System specs
2018 Mac Mini
3.2 GHz Six-Core Intel Core i7
8 GB Ram (32 GB waiting to be installed)
256 TB SSD
MacOS Catalina 10.15.2
eGPU hardware
XFX AMD Radeon VII
Razer Core X supplied TB3 cable
Display port cable to Samsung UE590 28" 4k monitor
Installation steps
None, natively supported by MacOS 10.15.2
Connected TB3 cable to TB3 port next to Ethernet port on mini
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 GPU scores:
Strange to see Cinebench R20 focus solely on the CPU. I primarily ran this to see what throttling there was. The CPU never got above 96c and it never dipped down to base clock speed, which was nice to see. I never saw the claimed 4.6ghz but it averaged around 3.8ghz.
My former TB2 imac with this GPU (left) vs the new Mac Mini (right) using the exact same Unigine Heaven settings:
Comments
I just picked up the mini today. My i5 iMac was just getting to slow with my heavy Lightroom and Davinci Resolve workload. With it still running fine and having value, I'll be selling it. The sleep issue is present but it acts differently than it did with my TB2 iMac. I need to so some more testing before I comment on exactly what I mean.
The full speed fan issue during sleep is present. However, they don't kick on for around 20 seconds after I put her to sleep. With my tb2 imac, the fans would roar the instant I put it to sleep.
I believe 10.15.2 has updated drivers versus what I have on Mojave. I haven't run a performance test lately (just in a stable set up). I am considering retiring my Boot Camp install as for (insert holiday name here) I received all the parts to build my own PC (something about how I must have accidentally shared my PC Part Picker list 😉 ).
I'll run a benchmark tonight on 10.14.6 and see if the Rad VII sees a performance uptick with 10.15.2.
Thanks for sharing!
2018 Mac mini + Razer Core X + Radeon vii
2018 Mac Mini [8th,6C,B] + Radeon VII @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + macOS 10.14.6 & Win10 [build link]
How well does this setup work with Davinci Resolve for transcoding? I'm looking into doing something similar, but I need to do a rack mount with an M.2 RAID card.
To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.
.How well does this setup work with Davinci Resolve for transcoding? I'm looking into doing something similar, but I need to do a rack mount with an M.2 RAID card.
For me, I'll generate 422 LT proxy files for my 4k h.264 work and it's the fastest I've encountered from my limited sample size or setups to compare it to. Timeline performance still isn't great when working in a 4k timeline though. If you're fine working in a 1080p timeline and switching it back to 4k just before export, you'll be happy with this setup. Gotta love the 16gb of VRAM in a sub $500 card. 