m1sk

Hello, Currently I am having problems with my eGPU and I cant run games on it. I'm looking for some help to diagnose the problem. So here's the story: About a year ago I successfully setup an eGPU(all thanks to this site) on my 17" 2011 Macbook Pro using Akitio Thunderbolt w/ GTX 960. Also to run the games on my internal screen I made a VGA dummy, then I just set the fake screen as the main screen and move the games to the internal screen. My Macbook is also upgraded: 16GB RAM, SSD. So I have had this solution for a while, and now a week ago everything worked but suddenly this Thursday I was playing Fallout 4 and suddenly it crashed. Now at first I thought this was a one time crash because the week before I played a lot of Fallout and I think it did crash a few times. Anyway this time it was different, it kept crashing and crashing. I thought it might be a problem with the game but no when I tried running Witcher 3 it also crashed after a minute or so. So this happens pretty much in all games. What I tried to do: Placed GPU in a desktop computer - no crashes Reinstall display drivers - still have crashes My suspicions: This all started on when I was installing Visual Studio 2015 while playing Fallout 4, later I also installed a few more things to enable my GPU for Deep Learning (https://datanoord.com/2016/02/01/setup-a-deep-learning-environment-on-windows-theano-keras-with-gpu-enabled/), that includes CUDA. Now the problems started before I could get across to actually installing CUDA but it could be two separate errors. When I was setting this deep learning stuff I still didn't understand that I had serious problem. My thunderbolt cable always had to be connected in an odd way = I had to pull it out a bit for it to work properly. This could be something wrong with the cable, so I order a new one now. But it could be a sign of some other problem with my connection. Things I want to try: Run on clean installation of windows Connect eGPU to another macbook. (if I do this I won't have to do the first one I guess) So I am looking for any tips, ways to diagnose my problem. All help would be appreciated. Thank You,

I haven't visited this site in a while so I don't know if this is relevant anymore. No, but the games can be run in borderless windowed mode. After some experience with this, I can set this up quite quickly. Now that I look back at the post some of the things aren't actually necessary. Since I have step my eGPU I have played a bunch of games: Witcher 3, Assassin's creed Unity, Assassin's creed Syndicate, Shadow of mordor, Far cry 4, Fallout 4. I always played with an internal screen. and I could usually play with over 20fps on high settings. With an external screen this should improve. Setting up the internal monitor is actually quite easy, all you need is the DVI dummy. Then you just have to run the game in windowed borderless mode and move it to the internal monitor with the shortcut key: Win+Shift+Left-Arrow. Good luck!

Hello, Currently I am having problems with my eGPU and I cant run games on it. I'm looking for some help to diagnose the problem. So here's the story: About a year ago I successfully setup an eGPU(all thanks to this site) on my 17" 2011 Macbook Pro using Akitio Thunderbolt w/ GTX 960. Also to run the games on my internal screen I made a VGA dummy, then I just set the fake screen as the main screen and move the games to the internal screen. My Macbook is also upgraded: 16GB RAM, SSD. So I have had this solution for a while, and now a week ago everything worked but suddenly this Thursday I was playing Fallout 4 and suddenly it crashed. Now at first I thought this was a one time crash because the week before I played a lot of Fallout and I think it did crash a few times. Anyway this time it was different, it kept crashing and crashing. I thought it might be a problem with the game but no when I tried running Witcher 3 it also crashed after a minute or so. So this happens pretty much in all games. What I tried to do: Placed GPU in a desktop computer - no crashes Reinstall display drivers - still have crashes My suspicions: This all started on when I was installing Visual Studio 2015 while playing Fallout 4, later I also installed a few more things to enable my GPU for Deep Learning (https://datanoord.com/2016/02/01/setup-a-deep-learning-environment-on-windows-theano-keras-with-gpu-enabled/), that includes CUDA. Now the problems started before I could get across to actually installing CUDA but it could be two separate errors. When I was setting this deep learning stuff I still didn't understand that I had serious problem. My thunderbolt cable always had to be connected in an odd way = I had to pull it out a bit for it to work properly. This could be something wrong with the cable, so I order a new one now. But it could be a sign of some other problem with my connection. Things I want to try: Run on clean installation of windows Connect eGPU to another macbook. (if I do this I won't have to do the first one I guess) So I am looking for any tips, ways to diagnose my problem. All help would be appreciated. Thank You,

Why you should use this method: Easy Bootcamp installation Normal MBP without the eGPU with a functioning dGPU It is possible to use the internal monitor What you'll need: Macbook Pro AkiTiO Thunder2 + Thunderbolt cable GPU (EVGA Superclocked models are recommended seeing as they fit the AkiTiO) PSU (I used a corsair 450W but you could probably use a less powerful one) A paper-clip Molex to Barrel converter (You can buy an easy to screw barrel plug and a cable with molex) For the internal monitor to work (doesn't work for fullscreen programs): Dummy DVI Plug, you can easily make one with: DVI to VGA adapter (One of these came with my GPU) 3x 75 ohm resistors A multiple monitor management program (I am using Actual Multiple Monitor) Preparations: Use the paper-clip trick to allow the PSU to turn on without a motherboard. Check that the Molex to Barrel converter works on the AkiTiO Disconnect it and then power the GPU and the AkiTiO from the PSU. Install Windows 8.1 using bootcamp assistant, I ran into some trouble installing using a USB drive so I recommend creating an installation CD, you can do this in MAC. Install latest drivers (AMD also has some updated drivers for the dGPU) Turn off MBP Power on the AkiTiO with the GPU inside and connect to the MBP. Turn on MBP and boot to Bootcamp. (sometimes I get a blackscreen the first time, so try again) (I did the next steps with an external monitor connected to my eGPU, but this should work without that) In Windows you should see that you now have two Display adapters (In Computer Management->Device Manager) Download NVIDIA drivers, install and reboot. And ta-da! You should now see the your GPU in the device manager. For Internal Monitor: Boot Bootcamp with eGPU connected Install Actual Multiple Monitor, and configure taskbar to be mirrored (all tasks appear on all taskbars) Connect the DVI Dummy Switch the primary display to the secondary display(to the DVI Dummy). Open a File Explorer Window to Navigate to the game/program you want to use, and run it. (This should appear in the GPU display so switch it to the next display using the hotkey: Win + /), You can find your Desktop Shortcuts in 'C:UsersPublicDesktop' and 'C:Users{Your User}Desktop' Select the program in the taskbar and switch it to the laptop monitor with hotkey: Win + /. If you want this program to take up the whole screen but can't resize it yourself, you can use program like "Gamers Window Relocator" to resize it properly. [h]Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0[FONT=Open Sans]:[/FONT][/h]These are all done on ExtremeHD or ultra settings without fullscreen, Setup Score No eGPU (Radeon 6770M) FPS: 9.0 Score: 376 EVGA GTX960 on internal monitor FPS: 19.0 Score: 797 EVGA GTX960 on an external monitor FPS: 30.8 Score: 1289 This setup allows me to run The Witcher 3 on High Settings quite smoothly on my internal monitor.Possible improvements: Create custom script to automatically setup the whole internal monitor proccess Ensure monitor manger is running Switch primary display Open desktop in Explorer and move them to the internal monitor Purchase or build a discrete cable to power the GPU while inside the Akitio. Or even better: Build an enclosure to contain the PSU, GPU, and the Akitio boards.

This is linked inside your link: I got this working if I have a real external monitor: I started a benchmark and used the right click to run on my internal monitor. My problem right now,(after I go out and get some resistors to create the dummy DVI) would be to automate this. The quoted text seems to try to explain how to do this but I'm not really understanding this. The link doesn't work sometimes and I think the page might be missing, not sure because it's in some odd language What is this smart taskbar? Ok, what do I put in this bat file? I guess the hotkey is to easily run it, right? What is native mode? Laptop monitor as primary monitor? Is "My Desktop of Explorer" just opening the folder using Explorer? Then that means moving that window to the other monitor? Ok so then I enable the fake monitor as primary. And then I need to use the taskbar to switch the game to the internal montior. Currently I don't have this option, I guess this is that smart taskbar thing? This looks very promising! Thank you very much! EDIT: I played around with concepts here and I got it all to work. I'm gonna try a few different monitor mangers see which one is best for me. After that I guess I might make a guide or something. Thanks a million!!!

This looks really neat, exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. I'll give it a try

Yeah I'm pretty sure I got the right one: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1720?locale=en_US I was wondering if there was a way to get something like optimus to work with my dedicated gpu instead of an intel gpu. Sending image data stuff from eGPU to the dGPU, Seeing as the eGPU is working in my Bootcamp Windows with an external display.

So I finally succeeded installing Windows 8.1 on my other HDD, installed latest Bootcamp Support Software and I still get many driver errors which sucks(no sound, no iGPU, no dGPU). Currently I have a SSD with MacOS and Windows 8.1 Bootcamp and a HDD with Windows 8.1 EFI + Shared Storage Space. This took a lot of work but I still can't get my intel GPU to work in Windows no matter what method! I think I might give up soon... Does anybody know anything that might help?

My first time I tried installing with EFI but I ran into many issues with the macbook, but mainly no iGPU, dGPU, or audio. Here no gpu means there are errors and not invisible. If I don't have an iGPU than this still won't work. I tried looking around before but could't find anything good. Have you seen any solutions to these issues?

RE: http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2123-diy-egpu-setup-1-30-a-9.html Could this help enable an iGPU in a 17" 2011 Macbook Pro with Windows 8.1, installed with normal bootcamp?

Yeah so this kind of sucks. I have been trying to get the stuff mentioned in this thread. I have grub4win installed and I get the bootloader but the custom commands cause the screen to blackout. This is happening apparently because the Intel GPU isn't allocated resources or something. Help here would be really appreciated....

I doesn't really say neither of them but I'm pretty sure I have MBR, And I don't think I can install Windows with EFI without having a lot of things not working.

This only seems to work for that specific version of the 15" MBP. I'm kind of stuck with enabling my intel GPU at the moment.

I have been looking for someway to activate my iGPU too. Would this work for my Macbook Pro 17" 2011 with Windows 8.1 installed with bootcamp?

My setup: 2011 17" MBP Windows 8.1 normal bootcamp installation Akitio + EVGA 960 Does anyone how to get the internal LCD to work when using a non EFI installation of Windows 8.1? At the moment I can use the my egpu to an external display but when I don't connect a display to the eGPU the Macbook still it has the card, but it doesn't use it. After some research this apparently has something to do with nVidia optimus and the fact that my intel iGPU isn't active in bootcamp. Is this at all possible?

First of all this isn't working for me yet I believe I have a problem with the thunderbolt connected in my MBP. But it has successfully detected the GPU so this should work for others. Secondly I got a new SSD and haven't installed Mac on it. But I still have my old HDD which I connected with a USB 2 SATA cable. 1. Boot Mac and launch Bootcamp Assistant, create partition, and download the support software. I had some problems getting it to work with USB so I created a boot disc with an ISO of Windows 8.1. 2. Install Windows 8.1 normally, so when I booted with disc I didn't run into any trouble here. 3. Install Bootcamp Software, I also installed updated drivers for my internal GPU. 4. Turn off MacBook. 5. Connect AKITIO and power the PSU. Yellowish green lights should be on. 6. Boot Windows. Blue lights should be on. Note: Sometimes I got a black screen after boot chime. But the usually after that I get it to boot. Maybe try connecting an external display? 7. Install driver for graphics card and reboot. 8. Hopefully play The Witcher 3.

Ok I got everything I wanted working by installing with bootcamp, and even the electric fizzes stopped. I still have to pull the thunderbolt cable out I bit in order for it work. EDIT: Actually I'm not really sure if the eGPU is functioning properly. First off it isn't spinning even when I tried running a benchmark. And the benchmark result doesn't really change when I disconnect it. But it is recognized by my computer! I guess this has something to do with the fact that I have to pull it out a bit in order for it to work. Does anybody have a clue what that could be? Maybe the port is broken or dirty?

Could you explain how you installed the Windows 8.1? Did you install it with bootcamp or uefi, is there a difference? I'm currently facing a few problem with my eGPU attempt. I have a 17" 2011 Macbook Pro so this should also work for me. And neither my internal cards nor sound works, I think that could cause a problem with running on the internal monitor. I have other issues with my external card But this might fix it too! Who know how boot magic works...

Following this guide I am attempting to setup a eGPU. I am following what sleepydragon added. The main difference is that I installed everything on a brand new SSD and I have only installed Windows 8.1 on it. No MacOS or EFI booting. I am currently facing an issue where the Macbook doesnt detect the akitio at all. Now there is a blue light for a second then only a green one. The GPU fan and the akitio fan don't spin. The PSU fan does. Anybody have any ideas?? Also this is less important but would be nice, Is it possible to set it up so that can use the i can use the internal cards when not hooked up? EDIT: When connecting the whole thing to my brothers Macbook running MacOS, the Akitio light up blue, but the graphics card doesnt spin. I guess this means its a Windows problem, any suggestions? EDIT: Booted into Mac from my old hdd using a SATA to USB cable. And I can get the same effect if i plugin in the thunderbolt cable partially. But not if I connect it all the way in. This also work with Windows, if I connect the cable and pull it out a bit it lights up. But still undetected... Lots of the metal on the Macbook gives small electric fizzes(!?) not jolt but slight odd sensation. I figured something, apparently I was't connecting the GPU well. But I can't get the GPU fan to spin normally and also I don't see any devices that could be the GPU.

Are there any other options to look into? Cause it would be quite annoying... I'm setting things up to see and I'm having some issues. The computer doesn't recognize my akitio and there is no blue light + akitio fan not spinning + gpu fan not spinning. Do you have a clue what could cause this?

So im trying very similar setup and I havent even gotten around to installing mac (dont know if i need it). Going through the "Better Than Bootcamp" tutorial I get error codes on the internal graphics cards and sound card. I was wondering if you might have any clue how resolve with?

So One like this should do? 2pcs 6 Pin PCI E to 2 x 4 Pin Molex Power Y Adapter Cable for PCI E Cards MA | eBay @Tech Inferno Fan : I looked up those low profile extenders and on ebay the have very high shipping costs. Are there any other option?

So I need to buy on of these??: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6-Pin-to-6-Pin-PCI-E-90-Degree-right-extension-w-low-profile4-USA-MADE-/261225911899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd247165b This isn't enough for making one?? 2pcs CCTV Video Balun 5 5x2 5mm DC Power Plug Terminals Connector Adapter Power | eBay 5 5in PCI Express 6 Pin Male to Female Vidoe Card Power Extension Cable | eBay I think I'm confused - you said I should buy 400w+ so I could the above connecters.

Awesome! So the EVGA GTX 960 will definitely fit the akitio? I can get 430 corsair PSU which is cheaper, excellent. And then if i get those two pieces for barrel plug adapter it should all work out!! After checking my countries import tax laws - it looks like worse case i'll pay another 18% on my stuff But it will still be cheaper than buying the stuff locally. So I'm going to order the big stuff from amazon. Just one last thing before I place the order, Playing on my laptop's screen should work right?

The 960 doesn't seem to fit the akitio. And the 970 is above budget. Are there any other options?