I've had my 2018 mini for about five months (6-core with 32 gb RAM and 1 tb SSD). I also have the Razer Core with a Radeon RX 5700 (8 gb) card. The only connection to my LG 4k monitor is the mini, through an Apple-recommended TB3-to-DisplayPort cable. I do a lot of 3D graphics and Final Cut work. My 2013 Mac Pro had 4 gb of graphics power, and it seems lightning fast compared to what I'm getting out of the mini. 3D modeling that didn't skip a beat on the Mac Pro stutters badly on the mini. I figured double the graphics memory would help make up for the slight bandwidth loss of the TB3 cable. But even though I can hear the fans on the Razer speed up, any rendering gains are negligible. When I'm working in Final Cut, rendering takes forever (and yes, the Razer fans are revving during that process as well).
So I've been researching this for a while. Someone recommended connecting the eGPU simultaneously to the HDMI port on the monitor. I did that, and saw a very modest gain in 3D rendering capability. But that began complicating other things. Although 3D rendering was a little quicker, Final Cut was even slower! Games on Steam slowed to a crawl. If I used System Preferences to switch display inputs in the OS and then switched the monitor's input accordingly, I was able to play the games and Final Cut worked okay, but 3D rendering was back to a crawl.
The OS (the latest Catalina update) seems to have no problem recognizing and initiating the eGPU when needed. It's just that the eGPU doesn't seem to be helping much outside of blowing air around. The Razer enclosure is highly recommended, but did I get the wrong card? Is there some other way I'm supposed to connect this setup? I'm just not seeing as much benefit as I expected.
So I've been researching this for a while. Someone recommended connecting the eGPU simultaneously to the HDMI port on the monitor. I did that, and saw a very modest gain in 3D rendering capability. But that began complicating other things. Although 3D rendering was a little quicker, Final Cut was even slower! Games on Steam slowed to a crawl. If I used System Preferences to switch display inputs in the OS and then switched the monitor's input accordingly, I was able to play the games and Final Cut worked okay, but 3D rendering was back to a crawl.
The OS (the latest Catalina update) seems to have no problem recognizing and initiating the eGPU when needed. It's just that the eGPU doesn't seem to be helping much outside of blowing air around. The Razer enclosure is highly recommended, but did I get the wrong card? Is there some other way I'm supposed to connect this setup? I'm just not seeing as much benefit as I expected.