System specs (model inc screen size, CPU, iGPU, dGPU, operating system)
- MacBook Pro 15" Mid 2012 “MacBookPro9,1”
- 2.3GHz Quad Core i7
- 10 GB DDR3 1600MHz
- Nvidia GT650M 1GB dGPU / Intel HD 4000 iGPU
- macOS Mojave 10.14.5
eGPU hardware (eGPU enclosure, video card, any third-party TB3 cable, any custom mods)
- Razer Core X
- Sapphire Radeon RX580 Nitro+ 4GB
- Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter
- Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m)
- LG IPS231P Display (connected with DVI cable)
Hardware pictures
System overview
Installation steps
- Assembling Razer Core X with RX580
- Disabling System Integrity Protection (SIP) in Recovery Mode
- Installing purge-wrangler and purge-nvda
- Connecting eGPU with Macbook Pro via Thunderbolt cable and Adapter
- Optional: disabling Nvidia dGPU via EFI boot alteration described in post by Gaerraty. It helps with overall power management and temperature of the system since after applying purge-nvda dGPU (Nvidia GT650M) continues to use power unless disabled during the boot of the system.
Benchmarks
Comments
- It is a great setup, special thanks to Mac_editor, Gaerraty and Clarketus for their guides and posts
- The purge-nvda script can be uninstalled when not used with eGPU and installed again via terminal menu
- Hot plug/unplug of the eGPU is working alright
- Sleep mode and brightness control of internal display does not work
- Internal display does not switch off in clamshell mode, but if the system is sent to the sleep from menu, then internal display switches off after a short time and it is possible to work on external display connected to eGPU
This topic was modified 3 weeks ago
MBP 15" Mid 2012 + Razer Core X + Sapphire RX580