Proof FCPX 10.4.7 is slower than 10.4.6 and eGPU use worse

from your last link

In general, an eGPU can accelerate performance in these types of apps:

• Pro apps designed to utilize multiple GPUs
• 3D games, when an external monitor is attached directly to the eGPU
• VR apps, when the VR headset is attached directly to the eGPU
• Pro apps and 3D games that accelerate the built-in display of iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro (This capability must be enabled by the app's developer.)

Some apps, such as Final Cut Pro, directly choose which graphics processors are used and will ignore the Prefer External GPU checkbox.

Final cut and egpu

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/final-cut-pro/verb8e60ab7/mac

Render/Share GPU

• Render/Share GPU: Use this pop-up menu to choose which graphics processing unit (GPU) to use in Final Cut Pro when rendering or sharing. This choice affects only rendering and sharing; real-time effects use the default GPU.

what this means overall

1. final cut decides what egpu to use based on what it thinks is best
2. eGPU in Final Cut Pro does not accelerate the internal display

may agree or not with apple approach however I would not expect I need an eGPU to run final cut after spending £3500-4000 on an iMac 27

I am curious, and unfortunately not able to test this as I don't have an approved eGFX for my Akitio Node eGPU Box.

If you don't mind answering my questions.

Do you have a monitor connected to your eGPU? If so, have your set that monitor as your Primary Display?

Apple notes about setting up Primary Display is as follows if you not sure or have not set up the eGPU monitor as the Primary Monitor.

Set an external eGPU-connected display as the primary display

If you have an external display connected to your eGPU, you can choose it as the primary display for all apps. Since apps default to the GPU associated with the primary display, this option works with a variety of apps:

1. Quit any open apps that you want the eGPU to accelerate on the primary display.
2. Choose Apple () menu > System Preferences. Select Displays, then select the Arrangement tab.
3. Drag the white menu bar to the box that represents the display that's attached to the eGPU. 
4. Open the apps that you want to use with the eGPU.

If you disconnect the eGPU, your Mac defaults back to the internal graphics processors that drives the built-in display. When the eGPU is re-attached, it automatically sets the external display as the primary display.

If you have a monitor setup on your eGPU and have not set it up as the primary display, try setting up as Primary and do your test again.

Look forward to your response.

Looking forward to your setup.

Thanks for confirming as I have been offering this solution in quite a few threads and have had no response.

This is the graphic I posted to help explain for people what to do. The white bar indicates which monitor is set to the primary monitor.

Apple have also published that App developers can over ride the prefer eGPU tick box if available and not all Apps have that option in finder, so the solution is, set eGPU monitor as the Primary monitor and the App will default to it.

Thanks guys.

Hi, everyone !

First thing first, sorry for my bad English....I'll do my best.

I just bought a Core X and Radeon Vega 64 for my MbP 15 late 2016 (16gb RAM, Radeon Pro 460, 1tbSSD, Catalina bêta 10.15.3 (19D62e) and FCPX 10.4.8. I tried with a RX 5500 XT first and the results was so confusing I returned the 5500 for the Vega 64.

But the results are similar.....

I'm wondering why sometimes the Intel Graphics are used instead of the Radeon and why the iGPU is uses instead the eGpu(Vega 64).

It's quite confusing to see the laptop using the bad processing !

Last time I tried with clamshell mode and external display connected to the eGpu, it's better but the GC isn't used to the max....what is the point to buy an expensive GC if it's not fully used ????

I have seen a lot of videos talking about better perf with eGPU and I couldn't buy a new laptop.

Btw, just make some test with the new MbP 16 with Radeon Pro 5500M 4go, 16go RAM, 1 ToSSD with and without eGPU/Vega64.

It's crazy, my old MbP 15 was really bad(and I don't understand why)....and Final Cut Pro is way better optimized for the new combo.

26 minutes with the VEGA 64 for a project taking 37minutes with the 5500M(and the VEGA isn't not fully used)

You get no arguments from me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JErCE1Xtlog

I can get no better than about 5-6 frames per second whether the storyline is rendered or not. They both play about the same. In 10.2 - 10.4.6, after rendering that scene would play just fine. Plus — I have NEVER scene that black rectangle before!!

I've been running into a lot of trouble in some of my Motion projects as well. The interface is bogging down terribly... on unbelievably simple projects (that were butter smooth in 5.4.3).

I don't know where "they" are getting all of these benchmarks for the improvements in Metal I've been seeing, but I think it's a disaster, probably only optimized to pass the standard benchmarks while everything else is suffering. Or maybe you need at least 8 cores. I'm stuck with a 4 core. Or maybe more GPUs are listed as supporting Metal, but they really don't.

I thought I was doing well when I upgraded to Mojave 10.4.6 from High Sierra and was able to install FCPX and Motion - and everything seemed to update okay. Now I'm having to deal with all these slow downs. It's annoying.

I can’t disagree as I don’t run an eGPU. I’ll give you my experience exporting the Bruce X project to H.254 on a 2016 TouchBar MBP 16 GB RAM and 4 GB VRAM. In 10.4.6 the export took 42 seconds. In 10.4.7 the export took 27 seconds. I can only put that down to the update’s performance with Metal.

I don't have an eGPU either, and my tests with the BruceX benchmark agree with yours: 10.14.7 is significantly faster than 10.1.46 (about 52 seconds on 10.14.7 vs about 72 seconds on 10.14.6 on my 2014 MBP with GeForce 750m GPU).

I don't know if the problems Andy and Fox are experiencing are due to specific GPU or mac models, the particular external box, or some particular software combination, as the reports and tests that I can find on the web seem to indicate 10.14.7 to render and share faster than 10.14.6; and both seem to make decent use of the eGPU, even on machines where the built-in is already pretty great, like the iMac Pro.

10.4.7 is definitely slower for me too & something about the eGPU isn't working.

I'm on a 2018 6 core mac mini with an eGPU (Vega56 card) - before the update I could easily edit a 4 track multicam clip all with 160mbps footage, now even with 2 tracks it stutters & keeps dropping frames.

According to activity monitor the eGPU is never used & even with the eGPU selected in system preferences it's the built in Intel graphics doing all the work.

I happily upgraded to Catalina + 10.4.7 reading about how its great for eGPU but it's killed my FCPX, playback is all stutter, used to be smooth as butter in 4.6. Basically unusable. Though the geekbench shows my eGPU has gone from 126k score to 134K, too bad FCPX has screwed it up so bad with it...

I’d be interested in knowing that too.

But of those that have posted on this forum here and in other threads, I’ve been asking similar questions without much of a response so far.

There is perhaps nothing to do in a case of MacBook Pro without an external display. But more than once there have been posts of people with a mac mini who never answer a simple question: is the display attached to the eGPU directly?

Yes using the eGPU for my primary display has worked - performance is back & all now functions as expected, however - this is working fine in Catalina & I can now move on!

However upgrading to Catalina was my 'last resort' & it luckily worked. Mojave never let me use my monitor through my eGPU as it would often fail to boot properly & cause crashes at random times, so until I updated to Catalina putting my monitor through my eGPU was not an option.

Also, in 10.4.6 you did not need the monitor to be plugged in to the eGPU, so this is a definite backwards step for FCPX.

(Must add Im using a Sonnet 550 box + Vega56, I feel sorry for the people with 570/580's who cant even boot up in Catalina!)