FCPX 10.4.7. egpu problem

Everyone with a weak internal gpu and egpu has got screwed. I’m using a 2012 mbp with two internal gpu one nvdia that’s redundant thanks to Apple war with nvdia and the weak intel one, been using an amd 580 eGPU with great success 4k smooth as butter till this 10.4.7 massacre, nothing works the weak intel barely does anything, eGPU is useless. If fcpx doesn’t fix this resolve here I come

[Edited by Moderator]

Yes; I actually just got off an Apple Support call describing the issue. It was escalated to be reviewed by developers, so I guess we'll get an answer as to if this is changed functionality in the FCPX update.

For the record, I've narrowed down the issue to this: if I don't use Apple ProRes as the codec when exporting, then my integrated graphics are used instead of my eGPU.

My gut feeling is that this is a purposeful change. I'm not sure what the solution for exporting videos for YouTube and such are supposed to be though. Do I have to buy Compressor now in order to export videos small enough to share? Will Compressor even use my eGPU?

few weeks later, and still no solution to our problem..

Export times got worse since last update, none of the export options (except Master export h264 or pro res) make use of any external-GPU acceleration.

Please Apple fix this!!

By the way; standalone Compressor app does not use the eGPU either.. waste of potential here!!

Yep, 10.4.8 something definitely still broken here.. eGPU is not being used when exporting with custom settings. And even when using the 'default' Master File type export it does not seem to use the eGPU in an optimal way.

(Mac mini 2018 - Vega 56 eGPU)

I can't say for certain, but this sounds suspiciously related to another eGPU issue. It was only Catalina for awhile, but then Apple pushed out a security update to Mojave that reproduced the issue there, now, too. It has to do with the firmware on Polaris cards.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250714657

I have 3 CURRENT machines, all have the same issue. It does not matter if the lid is open/closed monitor attached to egpu or not, as it does the same on the Thunderbolt Mini

It's a BIG BUG that is totally unacceptable from apple!

I was promised a support call/return/update last Monday! Still nothing! I will chase tomorrow.

Nothing anyone here can do or suggest to make it work it appears. WE all need to complain/seek support from Apple so they pull their fingers out and resolve this mess.

COME ON APPLE!

I bit the bullet and called Apple support. If you're struggling with the same issue, consider pitching in your time so we can get back to editing. It'd be massively appreciated if you gave them a call.

I recommend getting transferred to their Media Support team, specifically to Specialists in Final Cut. They're the ones you can contact to inform the engineers/developers.

eGPU only did rendering and sharing it never did any real time tasks when the display was not connected to the eGPU. Which is exactly what final cut had to do when the eGPU flag was set. Now this is in the preferences and the behaviour is the same

Besides we are now at final cut 10.4.8 so it is completely irrelevant to go on about 10.4.7 as the code has already changed

And on this note I leave you guys to your own devices nobody is going to fix a release that is already not current you should go on 10.4.8 and then if you still have problem follow a support process

In my set up everything works as expected and I see no bugs of any sort in this area

Guys with all due respect this is a user forum for users to get help from other users. Apple does not use this forum to track bugs there is a separate process for that.

When you submit feedback to Apple you need to make sure that whatever you report is a bug. A bug is something that makes the application behave different from what is expected. The expected behaviour is what is documented in the knowledge base

So for example accelerating a display connected to the eGPU when this is the only display is a feature of OSX not final cut pro and will work with a variety of applications. If for some reason you are not getting the expected behaviour and somehow the internal or discrete GPU are controlling the external display of the eGPU this is a OS X issue not final cut.

Going back to final cut pro x it was never specified that final cut eGPU support was about live effect it was always about rendering and sharing. If for some reason this is no longer happening after a final cut update this is a final cut pro x bug

You cannot submit a but for final cut pro x not driving the live effects as this was never specified as functionality it does not matter if it used to work before bugs are worked on against supported and official functionality

I have just checked in the apple developer forums and I have found no discussions on eGPU issues related to final cut pro going from 10.4.6 to 10.4.7 or 10.4.8 I can confirm that live acceleration for displays not connected to the eGPU never worked on my set up so am not going to raise any issues. If you have raised a support ticket and followed the procedures and there is a real problem i.e. application not doing what is supposed to do and is documented to do there will be a follow up otherwise you will get an answer saying the application works as expected

Many people in this thread have little experience working with this forum and it seem also with apple feedback and support process it would be helpful not to use a place like this just to have a rant because as explained apple does NOT use this forum to look at bugs resolution

I also want to add I was one of the fools who bought an eGPU and a brand new Mac Mini hoping to deliver smooth 4K projects after reading that statement of features from apple that since last year has been revised and downgraded considerably because people were calling in fuming that there was no benefit with an eGPU see my story below

I bought in one shot LG Ultrafine 5K Mac Mini top spec and Blackmagic eGPU and after one week I sent back the blackmagic because it was stuttering playback in the browser I then bought a Razer X with Vega 64 at the time the best card you can get and kept having the same stuttering playback one year of viewing files in VLC and then cut for an edit until I finally gave up on the LG monitor and got a nice Benq PD2720U connected it to the Razer and since then is a joy.

Bruce test is not a test of live rendering but of an export and was designed to test internal GPUs

The expected behaviour of an eGPU in final cut is to perform background tasks while the main GPU handles the user key strokes

it is not an alternative to the onboard GPU but a complement

to test who is running live tasks you need to playback a file or an unrendered timeline sequence and you will see that the internal GPU does that in all cases

also the idea that a GPU helps creating optimised or proxy files is completely flawed

if your eGPU was driving reali time tasks you wouldn’t need to optimise would you?

I run my set up with no optimised files I use proxy only when am on the field and background rendering is always active

export is a small concern to me as by the time i export in prores 422 HQ all background rendering is complete and the encode requires limited CPU support

if I had a weaker GPU driving the display I would create proxies (because I dont need optimised on a display that is not able to view 4K) I would then transfers the library to the mini and connect the external drive change display to original and start having a look at the cut letting the background rendered go

I would then start grading on non optimised files

if all I was doing was upload and put some titles I would use imovie

apple approach to the product reflect how people work tests

like Bruce may be of interest

few years ago but don’t reflect the way you actually run a project

The final export is the end of the work and usually is done in a master format in prores from there you create different cuts depending on where you need to play it

oncw the master file is complete the project is fully rendered so all exports followint will make no use of any GPU

I found that the eGPU worked for rendering but nothing much else. I sold the eGPU and bought a MacBook Pro with internal GPU (so not a fix) but everything is exporting quickly now and using the GPU properly. Need Apple to fix this. Sorry.

OSX does not support encoding in Radeon card that is a Windows or Linux prerogative even if the chipset is capable

What apple does it to support Intel Quick Sync in their H264 acceleration using VideoToolBox API, this only uses the CPU and the integrated GPU on the chip this is the reason why you always see internal GPU used upon compression

So a discrete or external GPU will never be used under OSX to compress H264 full stop and that is not just final cut pro same goes for any compression tool like compressor, handbrake etc etc

In Apple world the key to get fast compression is to get as many cores as possible in the CPU and those to be as fast as possible.

Compression itself is unlikely to have changed in the various final cut releases as the VT API is unrelated to final cut and embedded in OSX. What could have changed is the rendering efficiency and performance and that would be related to a GPU

That’s awesome coz u have a Weak internal gpu and your eGPU is being utilized like it should! Could you do a command +4 to pop out the gpu usage on the activity window and see how much eGPU vs internal gpu is being used? In 10.4.6 you could shift everything to eGPU in 4.7 that wasn’t happening, this is great

In my case it is the same. An external graphics card is used but not at all. FCPX 10.4.6 uses it better than FCPX 10.4.8!

Interestingly, I did tests with the Unigine Heaven benchmark and then the eGPU processor works at 100%. It looks like the fault is on the FCPX side.