m1sk Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Why you should use this method: Easy Bootcamp installation Normal MBP without the eGPU with a functioning dGPU It is possible to use the internal monitor What you'll need: Macbook Pro AkiTiO Thunder2 + Thunderbolt cable GPU (EVGA Superclocked models are recommended seeing as they fit the AkiTiO) PSU (I used a corsair 450W but you could probably use a less powerful one) A paper-clip Molex to Barrel converter (You can buy an easy to screw barrel plug and a cable with molex) For the internal monitor to work (doesn't work for fullscreen programs): Dummy DVI Plug, you can easily make one with: DVI to VGA adapter (One of these came with my GPU) 3x 75 ohm resistors A multiple monitor management program (I am using Actual Multiple Monitor) Preparations: Use the paper-clip trick to allow the PSU to turn on without a motherboard. Check that the Molex to Barrel converter works on the AkiTiO Disconnect it and then power the GPU and the AkiTiO from the PSU. Install Windows 8.1 using bootcamp assistant, I ran into some trouble installing using a USB drive so I recommend creating an installation CD, you can do this in MAC. Install latest drivers (AMD also has some updated drivers for the dGPU) Turn off MBP Power on the AkiTiO with the GPU inside and connect to the MBP. Turn on MBP and boot to Bootcamp. (sometimes I get a blackscreen the first time, so try again) (I did the next steps with an external monitor connected to my eGPU, but this should work without that) In Windows you should see that you now have two Display adapters (In Computer Management->Device Manager) Download NVIDIA drivers, install and reboot. And ta-da! You should now see the your GPU in the device manager. For Internal Monitor: Boot Bootcamp with eGPU connected Install Actual Multiple Monitor, and configure taskbar to be mirrored (all tasks appear on all taskbars) Connect the DVI Dummy Switch the primary display to the secondary display(to the DVI Dummy). Open a File Explorer Window to Navigate to the game/program you want to use, and run it. (This should appear in the GPU display so switch it to the next display using the hotkey: Win + /), You can find your Desktop Shortcuts in 'C:UsersPublicDesktop' and 'C:Users{Your User}Desktop' Select the program in the taskbar and switch it to the laptop monitor with hotkey: Win + /. If you want this program to take up the whole screen but can't resize it yourself, you can use program like "Gamers Window Relocator" to resize it properly. [h]Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0[FONT=Open Sans]:[/FONT][/h]These are all done on ExtremeHD or ultra settings without fullscreen, Setup Score No eGPU (Radeon 6770M) FPS: 9.0 Score: 376 EVGA GTX960 on internal monitor FPS: 19.0 Score: 797 EVGA GTX960 on an external monitor FPS: 30.8 Score: 1289 This setup allows me to run The Witcher 3 on High Settings quite smoothly on my internal monitor.Possible improvements: Create custom script to automatically setup the whole internal monitor proccess Ensure monitor manger is running Switch primary display Open desktop in Explorer and move them to the internal monitor Purchase or build a discrete cable to power the GPU while inside the Akitio. Or even better: Build an enclosure to contain the PSU, GPU, and the Akitio boards. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dschijn Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 Can you run games in fullscreen with that trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuestionGuy Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 (edited) Hi m1sk, I'm looking at building almost the exact same system using an early 2011 15" MBP and an EVGA GTX 960. You posted your Unigine valley scores which look like a great improvement. Could you give me some idea of what frame rates and quality levels you are able to play games on? Possibly data on both internal and external monitors (if different?) Thanks! Edit: I am just not sure how Unigine Valley correlates to fps in games Edited February 28, 2016 by QuestionGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1sk Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 I haven't visited this site in a while so I don't know if this is relevant anymore. On 9/3/2015 at 0:17 PM, Dschijn said: Can you run games in fullscreen with that trick? No, but the games can be run in borderless windowed mode. After some experience with this, I can set this up quite quickly. Now that I look back at the post some of the things aren't actually necessary. On 2/27/2016 at 11:49 PM, QuestionGuy said: Hi m1sk, I'm looking at building almost the exact same system using an early 2011 15" MBP and an EVGA GTX 960. You posted your Unigine valley scores which look like a great improvement. Could you give me some idea of what frame rates and quality levels you are able to play games on? Possibly data on both internal and external monitors (if different?) Thanks! Edit: I am just not sure how Unigine Valley correlates to fps in games Since I have step my eGPU I have played a bunch of games: Witcher 3, Assassin's creed Unity, Assassin's creed Syndicate, Shadow of mordor, Far cry 4, Fallout 4. I always played with an internal screen. and I could usually play with over 20fps on high settings. With an external screen this should improve. Setting up the internal monitor is actually quite easy, all you need is the DVI dummy. Then you just have to run the game in windowed borderless mode and move it to the internal monitor with the shortcut key: Win+Shift+Left-Arrow. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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