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@aqqua

1) Check that you have Boot Camp drivers 5.1.5640 installed (Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5640) and the latest Nvidia drivers

2) Confirm that "Turn on fast startup" is unchecked: Boot Camp: Thunderbolt devices not recognized after Windows 8 upgrade

Then try the following:

3) Confirm that internal screen is set as default display (external screen extended or internal only in use, try both)

4) Shut down your system completely, and power on ATX PSU + AKiTiO at the same time from the power strip switch

5) Alt/option key down, select windows partition quickly or wait for 5-10 seconds and then select

6) If the steps 3-5 don't make it work, the final attempt is to plug in TB cable a few seconds after restart

Some graphics cards require those previous 3-6 steps before internal screen can be detected. The chosen card vendor/model is one important factor if you want Optimus to be more like plug and play (I recommend EVGA). AKiTiO does support Optimus very well after you have found the right method for detection.

I updated to GeForce 344.11 driver with my setup (MBPr 15" Iris Pro + EVGA GTX 780), external screen went black during the installation, but after restart Optimus worked and everything was ok. Once internal screen is detected, you need one additional shut down + restart in order to have correct resolution and icon sizes in your internal screen/external screen.

I think that that might be the case, the adaptor might output 84W (12V x 7A), but only 60W is allocated to the PCIe slot itself.

Also, sorry for the misunderstanding but what goalque has recommended to me yesterday was to use a powered riser with a molex connector with only one yellow wire, such as PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm powered 1X riser card. This didn't have the black ground wire like my riser has, so I assumed that if I remove it, it would function exactly the same as this one.

I just purchased a Sonnet III-D earlier today, however, since 1. It has a broken fan that I need to replace so I can't sell it and 2. I really want to get this set-up working for anyone looking for a lower cost solution, I will look online for a barrel plug so I can get the SEL working under my PSU.

I just noticed a very important detail with the Cablematic's x8 to x16 riser: GPU fans didn't spin either when I used it with AKiTiO, and powered from the molex-to-barrel-plug adapter. I corrected my assumption that it wouldn't work without powered riser here. @Mark, can you test if your GPU fan spin when molex is not plugged with your riser?

With a x16 to x16 powered riser and molex unplugged, fans do spin. The x8 to x16 riser seems to have wires soldered differently, 8/9 wide cable separated whereas x16 to x16 riser has the whole x4 part separated.

As Tech Inferno Fan suggested, it's possible to use only one power source (ATX PSU), and feed the required power via molex-to-barrel-plug adapter. That way 75W might be allocated to the x8 slot. Not sure, but just wanted to say the possibility still exists. In fact, it makes sense to have 84W adapter, if the TB card+other PCIe board components need 24W and the x8 slot 60W.

EDIT: I did a continuity test with a multimeter, and there is no direct 12V connection from the male 2nd pin to the female 2nd pin! The power comes from the molex connector only (one yellow wire).

Would have worked because your DC and ATX PSU plugged into the same GND wall socket and the DC adapter didn't apply any level shifting. If used sockets with different GNDs then you'd have quite a dangerous wiring arrangement.

SEL comes with a 60W AC adapter: Sonnet - Echo Express SEL Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis . Based on your result in using a 84W AC adapter it appears to also limit power to the PCIe slot, just like the AKiTiO Thunder2.

12V/7A was marked on the original power adapter of the SEL and it has the same 2.5mm/5.5mm barrel plug size as AKiTiO's adapter. The advert on the Sonnet site is incorrect or they have updated version, or they sell SEL with different adapters. In the manual I also found some info that it would be 60W, and it was confusing.

Thanks for the reply. Do I need a powered riser, if I use a molex-to-barrel plug adapter to power the SEL?

The fans won't spin without a powered riser?

That's correct. GPU didn't show any sign of life without a powered riser, even if using a molex-to-barrel-plug adapter, if I remember right. But I cannot be 100% sure, because I only tested with the riser from Cablematic that has only one yellow wire (molex plugged/unplugged).

EDIT: I still have the x8 to x16 powered riser, but GTX780 fans didn't spin either, when I used it with the AKiTiO. I just confirmed. Meaning that this riser is only meant to be used when powered, and not molex unplugged. Therefore, it is possible that you can use molex-to-barrel-plug to feed enough wattage to run SEL with your GPU + unpowered x8 to x16 riser, not the powered one from Cablematic. But we don't know the wattage output of x8 slot in this situation. My GTX780 only needs 25W from the PCIe slot, but other cards may need 75W.

How about using the barrel DC connector attached to your external PSU to power the TB part of the SEL? Then there is no need to remove any black connector since the whole thing is powered by one PSU? I *would not* recommend removing the GND from any cable since it's the reference point for voltage provided by/to the device.

Actually I didn't recommend to remove the ground wire, I myself had this riser with SEL and it worked:

8X PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm power

Powering only from the 12V/7A DC jack via molex didn't feed enough wattage to spin GPU fan (this was quite odd because I thought a powered riser is not compulsory with SEL).

EDIT: I meant by "12V/7A DC jack via molex" a molex-to-barrel-plug-adapter (2.5mm/5.5mm) from the ATX PSU. 12V/7A is marked output of the original SEL power adapter (adverted as 60W on their web page).

So is it conclusive to say that this setup will work with a MBPr 2014 iris model, with bootcamp win 8.1 and optimus?

EVGA GTX 980

Sonnet SEL

8x to 16x riser

External PSU

It is very likely that it works out of the box and it's plug and play, if you use a powered x8 to x16 riser with only a single 12V yellow wire (no ground). I bought one from Cablematic. I cannot guarantee this solution is safe, but was stable on gaming. Better is to use molex-to-barrel-plug adapter without 12V/7A adapter included with the SEL. GPU fans start to spin only when the riser is powered via molex from PSU.

In my previous setup I had SEL + EVGA GTX 780 and it performed the same compared to AKiTiO, but Optimus support was even better. It worked every time and no sluggishness when booting. You just need to wait for some 5 seconds to external screen appear. I also discovered that when you booted from an external thunderbolt SSD drive attached to the second port of the SEL, it didn't affected to the performance, but you always lose internal screen Optimus, and there is no workaround for this. If you like to have eGPU on OSX side as well, and don't need quad core CPU, I recommend MBPr 13" late 2013, but some CPU hungry games on Windows 8.1 are not very playable via internal screen.

Tested my AKiTiO rig today:

MBPr late 2013, 13", 8GB, i5

AKiTiO Thunder2, MSI GTX 970, be quiet! 500W, no riser!

Followed goalques guide and have it running under Windows 8.1: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/7580-%5Bguide%5D-2014-15-macbook-pro-iris-gtx780%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-a.html

Benchmarks (compared to my desktop rig, both external monitor):

MacBook vs. Hackintosh

3dMark - Fire Strike: 9763 vs. 12367 (Graphics Score) - 78,9% of desktop performance

Unigine Valley - ExtremeHD: 1232 vs. 2274 (Score) - 54,2% of desktop performance

What I don't like:

- AKiTiO PSU and board are noisy (electric noise)

- MSI GTX 970 was noisy in my desktop system as well (electric noise)

Will do more benchmarks (any wishes?) and will try a powered riser.

Thanks for sharing this! I was considering change to GTX970 to have more silent eGPU because lower wattage (less heat), but it seems that ~150W cards don't exist yet (look here). The performance benefit is not big either, but you could try some other tests as well (3DMark11 is my favourite).

To minimize electric buzzing sound, use molex-to-barrel-plug adapter instead of AKiTiO PSU. Do you hear electric noise all the time? With the GTX780, I only hear it when doing something very heavy, such as 3DMark11 test. Occasionally on gaming too, but it's acceptable. When making a decision which GPU to choose, I keep these things in mind: 1) It's silent (look for some reviews) 2) It supports plug-and-play Optimus (we cannot predict this very well). Did you get Optimus to work?

@aqqua: I had similar problems with my EVGA GTX 780, only the external monitor working and integrated GPU not visible in device manager. AKiTiO is not perfect to support Optimus in Win8.1 EFI, the chosen card is not the only reason. You may have better Optimus support with Sonnet SEL. I have been just lucky to have Optimus enabled with AKiTiO, but still sometimes I lost it after reboot and have to enable again. When it's working, screen is updating very slowly at first in booting, but after logged on, all the sluggishness is vanished. Windows seems to remember Optimus on next boot. You can also try to set "show desktop only on 1" (the internal one, both screens should be somehow visible in screen resolution preferences), and then power off your MBP from the power button, and restart. I use 340.52 driver with NVIDIA GeForce Experience. Unfortunately cannot help much more, I hope this helps!

Hi all,

Optimus problem.

I upgraded my setup from pe4l v2.1 to akito thunder 2 on 13" rmbp late 2013. gtx 660. The card is recognized under win 8.1 efi. I installed nvidia drivers. External monitor works but no optimus. When I do the tricks by changing options to extended displays and making my internal screen as primary monitor. I shut down mac and start with alt key to go to boot option, I choose windows and it shows black screen and mac restarts itself again and again.

Then I tried to plug out psu and akitio power and do the same trick. I started mac with alt to come to boot options, then plugged in akitio power and psu this time I get again only external monitor.

By the way I power akitio with its original adapter and power gpu with 6 pin connector.

Hope someone can help me.

I noticed that you have tried my instructions for EVGA GTX 780. EVGA cards are near plug and play, but it's not always easy to get Optimus to work. You may find some advice here:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6918-updated-2013-13-15-macbook-pro-thunderbolt-2-egpu-plug-play-optimus.html

Can somebody with an Akitio Thunder2 Box confirm what the barrel plug size is of the power adapter?

I'd starting to order all the parts, and I'm planning to let it run from just an ATX powersupply, so the Akitio board also gets powered by the PSU using a molex-to-barrel plug. However, I found this webshop selling such plugs, but only 2.1mm plugs.

I was wondering whether the Akitio also uses a 2.1mm barrel plug, or is it a 2.5mm one?

That same shop also seems to sell some nice PSU on-off switches for those that are not fond of putting a paperclip in their PSU...

You need a 2.5mm/5.5mm barrel plug. I took a picture:

@Mark: Have you tried a powered x8 to x16 riser like this one with your PSU:

8X PCIe 16X extension cable 19cm power

and the power adapter of the SEL attached to the DC jack? I guess you have done your tests on Windows 8.1?

I have been aware of this product. They updated to Thunderbolt 2 only some months ago, are actually the only company so far advertising enclosures for GPUs as well. Unfortunately prices are in the same category as Sonnet Echo Express III-D and Netstor NA211TB. The benefit is that they support full length cards, and with the included external PSU (180W), it might fullfill the power requirement of GTX970. Backplane 412 itself should support enough wattages for any GPU if a proper PSU is used.

@entzoe: It might be that the Nvidia web driver is not fully compatible with the hardware (AKiTiO & eGPU) you are using on the OSX side. You may track down the reason from the system console log what caused the kernel panic. I got one faulty riser from ebay, but luckily had some extra ones that worked. There are so many variables. I haven't done long period testing with my setup on OSX, can only say that EVGA GTX780 6GB is stable on Windows without/with the riser.

Disclaimer: I cannot see what you are doing, nor do I know what your continuity tester is. If you touch the two probes of your continuity tester together - does it give a continuous beep?

If so, then in fact you proved that there is NOT a direct power track between the tested points and in fact there is a capacitor in the circuit.

-JimJ

I tested the continuity with a small multimeter (UT120A). Touching probes together gives continuous beep. Yes, there is no direct connection between those points, but from the x4 slot (has been already proved on this thread that it is electrically and physically x4) to the x16 there is. Thanks!

I just confirmed that the combination of molex-to-barrel-plug-adapter + molex powered riser (two yellow 12V wires + two black ground + capacitor) was stable and passed 3DMark11 test. My previous mention about system crash here must have been using two PSUs (AKiTiO + ATX) with a powered riser.

I might try in the future. As of now I don't want to mess up the mbp as it is currently on diy fusion. So creating a windows partition will need me to reinstall everything.

Ok. Trying different booting orders (plugging in the TB cable later) might help in detecting the card, but seems that no plug and play solution exists for pre 2013 MBP on Windows as mentioned here:

"Pre 2013 MacBook Pro

- No plug and play

- Figuring out a way to do a Bootcamp w/GPT install could then provide PnP over TB1"

@entzoe: You have MBP 2011 right? I haven't seen any successful older MBP thunderbolt implementation on Windows yet. My Mac mini is the only Windows implementation on the 2011-2012 list:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html

Have you tried to run Win7/Win8 with your MBP and AKiTiO?

EDIT: You already answered, I didn't see your previous post because we were writing at the same time

After a few days I got my PCI Riser but still no effect.

Situation 1): Powered the GFX card with 500 watt PSU and Thunder 2 powered = Black screen

Situation 2): Powered PCI Riser only (Molex) + Thunder 2 powered = Windows working, but can't find the card

Situation 3): Powered the GFX card with Riser + 500 watt PSU = Black screen

Starting to get desperate at this stage..

I wish I could help, but my instructions are only compatible with Mac mini 2011, not MacBook Pro 2011. MBPs from late 2013 should work with AKiTiO on Win8.1, and preferably Iris only models. Another note that you are using MSI card which doesn't enable Optimus out of the box according to this:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6918-updated-2013-13-15-macbook-pro-thunderbolt-2-egpu-plug-play-optimus.html#post94929

Only a few vendor's cards are supported with AKiTiO. EVGA seems to be the most reliable choice.

The board power is for the ThunderBolt chip as well as the support circuitry (clocks, etc) for the PCIe bus. As mentioned previously, any diodes in this power circuitry will prevent current back-flow and some components may not receive proper power. Or put another way: yes, the PCIe riser power is sufficient for the slot, just not a guarantee that the other circuits get proper power.

There are direct power tracks from the x16 slot to the x4 slot powering the Thunderbolt daughter board. x4 slot limits the power to 25W when feeding power normally via AKiTiO's 60W power adapter.

What I am a little concerned is that when using both the DC jack power and a powered riser, my system immediately shut down when began to run 3DMark11 test. I don't remember if I used molex-to-barrel-plug-adapter or AKiTiO's adapter, but won't try that again and there are some other posts here that warned the same. You said that "using multiple power supplies carries the risk of ground loops that I wanted to avoid." Is it safe to use one power source (ATX PSU) even though power is feeded from two source points on the board as you have done?

And as you have some EE background, can you comment something about this I found by googling?

"If you are testing two points in a circuit and there is a (big) capacitor between those points you may hear a quick beep and then quiet. That's because the voltage the meter is applying to the circuit is charging up the capacitor and during that time the meter 'thinks' its continuous (essentially)"

This is what happened when I did a continuity test between near DC jack and x16 slot 12V points without 4pin black/yellow cable. The short beep sound can be heard again, when switching black and red probes.

Does that mean we have to buy new types of HDMI ot DVI cables?

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

According to this, existing high speed cables should work:

HDMI :: Manufacturer :: HDMI 2.0 :: FAQ for HDMI 2.0

This is quite a new information for me too.

I think the best way is to keep the 780 till you know for sure that the Zotac will work.

Regarding the Inno 3D, I think that measurement is w/o bracket included, I've spent some time looking at the images and 215mm + 12mm makes sense.

Yep, maybe you are the first one here who confirms that I noticed that some of those cards support HDMI 2.0, which means 4K@60FPS (of course the display and the computer has to support as well).

@jcagara08: Well I think there are more sensible ways to get rid of it =) Hard to make a decision to sell as it's so stable card and no guarantee that Zotac would work with AKiTiO.

By the way, I found another small GTX970 (not sure if bracket length is included, maybe not)

Inno3D (215mm)

Cool, so you did one cable already? That's crafty!

Yeah the heat might be a problem.

My plan is more of a 'warranty voiding' nature =)

* Making vent holes on the sides

* Solder the 5.5/2.5mm jack to be directly connected to the PCIe x16 slot

* Split this rail to 2 x 6-pin PCIe power for the GPU

Since my Thundertek board have no problem providing a GTX660/GTX670 via x16 slot (plus the PCIe 8-pin for GPU of course), I think the Akitio board would too. The 25W fuse limitation is probably a design restriction in order to have the enclosure licensed (for low end GPU purposes?), but this is of course only speculations from part.

I did the 6pin header only, its height is now 14.7mm (I may shorten it a bit more). Have to get shrink tubes and then just put the cables back. The idea of utilising inner chassis would mean that I had to get rid of my current GTX 780 Very tempting to use an external PSU as those new cards are not so power hungry anymore. For now, I think to keep my current setup and the plan to make a bigger enclosure supporting full length cards and PSU inside.

@jacobsson

So we have ~1mm space there to fit this card in theory And thanks for the instructions to make a lower profile 6pin cable, I already made one plug and now there is room to close the outer shell. Unfortunately with my 750Ti, the heat sink pipe is still there...

145W TDP theorically allows only one 6-pin header (75W from the x16 PCIe slot + 75W from the 6pin connector), but because AKiTiO only provides 25W from the PCIe slot, we need both.

I still may wait for the other vendor's smaller size cards, and I am worried about the heat problem, because outer shell does not have any vents on the side where from the GPU cooler is getting air, and PCIe/TB-boards need some cooling as well. Drilling some holes and putting a fan in front of the case might help. But this is really interesting idea anyway!

By the way, with your 750ti, is there good enough head room for the PCIe power 6pin?

Unfortunately no. The curved metal bar is an obstacle in any case. With a standard size 6pin PCIe power plug, the top of the plug and top of the outer shell are on the same level. We need something like this:

New PCI E 6 Pin Super Low 90 Degree Right Extension Cable 6"Made in America | eBay