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MBPr + eGPU & Windows 10?


tre87

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Hey all :)

Has anyone had any experience with their MBPr, eGPU and Windows 10? Does it work like Windows 8.1?

Please share your experiences :)

Edit: I'm planning on reinstalling mine with Windows 10 later today btw!

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Optimus does not work for me, it only uses the iGPU to render, but it does work with external display. This doesn't seem to be a eGPU-problem but an optimus-problem. Others with optimus-laptops are having the same problem on Windows 10. Hopefully there will be a fix out in the near future.

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I have a MBPr (mid 2014) with nvidia 750m, and I have Windows 10 Pro currently running on my system without any problems. :)

Played some bechmarks and games. Seems as stable as my previous Windows 8.1 configuration.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15660[/ATTACH]

which nvidia drivers did you install? Did you have to install intel graphics drivers?

thanks

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I have a MBPr (mid 2014) with nvidia 750m, and I have Windows 10 Pro currently running on my system without any problems. :)

Played some bechmarks and games. Seems as stable as my previous Windows 8.1 configuration.

External display, right?

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which nvidia drivers did you install? Did you have to install intel graphics drivers?

thanks

I installed the latest ones from nvidia after those from Windows update rolled in.

No, I did not install Intel Graphics drivers since the Intel GPU gets disabled in my MacBook that has dual graphics.

External display, right?

Yeah, external monitor, Dell U2913WM. :)

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I installed Windows 10 (no clean install, just "update" the SO) BUT the 960 wasn't recognised and I couldn't find the gpu in Device Manager... :( I unistall the nvidia drivers and tried to install the W10drivers but it started a reset loop. I decided to go back to windows 7 until somebody can manage to run it.

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I have to disagree. My Macbook Mid 2014 13 inch Retina runs very well with windows 10.

In the beginning I got some problems (upgrade 8.1 to 10), but after a windows 10 reset everything works fine.

I've used the win10 nvidia drivers and the optimus mod + internal and external screen.

Later this weekend I will test an Macbook Pro 15 2014

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Like @zackbummente, I did a clean install after I upgraded to Windows 10, just to make sure no incompatible drivers or other software was present.

I would strongly suggest to do a clean install after the upgrade to avoid potential problems with older drivers. I also just installed the regular bootcamp drivers, but stripped away the nvidia setups, since Windows 10 delivers its own, and the ones in the bootcamp folder are outdated.

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Quote

I have to disagree. My Macbook Mid 2014 13 inch Retina runs very well with windows 10. In the beginning I got some problems (upgrade 8.1 to 10), but after a windows 10 reset everything works fine.

I've used the win10 nvidia drivers and the optimus mod + internal and external screen.

Later this weekend I will test an Macbook Pro 15 2014



which nvidia drivers did you install? Did you install intel graphics drivers?

and Did you try optimus Mode?

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Like @zackbummente, I did a clean install after I upgraded to Windows 10, just to make sure no incompatible drivers or other software was present.

I would strongly suggest to do a clean install after the upgrade to avoid potential problems with older drivers. I also just installed the regular bootcamp drivers, but stripped away the nvidia setups, since Windows 10 delivers its own, and the ones in the bootcamp folder are outdated.

Som questions:

1. I've read some Macbook Pro Models have "lockups" with the SSD unable to enter sleep mode? Have you exprienced any of this? Also, have you monitored/checked the eventlog for any errors?

2. What's your normal laptop-only battery life like compared to Win 8.1?

3. How did you strip the bootcamp installer from the Nvidia driver?

Thanks for the answers :)

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Som questions:

1. I've read some Macbook Pro Models have "lockups" with the SSD unable to enter sleep mode? Have you exprienced any of this? Also, have you monitored/checked the eventlog for any errors?

2. What's your normal laptop-only battery life like compared to Win 8.1?

3. How did you strip the bootcamp installer from the Nvidia driver?

Thanks for the answers :)

Hmm, I never experienced any lockups for sleep mode. But I usually disable sleep mode and hibernation mode. I always do a complete shutdown of my system, never sleep or hibernate. I disabled those options. So I can't comment on that unfortunately. The reason I disable these features is that (especially in the past) caused lots of problems (not necessariy eGPU problems) but since the SSD is very fast, I don't mind the slightly longer bootup times. I do know that you can't enter sleep mode when Thunderbolt devices are connected to the system, since not all Thunderbolt hardware is hot-pluggable and can cause crashes. Maybe that could be the cause of your concern?

I never really benchmarked my battery to see how long it could hold out, but I believe Windows 10 gives a marginally better batterylife. Windows 10 also has a new energy saving feature when the battery gets below a certain percentage (much like is known with smartphones). So I'd say you will see an increase, but don't expect to see a few hours of difference.

I just removed the nvidia folder that you can find in the bootcamp folders. :) It doesn't give you any warnings or something during installation, so you can just delete the folders (I also removed the setup files for ATI-based GPU systems, since I don't have any AMD hardware and I also removed the Intel Graphics driver. Not that this last one matters much, since the Intel GPU is disabled at boot time and isn't visible anyways, but just to make sure it doesn't fuck up with my system.)

Hope this helps you. :)

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Hmm, I never experienced any lockups for sleep mode. But I usually disable sleep mode and hibernation mode. I always do a complete shutdown of my system, never sleep or hibernate. I disabled those options. So I can't comment on that unfortunately. The reason I disable these features is that (especially in the past) caused lots of problems (not necessariy eGPU problems) but since the SSD is very fast, I don't mind the slightly longer bootup times. I do know that you can't enter sleep mode when Thunderbolt devices are connected to the system, since not all Thunderbolt hardware is hot-pluggable and can cause crashes. Maybe that could be the cause of your concern?

I never really benchmarked my battery to see how long it could hold out, but I believe Windows 10 gives a marginally better batterylife. Windows 10 also has a new energy saving feature when the battery gets below a certain percentage (much like is known with smartphones). So I'd say you will see an increase, but don't expect to see a few hours of difference.

I just removed the nvidia folder that you can find in the bootcamp folders. :) It doesn't give you any warnings or something during installation, so you can just delete the folders (I also removed the setup files for ATI-based GPU systems, since I don't have any AMD hardware and I also removed the Intel Graphics driver. Not that this last one matters much, since the Intel GPU is disabled at boot time and isn't visible anyways, but just to make sure it doesn't fuck up with my system.)

Hope this helps you. :)

Thanks for the awesome in-detail reply :)

Another thing I've read about regarding the SSD is that it dosen't power down when Windows idles. Have you noticed anything unusual there? Usually there will be some event logs...

The battery concern was also related to the above. Both the sleep/hibernate issues, but also the lack of powering down the SSD when Windows i idle. If you don't mind. Could you unplug the Macbook at 100% charge and browse for 10-20 minutes and the read the percentage/time left? I'm really concerned about my battery as I'm very mobile in my daily work :)

That was quite easy if it just removing the folders. How about your bluetooth/wifi, any problems there? Also, does the keyboard and screenbacklight buttons work as Win 8.1 and how about the bootcamp trayicon and its features?

Thanks in advance for the answer :)

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I tried out Windows 10 (clean install on external drive) on the 2015 13" MBP, but it didn't seem to work out too well. I was getting several boot up hangs at the Windows circle dot loading screen. When I did get successful boot ups, the eGPU is recognized, but the wireless Broadcom adapter in the MBP would be disabled. I don't think Optimus was working for me either. When I looked in the NVIDIA control panel within the PhysX sub menu, the Color LCD (MBP internal screen) was attached to Intel Iris and only my external monitor was attached to the GTX 970. When I ran 3DMark Fire Strike on the internal screen it was very choppy.

It could be that my problems stem from the imaging method I use to put Windows 10 on the external drive. I am using imagex which isn't supported for it, but I should be using these tools here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn916113%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

edit: nevermind about the NVIDIA control panel. I looked at my Windows 8 setup which does have optimus enabled, and Intel Iris is connected to Color LCD there too.

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I did a clean install of Windows 10 on my 2014 MBA and everything is working great. Played Tomb Raider on max and it played pretty great. I did not do anything special to the Bootcamp drivers. Just let them all install, then downloaded the latest GTX970 driver from Nvidia, shut down and started up with eGPU fully powered on (I always have it on when booting up), installed the drivers and rebooted again. Everything working (including internal speakers).

One interesting thing that happened was on first boot with eGPU (after drivers installed) I had both the internal and external monitors working at the same time (they were set to mirror). When I undid mirroring, both worked independently until I rebooted and my internal screen went back to black/inactive.

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Thanks for the awesome in-detail reply :)

Another thing I've read about regarding the SSD is that it dosen't power down when Windows idles. Have you noticed anything unusual there? Usually there will be some event logs...

The battery concern was also related to the above. Both the sleep/hibernate issues, but also the lack of powering down the SSD when Windows i idle. If you don't mind. Could you unplug the Macbook at 100% charge and browse for 10-20 minutes and the read the percentage/time left? I'm really concerned about my battery as I'm very mobile in my daily work :)

That was quite easy if it just removing the folders. How about your bluetooth/wifi, any problems there? Also, does the keyboard and screenbacklight buttons work as Win 8.1 and how about the bootcamp trayicon and its features?

Thanks in advance for the answer :)

I think an SSD is always "idle" when it isn't reading or writing... So I don't know whether it will give a noticeable difference when telling Windows is should power down your drives. So I never noticed anything unusual there, or thought it was a problem.

I'll do a quick check later today to see the battery drain. :)

Hmmm, I do notice some Wi-Fi problems, but I'm not sure whether they are related to something Win10 specific or that it just my network, since I had sporadic interrupts under Win 8.1 as well. But these problems don't drop my connection to my network or something. So I'm not experiencing connection dropouts.

I haven't tested bluetooth yet, since I don't have any bluetooth devices to couple to at the moment. (I have wireless speakers, but I won't get these back until late september :/ )

My keyboard keys initially didn't work when doing an upgrade. So I re-installed the bootcamp drivers again for the keyboard, and everything works again as expected. The bootcamp configuration screen also seems to work as before. You probably won't have problems there when doing a clean install. Only upgraded installations will probably experience the most issues.

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I think an SSD is always "idle" when it isn't reading or writing... So I don't know whether it will give a noticeable difference when telling Windows is should power down your drives. So I never noticed anything unusual there, or thought it was a problem.

I'll do a quick check later today to see the battery drain. :)

Hmmm, I do notice some Wi-Fi problems, but I'm not sure whether they are related to something Win10 specific or that it just my network, since I had sporadic interrupts under Win 8.1 as well. But these problems don't drop my connection to my network or something. So I'm not experiencing connection dropouts.

I haven't tested bluetooth yet, since I don't have any bluetooth devices to couple to at the moment. (I have wireless speakers, but I won't get these back until late september :/ )

My keyboard keys initially didn't work when doing an upgrade. So I re-installed the bootcamp drivers again for the keyboard, and everything works again as expected. The bootcamp configuration screen also seems to work as before. You probably won't have problems there when doing a clean install. Only upgraded installations will probably experience the most issues.

So it seems like a clean Windows 10 install works with the MBPr Mid 2014 without any major issues!

If you could do the battery test I would be really happy as that is the only thing holding me back from Windows 10 right now :)

Also, regarding Bluetooth? Can't you just connect your phone to your Macbook via bluetooth? That should tell if it works or not. Just discovering it would be verifying bluetooth is working.

Thanks for the answers once again :)

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@tre87

It seems there are few problems for the dGPU models, but going from the posts above it seems that the iGPU-only models have some struggles.

I did a quick test like you asked to: I browsed for 20mins, with screen brightness about half and got from 98% battery to 92% battery. Yesterday I also had a skype-conversation with webcams going both ways which lasted for a little more than 3 hours (Don't know if that is a reference :P )

Tested bluetooth as well. I could successfully connect to my phone, and stayed connected for a few hours, so I assume that it works ok. :P

I hope these answers help you and are what you had hoped for. :)

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@tre87

It seems there are few problems for the dGPU models, but going from the posts above it seems that the iGPU-only models have some struggles.

I did a quick test like you asked to: I browsed for 20mins, with screen brightness about half and got from 98% battery to 92% battery. Yesterday I also had a skype-conversation with webcams going both ways which lasted for a little more than 3 hours (Don't know if that is a reference :P )

Tested bluetooth as well. I could successfully connect to my phone, and stayed connected for a few hours, so I assume that it works ok. :P

I hope these answers help you and are what you had hoped for. :)

What are the problems regarding the GPU's? I haven't read about any problems regarding the dGPU/iGPU anywhere. Also, if you don't have any problems with your MBPr, then I'm comfident I won't either as I have the exact same model (MBPr mid 2014 + 750M and 512GB SSD).

Perfect info on the battery. Must be around the same as Win 8.1 then :) I really should look into disable that dGPU though as the iGPU uses a lot less power.

And great to hear Bluetooth is working flawlessly!

Think I might go for a clean install of Win10 in the weekend then - YAY! :)

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@tre87

I meant that for eGPU use, the dGPU models seem to experience no issues and can have the same experience as on Windows 8. But now that you mention it, there are hardly posts of failures on iGPU-only models. But I can't comment on them anyway... :P Sorry for the confusion.

You could try to get the iGPU working, but as I mentioned in the thread for enabling the iGPU on this forum (I also opened an issue at the Github page where Andreas Heider confirms my problem) there is a constant CPU load between 10% and 20%, effectively undoing the battery saving you would get from running on the iGPU. But you can always try of course. :)

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@tre87

I meant that for eGPU use, the dGPU models seem to experience no issues and can have the same experience as on Windows 8. But now that you mention it, there are hardly posts of failures on iGPU-only models. But I can't comment on them anyway... :P Sorry for the confusion.

You could try to get the iGPU working, but as I mentioned in the thread for enabling the iGPU on this forum (I also opened an issue at the Github page where Andreas Heider confirms my problem) there is a constant CPU load between 10% and 20%, effectively undoing the battery saving you would get from running on the iGPU. But you can always try of course. :)

Did you run the the iGPU setup before Win10? How's the heat on the chassis of the Macbook compared to the dGPU when running with the eGPU? I've heard when using the iGPU instead of the dGPU it should be generating less heat - whats your exprience? :)

Do you have the thread for the discussion about Windows 10 and iGPU stealing CPU power?

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@tre87

I only ran it on Win 8.1. I might try again later on Win 10, to check it out again. I didn't compare the heat dissipation, mostly because my Macbook stays on my desk in clamshell mode (plus I use a Blue Lounge kickstand), and I hardly take it on my lap. It should be generating less heat indeed, but with a constant CPU load of 10-20%, I think that effect is undone. I do know that the fans sometimes kicked in when the iGPU was enabled, even though the Macbook was idle. Although I can't really find the post anymore, but I believe someone said that the load disappears when after booting, you put Windows to sleep mode and then wake it again. But this is problematic when a TB device is attached, since it disables sleep mode in Windows.

The Github issue thread where I reported the power stealing can be found here: https://github.com/0xbb/gpu-switch/issues/5

I believe there is no specific thread that discusses the iGPU stealing power here on Tech Inferno. I think @TheGrreatGatsby reported in a thread that his load was a constant 20% when his iGPU was enabled (he has a 2015 model with AMD dGPU, but is experiencing the same issues).

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