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Gaming Performances & Behaviours


w4vz

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Im trying to start a thread where we can organise comments specifically about gaming performances with our EGPU rather than have all that scattered around the forum

Comparing to to my desktop PC build (I5, 8go ram and gtx970) the EGPU system is definitely slower on Elite dangerous and also on other games that I can't include right now because I have not played them on this build so far. Two main comments:

- FPS is around 30-45 FPS in Elite Dangerous (almost max settings) but many times dropping around 20 so It can be a drag sometime because I had full 60 FPS on the PC build; that is quite a loss but still playable. Curiously, lowering graphic settings do not give much gain (about 10FPS more)

The MAC version of the game is still recent so I expect some software tweaks but still wondering where does the problem comes from. Maybe a TB1 bottle neck? Looking at ISTATS I can see that the GTX gets used at 70%max of its capacity; is this normal ? Could someone with OS X and GTX970 comment on that ?

- Macbook FAN Behaviour: looking at Istats, my CPU appears o be used at about 10-20% so not much but still showing above 80 degrees so the fans are kicking quite a lot (5000RPM). Any comment on that would be much appreciated too. I have ordered a laptop cooler to see I that helps.

- Another FAN issue while this one inaudible is the GTX 970 that appears to have one of its fan only running after gaming sessions. Reboot fixes the problem and the fans are off when not playing. Anyone having this issue?

I Scored 1213 on Heaven Benchmark on extreme settings, is this a normal score ?

My build is :

Thunderbolt 1

Webdrivers: 346.01.02f03

EVGA GTX 970 4go

Mid 2012 Macbook pro retina I7 2.6 Ghz

Akitio + GTX 970

OSX 10.10.3

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Comparing to to my desktop PC build (I5, 8go ram and gtx970) the EGPU system is definitely slower on Elite dangerous and also on other games that I can't include right now because I have not played them on this build so far. Two main comments:

..

The MAC version of the game is still recent so I expect some software tweaks but still wondering where does the problem comes from. Maybe a TB1 bottle neck? Looking at ISTATS I can see that the GTX gets used at 70%max of its capacity; is this normal ? Could someone with OS X and GTX970 comment on that ?

..

My build is :

Thunderbolt 1

Webdrivers: 346.01.02f03

EVGA GTX 970 4go

Mid 2012 Macbook pro retina I7 2.6 Ghz

Akitio + GTX 970

OSX 10.10.3

I would suggest when doing your desktop vs eGPU comparison you do so on the same OS platform. OSX gaming isn't as optimized as Windows gaming.

Pls install Windows 7 or 8.1 on your Macbook, load your game and then compare to your desktop system.

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I would suggest when doing your desktop vs eGPU comparison you do so on the same OS platform. OSX gaming isn't as optimized as Windows gaming.

Pls install Windows 7 or 8.1 on your Macbook, load your game and then compare to your desktop system.

Im easy on that. I can see the benefits of both in the same thread too but feel free to add it to the title if you think thats better.

On windows on my mac, sorry but that's not going to happen, I'm allergic to windows (even if I must admit win 10 is looking good) and will not install it on my macbook :61:

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Im easy on that. I can see the benefits of both in the same thread too but feel free to add it to the title if you think thats better.

On windows on my mac, sorry but that's not going to happen, I'm allergic to windows (even if I must admit win 10 is looking good) and will not install it on my macbook :61:

Fair enough. Though can you confirm you are comparing Windows gaming performance on your desktop to OSX gaming on your Macbook? Just want to make sure you haven't Hackintoshed your desktop PC or are using a MacPro or whatno.

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Fair enough. Though can you confirm you are comparing Windows gaming performance on your desktop to OSX gaming on your Macbook? Just want to make sure you haven't Hackintoshed your desktop PC or are using a MacPro or whatno.

Yes Im comparing to my desktop PC (that I want to sell so bad, Im itching every minutes). No hackintosh here.

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I made some PC vs. eGPU Benchmarks in my first guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/7879-2013-13-macbook-pro-gtx970%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-osx10-10-%5Bdschijn.html

For gaming I strongly recommend to use Windows 8.1! Gaming performance is just amazing and OSX still doesn't have well made GPU driver for high end performance.

Your problems could be a bad Mac version of the game, TB1 and not good driver.

As soon as some load is on the Mac for a continuous period of time, the temperatures will rise. The fan profile is adjusted to provide very quiet operation for a wide temperature range, but if you get above e.g. 70°C the fans will start spinning up pretty fast. For best CPU performance you can set the fans to 100% fix, because you without that the fan can't spin up and cool the CPU as fast as the CPUs temperature will rise. By that the temperature will win the race and the CPU has to clock down.

In windows you can also make adjustments to the CPUs vcore by reducing the voltage and by that increase long time performance of the CPU.

Is the GPUs temperature getting below 60°C when one fan doesn't stop? Maybe a driver is interfering the GPUs fan profile.

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I made some PC vs. eGPU Benchmarks in my first guide: http://forum.techinferno.com/implementation-guides-apple/7879-2013-13-macbook-pro-gtx970%4016gbps-tb2-akitio-thunder2-win8-1-osx10-10-%5Bdschijn.html

For gaming I strongly recommend to use Windows 8.1! Gaming performance is just amazing and OSX still doesn't have well made GPU driver for high end performance.

Your problems could be a bad Mac version of the game, TB1 and not good driver.

I would agree on that

I see on your graph that you lost about 20% performance on your windows EGPU comparatively to your desktop build. I would estimate my loss between 30% and 40% but I would need to put my card back into the desktop to benchmark first. OS X is definitely less optimised.

Would be useful to get many heaven benchmarks from different OS X configs to get a base for comparing. Comparing in one game is not very accurate too.

My biggest question right now is why I don't get a 100% load on the eGPU

As soon as some load is on the Mac for a continuous period of time, the temperatures will rise. The fan profile is adjusted to provide very quiet operation for a wide temperature range, but if you get above e.g. 70°C the fans will start spinning up pretty fast. For best CPU performance you can set the fans to 100% fix, because you without that the fan can't spin up and cool the CPU as fast as the CPUs temperature will rise. By that the temperature will win the race and the CPU has to clock down.

In windows you can also make adjustments to the CPUs vcore by reducing the voltage and by that increase long time performance of the CPU.

Setting the Fans 100% ON is counter productive for me as I am trying to get less noise.

Yes I wish I could down clock too, I7 is actually way too much for gaming lol. Istats show about 20% of use during gaming. That's also the reason why I don't get why it heats up so much with 20%..

Is the GPUs temperature getting below 60°C when one fan doesn't stop? Maybe a driver is interfering the GPUs fan profile.

Yes, internal 650 shows 43ºc, EGPU has fans off before I start the game so yes too.

CPU idle is 48ºc

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I'm running my CPU without turbo. That keeps the CPU at around 60°C at most and it keeps the fans quiet so I can't hear them. I'm using Macs Fan Control with both fans controlled by CPU temperature. They're set to start rising their rpm at 50°C and max. that shall be reached is set to 75°C. This, together with the "disabled" turbo, keeps the book more or less unhearable but I don't have any issues regarding performance for now. Once there are issues I can still enable the turbo again.

This is on Windows, though. Macs Fan Control is available on OS X, too. You may have a look if there's a way to disable the turbo on OS X as well. This should lead to the same behaviour.

Apart from this I've been playing most recent games without problems. If there's a thing that's limiting then it is my GTX 960.

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I'm running my CPU without turbo. That keeps the CPU at around 60°C at most and it keeps the fans quiet so I can't hear them. I'm using Macs Fan Control with both fans controlled by CPU temperature. They're set to start rising their rpm at 50°C and max. that shall be reached is set to 75°C. This, together with the "disabled" turbo, keeps the book more or less unhearable but I don't have any issues regarding performance for now. Once there are issues I can still enable the turbo again.

This is on Windows, though. Macs Fan Control is available on OS X, too. You may have a look if there's a way to disable the turbo on OS X as well. This should lead to the same behaviour.

Apart from this I've been playing most recent games without problems. If there's a thing that's limiting then it is my GTX 960.

Thanks a million for that ! I did not think of turbo boost :D

After putting it in google it seems that this would solve my fan issues like they say here

Disabling turbo boost tutorial HERE (Im on it :D )

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HAHA there is an APP for disabling turbo boost !!!!! SILENCE IS MINE :Banane14:

Turbo Boost Switcher for OS X | rugarciap.com

Enjoy ! Testing now

Edit: It improved greatly: 1000rpm less (around 3500rpm now) so fan noise is bearable now. CPU 81º. Now I can also adjust the fan speed manually with Istats so will continue to test this. Still 20% load on the cpu during gaming.

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I'm running my CPU without turbo. That keeps the CPU at around 60°C at most and it keeps the fans quiet so I can't hear them. I'm using Macs Fan Control with both fans controlled by CPU temperature. They're set to start rising their rpm at 50°C and max. that shall be reached is set to 75°C.

What RPM are your fans running at under full load?

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What RPM are your fans running at under full load?

They go up to 100% under full load but that's what I want them to do. Full load = 100% CPU usage. Temperature shown by Macs Fan Control is ~80°C but the Intel Power Gadget shows up to 87°C. I don't know why they differ but it's the same on OS X.

If you want to know what my RPM are under usual gaming load then I've just tested The Witcher 3 for you: ~2700 RPM @ ~55°C. It's always rougly about 60°C with this RPM or some more(3100)(GTA 5, DayZ, Arma 3, CS GO etc.). Fans can't be heard.

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I posted this elsewhere but I was rather shocked to find that the CPU in my 1.4 Ghz 2014 Mini ran at 10Watts and very cool temps whilst playing Far Cry 4 at 4K. It stayed at 2Ghz and never broke a sweat.

Meanwhile, the GTX980 or Titan-X would always be roaring like a lion, as well as fans on the PSU running it.

But then you realize, that is why eGPU is such a great thing and why it is important to get the word out. The CPU was only needed at a minimal level, the GPU is doing all of the heavy lifting.

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@MVC @Morv looks like 2014 macs run cooler than my 2012 macbook. Looks like Im running 10-15° hotter in general (turbo boost disabled).

Booked an apple store appointment to check inside (and finally take care of my dead pixel)

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@MVC: Yeah the 1.4GHz version is using very very little amount of power and by that can be cooled easily. That is the CPU originaly used in the MacBook Air and later build into the low end Mini and iMac. With a quiet GPU that setup should offer great silent gaming!

@w4vz: A 3 year old MB might have a dusty cooler and dried up thermal paste. Cleaning and applying new paste should help a lot!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi,

I built an eGPU system today with a GTX 680 initially and now a GTX 770 and I can comment that I noticed the GTX 770 handles resolutions above 1080p much better than the 680 does despite having 2gb less RAM.

Not sure why but it feels like some sort of bottleneck on the 680 causing really severe framerate drops at higher resolutions.

Starcraft II and Heroes of the Storm running very nicely in OSX with GTX 770 at 2560 x 1440. Haven't tried 4K yet.. I'm under no illusions that it will suck over thunderbolt :D

Cheers!

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not sure if correct thread but is it normal for my gaming performance to drop when not connected to charge?

Yes. In Windows you need to go into the power options and adjust the profile for battery usage.

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Yes. In Windows you need to go into the power options and adjust the profile for battery usage.

I changed the power plan to high performance but there's still a huge difference plugged and unplugged.

- - - Updated - - -

Does disabling turbo boots have any effect on gaming performance? Using an Alienware m14x r2 for casual gaming, specifically, GTA Online and looking to get the most out of my gt650m.

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Go into Power Options -> the profile you want -> change plan settings -> change advanced power settings -> processor power management -> maximu processor state

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Hi Guys,

I have problem with playing "Euro Truck Simulator 2". In this game i am getting very low performance. I tried low graphic settings and high settings but there is not any difference between these settings. This game is not playable. Also i am playing more powerfull games like "Witcher 3" and "GTA 5" but i have not any problem in these game. Do you have any idea about it?

My system is;

  • Acer v3 571G
  • i7 3630qm processor
  • 8GB 1600 mhz ram
  • Galax GTX 960 EX OC
  • EXP GDC Beast
  • Dedicated Monitor

- - - Updated - - -

Also i have same problem in "Reign of Kings".

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