Search the Community

Hey guys, I've been lurking these forums for months, and finally decided to get all my parts together after finding a great deal on a Sonnet Echo Express enclosure. My setup is as follows: 13" Retina Macbook Pro Windows 8.1 UEFI booting Sonnet Echo Express Thunderbolt Enclosure EVGA 650 ti w/2GB VRAM So, everything worked great as a proof of concept with a normal ATX power supply so I ordered a 150watt Pico PSU with a 144watt external power brick, as this is the only solution to keeping everything in the original enclosure. I've provided pictures of my setup as well. Now comes the problem. I rewired the power from the sonnet board back into the enclosure to share power with my GPU, so they both power at the same time. This I've found causes Windows to disable onboard Intel graphics and only allows video output through the GPU headers DVI, HDMI. I CAN get it to boot properly If I open the enclosure, and disconnect the 6-pin power connector, and plug it in as soon as I see the loading circle on the Windows 8.1 splash-screen. Full GPU acceleration after that with no issues, and I can run most games on full settings with the resolution set at 1920x1200. So this brings me to my question, has anyone been able to successfully automate a delay to powering the GPU on startup? I've read about the software available for purchase, but it says in the FAQ that it's only recommended for MBR/BIOS booting, which I'm not using. Other threads show that they've gotten it to work, but I'm wondering if it's because they're manually plugging or switching during the boot process. I could add a switch to my box for the 6-pin GPU power, but that would require a 6-pole single throw switch (which i've not found online yet) or three rocker switches that I'd have to throw at the same time on startup each time I wanna boot to this thing! Any suggestions are more than welcome at this point.