Mac Mini 2018 + Bazzite + eGPU Dock + Radeon RX 5700

Posted by TetroniMike@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 2 comments

TLDR; I'm building a little DIY Steam Machine and I need help getting it to play nice with the eGPU.

The idea of this build is to make it entirely (or as close as possible) out of pieces and parts from previous builds, components that I've been donated over the years, or have traded other components for. The only item I've purchased new is the eGPU dock, everything else has been re-purposed - hooray reduce, renew, recycle! :)

Parts list:

Mac Mini 2018 (Intel)
CPU: Intel Core i5-8500B
Integrated GPU: Intel UHD 630 GT2
RAM: 8GB DDR4 2667 MHz
Storage: 500GB NVMe
Ext Storage: (2x) 256GB SSD
eGPU Dock: GODLIY https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G48SQ8DR
Discrete GPU: Radeon RX 5700 XT MECH OC BV
PSU: EVGA 550 G3 550w

SO! I've got it set up to where I'm happy with it, EXCEPT for the GPU. Bazzite is great, it boots straight into Steam Big Picture Mode, it runs low-medium quality 2D games. Cool! Now I want to get it set up with the GPU, and MAN it's giving me issues...

I feel like I've tried everything, all of the tutorials and guides a web search can give me, and I can't get a picture from the GPU no matter what I do. I'm not afraid of the terminal, but not advanced enough with Linux to understand how to debug much further than what the guides specify.

Anyone have a similar setup? Any advice??

Thanks so much <3

[-]

smplnerd@reddit

Ohai Mac mini 2018 + eGPU buddy! Running a similar setup, just with a Razer Core X and triple-booting macOS 10.14 (for 32-bit macOS support), Bazzite, and Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC as needed.

For your eGPU, you can at least quickly Check to see if the dock is recognized by the system and is authorized:

Open terminal
Run boltctl and see if anything is returned.
1. If your eGPU is returned, check status. I don't remember if T2 allows Thunderbolt devices to connect through fully or not by default.
  1. If it says authorized, then at least you know the eGPU should be fully available to the computer.
  2. If it says connected, you need to boltctl authorize <uuid> to authorize the eGPU.
2. If your dock is not returned, then there is a miscommunication between your dock and the Mac mini.
  - You might want to consider investing in an active Thunderbolt 3 cable instead of the short passive cable that was included with the dock. I've personally had very little success with the short passive cables.
  - Might be silly, but make sure you're plugged into the correct USB-C style plug on the dock.
  - If you left a small macOS partition on your Mac mini, boot back into macOS and check if the Thunderbolt dock and/or GPU is detected there.

You'll likely want to reach out with your questions on their Discourse forums and/or Discord as well.

You can also talk a look at ewagner12/all-ways-egpu. The latest versions can work with Bazzite since it can now work on atomic OSes.

The eGPU.io Forums can also be a good place to ask or lurk for answers.

Best of luck!

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TetroniMike@reddit (OP)

It's authorized!

I tried all-ways-GPU, still no display output.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction with the forums and Discord :)