Hi,
Writing to confirm a working setup:
– MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2015, 15″, 2.5Ghz Intel Core i7, M370X
– macOS High Sierra 10.13.1
– Sonnet Breakaway Box 550
– Sapphire Nitro+ RX580
– Apple Thunderbolt TB3 -> TB2 adapter
– Apple Thunderbolt 2 cable (0.5m)
– External monitor connected via HDMI
The setup works with some flaws. After connecting the egpu High Sierra asks to log out and log back in. The card is recognised as AMD R9 xxx 8 GB which is normal and PCIe Lane Width is x4 (I don’t know if that’s normal).
The PROS:
– the card properly works on one external display – after changing it to the primary display in System Preferences it properly uses GPU acceleration. Geek Bench 4 OpenCL score is 128682, Unigine Heaven 1920 x 1080 Ultra Settings Score is 671 (26.6 fps). This is not bad considering that the card runs through TB2 connection.
THE CONS:
– The DVI out on the card is not working – no signal on the monitor it does not even detect any signal.
– If I connect more that one output on the GPU the MacBook shows black screen on all 3 screens (2 external on GPU and internal display). The only thing I can do then is to restart the laptop. It makes no difference if I first connect the egpu with or without external displays attached. Naturally I hutplug it during normal work and then log out for the egpu to be discovered. However – with more than 1 external display connected – if I try to log back in I get black screens on all monitor and need to restart.
I also tested the setup with a different GPU - ASUS ROG Strix RX580 OC 8GB - exactly same problems except for the fact that after connecting a second display mac does not crash but simply disconnects the other monitor.
Anyone experienced something similar or has an idea about the reason for it?
What could be the reason? The TB2 connection? The High Sierra itself? Or simply active/passive dongles on the output? Should be required if more than 2 monitors are connected but maybe it's different with egpu...
Writing to confirm a working setup:
– MacBook Pro Retina Mid 2015, 15″, 2.5Ghz Intel Core i7, M370X
– macOS High Sierra 10.13.1
– Sonnet Breakaway Box 550
– Sapphire Nitro+ RX580
– Apple Thunderbolt TB3 -> TB2 adapter
– Apple Thunderbolt 2 cable (0.5m)
– External monitor connected via HDMI
The setup works with some flaws. After connecting the egpu High Sierra asks to log out and log back in. The card is recognised as AMD R9 xxx 8 GB which is normal and PCIe Lane Width is x4 (I don’t know if that’s normal).
The PROS:
– the card properly works on one external display – after changing it to the primary display in System Preferences it properly uses GPU acceleration. Geek Bench 4 OpenCL score is 128682, Unigine Heaven 1920 x 1080 Ultra Settings Score is 671 (26.6 fps). This is not bad considering that the card runs through TB2 connection.
THE CONS:
– The DVI out on the card is not working – no signal on the monitor it does not even detect any signal.
– If I connect more that one output on the GPU the MacBook shows black screen on all 3 screens (2 external on GPU and internal display). The only thing I can do then is to restart the laptop. It makes no difference if I first connect the egpu with or without external displays attached. Naturally I hutplug it during normal work and then log out for the egpu to be discovered. However – with more than 1 external display connected – if I try to log back in I get black screens on all monitor and need to restart.
I also tested the setup with a different GPU - ASUS ROG Strix RX580 OC 8GB - exactly same problems except for the fact that after connecting a second display mac does not crash but simply disconnects the other monitor.
Anyone experienced something similar or has an idea about the reason for it?
What could be the reason? The TB2 connection? The High Sierra itself? Or simply active/passive dongles on the output? Should be required if more than 2 monitors are connected but maybe it's different with egpu...