Loading...
> >

Mac: eGPU to work with Iray render

cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
edited June 2019 in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hi guys,

After reading a fair bit into eGPU's & Daz 3d I decided to invest a bit of money into this and got the following setup to go with my MacBook Air (Early 2015):

  • Sonnet Breakaway 550W (connected through TB3 > TB2 adapter from Apple)
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING 11G

On https://egpu.io I toke all the necessary steps to make the setup work. My eGPU with NVIDIA graphic card works perfectly when I tested it. However, for some reason I do not get Daz 3d to acknowledge my NVIDIA graphics card. It's there in my hardware features but does not show in my Render panel:

image

As you can imagine this is a huge disappointment as I bought this setup to get faster Iray renders. I've been reading into it for the entire morning and the only thing I can come up with, is that the latest Daz Studio 4.11 is too new and the drivers don't match.

Does anyone here have any idea what it could be? Or how I could get Daz to acknowledge my eGPU gfx card? I went through some old topics on the forum here and it seems to work for a lot of people... 

Hope someone can help me out!

Thanks in advance!

Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
«1

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,450

    I don't have any advice, but I've edited the thread title to make it clear it's a Mac you are asking about - perhaps one of your Mac users will be able to help.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064

    Do you have CUDA installed?

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805

    Which version of Daz are you running? What Nvidia driver version do you have?

  • EsemwyEsemwy Posts: 578

    Which version of macOS are you running? Or are you running Bootcamp? Mojave is still a no-go so far as I’m aware. 

  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9

    Thanks for the replies!

     

    Totte said:

    Do you have CUDA installed?

     

    I am not sure to be honest. I installed all the drivers through a script from https://egpu.io. Yesterday, when I installed CUDA drivers for Mac, after using the script, it screwed up something very badly (I assume the Nvidia drivers that were installed through the script automatically). So I'm very cautious installing the CUDA drivers. The one I found this morning and downloaded is this latest version: https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.163-driver.html. To be clear, the CUDA driver that screwed things up yesterday was not this one but a previous version... I just found that out. Could this be the problem?

     

    kenshaw011267 said:

    Which version of Daz are you running? What Nvidia driver version do you have?

     

    I installed the latest version: 4.11 so that's why I am guessing it might have to do with that. The Nvidia drivers are installed through a script I found at https://egpu.io or else it would not be possible.

     

    Esemwy said:

    Which version of macOS are you running? Or are you running Bootcamp? Mojave is still a no-go so far as I’m aware. 

    MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G66). I'm not running on Bootcamp. Mojave is indeed a no-go.

    Below are some attachments for more info. I hope the answers lies in one of them! Thanks a lot guys!

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805

    Das 4.11 requires an Nvidia driver of at least 418.81 or newer.

    Web driver 387.10 is older than that. You need a new driver or Iray will not work.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064

    CUDA:
    https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.105-driver.html

    Download nVidia Drivers here:

    https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/147830/en-us

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,240
    edited June 2019

    I hope it all works out for you. It's probably too complex for me to follow. But here's a petition Mac users might want to sign:https://www.change.org/p/tim-cook-apple-publicly-commit-to-work-with-nvidia-on-drivers-for-mac-os-10-14

    It's asking Apple to include Nvidia drivers in the next OS, and maybe even Nvidia cards as an option in the new Macs. It doesn't cost anything to sign. They may ask for a small donation, but there's no obligation at all. They may ask you to tweet to others, but that's up to you. If they send you word about any other petitions they hope you'll sign, you can unsubscribe at any time.

    Post edited by inquire on
  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    edited July 2019
    kenshaw011267 said:

    Das 4.11 requires an Nvidia driver of at least 418.81 or newer.

    Web driver 387.10 is older than that. You need a new driver or Iray will not work.

    That really sucks... I was already afraid of this when you mentioned the drivers. Which version of Daz will still work with these drivers? Would you know? And would you know where I could find a copy of an install of that version? I can still model on my Mac Pro, using Daz Studio 4.10 Pro and just render on my laptop on an older version.

     

    Totte said:

    CUDA:
    https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.105-driver.html

    Download nVidia Drivers here:

    https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/147830/en-us

    If I follow kenshaw's advice, these drivers will not be enough to make it work sad.

    inquire said:

    I hope it all works out for you. It's probably too complex for me to follow. But here's a petition Mac users might want to sign:https://www.change.org/p/tim-cook-apple-publicly-commit-to-work-with-nvidia-on-drivers-for-mac-os-10-14

    It's asking Apple to include Nvidia drivers in the next OS, and maybe even Nvidia cards as an option in the new Macs. It doesn't cost anything to sign. They may ask for a small donation, but there's no obligation at all. They may ask you to tweet to others, but that's up to you. If they send you word about any other petitions they hope you'll sign, you can unsubscribe at any time.

    I signed the petition though I doubt whether Apple will even listen to this. For me I think it's time to seriously start considering a simple PC. I have Bootcamp running on an external drive with Windows 10. But due to the fact it's on an external drive, it does not recognize Thunderbolt 2 ports. I'm kind of sick of the endless work arounds...

     

    Nevertheless, thanks for all your support guys! Much appreciated!

    Post edited by cf_df on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    edited July 2019
    kenshaw011267 said:

    Das 4.11 requires an Nvidia driver of at least 418.81 or newer.

    Web driver 387.10 is older than that. You need a new driver or Iray will not work.

    Wrong, that is the Windows Driver Version, the Mac OS X drivers has a completely different version number set. I run on my MacPro 2012 using a 1070 perfectly using that driver and cuda versions. The issue can be that eGPU is the issue here.

    Post edited by Totte on
  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    edited July 2019
    Totte said:
    kenshaw011267 said:

    Das 4.11 requires an Nvidia driver of at least 418.81 or newer.

    Web driver 387.10 is older than that. You need a new driver or Iray will not work.

    Wrong, that is the Windows Driver Version, the Mac OS X drivers has a completely different version number set. I run on my MacPro 2012 using a 1070 perfectly using that driver and cuda versions. The issue can be that eGPU is the issue here.

    Yes, because when I installed CUDA on Saturday. It said no graphic card was detected. Exactly like in the image shown below:

    I'm wondering if I should risk it or just see if I can make the current Nvidia drivers work with an older version of Daz. I've read people here on the forum were able to make it work. But I have to admit it was 1-2 years ago. So I don't know how relevant it still is today...

    Post edited by cf_df on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    edited July 2019

    You have a CUDA Update, did you install cuda: https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.105-driver.html

     

    Post edited by Totte on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    edited July 2019

    I run latest 4.11 with these drivers and Cuda:
     

    driver.jpg
    665 x 440 - 40K
    Cuda.jpg
    666 x 299 - 44K
    ds.jpg
    465 x 142 - 12K
    Post edited by Totte on
  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    Totte said:
    kenshaw011267 said:

    Das 4.11 requires an Nvidia driver of at least 418.81 or newer.

    Web driver 387.10 is older than that. You need a new driver or Iray will not work.

    Wrong, that is the Windows Driver Version, the Mac OS X drivers has a completely different version number set. I run on my MacPro 2012 using a 1070 perfectly using that driver and cuda versions. The issue can be that eGPU is the issue here.

    418.81 is newer than web driver 387.10. I'm not sure what changed in 418.81 but something did because I had a lower driver installed when the beta that added that requirement rolled out and DS stopped working. I strongly doubt that 387.10 will work in DS 4.11

  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    edited July 2019
    Totte said:

    You have a CUDA Update, did you install cuda: https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.105-driver.html

     

    I have downloaded it but didn't install this one yet. There's a newer version available that I also downloaded, which is this one: https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.163-driver.html. From what I can see in your screenshot is that you are also using the newest version (418.163). Which one would you reckon for me to download and install first? Does the order make a difference?

    Thanks a lot for your quick replies by the way!

    Post edited by cf_df on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064

    I updated within the Cuda Control panel to the latest before the scree shot, there is a new one every week it feels like. I hadn't run DS for a few days, at the cottage, so I had to VC back to my machine to take the screen shots as I have no nVidia card in this machine, yet.

  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9

    Let me try and install the CUDA driver tonight. If this works, you will be my all time hero, haha.

  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    edited July 2019

    IT SEEMS TO WORK!!!

    THANKS SO MUCH Totte, you are my hero man!! The CUDA drivers were the last step I had to take. Although I do get an error now for the NVIDIA Web drivers panel:

    Without the CUDA drivers, Daz will not recognize it. Hopefully this topic will help anyone who's trying to attempt this in the future. Now I will go and try to run some tests to see how it performs!

    Thanks again!!

     

    Post edited by cf_df on
  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064

    Cuda is what Iray is using to render.

  • bytescapesbytescapes Posts: 1,850

    Any chance that you can post a summary of the steps you followed and/or software versions that you were finally able to get working?

    I’m about to try to get a very similar hardware setup running, so I’d be grateful for any pointers.

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,240

    @Totte: Are your Nvidia cards in an egpu or are they installed in the Macintosh?

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    inquire said:

    @Totte: Are your Nvidia cards in an egpu or are they installed in the Macintosh?

    In a MacPro 2012

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,240

    OK. I hope when the new Macs come out, you'll post a way to install nVidia cards in them and also a way to use Nvidia cards with an egpu, and the other important information such as the CUDA and nVidia drivers. If I have very clear steps, maybe I can follow this. (This is assuming Apple won't yield to consumer requests.)

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    edited July 2019
    inquire said:

    OK. I hope when the new Macs come out, you'll post a way to install nVidia cards in them and also a way to use Nvidia cards with an egpu, and the other important information such as the CUDA and nVidia drivers. If I have very clear steps, maybe I can follow this. (This is assuming Apple won't yield to consumer requests.)

    They main problem right now, nVidia have no Mac Drivers for 20xx series.

    Post edited by Totte on
  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    bytescapes said:

    Any chance that you can post a summary of the steps you followed and/or software versions that you were finally able to get working?

    I’m about to try to get a very similar hardware setup running, so I’d be grateful for any pointers.

    I documented all my steps in Textedit and I will lay them out for you tomorrow. I hope my steps will help others to understand and get eGPU's to run as well. If you want to have a sneak peak you can check out my post at eGPU.io: https://egpu.io/forums/pro-applications/egpu-to-work-with-iray-render/. This has a lot more info about my setup and the steps I toke.

    inquire said:

    OK. I hope when the new Macs come out, you'll post a way to install nVidia cards in them and also a way to use Nvidia cards with an egpu, and the other important information such as the CUDA and nVidia drivers. If I have very clear steps, maybe I can follow this. (This is assuming Apple won't yield to consumer requests.)

    Apple and NVIDIA both aren't too clear on what to install and use. But for me the blame is mainly on Apple. They simply want you to stay away from Nvidia and use AMD instead. Work arounds are the only way.

    I bought an eGPU being convinced I could make it work. But I didn't know for sure and I am not a techincal person. I toke a risk. You need to put a lot of time into reading articles and posts online to make it work (and find great people like Totte & kenshaw011267 who are willing to help you when you're stuck). Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

  • inquireinquire Posts: 2,240
    jhendriks8 said:
    bytescapes said:

    Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

    Well, if I were to do this last part, would I be able to set up the scene on my Macintosh, and then transfer the scene file to the PC, open the file with a Windows version of DAZ Studio, and render on the PC? Is there  a way to transport the file and all the components needed to the PC? Or, would I have to set up my DAZ Libraries on the PC, and do the entire scene from start through to rendering, all on the PC?

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    inquire said:
    jhendriks8 said:
    bytescapes said:

    Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

    Well, if I were to do this last part, would I be able to set up the scene on my Macintosh, and then transfer the scene file to the PC, open the file with a Windows version of DAZ Studio, and render on the PC? Is there  a way to transport the file and all the components needed to the PC? Or, would I have to set up my DAZ Libraries on the PC, and do the entire scene from start through to rendering, all on the PC?

    How technically adept are you? If both machines are on the same network it would be doable, with some caveats. You'd need every asset used in the scene installed in the render box, and IIRC in the same file path as they are on the one you use for editing. IMO this would be a monumental PITA to setup and maintain, if it would even work.

  • TotteTotte Posts: 14,064
    kenshaw011267 said:
    inquire said:
    jhendriks8 said:
    bytescapes said:

    Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

    Well, if I were to do this last part, would I be able to set up the scene on my Macintosh, and then transfer the scene file to the PC, open the file with a Windows version of DAZ Studio, and render on the PC? Is there  a way to transport the file and all the components needed to the PC? Or, would I have to set up my DAZ Libraries on the PC, and do the entire scene from start through to rendering, all on the PC?

    How technically adept are you? If both machines are on the same network it would be doable, with some caveats. You'd need every asset used in the scene installed in the render box, and IIRC in the same file path as they are on the one you use for editing. IMO this would be a monumental PITA to setup and maintain, if it would even work.

    As long as the content is of .duf, all you need it to have it installed in a mapped directory, absolute path is not an issue.
    If you use .daz-files - you need all the autoadapted stuff from the data folder moved over
    If you use Poser stuff, it often works, but sometimes loading fails, autoadapted problem her too.

    I do this all the time, set scenes up on one machine and render on another (boths are macs though). I have a disk on one of the machines where DIM stores the downloads so I download once and install twice. I then mount the machine where the scene is setup and open the scenefile there and render.

     

     

  • kenshaw011267kenshaw011267 Posts: 3,805
    Totte said:
    kenshaw011267 said:
    inquire said:
    jhendriks8 said:
    bytescapes said:

    Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

    Well, if I were to do this last part, would I be able to set up the scene on my Macintosh, and then transfer the scene file to the PC, open the file with a Windows version of DAZ Studio, and render on the PC? Is there  a way to transport the file and all the components needed to the PC? Or, would I have to set up my DAZ Libraries on the PC, and do the entire scene from start through to rendering, all on the PC?

    How technically adept are you? If both machines are on the same network it would be doable, with some caveats. You'd need every asset used in the scene installed in the render box, and IIRC in the same file path as they are on the one you use for editing. IMO this would be a monumental PITA to setup and maintain, if it would even work.

    As long as the content is of .duf, all you need it to have it installed in a mapped directory, absolute path is not an issue.
    If you use .daz-files - you need all the autoadapted stuff from the data folder moved over
    If you use Poser stuff, it often works, but sometimes loading fails, autoadapted problem her too.

    I do this all the time, set scenes up on one machine and render on another (boths are macs though). I have a disk on one of the machines where DIM stores the downloads so I download once and install twice. I then mount the machine where the scene is setup and open the scenefile there and render.

    I wasn't sure how DS finds the stuff in a scene but then you could setup a NAS or a network share for your assets.

  • cf_dfcf_df Posts: 9
    edited July 2019
    inquire said:
    jhendriks8 said:
    bytescapes said:

    Before I bought my setup, I read a guy who wrote: "Please save your money and buy a PC", which was here on the DAZ forums. And if I had to do it again, I would spend a bit more and get a second handed gaming PC with a powerful NVIDIA Graphic card. That would be my advice to anyone considering this!

    Well, if I were to do this last part, would I be able to set up the scene on my Macintosh, and then transfer the scene file to the PC, open the file with a Windows version of DAZ Studio, and render on the PC? Is there  a way to transport the file and all the components needed to the PC? Or, would I have to set up my DAZ Libraries on the PC, and do the entire scene from start through to rendering, all on the PC?

    Yes, it's possible. I simply have my DAZ directory linked to my files on an external SSD and you'll be fine. I never had problems between Mac and PC. Hence I recommend this option.

     

    If you still want to consider an eGPU, here's how I did it:

    My setup:

     

    • MacBook Air (Early 2015) with High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G66)
    • Sonnet Breakaway 550W
    • Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter (this must be from Apple because other manufactuers may not work!)
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING 11G
    • Dell Y2715H 27 inch monitor.

     

    Mac Book Air ⇄ Thunderbolt 2 to Thunder bolt 3 adapter ⇄ Sonnet Breakaway 550W (with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GAMING 11G)  ⇄ Dell Y2715H 27 inch monitor.

     

    STEPS:

     

    Before I start, I want to say YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN MAC AND YOUR OWN ACTIONS!! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE IF ANY OF THE SCRIPTS BELOW DAMAGE OR HARM YOUR SYSTEM!! Please read into the articles and links I post as a source to fully understand what you are doing!!

    I also want to state that the following installation is based on my own setup. If you use a different Mac, OS X version or eGPU, I am not sure if it will work.

     

    Step 1: Clean install of Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13.6 (17G66). Here's the tutorial I followed to do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVkMvO60SAs. Mojave is NOT supported (yet).

    Secondly, I followed the first few steps here: https://theunlockr.com/how-to-use-nvidia-cards-with-your-mac-egpu/. Read into this or watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjL_50ZNaKY because it will give you a better understanding of how it all works. But since Apple blocked some stuff in High Sierra 10.13.6 17G66, it won't work the same as in the tutorial. So after a two attempts, here's exactly what I did:

    Step 2: Once you got the clean install done reboot into Recovery mode holding command + R when you hear the Mac startup sound. Select Terminal in the menu bar and use the following code to disable SIP: csrutil disable; reboot . Press enter once typed into Terminal and the script will run and your Mac will automatically reboot. Make sure your eGPU is NOT connected to your Mac yet!

    Step 3: Log into High Sierra like you normally would and open up Terminal. Use the Purge-Wrangler script made by mac_editor from eGPU.io: https://github.com/mayankk2308/purge-wrangler. Use the follwing script to activate it in Terminal for the first time: 

    curl -q -s "https://api.github.com/repos/mayankk2308/purge-wrangler/releases/latest"; | grep '"browser_download_url":' | sed -E 's/.*"browser_download_url":[ \t]*"([^"]+)".*/\1/' | xargs curl -L -s -0 > purge-wrangler.sh && chmod +x purge-wrangler.sh && ./purge-wrangler.sh && rm purge-wrangler.sh

    If correct Terminal will now show you a menu. Here's a screenshot what it should look like:

    Type 2 and press enter on your keyboard to select Option 2 which is the support for NVIDIA eGPUs. Once the script has run, type 0 and enter to quit.

    Step 5: Reboot just to be sure everything is working fine. Once rebooted you need Terminal again to run another script. It's a script I got thanks to Robbert Skipper in fr34k's topic: https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/script-fr34ks-macos-egpu-sh-one-script-all-solutions-fully-automated/paged/19/. Copy the this script into terminal and press enter to run it: bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/learex/macOS-eGPU/master/macOS-eGPU.sh) --beta --nvidiaDriver 387.10.10.10.40.105 --iopcieTunneledPatch

    When the script runs it should show something like this in Terminal (I copied this from Robbert Skipper):

    DarkStar:~ username$ bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/learex/macOS-eGPU/master/macOS-eGPU.sh) --beta --nvidiaDriver 387.10.10.10.40.105 --iopcieTunneledPatch




╔╗ ╔═╗╔╦╗╔═╗  ╔╦╗╔═╗╔╦╗╔═╗

╠╩╗║╣  ║ ╠═╣  ║║║║ ║ ║║║╣

╚═╝╚═╝ ╩ ╩ ╩  ╩ ╩╚═╝═╩╝╚═╝                             









macOS-eGPU.sh (v1.6)


A system file (wrangler), has been replaced and does not fit to the system. You must revert those changes in order to continue. You can also upgrade to the latest supported release or reinstall macOS.

Continuation might result in failure and/or system crash. (seriously!)

continuing due to beta flag...

4..3..2..1..0

Accept license terms...                                                   [done]

Killing all other running programs...                                       [OK]

Internet connection established...                                         [YES]

Fetching system information...

   macOS info                                                             [done]

   system integrity protection                                            [done]

   thunderbolt version                                                    [done]

   GPU information                                                        [done]

   installed eGPU software                                                [done]

   installed patches                                                      [done]

   installed programs                                                     [done]

Setting internal switches...

Checking for incompatibilies and up to date software...

   NVIDIA drivers                                             [skip, up to date]

   NVIDIA eGPU enabler                                                    [skip]

   AMD legacy drivers                                                     [skip]

   T82 unblocker                                                          [skip]

   NVIDIA dGPU deactivator                                                [skip]

   macOS 10.13.4/.5 NVIDIA patch                                          [skip]

   macOS 10.13.4+ thunderbolt 1/2 unlock                                  [skip]

   CUDA software                                                          [skip]

   thunderbolt daemon                                                     [skip]

   IO PCIE Tunnelled patch                                   [install scheduled]

Checking if SIP is sufficently disabled...                                  [OK]



Download external content...



Checking for elevated privileges...

   elevating privileges

   Password:

   checking for elevated privileges                                         [OK]



Uninstalling...

Installing...

   IO PCIE Tunnelled patch                                                [done]

Patching...

deactivating auto-updates...

   NVIDIA                                                                 [done]



Finish...

   cleaning system                                                        [done]

Rebuilding caches

   kext cache

    Step 6: Once the script is done, reboot your Mac. Once your back on the desktop, on the top right corner you will now see the NVIDIA icon. Like this:

    When you click it, it should show the following: 

    Step 7: Next up we need to make sure the eGPU gets connected. I have a 27 inch Dell screen connected to my eGPU. A second monitor is highly recommended online. There is a script that will make your eGPU run only on your internal Mac screen but I didn't touch that. In order for me to activate my eGPU I need to do hot plugging (which basically means connecting your eGPU when your Mac is running). So I connect my eGPU (through the Thunderbolt adapter) to my Mac while logged into High Sierra. When I do this, my 27 inch Dell screen will flicker and stay black. In order to fix the black screen problem I have to log out of High Sierra. Once I log out and get to the log in screen, the second monitor will switch on et voilá, the eGPU is now running!

    Step 8: Log back into High Sierra with your eGPU connected and running. Now double check with your Mac whether the eGPU is really connected by clicking the Apple icon on the left top and select "About this Mac" and then "System Report...". Scroll down to Graphics/Display under Hardware. If correct you should see your eGPU there:

     

    Step 9: In order to confirm it works, I ran a test. I used the Unigine Heaven app to check if it really was working. You can download it here: https://benchmark.unigine.com/heaven. It's pretty straight forward. You can try different settings and do a benchmark. If you do not want to do this test, you can simply use Activity Monitor app > Window > GPU History. If your eGPU is running you will not only see your Mac's Graphic Card but als your eGPU:

    Step 10: This is where I got stuck and this is where Totte helped me out with the last part. I had everything working but DAZ 3D did not recoginze my NVIDIA card! In order to fix the last step, you need to install the CUDA drivers, as Totte said here: 

    Totte said:

    You have a CUDA Update, did you install cuda: https://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-cuda-418.105-driver.html

     

    Download the CUDA drivers and run the install. When the CUDA installation is done, reboot your Mac (if your Mac does not support a cold plug make sure to unplug your eGPU before booting up!). Once you rebooted, the following screen will pop-up:

    Also, on the top right corner the NVIDIA drivers panel will pop up and say the following:

    For me this does not make a difference. I start DAZ 3D and BOOM my Nvidia card is there:

    Tip: If you want your Mac to use the eGPU as the primary card go into System Prefences > Display > Arrangement and simply click and drag the white bar from your internal screen to your external screen, like I did:

    Hope this helps to anyone who's reading this out there! If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help!

     

    Post edited by cf_df on
Sign In or Register to comment.