eGPU Experience with OSX 10.12 and Thunderbolt 2
Jul 10 2019 | 12:21 pm
Hey all!
I'm currently looking into eGPU's and was wondering if any of you have some (good/bad) experience using them in combination with Mac and Max8. I'm currently on OSX 10.12.6 (using Macbook 15" retina mid 2015), and I read that the eGPU's are only supported after 10.13.4+. There are some articles on how to get them going with older OSX versions (10.10-10.12), and also in combination with thunderbolt2 (instead of thunderbolt3). But does Max recognize the graphics card when doing so, or should I just upgrade to Mojave to save me a lot of headaches? Also trying to wrap my head around buying a separate enclosure + graphics card, or an all-in-one solution (like the sonnet breakaway or the blackmagic egpu). All suggestions/tips are welcome, thanks in advance!
I looked around on the forum but couldn't really find anything helpful so far.
- Jul 11 2019 | 9:20 amThere are some eGPU benchmarks here (use command/control + F inside the page to search for "eGPU", it's a long thread...): https://cycling74.com/forums/v2-benchmarking-jitters-cpugpu-performance-on-your-computer-v2
- Jul 11 2019 | 10:17 amThanks, that is a nice thread and a good benchmark test!
- Jul 11 2019 | 11:03 amThat patch was built by me just as a framework proposal for the community to build several benchmarks focusing on specific things (CPU, GPU geometry, GPU shaders, video playback, physics, render to texture, etc). It is in serious need of an overhaul... but meanwhile it's better than nothing...
- Jul 11 2019 | 11:10 amOkay, well it is indeed better then nothing and it gives me some more insights in the current performance of my macbook compared to other graphics cards and especially the tested Blackmagic eGPU (which, at the moment, does not really seem worth the money if i compare it with other cards). At least thanks for sharing.
- Jul 11 2019 | 11:57 amI been using a blackmagic egpu and thunderbolt 3 + Macos Mojave it runs very well, performance with jitter goes beyond what my mac could do before.
- Jul 15 2019 | 7:38 pmThanks, that is good to hear. Would you mind running that benchmark from the link above and share your results? It might not be the best test, but for now it is all there is.
- Oct 08 2019 | 8:47 amHi everyone, im also interested by that thread.Would anyone have good e-GPU configuration recommandation or feedback for mbp thunderbolt3 ?im looking for one that's really pushing jitter performance, with reasonable price (obviously :) ), and that will take advantage of the new openGL3 thx!
- Oct 08 2019 | 10:03 amA month ago i used the Sonnet Puck Breakaway eGPU (tb3) with Radeon RX 570 in combination with a Mac Mini. The performance was definitely an improvement compared to the integrated gpu from the mac mini. Not to expansive and very portable. But also not so sturdy, after a flight with lots of turbulence during landing the eGPU did not work anymore. So a flightcase with a shockmount or something alike is probably recommended when traveling by plane.
- Oct 11 2019 | 9:40 pmmid 2015 retina here BUT thundebolt 2 only (20Gb/s) I'm devastated
- Oct 11 2019 | 9:54 pmhttps://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/thunderbolt-2-fast-enough-to-handle-gpu/ helped to walk into a rays of sun of hope :-)
