Amd For Mac

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An eGPU can give your Mac additional graphics performance for professional apps, 3D gaming, VR content creation, and more.

eGPUs are supported by any Thunderbolt 3-equipped Mac1 running macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or later. Learn how to update the software on your Mac.

An eGPU lets you do all this on your Mac:

  • Accelerate apps that use Metal, OpenGL, and OpenCL
  • Connect additional external monitors and displays
  • Use virtual reality headsets plugged into the eGPU
  • Charge your MacBook Pro while using the eGPU
  • Use an eGPU with your MacBook Pro while its built-in display is closed
  • Connect an eGPU while a user is logged in
  • Connect more than one eGPU using the multiple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports on your Mac2
  • Use the menu bar item to safely disconnect the eGPU
  • View the activity levels of built-in and external GPUs (Open Activity Monitor, then choose Window > GPU History.)

AMD OS X Community Forum: HighSierraAMD Video: TransMac: Enoch Bootload. The AMD Radeon RX 480, 580, and Vega GPUs were booted with macOS High Sierra 10.13 public beta 9 since it supports them without patching the Apple provided AMD drivers. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 and FirePro D700 were also booted using High Sierra 10.13 public beta 9. The 2017 iMac 5K used with the eGPU boxes was CTO with 4.1GHz Quad-Core i7. For the first time in AMD hackintosh history, AMD patches for macOS were released the same day as the OS. This is purely down to Algrey utilizing the Mask kernel patching feature offered by OpenCore. Below you’ll find the updated patches which allow a smooth upgrade to macOS Catalina.

eGPU support in apps

eGPU support in macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and later is designed to accelerate Metal, OpenGL, and OpenCL apps that benefit from a powerful eGPU. Not all apps support eGPU acceleration; check with the app's developer to learn more.3

In general, an eGPU can accelerate performance in these types of apps:

  • Pro apps designed to utilize multiple GPUs
  • 3D games, when an external monitor is attached directly to the eGPU
  • VR apps, when the VR headset is attached directly to the eGPU
  • Pro apps and 3D games that accelerate the built-in display of iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro (This capability must be enabled by the app's developer.)

You can configure applications to use an eGPU with one of the following methods.

Use the Prefer External GPU option

Starting with macOS Mojave 10.14, you can turn on Prefer External GPU in a specific app's Get Info panel in the Finder. This option lets the eGPU accelerate apps on any display connected to the Mac—including displays built in to iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro:

  1. Quit the app if it's open.
  2. Select the app in the Finder. Most apps are in your Applications folder. If you open the app from an alias or launcher, Control-click the app's icon and choose Show Original from the pop-up menu. Then select the original app.
  3. Press Command-I to show the app's info window.
  4. Select the checkbox next to Prefer External GPU.
  5. Open the app to use it with the eGPU.

You won't see this option if an eGPU isn't connected, if your Mac isn't running macOS Mojave or later, or if the app self-manages its GPU selection. Some apps, such as Final Cut Pro, directly choose which graphics processors are used and will ignore the Prefer External GPU checkbox.

Set an external eGPU-connected display as the primary display

If you have an external display connected to your eGPU, you can choose it as the primary display for all apps. Since apps default to the GPU associated with the primary display, this option works with a variety of apps:

  1. Quit any open apps that you want the eGPU to accelerate on the primary display.
  2. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences. Select Displays, then select the Arrangement tab.
  3. Drag the white menu bar to the box that represents the display that's attached to the eGPU.
  4. Open the apps that you want to use with the eGPU.

If you disconnect the eGPU, your Mac defaults back to the internal graphics processors that drives the built-in display. When the eGPU is re-attached, it automatically sets the external display as the primary display.

About macOS GPU drivers

Mac hardware and GPU software drivers have always been deeply integrated into the system. This design fuels the visually rich and graphical macOS experience as well as many deeper platform compute and graphics features. These include accelerating the user interface, providing support for advanced display features, rendering 3D graphics for pro software and games, processing photos and videos, driving powerful GPU compute features, and accelerating machine learning tasks. This deep integration also enables optimal battery life while providing for greater system performance and stability.

Apple develops, integrates, and supports macOS GPU drivers to ensure there are consistent GPU capabilities across all Mac products, including rich APIs like Metal, Core Animation, Core Image, and Core ML. In order to deliver the best possible customer experience, GPU drivers need to be engineered, integrated, tested, and delivered with each version of macOS. Aftermarket GPU drivers delivered by third parties are not compatible with macOS.

The GPU drivers delivered with macOS are also designed to enable a high quality, high performance experience when using an eGPU, as described in the list of recommended eGPU chassis and graphics card configurations below. Because of this deep system integration, only graphics cards that use the same GPU architecture as those built into Mac products are supported in macOS.

Supported eGPU configurations

It's important to use an eGPU with a recommended graphics card and Thunderbolt 3 chassis. If you use an eGPU to also charge your MacBook Pro, the eGPU's chassis needs to provide enough power to run the graphics card and charge the computer. Check with the manufacturer of the chassis to find out if it provides enough power for your MacBook Pro.

Recommended graphics cards, along with chassis that can power them sufficiently, are listed below.

Thunderbolt 3 all-in-one eGPU products

These products contain a powerful built-in GPU and supply sufficient power to charge your MacBook Pro.

Recommended Thunderbolt 3 all-in-one eGPUs:

  • Blackmagic eGPU and Blackmagic eGPU Pro4
  • Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box4
  • Sonnet Radeon RX 570 eGFX Breakaway Puck
  • Sonnet Radeon RX 560 eGFX Breakaway Puck5

AMD Radeon RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580, and Radeon Pro WX 7100

These graphics cards are based on the AMD Polaris architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the Sapphire Pulse series and the AMD WX series.

Recommended Thunderbolt 3 chassis for these graphics cards:

  • OWC Mercury Helios FX4
  • PowerColor Devil Box
  • Sapphire Gear Box
  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 350W
  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 550W4
  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W4
  • Razer Core X4
  • PowerColor Game Station4
  • HP Omen4
  • Akitio Node6

AMD Radeon RX Vega 56

These graphics cards are based on the AMD Vega 56 architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the Sapphire Vega 56.

Recommended Thunderbolt 3 chassis for these graphics cards:

  • OWC Mercury Helios FX4
  • PowerColor Devil Box
  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 550W4
  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W4
  • Razer Core X4
  • PowerColor Game Station4

Amd Gpu For Machine Learning

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, Vega Frontier Edition Air, and Radeon Pro WX 9100

These graphics cards are based on the AMD Vega 64 architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the Sapphire Vega 64, AMD Frontier Edition air-cooled, and AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100.

Recommended Thunderbolt 3 chassis for these graphics cards:

  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W4
  • Razer Core X4

AMD Radeon RX 5700, 5700 XT, and 5700 XT 50th Anniversary

If you've installed macOS Catalina 10.15.1 or later, you can use these graphics cards that are based on the AMD Navi RDNA architecture. Recommended graphics cards include the AMD Radeon RX 5700, AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary.

Recommended Thunderbolt 3 chassis for these graphics cards:

  • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W4
  • Razer Core X4

Learn more

  • Learn how to choose your GPU in Final Cut Pro X 10.4.7 or later.
  • To ensure the best eGPU performance, use the Thunderbolt 3 cable that came with your eGPU or an Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) cable. Also make sure that the cable is connected directly to a Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac, not daisy-chained through another Thunderbolt device or hub.
  • If you have questions about Thunderbolt 3 chassis or graphics cards, or about third-party app support and compatibility, contact the hardware or software provider.
  • Software developers can learn more about programming their apps to take advantage of macOS eGPU support.

Amd Radeon Drivers For Mac

1. If you have a Mac mini (2018) with FileVault turned on, make sure to connect your primary display directly to Mac mini during startup. After you log in and see the macOS Desktop, you can unplug the display from Mac mini and connect it to your eGPU.

2. If you're using a 13-inch MacBook Pro from 2016 or 2017, always plug eGPUs and other high-performance devices into the left-hand ports for maximum data throughput.

3. macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and later don't support eGPUs in Windows using Boot Camp or when your Mac is in macOS Recovery or installing system updates.

4. These chassis provide at least 85 watts of charging power, making them ideal for use with 15-inch MacBook Pro models.

5. 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.

6. If you use Akitio Node with a Mac notebook, you might need to connect your Mac to its power adapter to ensure proper charging.

The Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module contains an AMD Radeon Pro W5700X graphics processing unit (GPU) with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, four Thunderbolt 3 ports, and one HDMI 2.0 port. You can use the Thunderbolt 3 ports to connect displays and external devices to your Mac Pro. When you use the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module with your Mac Pro, you can also use the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the top* and rear of your Mac Pro to connect additional displays.

If you use Boot Camp and have already set up Windows, install AMD drivers before installing the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module.

About ports and buses

Amd

The MPX module has two buses for its Thunderbolt 3 ports. If you connect two 5K or 6K displays to the Thunderbolt 3 ports on your MPX module, connect one display per bus.

If you connect a display to the HDMI port on your MPX module, the Thunderbolt 3 ports on Bus 0 can support one additional display at 4K or lower resolution. If you need to output audio to a display connected to the HDMI port and have other displays connected over Thunderbolt 3, don't connect a display to the Thunderbolt 3 port next to the HDMI port.

Connect displays to a single Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module

If you install a single Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module, you can connect up to six displays using Thunderbolt 3 in these configurations:

  • Three Apple Pro Display XDRs with resolutions of 6016 x 3384 at 60Hz connected to any three of the following locations: Bus 0, Bus 1, and either the top* or rear Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac Pro. Connect one display for each location.
  • Three 5K displays with resolutions of 5120 x 2880 at 60Hz connected to Bus 0, Bus 1, and either the top* or rear Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac Pro.
  • Six 4K displays with resolutions of 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz connected to Bus 0 and Bus 1, and either the top* or rear Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac Pro.

Connect displays to two Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Modules

Amd For Machine Learning

If you install two Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Modules, you can connect up to 12 displays using Thunderbolt 3 in these configurations:

  • Six Apple Pro Display XDRs with resolutions of 6016 x 3384 at 60Hz. Connect your displays to each bus and the Thunderbolt 3 ports on both the top* and rear of your Mac Pro.
  • Six 5K displays with resolutions of 5120 x 2880 at 60Hz. Connect your displays to each bus and the Thunderbolt 3 ports on both the top* and rear of your Mac Pro.
  • Twelve 4K displays with resolutions of 3840 x 2160 at 60Hz connected to the Thunderbolt 3 ports on your Mac Pro and on each card.

Use the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module with Microsoft Windows

If you use Boot Camp and it's already set up on your Mac, install AMD drivers first before you install the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module:

  1. Start up your Mac in Windows.
  2. Go to the AMD website, then click Drivers & Support.
  3. Select your product from the list, not the menu: First select Graphics, select Mac Graphics in the next column, then select Apple Boot Camp in the next column.
  4. Click Submit to view the list of available drivers.
  5. Look for the driver version that supports your Mac model, then click Download.
  6. Extract the downloaded ZIP file, then run the Setup app in the resulting folder to install the drivers.
  7. Shut down your Mac, then install the Radeon Pro W5700X MPX Module.

If you didn't install AMD drivers and your display shows a black screen, connect your display via HDMI, then follow the steps above. After you install the AMD drivers, you can connect your display via Thunderbolt 3.

Learn more

  • Learn about the PCIe cards you can install in your Mac Pro (2019).
  • Install PCIe cards in your Mac Pro (2019).
  • Set up and use Apple Pro Display XDR.
  • Use the LG UltraFine 5K Display with your Mac.
  • Use the 23.7-inch LG UltraFine 4K Display with your Mac.
Mac

* On rack-mounted models, these ports are on the front instead of the top.