Egpu For Steam Games? : Steam For Mac
Let me just go out and say it: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the hottest macOS game right now. With a heavy focus on customization and providing different ways to tackle your objectives, Mankind Divided is one of the most.
Hot 'n Steamy How to set up Steam's In Home Streaming on macOS Want to play Steam games from your Mac to any other computer running Steam in your home? EGPU Help with Bizon Box Mac So currently, I have problems running games with my eGPU from Bizon Box. Whenever I try to run my eGPU with my mac, it won't work because it will usually say that there are no drivers installed or that I have a code 12 which says that it can't find enough free resources. There is also a Steam for Mac here.
And naturally, we all want to know what it takes to run such a demanding game. Added support for Metal 2, but will it be enough? DiRT Rally, the last game we reviewed, was an amazing port that could run on an amazing variety of Macs.
The Mac has around 4,500 games available on Steam. To put this into context, in the whole of 2017 there were over 7,000 PC games uploaded to the Steam platform. The Mac doesn’t have the wide variety of games that the PC does, even lagging behind Linux offerings.
But is it the case for Mankind Divided too? Let’s find out.
Profesional reviewers tend to agree: it is. The Windows PC version of the game has an impressive 83 Metascore (which is a weighted average of scores given by critics). IGN gave it a 9.2/10 score while PC Gamer gave it an, calling it: A beautiful, smartly designed game set in a gorgeous futuristic city, but with a story that doesn’t quite do it justice. Steam users seem less convinced. The game received a mixed score with only 66% positive reviews. Digging a little deeper, many users were upset because of the DRM used on the Windows version, microtransactions, and apparently poor DLC.
Knowing how easily Steam users can review bomb a game, I would take this with a grain of salt. This is a solid game that got perhaps too much hate because of DRM and microtransactions. If you’re looking for a good action game with RPG mechanics and great graphics, Mankind Divided is a safe bet. The test But can your Mac run it? To give you a proper answer, we went ahead and tested the game on four different models. The results The game looks undoubtedly great, but that comes at a price.
This is a very demanding game that requires a powerful machine: Both the 2017 MacBook Pro and iMac passed the test, while the 2016 MacBook Pro couldn’t even launch it. Not surprising, but let’s take a closer look at the results. The brand new top of the line MacBook Pro Taking into account that we’re for 30 frames per second or more, with an average of 40 frames per second, you can comfortably play Mankind Divided on this machine. The thing is, it only did 40 fps. For one of the most expensive MacBooks available, sporting an Intel Radeon Pro 560 with 4GB of video RAM, this is a clear sign that Mankind Divided is a very demanding game. The slightly old top of the line iMac Indeed, my 2014 iMac is starting to show its age, but with a Radeon R9 M290X card and 2GB of video RAM, I was confident it would easily run it too.
With an average of 36 fps, it can run the game at acceptable levels, but just as before, this is once again proof that is a very demanding game that should be reserved to those with a top of the line Mac. The new but basic MacBook Pro The results on my 2016 MacBook Pro confirmed my suspicions. This is a very demanding game that needs a powerful graphics card. Anything else won’t cut it. In this case, the game wouldn’t even launch, which is why you cannot see a gray bar on the graph above: If you have a Mac with integrated graphics, you now know what to expect Feral Interactive did warn us, this is a game with huge system requirements. A MacBook Pro with an eGPU One solution if you’re stuck with a recent but lacking MacBook Pro would be to give eGPUs a try. The performance improvement is phenomenal (going from “can’t run it” to better results than a 15-inch MacBook Pro), but it’s an expensive setup still in beta.
I would wait for Apple’s official support first We still like to test machines that are below them anyway, just to see what would happen (hoping something can be eeked out on the lowest settings), but that comes at the risk of buying a game you won’t be able to play.
This will be a work in progress as I will continue to test new games as I get time to do so. This will be a long post but hopefully somewhat informative for some. If you have any games you'd like me to test feel free to ask, I might have it and be able to test.
Important note: These settings are most likely not the best settings, in many of the games the CPU is the limiting factor meaning that higher graphical settings will not make the fps significantly worse. These are the settings I tested that I found to be good and playable, I prefer native resolution (2560x1440) above better settings, many games are run just on Auto or default settings. Background I always liked to play games but I want to try to do it more casually in the future instead, therefore I have looked into the eGPU solution for the Mac I need anyway. I currently have a gaming desktop containing a Intel 7700k running at 5 Ghz, 16 GB of DDR4 ram at 3000 Mhz and a Nvidia GTX 1080 so that is my reference point and I will give you the FPS I see in games on that rig if I have it under the tag 'Desktop FPS'. EGPU Setup I am running the 2018 13' MBP with i5 and 16 GB of ram together with a Razer Core X with my Nvidia GTX 1080 in it. All tests are done in Windows 10 (Boot Camp) with Intel XTU setting the power limit to 34W and the boost power limit to 38W for 28 seconds, this allows me to run the CPU at 3.6 Ghz of sustained speed across all cores (which is max for the i5).
With fans set to max the temperatures are between 75-85 celcius so there is thermal headroom for higher clocks. I use Macs Fan Control in OS X to set the fans to maximum before booting into Windows, this leaves the fans at max. The FPS from this setup will be under the tag 'eGPU FPS'.
If it does any difference I have been testing this using displayport out to my AOC Agon AG241QG 165 Hz screen with G-Sync. Also all games are run from my external USB-C SSD (WD My Passport SSD) as I rather keep my Windows partition smaller, loading times are as fast as on my desktop that has a normal SATA SSD though. Game tests Playerunknown's Battlegrounds Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: 110-144 except for occasional big drops eGPU FPS: 80-110 except for occasional bigs drops Thoughts: Runs perfectly fine, I did not get annoyed by drops more than I usually do when I play the game.
Dreamworks Dragon Games : Wild Skies
If you have the inventory up and run around you do get around 45 fps and that does make it feel slow. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Settings: Desktop FPS: Bounces around a bit but mostly 450+ and never under 350. EGPU FPS: Depends on map and amount of players, mostly around 250-300 but some drops below 200 did happen. Thoughts: Runs perfect from a gaming standpoint, in CS:GO more FPS does make the game feel smoother but this was nothing to complain about. If I didn't know this was a different setup I might not notice. Overwatch Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: Usually keep it locked at screen fps, which for some reason was 171.
EGPU FPS: Locked at 161 for some reason with some drops down into 150. Thoughts: More or less flawless, I played a few games and only had one problem, towards the end I started a download in the background and when that finished something launched and that seems to have made something wonky, FPS dropped to 23 and the CPU got power limited.
Never happened again so I consider it to be a one time thing. Fortnite Settings: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 100-120, occasional drops to 85-90 ish. Thoughts: Not experienced enough to say anything, did not feel laggy at all. I was using the 50v50 game mode and dropped somewhere and ran around some people and shot a bit, did not like the game enough to try more than that League of Legends Settings: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 170-270 Thoughts: Default Settings. Haven't played before but did not feel laggy at all, took ages to load but I was indicated to have loaded first so I dunno.
Was mostly around 220 but dipped sometimes to around 170-180. Destiny 2 Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 80-100 Thoughts: Default Settings. Haven't played before but did not feel laggy at all and looked amazing. I only tried the start of the campaign so far and the FPS was mostly around 90 but dipped to 75-80 ish sometimes. Updated the FPS some after playing more intensive scenes, still no stuttering.
Battlefield 1 Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 70-100 Thoughts: FPS was mostly around 80 with these settings and the game felt good. Randomly there were some drops, not every game but sometimes. The cut scenes before the matches were laggy sometimes while loading but mostly it was working very good.
I tried to play different game modes and the ones with big maps and loads of explosions where I thought it would struggle it was doing it no problem. Witcher 3 Settings: 2560x1440 resolution and high presets on both Graphics and Postprocessing. Could do Ultra preset without stuttering in what I tested but lower FPS. Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 50-60 Thoughts: FPS cap was 60 so couldn't go higher. Did not test too much combat but no stuttering at all in what I tested.
Rise of the Tomb Raider Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 60-80, did the benchmark and got these results: Thoughts: Played really well, no stuttering at all although I did not try too long. GTA V Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Settings part 3: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 140-170, did the benchmark and got around the same FPS.
Thoughts: Plays well, never played it before so I do not have too much experience. Did get a bit of stutter when the 'WASTED' thing comes up. Settings were the default that the game suggested. World of Warcraft Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 50-100. Thoughts: Plays well, I put it all on max and ran around in Stormwind with my level one character as well as hit some mobs.
In Stormwind it was around 55 fps with all the people there. Couldn't test raids or anything since well yeah, level 1. Fallout 4 Settings part 1: Settings part 2: Settings part 3: Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 60-80 Thoughts: Plays well and mostly around 70 fps in the outside world, it was all on the 'Ultra' preset. Did get loads of lag in windowed borderless for some reason but fullscreen played nice.
If course I did not have time to play a lot so I am sure the FPS will dip later on if a lot is going on Realm Royale Settings: 2560x1440 resolution and everything at max more or less Desktop FPS: N/A eGPU FPS: 140-150 Thoughts: Quite stable around 150 where it seemed to be capped or something. Some stuttering in menus for some reason. More to come.
Great post, thanks for sharing. If you are at all inclined to push out benchmarks for some higher tier games (ACO, FC5, GTAV) it would be greatly appreciated. I’m most interested in the CPU usage and temps of the new quad i5 for these games.
I ran an eGPU (Akitio Node Pro) with a 1080 Ti for awhile on my 13 in. 2016 MBP TB, but it wasn’t sustainable. The dual core i5 pegged at 100% usage all the time and overall performance dropped down to 1060 levels.
The good thing though was the i5 was a thermal champ. It would never get over 85C and settled into a nice 80-82C with steady 100% usage. Great post, thanks for sharing. If you are at all inclined to push out benchmarks for some higher tier games (ACO, FC5, GTAV) it would be greatly appreciated.
I’m most interested in the CPU usage and temps of the new quad i5 for these games. I ran an eGPU (Akitio Node Pro) with a 1080 Ti for awhile on my 13 in.
2016 MBP TB, but it wasn’t sustainable. The dual core i5 pegged at 100% usage all the time and overall performance dropped down to 1060 levels. The good thing though was the i5 was a thermal champ. It would never get over 85C and settled into a nice 80-82C with steady 100% usage. Thanks for these benchmarks! I do consider an eGPU myself, but I have to say I'm quite impressed with the performance of the Iris Plus 655.
I get stable 60 fps in Diablo 3 (1050p, mostly high settings), 60 fps locked at Starcraft 2 (mostly low settings - won't let me choose higher ones, seems to be a bug), and even Civilization 6 runs perfectly fine at medium settings. I have yet to try more games, but compared to my 2012 Mac Mini with its HD 4000 this is a huge step up (Diablo 3 at low settings with 21 fps is playable, but not the best experience.).
Thanks for these benchmarks! I do consider an eGPU myself, but I have to say I'm quite impressed with the performance of the Iris Plus 655. I get stable 60 fps in Diablo 3 (1050p, mostly high settings), 60 fps locked at Starcraft 2 (mostly low settings - won't let me choose higher ones, seems to be a bug), and even Civilization 6 runs perfectly fine at medium settings. I have yet to try more games, but compared to my 2012 Mac Mini with its HD 4000 this is a huge step up (Diablo 3 at low settings with 21 fps is playable, but not the best experience.). Click to expand.Battlefield 1 did seem to hit the power limit on the CPU a bit according to Intel XTU, the clocks stayed more or less the same though, think it dipped to 3.45 Ghz at one point which seemed to be the worst case. A better CPU (15' would most likely benefit it). It is a double edged sword really, I am trying to keep this eGPU and use it for gaming so I can get rid of my desktop and only have this really portable 13' laptop.
The 15' would increase the gaming performance significantly which would help me in replacing my desktop, but then I would be compromising on the portability part and I wouldnt throw it on my lap while laying in bed as easily and so on. I am looking into what to try next for games. @, Thank you for the efficient write up and very informative thread!! I have pretty much the same MBP as you however I'll begin setting this bad boy up tonight.
No eGPU as of yet. That's about 3 months away so I'll be keen on viewing this and similar threads until I can decide on an eGPU and video card. As I understand the Core X does not have USB-A ports, only 1 TB3 port, right? I'm still learning and trying to compare the Core X, Core v2 and Atiko chassis and what they support. PS: Any reason or info or insight as to why MacBooks STILL cannot use natively installed games and directly use an external eGPU to an external screen much like what can be done with Boot Camp and Windows?