martinm0

Been a while since I've been on the forums. Recently picked up a Samsung 40" 4k curved TV to possibly use as a monitor. The issue I'm running into is that OS X only seems to run the TV at 30Hz, while Windows 8.1n runs it at 60Hz (same machine, hardware, cables, input, etc). Is there something that has to be modified or changed to allow OS X to drive the monitor full 60Hz? I know my iMac doesn't support 4k from the dGPU, but would that prevent it from being able to produce 60Hz 4k through the eGPU? Even SwitchresX only shows 30Hz in all the settings. Here's my setup: Samsung UN40JU7500 2012 iMac 27" (680MX GPU) Zotac GTX-970 Akitio Thunder2 Dell DA-2 PSU

I would try a fresh install with Windows 10. I've been successful with Win 7, 8.1n and 10. I did nothing special with Windows 10 for my install - did a fresh install, installed bootcamp drivers, made sure the eGPU showed up in device manager and downloaded and ran Nvidia drivers. After that, I rebooted (think when it restarted both the internal screen and eGPU were displaying mirrored info, odd), extended my display to the eGPU (which broke the internal monitor) but the eGPU worked. For me, I leave the eGPU powered on before I boot up. It does fight me at times where I have to reboot a half dozen times to get it to recognize, but when it works, it works overtime (until I do something like connect it to another machine or run Windows updates). PS - I like Windows 10 over 8.1 due to not requiring your serial number during install (so you don't have to put it in over and over if you need to rip out the install and try again). Was a big disappointment moving from Windows 7 to Windo 8.1 due to that alone.

I use a Western Digital My Passport Pro to hold dual SSDs (256GB OS, and 1TB SSD Steam Games). I sometimes connect this to the second port on the Akitio box, and haven't seen any issues running things this way. Most of the time the external is connected directly to my iMac, but if I use it with my MBA, I have to daisy chain the drives to the eGPU (also have done this on the iMac as well). This is all under TB1 as well as neither of my machines have TB2.

Is it possible that the HDMI out on the card only does 1080p? Have you tested another port from the GPU to see if DVI or DP provide the full resolution? Which card do you have?

Yes. I use the eGPU with my 2012 iMac 27" (i7, 680MX) and 2014 MBA.

Just for a sanity check, does the new version absolutely need a fresh install of OS X? I downloaded the latest version and took the gamble of running it over my existing OS X install and it seems to have worked fine. My only issue is I had to use the old terminal commands to install rather than the new 2 step process.

I've had my Akitio+Zotac 970+Dell DA-2 crash a handful of times while gaming as well. Same situation where the sound starts stuttering and screen goes black. I forget if I have to do something, but usually I'll have a Windows pop-up stating the game has crashed. Note, I've mostly only being playing Batman Arkham Knight, which is not ported well as we all know, so not sure if its the game or the setup. Usually only happens after an hour or two of gaming. Others have mentioned that the board inside the Akitio can get super hot. Could be the board is overheating while the GPU might be only around 65c.

That might be our bad. I notice folks like to just add new posts as a reply, I may have done that... Do you have any ability to install Windows internally and cut out the external for testing? I'm only running Windows 10 from my internal SSD on my 2014 MBA and it works great, just as Win7 and Win8.1n ran. I was planning on moving Windows to an external but just haven't done it yet. And very odd about you having to run USB 2.0 drivers on Win7. Not an issue I had on either my iMac or MBA.

Is this happening with 2012 MBP from your build guide? Do you have another Thunderbolt cable to try> I run my Windows partition from an external SSD as well, but I'm connecting it through TB1 on my late 2012 iMac 27. I've had pretty good luck getting it to work most of the time, but there are situations that seem to prevent it from working properly. One area I noticed is with Windows Updates. I'll need to not have the eGPU connected when those run (or at least after the forced reboot) or I find my iMac gets stuck in an endless reboot cycle (and when this happens, I notice the OS X chime sounds like it coming from a backup speaker and not the main speaker of the iMac as the sound is very thin and no bass). In these instances I unplug the eGPU and boot into Windows to let it do the rest of the updates, reboot again to make sure they are all completed, then I shut down and connect the eGPU and boot back up. I also think that when I swap back and forth between Windows and OS X with the eGPU, it can break the reliability of the setup working in Windows (I never have any issues with the eGPU not working in OS X). The other day it took me almost an hour trying to get Windows to properly recognize the eGPU after using it with my MBA. It would boot up and only show the iMac's dGPU and screen and have the eGPU listed in Device Manager (maybe Error 12). In either case, I just went back and forth moving cables, fully powering down the eGPU by unplugging the power cord from the Dell DA2. And once it starts working again, I find it works every time unless I use it with another machine or do some significant changes. And note, I power on the eGPU before booting up my Mac and that works for me pretty well with no additional device manager errors. Lastly, unless something changed, I know that unplugging a Thunderbolt connection, or powering down a TB device while connected to the Mac, will cause a kernel panic and the system will freeze and crash. I'm wondering if you are having a flakey connection that is causing a disconnect and freezing up the system. I also noticed that my Lacie 2big external (USB 3.0) blips after the boot menu like the bus gets disconnected and then rediscovered a few seconds later. However, I was running Windows from a USB 3.0 SSD on my MBA and had no issues, so really unsure what your problem(s) are. I'm hoping just a faulty TB cable.

I ran Tomb Raider's benchmark test on my late 2012 iMac (i7, 680MX) in OS X with the latest web driver and got the following: iMac+Akitio Zotac GTX970 (1080p, max settings) Min: 36.7 Max: 91.6 Avg: 73.8 iMac+680MX dGPU (1440p, max) Min: 41.9 Max: 64 Avg: 54.8 iMac+680MX dGPU (1080p windowed, max) Min: 59.5 Max: 95.4 Avg: 80.3

I did a clean install of Windows 10 on my 2014 MBA and everything is working great. Played Tomb Raider on max and it played pretty great. I did not do anything special to the Bootcamp drivers. Just let them all install, then downloaded the latest GTX970 driver from Nvidia, shut down and started up with eGPU fully powered on (I always have it on when booting up), installed the drivers and rebooted again. Everything working (including internal speakers). One interesting thing that happened was on first boot with eGPU (after drivers installed) I had both the internal and external monitors working at the same time (they were set to mirror). When I undid mirroring, both worked independently until I rebooted and my internal screen went back to black/inactive.

After testing with my same MBA, I think the eGPU is still worthwhile for gaming on this laptop. I'm sure there will be bottlenecks with some modern games, but overall I was able to play Tomb Raider at max settings at 1080p with perfectly acceptable frame rates for an extended period of time. I tested also batman AK at max settings with decent FPS and HoTS at extreme settings which seemed fine.

I have the same 2014 MBA as you and can do some testing. I've been using the eGPU with my iMac during gaming (and so far mostly only on Batman AK, which is limited already as it is). Will do some testing and report back.

You need the eGPU connected and recognized for the web drivers to load. Have you tried using the eGPU under OS X? I feel like that was a much easier process, even before goalque's script. And it works every time I boot up, no fuss. And the card definitely works?

Wait, are you only using the 1x 6pin for power at the card? I think you need both. That said, I boot with my eGPU powered on from the start. I would recommend that, but you might just have an issue with not enough power. Also, others have mentioned that you should do all your windows updates with the eGPU not connected. I have experienced some similar issues, so make sure all your updates run and then try to boot up with the eGPU.