narin

On 9/26/2016 at 0:03 PM, varyl said:

Alright, so I have nearly the exact same build as you, the only notable difference is my 970 is asus brand. MacOS works exactly as you describe, I will note that another method for boot that I have found is to boot fully into MacOS and then plug in, then restart the computer, if the first boot was a cold boot then I get 100% consistent restart with no issues, now with the eGPU coming on, this is with the laptop closed and exclusively using external keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Restarts thereafter have a ~10% success rate, I usually shut down and do cold boots from there, I note that sometimes when it shuts down it will not actually do so, black screen, but the trackpad still clicks and I have to hold power until it stops, I warn that my machine rapidly heats up and stays very hot while in this state.

 

Now for Windows, if you can get Windows 10 to boot and recognize the gpu then you're almost there. I believe I did the dsdt override but I am not sure if it was necessary. Once you get it setup, the boot time is very variable. In my experience it can take anywhere between 20 seconds and a full 4 minutes to boot into Windows, no idea why, but I just walk away while it's at the loading screen because it will drive me crazy to stare at it. I initially thought I had a bad setup because of the occasional hanging before I realized that eventually it always gets through, as long as I hear that initial bootup tone.

 

When planning to go into windows mode I cold boot the computer as a laptop, I then close the lid and plug it into my Henge dock, tap a key on my external keyboard to wake it up, I click restart and begin holding the boot options key, select windows and begin the boot, walking away and coming back. Once in it works fantastic, I play Overwatch with everything set to ultra and it looks and plays great. I have noted an issue when setting a website to full screen(like netflix or youtube) on the monitor that is plugged directly into the laptop, gets a little funky, flashes black across all screens for a moment and seems unstable, so I avoid it.

 

There may be a better way to do this, I'd love to hear if there is, but that's how I've done it. I note as well that I did install Windows 10 via bootcamp.

Hey man.  I know this thread is very old, but I noticed you have a henge dock.  I just got my rMBP 15" working with the Akitio, but only when I connect the Akitio directly to the laptop.  When I try to have it connected through the henge dock and boot to windows, my computer doesn't detect the eGPU.  Did you ever run into this?  How are you able to get it to work with the dock?  I have the vertical one by the way.  Thanks for your help!

Hey.  I saw that you have a henge dock.  Is it the vertical one?  Are you able to connect the eGPU through the thunderbolt adapters on the dock?  Got my Akitio working, but not through the dock.

4 hours ago, nkh004 said:

I didn't get the green light. It just turned off as soon as I connected the adapter. The barrel plug +/- weren't in the right position. 

Edit: Contacted the seller and it turns out my adapter was wired incorrectly as well. Barrel plug wires should have been reversed on the 12-pin like yours. He is sending me another one ASAP. 

On 11/30/2016 at 3:00 PM, nkh004 said:

 

Contacted the seller, sent pictures. He said the cable wasn't made correctly. New one on the way. 

I think there's something wrong with my adapter from the same seller as well.  Without anything plugged into my DA-2, the light is orange.  If I plug in just the adapter (not connected to the Akitio/GPU), the DA-2 light turns green.  But as soon as I connect the barrel plug or the 6-pin, the DA-2 light turns off and there is no power.  Is this the same thing you're experiencing?  I've tried attaching the barrel plug and 6-pin first, then connecting the adapter to the DA-2 but still no luck.

36 minutes ago, n8ballz said:

Instead of the paperclip I used a switch. It turns everything off or on.

 

Thanks. I wanted to avoid messing w/ any wiring, but is this easy to do? Any soldering necessary?

9 hours ago, Dschijn said:

 

Seems good! But it has just 1x6-pin, if that is enough.

That shop is funny, making a confidential sticker on the pinout so nobody could guess how to wire it. But 10sec google will bring you to page 1 here

Thank you very much for your reply and contribution to this thread.

1x6-pin should be enough for the video card I intend to use.  I am still confused about the powering on/off the PSU though.  Sorry I'm a noob at electrical.  Is the paperclip trick needed to turn on the PSU if I get this eBay adapter?  How about turning off the PSU?  Would something like this work (someone posted earlier).  Thanks again.

Hey all,

Thanks for all the great info.  I saw that some of the adapters on eBay linked in this thread are no longer available.  Would this one do the trick? 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5mm-Akitio-Thunder2-Dell-DA-2-PCI-E-External-Video-Box-Power-Supply-Solution-/232140158055?hash=item360ca1b467:g:t4QAAOSw44BYJSAA