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[SCRIPT] Automating the installation of eGPU on OS X (inc display output)


euqlaog

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Thanks. Does your eGPU work on Windows? That would rule out a faulty GPU and power issue. Any difference if you start the Mac without an external monitor?

Driver "NVDAStartup" needs "IOPCITunnelCompatible" key in plist message is ok, since you are on El Capitan.

rmStart function in NVDAResmanWeb.kext failed. Interestingly, correct kexts are loaded.

No the same problem without an external Monitor...

Also in Windows the eGPU still not working (code 43)

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No the same problem without an external Monitor...

Also in Windows the eGPU still not working (code 43)

Error code 43: “This circumstance can occur if the device hardware fails or if the device driver fails.”

and something about the NVDA: rmStart failed

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3720583?start=0&tstart=0

You may have a faulty GPU. I would confirm functionality on the PC. If works, your last options are NVRAM reset and erase + reinstall.

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Does anybody here know if Kepler cards can use Metal, even if they're connected to a 2011 Mac?

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The GT 650M and GT 750M both have Kepler chips and they're supported due to their respective Macbook Pro 15" models. It shouldn't matter what age your Mac is if you're using an eGPU with a supported chip.

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The GT 650M and GT 750M both have Kepler chips and they're supported due to their respective Macbook Pro 15" models. It shouldn't matter what age your Mac is if you're using an eGPU with a supported chip.

That’s great! I guess that might mean I’ll be able to play StarCraft II Legacy of the Void with Ultra graphics settings with the GT 740. That’ll be awesome!

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I tested Metal with a GTX 780 on OS X 10.11.1 and built-in Nvidia drivers (-skipdriver option)

The device is in the list, but debugging supportsFeatureSet(MTLFeatureSet.OSX_GPUFamily1_v1) gives EXC_BAD_ACCESS… with the web driver it works.

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That’s great! I guess that might mean I’ll be able to play StarCraft II Legacy of the Void with Ultra graphics settings with the GT 740. That’ll be awesome!

Metal won't turn your graphics card into high end. If your card isn't able to run the game on a level near that without Metal it won't be able with Metal. These direct access APIs(Mantle, Vulkan, DirectX 12, Metal) mostly reduce the CPU side overhead and thus the load on it.

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Metal won't turn your graphics card into high end. If your card isn't able to run the game on a level near that without Metal it won't be able with Metal. These direct access APIs(Mantle, Vulkan, DirectX 12, Metal) mostly reduce the CPU side overhead and thus the load on it.

I have a friend who is able to run StarCraft 2 at Ultra graphics on a Windows machine which has a GT 640, though I guess DirectX might help with that, at least as much as Metal would.

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I have a friend who is able to run StarCraft 2 at Ultra graphics on a Windows machine which has a GT 640, though I guess DirectX might help with that, at least as much as Metal would.

Just curious, is he still getting good frame rates when there are hundreds of units onscreen and lots of spells/effects happening?

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Thank you @goalque for the El Capitan Update.

Please start a paypal donation. as i am indebted greatly.

What's new in 0.9.6

- Detects dGPUs for determining the correct [-a] mode behaviour

- Fixed issue #3 https://github.com/goalque/automate-eGPU/issues/3

- Fixed issue #4 https://github.com/goalque/automate-eGPU/issues/4

- Checks for the existence of application support path and if the script is ran as root

- Support for OS X El Capitan 10.11 beta 7 (15A263e)

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Hi, i successfully installed the script on

- late 2013 retina 15 inch with gt 750m

- akitio thunder 2

- asus strix gtx 980 ti

- Asus XB270HU with G sync

My questions will be

- do i turn on or off for automatic graphics switching?

- is it normal when i go "about my mac" that the gtx 980ti is used on both the built in display and my external monitor?

- i experience some kind of ui sluggishness particularly on the effects on the dock area like restoring apps. Is this normal?

- will g sync work on mac os x?

Please advise thanks.

Plea

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Thanks for so fast replay,

So basically I have 2 choices:

1)KEEP Praying about Quartz Extreme acceleration for Nvidia

2)Swap the card to AMD

So far I've read in the forum the best compatible device for R9 AMD is NetStor NA211TB. Wouldn't it work with Akitio2 BOX?

Thank you for the information!

I 'd like to inform that since the latest web driver Update 346.03.03f02 Now finally UI lag is disappeared and all working smooth like before in Yosemite. It seems Nvidia trying to do their best in order to support new OS X API

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1. When booting I no longer can see the boot screen with the Apple logo. The first output the display receives is the desktop background. Is there any way to get the boot screen back?

I’ll explain in a nutshell,

@Dschijn’s answer is mostly correct. Generally GPU has to be EFI flashed in order to get a boot screen. Apple calls it a “Startup Manager”, which is built into the BootROM firmware. When you turn on the Mac, the BootROM initializes hardware and also checks if startup keys have been pressed. Boot.efi is not yet loaded at this first stage. Instead, the system is in the EFI runtime environment, and within this state, it’s possible to access hardware and run EFI programs. When you see the logo of Apple, it means that boot.efi is activated and OS X will be loaded.

The daemon process of the automate-eGPU.sh starts its job just before you see the login screen. You can’t do anything earlier by the script or any other app in the OS X. The choice that remains is an EFI program. Apple’s boot loader is a good example of EFI binary. EFI is a very rich environment and documented by Intel. However, the bad news is that EFI development kits are not easy to install on OS X platform, but it's possible to build programs on the Linux.

Would it be possible to have a screen output with a regular PC eGPU before the OS X has been loaded? Yes, but not an easy task. However, as Startup Manager is programmed into BootROM, I guess the only way to get that visible on the eGPU monitor is to flash the eGPU. This is not documented and requires reverse engineering approach. Since all the Thunderbolt Macs show up the boot screen through the iGPU/dGPU, there is no real need to flash eGPUs.

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I’ll explain in a nutshell,

@Dschijn’s answer is mostly correct. Generally GPU has to be EFI flashed in order to get a boot screen. Apple calls it a “Startup Manager”, which is built into the BootROM firmware. When you turn on the Mac, the BootROM initializes hardware and also checks if startup keys have been pressed. Boot.efi is not yet loaded at this first stage. Instead, the system is in the EFI runtime environment, and within this state, it’s possible to access hardware and run EFI programs. When you see the logo of Apple, it means that boot.efi is activated and OS X will be loaded.

The daemon process of the automate-eGPU.sh starts its job just before you see the login screen. You can’t do anything earlier by the script or any other app in the OS X. The choice that remains is an EFI program. Apple’s boot loader is a good example of EFI binary. EFI is a very rich environment and documented by Intel. However, the bad news is that EFI development kits are not easy to install on OS X platform, but it's possible to build programs on the Linux.

Would it be possible to have a screen output with a regular PC eGPU before the OS X has been loaded? Yes, but not an easy task. However, as Startup Manager is programmed into BootROM, I guess the only way to get that visible on the eGPU monitor is to flash the eGPU. This is not documented and requires reverse engineering approach. Since all the Thunderbolt Macs show up the boot screen through the iGPU/dGPU, there is no real need to flash eGPUs.

So I'll still be able to see the boot screen when the eGPU is plugged in? And only pre-2013 Mac Pros need GPUs which have EFI firmware to show a boot screen? And this is because all Thunderbolt Macs have integrated graphics while pre-2013 Mac Pros don't?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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So I'll still be able to see the boot screen when the eGPU is plugged in? And only pre-2013 Mac Pros need GPUs which have EFI firmware to show a boot screen? And this is because all Thunderbolt Macs have integrated graphics while pre-2013 Mac Pros don't?

The BootROM firmware I was talking about is inside the Mac, on the logic board. You can see the EFI boot screen through the built-in GPU only, such as the HD 3000 of the 2011 Mac mini. The startup manager will appear via the built-in HDMI interface, and the second eGPU (any interface) monitor will stay black until the login screen appears. If you use your MBP in clamshell mode with an external monitor which is connected to the built-in display interface, restart the Mac, keep external keyboard's Option key down, you will see the boot screen as well. The eGPU monitor stays black at an early stage. Nothing to do with whether it is pre-2013 or not. Apple provides firmware updates once in a while, meaning that the BootROM will be overwritten with a newer version.

I just wanted to point out that it’s possible in theory to have a boot screen on the eGPU monitor without flashing the eGPU, but not in a way that “startup manager” part of the boot screen would appear when you keep Option key down (or the EFI program has to trigger that somehow).

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Installed fine with -url option, thank you! Since el capitan i have a problem (therefore i hoped the update may fix this):

On desktop my window-movement stutters (gtx970) but the connection is 4k 60hz. The xcode simulator got hell slow too but this only happens the time i use my external gpu. It is like 2D stresses whole Mac Os. Maybe you have an idea what i can do... thank you!

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