macOS: Plug and play. Worked perfectly, as it should. Applications sometimes need polite encouragement to use the eGPU by speaking to it nicely, and then right clicking on the application in the Finder > Get Info... and check “Prefer external GPU”. Enjoy the significant graphic compute power you now possess.

Windoze: heartache and headaches, with eventual success without loopback mode at the moment. Even though I’m very comfortable with setting up PC hardware I still found this process overly complex, and great a resource as the eGPU.io forum is, the sketchy advertising pegged my MBP CPU at a locked 100% each tab, and constantly crashed my iPad and iPhone navigating page to page... so I’ll try to be as thoroughly detailed in one place as possible to help the next user along. Massive props to @itsage for his wonderful advice and guidance, what a wonderful human. Here’s my current setup procedure with an external screen, subject to refinement as I figure out loopback mode.

Note you’ll want to keep the eGPU disconnected until step 6. Good things take good time.

Boot into recovery mode to disable SIP through terminal. (The command is "csrutil disable”). Then open Startup Security Utility and set Secure Boot to “No Security” and External Boot to “Allow booting from external media” (in the option boot). This is to let the custom Bootloader to work later in this setup.
Download and install Windows 10 1903 V1 ISO (version 18362.30) using the Bootcamp Assistant in macOS. I found this link very useful for finding the specific Windows version: https://tb.rg-adguard.net/public.php
When installed and at the desktop, you want to limit Windows updates as this specific build of Windows is eGPU friendly. There’s a great guide on Windows Central, link: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10 - scroll down to “Limiting updates” and follow those 8 steps.
Install DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller). Reboot into safe mode (hold shift whilst clicking restart to display the options to enable Safe Mode) and run DDU. You’ll want to adjust the settings in DDU to Disable Windows auto-installation of drivers, as apparently the genetic drivers on GPU plug and play discovery cause issues. I don’t know if it’s necessary to clean AMD drivers but I did it anyway. You may wish to return to this step if you experiment with drivers further down the track and want to roll them back.
This is a great time to enjoy a tea and create a system restore point in Windows - just in case you need it later. I created one by simply searching “System Restore” from the Start menu and manually creating a restore point. Note: tea is optional but strongly recommended for your own personal system stability.
Back in macOS, download custom Bootloader apple_set_os.edi v0.5. This enables the iGPU in Windows when you have a dGPU or eGPU. Instructions, downloads and link: https://egpu.io/forums/bootcamp/macbook-pro-16-windows-egpu-error-12-fix/ . Note that currently I’m having issues with this Bootloader allowing loopback mode, however it helped to install the required drivers and it can be easily soft-disabled later in the guide.
Connect the eGPU to one of the right side ports (I found it worked in any port, however I understand some people have had issues with other ports) and then switch the system off. We’re hot booting this puppy today.
Boot into Windows using the apple_set_os.efi loader v0.5, no interaction required at the prompt.
Confirm a new Microsoft Basic Display Adapter in the Device Manager. Install the latest Radeon Drivers and give yourself a pat on the back. I found the latest version as of 1st of Feb 2020 worked fine, the slightly older drivers couldn’t detect my 5700XT for some odd reason. Enjoy the cool wooosh setup sound as the drivers install (reminds me of the C&C Red Alert DOS installer).
At this point I’m finding the 5700XT device won’t start, with Windows reporting an Error Code 43 “Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems”. My current fix to this is to connect an external monitor to the 5700XT, set the internal brightness on the laptop display low as possible, then reboot with the eGPU still connected. When the apple_set_os loader v0.5 appears, tap Z to disable the custom Bootloader and use the normal Apple loader. The internal display will flicker the Windows logo as (thus setting the brightness low as possible) however the eGPU and external display works perfectly. My plan is to update this guide once I find the magic sauce to have everything playing nicely.

Comments:

This build is a WIP, as I don’t have loopback functioning in Windoze. I’ll update the Windows part as I tinker further, trying other Bootloaders, Intel drivers, Windows builds etc… although rather time poor at the moment so it’ll be a slow burn project. Benchmarks below the comments as they’re pretty long.

I initially started this build with a second hand Vega 64 as I’m primarily using this card for compute performance in macOS, gaming secondary in Windows, and I didn’t have an external monitor when I started this project (just moved countries!). When I received the preloved Vega 64, it had bad coils and made a “ticking” sound every time a frame was rendered which didn’t inspire confidence, so I returned it and decided to go with a brand new 5700 XT, but not before running some benchmarks within macOS on the Vega 64.

Interesting observations, the Vega 64 performed marginally better in compute tasks over the 5700 XT, at the cost of significantly more heat and much louder fans. The 5700 XT performs much better with games and is strikingly quiet - the fans were off for nearly the first two minutes of heavy benchmarking… incredible! The 5700 XT seems to struggles with loopback performance. When I was able to connect a monitor the gaming performance in macOS improved noticeably.

Re the “Star Wars Blaster” trailer grade export from Resolve Studio benchmark, this is an internal project I could use to benchmark real-world performance with actual working grades on BlackMagic RAW with the eGPU. Whilst this trailer (and film) isn’t public yet, it will be in March 2020. You’re welcome to follow along on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/starwarsblasterfilm/

The “Standard Candle” test in Resolve Studio is based on the test available here: http://www.carousel.hu/standardcandle , although it is a dated test. I initially tested in OpenGL mode within Resolve however noted that Apple’s Metal wiped the floor with significant margins and didn’t bother testing that mode further. Only change I made to the test was adding more blur nodes to expand the test length and complexity a little.

I did note that the gains to compute performance within Resolve drastically depends on the codec used. In my testing I found even when shot on the same camera (URSA Mini) BRAW had significant speed improvements over the older DNG RAW, as that older format that is tied to the CPU for playback, so there’s little to no playback improvement there. Mileage will very depending on optimisation of the codec. Hopefully RED figures out GPU debayering without the need for CUDA soon...

Benchmarks:

Run on 13” 2019 MBP i5 2.4ghz 16GB RAM 512GB SSD

Running macOS 10.14.6

——

Resolve Studio standard candle test (blur nodes) in loop back mode

5700XT - Auto (metal)

6 - 24fps

12 - 24fps

18 - 24fps (GPU near 100%)

24 - 24fps

30 - 24fps (Resolve shows red fps, however locked 24fps)

36 - 20fps (fans spun up)

42 - 17fps

48 - 15fps

54 - 14fps

60 - 13fps

66 - 12fps

72 - 11fps

78 - 10fps

Vega 64 - Auto (metal)

6 - 24fps

12 - 24fps

18 - 24fps (can hear card coils working hard)

24 - 24fps GPU pinged 100% (fans spun up)

30 - 24fps

36 - 21fps (33 blurs is limit at 24fps)

42 - 18fps

48 - 16fps

54 - 14fps

60 - 12fps

66 - 11fps

72 - 10fps

78 - 10fps

iGPU - Intel Iris Plus 655 - Metal

6 - 9fps (fans spun up, pinged 100%, 2 blurs is limit at 24fps)

12 - 5fps

18 - 4fps

24 - 3fps

30 - 2fps

36 - 1fps

42 - 1fps

48 - 1fps

54 - 1fps

60 - 1fps

66 - 0fps

72 - 0fps

78 - 0fps

——

Resolve Studio standard candle test (blur nodes) in ext screen

5700XT - Auto (metal)

6 - 24fps

12 - 24fps

18 - 24fps

24 - 24fps

30 - 24fps (GPU at 100%, fans spun up)

36 - 24fps

42 - 21fps (38 blurs is limit at 24fps)

48 - 18fps

54 - 16fps

60 - 14fps

66 - 13fps

72 - 12fps

78 - 11fps

—-

Resolve Studio Star Wars Blaster trailer v3 benchmark BRAW & H.265 footage test in loop back

Running in auto (metal) mode, no ext monitor or TB MiniMonitor connected

2K Scope 2048x858 ACEScc 25p ProRes 422HQ export, caching disabled

5700XT: completed in 00:02:18

Vega 64: completed in 00:02:16

Intel iGPU Iris Plus 655: completed in 00:18:57

——

Heaven benchmark test macOS

1650x1050, ultra quality, extreme tessellation, 8x AA, full screen loopback

(1st / 2nd / 3rd run (average)

5700 XT

CPU 60 / 60 / 60c (60c)

Avg 54.9 / 55.5 / 55.4fps (55.2fps)

Score 1384 / 1398 / 1396 (1392)

Min 10.3 / 41.8 / 41.9fps (41.8fps, ignoring first abnormal value)

Max 99.7 / 99.7 / 100.6fps (100fps)

Vega 64

CPU 60 / 62 / 59c (60c)

Avg 46.1 / 46.4 / 46.9fps (46.4fps)

Score 1160 / 1169 / 1181 (1170)

Min 10.4 / 34.6 / 34.2fps (34.4fps, ignoring first abnormal value)

Max 74.6 / 74.2 / 74.9fps (74.6fps)

Intel iGPU Iris Plus 655

CPU 65 / 67 / 67c (66c)

Avg 8.5 / 9.1 / 9.2fps (8.9fps)

Score 215 / 230 / 232 (226)

Min 3.0 / 6.0 / 6.0fps (6.0fps, ignoring first abnormal value)

Max 18.0 / 18.7 / 18.3fps (18.3fps)

—

Heaven benchmark test macOS

1080p, ultra quality, extreme tessellation, 8x AA, full ext screen

Laptop on table instead of raiser

5700 XT

CPU 53 / 54 / 54c (54c)

Avg 65.1 / 65.0 / 64.7fps (64.9fps)

Score 1639 / 1637 / 1629 (1635)

Min 10.4 / 45.3 / 44.7fps (45fps, ignoring first abnormal value)

Max 130.5 / 127.5 / 128.6fps (128.8fps)

—

Valley benchmark test macOS

Preset Extreme fullscreen loopback 1650x1050

5700 XT

CPU 61 / 63 / 62c (62c)

Avg 57.3 / 58.6 / 58.0fps (58fps)

Score 2398 / 2452 / 2425 (2425)

Min 28.8 / 31.1 / 31.6fps (30.5fps)

Max 94.1 / 93.3 / 94.1fps (93.8fps)

Vega 64

CPU 61 / 63 / 60c (61c)

Avg 49.3 / 49.7 / 50.3fps (49.8fps)

Score 2064 / 2077 / 2105 (2082)

Min 24.0 / 29.3 / 30.0fps (29.6 fps, ignoring first abnormal value)

Max 68.6 / 73.1 / 72.5fps (71.4fps)

Intel iGPU Iris Plus 655

CPU 70 / 68 / 68c (69c)

Avg 9.2 / 9.2 / 9.2fps (9.2fps)

Score 385 / 384 / 386 (385)

Min 5.3 / 5.2 / 5.3fps (5.3fps)

Max 16.5 / 16.1 / 16.0fps (16.fps)

—

Valley benchmark test macOS

Preset Extreme full ext screen 1080p

Laptop on table instead of raiser

5700 XT

CPU 65 / 67 / 67c (66c)

Avg 79.4 / 79.6 / 79.6fps (79.5fps)

Score 3323 / 3332 / 3330 (3328)

Min 33.3 / 32.0 / 35.8fps (33.7fps)

Max 129.9 / 128.3 / 128.2fps (128.8fps)

2019 13” MacBook Pro (8th,4C,U) + Radeon RX 5700 XT @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + macOS 10.15.2 & Win10

itsage and Mini i5 liked

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itsage

(@itsage)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 3 years ago

Builds: 133

Posts: 5547

February 15, 2020 2:51 pm

@jazzdogg Thank you for sharing this nice build. The 2019 13-in MacBook Pro can handle hot-plugging a Radeon eGPU if you're on Win10 18262.30-.295. Wait until Windows fully loads then hot-plug the RX 5700 XT eGPU. The system would freeze for a couple of minutes while it allocates resources for the eGPU. You can tell by the disabled WiFi and Audio icons on the Taskbar notification area. When AMD XConnect loads up, the internal display would flicker once and the icon show up telling you it's ready to go.

Regarding error 43, I believe it's a random issue due to drivers quality. I usually wait until Windows sort itself out and the error would disappear. Otherwise restart the machine and hopefully it goes away. Last resort is to run DDU and reinstall the Radeon drivers. You're very close to a fully working Boot Camp setup.

• external graphics card builds
• best laptops for external GPU
• eGPU enclosure buyer's guide

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Bilal Hammelmann

(@bilal_hammelmann)

New Member

Joined: 2 months ago

Posts: 4

February 16, 2020 2:35 pm

@itsage, How can i download or update Win10 18262.30-.295

System specs:

13” MacBook Pro mid-2019 1,4 GHz Quad‑Core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost bis zu 3,9 GHz) 256 GB SSD 16GB RAM, Intel Iris 645

2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C)

eGPU hardware:

Razer Core X Chroma

8GB Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700XT AORUS-8GD, GDDR6, 3x HDMI, 3x DP

I have really problem to get this running can you write maybe a easy guide ? or make for us a video ?

System specs:
13” MacBook Pro mid-2019 1,4 GHz Quad‑Core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost bis zu 3,9 GHz) 256 GB SSD 16GB RAM, Intel Iris 645
2x Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C)
eGPU hardware:
Razer Core X Chroma
8GB Gigabyte Radeon RX 5700XT AORUS-8GD, GDDR6, 3x HDMI, 3x DP

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itsage

(@itsage)

Illustrious Member Admin

Joined: 3 years ago

Builds: 133

Posts: 5547