Big Sur and eGPU

[doobybiggs]

Better than ever... Big Sur has rejuvenated my eGPU! It's been so reliable I almost forgot about all the issues I was experiencing with the latter updates to Mojave (and the brief time I was on Catalina).

oooo this makes me happy ... Think I finally will upgrade then lol

 

[doobybiggs]

Better than ever... Big Sur has rejuvenated my eGPU! It's been so reliable I almost forgot about all the issues I was experiencing with the latter updates to Mojave (and the brief time I was on Catalina).

you are correct, installed it and everything is going great so far!!

 

[iAssimilated]

I was wondering if there is a new thread regarding people who have updated to Monterey and are running eGPUs?

 

[iAssimilated]

If anyone involved in this thread has upgraded to Monterey:

Monterey and eGPU

This post is to start a thread similar to the ones below but focusing on eGPU usage with Monterey: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/big-sur-and-egpu.2247755/ https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/catalina-egpu.2193797/ Full disclosure, I have not updated to Monterey because my eGPU is...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[frou]

I noticed a minor bonus from Big Sur 11.6.5 (which I think brought updated GPU drivers).

Previously, when my Vega eGPU woke my monitors from sleep, they would briefly flash with a garbled red/yellow pattern before showing the lock screen properly. Now that doesn't happen.

 

[iAssimilated]

I recently purchased a RX 6800 XT and here is my observations so far with a 2018 Mac mini and a Razor Core X (everything listed was not an issue with my RX Vega 56):

• I could not see the Apple logo when booting up.
• At first I had issues with the monitor registering the signal when I switch between computers via my KVM (it did eventually work after unplugging/plugging in HDMI).
• Mac Fan Control did not register a temperature for the card.
• Routine city battles would crash the application in Troy A Total War Saga.

I don't think the card is bad or it is a power issue since the card works and performed all the tests in GFXBench Metal successfully. It also ran two of the three benchmarks in Troy ATWS without issue (although I did not try the siege benchmark). Am I wrong is this conclusion?

Honestly, it feels like a driver issue to me, as in the capabilities for the RX 6800 XT are not fully baked in Big Sur. Big Sur's AMD driver is 4.6.21 where as Monterey's AMD driver is 4.8.15. Although, I have heard people are having issues with their 6x00 cards in eGPUs in Monterey, so I am not sure I want to upgrade. Thoughts?

 

[iAssimilated]

I posted this in the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / 6900 XT for macOS thread:

I re-installed my RX 6800 XT in my Razor Core X this weekend and tested some other games, so far it has been rock solid. I have yet to re-test the game that crashed multiple times on me, but at least I am confident my GPU is good! Also, I hope Monterey 12.4 turns out to be a good release, since I would like to take advantage of the newer drivers.

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon. My RX 6800 XT started causing kernel panics a couple days later. Also, one of the games (Divinity: Original Sin 2) I stated worked well started to crash the last time I played it (with all signs pointing to the graphics driver causing the crash).

I am definitely thinking I will upgrade to Monterey when 12.4 is released to take advantage of the newer graphic drivers due to the amount I spent for the RX 6800 XT. I need to try anything that will justify the investment I put in the GPU.

 

[frou]

I use a Vega64, but also plan to get onto Monterey once 12.4 is released. Hope your card becomes stable!

 

[iAssimilated]

Okay, the RX 6800 XT is re-installed in my eGPU, time to upgrade to Monterey.

See you on the other side:

Monterey and eGPU

This post is to start a thread similar to the ones below but focusing on eGPU usage with Monterey: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/big-sur-and-egpu.2247755/ https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/catalina-egpu.2193797/ Full disclosure, I have not updated to Monterey because my eGPU is...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[iAssimilated]

An update... after many attempts to upgrade my 2018 mini to Monterey (multiple different ways without success), my mini now sits at the local Apple store waiting to be repaired. The technician could not install Monterey either and after running diagnostics found the mini was not reading from memory correctly. They believe it is either RAM or the logic board (my money is on the logic board).

I will update the Monterey and eGPU thread whenever my mini is returned and I put it through the paces with my 6800 XT.