Recommendations for an eGPU for Photoshop (Mini 2018)?

[weaztek]

I finally got my Mac Mini humming along in Catalina.

I guess I'm in the market for an eGPU if Photoshop can utilize one. I sometimes work with 16-bit image files that are ~170MB and editing with the healing brush and clone stamp tool aren't really working in real-time.

My Metal Geekbench 5 benchmark is currently 4488.

I'm running 40GB of RAM so I'm all good there.

eGPU price is definitely a factor in my decision.

 

[Cookie18]

Get the Razer Core X eGPU enclosure and then you can buy the GPU separately so you can upgrade it in the future. I don’t imagine you need anything too powerful for photoshop so an RX 570 or RX 580 would be fine. An RX 5500 XT is comparable to those too but is on a newer architecture.

 

[weaztek]

Cool, thanks. Do you think a 4GB RX 570 would be ok?

 

[frou]

I would be tempted to try and find a good deal on one of those all-in-one Sonnet Pucks.

Spending several hundred on an empty box alone, just on the hypothetical that you'll need to swap a card in the future is not necessarily the right choice for everyone.

 

[Cookie18]

Cool, thanks. Do you think a 4GB RX 570 would be ok?

Yes, the recommended VRAM for photoshop is 2GB so 4GB is fine

I would be tempted to try and find a good deal on one of those all-in-one Sonnet Pucks.

Spending several hundred on an empty box alone, just on the hypothetical that you'll need to swap a card in the future is not necessarily the right choice for everyone.

It’s $300 for a Sonnet Puck with a 560 so you get a worse GPU and you eventually need to throw it out, all to save just $100. It’s not a lot more for better performance and the ability to upgrade as needs change, plus that 570 can eventually be sold whenever an upgrade is necessary so it’s technically even less than $100 extra.

 

[weaztek]

I just found a puck with a 570 w/ 4GB for $200. I think I'll go grab that. Thanks for the help!

 

[Cookie18]

I just found a puck with a 570 w/ 4GB for $200. I think I'll go grab that. Thanks for the help!

Good find! It's a steal at that price.

 

[iluvmacs99]

I finally got my Mac Mini humming along in Catalina.

I guess I'm in the market for an eGPU if Photoshop can utilize one. I sometimes work with 16-bit image files that are ~170MB and editing with the healing brush and clone stamp tool aren't really working in real-time.

My Metal Geekbench 5 benchmark is currently 4488.

I'm running 40GB of RAM so I'm all good there.

eGPU price is definitely a factor in my decision.

Photoshop is the only few applications that don't utilize the full power of the GPU like other applications like Topaz AI applications or Resolve/Final Cut ProX. In fact, the telling sign that it doesn't use the GPU all that much is the VRAM requirement, which is 2Gb. Your Intel iGPU is more than enough to handle the only few functions and these are the functions that Photoshop will use the GPU for from Adobe website.

Features that won't work without a GPU

If your graphics processor is unsupported or its driver is defective, the following Photoshop features won't work:

• Perspective Warp (more info)
• 3D
• Oil Paint
• Render – Flame, Picture Frame, and Tree
• Scrubby Zoom
• Birds Eye View
• Flick Panning
• Smooth Brush Resizing

Features that require a GPU for acceleration

• Lens Blur (more info)
• Artboards
• Camera Raw (more info)
• Image Size – Preserve Details
• Select Focus
• Blur Gallery - Field Blur, Iris Blur, Tilt-Shift, Path Blur, Spin Blur (OpenCL accelerated)
• Smart Sharpen (Noise Reduction – OpenCL accelerated)
• Select and Mask (OpenCL accelerated)

The rest require brute force single core/multi-core CPU performance to speed up functions.

 

[Slash-2CPU]

5500-5700XT line has better boot support than the 500-line.

 

[weaztek]

The 570 eGPU booted right up and I couldn't be happier.

My OpenCL benchmark score went from 4623 to 32899 and I got similar numbers with Metal.

 

[Daverich4]

I just found a puck with a 570 w/ 4GB for $200. I think I'll go grab that. Thanks for the help!

Can I ask you where you got it? Sonnet says they’re no longer available. Thanks.

 

[weaztek]

I did a search for Sonnet and eGPU and a few other searches that Cookie18 mentioned in the second post of this thread on facebook marketplace, craigslist and eBay. A guy had one sitting around in a box about a 2 hour drive away from me on FB marketplace. It was a long drive, but absolutely worth it.

Personally, I'd want to avoid the RX 560 card on a Mini. According to Apple, "Playback of HDCP-protected content from iTunes and some streaming services is not supported on displays attached to Radeon 560-based eGPUs. You can play this content on the built-in display on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac."

 

[Daverich4]

I did a search for Sonnet and eGPU and a few other searches that Cookie18 mentioned in the second post of this thread on facebook marketplace, craigslist and eBay. A guy had one sitting around in a box about a 2 hour drive away from me on FB marketplace. It was a long drive, but absolutely worth it.

Personally, I'd want to avoid the RX 560 card on a Mini. According to Apple, "Playback of HDCP-protected content from iTunes and some streaming services is not supported on displays attached to Radeon 560-based eGPUs. You can play this content on the built-in display on MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac."

Thanks for your help.