eGPU Box - Thunderbolt

[zach 234]

Anyone use/used one?

 

I was thinking of getting one for my daughter. She has a 2015 Mac book pro and looking at the requirements, it should work. I don't think she's on Mojave yet but I would imagine that an AMD card would be the way to go due to the little tiff between Apple and Nvidia.

 

I was just wondering if they do the job and do it well?

 

Thanks

[Ghozer 112]

From what I know, they do the job - but you won't get full performance from the card, as thunderbolt cannot provide enough bandwidth for full PCIe 3.0 x16 so it will not give the same performance as a PC from the same GPU...

however, it should be more than enough for pretty much any game atm, there is info on the apple website about which boxes / cards are recommended etc.

 

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208544

I'd be interested to know how well this works in practice, in the real world , as i'm only going from my own previous research and things I have seen/read/watched about eGPU enclosures online etc...

for a 2015 Macbook pro, i'd target around an RX570  (depending on which configuration she has obviously )

[zach 234]

That may be a problem.

 

She mainly uses Final Cut Pro. I was thinking of pairing it up with at least an RX580. Not the best solution but I might have to build her a Hack until funds allow buying a new Mac.

[Ghozer 112]

Why does she need an external for FC Pro? it should work fine on integrated.....

and RX580 will work, I just wouldn't (personally) expect full performance from it...

--

Hackintosh's - have done that, last time I successfully tried and got it working was back on 10.4 or something, - I'm currently working on collecting the kexts I need to hackintosh my laptop - currently using a slow VM with HighSierra to setup the USB with chameleon and create the plist etc, but it's a lot of trial and error, and taking a long time with this VM image! haha!

(Surprised I even got it working on VM tbh)

[zach 234]

FCP is getting very slow as she's moving over to 4k and x265. She's been more than happy with the mac, I think it's just showing it's age now.

 

My latest Hack is a 9th Gen i5/Z390/RX580, it runs VERY good! I have a  load of files/kext I used. If you need a copy, nip over with a pen drive or I can put them on the cloud.

[Ghozer 112]

Ah, makes sense with FC Pro, surprised the onboard struggles tho, as FC pro doesn't really require 3D acceleration (maybe a little for UI elements) - surprised me

And a small kext collection may be good  - will bring a USB stick 

I needed to use a VM as I don't have a mac to create / set up the bootable USB - I  have that working now, but it freezes at boot...

using verbose  startup ( -v ) gives " end randomseed" as the last message, and it just sits there.....

Edited April 29, 2019 by Ghozer

[zach 234]

I have a High Sierra and Mojave USB built up with Unibeast and both working. If you want to build a new one, bring a USB as I have both OS running on the Hack. I think Unibeast and Multibeast have been updated since I made them.

[Ghozer 112]

i'll bring one, but I thought it needed to set it up specifically for my laptops hardware tho, with the correct kext and flags etc, otherwise it wont boot?

6th Gen i5 - Intel 520 integrated gpu
DDR3-1600
nVidia 940MX 2GB
Realtek ALC269 Audio
Realtek GBit Ethernet
Intel AC-7265 Dual Band WiFi
Intel Skylake-U chipset / - Y PCH

[zach 234]

Not sure mate, not done a laptop... yet.

 

Doubtful you'll get the wifi working, as far as I'm aware there's no Intel wifi. All the ones I've done, the kext etc come after the base install. Tweaks in clover might be needed before it will boot sometimes. But as I said, not done a laptop so you will have a much better idea than me on that one.

[Ghozer 112]

Yeah I did wonder about the Intel WiFi, I do have others I can rip out of other laptops if needed... (RealTek, atheros etc)

[zach 234]

Maybe Atheros or any Broadcom based would be your best bet from what I've read. I've just ordered one, ordered a mac wifi/bluetooth PCI-E . It wasn't a lot of money so it could be a load of rubbish. That is meant to be Broadcom but we will see.

Edited April 29, 2019 by zach

[swarfendor437 14]

Zorin 15 supports Thunderbolt devices.