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eeevan

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Everything posted by eeevan

  1. Could someone with a discrete GPU macbook do me a huge favour and please try the following steps? -- 1. Install Optimus.dmg, download the gpu-switch windows binary and set your startup disk (in OSX) to Bootcamp 2. Boot into Windows, run gpu-switch (integrated.bat) -- reboot 3. Wait for windows to auto install the drivers for the Intel Iris 4. After the Iris drivers are installed, run gpu-switch (dedicated.bat) -- reboot 5. When Windows loads, open the nvcpl and enable Optimus/confirm that it's running 6. Disable the discrete GPU in device manager 7. Run gpu-switch (integrated.bat) and set your startup disk to Windows in the bootcamp cfg tool. 8. Shut down and prepare your eGPU 9. Boot with the eGPU plugged in and be sure it's actually working (I noticed the fans spin faster when properly activated during boot) 10. Check if Optimus works and please let us know! Thanks! cc: @garytyler @rossfrederick @squinks @Mark @iregret @tre87 @th3v3rn @thomas_price1 @gianni @328115208 @ah- @tamer1009 @Verizon
  2. Thanks for the info, you’re right- I removed reFind and installed the Optimus.dmg/grub and it seems to work as expected. The one downside is that I've lost the ability to boot Windows without apple_set_os automatically being applied on every boot. @ah- I think the black screen issue is caused when the wrong GPU is set as primary. I had this happen when I disabled the 750m in device manager and rebooted with dedicated.bat. I thought I could switch back by setting “Integrated-only” in gfxCardStatus but that didn’t work. The solution was to boot into safe mode, and switch the 750m back on. However, I’m sure the problem is more complex then that. I've been trying to enable Optimus with an Iris, 750m, and 970 that are visible in device manager after rebooting with gpu-switch's dedicated.bat + patched grub. When all devices are active, device manager puts up an out of resources warning on the second Nvidia GPU. If I then disable the 750m the 970 will become active, but only when outputting to a an external display, I can't change the Optimus settings in nvcpl as with the 750m. I assumed the solution would be to boot with the 750m + Iris, enable Optimus, disable the 750m in device manager, then reboot with the eGPU plugged in. I figured this might trick the system to enable Optimus but unfortunately it causes Windows 8 to freeze (the wheel just stops) during boot. No other combination of settings caused Windows 8 to freeze this way. I tried this both with an external display attached to the eGPU and without, no luck! The only thing I didn't try was to enable Optimus with the 750m+Iris, immediately uninstall the 750m driver in device manager, then reboot with the Iris + eGPU combo.
  3. Just a warning, I bought this cable and the tip was too narrow. They look similar so just a heads up. - - - Updated - - - Hey @Dschijn was your drive Core Storage or HFS+ when you installed the efi patch? I'd rather use HFS+ so I can access my files, but I think installing the patch might fail.
  4. The 750m is definitely still consuming a lot of power while the Iris is active, even while "disabled". Brightness control isn't functioning as well, and it appears to force 80-90% brightness at all times. Perhaps I'll try that GMUX driver and see if it makes a difference. I used the windows version of gpu-switch + apple_set_os.efi + reFind 0.87 to boot Windows 8.1 (bootcamp install). No issues with black screens. @ah- Do you know how I would go about using the Optimus.dmg tool described in this post with apple_set_os.efi? Could I patch reFind with whatever EFI tweaks are inside the dmg? My main purpose for trying to get the Iris working is to unlock optimus internal LCD output on discreet gpu macbooks. I think it would be extremely useful to everyone if we could conveniently enable it. Thanks!
  5. I ordered a "2.5x5.5mm barrel to molex" of ebay that (after waiting a month) turned out to be the wrong size. I ended up bringing my Akito PSU + molex into a stereo repair shop and they cut the barrel off and made me a cable for $5.
  6. Would it be possible to make a version of Optimus.dmg that could be enabled within reFind?
  7. I didn't have a soldering iron, so I chopped off the barrel connector from the Akitio PSU and brought it to a stereo repair store. They made me a cable for $5.
  8. Hi Nando, Here are a few benchmarks. Resident Evil 5 Benchmark Iris 750m 3Dmark 11 (note the changing clock speeds) Iris 750m Cinebench Iris 750m Nvidia/Intel Control Panel w/ switching
  9. Thanks @ah-, It worked!! For some reason reFit would always freeze in the EFI shell after running apple_set_os.efi. I tried using reFind and that was the solution! @Evo* do you think it might be possible to activate optimus internal LCD mode?
  10. Hi, I recently figured out a way to enable eGPU display output in Yosemite. I'm using a 750m rMBP but this might work for Iris models as well. 1. Install the newest web drivers, patch the required kexts and install gfxCardStatus. 2. Boot into OS X (no eGPU attached) and switch to the web drivers. Reboot. 3. Continue to keep the eGPU unplugged and boot into Yosemite (with web drivers loaded) 4. Now the weird part 5. In gfxCardStatus, switch from integrated>discreet>integrated>discreet 6. On the second switch to discreet mode, the macbook display should immediately go black (hit the volume keys and you will still hear sound). At this point the output has been switched to the eGPU which hasn't been plugged in yet. 7. When the display goes black, hold the power button to force a shutdown. 8. Power on the eGPU but don't plug it in yet. Plug in an external monitor with HDMI and turn it on. 9. Power on the macbook and hold alt to get to the boot menu 10. Click to boot the Yosemite installation and immediately plug in the eGPU. The key element seems to be using gfxCardStatus when the web drivers are loaded to switch to the eGPU. This doesn't work unless they're active, as the internal display will never go blank. I assume the only reason I need to switch from integrated>discreet>integrated>discreet is because of the the already present 750m. This might be unnecessary with the Iris models- hopefully someone can test this out.
  11. Hi, I've run into an issue after installing the win8.1 drivers for my Akitio/GTX560 on my 2014" 750m macbook. I started noticing some aliasing/scaling artifacts in video, text, and other rendered UI elements. It effects both my Windows 8.1 and Yosemite 10.10.3 installation. I've also lost the ability to play smooth 4k60 video with the dGPU, but switching back to the iGPU with gfxCardStatus instantly doubles the frame rate in OSX. I've used the 4k60 version of this video as a benchmark many times in the months leading up the the eGPU install, so the change was very noticeable. Here are some examples, note the blur around the edges: http://i.cubeupload.com/hlGiJ1.png http://i.cubeupload.com/G2GxmY.png http://i.cubeupload.com/ygCTY8.png http://i.cubeupload.com/aZdvLA.png http://i.cubeupload.com/eRemK8.png http://i.cubeupload.com/cVqLHA.png When I first connected the eGPU and installed the drivers, it was connected to a 1080p display. It looks to me like it's scaling as if I'm always using that resolution, as the aspect ratio looks stretched as well. I'm at a loss for how to fix this, as nothing seems to have worked so far. Rolling back the drivers and clearing the PRAM unfortunately had no effect. Have you kind folks ever encountered such a problem?
  12. Thank you!! I really appreciate the response and all the info, it's extremely useful.
  13. Thank you so much @tre87! Apologies if this is painfully obvious, but at this point you're only installing the newest "desktop" drivers, correct? Or are you individually installing both the newest mobile AND desktop drivers, one after the other? In that case, would you select clean install or upgrade and in what order should I install them? This is the only part that isn't clear to me. Thanks!
  14. Thanks for the reply, that's interesting info. So I really only need to install the desktop driver after a fresh bootcamp install and let the 750m default to the "basic display adapter" driver. But since there's currently no way to totally disable the dGPU, won't the desktop eGPU drivers still affect the 750m on reboot? Its detectedin the (now installed) nvcpl but you're saying it's using the microsoft display drivers and not the Nvidia ones? This is what confuses me. Also- what usually happens to your internal display during boot? Does it disable automatically and activate eGPU display as primary? Do you have multiple drivers installed/enabled or do you keep the 750m without nvidia drivers permanently? Thanks!
  15. Hi, I have a few questions about installing the eGPU drivers on a 2014/750m model. The process is very clear on an Iris model but becomes a bit more complicated when there's already an nvidia gpu onboard. Let's say in this case I started with a fresh 8.1 UEFI bootcamp install. From what I understand, I should first install the dGPU drivers before rebooting and attempting to install the eGPU drivers as a "clean install". Qu01: Should I perform the reboot/install with the eGPU powered on and connected to an external display during the boot? Or should I leave it unplugged then use the "safely eject hardware" (and ext display) once I'm booted? Qu02: Since I'm "clean installing" desktop drivers over the mobile drivers, won't this cause immediate issues when I unplug the eGPU and boot with the 750m? If not, then why do I need to install the mobile drivers in the first place? Qu03: When updating my drivers in the future, do I still use the "clean install" option? Do both GPUs need to be enabled in device manager at all times, or only when installing drivers. Why even keep it enabled all? Qu04: What's the expected end result when configured properly? Should the internal display disable itself during boot then activate my eGPU display as the single/primary? Or do I need to manually do this every time. Qu05: Can you use the internal display as a secondary monitor that is driven by the eGPU? These are obvious non-issues with the Iris model, and I haven't found any in-depth discussions between dGPU users about these topics. Hopefully one of them can chime in. I'd be very interested learn about why this works in a such way. I can't wait until we can easily enable Iris in Windows! Sorry for the painfully long post... I'm new at this and any help is HUGELY appreciated
  16. Hi @parczefal, Did you ever manage to automate any of the bootloader stuff? I would be willing to try with my 750m/akitio setup but some of the steps in arch go above my head. It would be nice to finally have some conclusive proof of Optimus working on a 750m model. Cheers.
  17. Hi @tre87, I'm trying to set up an eGPU solution on Win8.1 (15in/750m) and have a couple questions. Let's say I use a fresh bootcamp UEFI install as my starting point and the only software installed is Apple's "Windows Support Software". At this point, I assume no Nvidia drivers have been installed yet. This is where I get confused- Should I first be installing the most recent 750m notebook driver then rebooting with my eGPU plugged in? Then after a reboot install the gtx560 desktop driver as a "clean install"? I would have assumed having two sets of nvidia display drivers would be chaos, but perhaps this isn't an issue because of the clean install? Thanks very much in advance for your help, I can be reached at eeevan AT gmail dot com if that's more convenient.
  18. Hi, I noticed that after installing the Windows drivers for my eGPU on a 2014 rMPB with 750m, that both OS X and Windows have scaling issues. Please check out the weird "pixel blurring" on the attached images. These screenshots were captured at 2880x1800. It seems like certain elements like text and varying web elements are upscaled at the wrong aspect ratio. This happens across Windows and OS X, which is driving me completely mad. I've tried restoring from different images, clearing the SMC and PRAM and yet the problem still persists. Help! EDIT: Here's a couple screenshots from within SwitchResX- does this EDID look screwed up?
  19. Could this lead to enabling optimus with discreet gpu MacBooks? Has anyone tried yet?
  20. Hi, I built an external gpu combo this afternoon and encountered the same issue with the welded points. I have a slightly different solution that required far less effort; I went to the dollar store and bought a set of cheap jewelers screwdriver then used a hammer and the flathead tool to pry it open and break open the welded spots. Start with the smallest flathead to get some leverage then use the bigger one to crack it open It'll take a few minutes but it's not hard. Here was the end result of my build, I used lots of 3M double-sided foam tape Thx for all the great posts, Nando- I would have posted a guide, but I finished before your request.
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