System reports NVIDIA Graphics Device not NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

[Scooter]

Hi,

Used this great resource to build a eGPU based on a EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Hybrid 6GB with a HighPoint RocketStor 6361A Thunderbolt 2 PCIe Expansion Chassis, Silverstone Milo ML08B-H Mini ITX Case with Handle, and Silverstone SX500-LG 500W Gold SFX Power Supply.

My eGPU requirements are solely for daVinci Resolve on OS X to boost render times and size of files that can be rendered without the dreaded GPU Is Full message. No gaming, no monitor. Can’t get any simpler. The eGPU is to run on either a MacBook Pro Retina, 15in Mid 2015,  AMD Radeon R9 M370X, and a iMac 27in Late 2013, Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M.

Did a quick bride of Frankenstein build on the table to check it all works using the MacBook Pro. Downloaded the Nvidia Web Driver (346.02.03f04), downloaded and ran  goalque’s installation script https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/7989-script-automating-the-installation-of-egpu-on-os-x-inc-display-output/. Rebooted the laptop and there was the 980 ti in the OS X systems report. Ran Resolve and it recognised the card and rendered at approx 3 times the speed of the non eGPU render. Sweet!

Spent a day doing the build, with loads of pics which I’ll post here soon.

Carried the eGPU over to the iMac, plugged it in and went through the process again. Downloaded the Nvidia Web Driver (346.01.02f04)*, ran the script, rebooted the machine. In the systems report there is a new card recognised, but it has the generic name of NVIDIA Graphics Device.

In Resolve it recognises the  card as NVIDIA Graphics Device. I rendered the same file. On the Laptop I was getting 10fps, on the iMac I get roughly 7.5. Both systems were reading and rendering to the same external SSD and the CPU wasn’t being taxed. Hmmmm.

So I search the site for NVIDIA Graphics Device and found a few post relating to Titan builds, but they are reporting expected performance.  Again Hmmm.

So my next step is to upgrade the iMac from 10.10.3 to 10.10.5 to match the MacBook Pro. I will also update the NVIDIA Web Driver as at the moment they are both up to date base on the OS X but do not match. I can’t find anything relating to 10.10.3 and NVIDIA Graphics Device but its the only obvious difference between the two systems.

I’ll post my findings soon.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

[Scooter]

UPDATE
Downloaded and installed 10.10.5. Was prompted to update the NVDIA Web Driver which I did (didn’t look at Systems Report so not sure if card was recognised at that point). Restarted. Card not recognised so I ran the automate EGPU script again. On reboot, card is now recognised as GTX 980Ti.
In daVinci Resolve the card is now recognised by name.
And now the catch. Ran the same test file as before - frame rate is still 7.5 FPS. Grrrr.

So might be a daVinci Resolve issue??

[Scooter]

UPDATE

So maybe not a Resolve issue.

Been told that its a bandwidth issue. Ran the CUDA-Z benchmark for both the internal 780M and the 980Ti.

780M Host to device Pinned 6072.58 MiB/s

On iMac 980Ti Host to device Pinned 808.08 MiB/s

On MBP 980Ti Host to device Pinned 1290.4 MiB/s

So does that make it a Highpoint issue, or is it just a limitation of Thunderbolt 1 vs.Thunderbolt 2. 800 MiB/s seems a long way off the theoretical 10Gig of TB 1.

I am going to look for some CUDA-Z results on the site, but if anyone has a 980Ti in an AiKiTo on a Thunderbolt 1 port and feels like running a test, I would appreciate the results.

Cheers

Scott

[Scooter]

UPDATE

And based on the scores I have in my own tests and those found from others,  800 MiB/s is the max you can get out of TB1 with CUDA on an eGPU.

So to 'unlock' some of the potential of the 980Ti rendering with Resolve, it really needs to be a TB2 connection.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Scooter