Hello experts,Setup:I have a Radeon Vega 64 GPU in a Razer Core X enclosure on a 2019 iMac.I am edting 360º footage using all Adobe approved acceleration-supported effects.I have "prefer external GPU" checkbox in get info window for Primere Pro 2020 and Media Encoder 2019.When rendering I am using "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Metal)"Problem:When I render out of Premiere/Media Encoder I expect support from the from the eGPU. However, checking Activity monitor for the GPU history the eGPU is not being engaged.On some screens I even have the message "GPU acceleration needed" When I scrub I can see a small percentage of activity on the activity monitor for the card.When exporting there is no activity at all. Tests so farI have tested with other software which uses the eGPU perfectly (so the problem is not with the eGPU setup)I have tested using Mac OS Mojave and Catalina, same issue in both (so the problem is not with Mac OS)I have tested in Premiere Pro and Media Encoder (so the problem is not a single piece of software)I have tested scrubbing effects as well as rendering (so it is not a single activity)I tried "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Metal)" and "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Open CL)" (so it is not a single render engine) Please advise.cj

C

caurij

Participant

Question

Premiere Pro not using eGPU to accelerate supported effects

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
December 13, 2019
9 replies
6751 views

Hello experts,

Setup:

I have a Radeon Vega 64 GPU in a Razer Core X enclosure on a 2019 iMac.
I am edting 360º footage using all Adobe approved acceleration-supported effects.
I have "prefer external GPU" checkbox in get info window for Primere Pro 2020 and Media Encoder 2019.
When rendering I am using "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Metal)"

Problem:

When I render out of Premiere/Media Encoder I expect support from the from the eGPU. However, checking Activity monitor for the GPU history the eGPU is not being engaged.
On some screens I even have the message "GPU acceleration needed"
When I scrub I can see a small percentage of activity on the activity monitor for the card.
When exporting there is no activity at all.
Tests so far
I have tested with other software which uses the eGPU perfectly (so the problem is not with the eGPU setup)
I have tested using Mac OS Mojave and Catalina, same issue in both (so the problem is not with Mac OS)
I have tested in Premiere Pro and Media Encoder (so the problem is not a single piece of software)
I have tested scrubbing effects as well as rendering (so it is not a single activity)
I tried "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Metal)" and "Mercury playback engine GPU accelration (Open CL)" (so it is not a single render engine)

Please advise.

cj

This topic has been closed for replies.

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John J Simon

Participant

Same problems here. I have an iMac Pro (64Gb, 18 core) with a Radeon Pro Vega 56 8Gb. I know, I cheaped out, but I'm running a recording studio, until COVID and 2021 hit. Now everyone wants their recordings with video. Who knew! I added a Razer Core X and tried two kinds of cards. First was a Radeon W5700 Pro, next was an Alienware Radeon RX5700 XT. Both failed miserably. The RX5700 worked a little during playback of After Effects (Prefer eGPU is checked). The video included some rotations, and having the video trace the audio along a shape with color changes as it moved around the screen. Nothing supre complicated. On playback, Radeon didn't do anything. On a rendering, the Radeon didn't kick in. I did try rendering from Premiere Pro, exporting it to Media Encoder. In one case, the Radeon card did nothing. At another time, it did - reduced render time on one video from 1:34 to 1:17. Not very impressed. Rendering seems to be the only thing that uses the eGPU sometimes. Why only sometimes?? What an expensive dissappointment.

I'm returning the Radeon Card for a refund and will at this point just have to settle for these problems. I wish I had $30K to buy a Mac Pro with the Dual Radeon Vega II Card installed! Sigh.

But I'm still curious. Fellow community people, what brand of Radeon card would you recommend that might work best? There seem to be a bunch that are geared for gamers (MSI, Asus, Sapphire+, etc.), but I don't know if all that overclocking translates to Premiere Pro or After Effects. Is this just a hopeless Quixotic quest? Am I dreaming the impossible dream?

C'mon, Adobe, get the program to use eGPU for more than just "accelerated effects"!

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wreck_tech

Participating Frequently

i am in the exact same boat. i am an audio engineer doing video stuff. my mac mini is fast but not up to the task for aescripts and etc. i got a sonnet puck, but it went from simply not helping to now actually breaking my computer: shutting it down suddenly, making the mouse go crazy, making my 2nd screen turn green or black.

i thought egpus were supposed to be revolutionary! this was one thousand dollars, how is it making things worse?!

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John J Simon

Participant

I sometimes get a similar result with audio stuttering. One thing that helped was to restart the machine. Somehow it re-allocated it’s resource use and audio was back to normal. Still underwhelmed in how much the eGPU helps with anything in Premiere Pro….

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lamsonblue

Participant

Hi guys.

i have another problem.

i'm using iMac 27" 5K 2017 with 2 thunderbolt3 ports running 10.5.7. One port connects to my Mantiz eGPU with AMD Radeon WX 9100 16GB. Other connects to my LG 4K thunderbolt2 LCD that links to my Blackmagic 4K studio external capture card via thunderbolt2, this capture device connects to my Eizo 4K 24".

The problem is:

1. with the setup above, my Premiere Pro does not use my AMD 9100 at all and i can not see the clip when i press playback, it does not move, my sequences are Blackmagic 4K raw with some 3D effects, but it runs smoothly ( at full resolution) with my AMD Rx580 8GB built-in inside my iMac.

2. i plugged my LG LCD out and use eGPU with iMac and Eizo LCD ( via blackmagic external capture device), the clip runs perfectly, even more than AMD Rx580, the Premiere Pro uses 80% up to 100% of WX 9100.

3. i connect LG LCD directly to eGPU (by HDMI - mini display port cable ) with the second setup, the clip runs just fine at 1/2 resolution, not ok at full resolution, eGPU does not use its full power, just 60%

How can i have a setup in which my Premiere Pro 14.4 can use my eGPU at full its power?

Thank you, guys.

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combatTVgirl57701

Known Participant

What processor are you running; did I miss that? Remember your graphics card will only kick in with graphics-accelerated effects. Not all of them do that. This sounds more like a processor issue. Check your project settings and make sure your eGPU and CPU aren't running more than about 50% of their capacity; they tend to compete with each other for power and they'll slow everything down as a result.

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lamsonblue

Participant

my iMac uses i7-7700K, 64GB ram, 1TB ssd with AMD Rx 580 8GB built-in. the footage is in Pegasus R6.

i meant with that project, my iMac runs it very smoothly by its own, no needs eGPU. when i use eGPU with iMac, it runs that project very smoothly too. in both cases my Eizo via Blackmagic capture card shows the clip without hesitating. ( i use Eizo to check the color)

The problem comes when i use the 2nd LCD ( my LG). eventhough i plug my LG LCD to iMac or directly to eGPU, the project runs not as smooth as without LG LCD. and i dont know why! 😞

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combatTVgirl57701

Known Participant

Did you ever find a solution? Because I'm having the exact same problem!

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monachus

Participating Frequently

My solution was to buy a new iMac with a decent internal GPU.

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ZJ1902

Inspiring

I am having this same issue with my 16in MBP across all Adobe Apps.

I see in Activity Monitor that Premiere and After Effects are tapping into my Razer/5700XT, but using little if any of its resources. On the flip side it is still using my internal 5500M heavily.

I've also selected "Prefer External GPU" under Get Info for the app settings.

Please let me know if there is any resolution this is. It's giving me serious second thoughts about jumping platforms.

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monachus

Participating Frequently

Premiere CC 2019 had no issues w/ my Radeon VII in a Razer eGPU enclosure. I was easily rendering 10-20 min videos in 1080p in less than 10 minutes, even with lots of effects. Premiere CC 2020 and Media Encoder now max out the internal GPU of my MBP (Radeon Pro 560X) and don't touch the eGPU at all. (Yes, I have the "prefer eGPU box" ticked.) 1080p videos now take over an hour to render, even if there's nothing more complex than a key on them.

peterkellner1

Inspiring

Adobe is just failing with EGPU. Latest MacBook Pro 16, current and only EGPU Apple sells. Makes no sense that built in egpu works hard and external is idle.

peterkellner1

Inspiring

I can add a little more color to this discussion, but no answer (I'm interested also).

I notice that when I use metal encoding with PR, my built in discreet processor (Radeon Pro 5500M) is full engaged and the EGPU RX Vega 56 in BlackMagic Pro is practically idle. (see attached).

When I run Geekbench 5 (https://www.geekbench.com/download/mac/), I get the same results they do. That is, when I select to test "metal" performance on the EGPU, I get twice the performance as when I run it on the . build in 5500 graphics.

https://browser.geekbench.com/metal-benchmarks

I notice that there are some old notes around that talk about how to "select preferred graphics" for processing on a mac, but that does not seem to work on on the current OSX version.