2012 15" rMBP GT650M + GTX560Ti@8Gbps-TB1 (TH05) + Win8.1 [Shelltoe]

[tunico5]

I'm having a problem now, my windows 8 is crashing and restarting non-stop

I can't install windows 8 on bootcamp and try to get egpu work somehow?

Like the bios mode from nando?

[Shelltoe]

Well all you have to do is remove the file. It should take less then a minute using Paragon in Mac OS.

If you want to uninstall everything just remove all created partitions.

If you can't remove a partition in Mac OS boot your Windows disk/stick to remove them.

[tunico5]

Okay, I've already done this

Iºve installed Windows 8 too

can you help me do the nando version? All his codes are right for the macbook pro retina 15?? I've noticed that my pc on windwos 8 notices right away my egpu but has the error 12 problem. But at least you can always see the egpu, and it recognizes it as plug and play

[tunico5]

Briefly: i5-3210M 2.5 13" MBP + TH05 + GTX660@x2 2.0 Win8 DIY eGPU implementation

I managed to get my hands on a 2012 13" Macbook Pro which I paired successfully with a TH05 + GTX660 + Win8. I concur the findings of users Shelltoe and oripash - there are two ways of installing Win8 which significantly affect the ease of eGPU use.

The first (UEFI MODE) requires a little more skill to get Win8 loaded initially but the eGPU functionality is plug-and-play thereafter. It's the recommended mode to use. The second (BIOS MODE) is the default Bootcamp 4.0/5.0 method so it's likely users will find themselves in this less desirable mode. More details of both are below:

1. UEFI MODE [recommended]

If install Win8 using oripash's guide http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2494-macbook-air-11-2012-gtx-660ti-%40-2-2-no-opt.html#post33280 and Teknotronix' http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/2385-17-macbook-pro-late-2011-th05-win-8-setup-guide.html#post31839 then just need to set TH05 SW1=1 (PERST# from PortRidge), SW2=2-3 (x2..x16) . Boot into Win8 where the eGPU will work out of the box. There will be no error 12. It's a plug-and-play configuration.

Unlike Teknotronix, I found no need to use a surrogate system to install the UEFI version of Win8. I could boot the MBP, hit ALT key and select either the Win8 Pro MSDN Installation DVD or USB stick copy of it and perform the installation. Only important point being I had to select the "EFI" DVD or USB stick.

2. BIOS MODE [avoid if possible]

A Bootcamped MBP runs a MBR type partition system. It requires a special sequence to get the eGPU detected. I found Win8 would *always* get an error 12 against the eGPU and if don't get the timing right I could end up with either no eGPU on the PCI BUS or if use the TH05 setting as UEFI mode above (SW1=1), the Macbook will power itself off when trying to boot Win8.

The 100% successful method to get the eGPU on the PCI BUS in this mode is to set SW1=3 (6.9s), SW2=2-3 (x2..x16) on the TH05, poweron the eGPU+TH05, poweron the Macbook. Hit ALT during boot to get a boot selection. Watch the RED PERST# LED on the TH05. When it's no longer red then the eGPU is on the PCI BUS so can select your required OS. It's also possible to flick switch SW1 to SW1=2 (500ms) to hasten the process of getting PERST# to no longer be RED while at the ALT screen or Setup 1.1x screen if the delay is too long for your system. The delay turns out to be more like 30s than 6.9s.

The most convenient fix for the error 12 that will be seen in Windows 8 is:

1. Install Setup 1.1x onto a USB stick.
   
2. Configure it's \config\pci.bat to contain a replica of the same configuration UEFI boot uses for the eGPU, captured and translated below:

   
   echo Performing PCI allocation for 2012 MBP (BIOS) matching the UEFI settings . . .
   
   :: The X16 root port
   @echo -s 0:1.0 1c.w=6030 20.l=AE90A090 24.l=CDF1AEA1 > setpci.arg
   
   :: Underlying Bridges in order from high to low
   @echo -s 4:0.0 1c.w=5131 20.l=AB00A090 24.l=C9F1B801 >> setpci.arg
   @echo -s 5:4.0 1c.w=4131 20.l=A700A200 24.l=C5F1B801 >> setpci.arg
   @echo -s 8:0.0 04.w=7 1c.w=3131 20.l=A300A200 24.l=C1F1B801 28.l=0 30.w=0 3c.b=10 >> setpci.arg
   @echo -s 9:0.0 04.w=7 1c.w=3131 20.l=A300A200 24.l=C1F1B801 28.l=0 30.w=0 3c.b=10 >> setpci.arg
   
   :: The NVidia GTX660
   @echo -s a:0.0 04.w=400 0C.b=20 24.w=3F81 10.l=A2000000 14.l=B8000000 1C.l=C0000000 3C.b=10 50.b=1 88.w=140 >> setpci.arg
   
   setpci @setpci.arg
   set pci_written=yes

   @echo off

   
   

3. Configure the \config\startup.bat to do the pci-e fixups and then chainload to Win8.

   
   call speedup lbacache
   
   :: wait for eGPU to be on the PCI BUS
   call vidwait 60 10de:11c0
   
   :: initialize NVidia eGPU
   call vidinit -d 10de:11c0
   
   :: Perform the pci-e fixups
   call pci
   
   :: Chainload to the MBR
   call grub4dos mbr

   :: Speed up end-to-end runtime of startup.bat using caching

   
   

4. Confirm this fixes error 12 against the eGPU as it did for me.
   

Once confirmed to work, streamline this into the more convenient and faster booting disk image install of Setup 1.1x. It's more convenient as you'll no longer need to hit ALT to boot the USB stick. Instead, you'll have a DIY eGPU Setup 1.x Win8 bootitem.

Proceed to copy your \config\pci.bat and \config\startup.bat from your USB stick to the Setup 1.1x disk image V:\config directory as mounted within Win8. The reason can't just use the disk image install for everything is because a Macbook doesn't do the disk mapping correctly so can't be used within the Setup 1.1x pre-boot environment to configure the system. Instead, the USB stick is used for initial configuration and when done, the pertinent configuration files copied across to the disk image for read-only access.

After installing 1.x I dont have the file ~pci.bat

[oripash]

I run parallels in OSX. Parallels is a hypervisor (and more), allowing you to install virtual machines.

I have a windows virtual machine.

I ran the installer in windows , which was installed on this virtual machine, which was made possible by parallels software, which runs in OSX

[tunico5]

I don't understand why you're saying this

I have a problem that when I install DIY eGPU 1.1x I don't have the \pci.bat

What's the problem?

[Shelltoe]

I don't understand why you're saying this

I have a problem that when I install DIY eGPU 1.1x I don't have the \pci.bat

What's the problem?

Just create it. Its a textfile. You might have to change some hardware id's though. I never used BIOS Mode so far.

[tunico5]

Okay, can you help me figure it out?

what informations you need me to get?

[tunico5]

Okay, Iºve done what nando said with his codes, but when I use DIY it says eGPU not found! how can i found the codes i need

[tunico5]

Sheltoe I'm having some help from nando to do the boot way.

I've already noticed that DIY eGPU 1.1x can't recognize GTX 690 probably because of the 2 GPU's it has inside. GeForce 8500GT it recognized

I'll post the findings here

[Shelltoe]

was busy at work. yeah nando is the guy you should talk to.

if its really a GTX690 thing and there's no fix in the near future you might want to give EFI another try. you were pretty close

[tunico5]

If my GTX 690 doesn't work and my GeForce 8500 GT does, which will probably happen, I'll buy a GTX 660 which is relatively cheap compared to 690 and I can use it almost 100% with this generation thunderbolt. With GTX 690 TH05 I'll probably only use 20-30% due to bandwidth.

But even if a normal single GPU graphics card doesn't work I'm gonna have to try EFI again^^, at least until I wait for someone to modify DIY eGPU 1.1x to work with dual GPU cards.

The reason I gave up of EFI was the wireless problem and the system was really slow. That + no sound it made me nervous^^

I'll tell you here if it works.

- - - Updated - - -

And once again I need to thank you for all the assistance you've gave me

[MystPhysX]

Hey Shelltoe when I try to mount /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/EFI it throws up "mount_msdos: /dev/disk0s1: Resource busy! any help? I'm new to OSX and Unix.

[Shelltoe]

check your partitions in terminal using "diskutil list". disk0s1 should be of type EFI and its size should be around 200MB

/dev/disk0  
#: TYPE                     NAME          SIZE       IDENTIFIER  
0: GUID_partition_scheme                  *251.0 GB  disk0  
1: EFI                                    209.7 MB   disk0s1  
2: Apple_HFS                Macintosh HD  250.1 GB   disk0s2  
3: Apple_Boot               Recovery HD   650.0 MB   disk0s3

[MystPhysX]

Here you go:

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            180.0 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:         Microsoft Reserved                         134.2 MB   disk0s4
   5:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows 8               70.0 GB    disk0s5

*edit - Never mind it mounted after I rebooted. Thanks!

[Shelltoe]

OSX 10.8.3 is out with BootCamp Support for Windows 8. I'll give it a try this evening.

[MystPhysX]

It broke my eGPU for some reason...I'm running a Helios with a HD7950 and Win7. Let me know what happens on your end so I can determine if it really was the update.

*edit- I wish! Its my card. Suddenly saw artifacts yesterday and it hardly gets detected today. When it does though I get an error 43.

[Shelltoe]

Well the new BootCamp HD4000 drivers work as good Intels drivers which means still igdkmd64 crash.

[mikoflip]

So here's my setup:

- MacBook Pro 15" Early 2011 (i7 + 8GB)

- PE4H (should've gotten the PE4L, but that's ok)

- MSI GTX660

- Sonnet Echo Pro

I've taken up the courage to embark on this little project, and see what could come out of it. As I already found out, it seems impossible to run Optimus on a MacBook that has a dGPU (with the exception of Win 8 EFI, correct me if I'm wrong). However I've managed to get my GTX660 detected in Bootcamp Win 7, and installed its drivers. The next problem I had was the error 12.

I've tried running Setup 1.x, but with half-succes. I tried the several pci.bat config, but to no avail.

Furthest I got, was having it run startup.bat, and eventually asking for a keyboard input, but not responding to any.

As the Optimus feature doesn't seem to be able to get to work on my MacBook, I only want to get the eGPU to run an external display.

Thanks in advance for the inputs.

Correct me on anything I'm wrong about, I'm also here just to learn.

[Subhan042]

Quote

While reading some threads about EFI-Boot on Mac I finally made my eGPU work. I fixed my "error 12" by enabling VGA Output on the PCI bridge connected to my Thunderbolt ports using the EFI-Shell.

For this task I installed rEFIt and used "pci -i -b" / "pci xx xx xx -i -b" to find VGA devices and their bridges.

I noted all Bus/Dev/Func as well as the required registars. After that I had to set those registars using "mm".

On a Mac Book Pro 15" 2012 you'll have to do the following:

1. Install rEFIt

2. In Mac OS mount the EFI partition using terminal:

mkdir /Volumes/EFI
sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/EFI

3. Create a textfile called "startup.nsh" in it's root:

echo -off
echo "Setting Registars"
# IGPU Intel HD 4000
# I noticed some improvements in boottimings while deactivating the Intel HD

# (don't use this if your running a 13" single gpu model)
mm 00020004 1 ;PCI :0

# eGPU PCI Bridge

# this line does the magic by enabling VGA Output
mm 0001013E 1 ;PCI :8

echo "Booting Windows"
fs0:EFIBootootx64.efi

4. Reboot while eGPU is connected (SW1=1) and select "start EFI-Shell" in rEFIt. "startup.nsh" launches and Windows 8 starts up with eGPU enabled.

Update: Replaced rEFIt with rEFInd which is is a fork of rEFIt. I'm now able to create an menuentry which boots Windows using my startup script. I'm also able to hide the non functional Windows entries.

Here's my current refind.conf:

timeout 20
hideui banner
showtools shell, reboot, shutdown
dont_scan_dirs EFI/Boot, EFI/Microsoft

menuentry "Windows 8 with eGPU" {
  icon EFI
efindiconsos_win.icns
  loader EFI	oolsshell.efi
  options "fs0:StartupseGPU.nsh"
}

Update (experimental):

Thanks to Linux's "apple-gmux" developer Andreas Heider I was able to switch graphics before booting Windows and enable Intel HD as primary VGA device. Though Intel HD is still bugged this probably allow us to enable Optimus functionality in the future.

You can also boot with Intel HD enable by installing gfxCardStatus 2.1.1(!) and setting it to integrated only, too.

For now you'll receive a black screen and reboot due to some "igdkmd64.sys" error.

Add this to your startup.nsh before "mm 0001013E 1 ;PCI :8":

echo Switch select
mm 7C2 1 ;IO :1
stall 100000
mm 7D4 1 ;IO :28

echo Switch display

mm 7C2 1 ;IO :2
stall 100000
mm 7D4 1 ;IO :10

echo Switch DDC
0x750 0 mm 7C2 1 ;IO :2
stall 100000
mm 7D4 1 ;IO :40

echo Power down discrete graphics
mm 7C2 1 ;IO :1
stall 100000
mm 7D4 1 ;IO :50

mm 7C2 1 ;IO :0
stall 100000
mm 7D4 1 ;IO :50

echo enable eGPU
mm 0001013E 1 ;PCI :8

echo Boot Windows
fs0:EFIBootootx64.efi

Some numbers:

Model:	rMBP 15"
OS:	Windows 8 EFI-Boot
CPU:	Intel-i7 3820QM @ 2.7gHz
RAM:	16GB
iGPU:	Intel HD Graphics 4000 (broken for Win8)
dGPU:	Nvidia GT 650m
Adapter:	TH05

I tried some overclocking and ended up with some strange results for 3D Mark 06. No matter what you change you'll have lower points than default settings.

	dGPU GT650m	eGPU GT X 560Ti	eGPU GTX660Ti	eGPU GTX660Ti OC
3DMark 2011:	2431p	4415p	71 10 p	74 63 p
3DMark Vantage:	10633p	16 755 p	23810p	24702p
3DMark 2006:	15289p	17479p	179 79 p	like 15900?

This might work for BIOS boot aswell but I don't know how to launch an MBR partition. (Update: BIOS method by nando)

I'll try to tweak this a bit and hope for an Intel fix. Is there anyone with some more knowledge in EFI Shell?

Please excuse me sir Shelltoe but I'm totally new to this. I don't know anything about the refIND or anything. You can say I'm a noob right now. So please can you make a tutorial video on this setup? Please. I want to show Intel HD 4000 graphics in win7 to connect eGPU. I have 15'' rMBP. Thank you very very much.

[Subhan042]

Hello all guys,

I have MacBook Pro with retina display and I want to connect the eGPU with my mac. As you all know that in device manager intel hd 4000 should be showing for working of eGPU but in rMBP it doesnt so there is the rEFind way but I really dont know how to do it please can any of you do a tutorial (video) on how to use refind and use it to show intel hd 4000 in the device manager. Thank you very much.

[Icanic]

Hello.

Can someone please tell me can macbook pro 15" mid 2012 with dgpu work with egpu with internal display?

thank you!

[nrite]

Does this work with the latest Mac book pro (retina display)?

[luffy889]

Guys, maybe someone can help me: I just don't understand why I can see my video card in rEFIt shell using "pci -i -b" command (PCI 0A 00 00 device, in the end of the list), but windows 8.1 EFI just doesn't even list/recognize AMD Radeon R9 290 (tried 6770 too) as a device no matter what I try?

[Shelltoe]

Hello.

Can someone please tell me can macbook pro 15" mid 2012 with dgpu work with egpu with internal display?

thank you!

Nope no Optimus.

Does this work with the latest Mac book pro (retina display)?

I don't know. I guess it does.

Guys, maybe someone can help me: I just don't understand why I can see my video card in rEFIt shell using "pci -i -b" command (PCI 0A 00 00 device, in the end of the list), but windows 8.1 EFI just doesn't even list/recognize AMD Radeon R9 290 (tried 6770 too) as a device no matter what I try?

What's your model? what's above this picture? what does it show when you use "pci 0A 00 00 -i -b"?