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DIY eGPU Macbook experiences


oripash

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@DannyFK Are you powering the AKiTiO itself with te AKiTiO PSU or with the Dell DA-2 or the other PSU?

 

@p3nzancef1ier The 750Ti doesn't need aditional 6-Pin PCIe power? Please try:

- power on the MB

- press and hold alt key

- wait for boot selction menu

- power on the connected eGPU after the WiFi search is complete

- boot into Windows

- check the device manager

 

In Windows 8.1 you shouldn't have to use the 1.3 setup.

 

@daythan01 Please differentiate between Windows and OSX in your text more! E.g.: CS:GO in OSX?

Please try for Windows my booting procedure I posted for p3nzancef1ier above your texte here.

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9 minutes ago, p3nzancef1ier said:

Ok brilliant will give it a go and let you know the result, thank you. As I understand it the 750ti does not need an external 6 pin connector, but we shall see!

Well… you have the card. Does it have a plug on it or not?!

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@Dschijn first I tried with Dell DA2 and then with an external PSU ATX 450W. It powered fine with the PSU and the system recognized de eGPU, but after some time, my Mac restart indicating kernel panic. I think it could be a problem of having one integrated GPU, one discrete and the eGPU. 

Edited by DannyFK
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23 minutes ago, Dschijn said:

Well… you have the card. Does it have a plug on it or not?!

It does not...just downloading updated drivers now having installed windows 8.1 from scratch. Will try your method and report. I noticed in a previous post of yours that the hdmi lead was connected to both laptop and egpu, should this be the case the whole way through the boot process? Or only once windows has booted. Thanks

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@Dschijn Yes. From the PSU ATX 450W a barrel plug to power the Akitio and with the molex plug to power the Zotac GTX 970. That's the method I'm using now because with the DellDA-2 I didn't got to power it. Furthermore, the system was under a little load (all the metal parts were under load if you touched it). Next week I will try again with the Dell DA-2.

Anyway, now I'm using the PSU ATX 450W and the system recognize the eGPU. After a little time, it restart indicating kernel panic. I attach the error report. It could be the drivers? My Mac have one integrated (Intel 4000)  and one discrete (G650M) and now the eGPU and I'm using both CUDA drivers and WEB drivers from NVIDIA on OS X.

Thanks.

Error report.png

Edited by DannyFK
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Sorry for being very confusing. Basically I get around 30 FPS for most of my games on OSX with my EGPU. This is a separate issue from the 'windows' one. I was wondering why cause I purposely bought a GTX 980 Ti in hopes it will outlive my laptop and I can transfer to TB3 in the near future. I just assume I need to optimize it somehow which I dont know how to do.

 

Secondly, I am having issues with when I boot into windows 10. The system can't seem to detect the GPU nor display. Is there something that I have to do other than downloading the drivers? (assuming I downloaded the correct ones).

 

Thanks for your swift reply,

Daythan

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@p3nzancef1ier Just plug the HDMI into the eGPU!

 

@DannyFK What kind of 450W PSU is it? Most people think that any PSU with more than 300W should work, but especially old PSUs can't handle high loads on the 12V rail and make the GPU crash.

 

@daythan01 Make sure you are using an external monitor! That monitor has to be the primary monitor and games have to start on that monitor! (To make sure, that external monitor has to be connected to the DVI/HDMI or DP of the eGPU, not the Mac or the TB ports!)

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It's an Agiler PSU ATX 450W from an old Pentium IV PC. I'will change by other of the same type this afternoon. 

 

On the other hand, my mac have an integrate card and a discrete and I think that the problem is due to the switching mode between the three cards.

I'm waiting for the 6 pin cables to use the Dell DA-2.

 

Thanks for your support.

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20 minutes ago, DannyFK said:

It's an Agiler PSU ATX 450W from an old Pentium IV PC. I'will change by other of the same type this afternoon. 

 

On the other hand, my mac have an integrate card and a discrete and I think that the problem is due to the switching mode between the three cards.

I'm waiting for the 6 pin cables to use the Dell DA-2.

 

Thanks for your support.

 

I bet that the PSU is way too weak to power the GPU! With not enough power the GPU is crashing and taking the whole MacBook with it (because the system is suddenly without an GPU).

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@Dschijn You were right. With another PSU the system running so nice. I used Disable Monitor to disable the internal LCD of the Mac and disable "automatic change graphic mode" in System Preferences like @goalque said.

Thank you so much for your support. :D

 

P.D.: I will post some pics when I use the Dell DA-2 with the UNIGINE reports on OS X.

 

Danny.

Edited by DannyFK
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Can't really understand what you mean ^^

Never tried an Windows 10 upgrade on a MacBook. But you can just do the upgrade without the eGPU connected and reconnect it once the upgrade is done.

Edited by Dschijn
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Finally got it working. Somehow... Honestly don't know how. I have another minor issue though, all my games are set to allow higher than 60 fps but it when I use FPS counters, everything is set at a smooth 60fps? This isn't a huge deal though, I was wondering if it was the GPU itself controlling it's load or usage. Is there a way to bypass this.

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Hi there.

I have some trouble in my mac mini and i need your help for solving trouble.

 

My setup is below.
Mac mini Server (Mid 2011)
AKiTiO Thunder2 PCIe Box
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 2047 MB (gigabyte gtx 960 windforce 2gb)
Corsair RM650 with paperclip trick
Samsung UHD Monitor (U28E850)

569d06c18ebad_ScreenShot2016-01-18at11.3

569d0728c8ce0_ScreenShot2016-01-18at11.3

569d073d0955c_ScreenShot2016-01-18at11.4

569d081cdf8c6_ScreenShot2016-01-18at11.4

 

problem 1 : 
When the monitor connected egpu via hdmi v2.0 cable then i couldn't use 3840x2160 60Hz mode.
So i use 3840x2160 30Hz mode.
Can i use 3840x2160 60Hz mode via hdmi 2.0 cable? (On the specification of monitor and gpu is explained 4k 60Hz available.)

 

problem 2 :
In the hdmi connection, I can use mac. 
And also be able to boot and reboot.
But when the monitor connected egpu via display port, mac couldn't boot. which is stopped on 40% booting progress bar.

How can i fix these problems?

 

ps. Please understand to use broken english.

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