AMD Navi 7nm for eGPU - Radeon RX 5700 & RX 5700 XT  

Apple has never been in a hurry to provide drivers for newly released graphics cards. Most recent AMD big launches are:

• Polaris 10 [RX 480] released on June 29th, 2016 – working drivers on September 21st, 2016
• Vega 10 [RX Vega] released on August 17th, 2017 – working drivers on September 25th, 2017
• Vega 20 [Radeon VII] released on February 7th, 2019 – working drivers on March 27th, 2017
• Navi 10 [RX 5700] released on July 7th, 2019 – working drivers yet to be determined

Vega has only been available in iMacs and MacBook Pros since Nov 2018.  It seems unlikely they're in a hurry to refresh based on a low-volume unproven GPU.  That said, we won't see Navi drivers until we hear of a new Mac with a Navi GPU embedded inside.  And given the power-efficiency of Navi, it would most logically appear in the new MBP16 or a similarly refreshed SKU  - like some fancy new iMac.  (And before someone points out the Radeon VII, let me just point out that its GPU, the Vega 20, is on Apple's informal roadmap)

So my guess is Navi probably won't be supported until winter of 2019 with macOS 10.15.2 -  but more likely spring of 2020 with macOS 10.5.3.

Posted by: kushNYC

So my guess is Navi probably won't be supported until winter of 2019 with macOS 10.15.2 -  but more likely spring of 2020 with macOS 10.5.3.

Eheheheh...everybody hope they will release the drivers before! Maybe in the next months they will upgrade the Apple eGPU enclosure with Navi... 😉  Who knows?

For those worried about the thermals and noise of the RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT,  Gamers Nexus just posted this great video on how to fix them for cheap.

It seems that MSI will put on the market this one, 2x slot width (it seems to me...) Mid August...should be a good choice!

Apple has released the fourth beta of 10.14.6, could someone please verify if it supports RX5700 series?

@itsage Very noob question but how did you get it to power/accelerate the internal display?

Edit: To clarify, I'm asking about windows 10. The 5700 xt is recognized by Windows, I'm getting AIDA64 results that are similar to yours, but when I run Heaven 4.o I'm getting awful performance (like 6 fps). I configured it to use the GPU in the Graphics Settings page for Heaven and the task manager seems to indicate that it's using the GPU but the framerates are terrible.

@vaegpu I was using AMD XConnect to accelerate the 2016 15″ MacBook Pro‘s internal display with RX 5700 XT. This requires a functional Intel iGPU (workaround needed). In your 2018 15″ MacBook Pro, it’s not possible to use the Intel iGPU unfortunately. You’d need to use Windows Graphics Options to specifically assign the High Performance GPU for each app/game. From your description it’s likely your Radeon Pro 560X dGPU is not functioning correctly. I’d recommend downloading the modified July Radeon drivers from Bootcampdrivers.com (not available atm yet). These modified Radeon drivers allows both AMD dGPU and eGPU working together in Boot Camp.

Just ordered an MSI 5700XT off Amazon as it was only £330 for some reason (much cheaper than others).
Might be the lead time (1-3 months) but im in no rush and if the non ref designs are much better I can always return/cancel.

@gyang776

I just updated to 10.14.6 and it still does not recognize the 5700 XT. I'm using the Razer Core X enclosure.

@itsage I see. Thanks for your help. I've confirmed that the guy behind bootcampdrivers.com is working on a release for the latest July radeon drivers.

Hi vaegpu,

stupid question, so, if the 5700 is not recognized, will the screen stay blank, when screen is connected to eGPU? Or what happens exactly? Or is there something like a 'generic' support. Asking because having the possibility to return my Vega 64 to Amazon till next week, which works pretty good with my MacMini 2018 right now. As I primarily use the Mac as a workstation in the evening, I could easily wait for Catalina.

installed a 5700 xt anniversary edition on a core x today - macbook pro 15" 2019 vega 20.

steps:

rebooted to safe mode, uninstalled drivers using ddu
reboot to normal mode, install latest bootcamp drivers (june)
gpu still unrecognized, so unzipped the official latest radeon drivers w/ 5700 support (19.7.1) and updated driver for gpu in device manager

reboot, and gpu is recognized. i benchmarked the division 2 ultra settings at 3440x1400 (45fps avg) and 2560x1080 (55fps avg). everything looked great!

after an additional reboot, i just get a black screen. i was unable to get back to a normal desktop with the core x plugged or unplugged. i can tell windows is working though bc unplugging devices yields a windows sound.

anyone know what i might have done wrong? why did it work the first time? i assume i messed up the drivers by installing the latest bootcamp drivers then updating the gpu manually w/ the official 5700 drivers but i can't be sure. for now, i've reinstalled bootcamp until i figure out what's wrong.

@derNico I updated to the latest beta 10.14.6 and unfortunately it does not output anything to an external monitor plugged in. I'm in a similar situation to you.

@reuel what I did was from a fresh bootcamp install (note that this method will disable your internal AMD GPU but when the drivers at bootcampdrivers.com are updated we can just use those and that will work with the internal GPU):

1) Download the latest Adrenalin drivers (19.7.1)
2) Plug in the eGPU to one of the right side TB3 ports (using the right side TB3 ports is actually important)
3) Run the installer, it will fail saying it can't detect an AMD card
4) Go to C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7
5) Open Config/InstallManager.cfg in a text editor
6) Add the following line to the end of the file

EnableFalcon=true

Then run the Setup executable in the parent folder ( C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7).

It should work after that. If you ever get Error 12 in the Device Manager for the 5700, just reboot to Mac and then reboot to Windows.

Posted by: vaegpu

It should work after that. If you ever get Error 12 in the Device Manager for the 5700, just reboot to Mac and then reboot to Windows.

Golden!
So in this scenario, should you hotplug or keep it connected on both OS initializations, only 1 or something else?

From Tom's Hardware Germany, credit goes to the renown reviewer Igor Wallossek!

😈 Disclaimer: use modded Power Play tables at your own risk, as specified in the article/video, these are not suited for starters, neither suited for the stock AMD blower cooling!!!! 👿  

One can find here the modded Power Play tables download link, i advise users to watch/read the utube/article translated: https://www.tomshw.de/2019/07/11/ungefesselt-radeon-rx-5700-xt-auf-ueber-22-ghz-uebertaktet-break-the-limits-mit-den-neuen-softpowerplaytables-fuer-die-rx-5700-und-rx-5700-xt/3/

TL:DR: Modded power tables allow the card to reach higher power consumption and grant control over voltages and clocks.
It can bypass the 1800Mhz driver lock on 5700 and allow the 5700xt to reach 2700S/2800 level of performances in some games.
The card used in the test obviously ran under water, the reviews point out that this kind of mod are a no go with the AMD stock cooling solution, neither a no go as daily usage.
He also advice to wait custom AIB card to unlock further the Navi die potential, since everyone seems to agree that AMD did a poor job to enhance its own products as usual!

@kakahara for both Mac and Windows I just leave it plugged in. Works totally fine and as expected (though in Mac of course, there are no drivers atm so although it is detected as an eGPU nothing really happens).

@wimpzilla Thank you for sharing the links. Navi potential is certainly something to look forward to. They are the value choice for gamers that don’t mind doing modifications or like you said wait until better AIB options become available.

Posted by: vaegpu

@derNico I updated to the latest beta 10.14.6 and unfortunately it does not output anything to an external monitor plugged in. I'm in a similar situation to you.

@reuel what I did was from a fresh bootcamp install (note that this method will disable your internal AMD GPU but when the drivers at bootcampdrivers.com are updated we can just use those and that will work with the internal GPU):

1) Download the latest Adrenalin drivers (19.7.1)
2) Plug in the eGPU to one of the right side TB3 ports (using the right side TB3 ports is actually important)
3) Run the installer, it will fail saying it can't detect an AMD card
4) Go to C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7
5) Open Config/InstallManager.cfg in a text editor
6) Add the following line to the end of the file

EnableFalcon=true

Then run the Setup executable in the parent folder ( C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7).

It should work after that. If you ever get Error 12 in the Device Manager for the 5700, just reboot to Mac and then reboot to Windows.

this worked. why do the other guides contain so many more steps and install scripts for similar hardware configs? strange.

Posted by: @reuel

Posted by: vaegpu

@derNico I updated to the latest beta 10.14.6 and unfortunately it does not output anything to an external monitor plugged in. I'm in a similar situation to you.

@reuel what I did was from a fresh bootcamp install (note that this method will disable your internal AMD GPU but when the drivers at bootcampdrivers.com are updated we can just use those and that will work with the internal GPU):

1) Download the latest Adrenalin drivers (19.7.1)
2) Plug in the eGPU to one of the right side TB3 ports (using the right side TB3 ports is actually important)
3) Run the installer, it will fail saying it can't detect an AMD card
4) Go to C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7
5) Open Config/InstallManager.cfg in a text editor
6) Add the following line to the end of the file

EnableFalcon=true

Then run the Setup executable in the parent folder ( C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7).

It should work after that. If you ever get Error 12 in the Device Manager for the 5700, just reboot to Mac and then reboot to Windows.

this worked. why do the other guides contain so many more steps and install scripts for similar hardware configs? strange.

Meanwhile I wouldn't even follow these steps as the AMD drivers see the card /egpu straight away. It gives me error 12 and I still can't get round that rebooting to Mac and then Windows.
Disabling hosts/ports and the webcam don't work either.

Hmm... Is everyone else using the 15" MacBook (i.e has dGPU) and an external display?

@itsage

how did you get the 19.7.11 drivers on windows into bootcamp? I tried but i allways get an error message (error 173)

Posted by: @vaegpu

@derNico I updated to the latest beta 10.14.6 and unfortunately it does not output anything to an external monitor plugged in. I'm in a similar situation to you.

@reuel what I did was from a fresh bootcamp install (note that this method will disable your internal AMD GPU but when the drivers at bootcampdrivers.com are updated we can just use those and that will work with the internal GPU):

1) Download the latest Adrenalin drivers (19.7.1)
2) Plug in the eGPU to one of the right side TB3 ports (using the right side TB3 ports is actually important)
3) Run the installer, it will fail saying it can't detect an AMD card
4) Go to C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7
5) Open Config/InstallManager.cfg in a text editor
6) Add the following line to the end of the file

EnableFalcon=true

Then run the Setup executable in the parent folder ( C:/AMD/Win10-64Bit-Radeon-Software-Adrenalin-2019-Edition-19.7.1-July7).

It should work after that. If you ever get Error 12 in the Device Manager for the 5700, just reboot to Mac and then reboot to Windows.

well... i was blind but i now tried this. 

all i have now is a windows in bootcamp with a blackscreen. 🙁 
the new driver probably does not work correctly 
i have the 2018 macbook pro 15'' with a core x and the 5700xt 

any solutions?

Edit: I've booted in the repair mode, and just set back everything to normal. now im back in normal windows

@reuel Glad it worked for you too. I had a bit of an advantage in figuring this out because I naively thought it would work without needing to read any guide. When I got stuck I just picked out the bare minimum tips from other guides that got me unstuck.

@kakahara Make sure your eGPU is plugged into your right side TB3 ports. It seems ridiculous but it's important that you plug into the right side ports only. If that still doesn't help, there are other guides on this site that explain various tricks you can do to get past Error 12 (many of these involve disabling certain devices).

@fasaso See my comment here. You need to edit a config file in the installer to tell it to ignore that error.

Posted by: vaegpu

@reuel Glad it worked for you too. I had a bit of an advantage in figuring this out because I naively thought it would work without needing to read any guide. When I got stuck I just picked out the bare minimum tips from other guides that got me unstuck.

@kakahara Make sure your eGPU is plugged into your right side TB3 ports. It seems ridiculous but it's important that you plug into the right side ports only. If that still doesn't help, there are other guides on this site that explain various tricks you can do to get past Error 12 (many of these involve disabling certain devices).

@fasaso See my comment here. You need to edit a config file in the installer to tell it to ignore that error.

I've tried that but as soon as Adrenalin 19.7.1 is installing the screen goes black. I can still hear the windows sounds. A reboot still resulted in a blackscreen so i had to recover the windows to its factorysettings. I had my RX5700xt plugged in when i installed the new drivers.

@vaegpu Yea, it has always been on the right side due to logistics. Finally got it working though - about 30 mins after I decided to buy a Blackmagic eGPU from Apple to see how a working setup behaves.
The last time I booted into Windows (where I'm in currently - have not powered down or rebooted since) I had both Root Port 3, 5 and 9 disabled and I wondered why I couldn't see the card (I forgot this basically turns off all of the ports 🙄 )
So of course, enabled one of them (I will update this later) and got the left side ports working. (Still couldn't see it - I did it this way as I haven't taken note which #s control which side - I wanted to enabled the right side of course)
Then enabled right side ports - it found the card but with error 12.
Plugged it into the left side (lower) port still error 12. Enabled all the Root ports and plugged it back into the right lower port and no error 12.
Result! so downloaded Heaven - couldn't get it working first due to a C++ file and then another 0x00 or something error. Anyway tried Superposition and I was getting 5-10 fps - ugh.
Then downloaded steam and Total War: 3 Kingdoms. Default res/settings gave me 110+ FPS on the game's in built benchmark but looked worse than without the egpu on MacOS. Set it to native 2560x1600 and Ultra settings and I'm getting about 45fps on the games in built benchmark.
Have not rebooted my mac since (been playing 3 Kingdoms, thank you cloud saves) - typing this up on a work laptop while I play on my own.

So things to take away - 
2019 13" i7/16gb/512gb MacBook Pro, Razer Core X, 5700XT 50th AE
Have not used any efi or any of the other tricks (lack of USB stick I guess) 
Have not used DDU
Bootcamp Windows 10 1903 - which I have nuked several times for testing - (I think the 2nd time round it didn't initial bootcamp installer). I'm now on 3rd install of Bootcamp
Standard AMD drivers from the AMD website (lack of any other alternatives)
Driving the internal display (preference) - on multiple occasions while booting with the eGPU plugged in prior to selecting bootcamp Windows (I don't know what the proper term for this screen is called) the internal screen which flickers and would continue to flicker even when I disconnected the TB cable to the eGPU) 
I got error 12 from day 1 hotplugging as soon as the Windows logo comes up.
Currently still have the webcam disabled.
All ports enabled and working.

Seems like triggering the initialization of the USB-C ports in sequence helped. Will be happy to nuke and start all over if someone wants.
Also happy to benchmark other stuff as long as I can get it on Steam and it works on both MacOS and Windows 10.

The Blackmagic is coming on Monday so may just nuke again to see how it behaves. 

If anyone has any insights/analysis on anything I've written, please comment/correct/advise me.

Thanks all

As a reminder, unless you fill out your signature with full system specs or provide them in your post we cannot provide meaningful advice. @fasaso reading the symptoms you encountered, you most likely have a Mac with Radeon dGPU which does not work with regular Radeon drivers. Also when connecting an eGPU at boot, the Mac firmware will deactivate the iGPU/dGPU which then disabling/blacking out the internal display.

@kakahara I have an identical MacBook Pro to yours and Boot Camp setup has been the easiest I’ve experienced [build link]. I can use all four Thunderbolt 3 ports through hot-plug in Windows Desktop or timed hot-plug at Windows logo circle dots. It works with RX 480, RX Vega, and RX 5700. Cold boot with the eGPU connected would require a boot loader such as automate-eGPU EFI. Since you are running Windows 10 1903, I’d recommend hot-plug in Windows Desktop only.

Hi Everybody,

Long time lurker, first time poster on eGPU. I picked up one of these new Sapphire 5700 XT cards and dropped it in a Razer Core X with the full understanding that driver support would be less than stellar on both platforms given how new everything is. The intention was to run it on my my 2018 mac mini under windows. Gonna start it out playing a few fun titles and then gradually work it into my professional workflow whenever this newfangled unicorn 16in MBP with a keyboard you can actually use comes out.

Haven't used the card all that much just yet, but I can confirm a couple details on the setup process:

1. Getting this things going wasn't actually too bad. I used an HDMI cable to go through the windows / bootcamp process.
2. Ran into a bit of a hiccup getting windows to boot while the eGPU was connected WITHOUT drivers. Having both the HDMI cable connected and the TB3 connection at boot simply sent the thing into a tailspin. So, I used HDMI to start the driver installation process, and then hot plugged the razer into the system during device detection. That seemed to be all that was needed. AMD's software simply installed the drivers, and I restarted booting natively into windows, disconnecting HDMI, keeping TB3 plugged in and running a DisplayPort cable directly from the card to my monitor. After a moment, the monitor lit up and worked.

I have a 4k panel running @60 hz. Done a little bit of gaming at with Shadow of the Tomb Raider at max settings and max resolution. And its performance — at least from the perspective of somebody who has little experience with eGPU products (this is my first one) and PC gaming, is quite incredible. Definitely think it's worth the $399 price. It gets a bit hot on load, but inside the core I don't the noise is much of an issue. I know it gets some flack from the blower only design, but I think it looks quite nice. MacOS has no idea this card exists when it's plugged in but I expected that. Thanks to everybody for all the time and effort put into builds. Happy to answer any questions and will post some pics of my hilariously bad cable management / setup when I get a chance.

All the best guys!

@itsage

Ahh I've never hot plugged it in Windows (yet, will try tonight). Also, do you wait for Windows to load fully before hotplugging?

Doing it from the Windows icon just before the spinning dots has always caused me error 12 issues which I've "cured" twice now but disabling/enabling the ports. (Haven't done alot of testing as busy playing)

As a side note RE: performance
I'm playing Total War: 3 Kingdoms via steam on native resolution on Ultra on internal display.
Looks amazing but may have to drop down to a lower res as I think my nose touches the screen at times 😀 😯 
Using Wattman Auto Undervolt - I can see the GPU clock is in use at 2040-2080 Mhz - Marketing says Boost clock is 1980Mhz - is this the same thing?

Task Manager shows my CPU is at 35% util so I have room for a better GPU in future too.
Haven't got round to trying overclock yet.

I have a Mac mini 16 g ram  i5 2018 processor and razer core x with Vega 64 nitro slightly overclock, and I get 6500 on timespy 3dmark demo.  Can anybody with similar specs do the test?

@kakahara I recently installed Windows 10 1903 on my Macs. This version allows hot-plugging of Radeon eGPU without BSOD or error 12. That’s what I’m doing now for the 2018 Mac mini and 2019 13″ MacBook Pro. It works very reliable.

@itsage
I have windows 1809 installed on an external ssd, and my gaming box works fine. 
Does it make sense to update to 1903 with a view of upgrading either to a vega 56 nano or a vega vii , 5700xt in the near future? 
Waiting for the dust to settle so I can figure out what makes more sense for my use.

If if yes can I update the existing installation or I need to make a new one?

thanks in advance . 

Any sign of macOS compatibility in recent betas?

@tsakal Win10 1903 can be a blessing for some Mac users running eGPU in Boot Camp but it can also wreak havoc for others. @eightarmedpet and I had a terrible experience upgrading our 2017 13″ MacBook Pro to 1903. The mix of Radeon drivers and this Windows version would send my Boot Camp partition into a boot loop. There’s no way to fix and clean install is needed. I tried it at least 4 times with same results. If your setup is working well I’d say stay put. Unless you have some spare time and full backup then give it a go and let us know your results.

@cpow681

Hey I'm currently in a huge struggle trying to get my new XFX RX 5700XT to be recognized by windows in Bootcamp. I have installed the latest drivers from bootcampdrivers.com and Windows just does not seem to recognize my card in the eGPU enclosure (Razer Core X). Windows thinks its a `Microsoft Basic Display Adapter`. When i try to download the drivers from Radeon's website, and manually hit update driver through device manager, the update says it fails and the drivers can't be installed. Not sure if i'm doing something wrong here, I've watched dozens of tutorials and forums and the process and my graphics card just simply isn't recognized by Windows. I'm running Windows 10 1803 currently. 

Some prep work while waiting for RX 5700 XT delivery tomorrow night. Fans and radiator are in place. I will drill four mounting holes on the bottom to secure the pump/reservoir combo. I’m not sure how all the lines are going to fit inside just yet.

Just thought I'd update the thread and mention that bootcampdrivers.com officially now supports the Radeon 5700 in the July version updates with an eGPU! Will be installing them tonight and try running it on a fresh install of  windows 10 1903 on an external ssd on my 15 inch MacBook Pro 2018. I'll update with my findings.

@juan_monterrosa

Bootcampdrivers July v2 are not working for me yet (Akitio Node, RX5700 XT, Windows 1903, MBP 2018 w/Radeon Pro 560X). The eGPU is not detected (but the Akitio shows up in macOS 10.14.5, w/o GPU as expected). Same system worked well with RX580.

Posted by: @itsage

Some prep work while waiting for RX 5700 XT delivery tomorrow night. Fans and radiator are in place. I will drill four mounting holes on the bottom to secure the pump/reservoir combo. I’m not sure how all the lines are going to fit inside just yet.

Unfortunately this was a failed attempt. The 4-pin fan header on the Asus XG Station Pro did not power the pump as I had hoped. Then I recall ASUS tuned the firmware to only kick the two 120mm fans (through these two headers) once enclosure temp reaches 55 degrees Celsius. Dedicated fan controller would likely work but soldering the power connection with water lines crammed in this enclosure seems like a very bad idea to me.