MacBook Pro 2018 gaming?

[Lennyvalentin]

I will order the Razor Core X and Radeon RX Vega 64 as a replacement.

Cool. I would probably go with one of the radial blower Vega cards if I was to put it in an eGPU chassis with little to no active ventilation. Vega 64 is a pretty thirsty card... Also, you have a good enough PSU in the Razer Core? I dunno its specs, but some vegas have been known to pull as much as 300W, and can crack 400W when pushed hard with overclocking. So you'd want some headroom on the PSU; maxing it isn't good in the long run, due to increased heat and wear, and components aging and whatnot and some day in some years the PSU can't deliver enough power and it unexpectedly shuts down on you, although hopefully without damaging anything in the process.

 

[M.Rizk]

Cool. I would probably go with one of the radial blower Vega cards if I was to put it in an eGPU chassis with little to no active ventilation. Vega 64 is a pretty thirsty card... Also, you have a good enough PSU in the Razer Core? I dunno its specs, but some vegas have been known to pull as much as 300W, and can crack 400W when pushed hard with overclocking. So you'd want some headroom on the PSU; maxing it isn't good in the long run, due to increased heat and wear, and components aging and whatnot and some day in some years the PSU can't deliver enough power and it unexpectedly shuts down on you, although hopefully without damaging anything in the process.

Razer Core X has a 650w PSU and it is removable if you ever get a card that requires more! (Which doesn’t exist in the market yet)

https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-core-x

 

[AdamA9]

Cool. I would probably go with one of the radial blower Vega cards if I was to put it in an eGPU chassis with little to no active ventilation. Vega 64 is a pretty thirsty card... Also, you have a good enough PSU in the Razer Core? I dunno its specs, but some vegas have been known to pull as much as 300W, and can crack 400W when pushed hard with overclocking. So you'd want some headroom on the PSU; maxing it isn't good in the long run, due to increased heat and wear, and components aging and whatnot and some day in some years the PSU can't deliver enough power and it unexpectedly shuts down on you, although hopefully without damaging anything in the process.

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. Do you just mean the case for the card which has the three fans? In which case, these three seem to have that. Also, the Core X has a 650W power supply, I assume that's good enough?

 

[buran-energia]

Did anyone compare gaming on 13 without eGPU with previous models like 2016-2017? Is the performance / temperatures (to the touch) better or worse? Would be interesting to see Blizzard games like OW, D3, WoW.

For example, Overwatch seems to have stutter issues (2016-2017 didn't):

(Maybe because Apple's throttle fix was only for macOS, while Overwatch needs to run in bootcamp.)

 

[AdamA9]

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. Do you just mean the case for the card which has the three fans? In which case, these three seem to have that. Also, the Core X has a 650W power supply, I assume that's good enough?

Just to add to this, the RX Vega 64 blurb says: "Power Supply Connectors: 2x 8-Pin PCIe. Recommended Power Supply min. 750 Watt"

Does this mean the Razer Core X won't be able to power this GPU?

 

[ofarlig]

Just to add to this, the RX Vega 64 blurb says: "Power Supply Connectors: 2x 8-Pin PCIe. Recommended Power Supply min. 750 Watt"

Does this mean the Razer Core X won't be able to power this GPU?

Should work, the Vega will draw way less power than the 500W the Core X can deliver to the GPU. Tests I seen show that a whole desktop is below 400W with Vega 64.

 

[AdamA9]

Should work, the Vega will draw way less power than the 500W the Core X can deliver to the GPU. Tests I seen show that a whole desktop is below 400W with Vega 64.

Thanks. Now all I need to decide on is which of these three I should order. Is there one I should go for, or just get the cheapest?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/graphics-cards/amd/radeon-rx-vega-64

 

[ofarlig]

Thanks. Now all I need to decide on is which of these three I should order. Is there one I should go for, or just get the cheapest?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-components/graphics-cards/amd/radeon-rx-vega-64

I checked and Razers Website lists the Core X to be compatible with the Vega64 so it should be all good.

I dunno about AMD really as I more or less always run Nvidia GPUs but I like Asus coolers usually, but I wouldnt pay £80 more for an Asus card over a Gigabyte which also has nice coolers.

 

[AdamA9]

I checked and Razers Website lists the Core X to be compatible with the Vega64 so it should be all good.

I dunno about AMD really as I more or less always run Nvidia GPUs but I like Asus coolers usually, but I wouldnt pay £80 more for an Asus card over a Gigabyte which also has nice coolers.

I didn't think Nvidia worked in macOS? I don't use bootcamp, just macOS. Every review of the Vega 64 has it benchmarked against the 1080ti and it sucks in comparison but didn't think the ti was an option for us?

 

[M.Rizk]

I didn't think Nvidia worked in macOS? I don't use bootcamp, just macOS. Every review of the Vega 64 has it benchmarked against the 1080ti and it sucks in comparison but didn't think the ti was an option for us?

Nvidia will only work on macOS if you download drivers on eGPU.io but don’t expect perfect compatibility.

 

[AdamA9]

Nvidia will only work on macOS if you download drivers on eGPU.io but don’t expect perfect compatibility.

Are we talking similar performance to the Vega 64 or much better? I'm worried if I go for the Vega that a) it'll be replaced in a couple of months by a newer version, and b) it'll be far inferior performance wise and I just as well keep the Blackmagic.

 

[ofarlig]

I didn't think Nvidia worked in macOS? I don't use bootcamp, just macOS. Every review of the Vega 64 has it benchmarked against the 1080ti and it sucks in comparison but didn't think the ti was an option for us?

I haven't tested the compatibility in OS X more than "Can it run an external monitor?" so I can't say anything of how programs that actually use the GPU works. AMD graphics cards are way more compatible though so if you will use only OS X I would most likely use that.

Benchmark wise in Windows a Vega 64 is on par or slightly above a GTX 1080 so it isn't bad.

 

[M.Rizk]

Are we talking similar performance to the Vega 64 or much better? I'm worried if I go for the Vega that a) it'll be replaced in a couple of months by a newer version, and b) it'll be far inferior performance wise and I just as well keep the Blackmagic.

A 1080 Ti is more powerful than a Vega 64 but I can’t tell how well it will perform with modified drivers on Mac. You will need to check maybe more sources on the internet.

 

[M.Rizk]

Deleted.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

I'm sorry, I don't know what that means. Do you just mean the case for the card which has the three fans?

A radial fan is like the fan you typically find on reference GPU cards (like the Nvidia Founder's Edition or Titan series of graphics cards for example), and also typically in Macs and various other Apple devices; it has a fringe around the outer edge of the impeller made up of densely stacked fins, and it pushes air through a slightly spiral-shaped housing, pulling it from a center opening and ejecting through a side port. Radial fans deliver high static pressure, which is suited for pushing air through densely stacked cooling fins and the like, but they tend to be noisy when delivering high volumes of air, as they have to spin fast in order to do so. Advantage in graphics cards with radial fan coolers is that hot air will be pushed straight out the back end of the graphics card and thus out of the casing entirely, and won't recirculate inside the casing making everything run really hot.

Triple-fan graphics cards use axial fans (the type usually associated with PC computers and the like), where the blades of the impeller is shaped like wings, designed to push air in the direction of its rotational axis. These fans are good at delivering airflow, but typically don't deliver as much static pressure (as they're more open in design and there's fewer fan blades). As mentioned, these graphics card coolers, while typically more efficient than radial fan coolers of reference cards, tend to recirculate air, so additional fans in the casing are needed to waft away hot air ejected out of the graphics card's cooler.

...Thus ending lesson "computer fans 101".

Does this mean the Razer Core X won't be able to power this GPU?

Oh, it'll be more than capable. The 750W recommendation assumes that the power supply powers an entire computer system, with CPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, various peripherals and so on. No worries, your Core will more than suffice!

 

[macpcf]

Is bootcamp working flawlessly in new macbook pros? Any issues?

 

[lambinho]

Is bootcamp working flawlessly in new macbook pros? Any issues?

You did not consider to actually read any post in this thread before u posted?

 

[AdamA9]

A radial fan is like the fan you typically find on reference GPU cards (like the Nvidia Founder's Edition or Titan series of graphics cards for example), and also typically in Macs and various other Apple devices; it has a fringe around the outer edge of the impeller made up of densely stacked fins, and it pushes air through a slightly spiral-shaped housing, pulling it from a center opening and ejecting through a side port. Radial fans deliver high static pressure, which is suited for pushing air through densely stacked cooling fins and the like, but they tend to be noisy when delivering high volumes of air, as they have to spin fast in order to do so. Advantage in graphics cards with radial fan coolers is that hot air will be pushed straight out the back end of the graphics card and thus out of the casing entirely, and won't recirculate inside the casing making everything run really hot.

Triple-fan graphics cards use axial fans (the type usually associated with PC computers and the like), where the blades of the impeller is shaped like wings, designed to push air in the direction of its rotational axis. These fans are good at delivering airflow, but typically don't deliver as much static pressure (as they're more open in design and there's fewer fan blades). As mentioned, these graphics card coolers, while typically more efficient than radial fan coolers of reference cards, tend to recirculate air, so additional fans in the casing are needed to waft away hot air ejected out of the graphics card's cooler.

...Thus ending lesson "computer fans 101".


Oh, it'll be more than capable. The 750W recommendation assumes that the power supply powers an entire computer system, with CPU, motherboard, RAM, storage, various peripherals and so on. No worries, your Core will more than suffice!

Thank you. This is all great information. I've never really been a gamer outside my xbox and PS4. I've been researching Parallels and looks like this might further improve the experience.

I quite like the Parallels solution as I can leave the Windows VM open on my monitor to game while still having my laptop screen with macOS for everything else.

 

[macpcf]

You did not consider to actually read any post in this thread before u posted?

Sorry did not, just wanted to get a quick response. It seems like there are lots of issues. I hope the bootcamp drivers gets updated to limit the throttling and fix the speaker issues.

 

[macpcf]

Any updates on gaming. Are the bootcamp drivers updated yet for macbook pro 2018?

 

[ken840]

Any updates on gaming. Are the bootcamp drivers updated yet for macbook pro 2018?

I'd like to share my experience.

I bought this Mac a week ago:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
2,6 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Radeon 560X

It's the top tier model without modifications

Also I bought the Razer Core X eGPU (320€) and I already had at home a MSI Gaming X 1080 ti 11G and a Asus PG279Q 165Hz external monitor.

Playing without the enclosure is a matter of lowering the resolution a lot, but you can play at recent games at 30-40-50 fps. I prefer to keep the resolution lower (think 720p) and graphics quality on high.

Playing with the Razer Core X and 1080 ti is almost a dream come true. It's the closest thing to plug and play I could hope for: I just have to connect the eGPU when the Mac is completely off and then just boot in windows (no tricks at the startup screen required). Stop. I'm talking about external display use obviously. No hot unplug allowed or it's a blue screen. First turn off the Mac, then unplug the eGPU. I didn't even try honestly using the eGPU on the Mac screen itself since I prefer gaming on high refresh display.
The first time I connected the eGPU I had to manually install Nvidia drivers and that's all.

With this setup I can use ultra settings (everything maxed out at 2560x1440) on every demanding game I can test, including Witcher 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider and still get more than 60fps, think about 60-100 depending on the scene.

If I play less demanding games like Overwatch (everything maxed out at 2560x1440) the fps are 120-165 (max monitor refresh rate) depending on the scene, perfect for competitive play.

Notes:
- If I take the graphical options down a little bit I can get solid 165 fps easily, and 100-120 on the more demanding games, always 2K.
- I'm also happy to use the Mac keyboard, I was coming from a Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2. External mouse is a must for competitive games (I have a Razer Deathadder Elite).
- Long story short I sold my PC to a friend, now I'm living the one machine dream after so many years waiting Only one cable and the mouse
- I didn't test eGPU gaming under macOS since I know there is no support for Nvidia eGPUs and I don't want to mess with my main macOS partition since I work with it

Problems still to solve:
- The only tinkering I had to do was install and use Intel XTU to calm down my Mac under Bootcamp while gaming, think about 30W max use, it depends on the temperature of the room, since if I don't do that the system will throttle every 5 seconds after a minute of gaming and make every demanding game TOTALLY unplayable. I hope Apple releases a Bootcamp update that resolves this issue. This is the only nuisance, it's incredible Apple didn't test this problem before shipping, unacceptable.
- In Rise of the Tomb Raider I have problems with sound if I play with the Mac speakers, crackling sound and various noises, I understand this is a common driver issue, I heard that maybe Mojave beta doesn't have these issues. No probs with headphones

 

[M.Rizk]

I'd like to share my experience.

I bought this Mac a week ago:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
2,6 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB RAM
512 SSD
Radeon 560X

It's the top tier model without modifications

Also I bought the Razer Core X eGPU (320€) and I already had at home a MSI Gaming X 1080 ti 11G and a Asus PG279Q 165Hz external monitor.

Playing without the enclosure is a matter of lowering the resolution a lot, but you can play at recent games at 30-40-50 fps. I prefer to keep the resolution lower (think 720p) and graphics quality on high.

Playing with the Razer Core X and 1080 ti is almost a dream come true. It's the closest thing to plug and play I could hope for: I just have to connect the eGPU when the Mac is completely off and then just boot in windows (no tricks at the startup screen required). Stop. I'm talking about external display use obviously. No hot unplug allowed or it's a blue screen. First turn off the Mac, then unplug the eGPU. I didn't even try honestly using the eGPU on the Mac screen itself since I prefer gaming on high refresh display.
The first time I connected the eGPU I had to manually install Nvidia drivers and that's all.

With this setup I can use ultra settings (everything maxed out at 2560x1440) on every demanding game I can test, including Witcher 3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider and still get more than 60fps, think about 60-100 depending on the scene.

If I play less demanding games like Overwatch (everything maxed out at 2560x1440) the fps are 120-165 (max monitor refresh rate) depending on the scene, perfect for competitive play.

Notes:
- If I take the graphical options down a little bit I can get solid 165 fps easily, and 100-120 on the more demanding games, always 2K.
- I'm also happy to use the Mac keyboard, I was coming from a Razer Blackwidow Chroma V2. External mouse is a must for competitive games (I have a Razer Deathadder Elite).
- Long story short I sold my PC to a friend, now I'm living the one machine dream after so many years waiting Only one cable and the mouse
- I didn't test eGPU gaming under macOS since I know there is no support for Nvidia eGPUs and I don't want to mess with my main macOS partition since I work with it

Problems still to solve:
- The only tinkering I had to do was install and use Intel XTU to calm down my Mac under Bootcamp while gaming, think about 30W max use, it depends on the temperature of the room, since if I don't do that the system will throttle every 5 seconds after a minute of gaming and make every demanding game TOTALLY unplayable. I hope Apple releases a Bootcamp update that resolves this issue. This is the only nuisance, it's incredible Apple didn't test this problem before shipping, unacceptable.
- In Rise of the Tomb Raider I have problems with sound if I play with the Mac speakers, crackling sound and various noises, I understand this is a common driver issue, I heard that maybe Mojave beta doesn't have these issues. No probs with headphones

Did you try the GPU drivers on bootcampdrivers.com ?

 

[ken840]

Did you try the GPU drivers on bootcampdrivers.com ?

I could try that in the afternoon, I understand these are drivers for the dGPU, correct? Is it possible to restore the original bootcamp drivers after? How do I restore them?

 

[fokmik]

I could try that in the afternoon, I understand these are drivers for the dGPU, correct? Is it possible to restore the original bootcamp drivers after? How do I restore them?

please do ,and if you have time for us to let us know how it goes..

 

[M.Rizk]

I could try that in the afternoon, I understand these are drivers for the dGPU, correct? Is it possible to restore the original bootcamp drivers after? How do I restore them?

They are for the dGPU yes, to restore the old drivers I think you will need to remove the new ones from Add/Remove Programs in Windows then re-install the Bootcamp setup again (Bootcamp Assistant should have added a file called Bootcamp.msi to your USD drive when installing Windows).