Installation:
I disabled secure boot and allowed booting from external media as well as disabled SIP. But this was after I got it working in Windows 10 via hot plugging.

Windows 10
More or less just installed Windows 10 via Boot Camp and hotplugged it at Windows Logo after initial set up. Later added a thumb drive with the apple_set_os.efi in the how-to guide from this site so I wouldn't need to hot plug cables.

OS X
More or less just used Benjamin Dobell nvidia-update for installing the drivers and rebooted to see they were loaded properly. After that used Purge-Wrangler to active the Nvidia eGPU. After that I was having problems with my screen not displaying anything for more than 2 seconds before losing signal. I tried a lot of diffrent things but the thing that worked for me was unplugging my monitors power cable while it was on, leaving it unplugged for 30 seconds and in the meantime switching the display port cable to a port on the eGPU I had not used before. After 30 seconds I plugged the monitor in again and everything worked, I could also switch back the cable to the display port that I used previous.

Benchmarks

Cuda-Z

Game tests
All tests are run under Windows 10. The "Desktop FPS" is the FPS I get with the same settings and graphics card in my desktop running 16 GB of DDR4 3000 Mhz RAM and a Intel i7-7700k @ 5 Ghz, just for reference. I also used Intel XTU to set my power limit to 34W and then turbo boost power limit to 38W for 28 seconds, this combined with running the fans at max speed lets the CPU run at max turbo (3.6 Ghz) sustained with temperatures around 80.

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds
Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/EA4knsQ
Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/6QamvW1
Desktop FPS: 110-144 except for occasional big drops
eGPU FPS: 80-110 except for occasional bigs drops
Thoughts: Runs perfectly fine, I did not get annoyed by drops more than I usually do when I play the game. If you have the inventory up and run around you do get around 45 fps and that does make it feel slow.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Settings: https://imgur.com/LukdnxY

Desktop FPS: Bounces around a bit but mostly 450+ and never under 350.

eGPU FPS: Depends on map and amount of players, mostly around 250-300 but some drops below 200 did happen.

Thoughts: Runs perfect from a gaming standpoint, in CS:GO more FPS does make the game feel smoother but this was nothing to complain about. If I didn't know this was a different setup I might not notice.

Overwatch
Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/icZ43qv
Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/wPYz0m7
Desktop FPS: Usually keep it locked at screen fps, which for some reason was 171.
eGPU FPS: Locked at 161 for some reason with some drops down into 150.
Thoughts: More or less flawless, I played a few games and only had one problem, towards the end I started a download in the background and when that finished something launched and that seems to have made something wonky, FPS dropped to 23 and the CPU got power limited. Never happened again so I consider it to be a one time thing.

Fortnite

Settings: https://imgur.com/3hfHNpv

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 100-120, occasional drops to 85-90 ish.

Thoughts: Not experienced enough to say anything, did not feel laggy at all. I was using the 50v50 game mode and dropped somewhere and ran around some people and shot a bit, did not like the game enough to try more than that

League of Legends

Settings: https://imgur.com/tM2P40Q

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 170-270

Thoughts: Default Settings. Haven't played before but did not feel laggy at all, took ages to load but I was indicated to have loaded first so I dunno. Was mostly around 220 but dipped sometimes to around 170-180.

Destiny 2
Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/ETYNWKX
Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/ybzV3jN
Desktop FPS: N/A
eGPU FPS: 80-130
Thoughts: Default Settings. Haven't played before but did not feel laggy at all and looked amazing. I only tried the start of the campaign so far and the FPS was mostly around 100 but dipped to 75-80 ish sometimes.

Battlefield 1
Settings part 1: r/ https://imgur.com/LlzsKfa
Settings part 2: r/ https://imgur.com/kFFZC4X
Desktop FPS: N/A
eGPU FPS: 70-100
Thoughts: FPS was mostly around 80 with these settings and the game felt good. Randomly there were some drops, not every game but sometimes. The cut scenes before the matches were laggy sometimes while loading but mostly it was working very good. I tried to play different game modes and the ones with big maps and loads of explosions where I thought it would struggle it was doing it no problem.

Witcher 3
Settings: 2560x1440 resolution and high presets on both Graphics and Postprocessing. Could do Ultra preset without stuttering in what I tested but lower FPS.
Desktop FPS: N/A
eGPU FPS: 50-60
Thoughts: FPS cap was 60 so couldn't go higher. Did not test too much combat but no stuttering at all in what I tested.

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/ugFt3c7

Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/9j53xVA

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 60-80, did the benchmark and got these results: https://imgur.com/7UJbhJD

Thoughts: Played really well, no stuttering at all although I did not try too long.

GTA V

Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/BF9nRGG

Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/8Cxf5ac

Settings part 3: https://imgur.com/EfWseqY

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 140-170, did the benchmark and got around the same FPS.

Thoughts: Plays well, never played it before so I do not have too much experience. Did get a bit of stutter when the "WASTED" thing comes up. Settings were the default that the game suggested.

World of Warcraft

Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/a6nSHS6

Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/f55jr9V

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 50-100.

Thoughts: Plays well, I put it all on max and ran around in Stormwind with my level one character as well as hit some mobs. In Stormwind it was around 55 fps with all the people there. Couldn't test raids or anything since well yeah, level 1.

Fallout 4

Settings part 1: https://imgur.com/bkZwp5e

Settings part 2: https://imgur.com/JeBw8uw

Settings part 3: https://imgur.com/AwfiDZL

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 60-80

Thoughts: Plays well and mostly around 70 fps in the outside world, it was all on the "Ultra" preset. Did get loads of lag in windowed borderless for some reason but full screen played nice. If course I did not have time to play a lot so I am sure the FPS will dip later on if a lot is going on

Realm Royale

Settings: 2560x1440 resolution and everything at max more or less

Desktop FPS: N/A

eGPU FPS: 140-150

Thoughts: Quite stable around 150 where it seemed to be capped or something. Some stuttering in menus for some reason.

Comments
For the ease of install I have to give it high remarks, more or less plug and play except for my weird screen problem in OS X that had more to do with my screen. I have ordered a Cable Matters 2m cable for better placement and will see if that makes any major difference. I will try to live with this setup for a few weeks and see if I want to go back to using a dedicated desktop instead of an eGPU solution.

I will try to test more games if I can come up with any that I have and are fun to test.

2018 13" MacBook Pro [8th,4C,U] + GTX 1080 @ 32Gbps-TB3 (Razer Core X) + macOS 10.13.6 & Win10 [build link]

nando4 liked

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c4dchris

(@c4dchris)

New Member

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 2

August 2, 2018 12:39 am

Any updates on the os x problem? Getting ready to do a similar build for my 2018 i9 macbook pro

To do: Create my signature with system and expected eGPU configuration information to give context to my posts. I have no builds.

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