UncleGravity

@AGmR IT WORKED! I'm so psyched right now! Ok ok, these were my steps, I think they are a mix of your instructions, and the ones you linked from @utopian201. Both of you are awesome. If I install my drivers without modification, a file called nvpcdi.inf was being installed. I found this out by looking at the "Events" panel in the properties for my eGPU in the Device Manager. I opened nvpcdi.inf and found my exact card in there, so I commented out the two lines that reference my card: %NVIDIA_DEV.13C2.1366.19DA% = Section006, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C2&SUBSYS_136619DA (in the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0] section) NVIDIA_DEV.13C2.1366.19DA = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970" (In the [Strings] section) Also opened up nv_dispi.inf and commented out the other two lines that reference my card type (I just ctrl+F my DEV number, which is 13C2) %NVIDIA_DEV.13C2% = Section045, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C2 (In the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0] section) NVIDIA_DEV.13C2 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970" (In the [Strings] section) Finally, since my vendor .ini (Apple), did not include my type of card, I just went through all of the ones you listed and found my type of card (13C2) in nvdmi.inf (for Dell, so same as yours). I ctrl-F for my DEV# and found the section that has NVSupportOptimus = 1 (section 113 in my case) So I added: %NVIDIA_DEV.13C2.1366.19DA% = Section113, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C2&SUBSYS_136619DA (to the [NVIDIA_Devices.NTamd64.10.0] section) NVIDIA_DEV.13C2.1366.19DA = "Zotac NVIDIA GTX 970 eGPU" (To the [Strings] section, I modified the name) Then I ran DDU on my nvidia drivers, restarted, installed everything, restarted again and boom. Everything worked. I'm still curious about the "easier" solution you mentioned. Maybe it makes more sense than what I just did haha. EDIT: I'm using nVidia drivers 368.81 Windows 10 64-bit, and Iris Pro drivers 15.40.25.4463. These steps might not make sense for other versions.

@AGmR I modified nvpcdi.inf (since this is the file that gets installed). My process was: First I modified nv_dispi.inf and added the lines from your guide. Then I opened nvpcdi.inf, which already has my exact card in the list, all the same numbers (PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13C2&SUBSYS_136619DA) I noted the section (it was section 006) I added these lines to the main part of Section006 NVSupportOptimus = 1, NVOptimusCheckCookie = 1 NVOptimusHCloneDisabled = 1 I modified the name of my card in the Strings section to make sure it works in the end. Installed drivers successfully and I can see the new name I put in device manager. But it still doesn't work. The optimus icon shows up, but it's always "off", and my card always says "Inactive" when I mouse over the icon. So even if I tell nvidia to use the "High Performance NVIDIA Processor" by default, it never actually does it.

Hey @AGmR, I appreciate how thorough you are with your answers. Really helpful. So I installed the drivers by following your guide (copied all the sections, with NVSupportOptimus = 1, disabled driver signing, etc) and that didn't fix the problem. Then I checked the "Events" section of my gpu, and it turns out it didn't even use nvaoi.inf. It actually used nvpcdi.inf So I'll try to repeat the process, but using nvpcdi.inf instead.

Hey @AGmR, thanks for the detailed info. I tried to do this but my nvaoi.inf file (because I have an macbook pro) doesn't list my video card, it just has like 10 in the list, which makes sense I guess. So I just copy pasted the SectionXYZ from the dell file. I put a custom name for my card in the [Strings] section, to verify that it worked, but I still see the default name in device manager after installation. I have the optimus icon in the taskbar but my card says it's (Inactive) next to it. Nothing ever runs on it. Is there anything I can check to see if I did everything correctly?

Hi @goalque, I tested it on my set-up: MBP 11,3 w/ 750m Akitio Thunder 2 Zotac GTX 970 (GPU-Z says it's UEFI compatible) and it never recognizes the eGPU. I wait for wi-fi to finish loading like you said. I got the VBIOS from techpowerup.com/vgabios/ and made sure the version was the same as gpu-z.

Aw well, I'll look into it more when I have time. Guess I'm out of luck for now. I'll post if I find anything. Thanks for all the help though.

Everything looks good. And yeah, I'm using apple_set_os with rEFInd before booting windows. Otherwise the Iris Pro doesn't run.

Yeah, I boot normally, disable the 750m, set igpu with gpu-switch, restart with egpu plugged in. I can see all three on device manager, and 750m is disabled. When I mouse over the optimus icon in the toolbar it says: GeForce GTX 970 (Inactive) GeForce GT 750M (Disabled)

Tried that too. Nothing. I mean I would've given up a long time ago if it wasn't for the fact that we're running basically the same setup. Same computer, OS, drivers, akitio thunder 2, we ruled out that it was the card. I'm really out of ideas. Super lame. Here's an overview of the setup with more details (note: I rolled back drivers to 368.39, just to check, since someone had done it successfully with those) Edit: Evidence that GTX 970 works with external monitor. I had to disable the 750m for furmark to use the 970, this was before setting up optimus.

That is pretty weird. Yeah, I've played a few games already with the external monitor hooked up to the 970. Can run most things 1080p at max (or almost max), certainly miles better than the 750m. What nVidia drivers are you using? Latest (368.81)?

Ran Furmark, here it is while it ran: Here's the output: I also ran LA Noire at 1080p max settings and got like 10fps. This is what the gpu activity monitor always looks like:

I did a fresh install of Windows 10, installed all the latest drivers, and now I can open the nvidia control panel and I can see the "GPU Activity" panel in the toolbar, which is progress. I've set the "Preferred Graphics Processor" to "High-performance NVIDIA processor". Nothing seems to run on the eGPU though. It always says "There are no applications running on this GPU", no matter what I throw at it.

Did it a few times. Still nothing. Do you think it has to do with the OS? I'm using Windows 8.1. I'll try upgrading to Windows 10 and see what happens. I'm also using this bootcamp partition for Parallels so they have their drivers installed. Not sure if that would mess anything up.

Hmm, after messing with the drivers for a while I noticed that the GTX 980 (the one you have) is listed in the list of devices for the nvidia "notebook" drivers, but my card isn't (gtx 970). It's the only non mobile card on that list. I guess that's because the full 980 (without the 'M' suffix) came out for laptops. http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/105035/ (the device list is in the "supported products" tab) I have a theory, and it might be silly, but perhaps the 980 is the only non mobile 900 card that would work with this setup. I've seen people using the 1070 too so maybe the 1000 cards have that functionality. I mean I'm just speculating, since I haven't seen anyone else make this work with a 970. I don't have a 980, but I'll see if one of my friends does. If you know someone with a 970 and can test it out, that would be sick.

Good to know. Thanks for the quick reply. The NVIDIA Control Panel shows up only when I boot with dGPU + Iris. I can then set the 750m as the "High-Performance NVIDIA Graphics". The eGPU does show up correctly in device manager, no exclamation marks. I boot-up looks like this: 1. Boot windows normally, egpu disconnected. 2. Disable 750m 3. Run gpu-switch (set to igpu) 4. Shutdown, plug-in egpu 5. Run apple_set_os 6. Start windows After doing that if I open Device Manager, I can see the Iris Pro, the 750m (disabled), and the 970 (no exclamation), but if I try to open NVIDIA Control Panel, it just throws a dialog with "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU", and it doesn't open the control panel. So if I try to play, it only uses the Iris Pro and never switches (which, as you can imagine, is not ideal). If I plug in an external monitor, it works great. And Optimus works with the 750m + Iris, so that's fine too. Not sure what I'm missing really. I'm so close!

@diegovb The 3dmark benchmarks you posted for the internal display say it used the 750m. Are you sure Optimus is using the 1070? I have a set-up similar to yours (but with a 970), and optimus works perfectly with the 750m, but not with my eGPU.

Hey @P-Mac, sick write-up. I followed it to a T got almost everything working. Have you actually benchmarked the 980 while using the internal screen (Optimus)? Optimus works perfectly with the 750m, but when I disable it/run gpu-switch/reboot with eGPU, it boots fine, but it doesn't actually use my eGPU because Optimus never kicks in. If I try to open nvidia control panel, it says "You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU", so it doesn't open up. I have the Akitio + GTX970, Macbook Pro mid-2014 w/ 750m, dual booting osx/windows (uefi), with latest rEFInd + apple_set_os. Intel drivers + nVidia drivers are installed and everything shows up in device manager correctly. If it works for you, it should work for me, since we both have the same set-up, so I'll know I'm not wasting my time trying to get Optimus to work.