Thank you all for the great help!
System specs
- MacBook Pro Retina 15" Mid 2012 “MacBookPro10,1”
- 2.3GHz Quad Core i7
- 16 GB DDR3 1600MHz
- Nvidia GT650M 1GB dGPU / Intel HD 4000 iGPU
- macOS Catalina 10.15.5
eGPU hardware
- Razer Core X Chroma
- Sapphire Radeon RX5700 XT Pulse 8GB
- Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter
- Apple Thunderbolt Cable (2.0 m)
- Samsung S27C750 27" Display (connected with HDMI cable)
Installation steps
- Assemble Razer Core X Chroma with the RX5700
- Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) in Recovery Mode (hold cmd-R while booting)
- Install and run purge-wrangler and setup the eGPU (don't connect the eGPU yet! See note below)
settings: AMD, no legacy, no ti
reboot - Install and run purge-nvda and run eGPU Optimizations for AMD eGPUs
reboot - Connect eGPU with Macbook Pro via Thunderbolt cable and Adapter
eGPU is recognised but the external screen may stay black - If the external display stays black disconnect and reconnect the HDMI cable
voilà! - NOTE:
The system halts almost immediately when connecting the eGPU before running purge-wrangler!
See also this purge-wrangler issue on GitHub.
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 5.2.0 Tryout for macOS x86 (64-bit)
OpenCL Score: 35550
Metal Score: 36870 - Cinebench R20
OpenGL Score: 1008
This seems too low (even with the "prefer ecternal GPU" option was checked before launch) - Unigine Valley 1.0
Score: 1927 - Basemark GPU 1.2 High settings
Metal Score: 5475
I couldn't run it on the external display so it ran at 3840x2160 on the Retina screen…
Out of curiosity I downloaded and played Alien Isolation and Mad Max from Steam:
with the graphics settings maxed out in both games (except anti aliasign in Mad Max) they run smooth like butter!
It’s incredible to play games like these on a 2012 Mac!
Comments
- Works surprisingly well for gaming (see comment above)
- I still have to get behind the low scores in the benchmarks
- Hot plug and unplug works
- purge-nvda quirks:
Sleep mode and brightness control of internal display don't work (uninstall purge-nvda to bring them back)
Internal display does not switch off in clamshell mode
Regarding the additional connections of the Razer Core, haven't you had any problems with the USBs or the additional Ethernet?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.@torete, I didn't try the ethernet port but I hooked up a keyboard a mouse and a DualShock 4 (via USB) and they work flawlessly… It's like having a docking station (macOS Catalina) with just one cable.
@gonzini, Do this make gaming slower? If use a Free Sync monitor would it make FPS higher?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.
Any chance you have used this to run FCPX or any video editing software? Are you able to use both screens at once, or do you just use external?
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.@xloosidx, This makes gaming very fast…! (I don't understand your question exactly… but the games I tried were spectacular!)
@allen_baldwin, Meanwhile I updated my Macbook to a 16" (plus the eGPU)…
I'm using Davinci Resolve and Screenflow on both screens without any issues…
But with this configuration and macOS Catalina the card is supported natively and works perfectly.
Also: the ports on this machine are much faster so the throughput is now very good.