OBSOLETE WORKFLOW

Use CUDA on an External GPU on Mac

As of Version 12.2, CUDA on macOS is no longer supported.

Configure your external GPU (eGPU) according to the manufacturer’s instructions

Configuration will depend on the type of eGPU you are using:

For BizonBox 3, see https://bizon-tech.com/bizonbox3_guide.pdf.

Apple Developers can take advantage of the External Graphics Development Kit, https://developer.apple.com/development-kit/external-graphics.

For other eGPUs, egpu.io has extensive information and user forum support.

  • While eGPUs will work with earlier versions of the Macintosh operating system, Apple does not officially support eGPUs until High Sierra (10.13).
  • This workflow was tested with a BizonBox 3 containing an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and a 2016 MacBook Pro. Workflows for other manufacturer’s eGPUs will be similar but differ in the details.

Ensure that your machine is using the eGPU

In System Preferences, choose the NVIDIA Driver Manager and select the NVIDIA Web Driver:

Check that the eGPU is found by CUDA

Load the CUDALink package and verify that it can find the eGPU:

Get information about available eGPUs with CUDAInformation:

Use the eGPU in Wolfram Language computations

Use CUDA-enhanced functions in computations:

  • See the CUDALink guide for a complete list of CUDA-enhanced functions.

Notes

Some Windows and Linux machines have internal GPUs that can be used immediately with CUDALink.