First of all thank you @Brice_Reul, for your build, as well as @itsage for your build and @Ritero for your build. You guys helped a lot and let me say that setting up such a build with two small kids running around is not at all easy, especially for a first timer.
Let’s start with the System specs of my MacBook:
- Late-2016 15" MacBook Pro Intel i7-6820HQ @ 2.9 GHz
- 16GB LPDDR3 RAM
- Radeon Pro 460 4GB dGPU
- Intel HD Graphics 530 iGPU
- macOS 10.15.5
- Windows 10 1909
- External monitor: Acer 28“ 4K-display KG281K
eGPU hardware:
- Razer Core X
- Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 OC
Hardware pictures:
- Graphic Card Enclosure
- Before the construction
3. After the construction
Installation steps:
macOS: Plug in and play. Until now no problems registered.
Windows:
As I read the three builds named above before setting up my build, I did a few things in another sequence.
To begin I already had a Windows 10 System set up a few weeks before and I also had installed steam, a few games and security software. However that did not affect the function of the eGPU or any other step of the build.
Bootcamp partition: 100 GB + external Drive with a partition of 800 GB, Windows 10 installed (1909)
- First I did all the Updates on Windows and Bootcamp
- Install DDU and Visual C++ 2013
- Restart in Windows Safe mode after activating the safe mode restart in Windows Settings
- Run DDU in safe mode to remove Intel and AMD-Drivers + deactivate automatic driver update in Windows 10
- Create a new partition in Windows 10 with 150 MB size, formatted in FAT32 (On APFS in macOS I was not able to create another FAT-partition)
- Boot into macOS to copy goalques automate-eGPU-EFI and mgear1981’s2016 15“ MacBook Pro RP460 dsdt-modified.aml to EFI-partition
- Follow goalques temporary fix for macOS Catalina to edit config.plist
- Restart into EFI-Partition, hit „q“ and select „Load Windows“
- Install iGPU drivers from Intel
- Install and run „gpu-switch integrated.bat“ as Admin
- Search and disable internal AMD-GPU on PCIe x16-controller 1901
- Shut down, connect eGPU and boot into Windows via EFI-Partition
- Wait for System info on a new VGA-Device and Install Bootcampdrivers Radeon Drivers
- Disable Windows Updates for as long as possible
- Test the performance in Games (Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2) and run benchmarks (after a restart of the system)
In Windows, the internal display is deactivated after booting with EFI, but as long as the external display works fine, I don’t care at all.
Benchmarks
I did several Benchmarks in macOS and Windows and I found out that it made a difference if I had the Geekbench-Window open on the MacBook-Screen, driven by the iGPU or on the external display driven by the eGPU.
I will include all scores here, starting with the better one (running the GB5-on the other display).
MacBook Pro CPU:
MacOS: Single Core: 902, MultiCore: 3664
Win10: Single Core: 858, MultiCore: 3641
macOS with Metal:
dGPU AMD Radeon Pro 460
16236 and 16161
iGPU Intel 530
4309 and 4298
eGPU Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 OC
31573 and 31385
macOS with OpenCL:
GB5 did not offer the test for the iGPU or the dGPU, only the eGPU was tested
29669 and 29291
Windows 10 with OpenCL:
iGPU Intel 530: 5448
eGPU Asus AMD Radeon RX 5700 OC: 57954
Comments
That means that OpenCL runs nearly twice as fast on Windows as it does on macOS and also more than 1.5 times as fast as Metal on macOS on my machine.
For my gaming purposes the performance is sufficient, but the Score for the eGPU in macOS is way lower than I expected and I will stay on the topic and post the news if I can find out why.