macman

How do AMD cards fair in these setups? Are they largely unstable or do people have success?

@macman - I have the same issue, as do many of us who are trying to use a Maxwell (GTX 750ti, GTX 960/970/980, etc.) GPU with a rMBP with a dedicated graphics card (such as the 750m). I'm running basically the same hardware you are (late 2013 750m rMBP, AKiTiO w. ATX PSU, GTX 970). I find that, if I keep trying to boot my machine over and over, it will eventually start. It's unpredictable, but I would say it successfully boots about 20% of the time.

Its a very strange problem, does anyone know what is so special about this config which causes this issue? Do they conflict in some way or something?

This might give an answer why your GTX 960 is not working properly with the 750M equipped MBP:

http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/9378-installing-nvidia-web-drivers-osx-betas.html#post127372

And thanks about AMD HD4670 note, interesting to see new AMD experiences as they are rarely used with the AKiTiO.

Ah thank you so much for that link, I'll return the 960 then and get a GTX 7 series card. Just double checked and it is a ASUS ATI/AMD HD4670 512MB.

Which GTX 7 series card do you recommend?

Just a follow up to this, i think i have ruled out the AKiTiO being the problem here as I unplugged the GPU and left the raiser connected (still back powering) and had no issues with hanging when I tried the same test scenarios.

Does this mean the GPU is at fault or could the raiser still be the cause? The raiser (appears) to be high quality with two +12 wires and two GND wires connecting to front and back side with a capacitor on one side.

Thanks in advance for any ideas people can put forward.

Just a note however I'm not willing to explore any of the ideas which involve hardware modification (soldering etc) as I don't want to void the warranty or be left with a device I can't return if I can't get it working.

Apologies for constantly bumping my question but I have more info to add and am still looking for a solution or an idea as to why this is happening.

I have done more testing today with a Nvidia GTX 280 and a AMD HD4670 (I think) and noted the following results.

Neither of these cards hang at boot like the GTX 960 was causing but the GTX 280 sometimes caused windows to freeze at the little swirl. Couldn't get the driver to install though and I noticed that the FaceTime HD camera showed as code 12 in device manager (not enough system resources) so I gave up with that card. The AMD HD4670 (which requires no external power where as the other two cards required PCIE power) but I left it powered by the raiser only (AKiTiO PSU is still left in the box) and that didn't cause any issues like the previous two cards and Windows even installed a driver for it and I had external display, haven't tested the gaming side of things though (although I bet the GT750m in the laptop has more power).

Tested the GTX 960 in a PC and it displayed video fine so I think the card is ok.

Should I give up with the GTX 960 and order something else? Or is there a solution anyone can suggest.

Thanks

Hello,

I am having an issue where my MacBook Pro hangs if I boot the card before the mac and also if I boot the mac holding alt/option and then turn the eGPU on. Anyone got any ideas as to why my MacBook Pro refuses to boot with the eGPU connected? The Thunder2 is detected fine if I boot into OS X then turn on the eGPU but obviously the card is not detected. Windows doesn't see the card at all if I boot with it connected after initial boot (AKA at login screen)

My setup is as follows :-

1. MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 with GT750M

2. MSI GTX 960 Gaming

3. Powered PCIe x16 raiser with the Akitio PSU disconnected (back powered by raiser)

4. XFX 850w PSU (overkill i know but its what I have laying around)

5. Two different thunderbolt cables

6. Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit (EFI) & OS X 10.10.3

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Just a follow up to this, i think i have ruled out the AKiTiO being the problem here as I unplugged the GPU and left the raiser connected (still back powering) and had no issues with hanging when I tried the same test scenarios.

Does this mean the GPU is at fault or could the raiser still be the cause? The raiser (appears) to be high quality with two +12 wires and two GND wires connecting to front and back side with a capacitor on one side.

Thanks in advance for any ideas people can put forward.

Just a note however I'm not willing to explore any of the ideas which involve hardware modification (soldering etc) as I don't want to void the warranty or be left with a device I can't return if I can't get it working.

@macman: But the AKiTiO is working with only beeing powerde by the riser?

The AKiTiO has a green power light, a blue light to say thunderbolt Is connected and the fan is spinning so I assume it's being successfully powered by the raiser

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello,

I am having an issue where my MacBook Pro hangs if I boot the card before the mac and also if I boot the mac holding alt/option and then turn the eGPU on. Anyone got any ideas as to why my MacBook Pro refuses to boot with the eGPU connected? The Thunder2 is detected fine if I boot into OS X then turn on the eGPU but obviously the card is not detected. Windows doesn't see the card at all if I boot with it connected after initial boot (AKA at login screen)

My setup is as follows :-

1. MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 with GT750M

2. MSI GTX 960 Gaming

3. Powered PCIe x16 raiser with the Akitio PSU disconnected (back powered by raiser)

4. XFX 850w PSU (overkill i know but its what I have laying around)

5. Two different thunderbolt cables

6. Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit (EFI) & OS X 10.10.3

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks