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macpro88
Participant
February 9, 2018
Question

Does Photoshop CC support external GPUs?

  • February 9, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 7148 views

I have a 2015 Thunderbolt 2 MacBook Pro and an RX 580 eGPU setup. Lightroom CC seems to recognize and use the eGPU for hardware acceleration, but Photoshop doesn't.

Does Photoshop support eGPU? And if so, how do I enable support?

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      2 replies

      Conrad_C
      Community Expert
      Conrad_CCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 9, 2018

      Keep in mind that "Is it supported?" and "Does it work?" are two different questions.

      People are using eGPUs with Photoshop, but if you read the links that Axel Matt posted, it doesn't work for everyone right away, and some of them have to hack their way there. That is because, right now, neither macOS nor Photoshop officially support eGPUs for their currently shipping software.

      Apple has announced that eGPU support in macOS is coming, but not until Spring 2018. There is no official support in the version of High Sierra that's out now. And as far as I know, Adobe hasn't said anything yet.

      If you want to try an eGPU now, you do want to read the threads around the Internet about getting it to work, but right now, it is very much "at your own risk" kind of thing. If you want it to be a rock-solid solution that you can rely on for daily production, you want to wait until Apple releases the fully eGPU-compatible version of macOS coming in a few months, and then see if Adobe says their software is fully compatible with that.

      Also, if you want your eGPU to drive your internal MacBook Pro display (not an external display), the article I linked to above says that eGPU acceleration of the internal display isn't working in the macOS 10.3.4 beta that they tried, and that stability is still a problem.

      M
      macpro88Author
      Participant
      February 9, 2018

      Thanks, from all the research I've been doing, MacOS 10.13.X supports it, but it's in a 'beat' stage right now. I hear 10.13.4 has more support for eGPU.

      I also currently have an eGPU setup with an RX 580 with my Benq monitor, and it works great with Lightroom and CaptureOne Pro, but not so much with Photoshop, which is a bummer.

      Guess I'll have to hold out until Adobe 'officially' support it.

      Thanks for the input.

      AxelMatt
      Community Expert
      AxelMattCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 9, 2018

      Take a look here if it's helps:

      Photoshop CC 2017 eGPU Graphics Acceleration HELP???!!!??? – Pro Applications – External Graphics Card Forum

      Adobe CC (2017) Experiences? – Pro Applications – External Graphics Card Forum

      Axel

      My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
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