Mac + eGPU

[natemac00]

That's my video, yes you want to disable system integrity, shut down the computer, then plug in your GPU, turn on the computer with the GPU plugged in, then run those scripts and terminal, restart. Once you restart you should be able to look into device manager and see the GPU. Then install cuda.

Hello natemac00,

Thanks for your reply! Thats all good to know.

One more thing, when you say "run the script," what does that actually mean? I have never bothered with Terminal, so this is all new to me. As far as I understand, I download the script to my desktop and then in Terminal, copy & paste the chmod +x automate-eGPU.sh + sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh and those commands basically "fish up" the script on my desktop and then performs it? I know, i know, i'm an amateur at this.

Should I uninstall any Nvidia drivers before doing any of this?

Thanks again!

Code: Select all

OPEN Terminal
PASTE curl -o ~/Desktop/automate-eGPU.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/goalque/automate-eGPU/master/automate-eGPU.sh
HIT Enter
PASTE chmod +x ~/Desktop/automate-eGPU.sh
HIT Enter
PASTE cd ~/Desktop
HIT Enter
PASTE sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh
Follow Prompts on screen.

[chanson78]

Hello natemac00

Ran script smoothly but I get a message something like "Thunderbolt device is connected, but no external GPUs detected." Also so I seem not to get any power from my PSU to my to my molex riser or maybe its my GPU?

any ideas?

Possibly my PSU power supply is wrong? Wrong pin set up between PSU and GPU?

I have a be quiet! dark power pro 750W which seems to do nothing when turned on. All the power seems to be generated by the Akitio when I plug it in with its power supply.

Thanks again!

[Uhlhorn]

Yes, You need a bridge in Your main board connector.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... st-6342488

If no main board is connected to the power supply, the power supply will not start. It needs a power switch connected to the connector – or a bridge.

[chanson78]

Thanks Uhlhorn!

Got the bridge hooked up to the PSU now and everything seems to be working.

But...

Hopefully this is a simply question with a simple answer.

Ive looked around on the forums regarding my issue but not finding an answer. Basically, I ran the install script successfully, I noticed that when the script was running in Terminal that it even detected the eGPU but after the script ran successfully and I restarted my computer there is no detection of the eGPU in Nvidia driver manager or in the system report. Sooooo what could I be missing? It seems that all hardware is up and running, all fans spinning.


Full computer specs here:

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)
Processor 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 1024 MB

eGPU hardware on hand here:

Apple Thunderbolt Cable 2.0m
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Ti 6GB GDDR5
be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 11 750W PSU w/ bridge
Akitio Thunderbolt2 PCIe Expansion Box
Powered Riser Cable 16X PCI-E

[Uhlhorn]

What version of Mac OS X are You using? If You using Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, there is a new protection of the system (SIP or System Integrity Protection). You have to deactivate this protection first.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/10/05/disable- ... -mac-os-x/

[chanson78]

@Uhlhorn

Yeah, I was able to disabled the SIP weeks ago and install the script successfully. After two weeks of pretty solid performance with the eGPU the last couple days I am experiencing total crashes while working in C4D(while eGPU is on) and while rendering with Octane(while eGPU is on). Everything is fine when eGPU is off but of course thats not the point of a eGPU, keeping it off. The system is completely unstable and I am getting panic reports(that I don't understand) after system crashes. I am not sure if this is a eGPU hardware problem or a conflict with software when the eGPU is on. People on other forums have recommended not using a PCI riser because of "stability issues," whatever those are. Also, not sure how to connect my GTX to my Akitio board without overheating the Akitio board from the back of my GPU(it gets HOT!) For example this guy has the back of his GTX directly against the Akitio board!!?? Is that safe?

https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/ ... ent-102812

[Uhlhorn]

I don’t know … try it. It should work. (But without guarantee!)

Akitio said, that the board does not support GPUs. But in the www.techinferno.com forum they said that the board supports 75 W on their PCI slot, but not with their power supply.
I did not find this in the tech inferno forum, but a user in a german forum wrote this:
http://www.macuser.de/threads/macpro-nm ... st-8817935

[Collider]

From what I gather (I've been reading through everything I can find on this very topic), and what that German post seems to confirm... Akito's board handles 75w, but they can't advertise that fact because they only supply 25w through their psu. I have mine (Akito, gtx 980ti, corsair RM1000x) running this last week with a cheap powered riser and it's fairly stable, but will switch to direct when I get a minute to build the molex to barrel (I've already bent my case out). The concern I've seen is melting the yellow and black cables that wire the pcie to the thunderbolt card. I'm going to go GaryTyler's route and aim the Akito fan down toward that area, and add extra insulation between the card and the board. It looks like a lot of folks are running this same setup without problems. The big takeaway from all this is to only use 1 psu no matter which route you go down.

[Uhlhorn]

Are You using two power supplies? You should use only one! It’s better.

[Collider]

Me? No... 1 psu, definitely.

Speaking of which... in terms of scalability - a quick question if anyone knows. I think I read that 4 gpus can be daisy chained (latest el capitan etc...) - can I daisy chain 4 akitos + 980ti via thunderbolt successfully? Has anyone tried this? Is there a better way to scale up? I saw the 2 titan z setup, which might be the way to go if I can get a couple used or discounted as the newer cards come out. But in the short term it would be good to know if the 4 card setup is possible.

And second question, can I run 2 980ti (asus matrix platinum 980ti) from my corsair rm 1000x psu, or do I need to go to 1200w? Or more?