Catalina & eGPU...

[rake_mistry]

Found some good news from a fellow 2018 Mac mini user in the Big Sur forums:

My 2018 Mac mini now boots with EGPU attached !

Installed the beta and now I can boot with my TB3 EGPU (RX570 in Razer Core X) with the monitor attached to the EGPU.
That was the top of my list for fixes.

My 2018 Mac mini now boots with EGPU attached !

Installed the beta and now I can boot with my TB3 EGPU (RX570 in Razer Core X) with the monitor attached to the EGPU. That was the top of my list for fixes.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Meatsuit]

Recently Upgraded GPU in my OWC Helios FX 550. Relaced the Gigabyte RX580 for the Power Color Red Devil RX5700 XT.
Booted up the first time the same way I have been for the last few months, With the Mini connected w/HDMI to a TV for a login screen and the Mini w/TB to eGPU and DP to my ultrawide. This has been the only reliable boot method with the RX580 to get a login screen. Did few restarts with the 5700 and all went well no issues. Hooked it up the normal way with the Mini w/TB to the Egpu and DP ultrawide. It's rebooting and getting a login screen for now. I'm cautiously happy. Besides that, the installation was really tight. Has to remove the power supply and case fan and mount to get the card into the encloser. Its a lot bigger than the old card. Ran some benchmarks thumbnails below. Played Fornite at Epic settings got an average of 60fps, launched and tested Unreal tournament, Dirt Rally, Batman Arkham, Rise of the TR, Lego DC Villains, Lego Movie 2, Elder Scrolls, and Disco Elysium. All played at max settings and smooth. The noise level is about the same. Going to try and hook it up to my PC and try to tweak the Bios setting. See if I can get to run in OC mode on the Mac. Will install Borderlands 3 this weekend its kinda the reason I got the new card.

 

[frou]

Tip for eGPU users: If, while your Mac is sleeping, you hear the eGPU fans spin up for a few seconds approximately every 2 hours, that's because the Mac does stealthy wake-ups to advertise its network capabilities.

That behaviour can be disabled by running this Terminal command then rebooting:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist NoMulticastAdvertisements -bool YES

With that, the eGPU will remain completely inactive the whole time the Mac is sleeping for extended periods 👌

 

[RC12]

Tip for eGPU users: If, while your Mac is sleeping, you hear the eGPU fans spin up for a few seconds approximately every 2 hours, that's because the Mac does stealthy wake-ups to advertise its network capabilities.

That behaviour can be disabled by running this Terminal command then rebooting:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist NoMulticastAdvertisements -bool YES

With that, the eGPU will remain completely inactive the whole time the Mac is sleeping for extended periods ?

Thank you so much for this. Drives me absolutely nuts when it randomly ramps up.

 

[TriApple]

Thank you so much for this. Drives me absolutely nuts when it randomly ramps up.

What downsides, if any, does this produce?

 

[Maccotto]

Tip for eGPU users: If, while your Mac is sleeping, you hear the eGPU fans spin up for a few seconds approximately every 2 hours, that's because the Mac does stealthy wake-ups to advertise its network capabilities.

That behaviour can be disabled by running this Terminal command then rebooting:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist NoMulticastAdvertisements -bool YES

With that, the eGPU will remain completely inactive the whole time the Mac is sleeping for extended periods

Thx a lot

 

[RC12]

What downsides, if any, does this produce?

Mostly just annoying lol and I worry about unnecessary wear and tear on the GPU.

 

[frou]

What downsides, if any, does this produce?

If you mean downsides of that terminal command, I guess it would be the possibility of delays in Macs automatically knowing about each other when browsing the Network section in Finder, etc.

 

[TriApple]

If you mean downsides of that terminal command, I guess it would be the possibility of delays in Macs automatically knowing about each other when browsing the Network section in Finder, etc.

Yeah, that’s what I meant, thanks.

I dont think anything I do relies on the service, but I guess I’ll find out.

is there a reverse command to restore the function?

 

[frou]

is there a reverse command to restore the function?

Yep, this:

sudo defaults delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist NoMulticastAdvertisements

---

I posted something else here about how to see a log with info about all of a Mac's wake events that happened in the last 2 days.

Anyway, the original fix continues to work great for me. Zero noisy eGPU fan spinups after sleeping my Mac Mini.

 

[CC88]

Some apps like the latest version of Final Cut or Photoshop, etc. have a setting within the preferences where you need to select the egpu. Both apps benefit a lot from switching to egpu use.

Found your post as I'm doing some research after buying an eGPU for my macmini. Sorry but using the eGPU not directly connected to the monitor in my case slow down timeline and clip browser in FPCX because it use internal GPU.

Any chance to not have the eGPU connected to the monitor BUT fcpx using it in editing and preview?

 

[melvinlusk]

I can confirm that booting works normally on my MacMini after upgrading to Big Sur.....I don't have to connect a monitor to the internal HDMI, and my two monitors attached to my OWC Mercury eGPU with a Vega 64 work fine. I don't even need an HDMI dummy plug attached to it.

Last night I was reading that the ARM Macs don't have eGPU support...this is something to keep in mind if you're thinking about getting one.

 

[Stephen.R]

I can confirm that booting works normally on my MacMini after upgrading to Big Sur.....I don't have to connect a monitor to the internal HDMI, and my two monitors attached to my OWC Mercury eGPU with a Vega 64 work fine. I don't even need an HDMI dummy plug attached to it.

Last night I was reading that the ARM Macs don't have eGPU support...this is something to keep in mind if you're thinking about getting one.

Sorry if you've answered this before, but do you have FileVault turned on?

 

[melvinlusk]

I don't have FileVault enabled (and I haven't answered this before ).

 

[CC88]

Found your post as I'm doing some research after buying an eGPU for my macmini. Sorry but using the eGPU not directly connected to the monitor in my case slow down timeline and clip browser in FPCX because it use internal GPU.

Any chance to not have the eGPU connected to the monitor BUT fcpx using it in editing and preview?

Sorry to all of you.

Found the answer: revert back to FCPX 10.4.6 that show "Prefer GPU" on Get Info window. Thing has changed from 10.4.7.

 

[narr]

Btw: BIG SUR fixed all my boot problems with my egpu (RX 580). I can boot with only the egpu connected via USB-C and I can see the boot screen with apple logo and progress bar. Works perfectly fine everytime. Finally!!! That took a long time.

 

[Stephen.R]

Btw: BIG SUR fixed all my boot problems with my egpu (RX 580). I can boot with only the egpu connected via USB-C and I can see the boot screen with apple logo and progress bar. Works perfectly fine everytime. Finally!!! That took time a long time.

Thanks for confirming. Do you have FileVault enabled, by any chance?

 

[narr]

Thanks for confirming. Do you have FileVault enabled, by any chance?

No, I have disabled it. A user here on MR said that there are still problems when FileVault is enabled....sigh.

 

[RC12]

Just thought I’d add this here, running the latest Big Sur beta, my eGPU now works perfectly fine.... until I put my computer to sleep. There the display will not wake. The computer is on and I can interact with it normally through an HDMI display, but nothing I do will make the eGPU wake up. It even shows up still connected in the system preference, and you can manipulate the settings, but still nothing.

 

[Stephen.R]

A user here on MR said that there are still problems when FileVault is enabled....sigh.

I didn't see this response at the time. I think under Catalina at least, it's "expected" to not work when FV is enabled, because your login password is what enables the disk to be decrypted - Apple's eGPU support doc specifically says it won't work until after login with FV enabled.

But Big Sur brings some changes to APFS volume roles, and how the system is setup, so maybe it works under 11.0...

Also, to add to this, I finally bit the bullet and got a Node Titan + 5700XT. So far, no issues. I've now switched the 5700 to silent mode (it's a Sapphire Pulse with dual bios), between the noise from multiple multi-disk enclosures and A/C I can't really hear it running.

 

[Meatsuit]

Im running pretty good. No more swap screen. Got rid of the second monitor. Just running the monitor from the eGPU w/DP cable. File Vault not working. Safari has froze a few times. Besides Safari being a little buggy, It's pretty stable. Going to hang with 10.15.7 -19H15. Until Big Sur gets more attractive ?

 

[iAssimilated]

I was wondering if there is a new thread regarding people who have updated to Monterey and are running eGPUs?

 

[iAssimilated]

If anyone involved in this thread has upgraded to Monterey:

Monterey and eGPU

This post is to start a thread similar to the ones below but focusing on eGPU usage with Monterey: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/big-sur-and-egpu.2247755/ https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/catalina-egpu.2193797/ Full disclosure, I have not updated to Monterey because my eGPU is...

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