Using eGPU on a Macbook Pro with Internal LCD?

Hello guys,

I currently have a Macbook Pro with Retina display running Windows 7, and I've been looking into building an eGPU using a TH05. However, I've ran into one problem and that is the MBPR and newer MBPs only have the decrete GPU 650M accessible in Windows, and the Intel HD iGPU is not initialized. As a matter of fact, it's not even detected in device manager. Because of so, I believe Virtu MVP and Optimus would not work since both requires the iGPU from what I read on this forum.

Are there any solutions available for me to have the eGPU render onto the internal LCD screen?

Any helpful tips would be appreciated.

 

Same issue here, with late 2011 macbook pro 15 inch.

From what I've heard, apparently Apple locked igpu out at bios emulating stage of bootcamp windows booting.
Some say that deleating all trace of OSX and installing windows manually can solve that problem, but I don't think that's worth it...

 

You could try Windows 8 with native EFI (instead of the emulated BIOS). This will expose the integrated graphics. The problem is, I don't think anyone has got sound working with EFI on the rMBP.

 

Thanks for the info. Does it have to be Windows 8 or does Windows 7 works just as well?
What seems to be the issue with the sound? Lack of driver or simply not having enough resources assigned by the EFI?

 

If you got Optimus working, you could just have the sound play from the macbook (or is the sound completely disabled?).

 

I think either Windows 7 or 8 would work for EFI. But I believe it's a bit trickier to get the Windows 7 install to work through EFI. The sound issue is related to EFI. For some reason, when loading through EFI, it doesn't pick up the internal sound card. I believe sound through HDMI still works (which wouldn't be that useful in this case), and maybe a USB sound card would work - I haven't tried it myself. So you won't be able to get sound through the internal speakers or the headphone port.