jackfsqyj

On 2015/5/9 at 6:54 AM, eeevan said:

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.

 

 

Using the similar method I did successfully enter win8.1 with gtx970 available, iris and disabled 750m. But it is still the iris that is rendering the internal screen. The Nvdia preference is not accessible, saying that not having a Nvdia device. The reason that caused the black screen is probably entering win8.1 without running apple set os.

Does anyone have a valid solution to make Optimus working under MacBook w/ dGPU ?

Hi everyone,

I've been using external GTX970 for several months with a external monitor. My setup is:

GTX970, Macbook Pro 2014 w/ 750m.

The issue is that I am currently trying to save space and use internal screen instead. I've read several threads in tech inferno no matter they gave a successful solution or not.

The steps I have tried are:

1.Install reFind and run apple_set_os to get Intel Driver 

2.Run Integrated.bat downloaded from GitHub

3. Connect eGPU and reboot. Now it has 3 GPU recognized (750m,5200, GTX970 with error message)

4. I disabled GT750m,run integrated.bat again and reboot.

5.Now it has 5200 and GTX970, but the 5200 is running the internal screen and I cannot open Nvdia preference since it says I do not have a Nvdia product.

What should I do? At least I make it look like correct by having GTX970 and 5200 both available (and 750m disabled). But it looks like 970 are taking care of a virtual external monitor as I can guess.

By the way, every reboot process I've been using comes with the apple_set_os. I am not sure it is the correct process.

I have a quick question for the booting procedure. I exactly followed the procedure you did and my setup is not so different from yours(GTX970 + Win10). But it always goes into black screen and nothing shows up. Is there any reason for that? I thought it was a general problem for this model ( 2014 w/ dGPU) but now it seems not.

What should I do? I can barely get into Win10 successfully with my GTX970, which is quite worrisome and inconvenient.

On 2016年6月11日 at 0:05 PM, dmilin said:

@tusctodd

I have the exact same setup as you and when I went to install, I realized that it would only let me install the Razer version on Windows 10. I have Windows 8.1. What are you using? If you are on 10, did you find a way to make Optimus work?

I think only Windows 10 can make the eGPU hot pluggable. That's like a feature originally designed for surface book I assume. So Windows 8.1 might not be applicable for it. 

Does anyone using 2014 Macbook pro with dGPU(gt750m) have tried this driver? Would it work?  

Did you uninstall your previous Nvdia GTX970 driver for that? And wait, I think under Windows, Thunderbolt is not hot pluggable. I've used  Thunderbolt Ethernet adaptor and it is definitely not hot pluggable under Windows. So how did you do the hot plug part? Did you just keep the thunderbolt connected and turn on eGPU after it booted?

Hi All,

I've been using my eGPU for several months. But there is always a issue that worries me. It sometimes just does not boot with eGPU connected and I need to reboot it for several times to get it work. It would finally boot but it is really annoying.

My setup:

Macbook 2014 15' standard 512Gb Storage with 2.5Ghz CPU. GT750m

GTX970 Msi 

Seasonic S12II 520 BRONZE, SS-520GB  

AKitio Thunder 2

Windows 8.1

Things I have tried:

I tried to connect it before I turn on my computer, connect it during the system selection interface.

Also, I want to know whether it would improve the situation if I upgrade to windows 10 or newer drivers directly. Since my computer cannot use bootcamp to install windows and I don't know why, I must be careful to do the upgrade. I could not use Boot camp tool in El captian and there is no partition tool in El caption so I went back to Yosemite to get my disk partitioned to install EFI windows 8.1. And then I update back to El captian.

How do you enable iris in Windows? I can't even see it in my win8.1 w/ my new MacBook Pro 2014 with gt750m. Really need your help to. Figure out how can I boot into Windows with gtx970 connected

Hi everyone, I just bought my new 2014 rMBP during Black Friday and now have many problems with eGPU setting.

I've already set the eGPU for my macbook air 2014 and it works pretty perfect.

Here's my specs:

i7 2.5GHz

512g SSD

Iris pro +gt 750m

GTX970 msi gaming 4g

I first upgraded my Mac OS to 10.11 so that I think I might use the new bootcamp assistant (without flash disk) to install windows;however, it still asks me to use a flash disk for installation. So I had to follow the instruction to use USB disk to install Windows 10, ending with "failure configuring windows updates" and then I go back to mac to remove the windows partition and install windows 8.1 instead. However, the installation still failed, and what's more when I boot into Mac OS there's a banner and that might mean my Mac OS is also broken. So I restore the whole computer and manually use EFI to install windows 8.1 without. But after installing bootcamp drivers, I can only use dGPU in windows (which is also reported by many other users). In order to enable iris, I installed rEFInd and load Apple_OS_set. And I installed Nvdia drivers for GTX970, but every time I plug the thunderbolt to MBP in rEFInd interface or that option select system interface, it just freezes and I can't get into any OS(But in the option one, I can't still use mouse to choose wireless); if I plugin the thunderbolt (and power up gtx 970)before I power up the macbook, it doesn't show up anything and can't hear the booting sound. I succeeded in booting into windows twice, the first time is that I get into windows with a BSOD and automatically restart; and it magically go into windows with perfect gaming performance( I test GTA V); another time is that I pluged the thunderbolt during the rEFInd interface and it didn't freeze so I also get into the system with perfect gaming performance. So I suppose the driver works good and the only issue is that I have to figure out a stable procedure to power up.

My Question is:

1.Why can't I install windows thru bootcamp without flash disk? And why can't I install windows even with flash disk?

2.Is there anyway to make iris pro available in windows?

3.What should I do to make the eGPU works?

4. Is there any different to use EFI and bootcamp to install windows ? Is that possible to install iris driver before I install bootcamp driver so that I can enable iris?

I am considering using apple_set_OS and disable gt750m in windows just like the implementation guide of that 2015 rMBP with R9. But I am afraid that if I disable gt750m and it still couldn't recognize iris pro, I have to reinstall the whole system.

Sorry for late reply.. I didn't receive any notification about your reply.

I installed win8.1 and win10 in EFI way 2 times( which went into black screen) and I just reinstalled win10 thru bootcamp yesterday but haven't installed the drivers for that. I need to think about what's wrong with my procedure and get started.

it was when the circling dots start looping and soon disappear( about half loop). Would it be better to use bootcamp or even more difficult to install all things on bootcamp?

I heard of some guys using rEFInd to avoid black screen, but not sure whether it works for eGPU.

I am kind of tired about reinstalling windows again and again. I am actually using Mac with perfect eGPU experience( except of loss of gaming perf.)

I basically followed your instructions but after I installed the drivers of gtx970 and reboot, I booted into windows with black screen or automatic repair. It's the same situation for both win10 and win8.1.( I thought it was because win10 so I reinstalled windows in EFI ) What should I do? @Tech Inferno Fan

I previously set up my eGPU system but now something goes wrong so I completely reinstall my Mac and Windows. I installed Windows 10 in EFI method. However, after I turn on my laptop and connect akitio to my Mac, windows does not recognize the Graphic Card, though the GPU fan becomes spinning after I plug in the cable.

What should I do?

So are there any graphic card without CW which can be powered by Dell DA-2 but better than GTX960? Like GTX750ti or something. But I've heard about that GTX900 series are most stable ones compared to old GTX700 or 800 series. Really hard to choose.

I am also going leave the graphic card naked like @tranj10 and I have a roommate. So CW might be a serious problem.....

I've checked other threads before...I believe the setup for my Macbook air would be much easier than those with dGPU. Anyway, I want to buy a msi GTX970 and wish it's not going to have annoying coil whine.

Is there coil whine with your mini GTX970? What about the temperature and the noise?

1.98$ is so nice a price especially compared to that 20$ one! I want to build my eGPU system after I go back to college but still not sure about which Graphic card to buy, msi or the asus mini GTX970. Do you have any suggestion? Like noise, temperature or gaming perf?

My desk is only 50cm*100cm and I want to build a eGPU system like you but with external keyboard and monitor(24"). Do you think it possible ? or it takes more place than I thought...

It would be extremely stupid to find room not enough after I built my eGPU system

3.5G is still better than 2g anyway. So the coil whine is kind of a defect or just all gtx970 has coil whine ? Can it be fixed or returned for a new one?

My friends bought a msi gtx970 and he said that it is really silent without any annoying whine

I would like to use a external 1080p monitor, would that still be ok?

So GTX970 with TB1 has just the same gaming perf as GTX960 with TB1, or better?

About the cpu, I've heard of PhysX can make GPU do CPU stuff, can it kind of solve this issue?

The FPS drops of HOTS may be caused by the unstable network, as I know.

The 960 might be the best suited for TB1 in term of matching but buying a 970 or 980 is not going to degrade performances and might be more future proof.

I don't know which games are more CPU dependant but you should NOT worry about your I5. It is good enough for sure.

The only thing you should be worry about is the pcie bandwith required for the game but there is no thread or info about that yet. You'll have to take the plunge.

If anyone more with more knowledge on that can comment that would be welcome.

Like ba10s118 said in http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/10224-i-just-want-confirm-before-purchasing-questions.html

The i5 on macbook air is not the typical one.

I have no idea about the pcie bandwith. Maybe @Dschijn would know something about that?

I want to build a eGPU system with my Macbook air (2014,i5,4GB) ,so I need to buy

1.GTX 970 msi gaming 4G

2.Dell 2-DA

3.8pin adaptor( 20$ from ebay)

4.Akitio

And my questions are:

1.Would TB1 be the bottleneck of GTX970?

2.Is Dell 2-DA enough for GTX970 and Akitio even if overclocked?

3.With my low-voltage i5 processor, how many game I can play? As far as I know, it cann't run GTA V or SC2. That's, how many games requires a strong CPU? Most of the games? Are there a list or something about it ?

If that's true I have to reconsider about buying GTX970 or GTX960 since my Macbook only has TB1. I am sure that TB1 is a bottlenect for GTX980 but not sure about GTX970.....

BTW, do you know what kind of games are CPU-dependent, like SC2 or GTA V? Is there a thread talking about it?Or is there a list of games that require high-end CPU?

Since my i5 processor is really poor and I don't want to waste money if there are so many games that I cannot play.

Umm..I think GTX 970 cannot provide more data than the TB1 can afford, I guess.

Or you can just install windows to test which part goes wrong?

On my pc i used to play elite dangerous at max settings with an I3 and gtx 970. Now i am on a macbook pro with I7+gtx970+tb1 and cannot reach max settings even if my cpu load do not reach more than 30%. So perf in the case of this game is limited by 1) TB1 and 2) has much to do with the Mac optimisation version of the game, not much the hardware as long as you have something decent like your setup.

I believe it's the second one.

I don't think GTX970 is limited by TB1. TB1 is just enough for GTX970.

Did you buy that "2x PCI-e 6-pin Male to Dual 6-pin Female Power Y cable splitter" from eBay(20$)? Is that steady enough for you to tuck up those wirings?

And 2 things about Windows 10:

1.Windows 10 is not working as well as Windows 8.1 on Macbook, at least on my Macbook air. I was using the latest Windows 10 CP and every time it took almost 1minutes to go in to the system. Usually it cannot be correctly woken up.But the UI is quite impressive, and I believe the update of Bootcamp will easily fix those issues.

2.It seems like Nvdia devices not working well on Windows 10. HOTS cannot be runned on a Windows 10 device.

I just think it would be better to build a case for it, because it would look better and protect GPU from water.

-----------------------------

So in that way of splitting the wiring,Dell DA-2 is not enough for GTX970 ( even if not overlocked)? What about GTX960? Would that be enough?I just don't want to use a huge PSU.

Looking forward to@LukeHero 's report to see whether it can run stably.