So I finally pulled the trigger and purchased an eGPU and an external display. I've been putting this off for quite some time. I thought I'd make my current MacBook Pro last a couple more years and wait and see how this transition to ARM goes for Apple. In the past, I had a Powermac and had to go through one of these processor transitions when Apple switched to Intel. I didn't feel like it went well for PowerPC users, as it left me with a near-worthless, unsupported computer. I simply don't want to have to go through that again. But anyways...
System
- MacBook Pro (15-inch Retina Mid 2015)
- MacOS 10.15.5 (Build 19F101)
- Intel Core i7-4770HQ @ 2.20 GHz
- Memory 16GB DDR3.
- BenQ SW271 Display
(Note that I also upgraded my SSD with a 1TB Samsung 970 Pro with the Sintech adapter. Works flawlessly so far.)
External GPU Setup
- Radeon Pro W5700
- Razer Core X
- Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter
- Apple Thunderbolt cable (0.5m)
Compute Scores
Metal: 54,912
OpenCL: 51,495
Installation
Installation was pretty easy.
- Disable SIP
- Run purge_wrangler.sh to enable AMD GPUs only. I left the eGPU disconnected for this part.
- Reboot, login, and connect the eGPU.
Issues
- For some reason, I get petter performance with a second display (or ghost display adapter). I'm hoping that future drivers fix this issue.
- Computer freezes when the eGPU is connected while booting or restarting. I've seen a number of people with this same issue. I don't know what causes it. I'm also hoping this is a driver issue that will hopefully get fixed in the future. Apple did just add support for this GPU recently. If anyone knows the problem and/or how to fix this, I would be grateful :).