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tylernguyen / x1c6-hackintosh

READMEs, OpenCore configurations, patches, and notes for the Thinkpad X1 Carbon 6th Gen 2018 Hackintosh
https://tylernguyen.github.io/x1c6-hackintosh/
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[Question] Is it normal that my ADT-Link Thunderbolt 3 eGPU is NOT considered as an eGPU, but a PCIe device? #132

Closed kushwavez closed 3 years ago

kushwavez commented 3 years ago

Description:

I am using an ADT-Link Thunderbolt 3 adapter (ADT-Link R43SG-TB3 PCIe x16) for my AMD RX 470 4 GB video card. It is working fine, plug & play.

However it is not popping up on macOS as an External GPU, but a regular PCIe device over Thunderbolt 3. (same on macOS Mojave and Catalina too) Screenshot 2021-05-14 at 11 08 07 Screenshot 2021-05-14 at 11 08 54 Screenshot 2021-05-14 at 11 09 07 Screenshot 2021-05-14 at 11 09 14

I also see the similar result on Windows too: winpcie

And because of that, I can't set Applications to use my eGPU, because the "Prefer External GPU" option isn't there in "Get Info".

The Expected behaviour would be like this:

c14eb776-28f0-4ce7-aba7-5a68cd69a8d0

Then you can select "Prefer External GPU" macos-mojave-macbookpro-finder-app-info-prefer-external-gpu-selected And the app/game will launch on your Internal screen, BUT using the eGPU.

So because of it's looks like the same on Windows (but there I can select Apps to use RX 470), I'm not sure that this is normal or not, and would like to ask people with for example Razer Core X to test it, and see if it's the same or not. If the same, then I think it is not normal, and should be investigated.

If not the same as mine, and their GPU is recognised as eGPU and they can select "Prefer ... " too, then it is normal and it's the way my ADT-Link recognised and works, so it's not a "bug".

The problem with this is that I can only play my games with eGPU IF I have an external monitor plugged in, so I need to set the external monitor as primary display and launch the game on it. If there is no external monitor plugged into the RX 470, then I can't use it since Apps don't have "Prefer External GPU" option. However, apps like Final Cut can recognise it and use it just fine.

Another annoyance is that when I unplug it (using the menu, or just simply un-plug it doesn't matter), the notebook will freezes with high CPU usage, and I have to force-restart. So that is another question for all of you with eGPU, to verify that this is normal or not. Regular USB-C Gen 2 devices are working, can be removed & re-plugged without the need of a restart. I can't test more because I just don't have any other TB3 devices.

I'm know it's a bit long, but just a quick test would be enough. Thanks.

tylernguyen commented 3 years ago

@kushwavez

Unfortunately, I do not have that adapter nor an AMD GPU to do any testing.

It looks like a direct connection to the m.2 so that will always be detected as PCIe.

I would say take a look at the Thunderbolt patch and play around with that, but even then, it seems like a tough issue.

Again, I'm sorry I can't help you much.

kushwavez commented 2 years ago

Just a note about this: Just tested with other notebooks and the result was the same. The "issue" is that macOS does not recognise ADT-Link TB adapter as a supported adapter like the Razer Core X, and because of that it'll function the way I mentioned.