> Can I upgrade the GPU chip in the Blackmagic eGPU?
> No, the design has been optimized for quiet operation so it’s better suited for creative customers. This means the design is not a simple chassis with a PCIe card plugged in, but an integrated electronics, mechanical and cooling design that cannot have the GPU chip upgraded or changed.
$699 and no ability to upgrade makes it pretty clear that they're targeting business customers.
I think it's not the best deal, but it's so much better than other jokers in this space, because, the alternative I've found is Razor Core series (https://www.razer.com/sg-en/gaming-laptops/razer-core-v2) which is a joke - $500+ ($750 where I live) and it doesn't even include a GPU in it!
I'm seriously interested if there's some sort of DIY out there wherein you could just buy a bunch of chips from eBay, put together some enclosure yourself and use your own graphics card. That'd be the dream. Any money not spent on enclosures is money well spent on a good GPU.
There are tons of other eGPU enclosures on the market that take normal PCIe GPUs. This one is interesting because you can use it with the UltraFine 5k Display which connects via Thunderbolt.
They're targeting DaVinci Resolve users. It's not a great deal for gamers and related nerds but there are lots of Apple-compatible enclosures out now. https://egpu.io/ is a good resource.
There's probably a market for an eGPU enclosure which can sit in a shared office without sounding like a small jet engine, though. Some of them are quite noisy.
It would have been nice if the GPU and active cooling were an upgradable module even if proprietary. There's a $400+ markup for what's effectively a USB hub and PSU.
Huh. They're targeting ... people who don't know any better?
I want to see rendering benchmarks (both 1080p/2160p) of this vs external Thunderbolt GTX/1060,1070,1080 enclosures (and AMDGPU equivalents). I mean if it works better and you do a lot of video, then yea, go for it. If it's only marginally better, buy something with a real PCIe slot that's upgradable.
Even business customers should not buy this if the benchmarks don't align. Seriously you're hurting everyone, even if you can afford it. Stop that. Planned obsolescent is terrible. Pay more and buy something you can upgrade, fix and repair.
Throwing out electronics after four years hurts the planet.
I kind of like where this is going. Plug and play performance and less noise.
I'm not really interested in dropping thousands of euros on the latest gaming hardware. I'm not in the pointlessly blinking leds equipped PC market. And I'm done building my own PC after having to replace the power supply in my last effort three times.
I do tend to have up to date mac hw. For me the whole point of that is buying one and then using it for 4-6 years. I actually have the MBP 15" from last year with 16GB. It's not great for gaming though. My four year old imac 5k still gets better framerates in things like x-plane. Both have the issue that they run quite hot when doing anything 3D and cpu intensive. My imac needs to emulate a vacuum cleaner just to keep it from throttling cpu and gpu.
My imac 5k is coming up for replacement somewhere in the next two years. I'm probably going to drop around 3-4K on whatever replaces it. I'd totally consider something with an external GPU. I actually like the form factor but would spend money on an external GPU for casual gaming and VR.
I'd prefer something that focuses on just cpu/memory/ssd and then plug in storage and gpu via some cables. So, this is going the right way.
Apple should focus the next mac pro around this concept. They tried with the previous one but then messed up by soldering the GPU in, which turned out a deal breaker since the whole point of mac pros is 3d graphics. So, simply ship something with plenty of ports and CPU sockets and sell GPU, Storage, screens, etc. separately. CPUs are barely evolving anyway. I got about a 35% build speed improvement by replacing a late 2011 MBP with a late 2017 one. Both were quad core i7s. Seriously underwhelming. And yes, I max out 4 cores with my builds.
Sounds like you bought the cheapest underpowered PSU on the market. Buy EVGA, and buy more than your system will ever consume. You don't want to cheap out on the thing powering everything else.
Just copy a build off of Reddit or pcper. You don't need to think, just click buy!
I'm wondering why they didn't include a 10Gbps Ethernet port into this thing. They advertise it to professional graphics and video artists - don't these groups usually have to move around quite a lot of huge 3D data, image and video files?
It seems hard to imagine those people to either place all of that stuff exclusively on their new 8k$ MacBookPros with 4TB of SSD space (because even 4TB quickly runs out in that profession, and it makes it hard to work on the same project with other people) or to transfer it over 0,2Gbps (at best) WiFi connections.
I like that it has four USB Type A ports. This would essentially take the place of a Thunderbolt 3 dock for me, which is already $200-$300. I'm considering getting one.
You should wait and see what the performance/reliability of these are. In almost every case, the GPU completley uses up the Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth, causing lag / reduced performance of the GPU and peripherals.
Apple disabled eGPU support for Thunderbolt 1 and 2 with macOS 10.13.4 [0]. Of course someone wrote a nifty script to unblock it and enable support for Nvidia GPU's while at it [1], but it's too bad a great upgrade path from slightly older MBP's (up to 2015) is not officially supported.
I tried the "purge wrangler" script to support a VR DevKit on my 2014 MBPr 15". I immediately started getting kernel panics. On, like, the third day I had it installed, I had 3 panics, and finally just removed it. At least they made it easy to remove; my machine hasn't crashed since. As always, YMMV.
Pardon my ignorance, but do I need an external monitor to use this, or can I just plug this into my MacBook Pro and have improved graphics performance on the built-in display?
Akitio Node + Apple TB2->3 dongle + GTX 1080 + external LG 4K monitor on a rMBP 15" 2015, used only w/ Bootcamp.
Works pretty well, and my latest addition is a DisplayPort switch to use the iGPU directly with the monitor (when I'm in macOS) or the external GPU (when I'm in Bootcamp). Performance is great, around ~95% of desktop GPU I'd say.
The only issue is that it needs a particular boot sequence to enable it, when switching from macOS to Windows with the GPU enabled: reboot from macOS, turn on the GPU, the default partition is Windows so Windows will boot with the GPU enabled.
To reboot from Windows to macOS, disabling the GPU: reboot from Windows, hold Option at boot to show the boot menu, then turn off the GPU and boot into macOS.
Not that bad once you get used to it, and having a desktop GPU on my laptop makes it all worth it.
I have been for a couple of years. Mine is an DIY version with a PC power supply. I made it about 3.5 years ago. Last time I checked, I couldn’t use my particular setup for accelerated graphics in MacOS (I could in bootcamped Windows) but I think that works now. I just haven’t done it. I use it mostly for 3D rendering.
It’s an Akitio enclosure, which was the first popular one. I use it with a GTX 980Ti with a little 400 watt power supply on a late 2012 MacBook Pro and it works great. I travel with it and everything.
The performance hit is a lot less than people make it out to be. Mine runs on TB2 and I don’t remember numbers but I have done graphics benchmarks using it in boot camp Windows against the same card in my PC. It was a few FPS different on most tests. I don’t remember exact numbers. For 3D rendering/data processing, there is no performance hit.
The promo photos of the eGPU include the LG UltraFine 5K, which fully saturates the TB3 port it uses.
Are eGPUs compatable with the UltraFine 5K? IIRC they were explicitly excluded from Apple's compatibility in the early days of High Sierra.
(EDIT: Yes, "There’s even a second Thunderbolt 3 connection for connecting high resolution displays such as the LG 5K display which gives you incredible image resolution, contrast and color depth!")
EGPUs sounds great on paper. A graphics card that I can use easily with either my macbook or windows desktop. I really think that could be an exciting way to prolong the life of old hardware or to get decent gaming performance out of non-gaming hardware.
At the moment, unless you're Windows only, the reality is a bit rougher. Although there are some pretty compelling enclosures out there (Node Pro, Mantiz Venus, Sonnet Breakaway), with Apple not supporting Nvidia (the only GPUs worth getting at the top-end) it's probably not worth it. Sure you can get it working with some hacks, but I personally wouldn't want to spend that much money to be reliant on 3rd party scripts.
Eventually the picture may change, AMD might release a competitive GPU, or the support on MacOS might open up. As soon as the software support is there I think this becomes a really compelling idea and it'll only become more so as the years go by and thunderbolt 3 becomes more widespread.
Since this is from Blackmagic what might be more interesting is a more expensive version of this with decklink built in. Then you could plug your output monitor straight into it. For a lot of people working in film/video that little extra would turn this into a Mac Pro without a cpu in it.
Why not just use an UltraStudio via Thunderbolt for that? Especially since both this and a DeckLink/UltraStudio could saturate a single Thunderbolt port alone so you’d want them on separate ports anyway.
See also the Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Gaming Box: https://amzn.to/2maZl0a. It's the same price and not only way more powerful than a Radeon 580 but also the size of the eGPU is way smaller.
considering that a thunderbolt hub alone is already very expensive and other enclosures are in the ~500 USD range, this is not too bad for a nice looking solution that is well engineered. Imo it lacks performance for the price though.
I'm understand why the page is so obsessed with DaVinci Resolve, but does anyone have any insight on how this would work with After Effects or Premier Pro?
After Effect and Premier do not scale very well with GPU performance ([0], [1]), having a one at all does make a huge difference but internal GPU in MacBook Pros are good enough.
So, https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-RX580IXEB-8GD#kf this Thunderbolt enclosure from Gigabyte has an RX 580 in it and costs 500 USD (Google for B07CCK527Y). It is not yet tested but it is possible / likely the Vega 56 Nano will work in it once it's more available.
[+] [-] whichdan|7 years ago|reply
> Can I upgrade the GPU chip in the Blackmagic eGPU?
> No, the design has been optimized for quiet operation so it’s better suited for creative customers. This means the design is not a simple chassis with a PCIe card plugged in, but an integrated electronics, mechanical and cooling design that cannot have the GPU chip upgraded or changed.
$699 and no ability to upgrade makes it pretty clear that they're targeting business customers.
[+] [-] cosmojg|7 years ago|reply
Sounds like a perfect fit for the Apple ecosystem.
[+] [-] neya|7 years ago|reply
I'm seriously interested if there's some sort of DIY out there wherein you could just buy a bunch of chips from eBay, put together some enclosure yourself and use your own graphics card. That'd be the dream. Any money not spent on enclosures is money well spent on a good GPU.
[+] [-] samcat116|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pvg|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rsynnott|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anentropic|7 years ago|reply
this is important to me, glad to hear it!
[+] [-] pdpi|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DonHopkins|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ekianjo|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cptskippy|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] djsumdog|7 years ago|reply
I want to see rendering benchmarks (both 1080p/2160p) of this vs external Thunderbolt GTX/1060,1070,1080 enclosures (and AMDGPU equivalents). I mean if it works better and you do a lot of video, then yea, go for it. If it's only marginally better, buy something with a real PCIe slot that's upgradable.
Even business customers should not buy this if the benchmarks don't align. Seriously you're hurting everyone, even if you can afford it. Stop that. Planned obsolescent is terrible. Pay more and buy something you can upgrade, fix and repair.
Throwing out electronics after four years hurts the planet.
[+] [-] jillesvangurp|7 years ago|reply
I'm not really interested in dropping thousands of euros on the latest gaming hardware. I'm not in the pointlessly blinking leds equipped PC market. And I'm done building my own PC after having to replace the power supply in my last effort three times.
I do tend to have up to date mac hw. For me the whole point of that is buying one and then using it for 4-6 years. I actually have the MBP 15" from last year with 16GB. It's not great for gaming though. My four year old imac 5k still gets better framerates in things like x-plane. Both have the issue that they run quite hot when doing anything 3D and cpu intensive. My imac needs to emulate a vacuum cleaner just to keep it from throttling cpu and gpu.
My imac 5k is coming up for replacement somewhere in the next two years. I'm probably going to drop around 3-4K on whatever replaces it. I'd totally consider something with an external GPU. I actually like the form factor but would spend money on an external GPU for casual gaming and VR.
I'd prefer something that focuses on just cpu/memory/ssd and then plug in storage and gpu via some cables. So, this is going the right way.
Apple should focus the next mac pro around this concept. They tried with the previous one but then messed up by soldering the GPU in, which turned out a deal breaker since the whole point of mac pros is 3d graphics. So, simply ship something with plenty of ports and CPU sockets and sell GPU, Storage, screens, etc. separately. CPUs are barely evolving anyway. I got about a 35% build speed improvement by replacing a late 2011 MBP with a late 2017 one. Both were quad core i7s. Seriously underwhelming. And yes, I max out 4 cores with my builds.
[+] [-] binaryblitz|7 years ago|reply
> I'm probably going to drop around 3-4K on whatever replaces it.
...
[+] [-] Zephyreks|7 years ago|reply
Just copy a build off of Reddit or pcper. You don't need to think, just click buy!
[+] [-] Slartie|7 years ago|reply
It seems hard to imagine those people to either place all of that stuff exclusively on their new 8k$ MacBookPros with 4TB of SSD space (because even 4TB quickly runs out in that profession, and it makes it hard to work on the same project with other people) or to transfer it over 0,2Gbps (at best) WiFi connections.
[+] [-] dsl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bfred_it|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] torstenvl|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gtm1260|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ant6n|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stfwn|7 years ago|reply
[0]: https://egpu.io/external-gpu-macos-10-13-4-update/
[1]: https://egpu.io/forums/mac-setup/script-enable-egpu-on-tb1-2...
[+] [-] TheRealDunkirk|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ctvo|7 years ago|reply
- USB Hub / Thunderbolt 3 Hub - 100 USD
- eGPU - 300 USD (Akitio Node, others)
It's reasonably priced given the components. If it only had upgradability, it'd be very nice, but it's not a dealbreaker.
[+] [-] closetohome|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rvanmil|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikhailt|7 years ago|reply
Here's a video of it in action with one of the first software that supports eGPU acceleration, DaVinci Resolve: https://9to5mac.com/2018/04/19/macos-egpu-performance-test-d...
[+] [-] gargravarr|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|7 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] saagarjha|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jonbaer|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 1_player|7 years ago|reply
Works pretty well, and my latest addition is a DisplayPort switch to use the iGPU directly with the monitor (when I'm in macOS) or the external GPU (when I'm in Bootcamp). Performance is great, around ~95% of desktop GPU I'd say.
The only issue is that it needs a particular boot sequence to enable it, when switching from macOS to Windows with the GPU enabled: reboot from macOS, turn on the GPU, the default partition is Windows so Windows will boot with the GPU enabled.
To reboot from Windows to macOS, disabling the GPU: reboot from Windows, hold Option at boot to show the boot menu, then turn off the GPU and boot into macOS.
Not that bad once you get used to it, and having a desktop GPU on my laptop makes it all worth it.
My post on /r/eGPU: https://www.reddit.com/r/eGPU/comments/77e86g/success_macboo...
[+] [-] extralego|7 years ago|reply
It’s an Akitio enclosure, which was the first popular one. I use it with a GTX 980Ti with a little 400 watt power supply on a late 2012 MacBook Pro and it works great. I travel with it and everything.
The performance hit is a lot less than people make it out to be. Mine runs on TB2 and I don’t remember numbers but I have done graphics benchmarks using it in boot camp Windows against the same card in my PC. It was a few FPS different on most tests. I don’t remember exact numbers. For 3D rendering/data processing, there is no performance hit.
[+] [-] minimaxir|7 years ago|reply
Are eGPUs compatable with the UltraFine 5K? IIRC they were explicitly excluded from Apple's compatibility in the early days of High Sierra.
(EDIT: Yes, "There’s even a second Thunderbolt 3 connection for connecting high resolution displays such as the LG 5K display which gives you incredible image resolution, contrast and color depth!")
[+] [-] talldan|7 years ago|reply
At the moment, unless you're Windows only, the reality is a bit rougher. Although there are some pretty compelling enclosures out there (Node Pro, Mantiz Venus, Sonnet Breakaway), with Apple not supporting Nvidia (the only GPUs worth getting at the top-end) it's probably not worth it. Sure you can get it working with some hacks, but I personally wouldn't want to spend that much money to be reliant on 3rd party scripts.
Eventually the picture may change, AMD might release a competitive GPU, or the support on MacOS might open up. As soon as the software support is there I think this becomes a really compelling idea and it'll only become more so as the years go by and thunderbolt 3 becomes more widespread.
[+] [-] manigandham|7 years ago|reply
Seems to be everywhere recently, and judging by the visuals it looks like it was used as a tech demonstration in many cases.
[+] [-] siidooloo|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stephen_g|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrischen|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rvanmil|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] g051051|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] d--b|7 years ago|reply
EDIT: oh, blackmagic IS a separate company...
[+] [-] kayoone|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wslh|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jason_slack|7 years ago|reply
https://www.sonnetstore.com/collections/egpu-expansion-syste...
How does the Radeon Pro 580 compare to the Vega 56?
Edit: I just ordered a OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock and it looks like this eGPU has all the ports I need on the back. The dock was like $300 alone.
[+] [-] Angostura|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Angostura|7 years ago|reply
Although, in reply to him, this late 2013 iMac with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1024 MB certainly struggles to playback edits in real time.
[+] [-] hellomrjack|7 years ago|reply
[0] https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-After-Effec... [1] https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/GTX-1070-and-GTX-...
[+] [-] chx|7 years ago|reply