ti_padawan

1) I see, could be :). I think you had best head over here and ask directly. That's where the key members seem to have moved. 2) Yes, but that's Windows-only. I don't have experience with Optimus myself but some posts come up if you search the forum. E.g. here.

1-2) When you look at the script's GitHub page, experimental support for RX 480 is crossed out. My interpretation is that it didn't work. You might have more luck trying out the EFI app demo but first take a look here, at the very least. 3) I'm not sure but I think I've only seen AMD cards being mentioned to work with software like Adobe. I recommend to search the forum :). 4) In Windows, perhaps (I can not say for sure). As far as I know, not in OS X - you need an external monitor for the cards to be detected (especially NVidia). 5) Depends on which application window is run on which screen. If the GPU intensive application windows will be run on the external monitor accelerated by the eGPU, internal cards will stay cool (as they are idle). However, do note that: - GPU-intensive also means CPU-intensive sometimes (e.g. games). - For some configurations (including the MBP model) the internal screen will still be accelerated by the internal GPU, and for some configurations acceleration will be taken over by the eGPU :).

First and foremost, a quote from Basic hardware guide: I'm not completely sure that includes Akitio's shipped power supply as I have seen people try and succeed in using it while powering the GPU with a separate PSU. However, people on this forum would advice against that, labelling Akitio's shipped power supply as a temporary solution. Then, the issue is how much power your card needs (I don't know). There are 3 input types: - PCIe x16 slot - max. 75W - PCI 6-pin slot - max. 75W - PCI 8-pin slot - max. 150W If you use Akitio's shipped power supply, the PCIe x16 slot's input will be limited to max. 25W (in practice, it should be less - maybe 10 or 15). Nevertheless, don't be afraid of making your own barrel adapter. The important thing to remember is to make the adapter from a cable that came with the PSU (made by the vendor), and to make sure you convert the right end of the cable. Theoretically, you can also use other cables but then, you really need to know what you're doing. You see, vendors don't generally use standardized pinouts on their PSUs' connectors and this can be deadly. I almost fried my system after I made the adapter from a standardized cable that I bought online.

You're welcome :). I appreciate the offer but local reputation is not one of my ambitions. Even if it were, I think this section of the forum is going to die a slow death anyway as key members have been forced to leave. If you don't know yet, they seemed to have moved here.

In that case, I can only think of one more thing: even if it doesn't really make sense and chances of success are little, perhaps it's worth a try to reinstall the game and delete system cache in between :). EDIT: Just searched the forum and found somebody else having the exact same issue: Goalgue's answer: Also see here. So I guess it's really an issue with the game itself. The choice is probably either to install native Windows or put this issue in front of the game's developers.

1) Hmm, that's definitely weird (doesn't happen to me). Granted, I have an NVidia dGPU inside the Mac but by default, Intel iGPU accelerates the internal screen anyway. 2) That's good news. From the top of my head: is there a maximum frame cap setting in LoL? If the game itself limits the maximum amount of stress for your GPU, it's logical that performance won't go past a certain point. Although I don't understand how (and more importantly why) this number would auto-adjust itself. 3) Some applications let you choose but it seems that most depend on the GPU that renders the application window in question (in OS X, I mean). 4) That's weird again... I don't think installation of D3 made any system changes regarding the eGPU because it would need the user's confirmation and normally, system integrity protection would remove the changes with the next restart anyway. As it happens, I can offer performance comparison because I play D3 as well. In my case, GTX 970 reaches up to 100 FPS (maximum settings) in town but again, make sure that you don't limit the GPU potential in the settings (Options / Video / Max Foreground FPS). I have the eGPU in a PC case that is mostly open at the back (closed everywhere else) and as far as my skin sensors go, the temperature inside doesn't really exceed 70° C. EDIT: If all else fails, perhaps you could try to reset the PRAM, run automate-egpu again and restart the Mac. If I remember my own beginnings correctly, I had some issues and resetting the PRAM helped. Same might go for deleting system cache files, perhaps - I did that with a great app named CleanMyMac. Sierra experiences I read on another forum also seemed to indicate that OS X may take a few restarts to really adjust to some drastic changes.

Do I assume correctly that 33 FPS was achieved on the external monitor while 60 FPS was achieved on the internal one? Two things might be worth a shot to perhaps grant us a little more data: 1) Run the game on the external monitor while using the default OS X drivers (no eGPU acceleration). 2) Run Unigene Valley benchmark and observe the eGPU's FPS: - what is the difference between minimum/maximum FPS? - is the average FPS actually close to the maximum? EDIT: OS X 10.11 or 10.12? And which version of the script did you use? In my case, OS X 10.11 and automate-egpu pre-v1.0.0. (November 2016).

@1TrikPony I have an Akitio + GTX 970 + MBP 2012 and the acceleration gives cca 5 times better performance so personally, I'm not too keen on seeking the culprit around the GPU itself. What if you try to unplug the "unneeded" external monitors and launch a game on the remaining one? Btw, how did you manage to do that? In my case, internal and external screens are either all accelerated by the eGPU or iGPU (at least, according to what the system settings say)? Are you running Windows?

How are you powering your Akitio? Have you selected "NVidia Web Driver" in the NVidia control panel? Have you also set the external monitor as primary in your system's settings? Have you restarted the Mac after running the script?

That benchmark effort has obviously been run on a Windows system installed on a Mac. Now that IS possible and like I said: However, I have never seen a way to leverage a Pascal card on macOS yet (in terms of graphics acceleration of course). The followup comment to your question at Youtube sums it up in a way too:

I don't know about your specific case but at first, I had some issues with launching my MBP 2012 as well. As far as I remember, resetting the PRAM helped (make sure to rerun the automation script afterwards). Then, it was about figuring out the timing and the order of turning things on. For me, I turn on the external monitor, the egpu and then the mac, one after the other. I turn on the egpu by turning on the power supply which takes about 2-3 seconds to start up so only then I actually start the mac. Perhaps try to tinker with this too to find just the right routine :). As for the power-off issue, that might suggest something more serious. I'm no expert but system log may be useful to the community :). I think you should also start a new thread and not hijack this old one.

What you need is an appropriate web driver that would enable the system to use the card to accelerate the video output. But like I said, such web driver has not been "released" (developed?) yet and it will probably take a long time still, if there's ever going to be one... Chance for you to solve this problem on your own is like 1 in a million - basically none :). What you can do is install another system on your Mac - a display driver has been released for both Windows and Linux. On the contrary, CUDA driver for macOS and pascal cards is released and working. But I don't know if CUDA is going to work without the web driver...

@pokerman837 There are no OS X drivers for NVidia 1000 series cards yet and I reckon they will still take quite some time...

@shirazigs I'm still on El Capitan myself but I believe that the "G-SYNC requires an NVidia G-SYNC(TM) display" explains it. Either you don't have a G-SYNC certified external monitor or the driver thinks you don't. I have a G-SYNC certified monitor myself so this is a very interesting topic for me too. However, macOS might first have to be updated to fully support G-SYNC (or free-sync, for that matter). Experimental support is also indicated by this thread on insanelymac.com. Sadly, it rather seems not to work for now :(.

Yep, everything works wonderfully. Guess I was lucky not to fry anything the first time... Thank you so much @Dschijn :).

Okay, got it :). In that case, my final question (hopefully) is simple: can I use the 8-pin "CPU" slot and the included 8-pin to 4-pin cable to power Akitio? Or do I have to go the "VGA" route?

@Dschijn 1. Just to mark the original cable (6-pin to 2x molex) that I converted into 6-pin to barrel terminal - that's why the connection is crossed. But I guess I could have left that out... my apologies :). 2. Yes, sort of - the PSU came with a tester that I attached to the motherboard cable :). 3. Because the only 6-pins on the PSU are labeled "SATA/PERIF". If all else fails, I could use one of the 8-pin VGA slots (there are two) to power Akitio after converting the appropriate shipped cable into an adapter (like you said). But I wanted to avoid that and keep the cables intact as I might go into a SLI setup eventually (and I wanted to use both slots for my GPU). The only remaining option is the 8-pin labeled CPU. Hmm, judging by this, I could create an adapter for Akitio from the 8-pin to 4-pin cable (exactly 2x 12V and 2x ground)? Luckily, there is still another 8-pin to 8-or-4-pin cable CPU cable included :). 1. Okay, thank you :). Right now, I'm not using them though, unless you meant the "SATA/PERIF" 6-pin slots as a whole? 2. Yes, I figured that out yesterday (one always learns something new). 3. A very good advice, thank you :). Despite I did that one or two times since I got the PSU, let's hope nothing happened :). UPDATE: Forgot to mention that all the included "SATA/PERIF" cables end with either SATA or MOLEX so I shouldn't use them (e.g. "Do not use Molex or SATA pins from the PSU")?

@Dschijn Ah, sorry about confusion :). I quickly put together an image that sums up what I did - let's use it as a base for further comments and a reference to individual pins. Real view of everything between Akitio and PSU is here. Additional info: the top-center pin of "A" is unused and attached to two more black cables. I don't see where I went wrong, unless the PSU's connector doesn't match layout of "A" or unless I put the wrong black cables into the barrel terminal. UPDATE: judging by the included PSU cables labeled "SATA" (6-pin to SATA) and "PERIF" (6-pin to molex), pinout of "A" is expected to look like this (as I connected my adapter to one of the "SATA/PERIF" slots on my PSU). I haven't been able to deduce the top-right pin's character yet - have to get a voltmeter first. If it's not ground, I guess the culprit is clear. If it's ground, I'm back to square one... In that case, is it okay to convert one of the SATA cables into the adapter for Akitio? More specifically, combine 12V (yellow) and 5V (red) cables into the positive slot of the barrel terminal? If my nooby calculations are correct, they should supply 85W, which means that if the GPU somehow prefers to draw power from the board when under stress (up to 75W), there might not be enough for the board itself?

Nevermind this post. It's ok to remove it :).

@Dschijn May I ask your advice about my wrong-doings regarding the molex to barrel adapter? I connected the PSU, Akitio and GPU together (no Thunderbolt or DisplayPort yet) and started up the PSU for the first time. After maybe 10-15 seconds, I could see slight smoke and smelled something burning so I shut the PSU down immediately. Turned out that the adapter's two yellow cables were quite hot and insulation (not the metal inside) somewhat melded together near the barrel terminal (see picture). The leftover black cables were hot as well but didn't meld and seem to be undamaged. I visually checked both Akitio and GPU afterwards - they seem to be fine for now. Tried powering Akitio with the shipped power supply - seems fine. When making the adapter, I followed a post from this thread . The adapter consists of 6-pin to 2x molex adapter, 6-pin male/female extender cable and the barrel terminal (overview here). Despite amazon's pictures, the 6-pin to molex cable came with black cables instead of the red ones. I connected the 6-pin end to one of the SATA/PERIF slots on my PSU. I'm a little scared of experimenting on my own now and would like to ask for help in pointing out any mistakes. Did I mix up the wrong black cables together (as I mentioned, there were two more) or is the cable's quality just that bad? How would you personally proceed or what replacement would you recommend (the overall power cable needs to be a little over 30cm)?

Hey gullshark, partially, I point you to my other comment. The thing I'm not sure about in your case is compatibility of Windows 10, Optimus technology and eGPU (unfortunately, I have no experience with Optimus myself). Either try to search the forum or wait until someone else answers in that regard :). Also, you should expect that some maintenance comes with the eGPU solution. Sometimes, a problem simply may occur for you to solve.

Yup, Thunderbolt 1 (up to MBP Late 2013). 1. If you want to take advantage of GPU acceleration in Windows only (games), you don't have to use external display - see this thread at least. Optimus technology is what you're after and you can search the forum for more information. Even if you had to use an external display, you could still use internal keyboard and trackpad. 2. My personal opinion is that it's not worth your while to buy a GTX 660. Simple benchmark comparison says that GTX 970 is 3-4 times faster and better and while you could most likely buy a used GTX 660 for proportional price, GTX 970 will definitely stick with you for a longer period of time and overall, I think you would be happier (especially, if you want to move to a wider display later on). On the other hand, some models may require a stronger PSU than Dell DA-2 (which is cheap) and some models/brands don't fit into Akitio nicely. GTX 970 seems to be quite popular and there have been few issues with it. There are many used GTX 970s to buy as many people upgrade to GTX 1000 series now, but you can still buy a new one. Eventually, you'll probably decide in regard to your budget though :). 3. GTX 660 should give some improvement but overall, probably not as much as you would expect from an eGPU setup of that price. With GTX 970, there will definitely be a significant improvement. Even the low bandwidth of Thunderbolt 1 (some of it will be taken by internal screen acceleration, leaving even less for host-to-device communication) shouldn't (hopefully) be much of a problem since it's pretty pointless to render high resolutions on a 13" screen. As far as I know, MBAs are among the most appropriate for eGPU setups and there are fewer issues with them.

I don't think there's a clear solution for everyone regarding the notorious black screen thing at the moment, but the following threads could at least bring you some ideas and things to try (in case you haven't visited them yet), depending on whether you boot into Windows or OS X. On a side note, it might be worthwhile to make sure that the drivers (the system folders) "match" among MBP 2013/14 (GT 750M; black screen issue) and MBP 2012 (GT 650M; no black screen issue as far as I can tell). If not, significant differences could, perhaps, hold a key to something subtle but potentially important.

A quick thing that comes to mind (EDIT: ah, I can see the connection now, nevermind ): I can't see your GTX 970 connected to your external monitor (e.g. via DisplayPort) on the picture. Do I assume correctly that you're using a Thunderbolt display which is connected to the other port of your Akitio? If so, that is mostly likely a wrong setup. I think that Bizon FAQ (Bizon is a modified Akitio) says that OS X won't detect the card unless it's directly connected to the external monitor.

Hello everyone, this is my first post, so first let me thank you for the great content in this forum setion - it's very helpful. Special thanks go to Tech Inferno Fan, goalque and Dschijn, of course :). I'd like to ask the community for opinions about an idea I had. At this moment, I find myself in need of an eGPU for my MacBook so I'm trying to research everything connected to it, including the Akitio Thunder2 and BizonBox. I've read the guides, compatibility, some experiences and rip-off alerts but now I wonder: could it be actually better to assemble my own "adapter" in the form of a PC case? Normally, buying a dedicated Thunderbolt adapter is recommended but if I'm going to buy a special case anyway (no room on my desk), it might be better to duplicate the adapter's functionality with my own parts as I could end up with a better result at roughly (and hopefully) the same kind of price. More specifically, I hope to overcome several limitations of Akitio: Cheap support for NVidia SLI (multiple GPUs that are organized in a master-slave relationship and act as one). Much better control over airflow. No metal-bending or airflow adjustments involved. If you buy the right metal, it won't get in your way. Portable solution with safety belt on. Simply unplug Thunderbolt & monitor, and take it away. No paperclipping of the PSU and making electrical adjustments so that the setup works. Personally, I like to assemble (not solder etc.) as I'm not a hardware/electrical engineer. All these considerations come from stumbling upon this motherboard . Unfortunately, it features Thunderbolt 3 (my MacBook has Thunderbolt 1). But I found this one too (Thunderbolt 2) and I'm sure there are others. Overall, building my own "adapter" like this seems a better solution than buying a dedicated Thunderbolt adapter because of simplicity (in certain aspects), flexibility (could put it more stuff, perhaps), durability AND support for SLI, which means I could use my GPU for extended period of time if chosen right. On the other hand, disadvantages would probably be: Assembly needs some technical prowess but it's nothing fancy and if someone tells me how to do it (perhaps the manuals), I should be fine. Installation might involve some BIOS tweaking & optimization but it shouldn't be difficult - main thing is to know what to do. A slightly more expensive solution than buying a ready-to-use adapter but I think its advantages are indisputable. A slightly higher power consumption. Size of the case. But maybe I just don't see far enough and the hidden caveats elude me - that's why I'm here :). From this point on, let's assume I have a Thunderbolt 2 motherboard like the one I linked, the case, and the right PSU + GPU. For one thing, would this setup work? Do I assume correctly that the motherboard doesn't require me to provide drivers for the GPU (as long as my MacBook has them of course)? Would I have to buy a dedicated processor? How do I discern Mac compatibility over Thunderbolt? Could I access the BIOS if my monitor is attached to the GPU or does it have to be attached to the motherboard's video output? Would I have to do anything other than simply assembling the solution and perhaps configuring BIOS? Would it be difficult to update the motherboard's BIOS from my MacBook?