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bsohn

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Everything posted by bsohn

  1. 1 year and 9 months or so later and this is still working fine.. now with Windows 10 full release, nothing has been changed or modified and the cooling has never been an issue.
  2. Here is the thing from a business point of view. What Bison is doing on the Hardware side is completely acceptable (though yes all of us know that you can make the whole thing for basically the price he is charging for just the case). People always take ingredients and things learned and put them together in different ways and sell them essentially that is an OEM Part Supplier to a Manufacturer.. It doesn't matter if it is an Akitio or a button. You don't have to produce the base part to sell it for whatever you think you can get for it if you purchased it modified or not and if you do modify it (as in this case) you do not need to tell anyone where it came from.. Now the Part that they/he might have an issue with is that if he is using @Dschjin's script to get the Mac to work or @Tech Inferno Fan's set-up programs for windows without their permission then they/he would be in violation of IP as those items were not created nor bought by him for their use or resale and @Dschjin or @Nando4 would have the right to go after them/him legally if they chose as he would be profiting off of the specific product (the script or setup) of others without them receiving compensation for their work (i.e. the stealing of software and reselling or using it without paying for it). He could stretch it with @Dschjin and say he is selling ti for free and therefore he has a right to resell it BUT that would be stretching things as intent to give something free generally implies that it is for your own use. @Nando4 charges a small sum so that would totally be stealing if he included that software. Now if they/he are not including the software and just telling you where to get it (which I don't believe is the case) then they would be doing essentially nothing wrong as they/he would be just a hardware reseller/modifier. Granted the unfortunate thing is that it appears they/he is in Russia which would make it very hard to take legal action. Brion Sohn
  3. Yes that ASUS card wouldn't fit.. The Galax is the same as the KFA2 I believe in europe. Brion
  4. My Hardware at the time of build: Computer Hardware (Win10pro) MacMini Late 2012 i7-3720QM 2.6GHz quad-core CPU Intel HD4000 iGPU 10Gbps Thunderbolt 1 port Apple Internal 128GB PCIe SSD + Windows 7 Professional (64bit) 16GB Memory Intention for the build - External GPU to host multiscreen set-up for gaming in Windows 10 eGPU Hardware AKiTiO Thunder2 PCI expansion box ($210 Amazon or $189 from AKiTiO Sales) Galax GTX970OC ($337 Galax) 220W Dell DA2 Power Supply ($18 eBay) Misc wiring, plugs and switches ($20 local electronics stores) Custom Fan Grill ($35 customcargrills.com and paint) Custom CNC parts, wiring, and case adjustments (done by me at Penguin r/c) Total cost: $620 (Sans the custom CNC work as I have no price for that since I was able to do it) Full Build Details: 2012 15" Macbook Pro + GTX970@10Gbps-TB1 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win10/7/OSX10.10 [bsohn] Finished Build Photos: Windows Setup - (MacMini with Windows 10 Professional) For this implementation I decided to dedicate my Mac Mini to a Windows 10 computer so this does not run BootCamp or any other Dual Boot System. The first thing I did was to download the Windows Media Creation Tool this allowed me to create a Windows 10 Bootable USB installer. To run the installer from the USB Drive hold down the option Key at startup and select the EFI Boot (not the windows drive) by doing this it puts windows into an EFI installation mode rather than an MBR/BIOS installation. I ran the installer and let it reformat the internal drive and set-up all of the partitions with a clean install. Before trying to get the eGPU working I decided to do all of the basic setup on Windows 10 which included installing all of the latest bootcamp drivers from Apple to make sure my Bluetooth Keyboard and Trackpad were working properly as well as other things like WiFi. Once all that was done I made sure I had the NVIDA drivers ready for the GTX970 in the Akitio as with the MacMini it does not have the dGPU so I could not install those without the card being present. Shut Down hook up all the peripherals needed and the Akitio with the GTX970 in it and start back up. During this time I was hoping for the best that it would all be recognized and that I would get the normal Error 12 on the eGPU. What happened was that the the Mac Restarted a couple of times and Windows 10 went into self repair mode. Needless to say this wasn't what I was expecting but it really didn't turn out so bad. I let Windows take it's time getting everything repaired and it came to the screen to boot to windows or go into advanced trouble shooting. I went into advanced trouble shooting and ended up just booting into windows from there without doing anything. (could have probably just booted without entering advanced. Next time around Windows 10 loaded. Device manager saw the eGPU as a Generic Display adaptor. So I installed the latest NVIDIA Drivers using administrative mode. Restart again, Again into Windows Self Repair mode. Weird I thought but I let it do its thing. Again I went into advanced and started windows form there (wasn't going to chance it it worked the last time) and Voila not only did it work but all three external eGPU connected screens tuned on and were already set to extended mode with the iGPU screen that I was using as the main display. NO Error12 no nothing it just worked. So there you have it Simple as Pie.. Yes and No... Yes if I were going to run all the monitors individually or in extended this would have been all but for my purposes I run Nvidia Surround on the three main displays. This is where issues arise and it has nothing to do with the eGPU and it's functionality it is due to (in the end) an inconsistency in the manner by which Windows 10 handles the allocation of monitors to each card. At this time I had the Internal Intel 4000 graphics card running the 4th display. Turns out Windows allocates the iGPU display as display #1 and 2-4 to the eGPU, NVIDIA however, allocates 1 to the iGPU and 1-3 to the eGPU. this causes the NVIDIA control panel to crash when trying to set-up a surround using the monitors attached to it. In the end I found that in order to set up the Surround correctly I could NOT have any display connected to the internal Intel 4000 graphics. Once everything was set-up I could then reattach the fourth monitor to the internal graphics with no issue and even add a fifth to the fourth port on the GTX970. Side note: I use a small 480x800 Raspberry Pi HDMI 5" screen as my fourth monitor under normal circumstances. The GTX970 will power this monitor fully via HDMI however the internal Intel 4000 graphics require a second power supply to do so. Interesting like thing I found. Windows 10 Issues: None except for the small incompatibilities with the NVIDIA Control panel. a couple other usability quirks are present such as, even though the control bar is centered on the middle surround screen when you click on the Start icon or the Notifications they register themselves at the far edges of the full surround monitor. Have taken to right clicking the start menu instead. OSX and Windows on a MacMini: If you were wanting to run OSX as well in a MacMini with windows I would probably suggest purchasing a second drive cable ($12 - $25) and installing the second HD in the Mini for use with OSX. Doing it this way you can avoid officially using Bootcamp but still use dual boot through the Macs native EFI loader allowing retention of the EFI based Install of Windows. It is possible to pull this off with a single multi partitioned drive but it is WAY more difficult. Bootcamp only installs Windows in MBR mode which I believe has more issues in getting the eGPU to work. I had to use eGPU Setup 1.2 with my MBR install of Windows 10 on the external USB3 drive mentioned with the actual eGPU build information through the link above. The Mac Mini I have included the Fusion Drive which windows sees as two separate devices so I used the SSD for the Windows Install and have yet to decide exactly what I want to do with the other 1TB as I could partition it to have a bootable OSX with a Additional Data Partition for Windows. Benchmarks - (stock setting Galax GTX970OC) 3dmark13-FS.gpu=10530 3dmark11.gpu=13479 Thank you, Brion Sohn
  5. Bought a 2012 MacMini and did a dedicated EFI Windows 10 Clean install. Worked pretty flawlessly, turns out Win 10 does not need any additional Set-up or programs to get the eGPU working on this computer (no Error 12). Notes edited into the initial build post. Removed the Mac Mini information from this thread except for a link to a more detailed implementation guide on the subject at the request of @Tech Inferno Fan to provide a little more detail..
  6. Mine always has had the clock issue, Had it with Win7 as well as Win10 it think that is just a windows quirk with the mac and has little to nothing to do with the eGPU. If you want to use the Option loader you might want to make sure windows is always starting in Normal mode, For Win10 when you click on normal it turns back to selective with the top box with a black square and the middle box x'd and the bottom box the use original boot greyed out once you get this set use the boot screen to make boot changes permanent. This is what allowed me to boot through the Option Menu. Brion
  7. Wooo Hoo.. I have it working.. as it turns out the Normal Start-up issue was the main culprit in things not working correctly.. I am guessing it sets something to disable or interrupt the Thunderbolt driver load causing a hang. As I mentioned in my earlier post I had to rebuild My Windows 7 Partition boot sector using msconfig by removing all other Windows entities that showed up, Once done I checked the "Make boot changes permanent" and applied I then uninstalled and reinstalled Setup 1.2. With Windows 10 I did the same thing as above through System Configuration (as it is just renamed mschonfig). I used Setup 1.2 on Windows 10 as well. After I did that everything worked fine with the same startup caveats of having to sometimes reset windows before using the eGPU by loading into windows and shutting down without the Akitio attached AND sometimes having to load OSX and restart to Windows in order to reset something that hangs windows though in normal usage these issue only occur AFTER major software installation on the windows side. A Note on my system for those who might read this and haven't seen my build. Macbook Pro 15" mid-2015 non-retina Nvidia 650M internal GPU - TB1 Main Drive boot camped with OSX and Windows 7 USB3 SSD boot drive for Windows 10 4 External Monitors driven off of a Nvidia GTX970 in an Akitio Thunder2 case (3 monitors set-up in surround) Now for weird Win10 Quirks: Nvidia Surround is really strange to set up in Win10. It sets-up but appears to crash and blanks the monitors. To fix this I had to do a bunch of extend this display to that display commands within the Win10 monitor set up otherwise they were dark and didn't even show up in on the Win10 Control panels. That being said I totally forgot that Win10 duplicates many control panels and the old Win7 control panel was available to use and probably would have made this process easier. Still that being said the Nvidia Win10 Control panel is a little flaky but it does work. Win 10 also initially set my surround display to enlarge everything by 150% not sure why and because it was strange to me it took me a while to figure out what was going on the display just looked weird. Note: Win10 has a hard time remembering some changes you make (like the above extended settings for my monitors) this is because of the Dual control panels. sometimes setting something on the Win10 panel will not migrate into the system if it is not actually adjusted on the old style control panel. I had this happen upon installation with the Easy Access Narrator. Kept turing off that thing with the Win10 panel and every restart would turn it back on UNTIL I found to turn it off in the Legacy control panel and then it took. Other than Windows quirks everything is working.. However the one thing I think I am going to do it to Remember not to have the Win10 USB connected to the computer anytime I decide to use the Win7 internal partition. The Reason is I am afraid of it detecting the system on that disk and screwing with the boot section again as it did prior.. Not sure it would but I don't want to take my chances.. In all reality though I will not ever need to have it connected at the same time. Brion Sohn
  8. OK Windows 10.. I finally got everything working on my system.. all works including WiFi.. I have a Mackbook Pro Mid 2012 and used Set-up 1.2 and just did a simple PCI compaction (with the PCI.bat edit for the a: and b: to 0a: and 0b:).. Everything Is great now.. My Win 10 Installation is running currently off of an External USB3 SSD drive which was a headache in itself to get squared away but now that I have it running the boot procedure and the issues with booting are no different than using my internal Drive set-up for Windows 7. Brion Sohn
  9. Well I have a bit of new information.. Though I still have not got Windows 10 to boot well with the eGPU Connected. However in my playing Windows 7 or 10 not sure which decided to Overwrite the boot sector of my main drive which changed the whole boot menu and actually removed the DIY eGPU set-up from the start menu and added Windows 10 and a Windows 7 Recovery both located on the External drive.. It also set Windows 10 to the default start but of course it didn't load and came up with an error. I was able to fix all of this by reintalling Set-up and running it after Deinstalling it and also using msconfig to reset the boot parameters to remove the other systems and default Win7. So now all that is back up and running as normal.. So back to working on Win 10.. In fixing all of this I think I may have found something that is playing with the boot process.. I did notice that if windows starts in Selective startup (which windows auto selects when it does updates or loads a temporary boot menu) it does hang if it starts in normal mode then it appears to load properly with the Thunderbolt port being used. When running Win10 I was able to get it to load with the Thunderbolt attached after selecting normal boot in the System Configure program (msconfig). though it went right back to Selective after that one boot and that is when I noticed the boot sector overwrite so I havent yet tried it again. However on that second time that I had the Win 10 boot work I was able to confirm the GTX970 as being installed with the correct drivers AND that it did have the code 12 error. Further than I have been before.. Now to figure out how to keep the Main HD Boot sector from being overwritten and to get Win10 to always load in Normal mode and I think I will have it. Brion Sohn
  10. I just noticed something which may pertain to the WiFi Issue.. I am not sure if you are using DIY GPU Set-up 1.2 or 1.3 but I noticed that with DIY Set-up 1.2 in the information dialog on the right side there are two Broadcom Drivers listed when you set-up the GPU.. It is possible that with windows 10 you might have to run a new compaction.. Just a thought It Might not have anything to do with anything but I noticed them explicitly listed. Brion
  11. Unfortunately that could take a LONG while as bootcamp is a back burner "unsupported" thing they do.. They offer it but provide no support for it. which also means that they can give up on it.. I would say the issue with the WiFi might be an issue in Win 10 and possibly not something that apple would have any control over as the Broadcom Driver and Thunderport Drivers are not designed by apple.. Apple Only really produces the drivers for their devices. So I wonder if you have the ability to Hardboot Windows to your computer (not going through the Bootcamp Loader if it will work or not. I am probably going to try that shortly with my issue by pulling the HD and installing the Win10 only SSD I have to see if I can get everything working. Brion
  12. #1.. lol at least you get a black screen mine right now is hanging immediately after I click on Windows 10.. Trying to figure that out as without the Thunderbolt connected it loads fine... #2 - Haven't had that issue with WiFi but have you made sure that you have the correct driver for wifi loaded (Windows wont always find the correct driver automatically) bootcamp drivers are good for most Mac Computers (Broadcom) WiFi, find them in the bootcamp folder and install manually through the installer in the driver folder. If you have a really new Mac the driver in Bootcamp can be out of date.. if so open up system profiler in OSX and find out what brand model WiFi Firmware you have (i.e. my Macbook Pro 2012 is Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.15.166.24.3) then you might be able to find an updated driver for that firmware. It is strange though that WiFi works without the Thunderbolt connected. Brion
  13. That is actually how I installed Windows 10, by swapping my internal and just did it all by internal. The Running the USB3 drivers is not an issue if you run Windows 7 off of an internal OR via Thunderbolt.. however USB3 is not native to Win7 so If you Initialize a USB3 driver while starting off of a USB drive it will crash when Windows 7 Initializes the USB3 Driver as it has to shut down the USB for a second to initialize and when it does that it effectively stops the booting process midway and BOSD's with a Startup error. Win 8 and 10 have USB3 drivers as a native part of the system so it loads USB3 drivers on initial start. I might have found some information on the boot files that will help me out in this situation.. I will keep updating as I make progress as I am sure I am not the only one that has thought about External booting. I do believe that booting via Thunderbolt is probably a whole lot easier as even if there is an issue with USB/Thunderbolt booting with it all on the Thunderbolt line it won't show up. Easiest of course is internal though. Brion Sohn
  14. Thank you for the information, TechInferno was't sending me notifications so I am a little behind. Anyway it is the apple boot loader (the one with the option key at startup) where it is hanging with the USB drive. OK here are some answers for the above.. Hope I catch them all: My Internal Drive Windows 7 install still works fine. However, if I do connect a USB HUB to the mac and try to start the Internal Win 7 it does freeze right after clicking on it in the Mac Loader (Option Key) Immediate freeze no spinning disk, no nothing arrow freezes in the drive. I did have this SAME USB SSD working with a Windows 7 install on it at USB2 speeds (as the Win 7 Drivers for USB3 would BSOD the start-up as it switched to them) Hence why I wanted Win 10 to get USB3 Native. This Drive as well as the Akitio could be connected at all times and Boot perfectly from either install. Upgraded to Win 10 on the USB and the drive now causes the freeze in the exact same manner that the USB Hub connection causes with the Win7 install ONLY when the Akitio is connected otherwise it boots absolutely fine. I am actually not even sure that the MacBook Pro even gets to any Windows files. It normally takes about 5 seconds regardless of which version of Windows I select to begin the windows boot process (black Screen with the blinking "_") when it freezes it never comes up. @Dschijn - To answer your question I have tried that by first plugging in the SSD and then the Akitio after that point as for some reason the one time it did work that was the order of plugging them in but it hasn't worked since that time. and I have tried a few different options for plugging order and time. I would love to get it to again with Win10 without having to do all the plugging and unplugging. @martinm0 - Yes, this is using the same hardware in my guide - Given that it works with the other boot I highly doubt it is the TB Cable. The experience you have with Updates I think is similar to this and what I experienced with my normal Win7 install in that it will hang (in the common matter for me) at the Option Screen if I have the Akitio connected after an update restart of Windows. Mine doesn't reboot but does hang. This is where I wonder if it is something in the MBR of the Win10 SSD that is thinking that it needs to check something that it really doesn't, such that happens with an install reboot of Windows. Normally with Windows 7 I just have to reboot in Win7 let it finish its clean up, connect the Akitio. Restart and it all works again. Booting into Win10 from the USB doesn't clean-up whatever seems to be causing the issue. I actually have never set it up yet to work in OSX but I have left it connected when going to OSX and haven't had issues with my normal Internal Win7. It sort of sounds like it could be a disconnect hang as you describe right after you select the OS to be loaded, However, with all connected this only happens with the Windows Partitions and right now ONLY the SSD so it is weird.. @tranj10 - I haven't actually tried doing a NVRAM reset or anything like that. I also have not tried reconstructing the boot loader either as I was hoping for a something a little less intensive. I will have to look into the @goalque 's script and see if it might help but I thought that script was mainly for the OSX partition. I will also look over the start-up procedure you use and see if anything different occurs. As for Going back to Win 8 unfortunately I don't have that luxury as I never had Win 8, I could go back to Win7 but with USB2.0 boot it is unbearably slow. With USB3.0 boot and Win10 it only takes about twice as long as My internal SSHD (probably about the same as a normal HD) the USB2.0 took windows 7 a few minutes to load. Thank you for your attempts to help I will keep you updated if I find anything specific.. BTW I want the Dual Win7 / Win10 boot options because I have really expensive programs that run on WinXP Compatability in Win 7 and I don't want to spend thousands on upgrading them as I don't need the new stuff. But Win10 is going to work out much better in the future for my gaming addiction. Plus I can then keep work and play separate.
  15. I have an issue with what I am doing that Is possibly not correctable. I have a fully bootable Windows 10 USB3 SSD Drive. It boots every time via using the Mac (option key) loader. However when I connect the eGPU via Thunderbolt (1 in my case) the system hangs permanently at the (option) loader screen. As I said the drive boots every time when TB is not connected. Drive Boots if TB is disconnected after reaching (option Key) loader screen. Boots but TB Not Recognized if I hot plug after starting Win10 Load) Freezes if I leave TB Connected during the whole process. Freezes if I Connect TB after getting to (option) loader screen. Now I got the eGPU and Thunderbolt to actually load once but I am not exactly sure how but it was something like the Windows USB10 drive plugged in on option screen then TB then click to load but I haven't been able to duplicate that. This same issue has seemingly occurred in the past when I was loading through Windows 7 on the internal HD IF a USB Hub were connected when loading Win7 though the (option) bootloader. This is why I am thinking that it might not be correctable and may be a flay in the way either the Mac or windows deals with the first few seconds of scanning when loading windows. If anyone has any experience with this USB/Thunderbolt issue pleaselet me know. Thank you. Brion
  16. You listed my build in your post and it has been completely stable at the Stock (Factory Overclock) Galax GTX970 settings with the DA-2 in the US. Brion
  17. I have found that the eGPU will not be recognized by Set-up 1.2 IF it is not fully turned on (Akitio and Card) and attached prior to either Windows load (Direct Load) or the Mac EFI Loader screen. It seems as if the Mac checks the Thunderbolt port immediately on start and plugging it in after that point will not allow recognition in the early boot processes. If you follow the directions in the spoiler you should be able to get recognition in Windows 7 and Setup 1.2 - If not you could have other issues beyond software (Power, Installation, etc..)
  18. Thank you for the information.. I don't think I have every used the bootcamp control panel for booting windows on my machine it has always been using the option key so that sounds like it might work for me. I actually got a small Gamer SSD from Galax when I bought my card and thought it would work well for what I am thinking of doing. Thank you.
  19. The Galax/KFA card will fit with no issues except you will need to create some sort of low profile plug for the auxiliary power. Take a look at @seefew 's build for an interesting circuit based method of doing this (kind of like his method better than mine wire management).. Personally as you can see in my build I used the shortened plug with bent pin method but I also limited the number of wires. I reduced them to the PCIe6 standard 4 wire setup with a bridge on the ground for the trigger (to remove the 5th wire). Most of what you see with the 3x3 wiring is because with that wire setup it allows for the PCIe8 plug expansion which is not needed for this card. (realized by the PCIe Supplemental adaptors provided by Galax with my card. Brion
  20. I'm actually curious about the External SSD with Win 8.. How did you create that, what type of drive interface (USB 2/3? Thunderbolt?) and does it boot through the apple Bootcamp loader i.e. does it show up as a bootable drive when holding down the option key at startup. Personally I would like to make an external USB3 SSD start-up of Windows for use with my eGPU and Windows as I have found that for my purposes I don't tend to use it with the OSX partition and I would like to offload some of the more GPU Dedicated programs to just be on the external SSD that would be booted for use with the eGPU. Thank you Brion Sohn
  21. Sorry for the late reply. I am 95% sure that due to the height of the Board above the PCI Bracket that though the Gigabyte GTX970 would fit in the case you would not be able to plug the Auxiliary power plugs into the ports on he top of the card and be able to close the case. Brion Sohn
  22. Yea I also read about that instability on his build. The difference that I noticed between his solution and yours is that the Capacitors are in the main Primary power line before the split to the PCIe Supplemental power, where with yours they are after the split but before the Akitio and PCIe bus. I'm just wondering if this placement has the same effects on the entire system and will back power the PCIe supplementary power as well or just be over Amp protection for the board based power (TB and PCIe slot). Problem is I am not sure which area of power connection is shutting down with this issue whether it is the Akitio (doubt it) or the PCIe main connection, or the PCIe supplemental, Or if it even matters as they all run under at that moment. I have had the card shutdown once (possibly because of this instability, possibly heat overload) and am trying to think of the best way to do this and keep it internal as well, as I am sure you have seen the build that I did, and if this is a method that works it would be worth a shot. Thank you Brion Sohn
  23. Hello seefew, I was noticing the capacitors and based on their placement I an guessing that they are there to mainly support under voltage on the PCI slot and the TB as they do not appear to be inline for the Supplemental PCIe power connectors. Is this how you designed it or do they Backfeed into the full power setup of your wiring.. I do really like the methodology on the PCIe board (wish I would have thought of that). Did think about the Optiplex plug replacing the barrel initially on mine but because other than pulling it from the actual computer as you did I couldn't find it and had to rethink the power delivery... Looks great, Love the silver. Brion
  24. I didn't need to do any Fresh install I just had to use @Tech Inferno Fan's Setup program.. I don't know if Windows 8.1 will need a fresh install as I am on Win7Pro. The only Windows Quirk that I noted that is in Win 7 is that if Windows does an automated update or you install something (anything) You must load into windows without the eGPU turned on to allow windows to do whatever clean-up is needed or the Macbook will freeze trying to load the boot loader initially with the eGPU on. Once this clean-up is done you should be able to have the eGPU on when you turn on the computer and load as normal without having to do any weird (plug in at this moment types of things).. I still havent attempted OSX but now that 10.4 is coming out I may just wait though there have been some major advancements on External use for OSX recently.
  25. OK, yea that should work fine then, With mine on the power connector (8Pin Molex) I ran one PCIe to each of the pairs on the DA2 with the 3rd pair running the Akitio. Amp wise it all works out. The concern was if the thought was running that single 12V and Ground to One pair, but spreading it across the 3 Pairs there should be no issue as it is effectively leaving each pair with a 4.17A load rather than a single pin pair at 12.5A. If he is running the Akitio off of it as well then that Pin load would be higher and probably closer to what mine and pretty much any other DA2 setup would be with a pin load of aprox 6.25A on each pair which is a little higher but within spec. Alls good on the power front there.. Looks good I am guessing there is a similar board for the power end of the equasion. Brion
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