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DIY eGPU Macbook experiences


oripash

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The 960 doesn't seem to fit the akitio.

And the 970 is above budget.

Are there any other options?

There are several GTX 960 that fit into the Akitio case. Length has to be < 220mm. If you want to keep the fan of the Akitio, it should be around 200mm I guess.

Performance shouldn't be an issue, though.

The R9 285 and GTX 960 are about the same performance:

https://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/AMD+Radeon+R9+285/review

https://www.futuremark.com/hardware/gpu/NVIDIA+GeForce+GTX+960/review

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@misk: The EVGA GTX 960 is very compact!!! Also uses less power and produces less heat.

So you want to use on 6-Pin PCIe to power the barrel plug? Seems solid :)

Just keep in mind that only PSU with 400W+ will have enough PCIe power plugs (you need some for the GPU and 1x6-Pin for the barrel with that cable).

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@misk: The EVGA GTX 960 is very compact!!! Also uses less power and produces less heat.

So you want to use on 6-Pin PCIe to power the barrel plug? Seems solid :)

Just keep in mind that only PSU with 400W+ will have enough PCIe power plugs (you need some for the GPU and 1x6-Pin for the barrel with that cable).

Awesome!

So the EVGA GTX 960 will definitely fit the akitio?

I can get 430 corsair PSU which is cheaper, excellent.

And then if i get those two pieces for barrel plug adapter it should all work out!!

After checking my countries import tax laws - it looks like worse case i'll pay another 18% on my stuff

But it will still be cheaper than buying the stuff locally.

So I'm going to order the big stuff from amazon.

Just one last thing before I place the order,

Playing on my laptop's screen should work right?

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Awesome!

So the EVGA GTX 960 will definitely fit the akitio?

These single-fan ITX EVGA GTX960 will fit the AKiTiO without any problems since are 111mm tall and 173mm long:

EVGA - Products - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB Superclocked - 04G-P4-3962-KR

EVGA - Products - EVGA GeForce GTX 960 Superclocked - 02G-P4-2962-KR

Just keep in mind you'll need low profile PCIe power connectors as discussed at http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/9951-low-profile-pcie-connectors-discussion.html if wanting to put the outer cover over the AKiTiO.

EVGA's other 10.1" long dual-fan GTX960/970 cards won't fit unless you open the AKiTiO case like shown at http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/7205-us%24189-akitio-thunder2-pcie-box-16gbps-tb2-113.html#post128029

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The GTX 960 from EVGA with just one fan will fit, yes! The two fans versions not!

Did you read what I wrote before? Now you have exactly the problem I was talking about:

- You want a cheap PSU with only one 6-Pin PCIe plug

- the EVGA GTX 960 will need one 6-Pin PCIe plug

- which plug you want to use for the barrel plug?

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Just keep in mind you'll need low profile PCIe power connectors as discussed at low profile PCIe connectors discussion if wanting to put the outer cover over the AKiTiO.

So I need to buy on of these??: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6-Pin-to-6-Pin-PCI-E-90-Degree-right-extension-w-low-profile4-USA-MADE-/261225911899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd247165b

The GTX 960 from EVGA with just one fan will fit, yes! The two fans versions not!

Did you read what I wrote before? Now you have exactly the problem I was talking about:

- You want a cheap PSU with only one 6-Pin PCIe plug

- the EVGA GTX 960 will need one 6-Pin PCIe plug

- which plug you want to use for the barrel plug?

This isn't enough for making one??

2pcs CCTV Video Balun 5 5x2 5mm DC Power Plug Terminals Connector Adapter Power | eBay

5 5in PCI Express 6 Pin Male to Female Vidoe Card Power Extension Cable | eBay

I think I'm confused - you said I should buy 400w+ so I could the above connecters.

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@m1sk: 400W are in theory fine, but you need a PSU that has all the plugs that you will need, right?

So the 430W version only has 1x6-Pin PCIe power plug. Currently you would need 2x6-Pin PCIe power plugs (1x GPU & 1x that barrel cable mod you linked). The PSU is fine, if you are going to use a 2xMolex->6-Pin PCIe instead.

Like this:

molex-6pcie__84382_zoom.jpg

With that cable you could cut of the PCIe plug side and only use the wires from the remaining Molex plugs and stick them into that barrel plug.

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@m1sk: 400W are in theory fine, but you need a PSU that has all the plugs that you will need, right?

So the 430W version only has 1x6-Pin PCIe power plug. Currently you would need 2x6-Pin PCIe power plugs (1x GPU & 1x that barrel cable mod you linked). The PSU is fine, if you are going to use a 2xMolex->6-Pin PCIe instead.

.

So One like this should do? 2pcs 6 Pin PCI E to 2 x 4 Pin Molex Power Y Adapter Cable for PCI E Cards MA | eBay

@Tech Inferno Fan : I looked up those low profile extenders and on ebay the have very high shipping costs.

Are there any other option?

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Seems fine! But you just need one of these. You would have to cut of the PCIe plug and combine the yellow wires into one port of the barrel plug (the one for 12V+) and the red and black ones to the ground port (black and red are with that eBay cable both ground).

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Hi Community,

maybe anybody can tell me:

At a very past time, as i've worked with Windows (Mammuts rans at this time) there was one Driver package avail for all of the NVIDIA cards.

My Question:

Will each Webdriver work with each GPU?

I have a GTX970@Acitio running as GPGPU with 10.10.2, additionaly i have a GTX660Ti AMP!

My thinkings:

Buy a second Acitio and use both daisy-chained :D

Thanks forward

seefew

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I've just read the last few days' worth of posts and I'll repeat what I've said before: a wiki would help at this point. There is information being repeated (wasting time) and misinformation being repeated (wasting money). Plus some useful hints and links which only exist in this Mac-oriented thread which our PC-only friends are likely to miss. Let's get the best advice, best photos and best links in one place?

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I've just read the last few days' worth of posts and I'll repeat what I've said before: a wiki would help at this point. There is information being repeated (wasting time) and misinformation being repeated (wasting money). Plus some useful hints and links which only exist in this Mac-oriented thread which our PC-only friends are likely to miss. Let's get the best advice, best photos and best links in one place?

A wiki was attempted a long time ago with very poor results. Main issue was dedication to upkeep.

atm we have implementation guides submitted by users and collated at http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6578-implementations-hub-tb-ec-mpcie.html . Useful info can be sorted it's own thread for upkeep by individual owners if required. It's dynamic with low maintenance overhead but as you point out, info that isn't FAQed or moved to it's own thread may get repeated.

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Hi! Im trying to build EGPU and this is my list:

Akitio Thunder2 PCIe Box

MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G Graphics Cards

and power supply

is this good? thank you for quick respond, Bogdan

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro12,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 8 GB

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@weecooper:

Since nobody answered to my post #881 i´ve do it by t&e. What should is say, one step will work, the GTX660Ti is accesible. :D

@All:

There is also an other solution to get power into the enclosure if some tools (aka. soldering Iron, mini drilling machine) your friends, and you are willing to invest some work, .

Here´s a little workaround In short:

desoldered the barrel jack from the PCB

make some solder points on the PCB

desoldered the power connector form a Dell Optiplex GX620

solder the new power connector to the PCB

solder two wires for to power the PCIe plugs of the GTX

Plug in the jack from a Dell DA-2, power up the system, lean back and enjoy

:54_002: OMG, your warranty void if you do so :67: , sh** happens, but it works quite fine for me

little Impression:

17788960909_7382171f11.jpg

post-35810-14495000115496_thumb.jpg

Once all my works finished i´ll illustrate and describe more detailed what i've done.

Greetings

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@seefew: Good job! Love the very minimalistic wiring. Keeps the inner case very clean. Inside mine it's kind of messy.

The wire for the 2*6-Pin PCIe plugs are thick enough to carry 12V and 12-13amps?

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the calculated value is anywhere between 15 & 20A for this diameter and length.

A test run of 3h of rendering gives only minimal raising temps on the wires

If i find time i´ll measue the real values.

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These forums were extremely helpful in getting me up and running with my 2014 15" Macbook Pro GT750M + GTX970 + Win 8.1 + AKiTiO Thunder2. I've been playing Witcher 3 at 1440p on Ultra with this setup and its been great.

The only issue I ran into is that I'd hoped to continue using my Henge Docks vertical dock with this setup but I can't. One thing I tried was docking the Macbook, having one TB port go to the monitor as HDMI with the GT750M, another go to the eGPU -> monitor w/ DVI and then rebooting. But when Windows boots up, the GTX970 doesn't show up under Device Manager.

Any thoughts on how I can get this to work or should I just give up?

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@adowla: But it works with the same periphery connected, but without the dock in between? Can you test if it works without the dock, everythin connected and the MB closed?!

Edit1: Also, does the AKiTiO show up in the device manager in OSX when you run everythin in the dock?

Edit2: Did you replace the docks cable with your own TB-cable?

Henge Docks includes two DisplayPort cables installed where the MacBook Pro's Thunderbolt ports are located, meaning users have to supply their own cables to gain full Thunderbolt capabilities.
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RE: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/8882-2014-13-macbook-pro-gtx970%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-handle-win8-1-%5Bphantron-3.html#post134092

Hello @Phantron,

I am considering to take the plunge with an eGPU setup, but can't find any information on my specific use case… In particular I want to use an ASUS GTX 660 Ti Direct Cu II with three external monitors which I intend to connect directly to the graphics card. Having read some of the posts on this forum I've seen people reporting mixed/no results for running the 2014 rMBP 13" with external monitors and OS X.

As I am a student with basically no money and with the AKiTiO costing £200 I'd really like this to work with no major issues.

Is it possible for you to confirm whether OS X works with external an monitor connected in this particular setup using the 2014 13" rMBP?

Thank you ever so much in advance!

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If I was using a riser I'd be stuck getting nothing new accomplished, like you.

You want a cookie? You're totally doing it for free, aren't you? You're not going to charge people for your EFI stuff, eh? You're such a pretentious guy, seriously.

I'm not using this to accomplish anything but having a notebook with graphics power at home, btw. And guess what? That's what I've got for months now. Thanks to this community, for sure.

Now move on and eat your cookie.

@Morv, after I found this from the MacRumors forum, I have to think again if he wants progress in scientific way or have fun.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...postcount=1248

“I have had some fun already, I was being told off over there by someone with connections at Netstor TB enclosure company. They (Netstor) flat out swore that 2014 Mini could only have 2 external Nvidia GPUs. So I wired up 3 and did a screenshot.”

A small revise: He is mixing the quotes from Netstor and what I have found out with the 2014 15" rMBP. 2014 Mac mini allowed only one Nvidia eGPU according to Netstor, which was quoted. They tried two Nvidia GT650 GPUs (GK107; Kepler). Today, I succeeded to run two Nvidia eGPUs with a 2014 Mac mini, but they have to be different architecture cards (GTX 980 + GTX 780). If placing two Maxwells, Mac mini 2014 won’t boot. Netstor noted the same with two Keplers. 2011/2012 models behaved totally different, allowing 3 Nvidia’s easily, and Nvidia eGPU screen output.

I only wanted to compare regular PC cards between Mac mini 2011/2012 and 2014, only by using IOPCITunnelCompatible mod in order to find out the reason why the count with similar architecture Nvidia cards has dropped from 3 to 1. Apples to oranges comparison won't help much.

I am examining the binary data on the Mac side, and MVC on the eEFI side. Every change between the 2011 and 2014 Mac minis is a very valuable information as I am using reverse engineering techniques and disassembler. MVC is doing business, meaning that something of his discoveries is publicly available but business === money, and I guess not all the information or eEFIs will be free. We don’t know. I do this for everyone free and try to fix misunderstandings the best I can, and don’t want to argue. I appreciate a lot of his work, truly.

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Edit2: Did you replace the docks cable with your own TB-cable?

Ahhh, that's exactly what it was. Thank you. Once I replaced the dock cable with my own TB cable, GTX970 started showing up in Device Manager after a reboot. Then all I need to do is disable the other displays (LCD, HDMI) and switch to the GTX970 display.

Thanks again!

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