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eGPU advice

Hello fellow Runescaper! I use a 2018 Mac Mini with the i7, Sonnet 350 eGPU, and AMD RX 580 with a 34” 1440p ultrawide monitor.

With that setup I can’t get 60 FPS on ultra. I have to play with mid graphics settings to get 60 FPS and constant fluid movement.

Do you have a 1080p monitor? I feel my 1440p monitor sucks up a lot of resources.
 
With eGPU you get by default at least 10-15% less fps, than with the same GPU if it would be inside the computer.
 
@essiw Same as you, I'm in the market for an eGPU solution. Been researching this for a few days now, mainly on epu.io
You have two options: buy an "all-in-one" solution such as the Blackmagicdesign eGPU (expensive), or "build" one yourself: buy an enclosure & stick a graphics card in. Cheaper, and easy to do.

If you don't need a high-performance graphics card, but a more 'standard' card such as an AMD 580, there's no need for a Razer Core X enclosure. The Sonnet Breakaway 350 (for example) is cheaper, and they're easy to find used on eBay.

For the actual graphics card (as already mentioned by others), you'll have to stick with AMD. Apple doesn't officially support NVIDIA (though this may change again at some point, who knows...).
An AMD 580 is probably a cheap but decent all-round solution. On Jan 21st, AMD will start selling their latest AMD 5600, for about $280.

Take a look at the forums on epgu.io though... there are some things to consider when working with eGPU on a Mac. The latest thing in terms of "weird behaviour" is this, for example

Mac Mini (2018) No Display after a reboot or coming from a s...

Hi, I am hoping someone can help me. I have the latest Mac mini (2018) hooked up with an external GPU (Vega 64) running a thunderbolt 3 con...
egpu.io egpu.io

Not a big problem, but something to be aware of.
 
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We used a sonus
excellent power supply unlike some others also easy to replace etc...
felt it was the best one fo those reasons

It’s quiet has good cooling etc...

really it’s all pretty close these days so get what you like and don’t look back be happy

also check the card and size of case will work some cases use dif power supply size and can’t take certain length cards worth researching and knowing this


if you upgrade in a few years to a new GPU that might require more power will it be easy to replace with a high quality one etc...

agree with others for the mini let I do just the GPU no USB etc.... you can get a hub for that
 
The issue I'm struggling with is how to make my eGPU (Razer Core X with Sapphire Radeon 580) drive the LG Ultrafine 5K. I also have an LG 4K plugged into the displayport on the Core X. No matter how I arrange the TB3 connectors on my Mac Mini, nor how I arrange displays (e.g., designate the 4K as the primary), nor checking the "Prefer eGPU" check box in get info, for many purposes, I just cannot get the 5K to use the eGPU.

This has resulted in sluggish/choppy UI issues, where as the 4K is smooth. For instance, popping open the download dock folder is one example where the difference between the two displays is pretty clear.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or is this just a failed attempt unless I go for the Blackmagic (and do I need the Pro?) or the Akitio + a TB3 card? The latter, I understand, has it's own issues in terms of limited functionality like brightness control.

Thanks
 
gadgetfreak98 said:
The issue I'm struggling with is how to make my eGPU (Razer Core X with Sapphire Radeon 580) drive the LG Ultrafine 5K. I also have an LG 4K plugged into the displayport on the Core X. No matter how I arrange the TB3 connectors on my Mac Mini, nor how I arrange displays (e.g., designate the 4K as the primary), nor checking the "Prefer eGPU" check box in get info, for many purposes, I just cannot get the 5K to use the eGPU.

This has resulted in sluggish/choppy UI issues, where as the 4K is smooth. For instance, popping open the download dock folder is one example where the difference between the two displays is pretty clear.

Anyone have any suggestions? Or is this just a failed attempt unless I go for the Blackmagic (and do I need the Pro?) or the Akitio + a TB3 card? The latter, I understand, has it's own issues in terms of limited functionality like brightness control.

Thanks
Click to expand...

This was posted by @jayducharme in a different thread, it might be helpful in your case:

"For me, it was touch-and-go for a while. My mini is the i7 with 32 gb of RAM. I have the Razer Core X eGPU with a Radeon 5700 in it. All of my games had horrible frame rates. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and was ready to throw in the towel. The mini was connected to my LG Ultra 4k monitor with high-speed HDMI. I tried connecting just the Core X, then both ... nothing helped. My breakthrough came while chatting with an Apple tech. He recommended getting the Moshi TB3-to-Display Port cable. That solved the problem. The graphics are now running steady at 60 hz with no more hiccups."
 
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iAssimilated said:
This was posted by @jayducharme in a different thread, it might be helpful in your case:

"For me, it was touch-and-go for a while. My mini is the i7 with 32 gb of RAM. I have the Razer Core X eGPU with a Radeon 5700 in it. All of my games had horrible frame rates. I couldn't figure out what was wrong and was ready to throw in the towel. The mini was connected to my LG Ultra 4k monitor with high-speed HDMI. I tried connecting just the Core X, then both ... nothing helped. My breakthrough came while chatting with an Apple tech. He recommended getting the Moshi TB3-to-Display Port cable. That solved the problem. The graphics are now running steady at 60 hz with no more hiccups."
Click to expand...


Thank you for bringing that over to this forum. I was just reading about that at eGPU.io. There seemed to be some controversy as to its effectiveness, particularly at 60Hz. But that's some good feedback there. A relatively low-cost item to test, for sure!
 
I've also found that for some strange reason, installing Xcode also seems to help with graphics performance. I have no idea why, but just installing it has improved the responsiveness of some graphics-intensive apps.
 
I'm interested in purchasing an eGPU with the Razer Core X enclosure. My son has asked me to play a few games with him and my 2018 mini (i5 16GB RAM connected to a Dell 3415w) can't really play anything. I've narrowed it down to the Sapphire Pulse RX Vega 56 and the Sapphire Pulse RX 590 8GB. The Vega is a new, but an open box item and the 590 is brand new. The two are within $40 of one another, which would you choose?
 
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iAssimilated said:
I would get the Vega 56. The RX 590 is just a higher clocked RX 580 and I experienced graphical artifacts with the RX 580 in certain games. Since upgrading to the Vega 56 I have had zero issues with games and the performance has been wonderful.

If you want a comparison:
Click to expand...

Thanks iA. With the Vega, should I go as planned with the Razer Core X or switch and go with the Sonnet Breakaway Box 650?
 
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Any idea how exactly an Akitio Node Titan would compare to the Razer Core X?

Edit: The Node Titan uses the newer Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller. The Razer Core X and Core X Chroma (as well as the Akitio Node and Node Pro) use the older Alpine Ridge controller. Akitio told me the Node Titan should be available to order from OWC next week.

www.akitio.com

[Node Titan] What is different from the Node and Node Pro? | AKiTiO

AKiTiO specializes in external computer storage devices. Our hard drive enclosures feature Thunderbolt, USB 3.1 and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
www.akitio.com www.akitio.com
 
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I ended up buying a gently used Razer Core X with a Sapphire Nitro+ Vega 64 from the owner on eBay. It's been delivered to my office, but we're all WFH due to COVID-19.
 
I'm trying to decide on a GPU for my eGPU setup. Who can help on the best value for $ on the below ($ is AUD)

Options (all 8GB vRAM)
- RX 580 @ $339
- RX 590 @ $335
- 5500 XT @ $355
 
I've been looking into eGPU (as i have a spare card kicking around), and the thing that attracted me to the Chroma version of the Razer core was the ethernet adapter and USB ports.

The Core (non chroma) is literally just a PCIe slot for a GPU.

The Chroma has enough IO on it to act as a single plug-in docking station imho, for 90% of use cases. USB, network, charging and eGPU all in one box.

If you want USB-A and ethernet anyway, the Chroma version makes a lot of sense to get that all in the single box, instead of another dongle.
 
hagjohn said:
It's $329 at Best Buy at the moment.
www.bestbuy.com

Best Buy: MSI MECH OC AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card Black RADEON RX 5700 MECH OC BV

Shop MSI MECH OC AMD Radeon RX 5700 8GB GDDR6 PCI Express 4.0 Graphics Card Black at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Price Match Guarantee.
www.bestbuy.com www.bestbuy.com
Click to expand...
Not trying to be smart, but I clearly stated that my prices were not in USD.
joelhinch said:
Who can help on the best value for $ on the below ($ is AUD)
Click to expand...
 
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throAU said:
I've been looking into eGPU (as i have a spare card kicking around), and the thing that attracted me to the Chroma version of the Razer core was the ethernet adapter and USB ports.

The Core (non chroma) is literally just a PCIe slot for a GPU.

The Chroma has enough IO on it to act as a single plug-in docking station imho, for 90% of use cases. USB, network, charging and eGPU all in one box.

If you want USB-A and ethernet anyway, the Chroma version makes a lot of sense to get that all in the single box, instead of another dongle.
Click to expand...

The issue is that the GPU can already saturate the bandwidth of Thunderbolt. Adding in ethernet and USB can further degrade GPU performance.
 
I'm sure one of the eGPU enclosures (is it the Akitio?) that offers the ability to put two cards in one enclosure?

Azrael.
 
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