Overview
Today Apple releases Catalina 10.15, two years after the launch of macOS High Sierra 10.13 that introduced eGPU functionality. While there were no major changes to external GPU support in macOS, we've seen notable refinements in day-to-day use. Better app-level optimization, improved internal display acceleration, and Boot Screen through eGPU are the highlights of Catalina 10.15 for external graphics card users.
As more users migrate to Thunderbolt 3 Macs, the cries for eGPU support on Thunderbolt 1 & 2 machines are fading away. Thanks to our community support developers, Goalque and Mac_Editor, older Thunderbolt Macs continue to enjoy external graphics in macOS Catalina. What we've heard loud and clear is the omission of Nvidia graphics card support. Nvidia and Apple are acting as if they went through a bitter divorce with no option for shared custody. Users are meant to side with the brand that's most essential to their computing needs.
2018 Mac Mini with 6 eGPUs - Activity Monitor in Catalina 10.15
Native Support
If you have a Thunderbolt 3 Mac computer, you're in luck because this is the platform on which Apple has been building eGPU support. All you need is a MacOS-certified AMD Radeon graphics card + Thunderbolt 3 enclosure pairing that fits your needs and budget. There are eGFXs that come ready-to-go with a graphics card such as the Sonnet Breakaway Puck 560/570, Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box, and Blackmagic eGPU/Pro. As of fall 2019, these are Thunderbolt 3 Macs that have native eGPU support in MacOS 10.15 Catalina.
| Supported Macs | PCIe Speed |
| Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) | 32 Gbps |
| Mac Pro (T2 Chip, Late 2019) * MacBook Pro (16-inch, T2 Chip, Late 2019) * MacBook Air (13-inch, T2 Chip, Mid 2019) MacBook Pro (15-inch, T2 Chip, Mid 2019) * MacBook Pro (13-inch, T2 Chip, Mid 2019) iMac (5K, 27-inch, Early 2019) * iMac (4K, 21-inch, Mid 2019) * MacBook Air (13-inch, T2 Chip, Late 2018) Mac mini (T2 Chip, Late 2018) MacBook Pro (15-inch, T2 Chip, Mid 2018) * MacBook Pro (13-inch, T2 Chip, Mid 2018) iMac Pro (5K, 27-inch, T2 Chip, Late 2017) * iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2017) * iMac (Retina 4K, 21-inch, Mid 2017) * iMac (21-inch, Mid 2017) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2017) * MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2017) MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016) * MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016) |
|
| * Indicates a Mac with discrete graphics card as standard equipment | |
The 2018 Mac mini received preferential treatment in Catalina 10.15. Apple made changes to its firmware to allow Boot Screen Support through the eGPU-connected monitor. This feature improves usability tremendously. As a headless Mac with iGPU only, the Mac mini is a prime candidate for an external GPU. The challenge for day-to-day use so far is the need to connect a monitor directly to the Mac mini (HDMI or USB-C/Thunderbolt 3) in order to use FileVault or Boot Screen to switch between macOS and Windows. It's reasonable to expect eGPU Boot Screen Support as a standard feature on Thunderbolt 3 and newer headless Macs going forward.
Catalina 10.15 2018 Mac Mini 4 eGPUs + 3 Monitors Boot Screen Support
A more future-proof route is to piece together an eGPU yourself. This process takes more effort but gives you flexibility and upgradability. This is beneficial for both enthusiasts and first-timers. Enthusiasts get to have nearly full control of the features they want out of an eGPU. If you try eGPU out and decide it's not what you expect, the GPU can be repurposed and the enclosure sold.
There is some homework to do in order to understand eGFX technology and what features are available. eGPU.io enclosure reviews go into detail on power delivery to the host computer, available expansion I/O ports, Thunderbolt 3 controller arrangement, power supply capacity and more. The options listed in the table below are currently available and best-suited for Mac computers. The ranking is based on the number of user builds in the past six months.
| Rank 6mo |
Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure |
Design | Included GPU |
Price US$ |
Review | User builds |
User builds macOS |
Size (L) compare |
Weight (kg/lb) |
PSU type |
PSU max power |
Power delivery (PD) |
GPU max power |
GPU max length (in/cm) |
GPU |
I/O ports bandwidth |
USB-C ports & ctrl |
TB3 |
slots @width |
Updated firmware |
Cable cm |
Vendor page |
| new | AORUS RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Box |
 |
RTX2080Ti | $1500 | link | link | 7.26 |
3.79/8.34 | fATX-int | 450W | 100W | 300W | 12.60/32.0 | 3xDP, HDMI, USB-C |
8Gbps | 1 & TI83 |
JHL6340 x2 |
[email protected] |
44.44 ✔ | 50 | link | |
| #1 |
Razer |
 |
✖ | $300 |
link |
link | link | 14.45 |
6.48/14.29 | ATX-int |
650W | 100W |
500W |
12.99/33.0 | ✖ | ✖ |
1 & TI83 |
DSL6540 |
[email protected] |
33.1 ✔ | 50 |
link |
| #2 | Razer Core X Chroma |
 |
✖ | $400 | link |
link | link | 14.45 | 6.91/15.23 |
ATX-int | 700W |
100W | 500W |
12.99/33.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 |
JHL6540 x2 | [email protected] | 40.1 ✔ | 70 |
link |
| #3 | Mantiz Venus |
 |
✖ | $279 |
link | link | link | 11.56 | 3.60/7.92 |
SFX-int | 550W | 87W | 375W | 13.00/33.0 |
✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
25.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #3 | AORUS/ Gigabyte Gaming Box |
 |
RX580 GTX1070 GTX1080 RTX2070 |
$420 $500 $670 $650 |
link link link unbox |
link | link | 3.30 |
2.35/5.19 | fATX-int | 450W | 100W | 225W | 6.65/16.9 | AMD: 3xDP,HDMI Nvidia: DP, HDMI, 2xDVI-D , USB-C (RTX) |
5Gbps | 1 & TI83 |
DSL6540 |
[email protected] |
F1.1 ✔ F1.0 ✔ F1.0 ✔ F1.0 ✔ |
50 | link link link link |
| #4 | Sonnet Breakaway 350|550|650 |
 |
✖ ✖ ✖ RX580 Vega56 Vega64 |
$199 $280 $399 $439 $799 $949 |
link | link | link | 12.71 |
3.20/7.10 | SFX-int | 350W 550W 650W 350W 550W 650W |
15W 87W 87W 60W 87W 87W |
300W 375W 475W 225W 375W 475W |
12.20/31.0 | 2xDP, HDMI, DVI-D |
✖ | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] | 25.2 ✔ 25.2 ✔ 25.2 ✔ 25.1 ✔ 25.2 ✔ 25.2 ✔ |
50 | link |
| #4 | AKiTiO Node |
 |
✖ | $200 |
link | link | link | 14.09 |
4.90/10.78 | SFX-int | 400W | 15W | 375W | 12.60/32.0 | ✖ | ✖ | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
25.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #4 | ASUS ROG XG Station 2 |
 |
✖ | $550 |
link | link | link | 20.03 | 5.10/11.22 | fATX-int | 680W | 100W | 500W | 12.20/31.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 |
[email protected] |
v25 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #5 | Razer Core V2 |
 |
✖ | $500 | link | link | link | 7.65 | 4.95/10.89 | fATX-int | 500W | 65W | 375W | 11.81/30.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 |
DSL6540 x2 |
[email protected] |
26.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #6 | ASUS XG Station Pro |
 |
✖ | $330 | link | link | link | 8.23 | 2.95 /6.50 |
AC-ext | 330W | 15W | 300W | 12.24/31.1 |
✖ | 10Gbps | 1 & TI83 |
JHL6540 | [email protected] | 29.1 ✔ | 150 | link |
| #7 | ADT-Link R43SG-TB3 |
 |
✖ | $120 |
discuss |
link | ✖ | GPU |
0.1/0.22 |
ATX-ext or AC-ext |
nolimit |
15W |
nolimit | nolimit |
✖ | ✖ | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] | ?? |
30 |
link |
| #7 | AKiTiO Node Pro |
 |
✖ | $349 |
link | link | link | 12.82 | 3.40/7.40 | SFX-int | 500W | 60W x2 | 400W | 12.60/32.0 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
23.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #7 | PowerColor/ VisionTek mini |
 |
RX560 |
$350 $480 |
link |
link | link | 2.30 |
0.85/1.90 |
AC-ext |
240W |
45W |
150W |
6.89/17.5 |
✖ 2xDP,2xHDMI,DVI-D |
5Gbps |
1 & TI83 |
JHL6540+ JHL6240 |
[email protected] | 40.1 ✔ | 50 |
link |
| #7 |
Sonnet |
 |
RX560 RX570 |
$399 $499 |
link | link | link | 1.01 | 2.38/5.25 | AC-ext | 160W 220W |
45W | - | - | 3xDP,HDMI | ✖ | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 |
[email protected] |
25.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| #8 | AKiTiO Node Lite |
 |
✖ | $219 | ✖ | link link |
link link |
2.64 | 2.00/4.39 | AC-ext | 72W | 15W | 25W | 7.87/20.0 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
B1-25✔ | 50 | link |
| #8 | AKiTiO Thunder3 |
 |
✖ | $250 | ✖ | link link |
link link |
2.64 |
2.00/4.39 | AC-ext | 72W | 15W | 25W | 7.87/20.0 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI82 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
✖ | 50 | link |
| #8 | AKiTiO Node Duo |
 |
✖ | $370 |
link | link | link | 10.54 |
5.00/11.00 | AC-ext | 150W | 60W+15W | 25W x2 |
8.66/22.0 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83x2 | DSL6540 | 2@x2 |
33.3 | 200 | link |
| #8 | Blackmagic eGPU | Pro |
 |
RP580 Vega56 |
$699 $1199 |
link |
link | link | 9.64 |
4.60/10.20 | custom-int |
400W | 85W |
✖ | ✖ | HDMI TB3/USB-C |
5Gbps |
2 & TI83x2 |
JHL7540 | [email protected] |
26.3 ✔ | 50 |
link link |
| - | Highpoint Rocketstor 6661A |
 |
✖ | $175 |
preview | link | link | 2.40 |
5.18/11.40 |
AC-ext | 60W |
15W |
25W |
8.20/20.8 |
✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83 |
DSL6540 | [email protected] | ?? |
50 | link |
| - | OWC Mercury Helios 3 |
 |
✖ | $200 | user | ✖ | ✖ | 2.69 |
1.40/3.08 | AC-ext | 90W | 15W | 25W | 7.75/19.6 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
✖ | 50 | link |
| - | Zotac AMP Box Mini |
 |
✖ | $220 | link |
link | link | 4.17 | 0.85/1.87 |
AC-ext | 180W | 15W | 150W |
7.87/20.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
26.1 ✔ | 50 | link |
| - | Sapphire GearBox |
 |
✖ | $259 | link | link | link | 8.45 |
3.30/7.30 |
fATX-int | 500W |
60W |
300W |
10.50/26.6 |
✖ | 5Gbps |
1 & TI83 | JHL6540 |
[email protected] | 41.41 ✔ | 50 |
link |
| - | PowerColor Devil Box |
 |
✖ | $300 |
user | link | link | 16.65 | 3.60/7.92 | fATX-int | 500W | 60W | 375W | 12.20/31.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 |
[email protected] | 25.101 ✔ | 50 | link |
| - | HP Omen Accelerator |
 |
✖ | $300 |
link | link | link | 16.00 | 5.50/12.10 | ATX-int | 500W | 60W | 300W | 11.42/29.0 | ✖ | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
25.25 ✔ | 50 | link |
| - | Lenovo TB3 Graphics Dock |
 |
GTX1050 | $325 | link | link | link | 0.74 | 0.69 / 1.51 | AC-ext | 170W | 65W | - | - | 2xDP,HDMI | 5Gbps | 1 & TI83 | JHL6540 | [email protected] |
v003 ✔ | 50 | link |
| - |
Netstor |
 |
✖ | $429 |
link |
link |
link | 8.98 |
3.40/7.40 |
fATX-int |
400W |
15W |
350W |
12.60/32.0 |
✖ | ✖ | 1 & TI83 | JHL6540 |
[email protected] |
33.1 ✔ | 50 |
link |
| - | Netstor Hercules HL23T |
 |
✖ | $435 | link | link | link | 8.16 | 2.70/5.94 | fATX-int | 300W | 15W | 300W | 12.60/32.0 | ✖ | 10Gbps | 2 & TI83 | DSL6540 | [email protected] |
25.1 ✔ | 100 | link |
| Rank 6mo |
Thunderbolt 3 Enclosure |
Design | Included GPU |
Price US$ |
Review | User builds |
User builds macOS |
Size (L) compare |
Weight (kg/lb) |
PSU type |
PSU max power |
Power delivery (PD) |
GPU max power |
GPU max length (in/cm) |
GPU |
I/O ports bandwidth |
USB-C ports & ctrl |
TB3 |
slots @width |
Updated firmware |
Cable cm |
Vendor page |
All Thunderbolt 3 enclosures available on the market are macOS compatible. The bigger compatibility unknown rests on the graphics card. Apple only provides native eGPU support to select AMD GPUs shown below. They are currently the families of Radeon Polaris and Vega cards. Navi cards have yet to receive drivers in the initial release of Catalina 10.15 but we expect support for them soon. As a precaution, Vega 64 GPUs demand a lot of power. Therefore the eGPU enclosure should have at least a 650W power supply. Polaris GPUs such as the RX 580 are more efficient and can work with almost all eGPU enclosures.
| Radeon Pro | Radeon RX |
| Pro WX 9100 | Radeon VII |
 |
 |
| Pro W5700 | RX 5700 XT |
 |
 |
| RX Vega Frontier Edition | RX Vega 64 |
 |
 |
| Pro WX 8200 | RX Vega 56 |
 |
 |
| Pro WX 7100 | RX 480 / RX 580 |
 |
 |
| Pro WX 5100 | RX 470 / RX 570 |
 |
 |
| Pro WX 4100 | RX 460 / RX 560 |
|
 |
Once you have the whole kit together, it's plug-and-play with a Thunderbolt 3 Mac. Hot-plug and surprise removal of the external GPU has been working since 10.13.4. Catalina 10.15 also has much better support for multiple eGPUs. In High Sierra there appeared to be a limited number of eGPU the system could handle based on the host computer's Thunderbolt 3 controllers. Mojave 10.14 raised this multiple eGPU support to four units. Catalina 10.15 has no set limit in my testing. The bad news is the system and applications can only use up to four eGPUs concurrently.
The most exciting feature is the ability to accelerate a Mac's internal display with the eGPU. In previous macOS builds, the external GPU could only provide acceleration to OpenGL tasks rendered through an external monitor. There's now a checkbox to set the eGPU as the preferred graphics card for all tasks regardless of whether an external monitor is attached. This mode forces eGPU loopback to the internal display of a MacBook Pro or iMac. With that said, not all applications are optimized for eGPU use. Adobe CC 2019 has support for external and multiple GPUs in some of its apps such as Lightroom and Photoshop. As more users adopt external graphics and as drivers mature, we hope third-party software support gets better.
macOS Catalina 10.15 eGPU acceleration in Lightroom
macOS Catalina 10.15 eGPU acceleration in Photoshop
Community Support
Similar to macOS Mojave 10.14, Apple does not extend eGPU support to users with Thunderbolt 1/2 Macs or Nvidia graphics cards in Catalina 10.15. Our community has been relentlessly providing unofficial eGPU support for these older Macs Apple deemed unworthy. The main developers are Goalque and Mac_Editor. Without their selfless contributions eGPU for Macs would not be as popular as it is today. There are currently two primary approaches to facilitate eGPU support on older Macs. One solution is to make a Thunderbolt 1/2 Mac behave like a Thunderbolt 3 Mac. The other solution is to make an eGPU behave like an internal PCIe graphics card. Keep in mind Mac computers with the Apple T2 chip have tighter security in place. In order to implement these solutions, Secure Boot must be off and external source booting must be enabled.
Purge-Wrangler by Mac_Editor is currently the easiest solution to enable eGPU access to your Thunderbolt 1 or 2 Macs. This workaround also incorporates patches that enable compatibility with older AMD and Nvidia graphics cards as well as TI82 Thunderbolt 3 enclosures. The prerequisites are for SIP to be disabled and patching made to system files. The table below lists the Thunderbolt version of Mac computers built from early 2011 to late 2015. You can either use a Thunderbolt 2 enclosure for external graphics or use a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure via a Thunderbolt 2 cable + Apple Thunderbolt 3/USB-C to Thunderbolt adapter.
| Unsupported Macs | PCIe Speed |
| Thunderbolt 2 | 16 Gbps |
| Mac Pro (Late 2013) * iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) * iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Mid 2015) * iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) * iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2015) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015) iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, Late 2014) iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2015) Mac mini (Late 2014) MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) * MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) * MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013) MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015) MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015) |
|
| Thunderbolt | 10 Gbps |
| iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) * iMac (27-inch, Early 2013) * iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) * iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) * iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) iMac (21.5-inch, Early 2013) iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2012) iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) Mac mini (Late 2012) Mac mini (Mid 2011) MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011) * MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011) * MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) * MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012) * MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) * MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) * MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) * MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2013) MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011) MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014) MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012) MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011) MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2014) MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013) MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2011) |
|
| * Indicates a Mac with discrete graphics card as standard equipment | |
EFI automate-eGPU solution by Goalque is a cleaner approach in that all patches happen on the fly during macOS booting process. The software can be installed on an external boot volume such as a USB thumb drive or a small FAT partition of your Mac's internal hard drive. The former is strongly encouraged so that there's no risk of corrupting your drive and losing data. Using an external drive for each boot is not convenient, but it's well worth the effort if you're not willing to disable SIP and modify system files for eGPU support.
A refinement in macOS Catalina is the addition of a GPU tab in Activity Monitor. Not only does it provide a close watch on whether the eGPU is being used, but it also shows other information on the external graphics card such as brand, model, enclosure, and connected Thunderbolt 3 port. While daisy-chaining of external GPU is not recommended due to limited bandwidth through Thunderbolt 3 interface, it works regardless. I have daisy-chained three levels with the Radeon VII being at the end of the chain. For OpenCL task, the performance loss was minimal.
Boot Camp Support
Many Mac users who are interested in eGPU want to use it for gaming in Windows. We were hoping eGPU improvement in Catalina 10.15 would also mean better support for Boot Camp mode. The reality is that Apple still considers eGPU use in Windows a non-priority. We had seen beta builds of macOS Catalina 10.15 directly affect the way eGPU worked in Boot Camp. Unfortunately there's no one clear solution. It's easier to set up an eGPU with Boot Camp in iGPU-only Mac computers; dGPU-equipped Macs such as the 15" MacBook Pro pose a challenge. Our Boot Camp eGPU setup guide provides more technical information and the step-by-step process for Thunderbolt 3 Mac users.
While both AMD and Nvidia have made great strides in eGPU support for Windows, Apple does not adhere to the ways Windows computers interact with Thunderbolt 3 eGPUs. I've been testing the 2018 15" MacBook Pro. The Mac firmware and Apple T2 chip are big hurdles to successfully set up an external GPU in Boot Camp. The only saving grace is that it has Large Memory allocation to help with error 12 when adding an Nvidia eGPU. As seen in the screen capture, adding an AMD eGPU in Boot Camp can wreak serious havoc to the system. Both the Radeon Pro 555X dGPU and RX 580 eGPU got yellow-banged with driver conflict and lack of resource issues.
2018 15 Macbook Pro Error 12 on RX 580 eGPU & Error 43 on Pro 555X dGPU
There are advances and setbacks from Microsoft's Windows 10 Fall Update. Version 1903 continues to improve upon Windows Hybrid Graphics (introduced in 1803) that allows the external GPU to work with a discrete GPU for internal display acceleration. This is beneficial for Mac computers because Apple firmware has a tendency to disable the Intel-integrated GPU in favor of the AMD Radeon discrete GPU. Without an active iGPU, AMD XConnect and Nvidia Optimus can't leverage eGPU acceleration to the internal display. As seen in the Graphics Settings of Windows, you can set your preference for a given software or game to use the higher-performing external graphics card. Boot Camp eGPU users need to be careful of Security Updates which take place automatically. The recommended Windows 10 1903 is OS Build 18362.295. Once your Mac is running this version, make sure to disable Windows Update in Services.
2018 15 Macbook Pro Asus Xg Station Pro Gtx 1080 Ti Egpu Device Manager Large Memory
2018 15 Macbook Pro Asus Xg Station Pro Gtx 1080 Ti Egpu Graphics Settings
Apple has made incremental changes to Mac firmwares in each macOS build. For example Mojave and Catalina improved the 2013 Mac Pro in that they allow more Thunderbolt devices to function in operating systems other than macOS. This is a nice ability for a Mac that received no love from Apple since inception. Although not officially announced or supported, trashcan Mac users have an upgrade path from the outdated FirePro dGPUs through external enclosures in both macOS and Windows.
Closing Thoughts
Catalina 10.15 has shown positive progress for eGPU Mac users. Hot-plug capability, internal display acceleration, and multiple eGPU support can truly transform a seemingly gutless Mac mini into a powerful workstation (an affordable one at that vs. the 2019 Mac Pro). Our community remains committed to providing eGPU support for older Thunderbolt Mac users. We're also hopeful Apple will continue to improve Mac firmwares to make eGPU in Boot Camp a more straightforward process. The jury is still out on who's the bitch in the failed relationship of Apple and Nvidia.
One more Thing
A better-implemented Sidecar in Catalina and future macOS versions can leverage eGPU to make a hybrid touchscreen Mac. Imagine a new iPad Pro lineup that has a matching footprint to the topcase of a new MacBook Pro lineup. You would then be able to place the iPad Pro on top of the keyboard and trackpad area to use it like a drawing pad (extended display mode). Sidecar can make use of an eGPU to accelerate this drawing pad. There should also be a Sidecar app on iPadOS. This would benefit headless Macs such as the Mac mini (primary display mode). In its current implementation Sidecar display cannot be the primary display. Once we’re able to use a Sidecared-iPad as the primary display, we have ourselves a wireless touchscreen Mac. For users who would not entertain a tablet as their computer replacement, Apple can make its iPads the essential complementary accessories to Macs.
I am using a Windows To Go (with BootCamp drivers) with Mantis Venus, will it continue to work as before?
MacBook Pro 15 inch 2017 RX560
Mantiz Venus
AMD Radeon 5700XT
macOS 10.15.1
Windows To Go 1809
Sandisk Ultra SSD 480GB
@siyuanchu Give it a try and let us know. Some RTX graphics cards have firmware compatibility with Macs which may cause boot loop if you have the eGPU connected at boot.
...and now we hope that they will introduce thr NAVI drivers in the next Beta versions!! Finger crossed!
@jefniro Yes, my Razer Core + RX 5700 is ready to go whenever that happens!
Still white screen of death for me upon boot (Mini 2018 + RX570 w/ Zotac Mini). 🙁
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
@itsage it may be the case that automate-eGPU EFI does not work on macOS Catalina. Hopefully should not be too much trouble to fix for @goalque (might be helpful to check updates to Clover), if he has time.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/hackintosh/comments/den28t/whats_new_in_macos_catalina/
"Where's the Navi support?
Well just like with Mojave, talks of Navi support is sparce. Within the AMDRadeonX5000HWServices.kext, we can see 3 kexts that hint at full Navi line up support:
AMDRadeonX5100HWLibs.kext
AMDRadeonX5400HWLibs.kext
AMDRadeonX5700HWLibs.kext
When taking a deeper look into these kexts, they show us that the code is only partially there requiring a master kext to handle them like an AMDRadeonX6000HWServices.kext. What early Polaris/Vega drivers have shown us before is that we might be waiting until either the end of this year or early next before we get support for Navi. At that point, we might be seeing Navi 20 which might finally come around to beat the pure compute champ that is Vega 20(Radeon VII). But then there's rumblings of Vega 30 so who knows. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Wanting to know when Navi support comes? Run the following pointed as S/L/E:
grep -ir "731F" .
This just checks if the 5700XT PCI ID is referenced anywhere, as of the GM there still is nothing that would hook onto a Navi GPU"
Same issue with my ampbox mini +msi rx580 v1 8G
It worked with no problem, but just as I upgrade to catalina,
It shows white screen after Apple logo.
Don't know the reason but, Looks like it's issue with zotac ampbox only. (Identical issue)
So I'm worrying whether Apple gonna fix this...
Not many users would use this egpu box...
But turning on and off the box doesn't take that long..
So I would like to keep using catalina..
@JK Park
"Luckily" several other eGPU models have this problem (there are reports with Razer Core X, Akitio Node, and Sonnet, all with RX570/580 cards). This might not be eGPU box related issue but a problem with the Polaris driver (as @itsage theoretized) and maybe a card firmware compatiblity issue which affects mostly RX570, 580 cards. AFAIK nobody has this issue with Vega cards. Let's hope Apple fixes this soon.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/catalina-egpu.2193797/page-4
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
Sonnet Breakaway Box + ATi Radeon 580 / MacMini Late 2018 i7.
Same problem. White Screen of Death
Mojave 10.14 raised this multiple eGPU support to four units. Catalina 10.15 has no set limit in my testing. The bad news is the system and applications can only use up to four eGPUs concurrently.
In Catalina, can all the GPUs support a display? Or can displays only work when connected to the working four eGPUs?
Can one app use 4 eGPUs, and another app use a different set of 4 eGPUs, so that more than 4 eGPUs are used?
Mac mini (2018), Mac Pro (Early 2008), MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015), GA-Z170X-Gaming 7, Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5, Sonnet Echo Express III-D, Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 to NVMe M.2 case
Great news guys ! Apple just released first beta for 10.15.1 !
According to Apple's release notes, macOS Catalina 10.15.1 introduces support for the AMD Navi RDNA eGPU architecture !!!
So now we have official support for the 5000 series ! Yay !!!
@eyalg Unfortunately Apple screwed up. They either forgot to include Navi drivers or jumped the gun on stating support in the release note.
Really !?!? sad to hear that, I was already planning on purchasing a 5700 xt...
you tested the new beta and no go?
At this point I will believe anything about apple... disappointing...
I already purchased one lol. But at least it somewhat guarantees there will be support for RDNA eventually.
With Apple, all we have left now is hope...
I still have a 1080Ti lying around... still hoping I can use it as a eGpu on Mojave or Catalina one day...
It does not seem to fix it according to the Apple Community discussion:
"I have installed the Beta 10.15.1 Beta (19B68f), and I am still having the same issue, apple logo, black screen, sonnet 550 with AMD 580x goes full blast on, then calms down, and does nothing after that. I still have to shut off the EGPU for 5 seconds, and then turn it on, in order to work again."
Also a full reinstall does not seem to help:
"I did a full reinstall from scratch to an empty drive. This does not solve the problem, after installation the first thing I am greeted with was the dreaded white screen of death."
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250714657
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
Hi there...I have a dual eGPU set up with my Mac Mini 2018 6 core i7 with 32gb of Ram. I have dual Radeon 8gb 470s in a Sonnet 350 and a first gen Razer Core, which I used Purge Wrangler to enable Ti82 support. They are on separate thunderbolt buses as I read this helps bandwidth.
I also have a Blackmagic Intensity 4k editing playback pci card housed in an external Sonnet thunderbolt 3 expansion chassis.
I have been running this set up throughout all the beta testing of Catalina up to and including the GM/public release and the only time I had problems with was beta 8 recognising the Razer Core. I downgraded then upgraded again when beta 9 was released...with no hitches.
The only slight issue I have is with having to re-plug in the Core after my machine has booted up. This enables my Mac to recognise it. There’s no white screen of death for me and the Sonnet based 470 is recognised at boot with no issues.
Software is hit and miss as far as performance.
After Effects is woeful...Photoshop and Illustrator aren’t too bad, as are Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Motion. I switched to Resolve from FCPX a while ago due to it’s feature set and can playback a few streams of 4K no problem. I know these are subjective opinion and I will run some benchmarks and publish them here when I have some spare time...but it’s quite a fast wee system and I don’t know about other creatives but I have always pushed my Macs to the limit as creativity demands it...so its never as fast and can do as much as we want lol.
I’m an illustrator/designer/filmmaker based in Scotland by the way...😁🏴.
Mac Mini 2018, 3.2 GHz 6-Core Core i7, 64 GB RAM, dual eGPU Radeon VII 16GB, 2 x Razer Core X, Blackmagic Intensity Pro 4K in Sonnet Echo Express SE-I TB3.
MacBook Pro 2017, 2.9Gh 4-Core Core i7, 16 GB RAM, Radeon Pro 560, 4 GB VRAM
iPad Pro 2018 with Apple Pencil 2
It works as before, but I am going to replace the 2060 with a Navi after 10.15.1 anyway. The 2060 caused me too much inconvenience on my Mantiz and macOS. I don't want to deal with them anymore.
MacBook Pro 15 inch 2017 RX560
Mantiz Venus
AMD Radeon 5700XT
macOS 10.15.1
Windows To Go 1809
Sandisk Ultra SSD 480GB
Yeah, it didn't. 🙁 This issue is probably somewhere at the bottom of the priority list or maybe it's not on the list at all. Affecting only some Mac Mini 2018 configs with some RX560/570/580 cards. I am afraid there are about 15-20 or so people complaining about this among millions of users...
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
Some frustrations on my side. Radeon 570 in visiontek mini on a 2018 MacBook Air. Won’t boot to desktop unless I unplug and replub egpu during loading bar
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
you‘re right. 🙁 maybe this will Never ne fixed. Are RX590 Cards Not affected? Then maybe it would be the cheapest solution to switch to one of these..
I donno. Do anybody have an RX590? 🙂 Unfortunatelly I can only upgrade to an other ITX card (the Zotac Mini Box is limited in size). I am thinking about getting an RX 5500 which seems to be ITX by default. Not a very powerful card though. Of course it must be released first and I'll have to wait for OSX support.
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
Has anyone tried a Mac Pro 5,1 with the Sapphire 580? It looks like most issues being reported are with Mac Mini but I wanted to see if anyone has had experience with Mac Pro before I try to upgrade.
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
@steve4332 @fringedivision @shad0wca7 @themadturtle11 I read a recent post from @joevt experiencing the same white screen issue with his 2018 Mac mini + RX 580 eGPU. He provided the connection details which may be helpful to those of us in the same boat. TB3 Port #3 causes this issue for him but Port #2 does not. These two ports belong to different TB3 Controllers. I also found last night my 2018 Mac mini can only provide Boot Selector screen through the eGPU-connected monitor when the connection is through TB3 Controller #1 [TB3 Port #3 & 4]. If I connect the eGPU through TB3 Controller #0 [TB3 Port #1 & 2], it's a black screen when I hold OPTION at boot. Test these different connection arrangements and see if we can find a workaround until Apple fixes Polaris drivers.
Has anyone tried a Mac Pro 5,1 with the Sapphire 580? It looks like most issues being reported are with Mac Mini but I wanted to see if anyone has had experience with Mac Pro before I try to upgrade.
It should work fine. I have a 5,1 running Gigabyte RX 580 and upgrading from Mojave to Catalina went smoothly. Keep in mind the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pro do not have official support for Catalina. Therefore you need to do some prep work. The most important piece is Boot ROM version. The second essential piece is the macOS installer patcher from dosdude1.com.
@steve4332 @fringedivision @shad0wca7 @themadturtle11 I read a recent post from @joevt experiencing the same white screen issue with his 2018 Mac mini + RX 580 eGPU. He provided the connection details which may be helpful to those of us in the same boat. TB3 Port #3 causes this issue for him but Port #2 does not. These two ports belong to different TB3 Controllers. I also found last night my 2018 Mac mini can only provide Boot Selector screen through the eGPU-connected monitor when the connection is through TB3 Controller #1 [TB3 Port #3 & 4]. If I connect the eGPU through TB3 Controller #0 [TB3 Port #1 & 2], it's a black screen when I hold OPTION at boot. Test these different connection arrangements and see if we can find a workaround until Apple fixes Polaris drivers.
I just tested it with all 4 ports but it's the same problem with every port.. But thanks for the link!
It should work fine. I have a 5,1 running Gigabyte RX 580 and upgrading from Mojave to Catalina went smoothly. Keep in mind the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pro do not have official support for Catalina. Therefore you need to do some prep work. The most important piece is Boot ROM version. The second essential piece is the macOS installer patcher from dosdude1.com.
Please forgive me, I don't know much about this process. When you say that I need Boot ROM version, what does that mean exactly? Thank you!
Pending: Add my system information and expected eGPU configuration to my signature to give context to my posts
@steve4332 @fringedivision @shad0wca7 @themadturtle11 I read a recent post from @joevt experiencing the same white screen issue with his 2018 Mac mini + RX 580 eGPU. He provided the connection details which may be helpful to those of us in the same boat. TB3 Port #3 causes this issue for him but Port #2 does not. These two ports belong to different TB3 Controllers. I also found last night my 2018 Mac mini can only provide Boot Selector screen through the eGPU-connected monitor when the connection is through TB3 Controller #1 [TB3 Port #3 & 4]. If I connect the eGPU through TB3 Controller #0 [TB3 Port #1 & 2], it's a black screen when I hold OPTION at boot. Test these different connection arrangements and see if we can find a workaround until Apple fixes Polaris drivers.
I just tested it with all 4 ports but it's the same problem with every port.. But thanks for the link!
Interestingly with the two left ports I see a progress bar under the Apple logo during boot and with the two right ports there is no progress bar only the Apple logo. Unfortunatelly the white screen of death is a constant - it happens with all four ports. 🙁
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
How is the display connected to the eGPU (HDMI/DP)? Does issue occur in either case?
How is the display connected to the eGPU (HDMI/DP)? Does issue occur in either case?
With HDMI attached the screen turns white briefly and then goes black and blanks out, the display goes to sleep. The eGPU spins up to 100%. The same happens with all 4 ports.
With DP attached the screen turns white and remains white. The eGPU spins up to 100%. The same happens with all 4 ports.
Before the screen turns white I see a few magenta lines appear on the top section of the screen for less than half a second (both HDMI and DP).
Either with HDMI or DP the left two ports produce a progress bar upon boot and the right two ports don't. The preboot Apple logo appears in all four ports.
My bootrom version is 1037.0.78.0.0 (iBridge: 17.16.10572.0.0,0)
Apple Mac Mini 2018 + Zotac AMP Box Mini + Sapphire RX 570 ITX
Before the screen turns white I see a few magenta lines appear on the top section of the screen for less than half a second (both HDMI and DP).
Thanks for the detailed response. This happens on my MBP for Vega as well, after which all is well.
Sadly all this sounds like a firmware issue. Apple really messed up the Catalina launch for 2018 mini.