System specs
-MacBook Pro 15 inch 2018, i7-8850 6-core, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD
-External FreeSync Monitor Samsung 2560x1440
-Windows 10 Build 1803 Bootcamp
eGPU hardware
Asus XG Station Pro paired with
EVGA GeForce GTX1080Ti SC2 connected by
0,8m Apple TB3 cable.
Razer Core X paired with
Asus Radeon VII connected by
1,5m TB3 cable from Asus XG Station Pro
(It worked vice versa, too, Radeon paired with Asus and EVGA paired with Razer Core X)
Installation steps
0. Start with a clean Windows 10 Build 1803 and download newest AMD drivers from bootcampdrivers.com.
1. Reboot into Safe Mode, uninstall all GPU drivers with DDU, reboot.
2. Hotplug nVidia eGPU, wait until Windows installed itself the nVidia drivers. Don't reboot. Unplug the eGPU.
3. Hotplug AMD eGPU on the other side of the notebook. Install downloaded bootcamp-drivers.
4. When installation has finished, Radeon VII will be yellow banged (Error 12) in Device Manager.
5. Uninstall this card directly in Device Manager and reboot immediately with the card plugged in.
6. Computer will reboot with AMD dGPU and eGPU working.
7. Hotplug nVidia eGPU, if needed.
With this way, AMD eGPU has to be uninstalled before each boot to avoid the internal display going black. One other solution is to disable the AMD dGPU then this step is not necessary. See also this Bootcamp guide.
Benchmarks
Benchmarks will focus on the comparison of the two cards. They will follow in 3 categories:
1. Workload and computing benchmarks
2. Synthetic benchmarks
3. Gaming benchmarks
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
1. Workload and computing benchmarks.
a) GPGPU
b) LuxMark, GeekBench and SPECviewperf13
Radeon VII | GTX 1080 Ti | |
|
|
|
GeekBench OpenCL |
|
|
|
|
|
c) Comments:
- The raw calculation numbers of Radeon VII are much better than the GTX 1080 Ti. Especially the double float performance is impressive. Scientific programs like numeric simulations will profit immensely by this.
- Luxmark profits most of this "computing power".
- Amazingly in "application benchmarks", the GTX1080Ti looks equal, if not better.
- Interesting note for benchmark "SNX-03" of SPECviewperf13: This is very slow on both cards, nVidia Quadro K6000 scores with 150 (vs. 14 or 16) here. See also here.
- I haven't posted any Video codec benchmarks, because I haven't solved the mystery yet, why AMD eGPU don't use full GPU power when encoding. See also here. nVidia with NVENC is the winner here in any case.
Tie: 1 - 1
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
2. Synthetic Benchmarks
Radeon VII | GTX 1080 Ti | |
Unigine Valley |
|
|
Unigine Superposition 1440p Extreme |
|
|
3dMark Time Spy |
|
|
3dMark Firestrike |
|
|
3dMark 11 |
|
|
C0mments:
- This is another tie: 1 - 1
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
Hi @OliverB, before running gaming benchmarks. I’ve questions, I saw this also on several benchmarks that MacBook Pro physical score is pretty low. Is that Apple EC firmware setting or cpu thermal throttling happens during benchmarks. 8850 that has higher frequency clock than 8750H theoretically should perform better. Maybe by undervolting it’ll be better?
Good side as always MacBook Pro 15 graphics score is decent compared Laptops with dgpu, I’ve headache catching that
https://www.3dmark.com/spy/6594762
https://www.3dmark.com/fs/16420889
Edit: for dx12 update i think i saw in nvidia Forum that Radeon VII will update for better performance like on timespy, maybe you want to check that as well.
Razer Blade 15 2018, i7 8750H 16gb ddr4 2666mhz 1tb 970Evo
Razer Blade Stealth 12,5 2016 i7 7500U 8gb ddr3 1866mhz 500gb 970Evo
MacBook Pro 13 mid 2012 i5 3210M 12gb ddr3 1600mhz 500GB HDD
Razer Core V2 rtx 2070 Black 2040mhz Boost clock
Previous setting: rtx 2080ti Asus Turbo, rtx 2080 xc gaming, rtx 2080 Fe, Zotac Mini 1080ti, Evga 1080 FTW2 gaming.
Dual Monitor Predator XB241YU 165Hz 1440p, LG l24UD58 60Hz 4K
Portable Monitor Magedok 1440p HDR 60Hz usbA/C monitor
2016 12" Razer Blade Stealth [7th,2C,U] + RTX 2080 Ti @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core V2) + Win10 1803 [build link]
3. Gaming Benchmarks
External display: Resolution 2560 x 1440, Max details, typical AA
Internal display: Resolution 2880 x 1800, Max details, No AA
Radeon VII | GTX 1080 Ti | RVII internal | 1080Ti internal | AA/Preset | |||
Deus Ex Mankind Divided | 32,1 | 45,3 | 28,5 | 41,5 | MSAAx2 | ||
Far Cry 5 | 75 | 73 | 49 | 41 | TAA | ||
Metro Exodus | 40,2 | 36,3 | 32,3 | todo | Ultra | ||
Return of the Tomb Raider | 80,9 | 87,2 | 52,4 | 57,1 | SMAA | ||
Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 54 | 66 | 35 | 45 | TAA | ||
Ashes of the Singularity | 57,5 | 62,9 | MSAAx2 | ||||
Batman Arkham Origin | 158 | 173 | FXAA high | ||||
Far Cry Primal | 66 | 78 | SMAA | ||||
Forza Horizon 4 | 64 | 67 | MSAAx2 | ||||
Hitman Absolution | 90,3 | 107,7 | MSAAx2 | ||||
Shadow of Mordor | 113,6 | 108,6 | Unknown | ||||
Tomb Raider | 111 | 143,8 | FXAA | ||||
World of Tanks | 113,7 | 141,8 | TSAA | ||||
Alien Isolation | 127 | 189 | SMAA | ||||
Resident Evil 6 | 59 | 120 | FXAA3HQ | ||||
Average FPS external display | 70,4 | 79,4 |
.
Comments:
- There is a clear winner: The GTX 1080 Ti
- It has to been noted that the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 is an overclocked card, while the Radeon VII is reference.
- I removed "Alien Isolation" and "Resident Evil 6" from the Average. With them the result was 86.8 to 100.
- The results often do not reflect benchmarks of Desktop PC. It looks as Radeon VII has more FPS drops in eGPU setups.
- The first five titles a major and current, so benchmarks on the internal display have been made, too.
- All titles have built-in benchmarks, I am looking to add some others.
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
Great posts @oliverb ! Unless I’m reading them wrong (hey it’s possible!) the VII is pretty much on par with a 1080ti, lagging a bit in gaming but ahead in other tasks. I wonder how much extra gaming performance Wattman could get out of the card? My Vega 56 once tweaked gained 10+ FPS in all the games I tried it in.
2017 13" MacBook Pro Touch Bar
GTX1060 + AKiTiO Thunder3 + Win10
GTX1070 + Sonnet Breakaway Box + Win10
GTX1070 + Razer Core V1 + Win10
Vega 56 + Razer Core V1 + macOS + Win10
Vega 56 + Mantiz Venus + macOS + W10
---
LG 5K Ultrafine flickering issue fix
2018 Mac Mini [8th,6C,B] + RX 580 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (AKiTiO Node Lite) + Win10 20H2 [build link]
Great posts @oliverb ! Unless I’m reading them wrong (hey it’s possible!) the VII is pretty much on par with a 1080ti, lagging a bit in gaming but ahead in other tasks. I wonder how much extra gaming performance Wattman could get out of the card? My Vega 56 once tweaked gained 10+ FPS in all the games I tried it in.
@eightarmedpet, thank you. I haven't tried a lot tweaking with Wattman yet, once I click "Auto undervolting" and the system crashed, aha. lol
Don't have the time, but I will keep one Radeon VII for at least 14 days and want to try it. (I am having two RadeonVIIs at this moment, running perfectly in a Asus XG Station Pro, which will be for sale in the next weeks, does Asus give me a bonus for doing this?)
To be fair, in brand-new titles the Radeon VII looks much better than in older title. I tested some new titles like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Dreamfall Chapter with MSI Afterburner and that was amazing:. Highest Settings 1440p more than 135 FPS.
But: Everytime the Radeon VII is performing great, it's getting very loud on load, about 57 dbA on 20 cm distance and open enclosure. That is said just for information, because I always said I don't care about some noise on load when the thing is silent on idle work and it is silent then.
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
@oliverb I think for testing sake you should send me one Asus enclosure and one Vega VII so I can independently verify it’s performance.
Im happy to do this for free. I’ll pm you my details 😉
(on a serious note- still interested in the enclosure).
2017 13" MacBook Pro Touch Bar
GTX1060 + AKiTiO Thunder3 + Win10
GTX1070 + Sonnet Breakaway Box + Win10
GTX1070 + Razer Core V1 + Win10
Vega 56 + Razer Core V1 + macOS + Win10
Vega 56 + Mantiz Venus + macOS + W10
---
LG 5K Ultrafine flickering issue fix
2018 Mac Mini [8th,6C,B] + RX 580 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (AKiTiO Node Lite) + Win10 20H2 [build link]
@eightarmedpet, hehe,
the second Asus enclosure will be for sale, that is 100%, the day Asus service, aka fools, is returning the one where they have to change the power cables.
Are you planning to buy a Radeon VII? How much are they in UK? Here you won't get nothing under 750 EUR. :/ (That was a double negative, hehe)
2018 15" MBP & 2015 13" MBP connected to RTX2080Ti GTX1080Ti GTX1080 Vega56 RX580 R9-290 GTX680
2018 15" MacBook Pro (RP560X) [8th,6C,H] + RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (ASUS XG Station Pro) + Win10 & macOS 10.15.4 // Navi vs Radeon VII vs GTX 1080 Ti [build link]
I am tempted by the VII but realistically it would be overkill for my 2017 dual core MacBook so I’m going to try and hold off for Navi and see what that brings.
I have just bought a node lite to put a tb3 card in to accelerate my 5k directly which will keep me busy for a bit...
2017 13" MacBook Pro Touch Bar
GTX1060 + AKiTiO Thunder3 + Win10
GTX1070 + Sonnet Breakaway Box + Win10
GTX1070 + Razer Core V1 + Win10
Vega 56 + Razer Core V1 + macOS + Win10
Vega 56 + Mantiz Venus + macOS + W10
---
LG 5K Ultrafine flickering issue fix
2018 Mac Mini [8th,6C,B] + RX 580 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (AKiTiO Node Lite) + Win10 20H2 [build link]