Low End Mac

Thunderbolt 3 External Graphics Cards (eGPU)

Mark Sokolovsky - 2024.10.30

Want a Mac Pro expansion slot without the tower? Starting in macOS 10.13.4 High Sierra, you can use an external graphics card with your Thunderbolt equipped Mac, also known as an eGPU. While it’s possible to: use a mini PCIe to PCIe adapter or an MXM to PCIe adapter for eGPUs on older Macs on virtually any macOS.. this article isn’t about those types of modifications.

An eGPU is used to add extra graphical power to your Mac, can power those heavy games, that Virtual Reality headset, and anything else needing better graphical hardware acceleration. A Thunderbolt eGPU can be hot-swapped, which means you can replace, add, or power it off while the computer is on. Any Game or VR headset must run directly off of the eGPU, of course. Any compatible apps may access the performance of the eGPU on the internal display, on the iMac and MacBooks. This article will cover general aspects of an eGPU on macOS but will mainly focus on the Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box.

Supported eGPU Enclosures

Not all enclosures are created equally, each one has a different Power Supply rating. Not all enclosures can fit just any card, either. Each GPU on the market has its own power rating, so it’s important to know what your enclosure can handle. The average mid to high end GPU in 2024 consumes 150-300W of power, so even a Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box would be okay, coming in at 450W. For reference, an Nvidia RTX 4090’s TDP is 450w.

  • Can charge MacBook Pro while using that same cable for the eGPU connection:
    • Blackmagic eGPU and Blackmagic eGPU Pro
    • Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box (450w, verified)
    • Sonnet Radeon RX 570 eGFX Breakaway Puck
    • Sonnet Radeon RX 560 eGFX Breakaway Puck
    • OWC Mercury Helios FX
    • Razer Core X
    • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650W
    • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 550W
    • PowerColor Game Station
  • Fully powers eGPU but does not charge the MacBook:
    • PowerColor Devil Box
    • Sapphire Gear Box
    • Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 350W
    • HP Omen
    • Akitio Node

Supported Graphics Cards for the eGPUs/Macs

The following list are most of the compatible GPUs not only for eGPU enclosures, but macOS in general. Any of these GPUs would work in an Intel Mac Pro.

  • Require macOS 10.14 Mojave or later:
    • AMD Radeon RX 470
    • AMD Radeon RX 480
    • AMD Radeon RX 460
    • AMD Radeon RX 570
    • AMD Radeon RX 580
    • AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
    • AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
    • AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
    • AMD Radeon RX Vega Frontier Edition Air
  • Require macOS 10.15 Catalina or later:
    • AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
    • AMD Radeon RX 5700
    • AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
    • AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary
  • Require macOS 11.4 Big Sur or later:
    • AMD Radeon RX 6800
    • AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
    • AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
      • Note: You may have issues waking from sleep if you hookup a display to a USB-C port on any one of these cards. Use the HDMI or DisplayPort.
  • Require macOS 12.1 Monterey or later:
    • AMD Radeon RX 6600

Unsupported Graphics Cards for the eGPUs/Macs

The following is a speculative list of GPUs you may or may not be able to get working, derived off a list of known working GPUs for Mac Pros and their corresponding version of macOS. This means it may be possible to get these specific cards working with that specific version of macOS, but this is not recommended. Some of these cards would require Nvidia web drivers to work. If you attempt to use Maxwell GPUs on Big Sur and beyond, you can force OpenGL to work with no Vulkan API, however, there will be unexpected Kernel Panics. The same thing happens to Pascal Nvidia GPUs past high Sierra.

  • Can only work up to High Sierra:
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080TI
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Pascal
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X (Maxwell)
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan (Maxwell)
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 TI
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750/750TI
  • Can only work up to Big Sur:
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Black
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan (Kepler)
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 TI
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
    • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760
    • NVIDIA GeForce GT 710/720

What you need to know

  • In 10.14 Mojave and later, you can set any app to prefer the eGPU over the iGPU. Go to the specific app in finder, hit “Command + I” on your keyboard or right-click and select “Get info”. Quit the app if it’s open already. Check “Prefer External GPU”. This option is not there in finder if you don’t have an eGPU hooked up.
  • You can set the eGPU to be primary for all apps:
    • Monterey and later: Quit all apps to be used by eGPU on internal/non-eGPU display, open System Preferences > Displays > Drag the menu bar to the screen hooked up to the eGPU.
    • On Big Sur and earlier this is under “arrangements”
  • The RX 560 and any RX-560 based eGPU doesn’t support HDCP protected content from iTunes. Some streaming services are also unavailable on displays attached to RX-560 GPUS/eGPUs. The content can instead be played on an internal display.

Trying out the enclosure

Sometimes, like in the case of this one, you may find an enclosure for way less than its resale value since the GPU isn’t working anymore. It’s difficult to find a comparable GPU with the same footprint, so you may have to do measurements or even buy some adapters. If you can stomach it, any gaming box can break out of this limitation by using a PCIe extension cable. The thermal paste wasn’t replaced in this box, which led to its failure. If you get lucky, you’ll find one of these for under $80-100 shipped.

Grab any ol’ GPU from the list above, and as long as it corresponds to the macOS version, it should work. This gigabyte gaming box was tested out with an XFX RX 570 4 GB, although XFX GPUs aren’t recommended due to compatibility issues with macOS. If you’re using a 2018 Mac mini like in this demonstration, but are also using FileVault.. you have to leave the display plugged into the Mac mini until you’re logged in. Once logged in, then you may plug the display back into the eGPU.

Extension Cables

If you’re going this route As long as it’s x16 to x16, you should be good. You may or may not need to purchase additional 6-pin to 8-pin adapters to get other kinds of cards working which weren’t originally designed for that specific enclosure.

Info (Gigabyte Gaming Box RX 580)

  • Size: 212 x 96 x 162 (mm)
  • PCI-E 3.0 x 16