Mac editor won't use eGPU

Unity Engine
1

I got a Radeon 580 eGPU for my MacBook Pro last week, and was wondering why I didn’t see much performance improvement — turns out that Unity isn’t using it. From the editor log:

Initialize engine version: 2017.3.1f1 (fc1d3344e6ea)
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Renderer: AMD Radeon Pro 560 OpenGL Engine
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Version: 4.1 ATI-1.66.31

So…how do I tell Unity to use the eGPU instead of the built-in card?

Also, in builds, it’s nice to have the pulldown for choosing which GPU to use, but it defaults to the integrated card, which is frustrating…

2

Ah, found it – in Preferences, under “Device to Use.” (I looked there before but I guess I didn’t understand “device” to mean GPU.

3 Likes
3

So this is odd: That option (Unity Prefs>External Tools>Device to Use) only appears in one of my projects. Missing entirely from other projects, including new ones. And now it’s gone from the one that it appeared in for the past week. I haven’t updated Unity or Mac OS…so what the heck?

4

@gecko Did you found a solution for this? I am thinking about getting a eGPU for my MacBook Pro (2017) as well and can’t find any information if the Unity editor is able to make use of an eGPU.

5

@[mahaloKahuna]( Mac editor won't use eGPU members/mahalokahuna.1616156/) Yes, 2018.1.7 finally fixed that bug with the GPU selection pulldown not appearing, so I can also choose (and know which) GPU is in use. Handy for testing. And the eGPU definitely gives a big speed boost (75% to 100% increase) …except that I’ve noticed it degrades over time, and I have to restart the Mac every few days to get the proper eGPU speed-boost. Annoying but I can deal with it.

1 Like
6

@gecko which egpu are you using with your Radeon 580? I’m thinking about getting a Raze Core X.

7

I’m using the Sonnet box that includes the 580.

8

thanks, I just found this drop down and worked like a charm.

9

Are you still using that? where do you have benefit? in bake lights with progressive?
I have tested one egpu and a lot of times Unity uses CPU for made a build and other stuff…

10

Yes, still using it. We see the improvement in GPU load, so higher FPS at runtime. (Maybe also for compute-shader work, but haven’t paid attention to speed improvements in that kind of thin.g)

11

Hey there! I have added an additional GPU in my mac and struggling very hard to make it useful for Unity. Although it is correctly recognised in the system report, there is no available option in Unity of choosing any additional device. 5212937--519098--Screenshot 2019-11-26 at 00.15.29.png 5212937--519101--Screenshot 2019-11-26 at 00.16.04.png

1 Like
12

what unity v version do you have? do you have to see below the option “enable code coverage” an option to select what device to use.
See my attach

5214458--519326--Captura de pantalla 2019-11-26 a las 11.44.13.png