I'm trying to figure out whether it's worth it to invest in an eGPU (external GPU) for my 2018 Mac Mini. I've read mixed reviews as to whether there is benefit, especially in rendering. I read that a previous version of FCP severely limited the performance of an external GPU. I'm looking at both the OWC Helios and Razer Core X then have to decide upon the AMD Radeon card to use. If you do use one, which video card did you use and did you see a significant decrease in both rendering and background processing? Thanks for you help

Hi - I've attached a FCP course to this thread, -- hopefully it'll get the attention of other FCP users /gurus who might have some experience using a GPU w/ FCP, and have some advice to offer. [I'm an audio guy, so I don't have any experience with an external GPU myself].. I remember reading that pre-M1 Minis tended to need help from a GPU for video work, but that may not be the case with the latest M1 Minis and the latest version of FCP with full support for the M1. But I guess your Mini would be a pre-M1 model.. Again, as an audio guy I'm not up on the current details..

We'll have to see - I suspect that Apple may be throttling back the Mac Mini by only allowing 16GB of Ram, as an example, so they don't hurt sales of some of their more expensive silicon.

Depends on the ports you're using. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 are not fast enough for an eGPU to really work well. Ideally you'd have a MacM Mini with TB4 ports. Then it depends on the application, is it written to take advantage of an eGPU? Which card you go with depends on the type of work you're doing. 3D modeling performs better on some cards, straight motion graphics or editing perform better on others. You have to do a good bit of homework on this. There's no quick answer.