wasi88

I have the same issue here too. I tried everything but couldn't make my egpu with gtx 980 to work on macbook retina screen. Let me know if you find out any news or solution for it.

Hi,

I was using my egpu completely fine with windows 8.1 and i saw that nvidia has released dx12 drivers for Windows 10 preview edition. so I thought to install the windows 10 using bootcamp. so now I have installed Windows 10 successfully also my egpu was detected and i installed the drivers too. everything looked fine but now when i try to run 3dmark 11 to test performance, my only internal gpu works but not my gtx 980. i knew because it is giving very low fps in the benchmark test. Is any one had any idea please let me know. Thanks

Are these benchmark tests performed on internal display or external display.

Thanks for the advice. I have decided to keep my 980.

At last can you do me a last favour: Can you show me 3dmark 11 extreme and performance benchmark score of your egpu setup.

Also can you tell me which macbook pro you have? 13 or 15 inch.

A little "off topic" - Windows 8 can do screenshots with pressing cmd+F14

Considering the facts that you only want to play games on the internal screen, a GTX 970 would be the better choice. BUT is there really no chance to play on an external display (in the furture)?

I am using a GTX 970 because of budget reasons and not really pleased with the card because it has a loud coil whine/buzzing under load (like many other people). EVGA released one week ago a new version of the GTX 970 SSC and will release a new GTX 970 FTW+ with better components to reduce that problem. Until I can switch (by RMA) to a FTW+ and test I it, I will not recommend this cards. Also most eGPU setups are not inside a heavily damped case under the desk and you can easily hear false GTX 970s.

Still… if you want to play games in high resolutions on the Retina display you need every bit of raw processing power!

Bottomline: If you can afford it, stick with the GTX 980 or consider switching to the new 970 SSC (careful there is an old/not one still on the market as well) or the 970 FTW+.

I have MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G in mind to replace with my evga gtx 980 sc. The MSI card has 6+8 pin power connector so it would be no problem to over clock and match the performance of the 980. what do you say. my aim is to play games only on internal display due to its high resolution. and i am not sure i would buy 4k monitor in the near future.

Thanks.

Valley I can do now (give me 5min). But 3dMark 11 Benchmarks do I have already from my first Guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides/7879-%5Bguide%5D-2013-13-macbook-pro-gtx970%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-osx10-10-a.html

Results are:

internal Display (Optimus): 8205 Link

external Display: 8250 Link

Edit:

Oh boy, that Heaven Benchmark gave me a headache. Didn't want to open 2650x1600 in windowed mode, but was possible after starting and quiting that resolution in fullscreen:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13564[/ATTACH]

Looks like its pretty close to my score of 46 FPS. looks like on Internal display, gtx 970 and 980 gives similar performance due to thunderbolt bandwidth limit.

So Dschijn what do you suggest to me, should i return my gtx 980 and replace with gtx 970 as it gives similar or close performance while only using Retina Display for playing PC games.

Let me know please and Thank you for your genuine help.

Following is my score with EVGA gtx 980 SC acx

Hello @wasi88. First you need to consider that playing on the internal screen is reducing the possible perfromance to 70-80% of a desktop PC, because the transfered data to and from the eGPU needs to share the available bandwidth of TB2.

Your MBPr specs don't make sens to me, there is no 2014 15" with 2GHz (3.2GHz boost)...?! 2560x1600 is the resolution of the 13" MBPr not the 15" ... so what are you specs?

Far Cry 4 itself is very hungry for performance. Especially in high resolutions (GTX 980 in a desktop PC with 1440p and max details gives 45FPS). The 15" MBPr has a resolution of 2880-by-1800, which is 40% more pixel as regular 1440p!

So considering the higher resolution, the performance loss of TB2 and the mobile CPU ... I am not really confident about that.

Among others, you gave me the best response and Thank you for that. to clear the confusion My MBPr 15.4" is Late 2013 model with 2 Ghz core i7 processor which has 3.2 Ghz turbo boost.

I used Evga Gtx 980 SC ACX 2.0 for my build. I used MBPs Display for Benchmarks and are as follows.

Unigine heaven 4 Score: 1161 at 46 FPS with settings as follows

Mode: 2560x1600 Windowed

Preset: Custom

Quality: High

Tessellation: Normal

Also 3d Mark 11 score is: 8081

Can you use your setup for the same benchmarks at the same setting and show me the score. which will show me the performance difference.

Thanks again

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system using "Optimus internal screen at 2560x1600 or retina resolution". i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system using "Optimus internal screen at 2560x1600 or retina resolution". i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system using "Optimus internal screen at 2560x1600 or retina resolution". i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi Evo,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system using "Optimus internal screen at 2560x1600 or retina resolution". i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system at 2560x1600 resolution. i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system at 2560x1600 resolution. i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

In your benchmark shows that gtx 780 is scoring more than gtx 980. how is that.

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system at 2560x1600 resolution. i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system at 2560x1600 resolution. i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

I am really in a dilemma here. My only motive for the Egpu is to play pc games only on the MAC BOOK'S internal display with retina resolution and ultra settings.

I have read that gtx 970 is capable of playing games at 2560x1440p with decent FPS. so what should i buy for my egpu built. is GTX 970 would be enough powerful to let me play "Latest Games" like FarCry 4 at native "Retina Resolution" with "Ultra" (maxed out) settings. if you have any egpu setup with akitio and gtx 970, would you please show me the benchmarks of your system at 2560x1600 resolution. i would really appreciate it if any of you can provide different benchmarks at 2560x1600 resolution.

"FYI: I have 2014 retina macbook pro 15.4" iris only with 2 GHz cpu (3.2 GHz Turbo) and akitio thunder 2 pcie box"

Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks

Hi,

Great post and will be very helpful when I start to build my eGPU. I have all components ready except graphics card. I am a big fan of MBPs Retina display and only building my eGPU to play games on MBPs retina display.

In your setup, you have used gtx 970 but i want to buy gtx 980 or upcoming highest end graphics card. will it make any difference in playing games on retina display or i should just buy gtx 970.

Please help as i am stuck on this decision.

Thanks.

Hi,

I am very glad hearing that your setup worked as expected as I am also planning for this DIY eGPU. I have every thing ready including Akitio Thunder 2 Box. My only question to you is will it make any difference in gaming performance if I buy GTX 980 or anything powerful than it instead of GTX 970? I am considering playing games only on native retina display of my RMBP 15.

Thanks for any help and hope to hear from you soon.

If you have the money… get a 980Ti. If you want to go for price&performance than you better get the 980, as you will lose performance by using the Retina display and the TB2 connection. The 980Ti performance boost might be very small on your setup.

Hi Again,

Is it going to make any difference in game performance if I prefer to buy gtx 970 instead of gtx 980 or gtx 980 ti? Considering playing games only on retina display of MBP.

Thanks for the help.

Hi,

Is it going to make any difference if i get GTX 970 instead of GTX 980 or 980 ti. Consider playing games on Macbooks internal display only.

Thanks

Like I said before. On a desktop PC you might get a good performance boost 980 vs 980Ti, but on a MacBook (limitung factor 1) with Thunderbolt 2 (limitung factor 2) and only using the internal display (limitung factor 3) you will not get such a good effect. Of course the 980Ti will be faster, but in my opinion the money is not worth the small improvement.

You can play on the internal display in Windows 8.1 (100% chance). OSX I am not sure.

You can play on the internal display in Windows 8.1 (100% chance). OSX I am not sure.

Considering playing games only on MBPs retina display, will it make any difference in games if i get gtx 970 instead of gtx 980 or 980 ti.

In my case consider playing games on retina display only.

What do you mean by not getting such a good effect.

- - - Updated - - -

Also will it make any difference if I get gtx 970 instead of gtx 980 or 980 ti.

So according to you, I do not need external display in order to implement Thunderbolt eGPU. I can just plug akitio on to my macbook and enjoy playing games right?

will it make any difference if i get gtx 970 over 980 or 980 ti?