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eGPU succes

Redneck1089 said:
Awesome!

Can you test to see if it works with Windows when you get a chance?
Click to expand...

So, Windows 10 is being a fickle beast, but that's not surprising since the Node doesn't have the updated firmware. Currently, bootcamped Win10 doesn't detect the Node at all and after a small, recent Win10 update was applied it BSODs 90% of the time when booting regardless of whether or not the Node is plugged in. I can run my Boot Camp Win10 in Parallels without issue, so there definitely seems to be something amiss with Thunderbolt at this point.

On the flip side, I have an ASUS G750 laptop with a TB2 port running Win10 and it was plug-and-play. Install the drivers, a couple of reboots, unplug/replug the Node in the laptop, and away it went. Steam VR test maxed out and had 0% below 90fps.

I tried running the Node firmware update on the laptop and it was able to detect the Node but said that the controller didn't support firmware updates, so I'm currently stuck trying to find someone with a Win10 TB3 laptop or shipping the controller board off to AKiTiO for their free firmware update service.
 
Also, the complaints about the 1080Ti being noisy are true. Not exactly fan noise, but like an electronic humm/whine. Loud enough that I don't plan on using the card as my primary and will keep it powered off until I'm ready to use it.
 
Yahooligan said:
Also, the complaints about the 1080Ti being noisy are true. Not exactly fan noise, but like an electronic humm/whine. Loud enough that I don't plan on using the card as my primary and will keep it powered off until I'm ready to use it.
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Which brand did you buy?
 
jclmavg said:
Hmm, so no founders edition. I bought the Asus GTX 1080ti founders edition, no hum or whine noticeable.
Click to expand...

It's been a common complaint with the 1080 cards, unrelated to the fan/cooling. I'll try and get a recording of the sound at some point.

pat500000 said:
Did u get flashed by Mvc?
Click to expand...

For what purpose? This is an eGPU connected via Thunderbolt on an nMP 6,1, not a replacement GPU installed inside of a 4,1 or 5,1. I don't need boot screen support, I will always have the internal D700 GPUs.
 
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Yahooligan said:
It's been a common complaint with the 1080 cards, unrelated to the fan/cooling. I'll try and get a recording of the sound at some point.



For what purpose? This is an eGPU connected via Thunderbolt on an nMP 6,1, not a replacement GPU installed inside of a 4,1 or 5,1. I don't need boot screen support, I will always have the internal D700 GPUs.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, huh.
 
Yahooligan said:
It's been a common complaint with the 1080 cards, unrelated to the fan/cooling. I'll try and get a recording of the sound at some point.



For what purpose? This is an eGPU connected via Thunderbolt on an nMP 6,1, not a replacement GPU installed inside of a 4,1 or 5,1. I don't need boot screen support, I will always have the internal D700 GPUs.
Click to expand...

I have EVGA founders edition 1080 ti, and I can confirm that I don't have that hum/whinnig sound in my Mac Pro 5.1. It's quiet while not on load. It may still get difference between the founder edition and others since the sound that you are describing is not fan but the power inductors on pcb. Due to super clock or over clock, the power units on the pcb are working at different numbers, or even with different devices from different makers. There are also variations between brands. Only founder's edition are originated from Nvidia.
 
Prince134 said:
I have EVGA founders edition 1080 ti, and I can confirm that I don't have that hum/whinnig sound in my Mac Pro 5.1. It's quiet while not on load. It may still get difference between the founder edition and others since the sound that you are describing is not fan but the power inductors on pcb. Due to super clock or over clock, the power units on the pcb are working at different numbers, or even with different devices from different makers. There are also variations between brands. Only founder's edition are originated from Nvidia.
Click to expand...

Lots of complaints about coil whine from the 1080Ti, including the Founders Edition.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1626108/gtx-1080-ti-coil-whine

Maybe mine is louder or I'm more sensitive to it (I've always been sensitive to those frequencies, I could hear when a tube TV was on in another room in the house).
 
Flint Ironstag said:
Done any gaming?
Click to expand...

I've spent a few minutes here and there, mainly been trying to address the Win10 problem if I can. The good news is that I'm no longer getting a BSOD. The bad news is that Win10 still doesn't see the Node or eGPU but does show the Thunderbolt controller as active when the Node is plugged in and turned on.

One of the games that I play (when I have time) is Elder Scrolls Online. My FPS with Very High/Ultra settings on the D700 at 3440x1440 was around 20.

With the eGPU...still 20! Did a search and this seems to be a known problem with ESO itself. One of the reasons I've been trying to get it working in Win10 is to see if it's a problem with the Mac client or not. If all else fails then I'll run it on the ASUS laptop and see if it's any better.

I'm also trying to get more into Elite: Dangerous, but that was never GPU-bound for me. I lost interest after watching gameplay with VR and decided I need VR to play it, so this is heading towards that goal. :) I haven't played the Horizons expansion yet since that's Windows-only so I don't know what, if anything, I'm missing.

I also started playing The Talos Principle recently, too. Haven't gone very deep yet, though.

Ultimate goal is VR, I think. Hoping I can get the Node working in Win10 boot camp, if not then I guess it may be Hackintosh time.
 
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Yahooligan said:
So, Windows 10 is being a fickle beast, but that's not surprising since the Node doesn't have the updated firmware. Currently, bootcamped Win10 doesn't detect the Node at all and after a small, recent Win10 update was applied it BSODs 90% of the time when booting regardless of whether or not the Node is plugged in. I can run my Boot Camp Win10 in Parallels without issue, so there definitely seems to be something amiss with Thunderbolt at this point.

On the flip side, I have an ASUS G750 laptop with a TB2 port running Win10 and it was plug-and-play. Install the drivers, a couple of reboots, unplug/replug the Node in the laptop, and away it went. Steam VR test maxed out and had 0% below 90fps.

I tried running the Node firmware update on the laptop and it was able to detect the Node but said that the controller didn't support firmware updates, so I'm currently stuck trying to find someone with a Win10 TB3 laptop or shipping the controller board off to AKiTiO for their free firmware update service.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the update. Please let us know of your progress. Good luck getting it sorted. I'm sure there will be a way.
 
So, here's another quirk. I have a Dell U3417W with multiple inputs and a USB switch (Ayoo, built-in KVM). Right now I have my MBP going via HDMI, nMP D700 via DP, and nMP eGPU via mDP.

The quirk is that if both the D700 and eGPU are connected to the display so that both are active then there is both UI lag on both (Especially noticeable when swiping between spaces) and even benchmarks like Valley are lagging at about 15fps.

As soon as I disconnect the internal dGPU the screen goes black temporarily and then comes back with no more lag. I did this with Valley running and it went from 15fps, black screen, 60fps. Yes, my display was active on the eGPU and this wasn't the display changing from the D700 to eGPU.

Moral of the story, don't have both GPUs connected and "active" at the same time with the mirrored display option. Thinking about it now, I bet it was the mirrored option that was causing the lag and the eGPU was forced to slow down to keep in sync. I will try again with extended desktop instead of mirrored when I get home. I'm also pretty sure I read something about not using mirrored displays with this kind of setup, but maybe I just dreamed it.

Anyway, something to keep in mind for anyone that has both GPUs connected at the same time.
 
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@Yahooligan It's the mirrored display mode that slows things down. My nMP connects the dGPU via HDMI and eGPU via DisplayPort to one display. I made the eGPU connection display primary and move the dGPU display to the bottom.
 
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theitsage said:
@Yahooligan It's the mirrored display mode that slows things down. My nMP connects the dGPU via HDMI and eGPU via DisplayPort to one display. I made the eGPU connection display primary and move the dGPU display to the bottom.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the confirmation! :)

@theitsage, have you had any luck with nMP + eGPU + bootcamped Win 10? For the life of me I cannot get Windows to detect the GPU.
 
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Wanted to follow up on the whole nMP + eGPU + Boot Camp thing, apparently MVC and netkas are still sitting on how they got this to work and refuse to share what they did. The most recent update was early this morning with the statement of "Good news is we will finally make these 6,1 nMP eGPUs available for sale...soon."

Considering how little they share other than screenshots and benchmark results, I'd spend the money building a Hackintosh (or even just a separate gaming rig) before I'd buy one of those cards.
 
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Yahooligan said:
Wanted to follow up on the whole nMP + eGPU + Boot Camp thing, apparently MVC and netkas are still sitting on how they got this to work and refuse to share what they did. The most recent update was this early this morning with the statement of "Good news is we will finally make these 6,1 nMP eGPUs available for sale...soon."

Considering how little they share other than screenshots and benchmark results, I'd spend the money building a Hackintosh (or even just a separate gaming rig) before I'd buy one of those cards.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info. Yeah, I agree. Won't be buying anything from him and Netkas.
 
@Yahooligan which Boot ROM firmware is your nMP running? I haven't tried running Windows in my nMP yet but from my research, the older firmware versions is the key to get eGPU going.
 
Yahooligan said:
And here it is! It really was very simple, the only head-scratching part was the DP port I plugged my cable into didn't become active, so I plugged the cable into a different port on the card and boom, works.

Time to run some benchmarks, methinks.
View attachment 699861
[doublepost=1494910657][/doublepost]Pretty awesome so far. :) I don't have the paid version of Geekbench so I can't test Metal with that and OpenCL chokes with the web driver (Known issue).

View attachment 699863
Click to expand...
Just wanted to do a native 1080Ti v eGPU 1080Ti comparison.
I believe I got the same settings in Valley.
Screen Shot 2017-05-19 at 11.38.30 AM.png

I'm still debating on trying out an eGPU on my nMP again.
If so it will be a 1070FE most likely.

Oh also this card is the nVidia (not 3rd party) 1080 Ti Founders Edition. All stock clocks and BIOS atm.
 
mmomega said:
Just wanted to do a native 1080Ti v eGPU 1080Ti comparison.
I believe I got the same settings in Valley.
View attachment 700309

I'm still debating on trying out an eGPU on my nMP again.
If so it will be a 1070FE most likely.

Oh also this card is the nVidia (not 3rd party) 1080 Ti Founders Edition. All stock clocks and BIOS atm.
Click to expand...

I was going to say that's a crazy difference...then I noticed that you had AA turned off whereas I ran with 8xAA. Would you mind running with the same settings only add 8xAA as well? Then the settings should be the same. :)

Thanks!
 
Yahooligan said:
I was going to say that's a crazy difference...then I noticed that you had AA turned off whereas I ran with 8xAA. Would you mind running with the same settings only add 8xAA as well? Then the settings should be the same. :)

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Ahhhh I missed a setting. Yes let me go back and redo
[doublepost=1495213552][/doublepost]Ok. This one is a bit closer.
Not sure why my minimums took such a hit. May rerun it later on a 2nd time to see if there are any changes.

Screen Shot 2017-05-19 at 12.02.57 PM.png
 
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