Question about PD with eGPU

A

AlexA2

Member
My upcoming computer setup is going to be something like this:
late 2018 Mac Mini
eGPU(Thunderbolt 3)
HDMI 4K monitor
I've read this: https://kb.parallels.com/124266
It says:
First, make sure you have connected eGPU device correctly: plug eGPU device to Mac via Thunderbolt and connect your display directly to eGPU. For details, see Apple KB HT208544.
Click to expand...
What if the display is non-Thunderbolt and plugs in via HDMI instead, does that means the display can't take advantage of eGPU?
 
To clarify my question, how straightforward is eGPU with Parallels 15? Can I have macOS use the integrated graphics while assigning the eGPU to Windows 10?
 
@AlexA2, you need to connect the eGPU to your Mac, and only when it works fine in macOS, Parallels Desktop will use the available graphics resources to increase virtual machine video performance.
Also it is not possible to connect an eGPU device directly to VM.
Please check this KB article for more info and let us know if it's not that case.
 
Another question - how good is the graphics performance for the newest 5K iMac with Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory? Can a VM be configured to get most of that RAM, like 2GB for macOS & 6GB for Windows?
 
Egpu works fine with Parallels. It isn't treated as a stand alone device in the device manager, it's just treated as the default display adapter.

I use a Mac mini 2018 with an external Vega 64 with the 4K screen connected to the Vega 64 HDMI port. Works fine. I don't use the Mac mini hdmi port.
 
AlexA2 said:
Another question - how good is the graphics performance for the newest 5K iMac with Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory? Can a VM be configured to get most of that RAM, like 2GB for macOS & 6GB for Windows?
Click to expand...
The 'vRAM' situation in Parallels is a bit different since it is a VM. I have an 8GB card as well (but I don't think the cards actual VRAM matters to Parallels), and I honestly get the best performance when everything is set to auto in Parallels (eg. don't mess around with the config). If you run resource monitor, you will see that it is actually utilizing your eGPU nicely (it does for me at least). This is actually quite good, as many native macOS games won't even use the eGPU no matter what (ex. Cities Skylines macOS version, even when the only screen active is the one connected to your eGPU, will use the integrated intel chip and have to translate all the calls through the eGPU, which actually makes the performance worse than running it without an eGPU!
 
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