CypressXt Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Hello everyone, Here are some informations about my eGPU setup. Hardware: Macbook pro retina 15' (mid 2014 | MacbookPro 11,2 ) XFX R9 290x SATA III controller (RocketRaid 640L) SSD Samsung 850 Pro 256Gb OWC Helios II (Thunderbolt II enclosure) Corsair AX 650 PSU Pci-e 16x powered riser Software: Windows 8.1 (UEFI install) Lastest AMD Omega drivers (14.12) Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0 Bootcamp drivers (downloaded from OSX) What is currently working ?: Windows 8.1 over thunderbolt (using the RocketRaid controller) Lucid Virtu MVP 2.0 using the Optimus trick (Thx to Evo* by the way ) Internal Screen and all Macbook internal devices like speakers, mic, keyboard, trackpad... Midrange graphics card (tried HD6870, HD5850, GTX 570, R7 260X ) What doesn't work now : high-end graphics card (tried r9 290x, Nvidia gtx 980) Benchmarks: AMD HD 6870 Firestrike 3495 Nvidia GTX 570 Firestrike 3070 Need help about: I'm really close to my goal, having an all in one box for gaming (containing a PSU, a GPU and an drive to store the Windows system). This goal is achieved with low and midrange GPU but when I'm using a high-end graphic card, Windows boot and, after ~ 2-3 mins the screen freeze and I ready for a hard shutdown. The strange with is that I'm using a powered riser as you can see on the third picture below. I have tried to use the OWC Helos self powered by it own given psu but it didn't help, then powered by the riser only (I can boot normally on windows but the gpu problem is still there, freeze after 2-3 mins). I have tested the riser in a standard desktop pc with the r9 290x and all worked fine. I have also tested the setup on OS X, and strange thing, every thing work (on a external display) but the GPU is stuck at 300Mhz so it didn't bring any performances boost, it was even worse than the iGP, BUT it didn't crash. My question is HOW ? How can my helios board be powered by the riser only and don't give enough power to my GPU 0.0 ? Can this be an other problem, else as power issue ? As anyone some suggestion or idea, I'm trying to solve this issue for month now and it became a bit frustrating :/ . Feel free to ask me if you have any questions ! (Sorry for my English by the way, feel also free to correct me ) Pictures: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Inferno Fan Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Suggest pull the Helios board out so can install your R9 290X into it without the chassis limitations. Ensure you mount the board on a non-conductive surface and secure your video card in a way so the whole lot doesn't topple. This will be a temporary arrangement just for stability testing.Refer to http://forum.techinferno.com/enclosures-adapters/8317-%5Bguide%5D-making-molex-barrel-adapter.html to make the barrel adapter that plugs into your Helios board to provide 75W slot power. Plug the PCIe plugs into the video card and test again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CypressXt Posted June 14, 2015 Author Share Posted June 14, 2015 Hello Nando, Thanks for your quick reply ! Sadly I already try this without any success . The gpu crash appear earlier without the powered riser (about 3 sec after passing the windows login screen against 2-3 mins with the riser 0.0 ) . Any other idea ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Inferno Fan Posted June 14, 2015 Share Posted June 14, 2015 Hello Nando, Thanks for your quick reply ! Sadly I already try this without any success . The gpu crash appear earlier without the powered riser (about 3 sec after passing the windows login screen again 2-3 mins with the riser 0.0 ) . Any other idea ? Can you use the molex-to-barrel adapter AND the powered riser? Though do one additional step. Pls isolate the first six pins on the powered riser, 3 on each side, to separate the two 12V inputs - one to the TB board via the DC barrel adapter and one to the PCIe slot. This is shown in the picture below: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CypressXt Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 Thanks for the suggestion, but it has no effect. I tried with the DC barrel and the Molex powered riser without success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Are still having that raid card plugged in? Can you test without that card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tech Inferno Fan Posted June 15, 2015 Share Posted June 15, 2015 Thanks for the suggestion, but it has no effect.I tried with the DC barrel and the Molex powered riser without success. You can also remove the bottom most ribbon cable of your PCIe riser pictured above. Your video card will then connect to your PCIe bridge at either x4 or x8. Since your TB2 link is x4 it doesn't need to connect at x16. Not that I expect it to make much difference with your instability issue. If removal of the RAID card doesn't help then I'd suggest ask to OWC to advise on what to do next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CypressXt Posted June 15, 2015 Author Share Posted June 15, 2015 Hello Dschijn, Yes, I tried without the raid card, but the result was sadly the same. @Nando, As you suggested, I have removed the last ribbon of my PCIe riser but still have the same issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.