behavior as before.

I can't think of anything else that it may be. Any ideas?

Thanks!

How are you triggering PSU?

Please note that as tedious as typing is, when you write "I tried every combo of booting it up. " we don't actually know what it means.

But identical performance in both OS makes me think you didn't trigger PSU.

2nd guess is tough, you don't mention if you have an external display hooked up and if not, what exactly does "it didn't work" mean?

Computer doesn't boot at all?

Computer boots but there is nothing in System Profiler/Device Manager about eGPU?

Computer boots but there is nothing in System Profiler under TB?

We need info to help.

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How are you triggering PSU?

Please note that as tedious as typing is, when you write "I tried every combo of booting it up. " we don't actually know what it means.

But identical performance in both OS makes me think you didn't trigger PSU.

2nd guess is tough, you don't mention if you have an external display hooked up and if not, what exactly does "it didn't work" mean?

Computer doesn't boot at all?

Computer boots but there is nothing in System Profiler/Device Manager about eGPU?

Computer boots but there is nothing in System Profiler under TB?

We need info to help.

Oh sorry, thanks for responding.

I am using my TV through HDMI plugged into the GPU.

I am also just using the PSU on off switch on the back of the PSU. Is that enough?

I have also not tried booting into OS X as it seems much more difficult than windows.

So with the different combos (powered riser, right angle riser, barrel to molex) I started:

- first turning the PSU on, connecting TB to mac then powering on mac.

- second with PSU on and booting mac into partition selector then plugging TB into mac

- then plugging PSU into mac when it is booted into windows.

- the computer boots everytime

- If I unplug the TB cable in windows then windows freezes.

- If I reboot windows with the TB cable in then it doesn't boot and gets stuck and I have to hard reset.

- I opened up nvidia experience and nothing is noted about the 970.

Thanks again

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Oh sorry, thanks for responding.

I am also just using the PSU on off switch on the back of the PSU. Is that enough?

Thanks again

No, it isn't.

Please, PLEASE do some more reading before going any further.

That is up there as #1 newbie "I didn't want to read too much" mistake.

So much easier to do research then ask questions that have been answered 100 times before.

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No, it isn't.

Please, PLEASE do some more reading before going any further.

That is up there as #1 newbie "I didn't want to read too much" mistake.

So much easier to do research then ask questions that have been answered 100 times before.

Oh my bad. I have read just about every thread there is with my setup but I didn't catch that, I'll search some more. Thanks.

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Oh my bad. I have read just about every thread there is with my setup but I didn't catch that, I'll search some more. Thanks.

I could always read more that is for sure. I am doing the paperclip trick as is mentioned in many guides. Is that different from using a switch also with the on/off switch in the back of PSUs? I can't count how many tutorials I have read and I am searching more for the answer but can't seem to find it.

Thanks again!

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For most PSUs, if the fan is spinning, it is on.

So turn on switch and then connect paperclip to those pins.

Absolutely CRITICAL that you connect right pins. Usually green and black I think. But seriously, make sure you are 100% certain, shorting wrong two pins could be bad.

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For most PSUs, if the fan is spinning, it is on.

So turn on switch and then connect paperclip to those pins.

Absolutely CRITICAL that you connect right pins. Usually green and black I think. But seriously, make sure you are 100% certain, shorting wrong two pins could be bad.

The first thing I did was make sure the PSU was working by doing the paperclip trick and connecting the PSU to the car fans. I pulled many schematics of the pins to make sure they were the right ones. The fans turn on and the lights on the AkiTiO turn on when I flip the switch. I assumed everything was good b/c the case fans and video card fans turned on (video card fans wiggle, apparently this is what they do when not under load).

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I just tested the 970 in a friends desktop and the card is good.

I'm at a loss for what could be not working.

Update:

I noticed that when I boot up with the eGPU there is a yellow exclamation point on "Microsoft basic display adapter" in device manager. This does not happen when I plug in the powered on eGPU when booted into windows already.

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So I got it to turn on. I was going to try a new hdmi cable, and when I did, windows made a disconnect sound. I plugged it back in and it shot up to the tv!

The weird thing though is that my macbook screen stays on. It's just a extended monitor.

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  • 2 months later...

I think you just solved my solution to my eGPU project because I had the exact same problem as you did!

I have tried many different combos of trying to power up my setup but nothing would work. Just like yours, my GTX 970 would wiggle once I power on the PSU and I did the molex-to-barrel mod and still the same results.

I remember reading on a forum about how HDMI cables having an arrow on them saying they're bi-directional and I'm guessing that's what caused them to not have an external display.

I'm gonna change out the HDMI cables tomorrow to see if it works and I'll post updates.

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  • 9 months later...
  • Tech Inferno Fan changed the title to 2013 15" MBP GT750M + GTX970@16Gbps-TB2 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win8.1 [th3v3rn]

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