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AMD's New 400-Series 'Polaris' Graphics Chips Headed for 2016 Macs
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ESPN wasn't using Macs until 3 years ago for the majority of their video production. I realize that you think people who do work are nerds that care, but in my experience they just want to get their work done. No one cares that their Mac Pro hasn't been updated in years, they hold onto them for three years (on lease) anyway so why the hell should they care?
Please provide quotes to prove that Apple wants the pro gaming market. As far as I know they only care about casual gamers' market, for which they leverage the iOS ecosystem. Quite frankly I wouldn't give 2 crap about the self-centred gamers' market either.
I have a refurb 680m, but was waiting for an appreciable jump in graphics in the 5K to move on to it, and probably will this fall/winter with the upcoming refresh iMac since my Applecare will be over this fall.
I agree. I just hope that if they do put a dGPU in the 13" MacBook Pro, they'll go with Nvidia. The trouble with AMD GPUs is that they generate a lot of heat, which is a big problem in a laptop which only has one fan and lead-free solder. Lead-free solder probably sounds like it's no big deal, but that's far from the truth. When lead-free solder melts, tiny spikes are created, and every successive melt enlarges those spikes until they finally touch another line of solder and short out the logic board.
In this thread, people speculate on on the heat characteristics of a new chip they've never experienced before.
Can you explain to me, what type of GPU you would want in 13 inch Macbook Pro.
And how come 60W GPU from Nvidia would be cooler than 60W GPU from AMD?
Myths, myths, myths. All you people talk constantly are myths, that have been lately completely lifted.
I've found the Akitio Thunder2 to be a good Thunderbolt-PCIe adapter. Also, if your GPU needs 75 watts or less, you can plug in 120 watt laptop power supply to the built-in power connection, which is a lot easier than setting up a desktop power supply, especially since a lot of folks will wire up the power supply to power both the card and the adapter so they can avoid problems which could be caused by using two power supplies.
Goalque's script makes the software setup a lot easier: https://github.com/goalque/automate-eGPU
I've also noticed that eGPUs increase processor usage as a result of the required compression. When I first got my eGPU in January, my MacBook Pro's CPU was throttled at 96 degrees Celsius when playing StarCraft 2 both at high and medium graphics settings. But with the recent OS X and also the Nvidia driver update, my MacBook's CPU rarely exceeds 74 degrees Celsius, which is a lot better for the CPU and and the components around it.
Could also be that there are still ATI (read Canadian) people within AMD. They might have decided to use northern code names.
But I do like your theory!
Would you share the details of your eGPU setup? Which GPU did you buy? Did you have to order some special power cable for the GPU card? I was reading the installation guides on Techinferno but none of them sounds easy or they mention a special cable which is difficult to buy/order from Australia.
The new 15" rMBP with dGPU will be around $3.8k AUD, which I don't really need because my 2013 rMBP is maxed out and it's plenty for my work. I could buy the Akitio and a Nvidia 970 for less than half the price and it's probably faster than the AMD 400 series.
UPDATE: I just found out that ASUS released last month the GTX 950-2G and Mini 950-2G, both work with the PCIe power http://www.pcworld.com/article/3043...raphics-cards-that-dont-need-extra-power.html
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And do you think that 125W GPU from Nvidia would be cooler than 125W R9 295X in iMac 5K?
Problems with cooling are due to design of iMac, not exactly the GPUs.
Since the 680mx and 780m didnt had this problem but had almost identical performance...
Cause these individuals follow workflows based on a specific OS and software. Take someone who has worked on macs for the last 10 years and give them a PC, you get an awful drop in productivity, The right tool for the job is very important.
Are the same type of problems apparent on R9 M395X?
Because it is exactly the same GPU as R9 M295X but it has higher core clocks, and memory clocks.
Those Nvidia GPUs are not even in the league of AMD GPUs. GTX 680MX has 2.2 TFLOPs, GTX 780M has 2.4 TFLOPs of compute power.
M295X has 3.5 TFLOPs, and M395X has 3.7 TFLOPs. More than 50% more powerful.
Exactly, which is why they don't care about the specs of the machine other than it turning on and allowing them to work.
Well, I was CTO for an HD recording studio, we had the ability to record 4 HD video and audio streams live to disk 16 hours per day 6+ days per week using Apple SAN (no longer available), and the ability for 20+ editors to edit projects all using Apple hardware (which except for a 3 year old mac pro, is no longer produced.) At the time we were using equipment vary similar equipment to ESPN and you can thank me for the ability to sync 4 HD streams because the cameras and injest hardware would not time sync (yes we had dedicated clock hardware) without embedded non-Apple hardware code changes. We were told by the 3 equipment manufacturers that had to cooperate on the changes, hmm, thats odd, no one at ESPN or the major networks even noticed.
But today, no sane person would have an Apple based recording setup. Sure a few workstations for video editing (the decision probably left over from when Jobs thought professionals were worth taking care of), give it another 5 years and based on what we know about Apple today, you see that as a bad decision also.
I wonder if they will still underclock the thing just to make it not melt the iMac thin design.
Omg, please...No. no more AMD!! The fact that they advertise the new GPUs on a per watt basis means that the real (absolute) performance improvement will be ****. Can't wait for Thunderbolt 3 and external GPUs. Never again AMD!!!
EDIT: Lol, did not know that swearwords are automatically masked.
Perf/watt has become a pretty standard metric in reviewing/reporting processor efficiency (GPU, CPU, or otherwise). I wouldn't call foul on them just because they're targeting efficiency (a pretty important factor in the portable/mobile sectors). If it runs cool and quiet and performs reasonably, I bet we'll see it in a lot of stuff.
Dear Apple, I know you like thin, light, and sleek, but please consider brining back the 17" laptop - thinner, lighter, and sleeker.