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OS X External GPU works!!!

EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578
edited July 2016 in The Commons

Mac users, rejoice! laughThere is a way forward. For about $300 + the price of a NVIDIA video card, it's possible to implement an external GPU over Thunderbolt. Stories of these things have been going around in the gaming community for a while, but always for Windows, and always for driving video. I recently found the remaining pieces of the puzzle, so I decided to take a chance. I just finished my first test render!

The render below took 10 minutes 38 seconds on a GTX 980 Ti using an old 17" MacBook Pro. Rendered at 2049x2732 (iPad Pro resolution). CPU was disabled for the test render. Optix Prime Acceleration is turned off since it seems to cause errors.

I basically followed this guide, but I'm not using the PCI Express riser. I'm building an open frame case, like the author mentions here, but without all the extra hardware. To get it to work under OS X 10.11.5, all I had to do is run this script and follow the instructions. When you're done rebooting, install CUDA, launch DAZ Studio, et voilà. It's not an ideal solution, but it's a lot less expensive than a commercial eGPU solutions, I don't have to transition to Windows (shudder), and it works.

I know it seems complicated at first, but the only tool required is a screwdriver. If you've got money to throw at the problem, this is the cheapest prebuilt alternative that I've found, but it's more than twice as much, and you'll still have to go through the software gymnastics mentioned above.

If anyone has questions about this configuration, I'll be following the thread and do my best to answer.

Edit: Forgot to mention, this is not hot-pluggable. Unplugging your GPU during operation will crash your Mac!sad

Post edited by Esemwy on

Comments

  • kyoto kidkyoto kid Posts: 41,854

    ...nice work.

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578
    kyoto kid said:

    ...nice work.

    Thanks! I'm very pleased (and will be even moreso when it's not a mass of wires on my floor). 

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 7,133

    Wow, I'm on an iMac and that would be an overnight render for me... But when I hear a screwdriver is required, that scares me... Also, an Apple tech person told me that DSON doesn't work on El Capitan so I never upgraded. 

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578
    Wonderland said:

    Wow, I'm on an iMac and that would be an overnight render for me... But when I hear a screwdriver is required, that scares me... Also, an Apple tech person told me that DSON doesn't work on El Capitan so I never upgraded. 

    I can't speak for the DSON importer for Poser, if that's what you're referring to, but I've had no problems with DAZ Studio on El Capitan. As to the screwdriver part, I think at the very least, everybody knows somebody that can do the job. 

  • WonderlandWonderland Posts: 7,133

    Yes, DSON for Poser. That breaks with El Capitan... Between no update for Bryce and this, I think Daz is discriminating against Mac users....

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