External GPU (eGPU) Resources

[vagos1103gr]

So today I installed the Radeon VII on Mac mini 2018 i5 and razor x and lg 27ul650 in display 1.4 port. Pretty disappointed. this is the valley score under osx.

Under windows 10 and with the official and drivers in auto overclock I got 7032 on time spy default dx12 settings. With the nitro Vega 64 overclocked I got 6500. Probably I am gonna keep the Vega 64 and I am gonna return the Radeon VII. I don't know if is the driver issue but doesn't worth the 300 up of the Vega 64. Noise level is the same.

 

[gusping]

So today I installed the Radeon VII on Mac mini 2018 i5 and razor x and lg 27ul650 in display 1.4 port. Pretty disappointed. this is the valley score under osx. View attachment 831988


Under windows 10 and with the official and drivers in auto overclock I got 7032 on time spy default dx12 settings. With the nitro Vega 64 overclocked I got 6500. Probably I am gonna keep the Vega 64 and I am gonna return the Radeon VII. I don't know if is the driver issue but doesn't worth the 300 up of the Vega 64. Noise level is the same.

Is it not due to it not being officially supported in Mac OS? There is no way it should be slower than a Vega 64.

 

[vagos1103gr]

I tried on windows boot amp, pretty disappointed, everybody with other systems and oc they report 9000 and up on time spy. To my system i5 mini razor x and Radeon VII 7230 after many oc experiments and not stable. With stock I get 6700 when with nitro plus Vega 64 oc I get 6500. Tomorrow Radeon VII going back and I keep Vega 64 until Navi will come. Is not worth the 300 difference.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Trying to stay on topic, so I hope this is helpful...another rumored AMD Navi GPU introduction date -

Source: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/65560/amd-launch-next-gen-navi-graphics-cards-e3-2019/index.html

Where I read about it: https://wccftech.com/rumor-amd-navi-debuting-at-e3-launching-july-7-with-rtx-2080-class-performance/

We know the introduction is inevitable, hopefully, it will be worth the wait. I would love for AMD to be competitive with NVIDIA.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I tried on windows boot amp, pretty disappointed, everybody with other systems and oc they report 9000 and up on time spy. To my system i5 mini razor x and Radeon VII 7230 after many oc experiments and not stable. With stock I get 6700 when with nitro plus Vega 64 oc I get 6500. Tomorrow Radeon VII going back and I keep Vega 64 until Navi will come. Is not worth the 300 difference.

Timespy and Unigene benchmarks are very CPU dependent. If you are after top benchmarks an i5 won’t cut it no matter what.

 

[vagos1103gr]

i dont think so, somebody from another thread post with i7 mac mini and vega 64 time spy without oc 6250 when me with i5 and the same card i have the same 6250. The radeon vii without oc 6700. I was expected more for a 700 usd card. Also in the games in shadow of tomp raider radeon gave me 5 fps more than the vega 64.

 

[iAssimilated]

Correct me if I am wrong, but true Radeon VII support is only starting to appear in 10.14.5 beta2. I do not think it is fair to claim a card is a bust when the OS doesn't even fully support it.

 

[vagos1103gr]

Correct me if I am wrong, but true Radeon VII support is only starting to appear in 10.14.5 beta2. I do not think it is fair to claim a card is a bust when the OS doesn't even fully support it.

Yes but i am talking about results on bootcamp windows with official amd latest drivers, except if the card behave different in regular windows and not boot camp environment.

 

[jinnyman]

Today my Razer Core X arrived, and just set it up with my Mini with RX560 card. The graphic card is nothing special and I bought for video playback for my custom pc, but boy I'm amazed at what a dedicated graphic card can do to the mini!

This is pretty amazing, and everything now is smooth. Only problem is 4k video playback. The playback nonetheless has been improved by alot, but I still see occasional stuttering. I plan to swap the graphic to Radeon VII when macOS is updated with the driver so hopefully it will fix 4k playback issue as well.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[smetvid]

Just setup the Vega 56 in a sonnet 550 case last night with my new 2018 Mac Mini i7. Still waiting for the tools to upgrade the ram to 32GB but holy cow am I impressed.

I'm not talking just performance but how insanely easy it was to setup and how natural it feels in Mojave. eGPU is detected within a few seconds of turning on the Sonnet 550. Mini wakes up from sleep and just works with no issues at all. If a massive case wasn't sitting right next to my head I wouldn't even know I was using a eGPU. Swapping HDMI cable from Mini port to a port on the Vega 56 was flawless as well and worked as naturally as one would expect swapping cables to act.

Consider me impressed.

Have not had a chance to run the system through some tests but the Radeon ProRender works exceptionally well in Blender under MacOS. So nice to have a GPU accelerated solution to Blender under MacOS again. Apple Motion seems to work very well for playback.

As for noise I hardly hear the Mini or the Sonnet550/Vega56 under normal tasks. They are right next to my head and only when the Vega 56 is running at full blast in Blender does it make sound.

One thing I love about the Mini is it and the eGPU are going under my desk to help block out any potential noise under full load. I love this little machine.

I did run Cinebench 20 on the Mini and my 2011 17" MBP for a CPU only quick test. Mac Mini is 3.2x faster which is awesome.

Very happy with my $1,860 new Mac.

As far as I'm concerned this is the new Mac Pro.

 

[Honumaui]

Just setup the Vega 56 in a sonnet 550 case last night with my new 2018 Mac Mini i7. Still waiting for the tools to upgrade the ram to 32GB but holy cow am I impressed.

I'm not talking just performance but how insanely easy it was to setup and how natural it feels in Mojave. eGPU is detected within a few seconds of turning on the Sonnet 550. Mini wakes up from sleep and just works with no issues at all. If a massive case wasn't sitting right next to my head I wouldn't even know I was using a eGPU. Swapping HDMI cable from Mini port to a port on the Vega 56 was flawless as well and worked as naturally as one would expect swapping cables to act.

Consider me impressed.


Very happy with my $1,860 new Mac.

As far as I'm concerned this is the new Mac Pro.

cool to hear
I ordered one for my wife
getting here Fri and ordering the GPU this weekend going with the 550 case and Saphire 56 gpu also 32GB mem did the 256 for boot and ordered a 2TB samsung T5 for working files then will network the rest of the storage and have one usb spinning drive for backup/time machine
so glad to hear about the noise being low that was a HUGE thing for me was down to this and the razer ? the other dude who changed out his power supply in the egpu thread also sounds like if I want to go that route IF it goes down won't be a issue

 

[jinnyman]

I'm surprised that 4K video playback is stuttering with the RX560. Do you have the 2018 Mac Mini? My 2018 Mac Mini is able to play 4K video fine even with the integrated GPU.

My mini is i5 with 8gig of ram. Perhaps ram is something to do with stuttering.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[Honumaui]

I'm not sure if you're talking about me, but I just did this with the Sonnet.

You won't need to upgrade the PSU if you're getting the 550W version (unless you're planning on upgrading to the Vega 64 or the VII). I upgraded mine because I purchased the 350W version. It's cheaper to buy the 350W version and then self-upgrade than to purchase the Sonnet 650W version.

yeah you were the other guy in that post
was aware why you did from that post again great job detailing

was more a nice to know IF the thing did crap out OR I wanted to get a more power GPU it would be easy from someone that did it
i hate buying external boxes that have crap PSU units etc.. sonnet seems to be doing a good job with these !

plan on get the 550 from the get go since I will be starting with a 56

but did want to be able to say in 2,3,4, years update to maybe something more powerful if/when we need to

found this which was good info to know the kinda PSU and info

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=524&expand=_a2_b930&action=b907
from that page
Sonnet uses the SilverStone SST-SSX550 SFX 80 Plus Gold in the Breakaway Box 550.

Sonnet uses the Enermax ERV650SWT SFX 80 Plus Gold in the Breakaway Box 650. Sonnet uses the higher-performance Akasa AK-FN059 fan in Breakaway Box 650.

If you upgrade the power supply and fan, you will have more power available to a graphics card, but you will not alter the upstream power delivery, which is programmed into the unit. Note that upstream power continues to be provided even when the computer is sleeping.

 

[adamk77]

 

 

[Honumaui]

In addition to the more affordable price, this is the other reason I got the 350W. The 550W reserves 85W to the upstream power delivery, whereas the 350W reserves only 15W. I'd rather have more power for the GPU and not for the upstream power delivery which I will never use.

hahahahaha I laugh cause that exact thought was in my head as most external boxes do have garbage PSU
when I found out they have decent power supplies I felt some relief
though the 350 PSU I think is a step down over the 550 and 650 which are top notch

but solid reasons and good info all around ! also the exact reason I have not ordered them I really need to think this through another couple days so thanks my brain works on back and forth like this

 

[smetvid]

cool to hear
I ordered one for my wife
getting here Fri and ordering the GPU this weekend going with the 550 case and Saphire 56 gpu also 32GB mem did the 256 for boot and ordered a 2TB samsung T5 for working files then will network the rest of the storage and have one usb spinning drive for backup/time machine
so glad to hear about the noise being low that was a HUGE thing for me was down to this and the razer ? the other dude who changed out his power supply in the egpu thread also sounds like if I want to go that route IF it goes down won't be a issue

The Sapphire Pulse is the Vega 56 I bought and so far its working great. Gets loud and hot when at full load but that is to be expected. We buy these graphics cards to actually do work and that's what they are doing. You really need to be playing a game at max settings or doing some 3D GPU rendering to make it kick in that high however. Most of the other stuff I'm doing barely touches the thing.

 

[IngerMan]

I got an email yesterday from AMD about Software update Radeon Adrenalin Edition 19.4.3

I took my chances in Bootcamp today and updated it from the Auto Detect and install. After a few minutes of install and then 5 minutes of Blank screen, I forced power off then did the SMC reset and powered back up. It's working fine now with the updated software. I noticed my game I was playing had different resolution settings and I had to correct them. It showed more features available for gaming that I did not have before on Adrenalin prior.

Just an FYI....

 

[F-Train]

It showed more features available for gaming that I did not have before on Adrenalin prior..

Did you have access to ReLive before? If not, do you now?

 

[IngerMan]

Did you have access to ReLive before? If not, do you now?

I don’t know, I will have to search that. Obviously I can’t answer the before and now question.

I was talking game play, vsync, free sync. It shows my actual game I’m playing with video options. None of that was available prior to the update.

 

[F-Train]

I don’t know, I will have to search that.

If you have it, there is a tab in the settings window called ReLive.

 

[vagos1103gr]

today i get the Samsung odyssey + hmd with my mmini 2018 and core x vega 64. i connected the hdmi to razor and the usb to mac mini but the mixed reality software recognize the Microsoft display diver and doesnt let to run it. Anybody make it work the hmd with the mac mini and egpu?

 

[Diamond Dog]

Trying to decide if I should pick up a "cheaper" 580 or 560 for the time being while I wait for Navi, or just get a 64 and be happy with it!

 

[jinnyman]

I eventually went with Radeon VII for my setup.
I don’t play any serious game with this setup, but for better ui experience and occasional Civ6 playback, Radeon VII rocks.

I went with eGPU mostly because I run 2 4k monitor. LG 27ud88 & 27uk850