Change graphics card on an iMac?

epa said:

I don't think you can change a GPU in an iMac. I have heard of external GPU boxes that plug in via USB. I would recommend looking into those, just make sure the GPU you use is supported in MacOS.

Matt

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If you read through the last few messages you'll see that Thunderbolt is required and not only that it is a particular version of Thunderbolt not USB.

Cheerio John

antotrainz said:

So I guess to come in conclusion is that I may need to have an eGPU with really great power supply of course and a Nvidia GTX series card to run at least a good 60fps or more while running or building a route with vast amount of detail. Taking in note form what Cheerio Leon mentioned earlier.

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NO, avoid the Nvidia cards unless you can find somebody who has them playing nicely with Trainz . remember these cards are NOT SUPPORTED by apple and thus not supported by NV3 if you cant get them running. They are the best cards to run trainz in windows but not in my experience , on the mac.
Now prices have come down from the crazy highs , the sapphire nitro rx 580 with 8gb vram is quite a good deal , it runs TANE well and can achieve 60fps on high settings.
As for an egpu, I'd only get one if you can return it , because you never know with Trainz, it may work or not, unless somebody has proved it will work don't assume that it will. I doubt that even Tony Hilliam can tell you whether it will as it unlikely that they have tested a setup.

1611mac said:

I never understood that whole Mac vs PC thing.... everyone is different, people should use what works for them. I just know that over the years my Mac's have never failed me. I don't have crashes. I run with so many apps open at the same time even I can't believe it, and yet, everything hums along day after day... week after week... month after month.. year after year. I've had to stop and reload OS like twice in over 30 years of using them. That is fact. But the next guy might prefer Windows and his/her own hardware build. That's the great thing about having choices.

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Couldn't say any better than that. As long s I have the proper eGPU, nVidia drivers and graphics card installed to run a T:ANE or TS2019 properly just to build my routes and to have fun while driving a locomotive on an already installed route within is all that matters. I really appreciate the suggestions that y'all given to me and have kept them in mind while I've been researching for the right eGPU and graphics card plus drivers to install in order to not have any sort of error going on throughout the entire installation process. And as for this quoted comment, its just as realistic of a comment as it could be. Well said.

Kind regards,
Anthony Reyes

dangavel said:

NO, avoid the Nvidia cards unless you can find somebody who has them playing nicely with Trainz . remember these cards are NOT SUPPORTED by apple and thus not supported by NV3 if you cant get them running. They are the best cards to run trainz in windows but not in my experience , on the mac.
Now prices have come down from the crazy highs , the sapphire nitro rx 580 with 8gb vram is quite a good deal , it runs TANE well and can achieve 60fps on high settings.
As for an egpu, I'd only get one if you can return it , because you never know with Trainz, it may work or not, unless somebody has proved it will work don't assume that it will. I doubt that even Tony Hilliam can tell you whether it will as it unlikely that they have tested a setup.

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And my goodness I just saw your comment Dan. Didn't realize your comment till now. Then what graphics card would you recommend once I find a eGPU to install onto my Mac?

Kind regards,
Anthony Reyes

Anthony... don't shoot me but you might just consider a windows build. I'm the avid Mac guy who posted above. I just completed my first PC build. I picked up a 1060-6 graphics card from ebay and searched out sales. I built a pretty nice gaming PC for around $500. (less monitor which I had on hand) - TRS does run much better with a decent graphics card. So rather than pay for an older Mac eGPU consider a dedicated PC which could easily be upgraded if you care to sometime in the future. This in no way lessens my love for Mac. In fact, as I use windows I'm reminded time and time again just why I love Mac's and the OS. But for gaming? Unless Apple gets their act together with the Mac Pro's a PC build is the way to go for gaming. Urging you to just consider it....

antotrainz said:

And my goodness I just saw your comment Dan. Didn't realize your comment till now. Then what graphics card would you recommend once I find a eGPU to install onto my Mac?

Kind regards,
Anthony Reyes

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I mentioned it in my post, either sapphire Rx 580 Radeon pulse or nitro 580 8gb or if you could afford it, the Vega 56 Both have good mac drivers , my nitro boots up very fast and I have no stutter with it at all even on heavy routes. If you really dislike windows this is your best bet. You could also install boot camp and make full use of the card on that, you will get better frame rates . From what I understand to use turf fx you need a nvidia card, which means you have to use windows os as the nvidia drivers were not great with Mac and TANE , I don’t know if 2019 works better with
a nvidia card on Mac or not.

Lol no worries, I completely understand regardless than Windows OS will work better for gaming than Mac OS in general. Although I have changed to Mac OS a few years from my transition of Windows OS, I still would just try the best of it with the recommendations that are needed for a Mac to provide decent FPS while running Trainz either in a heavily detailed route or while construction with a lot of assets into it. But of course, I would consider myself to build my own PC without a monitor since I already have one that can be connected to it. Keeping in mind that budget that you constructed yours would be fine considering only the fact that I just want to see Trainz run in normal 60 FPS at most times.

And apologies that I didn't see your recommendations for graphic cards, Dan. Didn't fully read your entire comments on the aspect on acquiring an nVidia card. I have looked into the prices of both the Radeon RX 580 and the Vegas 56 (which of course it's superior than the Radeon) and would certainly agreeing in acquiring one of those cards for both the vRAM that it contains as well as its performances that it may run in FPS while running either T:ANE or TS2019. TurfFx is much to my strong aspect of getting once I obtain T:ANE or TS2019 since their many other assets that I may use for foliage and such onto a route, even though of course it looks magnificent since its the same format as painting textures. But isn't the main aspect that I would have if I were to obtain the game. Although I do appreciate dearly, those recommendations from both of you and of course a PC with a Windows OS will always be the recommendation for gaming. But now having the aspect to install Boot Camp and with a strong graphics card to have the game running smooth FPS throughout is what counts in case I don't want to construct a PC now.

Kind regards,
Anthony Reyes

You have to find a compatible card for your iMac. Most iMac supports AMD cards so keep that in mind