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best egpu for mac mini 2020

M

mini5apple

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 2, 2020
52
6
Hi

I'm looking for the best egpu for a mac mini 2020 i5 8gb ram

What's the best egpu that works with mac that i could also use in a windows pc build in the future?

thanks
 
Check out egpu.io. You’ll get advice and insight on the epgu and gpu
 
First of all, there is no such thing as a Mac mini 2020. You have a Mac mini 2018; the only thing Apple changed this year was the baseline SSD storage amount. Everything else is the same as the 2018 model. That also means your Mac mini can run macOS Mojave should you choose to do so.

Before you visit egpu.io, READ THE OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT DOCUMENT ON EGPUS. Read it several times very carefully paying close attention to their recommended hardware.

If a particular graphics card and/or eGPU enclosure doesn't appear on Apple's support document, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, however it does mean that Apple hasn't thoroughly tested those. Failure to follow Apple's recommendation may result in hours/days/weeks of you pounding your head against a brick wall because you wanted to shave $50 by trying to use a second-tier AIB's graphics card. Your call.

Basically, Apple says that you want an AMD reference Radeon RX 580, a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580, or the AMD reference Radeon RX 5700 XT (the latter if you are running Catalina). The eGPU enclosure ideally should be the Razer Core or the Sonnet Breakaway.

I assure you that the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 550 and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 card combination is an effortless no-brainer on the Macs and Windows 10 PCs I have tried.

If you don't need the best 3D performance, you might consider picking up the Pulse RX 580 sooner than later. Once AMD announces their Big Navi/RDNA2 GPUs, inventory of the two-year-old RX 500 series will start to dry up. Note that Sapphire no longer markets the three-year-old RX 400 series cards. Some members of the RX 5000 family will probably be around for another year.
 
Last edited:
Erehy Dobon said:
First of all, there is no such thing as a Mac mini 2020. You have a Mac mini 2018; the only thing Apple changed this year was the baseline SSD storage amount. Everything else is the same as the 2018 model. That also means your Mac mini can run macOS Mojave should you choose to do so.

Before you visit egpu.io, READ THE OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT DOCUMENT ON EGPUS. Read it several times very carefully paying close attention to their recommended hardware.

If a particular graphics card and/or eGPU enclosure doesn't appear on Apple's support document, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, however it does mean that Apple hasn't thoroughly tested those. Failure to follow Apple's recommendation may result in hours/days/weeks of you pounding your head against a brick wall because you wanted to shave $50 by trying to use a second-tier AIB's graphics card. Your call.

Basically, Apple says that you want an AMD reference Radeon RX 580, a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580, or the AMD reference Radeon RX 5700 XT (the latter if you are running Catalina). The eGPU enclosure ideally should be the Razer Core or the Sonnet Breakaway.

I assure you that the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650 and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 card combination is an effortless no-brainer on the Macs and Windows 10 PCs I have tried.

If you don't need the best 3D performance, you might consider picking up the Pulse RX 580 sooner than later. Once AMD announces their Big Navi/RDNA2 GPUs, inventory of the two-year-old RX 500 series will start to dry up. Note that Sapphire no longer markets the three-year-old RX 400 series cards. Some members of the RX 5000 family will probably be around for another year.
Click to expand...


i was hoping something equivalent to a 2080ti or even a 3090 would be compatible obviously the puni mac mini 2018 would be the weakest link ^ read my post i dont want a **** 580 useless piece of hardware if its ready to be discontinued

thanks
 
Your original post provided no budget nor usage case.

Now that you have provided scant more information, your choices are more clear.

With Apple starting a two-year Mac transition to their in-house Apple Silicon architecture, the ability to share an external GPU between a Mac and a Windows PC will eventually disappear.

You can equip your Mac mini with a Radeon RX 5700 XT right now. Apple will probably include Big Navi/RDNA2 graphics in their last wave of Intel-based Macs. You can either wait for RDNA2 if you want something better than RX 5000 performance or simply forget about it.

As far as I can tell, AMD has never had a top-tier graphics card that can keep up stride-by-stride with Nvidia's best. The one-year-old flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT is pretty much at the same level as the one-year-old GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (which decidedly below a couple of other Nvidia cards). The former is about $100 cheaper, the latter has hardware ray-tracing and DLSS.

The just-announced 3070 is about on par with last year's 2080Ti performance at a massively discounted price.

AMD has never dominated on absolute GPU performance. Their M.O. is to find a better price-performance value.

My guess is that AMD's upcoming flagship Radeon Big Navi/RDNA2 card will land somewhere between the GeForce 3070 and 3080 at a price point closer to the former.

If you have a hard budget ceiling, you can get more performance from a Radeon card dollar-for-dollar. Uncap the budget and it's all GeForce.
 
Last edited:
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Erehy Dobon said:
Your original post provided no budget nor usage case.

Now that you have provided scant more information, your choices are more clear.

With Apple starting a two-year Mac transition to their in-house Apple Silicon architecture, the ability to share an external GPU between a Mac and a Windows PC will eventually disappear.

You can equip your Mac mini with a Radeon RX 5700 XT right now. Apple will probably include Big Navi/RDNA2 graphics in their last wave of Intel-based Macs. You can either wait for RDNA2 if you want something better than RX 5000 performance or simply forget about it.

As far as I can tell, AMD has never had a top-tier graphics card that can keep up stride-by-stride with Nvidia's best. The one-year-old flagship Radeon RX 5700 XT is pretty much at the same level as the one-year-old GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER (which decidedly below a couple of other Nvidia cards). The former is about $100 cheaper, the latter has hardware ray-tracing and DLSS.

The just-announced 3070 is about on par with last year's 2080Ti performance at a massively discounted price.

AMD has never dominated on absolute GPU performance. Their M.O. is to find a better price-performance value.

My guess is that AMD's upcoming flagship Radeon Big Navi/RDNA2 card will land somewhere between the GeForce 3070 and 3080 at a price point closer to the former.

If you have a hard budget ceiling, you can get more performance from a Radeon card dollar-for-dollar. Uncap the budget and it's all GeForce.
Click to expand...

How much are we talking here?
 
The eGPU enclosures recommended by Apple are around $300 apiece.

What varies is the cost of the graphics card. The street price for the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 is currently $180. I believe the MSRP of the AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT reference card is $400.

Those are the prices from the top of my head when I priced out eGPUs about six months ago. Double check current pricing. When I last looked I did not see much price variance between different retailers.
 
mini5apple said:
Hi

I'm looking for the best egpu for a mac mini 2020 i5 8gb ram

What's the best egpu that works with mac that i could also use in a windows pc build in the future?

thanks
Click to expand...


are you looking for an enclosure AND a GPU? Or just the GPU?

What’s your budget?
 
So budget of say 1200. What's the best way to trick this out. I have a 3.2 6 core i7 with 32GB of RAM and 2x Thunderbolt 6GB drives running a Dell U3818DW monitor. I'm considering going to the 49 inch Dell or adding a 2nd U3818DW. Basically with a tricked out eGPU setup I'll have the equivalent of a MacMini Pro which I wish Apple would just build. I thought about getting the regular MacPro but I hate the big cheese grater, it's pricey and it's overkill. I have the Mini and the TB drives mounted under the desk and my setup is small, tight and clean. Toyed with the eGPU idea for a while but never pulled the trigger. I'm also happy to wait until the next iteration of the AAPL processor Mini if it makes sense.

So in summary 2 questions: First---will a tricked-out eGPU rig drive 2x D3818UW (3840 x 1600) monitors. Second, with no real budget constraints (within reason) how should I achieve this.

Thanks in advance for the help.---Miles
 
Last edited:
Erehy Dobon said:
First of all, there is no such thing as a Mac mini 2020. You have a Mac mini 2018; the only thing Apple changed this year was the baseline SSD storage amount. Everything else is the same as the 2018 model. That also means your Mac mini can run macOS Mojave should you choose to do so.

Before you visit egpu.io, READ THE OFFICIAL APPLE SUPPORT DOCUMENT ON EGPUS. Read it several times very carefully paying close attention to their recommended hardware.

If a particular graphics card and/or eGPU enclosure doesn't appear on Apple's support document, that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, however it does mean that Apple hasn't thoroughly tested those. Failure to follow Apple's recommendation may result in hours/days/weeks of you pounding your head against a brick wall because you wanted to shave $50 by trying to use a second-tier AIB's graphics card. Your call.

Basically, Apple says that you want an AMD reference Radeon RX 580, a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580, or the AMD reference Radeon RX 5700 XT (the latter if you are running Catalina). The eGPU enclosure ideally should be the Razer Core or the Sonnet Breakaway.

I assure you that the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650 and the Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 580 card combination is an effortless no-brainer on the Macs and Windows 10 PCs I have tried.

If you don't need the best 3D performance, you might consider picking up the Pulse RX 580 sooner than later. Once AMD announces their Big Navi/RDNA2 GPUs, inventory of the two-year-old RX 500 series will start to dry up. Note that Sapphire no longer markets the three-year-old RX 400 series cards. Some members of the RX 5000 family will probably be around for another year.
Click to expand...

mini5apple said:
Hi

I'm looking for the best egpu for a mac mini 2020 i5 8gb ram

What's the best egpu that works with mac that i could also use in a windows pc build in the future?

thanks
Click to expand...
We assume you did not mean the M1 Mac Mini since that wasn't released until November, 2020. Regardless, the M1 Mac Mini is not compatible with eGPUs, i.e., eGPUs will not work with M1 Mac Minis.
 
RailroadXX said:
We assume you did not mean the M1 Mac Mini since that wasn't released until November, 2020. Regardless, the M1 Mac Mini is not compatible with eGPUs, i.e., eGPUs will not work with M1 Mac Minis.
Click to expand...

First of all i've mentioned the i5 implying its the intel NOT silicon based

Its the 2020 mac mini i5 8gb 512 ssd
 
Well the best opportunity has slipped through your fingers.

Today older GPUs like the 5700 XT and RX 580 are going from 3x to 5x their prices in September-October 2020.

You will pay an arm and a leg to get a Mac-compatible graphics card now for your i5 mini.
 
mini5apple said:
First of all i've mentioned the i5 implying its the intel NOT silicon based

Its the 2020 mac mini i5 8gb 512 ssd
Click to expand...
Seems folks on this forum are fond of "First of all" so...as "E Dobon" indicated, long thread short, 2018. 2020...M1 Mac Mini.
 
RailroadXX said:
Seems folks on this forum are fond of "First of all" so...as "E Dobon" indicated, long thread short, 2018. 2020...M1 Mac Mini.
Click to expand...
I'll say it again, the mac mini is 2020 bought in 2020 and written on the receipt as 2020

I dont make the rules or name the products

i swear this forum is full of anal people
 
Try this: go to the Apple Menu in the upper left hand corner of your screen and select "About This Mac."

Tell us how your Mac identifies itself.

(Spoiler: whether you bought it in 2018, 2019, 2020, or even 2021, this SKU is still a Mac mini 2018.)
 
Erehy Dobon said:
Try this: go to the Apple Menu in the upper left hand corner of your screen and select "About This Mac."

Tell us how your Mac identifies itself.

(Spoiler: whether you bought it in 2018, 2019, 2020, or even 2021, this SKU is still a Mac mini 2018.)
Click to expand...

Mac mini (2020)
Processor 3 Ghz 6-core Intel Core i5

etc etc
 
Cool, your Mac mini 2020 is better than the Mac mini 2018 despite the fact that the CPU is the exact same part as the 2018 model.

You win.
 
Erehy Dobon said:
Cool, your Mac mini 2020 is better than the Mac mini 2018 despite the fact that the CPU is the exact same part as the 2018 model.

You win.
Click to expand...
Oops! Guess he/she (being PC:cool:) put us in our places. Yikes.

1616307230260.png


Before leaving the subject, we have a 2025 Mac Pro cylinder ("trash can") that can be installed with 11 and earlier OSes in case anyone's interested in buying.
 
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