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    27" iMac + Sonnet Echo Express SE II + Geforce 610/630 Help

    Discussion in 'e-GPU (External Graphics) Discussion' started by kashnikov, Jan 15, 2014.

  1. kashnikov

    kashnikov Newbie

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    Hello,

    New member here. Great forum you guys have going on. I bought a Sonnet Echo Express SE II and also two GPU's to test out. I have a GeForce 610 and GeForce 630. The Sonnet get's detected by OS X Mavericks on my mid 2011 27" imac. I can not get either of the cards to show up. I adjusted the Kexts (I believe properly...) and flushed the kext cache (with touch command). Nothing is in dmesg or in the System info Panel under Graphics or PCI Cards.

    Should this setup work, and what could I be overlooking?
     
    kashnikov, Jan 15, 2014
    #1
  2. EpicBlob

    EpicBlob Notebook Evangelist

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    EpicBlob, Jan 20, 2014
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  3. saturnotaku

    saturnotaku Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Is this even going to work at all since the iMac has a discreet GPU already?
     
    saturnotaku, Jan 20, 2014
    #3
  4. EpicBlob

    EpicBlob Notebook Evangelist

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    Under Mac OSX it should work even with a discrete GPU. Windows would be where you would face a problem because of the discrete GPU.
     
    EpicBlob, Jan 20, 2014
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  5. CrazyC7

    CrazyC7 Newbie

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    2 Questions.....

    1. Did you ever get this to work?
    2. Did you modify the PCI slots on the Echo Express to accept the x16 Geforce 610? I have 3 Geforce GT 610 cards and they are x16 slots. The Echo Express is only a x8 and does not have an open notch on the end of the connector to allow an x16 card.
    3. Ok, so I added a third.... If you somehow have an x8 610, did you ever get the 630 to work?


     
    CrazyC7, Apr 9, 2014
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  6. CrazyC7

    CrazyC7 Newbie

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    I guess I'll answer my own questions for anyone that is interested....

    1. I got it to work myself.
    2. I DID modify one of the slots on my Exho Express to accept an x16 Geforce 610. There are x8 versions of the 610 and 630, but the ones I have are all x16.
    3. It does indeed work per the linked instructions at: A Thunderbolt GPU on a Mac : How-to | Le journal du lapin

    Items to note.... hot plugging not supported as mentioned elsewhere and the Echo Express needs to stay powered on (powering off and on is the same as if you hot plugged).
    On my 2012 Mac Mini, I am running 1 display on the HDMI port and 2 on the GT610 in the Echo Express. Display is smooth and clean. Videos work well, have not tested games as I don't plan on doing gaming on this machine. Display and System Sleep work just fine.
     
    CrazyC7, Apr 14, 2014
    #6