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[SCRIPT] Automating the installation of eGPU on OS X (inc display output)


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@rotarr
Check the cable head. There should be a lightning symbol. Power on eGPU and connect the TB cable directly from the AKiTiO to the TB port of your MBP, and then run the script.

 

@cyphersk8

1) https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/7989-script-automating-the-installation-of-egpu-on-os-x-inc-display-output/&do=findComment&comment=138056

2) The display which is set as the primary, will be the default for app launching, and the selected display is accelerated by the GPU which is shown in system profiler. The game programmer could give an eGPU option, but OS X games are not designed with eGPU in mind. It's worth to try DisableMonitor app / uncheck “displays have separate spaces” to gain better performance.

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/8880-perfomance-boost-when-disabling-internal-monitor/

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@goalque I will try the DisableMonitor thing later tonight and see. Any idea why my resolution when I start is centered and I am forced to sleep/wake the display to get it to go fullscreen? Any idea why the PSU makes some crazy noises while the eGPU is working?

 

Thanks. I'll update later on when I have a chance to test things away from work.

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15 hours ago, cyphersk8 said:

@goalque I will try the DisableMonitor thing later tonight and see. Any idea why my resolution when I start is centered and I am forced to sleep/wake the display to get it to go fullscreen? Any idea why the PSU makes some crazy noises while the eGPU is working?

 

Thanks. I'll update later on when I have a chance to test things away from work.

I don’t have a chance to test with an iMac. I guess Nvidia driver cannot span pixels up to 5K resolution from the eGPU with the default display configuration. After awaken from sleep, all the displays are reconfigured, and since the iMac screen becomes the primary, the result is full screen.

 

Power splitting via two molex plugs may cause problems. My AKiTiO draws power from a single EPS 8-pin connector with 80 Plus Gold efficiency.

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Hello, @goalque

 

I ran your beautiful script, thank you! But I'm getting the no eGPU detected error.

 

I have a Titan Black in a Sonnet Express II with an Corsair external power supply on a MacBook Pro. Reading the earlier comments you said this is usually a power supply issue, but I don't know how to confirm if the external power supply is providing power to the Titan.  Is there an easy way to check?

 

Thanks!

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No, I haven't tried! Is there a link to the paper clip trick?

 

Also, the sonnet power supply is only Universal 300W, 115-230V AC, 50-60 Hz...and I think my Titan Card requires 600W. But, the Geforce light turns on when I plug in the thunderbolt to my computer...

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On March 4, 2016 at 3:27 AM, cyphersk8 said:

@goalque thanks so much for the script and support you provide. I've scoured these posts and with your help I've managed to get the 980Ti/Akitio combo running while leaving the native 5k alone. That line 62 trick works great. I do have a few small questions and/or problems that I hope you can help me to address:

 

ALBUM OF IMAGES: http://imgur.com/a/byL6W

 

1) If don't disable the eGPU secondary monitor output (using the line 62 trick) I get very weird resolutions on the 5k. When I first boot up, only the center of the monitor is displayed. It looks like how it is when you display vertical video on a widescreen device. If I click 'sleep' before logging in, and then wake it back up, the entire screen fills out but everything gets huge. It's like it thought it was 5k, then HD. I can never get it to look or feel like the native 5k afterwards.

 

2) For gaming, starcraft 2 doesn't recognize the 980Ti unless I am utilizing the secondary monitor set up as my 'primary' through SystemPrefs/Displays. When I do that, I can run the game in windowed mode and drag it back to my 5k, however, I get horrible fps. It's really bad. Any ideas on how I can use the 980Ti for gaming on the 5k? I don't own a dedicated secondary display. I've been using my TV for testing purposes.

 

3) The big problem. My PSU (Corsair CX750M) makes some very interesting noises when the eGPU is under load. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it sounds like very fast ticking noises, definitely from inside the PSU chassis. It happens if I run the secondary monitor with starcraft 2 open, but it also happens when I've disabled the eGPU output and only use the eGPU for rendering support. It sputters and changes pitch depending on how intense the load is at the moment. Ever run into this before? I doubt 750w is too little power for such a setup. Attached audio clip of PSU noise.

 

 A little about my set up:

 

Computer Hardware:

 

eGPU Hardware:

  • EVGA NVidia GEFORCE GTX 980Ti
  • Akitio Thunder2 Pcie
  • Corsair CX750M PSU

 

 

Setup is as follows: Akitio board removed and mounted to a custom wood base (I didn't want to destroy the factory case). 980Ti installed directly to the pcie on the akitio board. PSU directly powered by a ups (120v output with almost no load). The PSU came with cabling that I used to power both the 980Ti and the Akitio board. The 980Ti is powered via an 8pin connection on the back of the PSU to a 6-pin and 6-pin+2-pin on the 980Ti. (the cable has two 6-pin connectors and two 2-pin connectors attached at the end, but attaches at the PSU by a single 8-pin). The Akitio is powered by a 6-pin connection at the PSU that had 3 molex connectors on the end. There are 2 molex connectors attached that run to a single 12v DC Barrel plug. All connections securely soldered, heatshrinked, and appear solid. 

 

For testing the noise, I can either run a secondary monitor under load or run my single 5k and use the GPU accelerated nodes inside of a program called Nuke. Changing the focus of an image, for example, causes the PSU to make noise when sliding the values around because it is GPU accelerated. 

 

Thanks for the help in advance. Truly appreciative of what you've done here. 

 

psu_noise.m4a.zip

 

On March 4, 2016 at 3:27 AM, cyphersk8 said:

thanks

 

I have the same Mac as you and same enclosure. I have 2 graphics card I tried: GTX 970 and GT 640, but give me the resolution issue you're also experiencing. 

 

Hopefully we can find a fix!

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4 hours ago, mdt said:

No, I haven't tried! Is there a link to the paper clip trick?

 

Also, the sonnet power supply is only Universal 300W, 115-230V AC, 50-60 Hz...and I think my Titan Card requires 600W. But, the Geforce light turns on when I plug in the thunderbolt to my computer...

 

Please read this: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/7947-the-basic-egpu-hardware-guide-for-macs/

 

The paperclip trick is needed to make the (e.g.) Corsair PSU start and provide power. Without the trick... it is useless!

A Titan will need less than 300W, I would guess 250W is it's limit. 600W are just the specs for a whole PC and some "space" for alter upgrades.

In theory a 300W PSU should work, but in general their 12V rail is too weak and they don't have the propper connections. For a Titan any 500W PSU with 1x6-Pin and 1x8-Pin PCIe plug should be fine.

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I don’t care what he writes on their small delusional island. Can freely circulate there and repeat the same fantasy story.

 

Friends from Netstor Technology have done a huge favour by testing the script, and I’ll give them the first version of my EFI application in the coming weeks. It’s mainly developed for learning the early boot process of Mac computers. You don’t have to install rEFInd at all; all you need is the EFI file and the USB stick. No modification is needed for the Mac. The first version provides option to chain load both OS X and Windows, and automates a long awaited feature on Windows.

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Hi Thanks for the script! Made for an easy install, however I'm having problems getting the system to boot.

 

So I've installed the script onto a 2012 Mac Mini (OS X 10.10.3). Which loaded the drivers, then I restarted (all on internal graphics).

After restart the Nvidia logo in the top of the screen shows it's running the Nvidia Web Driver. Also now in System Information under Graphics/Displays it show's the video card as "NVIDIA Chip Model" - "GPU" - "PCIe", so it sees the card.

So now I shutdown the computer. Unplug the LCD from the internal graphics and plug it into the video card's DVI port in the Akitio. I leave the Thunderbolt cable plugged into the Mac Mini going to the Akitio case.

I turn on the computer and the LCD screen turns on and it goes white - it has picked up the video signal!!! Yay! - however that is all. It stays white for a while and then goes black again. The fan in the Akitio spins down and then up and the screen goes white again... in an endless loop.

I have to remove the Thunderbolt cable going to the Akitio case, put the LCD DVI cable back to internal graphics and force the Mac Mini to restart to get it to boot again.

 

Am I doing something wrong or missed a step?

 

 

Edited by pixxelpusher
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@pixxelpusher

You didn't say anything about your eGPU. Reinstall OS X and run the script again. 99% of the problems are caused by improperly installed hardware or manually messed up kexts.

 

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/9534-2012-macmini-i7-26ghz-geforce-gtx970-10gbps-tb1-akitio-thunder2-os-x-10113-gosmond/&do=findComment&comment=139712

Edited by goalque
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11 hours ago, goalque said:

@pixxelpusher

You didn't say anything about your eGPU. Reinstall OS X and run the script again. 99% of the problems are caused by improperly installed hardware or manually messed up kexts.

 

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/9534-2012-macmini-i7-26ghz-geforce-gtx970-10gbps-tb1-akitio-thunder2-os-x-10113-gosmond/&do=findComment&comment=139712

 

Thanks for the reply. The GPU is a Mac Nvidia GT120 that I'm just using for testing purposes in the Akitio Thunder 2 while I organise a power supply for my 980. Everything else is unmodified. The system is clean apart from the script that I ran, that seemed to go through ok as it said successful at the end (I've never modified anything on it manually). The rest of the setup is how I explained it above. I could try and install a fresh OS X onto another drive and redo the script? 

 

Thanks for the link as well, I'll read through it next.

Edited by pixxelpusher
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The script is designed to support only Kepler and Maxwell architecture cards from Nvidia even if it’s able to detect almost any device id. You may have luck with -skipdriver option.

 

1) sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -uninstall

2) restart
3) sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -skipdriver
4) restart

 

If it doesn’t work, your GPU is not supported natively either.

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17 hours ago, goalque said:

The script is designed to support only Kepler and Maxwell architecture cards from Nvidia even if it’s able to detect almost any device id. You may have luck with -skipdriver option.

 

1) sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -uninstall

2) restart
3) sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -skipdriver
4) restart

 

If it doesn’t work, your GPU is not supported natively either.

 

Ah ok I didn't realise that. The GT120 still does work with Mac OS X as I still use it in my Mac Pro from time to time when I need a boot screen. I will run the commands you listed and see if that works and report back.

Else, I'll just have to wait until I get my power supply and test with the GTX 980.

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I've tried to install again running the new commands but have the same boot hang / restart loop, so it must be the GT120 is not supported and causing problems.

I've attached a screenshot of what Terminal said after running the script, and also took a photo of the screen when restarting in verbose mode (just before it dies).

I think I'll just have to wait and try again soon with the GTX 980.

eGPU Install Terminal.png

eGPU-boot-screen.jpg

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On 17 March 2016 at 8:36 PM, goalque said:

I don’t care what he writes on their small delusional island. Can freely circulate there and repeat the same fantasy story.

 

Friends from Netstor Technology have done a huge favour by testing the script, and I’ll give them the first version of my EFI application in the coming weeks. It’s mainly developed for learning the early boot process of Mac computers. You don’t have to install rEFInd at all; all you need is the EFI file and the USB stick. No modification is needed for the Mac. The first version provides option to chain load both OS X and Windows, and automates a long awaited feature on Windows.

Is this going to make the egpu work on nMP in windows? 

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Nope. Could use a PC with much smaller footprint.

 

It's a more requested feature. The real advantage of the eGPU is the portability of a laptop combined to higher end graphics. The first feature of the EFI app will be automated internal screen acceleration with a dGPU equipped MBP. Works reliably with a Mid-2015 15" MBP (R9 M370X) on Windows 10:

 

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11085724

 

Approximately 86% of the external monitor graphics performance. I'm quite confident that 750M model can be automated as well. Unfortunately I don't have a chance to test with nMP.

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On 25 March 2016 at 8:22 PM, panini said:

Hi,

 

Is there any work being done or to be expected on audio support through HDMI?

I'm interested in using this for HTPC purposes.

 

Thanks for informing me!

I think this isn’t possible by shell script. Unfortunately, no support in sight.

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Hi, @goalque

 

Thanks for your script. I've installed the script at 2011 Mac Mini Server & 2015 Mac Book Pro Retina.

But i can not boot when egpu connected UHD monitor(3840x2160) via display port. (I can boot when connecting hdmi or disconnecting all of cables.)

So i tried to change GPU (gigabyte to zotac), but same situation.

 

If you know this problem, please tell me solution.

Thanks.

 

My hardware :

Mac mini Server (Mid 2011), Mac Book Pro Retina (Early 2015)
AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2047 MB (gigabyte gtx 960 windforce 2gb, zotac gtx 960 2gb)
Corsair RM650 with paperclip trick
Samsung UHD  (U28E850)

Edited by Andrea.Kang
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