EGPU enclosure for 2018 Mac Mini?

[Engender]

Does anyone have any experience with a EGPU enclosure and a 2018 Mac Mini? I am switching from my Mac Pro, described below. The graphics when using Safari (including making this post) have a delay that is driving me crazy.

I have a EVGA power supply sitting around from a gaming PC refurbish from a few years ago. I have the AMD Radeon RX 580 sitting in my Mac Pro. Does anyone have any success stories with an intel Mac Mini and an eGPU dock? I'm looking at this one, maybe. Is it a certain chip set I'm looking for?

Grah! Why is this thing sooo slow!? It's probably because I'm running three monitors, right? Two through Thunderbolt and one through HDMI. Should I be doing something else?

Mac Mini Specs: 16 GBS memory, 3 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5.

It is SOOO SLOW I HATE IT!

EDIT: I moved the USB-C to Displayport to opposite USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the graphics performance has increased drastically. I think the problem was that I had two 2K displays running on the same Thunderbolt bus when I originally wrote this post.

 

[joevt]

For the Mac mini 2018, you want to connect the RX 580 using Thunderbolt. For that, any Thunderbolt enclosure with a PCIe or NVMe slot should work. You may need an adapter if the slot is not PCIe x16. Use the EVGA power supply to power the RX 580. The power supply will need a jumper or switch to enable power.

The Minisforum DEG1 eGPU Dock requires an Occulink connection.

Check egpu.io website for eGPU examples.

 

[Engender]

For the Mac mini 2018, you want to connect the RX 580 using Thunderbolt. For that, any Thunderbolt enclosure with a PCIe or NVMe slot should work. You may need an adapter if the slot is not PCIe x16. Use the EVGA power supply to power the RX 580. The power supply will need a jumper or switch to enable power.

The Minisforum DEG1 eGPU Dock requires an Occulink connection.

Check egpu.io website for eGPU examples.

What is an Occulink connection?

 

[joevt]

EDIT: I moved the USB-C to Displayport to opposite USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the graphics performance has increased drastically. I think the problem was that I had two 2K displays running on the same Thunderbolt bus when I originally wrote this post.

GPU performance should not be affected by Thunderbolt connection.
Was the same Thunderbolt port being used for data storage?

What is an Occulink connection?

Oculink. It's a connector and cable standard. The Minisforum DEG1 eGPU Dock supports PCIe 4.0 x4 but the Mac mini is limited to PCIe 3.0 and Thunderbolt 3 is limited to PCIe 3.0 x4.

 

[Engender]

I have all of my USB-C/Thunderbolt ports in use. So, yes it was being used for data storage in that it is connected to a Sabrent HDD enclosure.

EDIT: But I only have one thing plugged into each USB-C/Thunderbolt port.

 

[bzgnyc2]

I have all of my USB-C/Thunderbolt ports in use. So, yes it was being used for data storage in that it is connected to a Sabrent HDD enclosure.

EDIT: But I only have one thing plugged into each USB-C/Thunderbolt port.

Curious what was your original revised port<->device layout and what is the revised? Was the performance issue with the eGPU connected or was the eGPU your original plan to fix performance? If the former, were any of the monitors connected to the eGPU?

Also when you say your monitors are running 2K, I assume 2560 x 1440. What refresh were you using?

 

[SjoukeW]

I would not put too much money in a egpu solution with your setup but also considering buying a new Mac with a M4 chip in it. Those are a lot faster and would also solve your problem. This might be a better investment.

 

[Fishrrman]

You want an m4x Mini, preferably an m4pro Mini.

Don't waste money on an external "box" for a 2018 Mini.
You'll come to regret doing so, sooner rather than later.

 

[Engender]

My friends, I have many regrets. Adding a "box" to a 2018 Mini would be wayyyyy down on that list.

Does anyone have a repair manual for the 2018 Mac Mini? That way, I could identify the ports and give an educated response to bznyc2's question.

 

[joevt]

Does anyone have a repair manual for the 2018 Mac Mini? That way, I could identify the ports and give an educated response to bznyc2's question.

It's not complicated. Mac mini 2018 has a pair of Thunderbolt ports per Thunderbolt controller. Two Thunderbolt controllers = four Thunderbolt ports.
Each Thunderbolt controller is PCIe gen 3 x4.

Put eGPU and SSDs on separate Thunderbolt controllers.

Connect displays to eGPU.

EDIT: I moved the USB-C to Displayport to opposite USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, and the graphics performance has increased drastically. I think the problem was that I had two 2K displays running on the same Thunderbolt bus when I originally wrote this post.

Two 2K displays running on the same Thunderbolt bus or Thunderbolt port should not be a problem. What kind of displays are they? DisplayPort displays connected directly to Mac mini should bypass the Thunderbolt controller altogether.

Please describe the setup that is slow and the setup that is fast so we can tell you why the performance differs.

 

[bzgnyc2]

My friends, I have many regrets. Adding a "box" to a 2018 Mini would be wayyyyy down on that list.

Does anyone have a repair manual for the 2018 Mac Mini? That way, I could identify the ports and give an educated response to bznyc2's question.

As joevt noted I think you were offering to answer a deeper question than I was asking. I was having trouble visualizing your original layout (the one that was terribly slow) and your newer one.

However, if easier for everyone to have a common reference/visual, here are the two resources most easily available:

Mac mini (2018) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

support.apple.com

Take a tour of Mac mini

Learn about the features of your Mac mini.

support.apple.com

Then going from left to right (or from Ethernet port to HDMI port), the ports are numbered 1 to 4 (in System Information, these show up as the Receptacle number under each port) with Port/Receptable 1 & 2 sharing ThunderBolt Bus 0 and Port/Receptacle 3 & 4 sharing ThunderBolt Bus 1.

It would be great for common understanding to flush out the routing of data within the 2018 Mini from these ports to memory/CPU but wasn't sure who here knew that and was savings for later.

 

[Engender]

Then going from left to right (or from Ethernet port to HDMI port), the ports are numbered 1 to 4 (in System Information, these show up as the Receptacle number under each port) with Port/Receptable 1 & 2 sharing ThunderBolt Bus 0 and Port/Receptacle 3 & 4 sharing ThunderBolt Bus 1.

It would be great for common understanding to flush out the routing of data within the 2018 Mini from these ports to memory/CPU but wasn't sure who here knew that and was savings for later.

That is what I needed.

I have always had my Satechi dock connected in Tport 1, then a DELL U2518D at 2048 x 1152 connected to Tport 2, another of the same connected at Tport 3, then another dock in Tport 4. Looking back on this, it doesn't make sense . . .

But, what seems to be working is a DELL U2518D at 2048 x 1152 connected to Tport 2 and Tport 4. With an 27" AOC curved monitor in the HDMI port at the same resolution.

 

[joevt]

That is what I needed.

I have always had my Satechi dock connected in Tport 1, then a DELL U2518D at 2048 x 1152 connected to Tport 2, another of the same connected at Tport 3, then another dock in Tport 4. Looking back on this, it doesn't make sense . . .

But, what seems to be working is a DELL U2518D at 2048 x 1152 connected to Tport 2 and Tport 4. With an 27" AOC curved monitor in the HDMI port at the same resolution.

Also what matters is what kind of connection is each device using - Thunderbolt, USB, DisplayPort, or USB + DisplayPort.

Slow:
1) You didn't say which Satechi dock so we can't know what kind of connections it's using.
2) 1st Dell DisplayPort 2048 x 1152. Is the Dell USB not connected?
3) 2nd Dell DisplayPort 2048 x 1152. Is the Dell USB not connected?
4) other dock? What kind? What's connected to it?
HDMI) nothing

Fast:
1) Satechi dock?
2) 1st Dell DisplayPort 2048 x 1152?
3) other dock?
4) 2nd Dell DisplayPort? or the first Dell USB?
HDMI) 27" AOC 2048 x 1152. Does this have a USB connection?

I'm not seeing a pattern yet. Missing some info.
It looks like all you did was switch 3 and 4 and add a HDMI display. That should not change performance.

 

[Engender]

Is there a difference between Thunderbolt to DisplayPort and USB-C to Displayport? Could it be the monitor cables I am using?

Right now the monitors appear under the USB tab on System Information as "USB-C to DP Cable," but not under the Thunderbolt tab.

Also, what is the significance of using the USB connections in from the monitor? Is that information transferred via USB-C to DP cables? Should I be using this instead of the docs?

 

[padams35]

Three cheers for eGPUs!
I'm currently using a Sonnet Breakaway Box with an RX 6600XT, but that would be overkill if you only want to drive dual monitors. Kinda sad that the community won't be getting another eGPU user, but also glad you found a way to make your setup work without that expense.

If you still decide to get an eGPU I would caution against the Minisforum DEG1... I haven't actual heard of anyone using one with MacOS. That might be windows only. At the very least you would probably need a Thunderbolt to PCIe (or maybe Thunderbolt to NVMe) box as an intermediary at which point you might as well get a Thunderbolt eGFX instead.

 

[Engender]

I am still considering an eGPU because I do have an EVGA powersupply sitting around as well as the RX580 that is sitting in my Mac Pro.

How about this one from Treebleet? According to the Amazon.com page, it is compatible with MacOS.

 

[padams35]

I am still considering an eGPU because I do have an EVGA powersupply sitting around as well as the RX580 that is sitting in my Mac Pro.

How about this one from Treebleet? According to the Amazon.com page, it is compatible with MacOS.

Sure. Not familiar with that particular model and I personally prefer to have a case/shroud enclosing my GPU, but the JHL7440 controller the Treebleet is based on is known to work with MacOS and it seems to have good reviews.

 

[Engender]

As I can run all three of my monitors using the RX580 mounted in my Mac Pro, I can use all three of those same monitors via the RX580 as an eGPU with one Thunderbolt port from my Mac Mini, right?

 

[joevt]

Is there a difference between Thunderbolt to DisplayPort and USB-C to Displayport?

Thunderbolt to DisplayPort would be a Thunderbolt hub or Thunderbolt dock or Thunderbolt to Dual DisplayPort Adapter or a Thunderbolt to Dual HDMI Adapter.

Older Thunderbolt 3 docks/hubs/adapters might be limited to DisplayPort 1.2. That's ok for your Mac mini 2018 because it is also limited to DisplayPort 1.2.

Newer Thunderbolt 3 docks/hubs/adapters support DisplayPort 1.4. Dual DisplayPort 1.4 would exceed the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 3 so one of the DisplayPort connections would be limited to DisplayPort 1.1 speeds. This is not a problem with your Mac mini 2018 because it is limited to DisplayPort 1.2 and Thunderbolt 3 has enough bandwidth for two full DisplayPort 1.2 connections.

With a Thunderbolt hub or dock, any bandwidth used for displays cannot be used for other devices. This affects write speed but not read speed since DisplayPort is one direction and Thunderbolt has separate lines for each direction. A 4K60 display is ≈ 16 Gbps. Two of them is 32 Gbps. That leaves 8 Gbps remaining for transmit. Receive should still have near 40 Gbps (though PCIe/USB is limited to ≈24 Gbps).

Could it be the monitor cables I am using?

Probably not if the displays are running at the correct resolution and refresh rate.

Right now the monitors appear under the USB tab on System Information as "USB-C to DP Cable," but not under the Thunderbolt tab.

I think that's the USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode Billboard device. You don't see a USB hub or any USB devices for the display unless the display has a USB-C input or you have USB from the display connected to the Mac mini or a dock.

Also, what is the significance of using the USB connections in from the monitor? Is that information transferred via USB-C to DP cables? Should I be using this instead of the docs?

USB-C to DisplayPort cables cannot carry USB data. It needs to be a USB-C cable or you need a USB connection from the display to the Mac.
The display can act as a USB hub if you connect a USB cable from the display to the Mac or another dock or hub.

As I can run all three of my monitors using the RX580 mounted in my Mac Pro, I can use all three of those same monitors via the RX580 as an eGPU with one Thunderbolt port from my Mac Mini, right?

Right.

Maybe instead of trying to describe the connections yourself, you could gather the info using the command line.

ioreg -fiw0 | perl -pE 's/, id 0x.*/>/' > slow_ioreg.txt
system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType SPUSBDataType SPThunderboltDataType SPPCIDataType > slow_system_profiler.txt

Do this for both the slow and fast setup. Then they can be compared.[/code]

 

[carylee2002]

As I can run all three of my monitors using the RX580 mounted in my Mac Pro, I can use all three of those same monitors via the RX580 as an eGPU with one Thunderbolt port from my Mac Mini, right?

Should be able to..depends on your monitors...don't think you can run it at 4k across the board but at 1080 shouldn't be a problem since thunderbolt 3 can run up to 40gb/s transfer rate. I would try to not put another thunderbolt input next to the one that is going to the egpu because even though the mini has 4 ports it is only two busses sharing the system. It's also a matter on how big of a psu is running your videocard to be the bottleneck and programs your using. if you using OBS like I am on a dual PC setup as a streamer rig, it will take up a lot of resources, especially when your running the program as external gpu preferred via the get info tab.

 

[Amethyst1]

Should be able to..depends on your monitors...don't think you can run it at 4k across the board but at 1080 shouldn't be a problem since thunderbolt 3 can run up to 40gb/s transfer rate.

Thunderbolt bandwidth is not an issue with the eGPU running the monitors. I have run one 5K and one 4K monitor from an eGPU connected to Thunderbolt 1 (10 Gbit/s).

 

[Engender]

Here's the terminal output I got with my current (good) setup:

2025-01-07 18:23:54.108 system_profiler[2251:30119] SPUSBDevice: IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService failed 0xe00002be

2025-01-07 18:23:54.111 system_profiler[2251:30119] SPUSBDevice: IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService failed 0xe00002be

Actually, things have improved since I reset the SMC earlier this afternoon. I'm on the lookout for delayed text typing . . . but I did order that eGPU setup from Amazon.

 

[carylee2002]

Try switching your plugins into your Mac Mini and see if the errors go away. It might be overloading your gpu and that error is coming up. You can tell by you gpu load using activity monitor on a mac under GPU. But the best app I found that is free is GPU Monitor Pro. I designated certain apps that use my external gpu and other using my internal UHD 630 built in graphics.

 

[joevt]

Here's the terminal output I got with my current (good) setup:

2025-01-07 18:23:54.108 system_profiler[2251:30119] SPUSBDevice: IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService failed 0xe00002be

2025-01-07 18:23:54.111 system_profiler[2251:30119] SPUSBDevice: IOCreatePlugInInterfaceForService failed 0xe00002be

The important stuff should be inside the .txt file that is generated by the system_profiler command. Zip the txt files from both the slow and fast setups, then attach to a reply post.

 

[Engender]

Okay, I got an new NVMe external enclosure. I get better speeds on it when both my USB-C to DisplayPort monitors are on the same Thunderbolt bus. I'm going to keep trying it this way until my eGPU kit gets here.

Maybe a little bit of lag between typing and the text appearing. But, not really. It's running pretty well, I think. My next step is to try to run MacOS Ventura off of the NVMe in the enclosure.

I've attached the slow system profile for you guys to review—it's a profile of my system as it is currently set up. Does anyone think I really need the eGPU? Do I need $160.00 more?