Breakaway Box 350/550/650
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FAQ (34)
IDArticle TitlePost Date
907 Can I upgrade the power supply in the Sonnet eGFx Breakaway Box or Breakaway Box 550?Sep-20-19
913 Does an eGPU accelerate Adobe After Effects?Jun-21-21
914 Does the Breakaway Box support the AMD Radeon Vega 64, FE, WX8200 or WX9100, Radeon VII, or Radeon 5700 or 5700 XT?Jan-12-20
915 The GPU-350W-TB3 and GPU-350W-TB3Z both have 350W power supplies, but only GPU-350W-TB3Z supports some higher end cards. Why?Oct-21-19
925 My Breakaway Box won't turn on.Jan-06-21
926 I have a Windows computer with a discrete (internal) NVIDIA Quadro dGPU, and the external NViDIA GeForce or Titan eGPU is not recognized.Jun-21-21
929 Can I use a Sonnet eGPU with Boot Camp?Jun-21-21
Neither Apple, nor Sonnet, nor NVIDIA, nor AMD currently supports eGPUs with Boot Camp.
 
930 What kind of performance can I expect from the NVIDIA Titan Xp (Pascal) with the eGFX Breakaway Box?Nov-06-17
In a Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box, the Titan Xp was performing at:
Single-precision Float 12.4 Tflops/s
Double-precision Float 416 Gflop/s

Note: You may have read that some other manufacturers' external graphics boxes--even some with a higher power supply rating--fail under heavy load with the NVIDIA Titan Xp (Pascal) card. Not so with a Sonnet Breakaway Box. In choosing a power supply, Sonnet carefully considers not only the eGFX Box nominal power rating, but also its instantaneous peak power delivery capability. Sonnet runs many rigorous tests (including the CUDA-Z benchmark, set to Heavy Load Test Mode). The Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box must pass the most stringent tests before we put it in your hands.
 
932 How can I use the Sonnet eGPUs to accelerate games on the MacBook Pro or iMac internal video?Jun-21-21
Internal video acceleration for games is supported only under macOS 10.14+.

If you are using macOS 10.14.6+, you can accelerate applications and games with the eGPU if they support GPU acceleration...
• Select the app in Finder
• Get Info
• Select Prefer External GPU

To get the maximum game acceleration, connect a game display to external graphics.
 
938 What power cable do I need for the Avid HDX card?Jun-21-21
970 How do I use the Breakaway Box or RX 560/570 Puck with the LG Ultrafine 5K Display sold on the Apple store?Jan-06-21
The LG Ultrafine 5K Display connects via Thunderbolt 3. To give both the display and the Breakaway Box/Puck each maximum bandwidth, connect them to independent Thunderbolt 3 controllers, if possible.

The 13" Macbook Pro with Touchbar, 15" MacBook Pro, Mac mini and iMac Pro have two independent Thunderbolt controllers. Connect the Display and the Breakaway Box/Puck to ports on different sides.

The 13" MacBook Pro without Touchbar and the iMac with Retina display and the have only one Thunderbolt controller. The LG Ultrafine Display will reserve all the bandwidth it needs, and the Breakaway Box/Puck will be allocated the remaining bandwidth, which may affect performance of the Breakaway Box/Puck.

If you are using macOS 10.14.6+, you can accelerate applications and games with the eGPU if they support GPU acceleration...
• Select the app in Finder
• Get Info
• Select Prefer External GPU

Do not select Prefer External GPU for Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut Pro. These applications automatically manage eGPU usage.

Professional applications that use an external GPU generally may have a preference selection inside the app to select the external GPU.
 
978 Sonnet's macOS-compatible external graphics supports up to 5 displays. How can I tile them into one large display?Jan-06-21
In macOS:
Open System Preferences.
Open Mission Control.
Uncheck Displays have separate Spaces.
Log out.
Log in.
 
991 What is the maximum size GPU card that will fit in a Breakaway Box?Jan-06-21
995 Which NVIDIA cards are supported as external GPUs.Oct-21-19
998 I need to ship the Breakaway Box. Do I need to remove the card?Jan-06-21
999 How do I get external graphics working on a Gigabyte motherboard?Feb-03-23
1001 My display is not being detected on macOS.Jun-21-21
1002 My 4K display is connecting only at 30Hz. Why I can't set it to 60Hz?Jun-21-21
1004 How to Solve the DP No Video / Wrong Resolution Issue with the Dell P2715Q / P2415Q Flat Panel MonitorsJun-21-21
1025 Will a Sonnet eGPU accelerate internal video on a Mac?Jun-21-21
1026 Does Final Cut Pro use the external GPU in a Breakaway Box, or Breakaway Puck, or DuoModo eGPU Module?Jun-21-21
1028 Does the Breakaway Box or RX 560/570 Puck support the LG UltraFine 4k Display sold by Apple?Jan-06-21
1038 I purchased a Breakaway Box bundled with a Radeon GPU card and now I need warranty service on the GPU card.Sep-20-19
1051 I'm connecting from a DVI (or sometimes DP) port on my GPU Card--via an adapter cable--to an HDMI port on my monitor and the display looks magenta.Jun-21-21
1054 How do I extend the length of a DisplayPort cable?Jun-21-21
1084 I connected my monitor to the Breakaway Box, Breakaway Puck, or DuoModo eGPU Module on my 2018 or newer Mac mini, but it boots with a black screen.Jun-21-21
If you have a 2018 or newer Mac mini with FileVault turned on, you must connect your primary display directly to the HDMI port on your Mac mini during startup in order to enter your encryption password. After you log in and see the macOS Desktop, you can unplug the display from Mac mini and connect it to your eGPU.

Under macOS 10.14.6, a 2018 Mac mini with some GPU cards must be booted with a monitor connected to the Mac mini's HDMI port. If you have a Mac mini with an affected GPU card, you must either:
(a) Update to macOS 10.15.7+

(b) Connect an HDMI display emulator plug to the Mac mini HDMI port and mirror displays. (You must make sure that the HDMI display emulator is the Master Mirror. Drag the menu bar to the HDMI display emulator window before mirroring.)

(c) Connect a monitor to the Mac mini's HDMI port to log in, and then move the HDMI monitor connection to the eGPU.
 
1110 I'm trying to use four HDMI monitors by adding DP-to-HDMI adapters, but it doesn't work.Jun-21-21
1111 I'm trying to use an additional HDMI monitor by adding a DP-to-HDMI adapter, but it doesn't work.Jun-21-21
1145 Do not disconnect or power off you eGPU during sleep or your Mac will crash.Apr-20-21
macOS does not support disconnecting or powering off an eGPU during sleep. If you do so, your Mac will kernel panic. This is an issue that persists through at least macOS 11.2.3. Sonnet has reported the issue to Apple.
 
1191 I upgraded to macOS 12.4 and my Vega 56 is no longer seen by macOS.Nov-25-22
1212 My computer will randomly freezeFeb-25-23
1225 My Windows PC freezes without a blue screen when using an NVIDIA GPU.Jun-05-23
1246 Disconnecting my eGPU crashes macOS 14+�Sep-09-24
1252 Acer Swift 5 does not support eGPUsOct-22-24