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DIY eGPU Macbook experiences


oripash

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Hey everyone, could someone tell me briefly the advantage of UEFI vs bootcamp/mbr ? I see that both are working. UEFI seems harder to install than MBR? any performance or bug difference ? Reading the implementation guides looks like UEFI is more buggy especially for 2012 mbp where the audio does not work.

From what I gathered UEFI is more recent and should go better with win10 so all that makes me a bit confused as what to choose for my windows 10 install

Apologies if this has been discussed somewhere else I could not find a UEFI vs Bootcamp/MBR pro and cons discussion.

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Hi everyone,

I have been looking at this forum for quite some time using it as inspiration to build my own AKiTiO mod. I have however come over a couple of problems in the process of having it work with Windows 7.

I got optimus up and running, the EFI is working and when booting it I can see the GT 650M aswell as the Intel HD 4000 graphics in Windows 7. I cant see the GTX 970 however. Windows 7 is runnings SP1 with the latest Nvidia drivers. I got the setup working in OSX on an external display but its another story in Windows. I have seen a few comments that sugest this should be able to work in W7, but it seems I would be better off using 8.1 or 10, so..

My question:

  • Is it possible to get this setup to work in Windows 7?
  • Would doing a new install with Windows 8 or 10 fix this issue.

Setup:

  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) with GT 650M (no iris)
  • Modded AKiTiO Thunder2
  • Deltaco 500w PSU
  • GTX 970
  • Windows 7

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi folks,

I'm working in post production, mostly on workstations from others, but sometimes also at home. I sold my old system and bought for the half of my soul a MBP Retina 15" last winter, which is really a beautiful and potential piece of hardware.

With its quad core i7 cpu and the 750m GPU, even DaVinci Resolve runs acceptable. Now, I like scalable systems and I kinda got a crush on the idea of using an external GPU to improve my systems capability, so I'd like to build one of them.

What do I have:

Macbook Pro 15" Retina Mid2014

2.8GHz i7

16GB 1600 Mhz DDR3

1TB Flash drive

Intel Iris Pro 1536MB

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M

What I'd like to do with the eGPU:

MacOS: using the eGPU as render card for Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve (therefore it's not about using the eGPU for the Retina Display)

Windows: play Video games over an external Display, connected directly on the eGPU (Macbook is closed)

What is my plan:

Sonnet Echo Express III-D expansion chassis

NVIDIA GPU

You guys are still with me? If so, thanks a lot :-D

Now, DaVinci Resolve likes to have plenty of VRAM, so does an ASUS GTX Titan X work in the Sonnet chassis? Just the "standart" version, nothing fancy overclocked... (I know, I'd have to change some cables for the power supply)

I'm from the IT Business, so I'm very confident when it comes to computer, yet I have no experience with eGPU's at all. Moreover, I'm still struggling to belief that the TB connection is fast enough, but I found a lot evidence online that shows how potential eGPU's are, so there must be some truth... :-P I've already read a lot about that topic in this awesome Forum, but now I need personal "know-how" from people who are really into this whole topic.

I really hope you guys can help me with your thoughts and inputs, maybe I'm on the totally wrong track.

Thanks a lot for your time, I appreciate that.

Marco

Edit:// thanks to the admin for moving my question to the right place. :-)

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Sounds like a good plan to me. Just make sure to take a referenz card, because they are slim and have a direct heat exhaust.

Bandwidth is enough for rendering! For gaming on an external monitor it is mostly also enough and the performance loss isn't that much (mostly depends on the game engine itself).

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But you are aware that the Sonnet III-D is like the most expensive solution? :D

You could also build the system into a slim PC case with an AKiTiO Thunder2 and a powerful PSU. That would also be a good foundation setting up a 2nd eGPU (in a bigger PC case) that could be daisy chained and boost your rendering power. Using two eGPUs for gaming is another story and not that simple.

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RE: https://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/10665-2015-15-mbp-r9_m370x-gtx660%4016gbps-akitio-thunder2-win10-8-1-%5Bdanielbrown941%5D.html

Hi @danielbrown941 ,

I have a similar model macbook pro:

15" 2015 with a NVIDIA GT 750m.

However - I can't get the egpu to be detected in windows 10.

Did you run past this problem?

My egpu is Akitio + gigabyte gtx750ti + psu.

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Please help... After hours and hours I am at the following:

Able to boot with UEFI method here (even though my macbook has a dGPU [GT 750M] )

In windows 10.... Device manager lists it with "code 12"

I have tried setup 1.30 without ability to chainload to Windows. I can load to Windows 10 with eGPU connected but unable to install driver / use it.

Nando is recommending a MBR re-install but I want to try and get it working with UEFI or default Bootcamp 5.

Has anyone had any luck with code 12 ???

My egpu box: AKITIO thunder2 + gtx 750 ti + psu.

Please help!!

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OK!!!!

DONE IT and working like a charm.

Restored original EFI. Macbook wouldn't start... Used USB setup 1.3 but only opened (no chainloaded) and then reboot.

Booted macbook pro with egpu connected and it went straight to windows 10.

Egpu detected installed and working!

:D

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Looking at upgrading my monitor and was wondering if anyone could confirm if my mbpr 2012 + TB1 + GTX970 + 10.10.5 can output 4k ?

MBPR 15" 2014 + TB2 + GTX970 + 10.11.x can!

I am very sure it will work for you!

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OK!!!!

DONE IT and working like a charm.

Restored original EFI. Macbook wouldn't start... Used USB setup 1.3 but only opened (no chainloaded) and then reboot.

Booted macbook pro with egpu connected and it went straight to windows 10.

Egpu detected installed and working!

:D

Sounds very interesting. I installed MBR because I could not get the EFI working properly. Would you mind doing a guide? Im particularly interested in your boot sequence and which method you used to create the EFI partition and "restore" it ? Do you have to boot through eGpu setup every time ?

Thanks in advance.

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Macbook Pro 2015 15" with dGPU GT 750M

This mini-guide is for Windows 10 (for OS X please just use the following: https://forum.techinferno.com/<wbr>apple-egpu-discussion/10289-<wbr>script-automating-<wbr>installation-egpu-os-x-inc-<wbr>display-output.html )

Here's the whole process I did for Windows 10:

1 - (plug and play) - didn't work, I was getting black screen (not even booting). Tried a few times hot plugging the firewire while loading Windows 10, without success. Finally one time, got into Windows, updated NVIDIA drivers and external screen was showing. Rebooted, eGPU was never recognised in Windows 10 anymore.

Nando suggested I had to install this: https://forum.techinferno.com/<wbr>apple-egpu-discussion/8558-%<wbr>5Bguide%5D-macbook-enabling-<wbr>optimus-internal-lcd-mode.html

2 - installed the above 'UEFI' grub, and managed to boot computer with eGPU on and connected, but it was not recognised in Windows 10.. (not even on device list)

3 - installed eGPU setup 1.3 on a USB STICK, boot to setup 1.3 and did pci compression and fiddled with a few options. Without immediate success. Then, went to try and boot from the custom UEFI mode and was finally detected in Windows 10 but with Code 12 (not enough resources... ) in device manager. So tried to boot through setup 1.3 (without any luck any of the times with different boot methods listed inside there MBR, MBR2, UEFI..., etc).

4- Went to Device Manager -> View Resources by Connection."Find your eGPU. Then above it will be a series of PCIe Bridges. Maybe 5 or so. What you want to do is uninstall the eGPU and work your way up the PCIe Bridges, uninstalling those as well. When all done, do a rescan in device manager after which it will find those uninstalled devices, install drivers for them. If your eGPU doesnt get a driver installed for it then run the NVidia installer."

5 - No success yet...

6 - Thought.. "My macbook is already booting with eGPU connected (i.e no more black screen at boot)". "Before I try and mess things up with my system. I will restore back to original bootcamp EFI (please see guide in this threat a few pages back ..on how to rollback) and see what happens"

7 - Restored original EFI - Reboot with eGPU turned on and connected, boot successfully onto windows, and had the NVIDIA external card recognised! So updated drivers again and boom! Working.

Now NVIDIA control panel detects two GPUs: dGPU and eGPU, the dGPU can be used dedicated to Physx and I can run some games now at 60fps at 1080p :D

Hopefully my steps help you with yours. Remember that my macbook has the GT 750m + intel graphics.

Cheers

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Hi,

I was one of the early adopters of the MacBook Pro 15 Thunderbolt eGPU using a Sonnet Echo Express SE II (Thunderbolt 2.0). I have an MSI GTX760 with a Corsair RM650 power supply.

I recently moved house and was able to use my eGPU again (it has been a few months) and in that time I had upgraded to Windows 10. After upgrading I discovered that Optimus mode does not work in Windows 10 (annoying) but I have just got a new 4K screen so I didn't care too much. After receiving the screen and hooking up the eGPU via Thunderbolt 2.0 and installing the drivers I was able to play Fallout 4 for a few minutes before my PC froze, black screen, unresponsive. Ever since I have not been able to get the card to work.

I have tried:

- removing nVidia drivers using DDU and I am able to see the graphics card in device manager as an unknown display device until I install new nvidia drivers where it correctly detects GTX760. If I then try restarting the PC with the eGPU plugged in then windows will not boot (or maybe the graphics card is not showing any output).

- setting up OSX egpu (unfortunately I had never done it before). Using the installer script I was able to detect and install the GTX760 drivers but when I booted this time I got a very strange screen (as shown in attached image). this image is the same from both mini displayport and dvi ports.

It looks to me like a GPU failure. Any thoughts?

post-14905-14495001302014_thumb.jpg

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RE: https://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/8558-%5Bguide%5D-macbook-enabling-optimus-internal-lcd-mode.html

Hi I did all of this, and know I can't even use my egpu. When I boot up windows without disabling my GT750M (mbpr 15" 2013), Device Manager gives me a code 12 for my gtx 970 card, "This device doesn't have enough resources blabla..". When I disable my GT750m windows freezes at booting at the "dots" circling around... Before i could actually use the egpu with an external display, but now I can't do anything. Can you please help?

Thank you for your time

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RE: https://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/8558-%5Bguide%5D-macbook-enabling-optimus-internal-lcd-mode.html

Hi I did all of this, and know I can't even use my egpu. When I boot up windows without disabling my GT750M (mbpr 15" 2013), Device Manager gives me a code 12 for my gtx 970 card, "This device doesn't have enough resources blabla..". When I disable my GT750m windows freezes at booting at the "dots" circling around... Before i could actually use the egpu with an external display, but now I can't do anything. Can you please help?

Thank you for your time

Pls try @xfechx's steps at <A HREF=https://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/7910-diy-egpu-macbook-experiences-155.html#post151709>https://forum.techinferno.com/apple-egpu-discussion/7910-diy-egpu-macbook-experiences-155.html#post151709</A> . If cannot get a solution there then if you load Win7/8/10 in MBR mode can use Setup 1.30 software to preallocate the eGPU to resolve error 12 using custom scripts. This has been done successfully for a number of other GT750M equipped 15" MBP owners.

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