Building external GPU's on Mac (eGPU)

Can some one please make something to get this done automatically? I am no programmer or script kiddy and after 4 hours of trying i'm giving up.....
I just cant get through the authorization part to change the kext files. I am in native mode, I switched of the SIP, I have set authorization for myself in show info...
I just want to get this stupid GTX960 working on my late I7 2014 Mac Mini......

 

https://github.com/goalque/automate-eGPU

 

wow! Thanks!!!!!!

 

You’re welcome!

I should mention: You’ll have to uninstall and reinstall that script after each OS X upgrade, minor and major. To uninstall, cd into where you have automate-eGPU.sh stored and enter:
sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh -uninstall
To install, cd into where you have automate-eGPU.sh stored and enter: sudo ./automate-eGPU.sh

I discovered that my eGPU wasn’t working properly after the OS X 10.11.4 upgrade, and after that, I also found out that I needed a newer Nvidia driver for OS X 10.11.4. So, I uninstalled and reinstalled the script. Now my eGPU works even better than before. Instead of hovering around 84˚ C, my MacBook’s CPU hovers around 74˚ C, and that’s with the High graphics settings in StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. I might be able to kick it up to Ultra, but I don’t want to stress out my MacBook’s CPU.

 

Good to know!
I used your script and I can confirm it is working! At first I had to find out that the script had to be in my personal folder to get it started but after that it worked. Sorry, im not a programmer
Thanks!

 

By the way, I didn't write that script; it was written by Goalque.

 

Ow...

So now my GTX960 works on de Mac side of my 2014 mini but unfortunately on the windows 10 bootcamp side it is not working anymore since I re-installed Mac OS. I reinstalled the mini because older and upgraded OS's could give problems. So I formatted the complete HD and re installed El Capitan. After that I ran the script to check if the GTX960 would run on Mac OS and it did. After that I re installed win10 on bootcamp, just as I had before I formatted the HD. But now every time i want to start win10 with the Thunderbold connector from the Akitio connected windows crashes at startup, restarts, tries to repair itself but does not succeed. When I start win10 without the Akitio connected it starts like normal. When I connect the cable with win10 already running it does not recognize the GTX960 and it does not work.......
i know this is not a windows forum but has anyone experienced the same?

Mac Mini I7 16gig Intel Iris
Akitio box with external power supply
Asus GTX960

 

- turn on Mac
- press and hold Alt key
- wait for boot chime and boot selection
- wait for WiFi search to finish
- turn on the eGPU
- wait 2sec
- boot windows

 

Thanks for the tip but it is not working for me... When I do this I got a ACPI BIOS error after choosing the windows 10 partition.
Its now the 3rd time I re-install windows 10 and every time it goes wrong.

Maybe you guys need to know a bit of history of my Mini. About a month ago I installed win10 for the first time to be able to play some games. Because the GPU performance was a bit poor I bought the Akitio with a Asus GTX960. The installation was no problem and it was running great on win 10. After a while I wanted it to use on OSX also but that didn't work. While trying to get it running I had to change my display DVI plug a lot from the Akitio and the DVI - Thunderbolt adapter. I don't know what happened but at some point my Thunderbolt ports stopped working. I tried every reset method but the ports did not respond anymore. So I brought it to Apple and they repaired it by resetting the Nvram. I thought that was odd because I had done that a few times already. When I tried it at home with my DVI - thunderbolt adapter it still didn't work... But I found a HDMI - DVI cable and with that cable I got my display working without the adapter.
At that point the windows 10 partition was already crashing when I plugged the Akitio in so I decided to completely re-install the Mini.
The rest is history. The OSX installation works perfectly now with the Akitio and the GTX960 but Windows 10 is crashing all the time. Sometimes I get it starting with the Akitio plugged in but I never get to working with my display...
At this moment I re-installed windows 3 times and tried 4 different drivers. 2 from Asus and 2 from Nvidia. (older and newer) In between I used the Guru uninstaller to clean the old drivers.

Any idea? Can it be something they did at Apple? My DVI - thunderbolt adapter is still not working after all...

 

I had my EGPU working prior to upgrading to the new OS.

I ran the new Nvidia Webdriver and tried the new automate-eGPU.sh file from sudo but it no longer finds the card.

Help?

 

When you ran automate-eGPU.sh, did you let it download and install the Nvidia web drivers?

 

QUOTE="jblagden, post: 22787453, member: 837945"] I had my EGPU working prior to upgrading to the new OS.

Have you updated to the current version of the Nvidia web drivers via the Nvidia applet in System Preferences? [/QUOTE]

 

it no longer finds the card. but the web dirvers I installed manually from nvidia.

--- Post Merged, Apr 11, 2016 ---

[/QUOTE]


yes

got this working... I rolled back to my previous install - think I corrected power issue on the card as well.

has anyone got a 980 working with El Capitan? Is there any advantage to upgrade?

 

So, many tries later I switched back to win7 because I still could not get it working on win10.

To my surprise I got the GTX960 working on win7 but when I start Project Cars the eGPU crashes after a few seconds. It even makes a scary sound when it drops dead...
Any ideas to solve this??

 

Would this hardware setup work? Could I connect 4 GPU's for rendering via cuda.

http://www.rentaraid.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=sonnetechechoexpress_se_I
or
http://www.rentaraid.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=sonnetechechoexpress_III-d

with
http://amfeltec.com/products/flexible-x4-pci-express-4-way-splitter-gpu-oriented/

 

If you already consider a Sonnet III-D, why not get 4x AKiTiO Thunder2 and daisy chain them?

 

I'm not even sure if AKiTiO Thunder2 is available anymore in the UK?

Any idea about the splitter?

 

I have a 2014 Mac Mini with an eGPU that I setup over the past week (modified Sonnet EE III-D w/ MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming). Using Windows 8.1 for boot camp right now. The only way I can get mine to work is to keep the thunderbolt cable unplugged until I get to the Windows login screen (or to your desktop). Then I plug the TB cable in and wait for the monitor/windows to recognize that I have a new card installed. I can then remove my HDMI conection and switch to the displayport connection that the eGPU outputs to.

I have been able to play games and run the Unigine Heaven benchmark without issue. As a bonus my G-Sync display still recognizes that I have a NVIDIA card and enables G-Sync / ULMB as requested while in Windows. I wish I could enable ULMB in OS X, but it is what it is.

I too was getting the ACPI_BIOS_ERROR during Windows startup; so far this is the only way I can get it to work in Windows. I am going to try Windows 10 again with this method to see if it works that way too, as I initially tried Windows 10 but had the same ACPI_BIOS_ERROR issue so I downgraded to 8.1.

 

The splitter looks like a neat idea. Do you know how much it costs?

That might be a good idea if I want to install a 1080p decoder card in my 1st generation Apple TV and keep the Wi-Fi card. The nice thing about the 1st generation Apple TV is its upgradeability: USB ports, mini PCIe slot and IDE. Admittedly, it can’t display 1080p video without a decoder card and it doesn’t have the streaming options that the newer models have. Though, it has Youtube (unlike the 2nd generation) and it can use local storage.

 

I went with an Akitio Thunder2, which I think is more size-appropriate, and a little more portable. And it’s fully enclosed.

Why did you go with the Thundertek instead of the Akitio Thunder2?

 

Thunderbolt 2 is backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1. My 13" MacBook Pro is from 2011 and it works perfectly with the Akitio Thunder2.