MacBook Pro 2018 gaming?

[GerritB]

Ok so I'm not sure what's going on. Tested it again in Bootcamp; same settings in Intel XTU (15W, disabled turbo and max 4 second turbo boost), and then booting the game after that. I watched GPU clock with GPU-Z.

The game suddenly ran pretty well. Up to 1800x1100 the game seems to maintain between 50 and 60 frames (capped) with:

• Shadows : off
• View distance: Epic
• Textures: high
• Effects: high
• V-sync: on
• Post-processing: off/low
• Blur: off

Game looks perfectly fine this way and the settings help you to compete better.

The only difference between my last try that I can think of was that my machine was unplugged. The GPU did throttle at moments, but recovered each time.

There's probably a reason for the differences in my results, guess we'll just have to wait till more people try it.

 

[Gudd]

The way it is plugged in seems to make a difference. The eGPU works when the external monitor is plugged directly into it, and then the eGPU is plugged directly into the macbook pro. It has to be in this order. When the tester plugged the external monitor directly into the MacBook pro, and then plugged the eGPU directly into the MacBook pro on another port, the dGPU overrides the eGPU.

Maybe my mind over simplifies these things, but to me, I don't know why that would take a YT video to work that out. That seems very obvious to me. I mean, if you have a PC with internal graphics on the motherboard and you plug the monitor into the motherboard and not the graphics card, it should be obvious it's not going to use the output from the graphics card isn't it? You haven't plugged it into the output on the graphics card!!

Same with the TB3 ports. Sort of. I guess the TB3 on the eGPU can be an input as well as an output maybe? But at the end of the day, if you want to display the output from the eGPU, plug the monitor into the output of the eGPU, not the output of the computer

The only proviso here - as always - is the slightly quirky way MacOS handles things. You basically tell it which GPU to use by dragging the main menu bar to external or internal screen. External = eGPU used, internal = internal or dGPU used. Now that is a bit quirky but once you know it, it's easy enough to work with.

 

[Akademic1]

Maybe my mind over simplifies these things, but to me, I don't know why that would take a YT video to work that out. That seems very obvious to me. I mean, if you have a PC with internal graphics on the motherboard and you plug the monitor into the motherboard and not the graphics card, it should be obvious it's not going to use the output from the graphics card isn't it? You haven't plugged it into the output on the graphics card!!

Same with the TB3 ports. Sort of. I guess the TB3 on the eGPU can be an input as well as an output maybe? But at the end of the day, if you want to display the output from the eGPU, plug the monitor into the output of the eGPU, not the output of the computer

The only proviso here - as always - is the slightly quirky way MacOS handles things. You basically tell it which GPU to use by dragging the main menu bar to external or internal screen. External = eGPU used, internal = internal or dGPU used. Now that is a bit quirky but once you know it, it's easy enough to work with.

I was referring to the ability of the eGPU to work with fortnite. If you just plug the eGPU in without the external monitor fortnite does not utilize the eGPU. The only way for fortnite to utilize the eGPU is with an external monitor plugged into the eGPU. So yes this should be obvious when you are using an external monitor. But shouldn’t the eGPU work without the external monitor also?

 

[Gudd]

But shouldn’t the eGPU work without the external monitor also?

No. Apple do say it is 100% dependent on the developer explicitly coding support for that into the game or product. And even if they DO, you can expect performance to be worse than on an external monitor because a chunk of bandwidth on the TB3 cable has to be used for sending the signal back again.

 

[Akademic1]

No. Apple do say it is 100% dependent on the developer explicitly coding support for that into the game or product. And even if they DO, you can expect performance to be worse than on an external monitor because a chunk of bandwidth on the TB3 cable has to be used for sending the signal back again.

The instruction manual for the eGPU doesn’t say that an external monitor is required for better performance.

 

[ofarlig]

I wouldn't get the Blackmagic for gaming either way since a 580 isn't really a good card. Then again, the CPUs aren't really powerful enough for more than casual gaming so the GPU might not matter.

 

[leman]

The only proviso here - as always - is the slightly quirky way MacOS handles things. You basically tell it which GPU to use by dragging the main menu bar to external or internal screen. External = eGPU used, internal = internal or dGPU used. Now that is a bit quirky but once you know it, it's easy enough to work with.

There is nothing quirky here. It depends on where the display is connected to. If you want to use the dGPU consistently, connect the monitor to its output and then use your laptop in a clamshell mode.

By the way, applications on macOS can choose what GPU to use, but they have to do it explicitly, using appropriate APIs.

 

[AdamA9]

The only proviso here - as always - is the slightly quirky way MacOS handles things. You basically tell it which GPU to use by dragging the main menu bar to external or internal screen. External = eGPU used, internal = internal or dGPU used. Now that is a bit quirky but once you know it, it's easy enough to work with.

I found this out the hard way. It really should be more obvious, or the instructions clearer.

The instruction manual for the eGPU doesn’t say that an external monitor is required for better performance.

I saw a YouTube video saying it doesn't work without one. I think someone here corrected that, but it's interesting nonetheless. I'm sending my Blackmagic back. It cannot even power low graphically intensive games, so it's not for me. I know it wasn't built specifically for games, but when the box and sales materials is people gaming on it, you kinda hope it would work.

 

[GerritB]

About Fortnite on Bootcamp:

There's definitely a difference on my Macbook with respect to the point it starts throttling the GPU; when plugged in the power outlet it seems to start earlier. Today it's 30 degrees Celsius in here so not ideal circumstances, the GPU started to throttle in both cases and the game became unplayable again after 1 round or so.

Another problem that came up just now after 15min of playing, is the sound that starts to crack to a very unpleasant noise that doesn't stop till you shut down the the game.

I haven't gamed on PC/Mac in a lot of years so I'm not the right person to test all this, I don't even know if these are known problems, but I think it deserves attention.

 

[AdamA9]

About Fortnite on Bootcamp:

There's definitely a difference on my Macbook with respect to the point it starts throttling the GPU; when plugged in the power outlet it seems to start earlier. Today it's 30 degrees Celsius in here so not ideal circumstances, the GPU started to throttle in both cases and the game became unplayable again after 1 round or so.

Another problem that came up just now after 15min of playing, is the sound that starts to crack to a very unpleasant noise that doesn't stop till you shut down the the game.

I haven't gamed on PC/Mac in a lot of years so I'm not the right person to test all this, I don't even know if these are known problems, but I think it deserves attention.

I got that cracking sound issue on something else and thought it was the video I was watching. It was a twitter video, and about half way through it was really bad crackling and quite loud.

Rebooted my mac and watched again with no issues.

 

[GerritB]

I got that cracking sound issue on something else and thought it was the video I was watching. It was a twitter video, and about half way through it was really bad crackling and quite loud.

Rebooted my mac and watched again with no issues.

Yes I think it seems to happen after stressing the system for a while that uses both the CPU and GPU.

 

[M.Rizk]

Anyone tried playing in a VM (Parallels 13)?

 

[Lennyvalentin]

The instruction manual for the eGPU doesn’t say that an external monitor is required for better performance.

Then they omitted that. If you use an eGPU with a laptop-integrated monitor the video signal has to be sent back to the computer through the thunderbolt connection cable. While TB does have separate lanes for inbound and outbound traffic and thus should not disturb the command stream being sent to the GPU, it will still create some extra overhead on the connection which might affect total performance.

Then again, the CPUs aren't really powerful enough for more than casual gaming

Assuming the CPUs don't throttle hard they'll be good for more than just casual gaming. If they can stay at ~3.5GHz or so they'll be good for demanding gaming. Remember, you don't need more than 60FPS on a mac - macos doesn't support freesync, nor does integrated mac screens support higher than 60 fps either.

 

[ofarlig]

Assuming the CPUs don't throttle hard they'll be good for more than just casual gaming. If they can stay at ~3.5GHz or so they'll be good for demanding gaming. Remember, you don't need more than 60FPS on a mac - macos doesn't support freesync, nor does integrated mac screens support higher than 60 fps either.

Having 60 FPS is the definition of casual gaming, gaming on Mac OS to begin with is quite casual due to the performance drop you get. I need to get as close to 165 FPS so my 165 Hz screen gets the frames it should, G-Sync helps a bit here of course but it cannot do everything.

I managed to get the fans running full speed and with Intel XTU I am at max all core boost all the time (3.6 Ghz). Still it doesn't work perfectly in all games. Temps are below 90 degrees at all times for the CPU so if it was made for higher boost you should get some more performance (the i7 for example).

Below are what I tried so far with my i5 13" and Razer Core X with a GTX 1080 and compare it to my 7700k at 5 Ghz with the same GTX 1080 which is not even the highest end gaming rig to begin with.

PUBG
PUBG gets more stable FPS but it's still in the 70-100 region, maxes out at 110 sometimes. That is okay even though it is more in the casual realm of gaming, my other rig gets around 100-130 fps depending on situation. This at 2560x1440 resolution and everything at low except for textures and view distance which is at ultra, also FOV is 103.

CS:GO
CS:GO is also just okay, 200-300 FPS most of the time depending on map, some are better though. Very rarely will it go below 200. This is as I said okay but not really in the realm of serious gaming performance as my other rig never goes below 350 and is at 450+ 99% of the time. This at 2560x1440 resolution and most settings on low and 2x MSAA and 4x AF.

I will continue to try some games out in an hour or so, I want to test Overwatch, not that I play it that often but it is interesting to see.

 

[GerritB]

Having 60 FPS is the definition of casual gaming, gaming on Mac OS to begin with is quite casual due to the performance drop you get. I need to get as close to 165 FPS so my 165 Hz screen gets the frames it should, G-Sync helps a bit here of course but it cannot do everything.

I managed to get the fans running full speed and with Intel XTU I am at max all core boost all the time (3.6 Ghz). Still it doesn't work perfectly in all games. Temps are below 90 degrees at all times for the CPU so if it was made for higher boost you should get some more performance (the i7 for example).

Below are what I tried so far with my i5 13" and Razer Core X with a GTX 1080 and compare it to my 7700k at 5 Ghz with the same GTX 1080 which is not even the highest end gaming rig to begin with.

PUBG
PUBG gets more stable FPS but it's still in the 70-100 region, maxes out at 110 sometimes. That is okay even though it is more in the casual realm of gaming, my other rig gets around 100-130 fps depending on situation. This at 2560x1440 resolution and everything at low except for textures and view distance which is at ultra, also FOV is 103.

CS:GO
CS:GO is also just okay, 200-300 FPS most of the time depending on map, some are better though. Very rarely will it go below 200. This is as I said okay but not really in the realm of serious gaming performance as my other rig never goes below 350 and is at 450+ 99% of the time. This at 2560x1440 resolution and most settings on low and 2x MSAA and 4x AF.

I will continue to try some games out in an hour or so, I want to test Overwatch, not that I play it that often but it is interesting to see.

Just out of personal interest, could you try out Fortnite? It will probably be one of the few games I'll use an eGPU for before I'll build a gaming PC next year.

Also, how are you controlling fan speed in Bootcamp? And what are youre Intel Xtu settings?

 

[AdamA9]

So if I'm giving up my Blackmagic, what solution should I look for so I can game, casually?

I don't use bootcamp or anything like that, just game within macOS. I use an external monitor (LG 4K), so would need to be able to drive that. Am I looking at a Razer Core X with a GTX 1080 as the best choice, and how much of a boost over the Blackmagic will this be?

Thanks.

 

[ofarlig]

Just out of personal interest, could you try out Fortnite? It will probably be one of the few games I'll use an eGPU for before I'll build a gaming PC next year.

Also, how are you controlling fan speed in Bootcamp? And what are you're Intel Xtu settings?

I could try it I guess, I never played it though but since it's free its just a matter of downloading it.

I can't control the fan speed in Bootcamp, but I figured out that if you set it to max in OS X and then restart to Windows through the Bootcamp tool the fans will remain at max until the computer goes to sleep or shuts down. They will stay at max even if you need to restart due to installing or updating things. I am using Macs Fan Control for setting it to max in OS X.

For Intel XTU I played around with different settings, I think I stopped at around 33 or 34W and then Turbo at 37W for 10 seconds. It doesn't matter though since anything at 31W or above seems to make it able to run at 3.6 Ghz on all cores (which is max when 4 cores are active) sustained forever. Temps are reasonable and mostly around 80 but sometimes jumps to 85 and so.

I will try to make a comprehensive post later with screenshots of the settings and whatnot for all the games I tested.

 

[GerritB]

I could try it I guess, I never played it though but since it's free its just a matter of downloading it.

I can't control the fan speed in Bootcamp, but I figured out that if you set it to max in OS X and then restart to Windows through the Bootcamp tool the fans will remain at max until the computer goes to sleep or shuts down. They will stay at max even if you need to restart due to installing or updating things. I am using Macs Fan Control for setting it to max in OS X.

For Intel XTU I played around with different settings, I think I stopped at around 33 or 34W and then Turbo at 37W for 10 seconds. It doesn't matter though since anything at 31W or above seems to make it able to run at 3.6 Ghz on all cores (which is max when 4 cores are active) sustained forever. Temps are reasonable and mostly around 80 but sometimes jumps to 85 and so.

I will try to make a comprehensive post later with screenshots of the settings and whatnot for all the games I tested.

Awesome! If you want to test the system in Fortnite, select the gamemode called '50v50' and land in or go to the first circle. Wait for everybody to come fight as these are the most CPU and GPU intensive tasks you can get in this game I think.

 

[Benlehot]

I got that cracking sound issue on something else and thought it was the video I was watching. It was a twitter video, and about half way through it was really bad crackling and quite loud.

Rebooted my mac and watched again with no issues.

I got the cracking sound issue when I tried Destiny 2 yesterday in bootcamp.

 

[GerritB]

I got the cracking sound issue when I tried Destiny 2 yesterday in bootcamp.

Glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems. Anyone knows if these kind of issues are more common in Bootcamp in general or limited to 2018 Macbooks?

 

[lpolarityl]

so I am looking at the new MacBook Pro and it seems to me that Apple is trying to get into the “gaming” side for there MacBook they have a gaming tabs there witch features Fornite and even on the EGPU they have gaming on there, what are your guys take on this? You think Apple is taking gaming seriously.

No.

 

[M.Rizk]

So if I'm giving up my Blackmagic, what solution should I look for so I can game, casually?

I don't use bootcamp or anything like that, just game within macOS. I use an external monitor (LG 4K), so would need to be able to drive that. Am I looking at a Razer Core X with a GTX 1080 as the best choice, and how much of a boost over the Blackmagic will this be?

Thanks.

1080 won’t be compatible with Mac OS if used in an eGPU enclosure. You will need to download drivers from eGPU.io (or get AMD if you plan on using Mac OS for gaming and not Windows).

 

[Benlehot]

Glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems. Anyone knows if these kind of issues are more common in Bootcamp in general or limited to 2018 Macbooks?

First time for me. I used bootcamp for light gaming in the last few years.

I pretty sure this problem is related to the 2018 macbook only.

 

[buckingham2015]

Glad to see that I'm not the only one having problems. Anyone knows if these kind of issues are more common in Bootcamp in general or limited to 2018 Macbooks?

Just wanted to add that I'm also getting the crackling sound issue on the built in speakers. Headphones do seem to work for extended periods of time without the crackling ever happening.

Otherwise, when using built in speakers, what works for me, other than restarting the game, is running the "Troubleshoot sound" option when you right click the sound icon in the task bar. At one point it seems to reset the sound drivers, and it fixes the issue temporarily. Unfortunately it looks like you basically have to do this every 5-10 minutes. I'm guessing it's a driver issue. I've tried deleting the drivers, updating them, haven't been able to fix it.

 

[AdamA9]

1080 won’t be compatible with Mac OS if used in an eGPU enclosure. You will need to download drivers from eGPU.io (or get AMD if you plan on using Mac OS for gaming and not Windows).

What's the AMD equivalent? I really don't want to mess about with drivers etc. I only game in macOS and it's nothing serious, games like Football Manager and Cities Skylines etc. The Blackmagic cannot even handle these...