Low FPS on GTX 970 eGPU

[1TrikPony]

Hi everyone,

 

I've managed to build my eGPU and get it working great. I'm running 3 external monitors at 1080p with no issues at all on a Zotac GTX970 with the Akitio Thunder 2.

 

The internal GPU is running my retina screen. The 970 is running the three externals. (I've confirmed this in the system settings).

 

Here is my problem... when I go to play a game and put it on an external screen running on the eGPU... I actually get LOWER performance than if I run it on the retina screen under the native GPU.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Here's my setup:

 

Macbook Air 13in Early 2014

1.7GHZ Intel Core i7

8GB 1600 mhz DDR3 RAM

Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536MB

Akitio Thunder 2

Zotac GTX970

EVGA 500W Power supply (connected to both the Akitio and the GPU)

Running the latest Nvidia drivers already

No issues booting up (other than it just being slower than without the eGPU connected)

Used the automated scripting tool to set it up

[Another Tech Inferno Fan]

2 hours ago, 1TrikPony said:

Any suggestions?

 

Don't use the 970.

 

https://odd-one-out.serek.eu/thunderbolt-2-egpu-setup-using-akitio-thunder2/

[ti_padawan]

@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?

 

5 hours ago, 1TrikPony said:

The internal GPU is running my retina screen. The 970 is running the three externals. (I've confirmed this in the system settings).

 

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?

 

[1TrikPony]

@Arbystrider I don't expect this to be the baddest guy on the block but I don't expect it to perform worse than my internal GPU either. Other than "don't use the 970" I need to understand what is happening here bc even with suboptimal benchmarks it should still be better than the internal.

 

@ti_padawan I tried unplugging the others and running it and I get the exact same FPS. Stays around 33 whereas the internal GPU will run at 60 although it will overheat after about 30-45 mins. It's just not making any sense.

 

I am running VMWare fusion but not for these purposes. This is all on the mac side and when I turn on my comp and check system settings, it shows the 3 externals as being on the eGPU and the retina on the internal. Not sure why but mine has run like this naturally this from since the first time I plugged it all up.

[ti_padawan]

40 minutes ago, 1TrikPony said:

Stays around 33 whereas the internal GPU will run at 60 although it will overheat after about 30-45 mins.

 

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).

Edited January 30, 2017 by ti_padawan

[1TrikPony]

Yes I got the 33FPS on the external with the eGPU. I achieved 60 FPS via the internal GPU both on the external and on the internal.

 

1) If I select the default OS X drivers in the Nvidia control panel, the Mac doesn't boot.

2) Ran the Unigene test and on the retina screen using the internal GPU I got between 8-11 FPS on High. On the external with the eGPU I got 70-80 with both side monitors plugged in so it definitely worked there no problem. It also run Ultimate similarly with no problem at all. So it seems to do great on the test, but when I run the game, it only gets about 33-35 and this is just League of Legends we're talking about here so nothing crazy. Is it possible its the game that is not playing nice?

 

I've tried using GFX Card Status to force using the eGPU but it doesn't recognize that I have two GPU's. Automatic switching is also not an option in the energy saver preferences.

 

Is there a way to control what applications use the eGPU?

 

Running VMWare for my Windows apps runs flawlessly on this setup btw. I'm absolutely in love with it but for some reason, League of Legends doesn't want to cooperate. I have not tried downloading the game to the windows side and running it from there yet which is a possibility to try but I'd really much rather run this on the mac side.

[1TrikPony]

Additional note: I installed and ran Diablo 3 and after playing that... the graphics performance on League increased a pretty good bit. Still not even running the GPU hot at all though even on all high settings. There is definitely still some untapped power here but for some reason playing Diablo made some configuration setting change for the better, but not best.

 

Any other ideas as to what setting I could change or script guys?

[ti_padawan]

23 hours ago, 1TrikPony said:

1) If I select the default OS X drivers in the Nvidia control panel, the Mac doesn't boot.

2) So it seems to do great on the test, but when I run the game, it only gets about 33-35 and this is just League of Legends we're talking about here so nothing crazy. Is it possible its the game that is not playing nice?

3) Is there a way to control what applications use the eGPU?

4) I installed and ran Diablo 3 and after playing that... the graphics performance on League increased a pretty good bit. Still not even running the GPU hot at all though even on all high settings.

 

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.

Edited January 31, 2017 by ti_padawan

[1TrikPony]

On 1/31/2017 at 4:33 AM, ti_padawan said:

 

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.

 

Ok I reset the PRAM and re-ran the automate eGPU. Same results. Diablo runs like an absolute dream and LoL still running like booty.

Even if i only run LoL on a single screen it still stays around the 33FPS and feels clunky. It doesn't matter if I run the settings maxed out with vertical sync etc or what. It always seems to hover around the 33FPS mark for some reason. It's like LoL is somehow auto-limiting the GPU use behind the scenes. There is a setting in game that allows you to change to uncapped, etc but it seems to have no effect on the performance at all.

 

I'm at a complete loss for what is going on here.

 

Btw I just tested and it definitely switches between GPUs when I move the window between my retina screen and my External Monitor.

 

Bring the window to the retina screen, frame rate goes up immediately and laptop begins to get hot, fans turning on etc.

 

Bring the window to the external screen and the laptop cools back down, frame rate drops, but the eGPU doesn't seem to work any harder at all and clearly isn't being used to potential.

Edited February 2, 2017 by 1TrikPony

[ti_padawan]

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:

 

Quote

I benchmarked it on Tomb Raider and got a respectable 180 fps or so, however when I play League of Legends no matter how I set my display setting I can't get it to go over 20 fps. I tried reinstalling the game but that made no difference.

 

Goalgue's answer:

 

Quote

There is no universal solution. It is a game programmer’s responsibility to choose the acceleration API, an active GPU for OpenGL/Metal view, and adapt to renderer changes. OS X is not a good gaming platform. Nvidia has to keep up with the Apple’s changes and it results in bugs. The future is Metal, but the API needs refinement,

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/20043464897?page=1

 

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.

Edited February 2, 2017 by ti_padawan

[1TrikPony]

Thanks a ton for you help. Funnily enough I actually reinstalled the game yesterday hoping the same and alas, no dice.

 

I'm hoping maybe I can find something in the LoL code to change that will force the GPU but that will most likely be a long shot.

 

At least now I know I'm not the only one and it's not something I did wrong. Thanks again for your help and however I can add to your rep, I'm happy to!

[ti_padawan]

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.