2012 15" MBPr GT650M + GTX970@10Gbps-TB1 (AKiTiO Thunder2) + Win10 [LukeHero]

[LukeHero]

Firstly I just want to thank everyone in this community. It's thanks to this site with it's information provided by the community that has made this possible.

Update #1 - Now working with OS X 10.10.4
Update #2 - Internal display working (no need for external display) - No performance loss, no paid software and still have sound

Update #3 (27th September 2016) - No longer using Windows 8.1 on EFI, now using Windows 10 on Bootcamp (BIOS)

So here is my guide!

I have a Mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro Retina with Intel HD4000 + GT650M inside.
I am running Windows 8.1 Pro which was installed via EFI (Not Bootcamp).

This guide requires no extra software (you get plug and play eGPU) and no soldering.

Parts list:
1x Akitio Thunder2
1x MSI GTX970 4G Gaming
1x Dell DA-2 220w power supply
2x PCI-e 6-pin Male to Dual 6-pin Female Power Y cable splitter
1x 5.5mm x 2.5mm DC barrel screw terminal adapter
1x Electrical tape
1x Hair Clip
1x 6pin to 8pin PCI cable (provided with graphics card as mine is 6+8pin)

Cost: £429.02 ($668.03 / €601.07)

First off, the software:

I used bootcamp to create a USB stick with Windows 8.1 Pro on it. Do not get the bootcamp software! (This caused the first problem for me later).
I then installed Windows on my Mac via the EFI boot option. I followed this excellent guide right here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comment...bootcamp_guide

This was a long process as it meant making an up to date Time Machine backup of my OSX, wiping the whole drive, installing Windows and then reinstating OSX from my backup, so this took some time.

The next step is getting the drivers in Windows. If you have the same Mac as me, remember this! Usually if you install Windows via bootcamp for this model, you would use the 5.1.5621 bootcamp software. Do not do this. To get my drivers working in Windows I had to use bootcamp drivers from version 5.0.5033 instead of version 5.1.5621.
Also before you install those, go ahead and remove the Nvidia folder. Go into the bootcamp folder, into drivers and delete Nvidia. Now you can proceed to install the 5.0.5033 drivers.

A known issue with this model when installing Windows in EFI mode is you will not have sound on the internal speakers. I am 99% that there is no way to fix this issue. However due to the fact that also with this model Optimus does not work, meaning you must use an external display, this problem is then solved as you get sound via the sound device built into the graphics card.

So that's it for software. The benefit to installing Windows in EFI mode is that it makes the eGPU plug and play!

Update #1 - I now have my eGPU successfully running in OS X 10.10.4 too. Thanks to @goalque and his excellent script which automates the whole install process.



The eGPU will only work with an external screen connected however. You must connect from the eGPU to the display (not from the Macbook to the display).
The only thing to note here is that under 'Displays' in the system preferences, my Mac told me that the GT650M was powering the external display but it certainly was not. Also under system information you should see you eGPU and your display will be listed within that.

Hardware:

First thing is to connect up the power cables. It's pretty simple and requires no soldering at all.
You can see my photo below and a shitty diagram I made too. Feel free to reply if you need help explaining this.



If you have the paperclip/hairclip in the right place you will get a green light when switching it on like in the picture.

Then it's was as simple as plugging the graphics card into the Thunder2 enclosure, and connecting it all up.



Next I switched on the power for the eGPU, plugged the Thunderbolt cable in and switched on my Mac, proceeding to boot in to Windows.

First off it was not being recognised at all in Device Manager. (It should show up under display adapters).
The solution after much frustration was to simply plug it into the other Thunderbolt port on my laptop and plug it into the other Thunderbolt port on the Thunder2.

Then upon bootup I was greeted with 3 devices under display adapters. Happy times!

The final step was to install the drivers.

I downloaded the Nvidia drivers for the card from the Nvidia website and proceeded to install them. Half way through instillation - black screen - followed by system crash and reboot. Bad times.

I booted back into Windows again, went into Device Manager and under the display adapters I disabled the GT650M, then tried to install the drivers again and it worked. Upon reboot the Device Manger showed all three graphics cards (named correctly) as well as GeForce Experience showing the GTX970.



So that's about it!

I installed MSI Afterburner and 3DMark and played around with the clocks. I managed 8923 in Fire Strike 1.1 before overclocking and 9677 after. But oddly the results show up as from my GT650M. The card does show up on the results page as a secondary card though, and of course there is no way my GT650M would get that score! Also the clock speeds in the results for the GT650M are my clock speeds for the GT970. A little weird but I don't really care about that.




Update #2 - Internal display working (no need for external display)

So the two main limitations with this model of Macbook are the fact that you need an external display, and that you have no sound with an EFI Windows instillation. So I got around those limitations with this little device and three resistors:



It's a HDMI to VGA adapter with audio out. You can see the audio out here:



All you need to do is put 3x 75ohm resistors inside the VGA port to create a fake external display. You can see where the resistors need to go with this image:



So the deal with this is, any program started on the 'external screen' (being powered by the eGPU) will use the eGPU. So what you'll want to do is set the fake display as your main display. Then anything started on that display will be running from the eGPU. Now there is a little limitation here; only games that run in windowed mode will work (which is most). You'll want to start the game on the fake screen in windowed mode and then drag it over to your internal display.

So how do you grab from a display you can't see? Well, I found this free program called Dual Monitor Tools (it's free right here: Dual Monitor Tools - Home )
and what you can do in this program is set a keyboard shortcut to move the selected window over to the other display. So you click on the game in the task bar, and hit the shortcut you assigned and it'll pop over to the internal screen, but because it was launched on the fake screen, it'll be powered by the eGPU.

Simple as that, there's no performance hit either as you're just dragging the game to the other screen.

A good tip is to have the internal display set as default first, launch the game, go to options and set the game to windowed mode now, then quit and relaunch after you've changed the fake screen as your primary. Otherwise you might not be able to switch it with the shortcut while it's in full screen.

An issue I have:
I don't know if this will apply to others but I simply cannot boot in to Windows with my GT650M activated. My startup process is very odd, so I'll document it incase others have to do this.

To make my Windows even boot, I must have my GT650M disabled in device manger. But when I do this I cannot boot without the eGPU plugged in at all.
So what I have to do is make sure my GT650M is down (boot in safe mode to do this the first time, no need for eGPU attached when doing this).
Then with the eGPU plugged in, start up my laptop and chose the Windows boot option. The only way I know that Windows has successfully booted is the spinning white dots under the Windows logo on bootup will freeze. When my internal display freezes, I know Windows has loaded (this is when the desktop would appear on the external display) but of course we can't see that because it's a fake display.

So once the bootup freezes, I wait until my keyboard backlights come on, then I know the desktop has loaded on the fake display. (Or just wait about 10 seconds after the freeze). Now the next step is to activate the GT650M in device manger so that my internal screen works. Now for this I did the process on a proper external display to learn the key combination to do it blind. For me it as follows:

(Press START - cmd key)
type: device man
ENTER
TAB
Down arrow x8
ENTER
TAB
ENTER
ENTER

After I have done that, the frozen Windows logo will disappear and the screen will flicker for about 5 - 10 seconds before displaying my desktop. 
Success! I can now control Windows from my internal display. Opening up the resolution tool will show 2 displays, the internal, and the fake external.
The only thing to remember is when I'm done, I must deactivate the GT650M in device manager again before shutting down. Deactivating it will not shut off the internal display, so it's not a problem to do that and shut down.

So that's it. I hope you don't have to do that process, but for me, that's the only way to do it. it's a slight pain but not too much bother, and it's certainly great not to have to use an external screen!

 

Update 3 (Removed EFI Win8.1, now using Win10 BIOS):

So I decided I want to use Windows 10 now for DirectX 12 gaming. This was a pretty simple process to setup. Hardware-wise it's all the same as above, software-wise is as follows.

Get yourself a copy eGPU Setup 1.2 (not 1.3). Big shout out to @Tech Inferno Fan for making it.

 

If you don't have EFI Windows on your Macbook, continue to the next paragraph.

I had to wipe my whole mac hard drive clean as the EFI partition of Win8.1 gets installed before OSX. So I made a Time Machine backup. Now to wipe the whole hard drive you must boot from a USB otherwise you can't wipe the drive you're using with the recovery on it. But I really didn't want to download 4GB or whatever size the latest OSX is just so I can use the recovery option (I don't need OSX as I'm using a Time Machine backup with it already). What I did was downloaded a piece of software called Carbon Copy Cloner (you can get a 30-day free trial), on here you have an option to clone the Recovery HD partition from you MacHD to another drive (in this case a USB). So I did this saving me the time of downloading the whole OSX just for it's recovery.

So all there was to do next is boot the recovery from the USB, wipe the entire drive and restore from my Time Machine backup.

 

Once in OSX load up the Bootcamp Assistant, plug in a USB (8GB or bigger), burn on Windows 10, download the drivers and create a Windows 10 installation. It's pretty straight forward with Bootcamp, just follow it all until you're in Windows 10 on your desktop. Once on the desktop I installed the Bootcamp software and shut down the system. I then plugged in the eGPU (not sure if you have to but I felt I should while installing the drivers for it), booted back up and installed the latest Nvidia drivers for my eGPU then shut the system down again. For the next steps I basically followed @w4vz's guide. Particularly just this part (I made some slight changes to parts that didn't quite translate to what I was seeing on my screen, I underlined the ones I have modified):

 

• Unzip eGPU Setup 1.2 to c:\eGPU
• run setup-disk-image (as admin user)
• Restart and load eGPU Setup 1.2, select option 2
• Do PCI compaction all exept sata etc etc. After it's all done make sure you have PCI WRITE and ALL ALLOC showing yes on the right side panel
• Optional: If freeze at the bootloader: edit PCI.BAT replacing a:x.x and b:x.x with 0a:x.x and 0b:x.x (I only found A occurences in mine) (in the editor alt/option+F to access the file menu)
• Optional: If the settings are not kept after reboot: edit Startup.bat by adding REM in front of all "call vidinit" like so: REM call vidinit... (in the editor alt/option+F to access the file menu)
• Run startup.bat, then Test
• Run Chainloader, then Test. After this you should be taken back to the main menu
• Select eGPU Setup 1.2 again and now select (default) option 1

 

From now on all you need to do to get your eGPU working is boot Windows, select eGPU Setup 1.2 and press 1

Any questions just ask and I'll help in any way I can.

[nichols]

Thanks for taking the time to document your build for the very few rMBP 10,1 users.

I have a few questions about it, if you don't mind:

• How is the general convenience of this setup for you? Can you leave your eGPU connected and then simply reboot into Windows? Or is it power down, connect, boot into Windows?
  
• Also, I see in one of the photos your internal display is showing a Windows logo. Was the display functional only during setup? Is it nonoperational when booted into Windows now that your eGPU drivers are installed?
  
• Are you able to close the lid on your laptop while in Windows?
  

Again, thanks a lot for posting the build!

[LukeHero]

Hey nichols, sorry for such a late reply.

1. Convenience is good. I can reboot with it all switched on still. I just plug it in, turn it on and turn my laptop on and boot to Windows. I can reboot Windows and be back in on my eGPU with touching anything. I can even boot in to OSX with it plugged in still, although it isn't recognised by OSX (but I think there are guides on getting it recognised, it's just not something I want to do).

2. The internal display is not functional on this model of Macbook. When I boot the machine the internal screen is used, until the point when the Windows logo appears with the spinning white icon thing, then after a couple of seconds the internal screen will freeze. That's when I know the eGPU has been picked up and my external display is about to come on. Also I have my GT650M disabled as that gave me some issues in Windows. So if I boot Windows without my eGPU attached, I just get a black screen after the Windows logo. Re-enabling the 650M would probably allow me to use Windows without the eGPU again but I can't confirm this as I haven't done it. I only go on Windows when I want to game.

3. I haven't closed the lid before as I don't have a keyboard, so I must use the Macbook keyboard. I am pretty sure you can though as I have heard other people doing it with this model. I will soon be getting a keyboard so I can close my Macbook so I will update the guide once I can confirm this myself. I plan to add a video of the bootup process soon too.

I hope this helps! Anything else just ask.

[nichols]

No worries for the late reply, my build is delayed anyway. I'm glad to hear that nothing has to be power cycled when rebooting into Windows. Thanks for the reply!

[jackfsqyj]

I want to know whether the naked GPU without a case would have some problems. Like easily get dusty or broken? I think it's pretty fragile...

And how do you protect this naked GPU when you are not using, like using a plastic case or something? Or..just leave it naked?

[angerthosenear]

Very nice eGPU setup and implementation! Thanks for sharing.

I have the Golden version of the same card, looks like you are getting about the same clocks too! I get around 1550 with the stock limits of the voltage slider. It feels like it could keep going though. They are nice cards.

I want to know whether the naked GPU without a case would have some problems. Like easily get dusty or broken? I think it's pretty fragile...

And how do you protect this naked GPU when you are not using, like using a plastic case or something? Or..just leave it naked?

GPUs aren't that fragile. I have an MSi GTX 970 as well and it has a pretty solid build. Just don't smash up the fan and your will probably be fine.

Since it's open air, the dust kind of falls off of it. Of course it still gets dusty, but it's not too bad. I ran my first eGPU open air for months without issue.

---

Note to @LukeHero, be careful with splitting PCIe power with that wiring, you get close to the limit of the wires, I've seen them fail before like that. Especially overclocking. At least with the 970 you are software-capped to a fairly low voltage (NEED MORE VOLTS). Just something to think about.

[jackfsqyj]

I just think it would be better to build a case for it, because it would look better and protect GPU from water.

-----------------------------

So in that way of splitting the wiring,Dell DA-2 is not enough for GTX970 ( even if not overlocked)? What about GTX960? Would that be enough?I just don't want to use a huge PSU.

Looking forward to@LukeHero 's report to see whether it can run stably.

[LukeHero]

The GPU is not fragile at all, she's solid as a rock It's good ventilation open air. Of course there is no dust guard from a case so just means it will eventually pick up dust sooner than if it were in a case but it only takes a minute to use an air blower to clear it off and that's that. I don't keep it right next to my laptop so it's not near any source of water. When I'm not using the card I just keep it tucked away in a drawer so dust cannot get to it.

The Dell DA-2 is plenty power for the GPU, even overclocked (as you can see, mine is). The GTX970 requires 145W and then the Akitio Thunder2 requires 15W I think. So 220W from the Dell is plenty as only 160W is required by the setup. It's split that way so you can power both the Thunder2 and the GPU from one power source as you will get problems supplying them power from seperate source. You must power the Thunder2 and eGPU from the same source.

I haven't had a whole lot of time lately for gaming but so far I've had no problems with the eGPU at all. I am also looking at removing Windows 8.1 and installing Windows 10 so it will be interesting to see if that all runs fine and if I get any performance difference. Right now I can get 60fps+ on GTAV (my screen won't allow me higher than 60fps) and lowest of about 30fps in those areas with grass and foliage. All main settings are on full, resolution is 1080p and a couple of the advanced graphics settings are on full. On Witcher 3 I get 35-50fps with all settings on full at 1080p apart from Nvidia HairWorks turned off.

I haven't had a game crash yet! Super pleased with the setup. Just need to buy a monitor so I don't have to use my lounge TV

[jackfsqyj]

Did you buy that "2x PCI-e 6-pin Male to Dual 6-pin Female Power Y cable splitter" from eBay(20$)? Is that steady enough for you to tuck up those wirings?

And 2 things about Windows 10:

1.Windows 10 is not working as well as Windows 8.1 on Macbook, at least on my Macbook air. I was using the latest Windows 10 CP and every time it took almost 1minutes to go in to the system. Usually it cannot be correctly woken up.But the UI is quite impressive, and I believe the update of Bootcamp will easily fix those issues.

2.It seems like Nvdia devices not working well on Windows 10. HOTS cannot be runned on a Windows 10 device.

[Sitham]

That is a really nice guide! Thanks a lot!

Since I am really new to this community I have a question. Would this also work with other Graphics cards, say the GTX770, or is this guide specifically for the GTX 970?

Also I heard something that the rMBP early 2013 would not be able to install Windows in EFI mode. But the fact that I can select EFI Boot when I have the Windows installation stick plugged in shows that I can indeed install Windows in EFI mode right?

[LukeHero]

@jackfsqyj

I did get the cables from eBay $1.98 each from China and they are perfect quality, they tuck away nicely. Here's the exact ones I bought:

PCI E 6pin Male to Dual 6 Pin Female Power Y Cable PCIe 6pin 2X6PIN Splitter | eBay

Thanks for the info on Windows 10, I was gonna install it today but maybe I'll hold back for a little while then. I do really love the UI of it compared to Windows 8.

@Sitham

Thanks Sitham! This guide will work with other graphics cards so long as the 220W power supply is enough, I believe the GTX770 draws 230W so it won't work with this setup, you'd need to use a regular PSU like what you put in a PC. Don't forget the Thunder2 needs about 15W from the 220W so you'll be looking for a card that draws no more than 200W ideally.

If EFI works on my 2012 Macbook then it should certainly work on yours, there's only one way to find out and that's just give it a try Just make sure everything is backed up first!

[jackfsqyj]

1.98$ is so nice a price especially compared to that 20$ one! I want to build my eGPU system after I go back to college but still not sure about which Graphic card to buy, msi or the asus mini GTX970. Do you have any suggestion? Like noise, temperature or gaming perf?

[LukeHero]

1.98$ is so nice a price especially compared to that 20$ one! I want to build my eGPU system after I go back to college but still not sure about which Graphic card to buy, msi or the asus mini GTX970. Do you have any suggestion? Like noise, temperature or gaming perf?

Both are great. I went with the MSI for a few personal reasons. I previously owned a GTX670 by MSI which was great. I love the looks of the MSI GTX970 and I think the 0db fan feature is a really great feature for an eGPU. For me looks and noise were preference for an eGPU and MSI ticked those boxes for me.

[Kurbeco]

Thanks for the write up

As you've quoted the prices in GBP, are you UK based? If so, where did you get the Thunder2 from and how much did it cost?

A known issue with this model when installing Windows in EFI mode is you will not have sound on the internal speakers. I am 99% that there is no way to fix this issue. However due to the fact that also with this model Optimus does not work, meaning you must use an external display, this problem is then solved as you get sound via the sound device built into the graphics card.

I wasn't aware of this limitation, is there no way to have the eGPU display on the internal screen?

Have you ran this in OS X?

[LukeHero]

Thanks for the write up

As you've quoted the prices in GBP, are you UK based? If so, where did you get the Thunder2 from and how much did it cost?

I wasn't aware of this limitation, is there no way to have the eGPU display on the internal screen?

Have you ran this in OS X?

I'm not UK based right now, but I am from the UK and I was using my UK bank to fund everything (plus I still find it easier to think in GBP) so that's why it's all in GBP. I am in SE Asia right now. I bought my Thunder2 on eBay from the USA as it was my cheapest option.

Word of advice, if you do this I would highly recommend you to not use the eBay Global Shipping Program. I thought it would be convenient to use it as all customs etc are taken care of but it made it take forever to arrive, eBay will use the cheapest method of post possible with like 5 different couriers. (took about 3 weeks to come when I've had stuff from the states in 4 days, and a week at most).

There is no way to use the internal screen. I have only just started to try and use my eGPU in OS X today finally (trying to use it to render with CUDA on Adobe applications). I have no games installed on OS X to test with.

I can get my GTX 970 recognised in OS X but haven't been able to get OS X to actually use it yet. For Windows there is no way to use the internal screen unfortunately. That's a limitation of this model as it does not support Optimus.

[Tech Inferno Fan]

I wasn't aware of this limitation, is there no way to have the eGPU display on the internal screen?

Have you ran this in OS X?

Under Windows, you can drag a windowed app started on the eGPU attached LCD to your internal LCD. Then it's rendered by the eGPU but displayed on the internal LCD.

There is the "Chung-gun or Ultramon" method to manage this configuration by creating a DVI dummy attached to the LCD to create a pseudo LCD to start the app and then use the software to move it to to the internal LCD for display.

[Kurbeco]

Thank-you

My AKiTiO Thunder 2 arrived this morning. I have a DA-2, just waiting on cables and trying to decided on a graphics card now. I'll be sure to do a write up when I've got a setup sorted.

[LukeHero]

Under Windows, you can drag a windowed app started on the eGPU attached LCD to your internal LCD. Then it's rendered by the eGPU but displayed on the internal LCD.

There is the "Chung-gun or Ultramon" method to manage this configuration by creating a DVI dummy attached to the LCD to create a pseudo LCD to start the app and then use the software to move it to to the internal LCD for display.

Oh wow so there is a way for me to use my eGPU without an external monitor?! This excites me a lot.

Is there a guide on doing this?

EDIT: I had a look, seems like I just need to get some resistors and the software. However, I need to have audio supplied via HDMI as the audio doesn't work on this Macbook with EFI Windows. So I think if I do this, I'll get no audio as DVI does not carry audio, right?

EDIT 2: Ahh but perhaps I could use this as my dummy instead:

If there is a guide on the 'Chung_gun' way I'd really appreciate it. I couldn't really figure out what to do from his post I found online.

Thank-you

My AKiTiO Thunder 2 arrived this morning. I have a DA-2, just waiting on cables and trying to decided on a graphics card now. I'll be sure to do a write up when I've got a setup sorted.

Best of luck! Look forward to seeing your guide

[ealerstam]

Hi LukeHero,

Any progress towards using the internal monitor? I'm eagerly following this thread.

Keep up the good work!

[PICKLEBOY]

Definitely going to follow this thread. Let us know if anything changes. I plan on doing this Spring 2016 (don't have the extra $$$ right now) and will use your guide as I have the exact same computer, 2012 15" Retina, 650m etc.

[LukeHero]

Hi LukeHero,

Any progress towards using the internal monitor? I'm eagerly following this thread.

Keep up the good work!

Yep! Got my internal screen working now. Updating the guide now to show how I did it.

Definitely going to follow this thread. Let us know if anything changes. I plan on doing this Spring 2016 (don't have the extra $$$ right now) and will use your guide as I have the exact same computer, 2012 15" Retina, 650m etc.

Internal screen working, updating the guide now.

If you have questions when you do the build, just give me a shout

[Dschijn]

Awesome, looking forward for the update!

[LukeHero]

Awesome, looking forward for the update!

It has been added to the guide now

[PICKLEBOY]

Internal screen working, updating the guide now.

If you have questions when you do the build, just give me a shout

I appreciate it, looking forward to doing this. Since you got it working with the internal display, how much of a performance hit is there? It'd be cool if there was a way to get the discrete Nvidia 650m to do solely the internal display while the eGPU did the heavy lifting, but I know thats not possible.

[Dschijn]

It has been added to the guide now

Thanks, but the bottomline is: No games in fullscreen on the internal monitor, right?