eGPU connected to iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)

[Carmina]

Hi there

I have recently bought a Razer Core X chassis with a Sapphire Nitro Amd Radeon 6600 XT, 8GB memory Graphic card which I understand are compatible with my iMac and os Monterey. The system sees the eGPU attached.

I have activated the 'Preferred eGPU' on the softwares I want to use it with (Twinmotion, ArchiCAD and Cinerender ) but when I monitor the GPU activity it looks like the system is still using the built-in graphic card instead of the external GPU. The apps with the Preferred… option activated are listed under the eGPU in te Activity Monitor window but the utilisation is at 0%. It doesn't look like the rendering performance is improved in any way.

Any idea why? Am I missing something?

Thanks

My computer configuration:
iMac running on macOS Monterey (v 12.6) with the following specs:
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)
Processor: 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
Memory: 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
Startup Disk: Macintosh HD
Graphics: Radeon Pro 570 4 GB
Thunderbolt 3

 

[pigoo3]

If you go to:

* Apple drop down menu.
* Then "About This Mac".
* Click the "System Report" button.
* Click on "Graphics/Displays" in the left column.

In the information to the right...does the eGPU show up here?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Carmina]

If you go to:

* Apple drop down menu.
* Then "About This Mac".
* Click the "System Report" button.
* Click on "Graphics/Displays" in the left column.

In the information to the right...does the eGPU show up here?

Thanks,

Nick

Yes, I can see my eGPU there. I also have the icon on the top right of the screen showing that it's been recognised by the computer. Is it any software I can download to actually monitor the graphic card performance?

Thanks,
Carmina

 

[pigoo3]

Yes, I can see my eGPU there. I also have the icon on the top right of the screen showing that it's been recognised by the computer. Is it any software I can download to actually monitor the graphic card performance?

Here's a list of graphics testing apps. They're not all free & not all of them have macOS versions...thus check them out carefully for a free macOS Graphics testing app:

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/gpu-benchmark-software/

I would test with & without the eGPU attached...just to be sure one isn't preferentially being used by the computer over the other. Then compare the scores. Hopefully when the eGPU is attached...it is automatically used when testing.

Please let us know how things turn out.

Nick

 

[Carmina]

Here's a list of graphics testing apps. They're not all free & not all of them have macOS versions...thus check them out carefully for a free macOS Graphics testing app:

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/gpu-benchmark-software/

I would test with & without the eGPU attached...just to be sure one isn't preferentially being used by the computer over the other. Then compare the scores. Hopefully when the eGPU is attached...it is automatically used when testing.

Please let us know how things turn out.

Nick

Hi Nick

Thanks for your info above.

I have connected my computer to the Razer Core as a display (via a display port) and with the thunderbolt cable provided by Razer. Also got a dummy HDMI connection and the system works really well now. I have seen this trick on a youtube post and gave it a go. I'm happy with the result.

Cheers,

Carmina

 

[pigoo3]

I have connected my computer to the Razer Core as a display (via a display port) and with the thunderbolt cable provided by Razer. Also got a dummy HDMI connection and the system works really well now. I have seen this trick on a youtube post and gave it a go. I'm happy with the result.

Is this a different connection setup than you had originally?

Do you have any benchmarks comparing the 2017 27" 5K iMac original graphics...to the benchmark test graphic scores for the eGPU?

Would be very interesting to know how much faster the eGPU is than the stock 2017 27" iMac graphics. This is a setup rarely discussed here...very possible some others would give it a try if they knew how much of an improvement it is.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[Carmina]

Yes. At first the connection was only through thunderbolt.

Unfortunately no benchmarks other than the rendering time is considerably reduced, the software (Twinmotion) is snappy now even with all parameters activated to high resolution. Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Carmina

 

[pigoo3]

Yes. At first the connection was only through thunderbolt.

Unfortunately no benchmarks other than the rendering time is considerably reduced, the software (Twinmotion) is snappy now even with all parameters activated to high resolution. Hope this helps.

Ok good. Thought maybe you were benchmarking performance with an app. But if rendering times are considerably reduced...that's a definite good sign!

Thanks