eGPU

davewhite04 · 5 Jun 2019 at 17:13

Hi all,

I'm trying to get my rx580 graphics card to work using a eGPU in Majave on my mac mini.

It shows I have 2 cards but it keeps using the onboard one without an option I can see to use the rx580?

I know there's an option to use it on a laptop through energy saver but I cannot find an option to use the 580 anywhere on my mini?

Any help much appreciated.

Dave

Combat squirrel · 6 Jun 2019 at 12:27

Hi Dave,

What app is it your trying to use it on - also are you defo using the EGPU directly connected to your monitor ? - it HAS to be that way to work on the mini - you can't have the monitor plugged into your Mac Mini.

Once thats checked, right click on the app you want to use in finder/applications, select from the get info menu 'prefer external gpu'

And that should work

davewhite04 · 6 Jun 2019 at 18:38

Combat squirrel said:
Hi Dave,

What app is it your trying to use it on - also are you defo using the EGPU directly connected to your monitor ? - it HAS to be that way to work on the mini - you can't have the monitor plugged into your Mac Mini.

Once thats checked, right click on the app you want to use in finder/applications, select from the get info menu 'prefer external gpu'

And that should work

Hello mate,

Aye it was not directly connected to eGPU. Yep, now know the right click to prefer external GPU.

Most of my steam games will not work, Alien Isolation, Pillars of Eternity, XCOM 2. Various errors, any idea if this is steam or the eGPU? I noticed the store has Pillars of Eternity and am half tempted to buy it(£18.99 pretty cheap for apple store) to see if it works from there, as then I'd know it was steam.

It's a Sonnet case and a RX580 Nitro.

Have you had many problems?

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated!

Combat squirrel · 6 Jun 2019 at 22:51

hmmm not sure on that one then dude, in steam, there is an option to filter games by mac only, got that enabled ? although id guess it wouldnt install non mac games via steam anyway, iv got some games running in mac os off my egpu and its worked fine, even going to the laptop screen - i did go to the games start file in the games folder and select prefer egpu on each game though - tried that? My EGPU is razer x and a vega 56

davewhite04 · 7 Jun 2019 at 10:28

Combat squirrel said:
hmmm not sure on that one then dude, in steam, there is an option to filter games by mac only, got that enabled ? although id guess it wouldnt install non mac games via steam anyway, iv got some games running in mac os off my egpu and its worked fine, even going to the laptop screen - i did go to the games start file in the games folder and select prefer egpu on each game though - tried that? My EGPU is razer x and a vega 56

It's strange mate. Pillars of Eternity should work as they are even selling it on the app store, the cynic in me says it doesn't work because Apple want you to buy it off the store. Feeling like sending the whole lot back, 80% of the games I've tried crash. I did switch my installation of games folder to my external drive, this may of messed things up so downloading some games again, will let you know how I get on.

Nice setup mate, was thinking RazorX myself as I'd have upgrade options, I went the cheapest. £280 for eGPU unit and £110 for the RX580 Nitro, pretty pleased with price but like I say it may all go back.

Combat squirrel · 7 Jun 2019 at 10:35

davewhite04 said:
It's strange mate. Pillars of Eternity should work as they are even selling it on the app store, the cynic in me says it doesn't work because Apple want you to buy it off the store. Feeling like sending the whole lot back, 80% of the games I've tried crash. I did switch my installation of games folder to my external drive, this may of messed things up so downloading some games again, will let you know how I get on.

Nice setup mate, was thinking RazorX myself as I'd have upgrade options, I went the cheapest. £280 for eGPU unit and £110 for the RX580 Nitro, pretty pleased with price but like I say it may all go back.

Somethings a miss here - I don't think apple are trying to trash it ! lol, my 15" MBP and that egpu on a vega 56 works perfectly fine on all games i have on steam both on the laptop screen and sending the games to an external monitor - maybe send the egpu case back and try the razer x which I have? thats £260 for the eGPU unit and it has a 750watt PSU - it may have a different thunderbolt chipset inside which will work better for you - id try that first - also a big one here - get a wiring diagram for the mac mini - on the macbook pro its recommended to use the 2 'rear' thunderbolt ports as those are hard wired to the CPU - i think the 2 front ones go partly to some pcie lanes to the chipset and are more prone to errors.

I suspect maybe thats an issue here - find which ports on the mac mini are hard wired direct to the CPU, if fails, exchange the egpu case for razer x

davewhite04 · 7 Jun 2019 at 14:50

Hey,

The problem was the games need to be installed in the default Steam folder on the C drive. I wanted to store them all on my external disk but only a handful of games work installing them on it. Still, how many games do you need to have installed at once? I'm cracking on with Batman Arkham City and it looks great in 1440p, the RX580 is a great card for £110

Hope this thread helps others as my mistakes are easy to do.

Thanks for all your help

EDIT: Just to confirm all games that didn't work do now, inc. Pillars of Eternity!

Combat squirrel · 7 Jun 2019 at 21:40

davewhite04 said:
Hey,

The problem was the games need to be installed in the default Steam folder on the C drive. I wanted to store them all on my external disk but only a handful of games work installing them on it. Still, how many games do you need to have installed at once? I'm cracking on with Batman Arkham City and it looks great in 1440p, the RX580 is a great card for £110

Hope this thread helps others as my mistakes are easy to do.

Thanks for all your help

EDIT: Just to confirm all games that didn't work do now, inc. Pillars of Eternity!

No probs! By C: Drive do you mean the apple internal drive? Or you running bootcamp ? - got mine on an external drive and works, how random!! But very happy its working for you !

No probs with the help, this forum doesn't have many EGPU/TB3 sorts who write much so try to help where i can ! lol

davewhite04 · 8 Jun 2019 at 03:43

Combat squirrel said:
No probs! By C: Drive do you mean the apple internal drive? Or you running bootcamp ? - got mine on an external drive and works, how random!! But very happy its working for you !

No probs with the help, this forum doesn't have many EGPU/TB3 sorts who write much so try to help where i can ! lol

Yeah the internal disk, superfast. There are a few games that worked fine on external drive. Civilisation VI for example.

Combat squirrel · 8 Jun 2019 at 18:59

davewhite04 said:
Yeah the internal disk, superfast. There are a few games that worked fine on external drive. Civilisation VI for example.

Ahhh cool, am saving up for a 2020 MBP, but want 1 or 2tb internal storage :eek:

so it's gonna cost many monies :eek:

hoping next year they bump the lowest internal hard drive to 512gb and reduce the price on the rest of the tiers a catagory but I doubt it

davewhite04 · 13 Jun 2019 at 12:57

Combat squirrel said:
Ahhh cool, am saving up for a 2020 MBP, but want 1 or 2tb internal storage so it's gonna cost many monies hoping next year they bump the lowest internal hard drive to 512gb and reduce the price on the rest of the tiers a catagory but I doubt it

To be honest external drives are the way to go, external ssd is tiny but really fast. I've just got the 4 core i3 with 8gb(which i'm upgrading myself) and it's performance is excellent. The 580 nitro, which only cost me £110 is a brilliant upgrade, batman arkham city plays on extreme 1440p smooth as butter, well impressed.