Hey everyone! Really excited to be able to post a working build. I hope it helps some people! 🙂
macOS 10.14.6 is loaded but cannot drive the eGPU as Apple-Nvidia have no RTX Nvidia drivers.
System Specs:
- Late 2018 Mac mini – i5-8500B/UHD Graphics 630 iGPU/20GB RAM/128GB SSD
- Philips 246E (Screen: 23.6in., Native resolution: 1920x1080, Aspect Ratio: 16:9, Refresh Rate: 60Hz, HDMI, DVI, D-Sub (VGA), 3.5mm output jack)
OS: (bootcamp) Windows 10 Home - version 1809, build 17763.864
eGPU Hardware: Razer Core X + MSI GeForce RTX 2060 Super Ventus OC. I use the TB3 cable included with the RCX.
Images:
- My setup
- Display Adapter Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/iiWEZHK
- NVIDIA Control Panel Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/4NzRN14
Installation:
- eGPU + GeForce 2060 Super Ventus OC plugged into power strip, but power switch set to off, TB3 cable plugged into eGPU but unplugged from far left TB3 port on Mac Mini.
- Mac Mini is off, connected to monitor via HDMI.
- Power on Mac Mini, boot to Win10.
- Once logged in, turn on eGPU power switch.
- Plug TB3 cable into far left TB3 port.
- eGPU fans come on strong then back off.
- Some drivers install. Go to device manager to ensure eGPU is recognized under Display Adapters.
- Download/run NVIDIA GeForce Experience and NVIDIA Control Panel, download latest drivers.
Benchmark:
Unigine Valley Benchmark 1.0
- FPS: 79.7
- Score: 3333
- Min. FPS: 23.8
- Max FPS: 155.7
- Settings:
- Render: Direct3D11
- Mode: 1920x1080 8xAA fullscreen
- Preset: Extreme HD
Unigine Superposition Benchmark 1 - High
Unigine Superposition Benchmark 2 - Medium
- CUDA-Z
- Memory Information
Total Global 8192 MiB Bus Width 256 bits Clock Rate 7001 MHz Error Correction No L2 Cache Size 48 KiB Shared Per Block 48 KiB Pitch 2048 MiB Total Constant 64 KiB Texture Alignment 512 B Texture 1D Size 131072 Texture 2D Size 131072 x 65536 Texture 3D Size 16384 x 16384 x 16384 GPU Overlap Yes Map Host Memory Yes Unified Addressing Yes Async Engine No - Performance Information
Memory Copy Host Pinned to Device 2194.86 MiB/s Host Pageable to Device 1714.74 MiB/s Device to Host Pinned 2719.19 MiB/s Device to Host Pageable 2105.47 MiB/s Device to Device 167.542 GiB/s GPU Core Performance Single-precision Float 7825.3 Gflop/s Double-precision Float 266.628 Gflop/s 64-bit Integer 2022.57 Giop/s 32-bit Integer 7865.06 Giop/s 24-bit Integer 7634.73 Giop/s
- Memory Information
Metro Exodus Benchmarks
- Normal quality: https://imgur.com/JdcotFY
- High quality: https://imgur.com/0hrg262
- High quality + High Ray Tracing: https://imgur.com/xMLpyam
Comments:
I am blown away by what the eGPU has brought to gaming. I appear to be fortunate that things worked seemingly "out of the box".
I'll say that what I have to do each time I shut down the Mac Mini and reboot into Win10 is:
- completely unplug the eGPU from the Mac Mini,
- make sure the power switch is off,
- make sure the HDMI cable is connected to the Mac Mini.
- I then log in to Win10,
- turn the eGPU power switch on,
- then plug the TB3 into the far left TB3 port on the Mac Mini.
This seems to work consistently. Thanks for letting me post this build, I really hope it comes in handy for people!
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Great to hear about things working simply, guess with all the talk about AND recently people have kinda forgot Nvidia cards are often way easier to set up in windows.
I hoped Navi cards would be similar but that doesn’t appear to be true.
wouls be great to see some gaming benchmarks.
Hey there! Yep, I'm really pleased. It's shame to hear about the Navi cards :/
I'd be happy to get some gaming benchmarks. I'll try to do it before Thanksgiving!
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Metro Exodus benchmarks have been added! I'm new to this entire scene, so let me know if more info would be helpful.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
I hoped Navi cards would be similar but that doesn’t appear to be true.
Unfortunately that's true! I tried to setup Sapphire Nitro+ 5700XT with Razer Core X under Bootcamp on my mac mini, but had no luck!
Mac mini (2018) 3,2 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i7, 32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4
LG Electronics 32UD89-W
Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 5700 XT
Razer Core X
- then plug the TB3 into the far left TB3 port on the Mac Mini.
This is interesting. Far left, you mean when not looking from the front of the mini, but from the back?
Far left is next to ethernet?
And if you plug it to any other 3, then it won't work?
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Great question. Yes, the far left port when looking at the Mac Mini from the back. From what I understand, the 4 TB3 ports are grouped into 2 sets of 2, left 2 and right 2. I haven’t had it happen, but from what I have heard from others, trying to plug the Razer Core X into either of the two TB3 ports on the right doesn’t work. I haven’t tried this; I have only ever plugged it into the far left port and have had no issues whatsoever.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
"One port to rule 'em all, but none of the rulers are equal!" 😈
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
Hey there, I am going to copy your setup seeing as you seemed to have a pretty easy go of it.
Can you please tell me the exact card you are using?
is it this:
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 2060 Super 8GB GDRR6 256-Bit HDMI/DP G-Sync Turing Architecture Overclocked Graphics Card (RTX 2060 Super Ventus GP OC) https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07YXQ19NC/
Thanks,
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts