Imac 5k 2015 and egpu

[oogie]

Perhaps try plugging your external monitor into a different port on the back of your eGPU video card? Unlike Windows, it could be the web drivers for OS X don't enable all the ports in your 3rd party video card, and the monitor is plugged into one of those nonfunctional ports.

Good luck with it.

Thanks for the reply!

Yes I tried with 3 different monitors with hdmi, dvi, vga...... all possible ports on every connection!

No go....

I even tried to downgrade video driver.

No go....

I am starting to think there is no hope.... I am hoping one of experts on this forum, end up buying imac 2015 5k model and make it work!

BTW, I found out one thing... apparently you have much much higher success rate booting in to windows without getting "ACPI BIOS ERROR" when rootless is disabled on El Capitan.

Thanks!

[euqlaog]

@oogie: I will repeat my question, did you get better success rate than 60% on Windows by using the method I described? Since with 2015 MBPs it should work nearly 100%.

[oogie]

@oogie: I will repeat my question, did you get better success rate than 60% on Windows by using the method I described? Since with 2015 MBPs it should work nearly 100%.

Oh, I guess I miss that question!

Yes! Nearly 100% success rate with your method!

Thank you!!!!

[ninjawt]

eGPU can't accelerate the internal screen in OSX.

The internal screen will still work, but you can only use the eGPU power on an external monitor. You could open Diablo III on the external monitor, switch to window mode and drag the window on the internal monitor (but you can't go full screen again).

Monitors connected to the eGPU will just work as an additonal monitor.

Hey guys, I've just found this thread and I wanted to ask a question. I Understand that you only use the eGPU only on an external monitor, but I wanted to ask, is this just a dedicated GPU issue? Or thunderbolt 2 doesn't have enough bandwindth?

And if so, in any future retina imac with thunderbolt 3, will it work with the internal screen? I'm interested in adding some boost to gaming and editing.

[ninjawt]

So I commented in the thread "5k iMac" asking a question, but nobody responded so I figured I could ask it in a new thread.

As I understand it you can't use an <gs id="41d5171d-2f52-4d2d-b3e3-6725ec0aba5e" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3e25d2a8-4b9e-4bb3-a8db-7b7c8e954d65" class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark">eGPU</gs> on a 5k <gs id="68176b1a-d112-4e13-8709-14268b5b3158" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="3e25d2a8-4b9e-4bb3-a8db-7b7c8e954d65" class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark">imac</gs>, the only way it would work if I would use it on an external monitor.

So wanted to ask, is this just a dedicated GPU issue? Or thunderbolt 2 doesn't have enough bandwidth.

And if so, in any future retina <gs id="c645a1db-706c-4120-bed8-56ca120dc65e" ginger_software_uiphraseguid="2cf6e055-f3ed-4acf-8e3d-30a169b77a06" class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark">imac</gs>with thunderbolt 3, will it work with the internal screen? I'm interested in adding some boost to gaming and editing and if it works with thunderbolt 3 I can wait a year to get the next one.

[Dschijn]

@ninjawt: On the 5k iMac you will only be able to use an external monitor in Windows, not in OSX (based on the oogie's experience).

In OSX you will only be able to use the eGPU for rendering in Apps, not in games!

TB3 and eGPU support is unclear since there is nothing released yet. Main "problem" is currently that you need an Intel only GPU Mac to get eGPU gaming power on the internal monitor in Windows 8.1.

[euqlaog]

​I noticed that my script doesn’t work as it’s designed with a 5K iMac. @oogie and other 5K iMac users, please contact me and I can send a modified version, let’s see if that works.

[deadoctopus]

hello

i was also interested in building eGPU for my 27 imac retina but i see very little point in doing so if i cant get the output signal on an internal retina display

But from what i have read (correct me if im wrong) it can be done if i get Imac 21 5k retina with intel based 6200 iris pro?

also do i get less performance if i direct it back to imac limiting thunderbolt 2 bandwidth? thanks in ADVANCE

PS...alos is it possible to make it work under windows 7 or windows 10 or windows 8.1 is my only option?

[euqlaog]

hello

i was also interested in building eGPU for my 27 imac retina but i see very little point in doing so if i cant get the output signal on an internal retina display

But from what i have read (correct me if im wrong) it can be done if i get Imac 21 5k retina with intel based 6200 iris pro?

also do i get less performance if i direct it back to imac limiting thunderbolt 2 bandwidth? thanks in ADVANCE

PS...alos is it possible to make it work under windows 7 or windows 10 or windows 8.1 is my only option?

The only issue is Nvidia eGPU screen output on OS X. AMD eGPUs might work already. 21” 5K iMac doesn’t exist, the Iris Pro 6200 model is 4K.

Seems that @oogie hasn’t been here for a while but a modified script is ready to test if anyone owns a Late 2014 - Late 2015 iMac. He actually has the Late 2014 5K model with M290X. There are 4 different 5K models, can be any of them. I just need a beta tester. Cannot promise that it will work, but the probability is high.

[deadoctopus]

sorry my mistake..of course i meant 4k 21 imac

i wanted to buid it on nvidia 980ti outputting signal to imac display but as i understand correctly the bandwidth of thunderbolt wont be able to fully use the power of such a powerful card especially while outputting signal back to imac thru it ??

i need it on windows only for gaming )

[euqlaog]

Ok, I misunderstood. The final pixels are always rendered by the iGPU/dGPU. On the OS X side, acceleration is done within application boundaries and the preferred way is to set the external monitor as primary in order to have accelerated windowed apps by the eGPU on the internal screen. The external monitor is necessary on OS X. On Windows, Optimus may be possible with Macs that are equipped with Intel integrated graphics, such as Iris Pro. And yes, TB2 bottlenecks the performance especially on the internal screen. Adjusting the resolution of your display may have some impact. Even if it worked, full screen 4K/5K gaming on internal retina screen wouldn’t be very enjoyable experience.

[chrise]

Hey there, 

i've bought the new iMac 5k (late 2015) and try to setup my eGPU (Geforce GTX 970 & Akitio).

Running the eGPU in osx works fine with automateEPGU  (thanks to goalque) and the newest nvidia drivers. I only have some problems with the imac display resolution but after pressing sleep and wake up again everthing works fine.

 

But in windows i'am not able to get the egpu running.

I have installed the latest nvidia drivers but its still not working.

If i dont disable the internal gpu, the egpu is recognized but with error 12.

If i disable the internal gpu, windows crashes while booting in windows.

 

Hope anyone can help me

 

[mmomega]

Interested in this as well, my Akitio will be in on Monday and 980Ti on Tuesday.

 

Chrise have you gotten any further along with Windows? I may be picking your brain as well within OS X.

[chingphaev]

I Have setup a eGPU already and install GPU driver already to and it work but when i run game it still run on my Built in GPU GTX775m how to switch to EGPU please help

My Spec

iMac 27inch late 2013

Core i5 4670 3.4Ghz

GTX 775m

Ram 8GB

eGPU setup

GTX 980 ti

akitio thunderbolt 2

[Dschijn]

You need an external monitor!

[Slashdot]

I have an iMac 5k late 2015 that I use for graphics production and have added an evga nvidia gtx 980 ti via AKiTiO adapter to it as Cuda accelerator. I ran the script to get the newest driver and everything shows up correctly in the systems panel and information. But since I installed the driver, my internal display's size is just half of the screen. What can I do? 

EDIT: the iMac also has problems with booting and shutting down. I always have to push the power button long for turning it off, and when I want to boot, u have to try 5+ times until I hear the startup sound, while the fans keep going. Suggestions?  

Edited January 18, 2017 by Slashdot
Additional information

[ti_padawan]

I don't know about your specific case but at first, I had some issues with launching my MBP 2012 as well. As far as I remember, resetting the PRAM helped (make sure to rerun the automation script afterwards). Then, it was about figuring out the timing and the order of turning things on. For me, I turn on the external monitor, the egpu and then the mac, one after the other. I turn on the egpu by turning on the power supply which takes about 2-3 seconds to start up so only then I actually start the mac. Perhaps try to tinker with this too to find just the right routine :).

 

As for the power-off issue, that might suggest something more serious. I'm no expert but system log may be useful to the community :). I think you should also start a new thread and not hijack this old one.