Thunderbolt GPU is alive and (mostly) well
EDIT#3: OCT.1, 2013 - Ok, so yes this works with 10.8.5 following my edit#2 guide below. Here are the new performance numbers from Cuda-Z:
Sure it a bit faster running 10.8.5 and Cuda driver 5.0.45 (that’s the newest I could get to work) but barely worth mentioning. The bottom line is I don’t feel meaningful performance improvements in Premiere or Resolve but no surprise there.
So far I have not been able to get newer Quadro drivers to work with Thunderbolterizer even after force installing them using Pacifist. I’ll keep you posted if this changes.
Original post:
Thanks to a LOT of effort from the geniuses at MediaPros in the UK there is now a working thunderbolt external GPU solution for mac users. I can confirm that this really does work as advertised although I can only speak for my system which differs from their tested system.
EDIT: I’ve added updated Cuda-z scores at the bottom for my single slot Nvidia cards - Quadro 4000 2GBDDR5, GTS450 1GBDDR5, and GT240 1GBDDR5. I used the latest version of Cuda-z for these tests. The top GPU scores are from mac pro installed cards running 10.8.3 and the bottom scores are the same cards installed in a Magma Expressbox 3T connected to my Macbook Pro. After seeing these scores I’ll be using my GTS450 instead of the Quadro 4000 as there is a 1FPS difference (not kidding) between Davinci Resolve renders using the 2 cards, the Quadro being the faster card. The advantage with the GTS450 is that it runs much cooler and draws less power for next to zero performance difference when installled in a thunderbolt enclosure. I threw the GT240 in there for kicks, it was around half as fast as the other 2 cards for Resolve renders. Here’s the disappointing news, if you have a large active file transfer on the same Thunderbolt bus you will suffer a 20%ish GPU performance hit. Honestly if you have a GT650M or better in your MacBook Pro or iMac you’re not going to have any performance gains by having a thunderbolt GPU. The bus is simply too slow regardless of the card in your enclosure. Even for my 2011 Macbook Pro I only see a meaningful difference when specifically running Cuda effects in CS6. Hopefully this will all change once we start seeing Thunderbolt 2.0.
EDIT#2 - SEPT. 17, 2013 - I have had a lot of requests to update this guide for OSX 10.8.4 and now 10.8.5 but I haven’t found the time to address this properly. By that I mean test thoroughly like I did with the 10.8.3 guide below. (Working 70-80 hour weeks on "Arrow" with a Mac Pro setup…) The best I can do for now is give you this distribution file which, in theory, should let you install the 10.8.2 Nvidia drivers on 10.8.4 or 10.8.5. If you follow the rest of the guide below exactly except use this newer distribution file it may work. Please let me know how it goes, I’ve edited the file without testing this at all. I wouldn’t expect any different results on 10.8.4 or 10.8.5 than I experienced on 10.8.3 but anyway have at it!
I am running 10.8.3 on a Magma Expressbox 3T (pre-production version which I’ve been told is identical to the production version as far as the boards are concerned.) To get this to work I had to edit the recommended Quadro installer distribution file but the Cuda driver worked without edits. Please read through all the info on the Thunderbolterizer webpage and if you agree with their terms for use then download their Thunderbolterizer installer by registering with them. MediaPros recommend not having your expansion chassis connected at this time.
If you don’t have the same macbook model as I do then you may have to edit the Distribution.dist file yourself so that the installer will run on your mac. To do this, once you have the driver downloaded from Nvidia right click on the installer - 304.00.05f02 Web Release.mpkg file - and click on “show package contents” then open the contents folder and keep it handy for later.
Next download my Distribution.dist file and open it in text edit. Find the line:
var system_models = [“MacPro3,1”, “MacPro4,1”, “MacBookPro8,3”, “MacPro5,1”];
and replace the Macbook8,3 model identifier with your Mac’s model identifier. It can be found in the “About this Mac” system report under the “Hardware” page. The other edits I made will not need modifying. If you are running 10.8.3 then save the Distribution.dist file and paste it into the “Contents” folder you opened earlier, replacing the original file. Run both the Cuda installer and Quadro installer and upon successful completion restart your mac. Once rebooted now with your expansion chassis connected, install Thunderbolterizer and again reboot. (If you are running 10.8.2 or older then follow the instructions found on the Thunderbolterizer webpage.) Check your System Information page in the same places I have shown above to make sure your GPU and other peripherals are recognized properly. I don’t know why I get an error under the PCI Cards page but who cares as this works just fine. I can live with that until Thunderbolt GPUs become officially supported, like that’s going to happen…
FYI all the relevant Adobe CS6 apps as well as Davinci Resolve 9 show cuda acceleration. The performance is substantially better in CS6 than my onboard ATI graphics but oddly only slightly better in Resolve 9.1.4. This could be because I still don’t have OpenCL working yet or I’m using the slightly older Cuda driver but I’m not sure…
I won’t be installing 10.8.4 until Sonnet upgrades their Qio E3 driver for 10.8.4 as I need that to be working 100%. Once I make the switch I’ll retry the install and update this post. As well I’ll be sure to link to MediaPros 10.8.3 or newer updates for Thunderbolterizer as they are released. Just to be clear I’ve only tested this with 10.8.3, my Magma Expressbox 3T expansion chassis, Macbook Pro, and Quadro 4000 for Mac. If I get a chance in I’ll throw in my GTS450 and GT240 GPUs and see if they work as well. Enjoy!
UPDATED CUDA-Z SCORES:
Note: To get unsupported CUDA graphics cards to be recognized in Adobe CS6 apps use the excellent guide found here. Be sure to add the exact card name that shows up in terminal after running GPUSniffer, not the name listed under System Information unless they are the same name obviously.