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SmutjeHannes

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Posts posted by SmutjeHannes

  1. Hey guys,

     

    I recently upgraded from 10.9.5 to 10.11.3 and am now missing the native resolutions for my ASUS 2k display. I can only select 1080p when I'm using the Nvidia web drivers. The native 2560 x 1440 px.

     

    When I switch to the OS X Default Graphics Drivers the higher resolution is working again. Strange thing then, my Geforce GTX 780 Ti is recognized as "Ashley" not as "GTX 780 Ti".

     

    Does anyone have an idea what the problem is?

     

    On the Nvidia page it says "BETA support is for iMac 14,2 / 14,3 (2013), iMac 13,1 / 13,2 (2012) and MacBook Pro 11,3 (2013), MacBook Pro 10,1 (2012), and MacBook Pro 9,1 (2012) users. " - is it possible that they dumped support for older models like mine (8,3)?

     

    Your help is really appreciated.

     

    Hannes

     

    Attached images:

    1 with NVIDIA Web Driver

    1.png

     

    2 with OS X Default Graphics Driver

    2.png

  2. Would you make the same test in full screen mode? The picture says it's "windowed" and it may have an effect on performance. Here my Mac mini (2011) Unigine Heaven benchmark in mode 1600x900 8xAA fullscreen.

    post-29425-1449499832897_thumb.png

    Here it is...

    - - - Updated - - -

    Would you make the same test in full screen mode? The picture says it's "windowed" and it may have an effect on performance. Here my Mac mini (2011) Unigine Heaven benchmark in mode 1600x900 8xAA fullscreen.

    For the resolution that you did the test with I got this result...

    post-29425-14494998329395_thumb.png

  3. Luvin' the enthusiasm. Suggest browsing through the existing Thunderbolt guides at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#Thunderbolt to give you an idea of what format you'd like.

    Then start a new thread naming it as you'd like. I'm happy to help edit/reformat it for better naming and easier viewing. Important point is to just get the details out there in the quickest and easiest way for you.

    Just uploaded my guide. Would appriciate any corrections =)

    - - - Updated - - -

    Thanks, but I was asking for the newer benchmark "Unigine Valley".

    In general your results are only 60% of desktop systems, but might also be becaue your MBP has just TB1.

    Oh yeah, sorry, my bad.

    Can't wait to get a new MBP with TB2 and see what happens then...

  4. I'm writing this guide in order to help anyone with kind of the same configuration. Without the other guides out there and some help I wouldn't have made it. Thank's a lot guide guys!

    Warning: The following procedure at your own risk. Please be sure to take a backup in case of emergency.

    Hardware Configuration:

    • Apple MacBook Pro 17" late 2011 16 GB with discrete AMD Radeon HD 6770M AND integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 + Thunderbolt 1 + Mavericks 10.9.4
    • AKiTiO Thunder 2 PCIe Box
    • Thermaltake London 550 W (73 € @ Conrad)
    • Asus GeForce ROG MATRIX GTX 780 Ti Platinum (444 €)
    • external Display via HDMI
    • Thunderbolt cable

    Preperation: (thanks to entzoe for his guide here)

    Step 1 (Note: eGPU setup should be all disconnected)

    Step 2

    • Download and install a modded NVIDIA Web driver
    • Usually, NVIDIA's official Web driver will do a system check. Official web driver can only be installed on MacPro 2008, 2009, 2010. If you are using a iMac or Mac Mini or MacBook Pro, you can't even install. But Modified Web driver avoids the system check. Modded Web driver file name is ModdedWebDriver-334.01.02f02.pkg.
    • File mirror: https://app.box.com/s/wa2tblhb4y5dtd3fgh1z

    Step 3

    • Modify the following KEXT files
      • /System/Library/Extensions/NVDAStartup.kext
      • /System/Library/Extensions/IONDRVSupport.kext
      • /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHDA.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleHDAController.kext

      [*]look for sections beginning with CFBundleIdentifier and add just before the closing add the two following lines

    <key>IOPCITunnelCompatible</key>

    <true>

    • There are several sections OF that CFBundleIdentifier

    post-29425-14494998327631_thumb.png

    If you don't know how to modify these files (like me), that's what I did:

    • download and install Textwrangler
    • go to the file and right click, open with Textwrangler
    • in the left tab extend the Contents folder and click on info.plist
    • in the right hand tab you can do the modifications

    Step 4

    • Every time you upgrade your OS you need to modify these KEXT files
    • Finally, clear the cache by issuing the following command in the Terminal application “sudo kextcache -system-caches” and shutdown your OS.

    Step 5 - Put together your hardware (without anything connected to electricity yet)

    • connect the eGPU to the PSU via the 8 pin / 2x 2+6 pin cable
    • dismantle the AKitio and take out the card (actually it’s two)
    • plug the GTY into the x16 PCIe slot of the AKiTiO card (no PCIe riser needed)
    • connect the power adaptor of the AKiTiO into the card
    • to power-on a PSU without a motherboard connection you can use the Paperclip Trick
    • connect the Thunderbolt cable with your computer
    • connect the HDMI with you external display
    • have both, the PSU and the AKiTiO power plugged into a switchboard an turn it on
    • turn on your MacBook

    Step 6 - Software configuration

    • in System Preferences / Displays / Arrangement make sure that the menu bar is located on your external display

    post-29425-14494998328214_thumb.png

    • Check Apple / About This Mac / More Info… if the GTX is being used

    post-29425-14494998328715_thumb.png

    Pictures:

    I'll upload some later when everything is nicely put into an enclosure. The pictures I posted before elsewhere where totaly misleading and just wrong. Did everything wrong... (eGPU and AKiTiO card where touching each other, everything was placed onto a metal board and that caused electric sparks, so don't do that!)

    Benchmark:

    post-29425-14494998327855_thumb.png

    Conclusion:

    It works! I can use my internal screen and the external screen connected via the eGPU.

    Concerning stability with my eGPU everything is fine except for Preview and Quicktime (so far). Whenever I try to watch a movie with these programs the screen just freezes, but I can still move the mouse and hear the sound. Also the image is somehow green and distorted but wouldn't actually play for longer than a second. When that happens I have to force shut down and restart.

    VLC is fine, no problems there with the same files compared to Preview and Quicktime.

    Help anyone?</true>

    post-29425-14494998328494_thumb.png

    • Thumbs Up 4
  5. @SmutjeHannes , congrats on getting it working with OSX. There's interest to see Windows 8.x working as well. If you do try that then please use Bootcamp 5.x to create the Windows partitions. On the SSD platforms we've found Bootcamp 5.x creates GPT partitions allowing Win8.x to boot in UEFI mode. That often eliminates any error 12 issues. Here's how to install Bootcamp 5.x in case you have 4.x already on there: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/7607-%5Bguide%5D-2011-mac-mini-gtx780%4010gbps-tb1-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-a.html#post104479

    Other point is you are the first to do a Thunderbolt eGPU implementation on a 17" Macbook Pro. No existing entry exists for that machine at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-thunderbolt-expresscard-mpcie-egpus.html#Thunderbolt .

    A GUIDE of how you got it going showing the gear you are using, some pics and benchmarks would be very helpful to others in replicating your pioneering effort.

    Thanks!

    Hey Nando,

    would love to create a GUIDE. Where do I start the post, and how do I name it correctly so it shows up in your list?

  6. You are welcome! :) I meant the AKiTiO's PCIe x16 slot itself, without any risers. It saves space and the most difficult part in enclosure design is already solved as we have the x16 slot and back bracket there. Other vendors, such as Sonnet SEL only has a x8 slot and a riser is compulsory.

    I will give it a try tomorrow with fitting everything into the Cooler Master Elite 120.

    Concerning stability with my eGPU everything is fine except for Preview and Quicktime (so far). Whenever I try to watch a movie with these programs the screen just freezes, but I can still move the mouse and hear the sound. Also the image is somehow green and distorted but wouldn't actually play for longer than a second. When that happens I have to force shut down and restart.

    VLC is fine, no problems there with the same files compared to Preview and Quicktime.

    What could be wrong?

  7. Thanks for the post! Be careful and place it on something that is not metal, and so that PCIe board and GPU don't touch! Preferably in upright position as I did. Seems like you don't use a powered riser either. 25W might be enough for some higher end GPUs that have 6pin & 8pin power connectors. The possibility to utilise x16 PCIe connector is a big benefit, when making a custom enclosure to support full length GPUs. I recommend to put a 12cm fan towards the PCIe board to cool it as its operating temperature is specified max 35C. My GTX780 has intake ACX fans, meaning that hot air blows from bottom and top grills, not much from the back. Some graphics cards have blower style fan, in which case heat comes from the back.

    Thank's for your suggestion to put it upright and everything. I probably did it as wrong as one could do it ;)

    I'll definitely try a x16 PCI connector when I try to build a custom enclosure, without it you're too limited in arranging that stuff. And I'll try the fan position for the PCIe board, to be sure.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Thanks for the details! One last wish: Could you test "Unigine Valley" with 1920x1080 on an external monitor (full screen and extreme settings)?

    Sorry, I can't do, because I don't have a full HD display (yet).,,

  8. Hi SmutjeHannes,

    Thanks for replying on this topic, I'm also a MBP 2011 user (2.2 GHZ, yes you've got the better one) and was wondering if this was working. Looks like you already got it working! Just a question, did you tried to use the eGPU with Windows? I'm going to play games with it and waiting for shop respons when they ship. Thanks in advance!

    Bought mine in Malaysia and I was lucky they had this one in stock. No, I don't use windows and don't play. I want to use the eGPU for video editing. It's working!

    My eGPU setup:

    London 550W PSU (don't really know why I bought this one...) with the paperclip trick (the blue cable)

    Asus Geforce GTX 780 Ti connected with the 8pin to 2x 6+2 pin cable that came with the PSU

    I dismantled the Akitio chassis and connected the card directly to the PCIe slot without any riser.

    I followed this guide with additional help for the kext modifiying with this and that guide.

  9. I don't use a powered riser but I'm thinking about soldering a 12 V connection from my PSU to the DC connection in order to safe an extra power adaptor.

    Here are my results:

    Picture 1 actually shows the result with the Sonnet Echo Express III-D.

    post-29425-14494998326205_thumb.png

    Picture 2 was created with the Aktio Thunder2.

    post-29425-14494998326511_thumb.png

    I did the tests twice and the Akitio always performed a little worse then the Sonnet. But still, almost 700 € difference in price aren't worth the Sonnet.

    My testsetup is an MBP 17" late 2011, 2,4 GHz i7 with 16GB 1333 MHz DDR, an 1TB EVO SSD and Mavericks 10.9.4.

    I'm thinking about buying the Cooler Master Elite 120 to fit everything inside.

    Anyone experiences?

  10. Don't chose the built-in display. Choose one of your monitor and make sure to check the 'mirrored' check-box

    My computer crashed after I tried to open Premiere (which wanted to use GPU with CUDA which is the eGPU). After restart I switched between displays and set the resolution for one of the external displays and now the 780 TI is being used! thank’s a lot man!

    I was a little buzzed to have my 3 different displays all show the same. But then in the Arrangement tab I relocated the menu bar to one of the external sceens and now I don’t have to mirror displays and my GTX is till being used. Great!

    I will do some testing now. But it looks good so far.

    Thank you so much, man

    Cheers,

    Hannes

  11. Can you try this steps?

    1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences > Click Displays. Can you Tell me what is it showing (3 displays? 2 monitors and your MBP monitor?)

    2. Is there an Arrangement tab?

    3. Can you check the mirror display icon?

    Aperture 3 User Manual

    Jep, it shows 2 monitors and the MBP monitor and there is an Arrangement tab and I checked the mirror display icon so all 3 displays show the same

  12. Try this, work on your external display, and try if you can find the following icon (box or square with a black up-arrow ) on your menu?

    Can you try to click on it and select one of your External Monitor?

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]12492[/ATTACH]

    After that, check your System settings (About MacBook) if the current GPU points to your eGPU.

    I can't find that icon. Do I have to change settings somewhere to make it appear?

  13. Can you please post a screenshot of your System Information under Graphic Card. Does it show both the GPU (512 and GTX 780)? And does the GTX shows an output information to your External Monitor?

    Hey there,

    post-29425-14494998324779_thumb.png

    that's what I got and yes I have plugged two monitors to the GTX and they are working.

    But I can't use the GTX for example with Unigine Heaven Benchmark... it says that it's using the GPU Chip.

  14. Hey guys,

    I've been following this and other guides a while now and finally got the Akitio Thunder2 and my GTX 780 Ti shipped home.

    So I installed the CUDA drivers, the modified NVDIA driver, modified the kext files and connected my card. I started my MBP 17" late 2011 running Mavericks 10.9.4 and have an external display connected to the 780 Ti via DVI.

    It works meaning I can have my desktop extended via the connected eGPU onto an external screen but my internal screen still works, too.

    The eGPU shows up in System information but it looks like the eGPU isn't used by OS X.... why?

    post-29425-14494998324552_thumb.png

    And how do I make Adobe Premiere Pro use the eGPU?

    Many thanks in advance guys, you're making a dream come true!

    Hannes

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