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I am trying to use my GTX 1080 on my MacBook with Bootcamp (Windows 10) with a Razer Core X Chroma external GPU extender, but about 3 quarters of the time when I launch Windows, I get the Code 43 error and it has trouble detecting my GPU.

I know the GPU and the enclosure work perfectly fine, as the GPU was used in another PC where it worked flawlessly and the enclosure and its ports work great in both macOS and in Windows. The Razer software also picks up on the fact that it is connected, and it loads its RGB settings, just not the GPU.

The other quarter of the time the GPU works great in Bootcamp and it doesn't throw any other errors or issues.

I tried the solution in the other Code 43 post where you disable and reenable the GPU in Device Manager, but that didn't work for me and it still had the Code 43 Error.

What should I do?

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  • 1) Are you able to boot into Windows in Safe Mode following these steps? support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12376/… 2) Please roll back the video card device driver. A. Tap and hold or right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. B. On the list of devices, find the device that’s having driver problems (it will often have a yellow exclamation point next to it). Then tap and hold or right-click the device and select Properties. C. Select Driver, and then select Roll Back Driver.
    – K7AAY
    Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 22:38
  • @K7AAY I booted into Safe Mode and it didn't load anything like expected. I then logged back into Windows to rollback the driver but the option wasn't available for me. I then used DDU to wipe the NVIDIA drivers and let Windows install the drivers, but I still get Code 43.
    – CamouflagedCow
    Commented Feb 20, 2020 at 23:10
  • @K7AAY I was using the lastest 442.19, which I heard has issues. I am using the one Windows installed and it seems to do a lot better.
    – CamouflagedCow
    Commented Feb 21, 2020 at 6:39
  • @K7AAY I am using Windows 10 Build 1909 with an EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW ACX 3.0.
    – CamouflagedCow
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 20:07
  • Which driver version did Windows select?
    – K7AAY
    Commented Feb 22, 2020 at 21:47

1 Answer 1

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The problem lies in the available bandwidth and PCIe lanes that your laptop can give to its ports.

When you plug in an eGPU enclosure like the Razer Core X Chroma with its ethernet and USB ports, that takes a chunk out of the bandwidth given to the GPU and how much the TB3 cable can transfer. Each laptop has a different amount of lanes that it can give out to each of its ports.

The reason Windows is throwing an Error 43 is that there isn't enough bandwidth for everything going through the cable. That's why there is a chance it may work when it boots because some of the peripherals aren't being used and it gives enough bandwidth to be detected and used by Windows. When it isn't detected, it is because the peripherals took up the bandwidth your GPU needed.

I found that if I use as many of my MacBook's other ports as much as possible, it solves this issue (for me). I moved my keyboard and mouse, along with an ethernet adapter, over from my Razer Core to my MacBook, and I haven't had a problem with it since. This will also help your GPU perform better by allowing it to maximize the available bandwidth being transferred over TB3.

If you want to monitor the available bandwidth given to your eGPU, download a program like CUDA-Z for NVIDIA GPUs and it will tell you in the application. In CUDA-Z, if you go over to the Performance tab, you want to look at Host to Device and Device to Host at the top. The Host to Device MiB/s should over around 2100-2250 MiB/s on TB3 if you want the best performance.

This helped me fix my issue with my eGPU enclosure and now I can consistently boot into Windows and have it working with little to no problems. I hope this helps!

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