Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple's Upcoming BlackMagic eGPU Pro Delayed Until December
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The BlackMagic is virtually silent though.
When I had it, it even made my MBP quieter because the fans wouldn’t have to spin up so much.
I don’t doubt it, and there is a lot about it to like including lack of fan noise, form factor, ports and aesthetics. I am a tinkerer and wanted an enclosure that is upgradable in the future. The complaints about the noise of the Core X had me worried. I also don’t particularly like how it looks or its size. But thus far (granted I have only had it running since yesterday) for me the noise has been a non-issue.
If you think this is comical...Here in The Netherlands it's $1540,=.
Unfortunately, I bought a nice 4K LG monitor that connects nicely to my macbook via USB-c and this is the only egpu+card combo that will allow me to output to my usb-c monitor. I have not seen any cards that have TB3 or USB-c output. grrrrr
Extra ports that wouldn’t be needed if apple hadn’t removed them from the laptops, to begin with.
But that is a major issue. NVIDIA created a thriving ecosystem and HUGE market share through CUDA, just like Apple did with their app store when the iPhone first came out. And now NVIDA and in particular CUDA and OptiX are the de facto standard. Is there even a single high performance GPU computing facility in the country that uses non-NVIDIA hardware? This is why I still hang on to my 2012 Macbook Pro. This is why I am not impressed at all with the GPU technology that Apple uses in their latest products. While my 2012 Macbook Pro is no longer considered a fast machine, it at least allows me to do CUDA and OptiX software development and as a result generate products that are relevant to the needs of my customers.
I thought the silence was the main selling point.
Wanting to run a silent setup, that has always been a pricey choice.
Eh, I can't hear my Vega 56 at all unless it's doing something intensive. It doesn't have to be throttled, or at least the Sapphire brand ones are good like that. Maybe the quietest card I've owned. But the price is still excessive for what you get.
--Eric
Gaming/Render engine aren't the only reason get eGPUs. Especially on Macs. The reason many people on Macs get eGPU are for More high resolution displays. Pushing more pixels out to additional displays, RAW photo processing, Video Editing, Machine learning, 3D model generation (ie: photogrammetry workflows), etc. Yeah if you're using OpenGL for these things, nVidia probably has an advantage. However more and more Mac apps are moving towards Metal which is optimized around AMD/Radeon.
[doublepost=1543806193][/doublepost]
How "plug-and-play"/turn-key is it? Considering getting an eGPU for a corporate environment for a creative who needs basically a Mac Pro (so considering getting a Mac Mini and an eGPU) however if the Sonnet requires additional configuration and such, IT is probably going to give me the stink-eye.
I had to upgrade to 10.13.4 to get it working. But other than that, it really was plug and play in the best ways Macs are.
No drivers to download and install, no weird hacks. It just loaded and showed up for the Open CL/Metal based Radeon ProRender engine in Cinema 4d. The unit shuts down when my Mac turns off, so I can leave the physical power switch on the Core X in the on position if I'm going to use it every time I boot up.
I got the razor core x for $100 cheaper than the Sonnet and it also comes with a 650 watt power supply. It is very well built and the GPU slides out on a tray to make installing easy. The only tool I needed was a screwdriver while removing the PCI slot grill at the back, but now that it's out, I don't think it requires tools for anything else.
The TB3 cable is laughably short, though. I guess they saved on the unit somewhere.
Last edited:
For those of us lucky enough to get an EPP discount through work, this eGPU nets out at $1,079 US before sales taxes. Considering it has a TB3 hub built in, you can knock $300 off that price. Super quiet, based on all the reviews I've read and a nice visual addition to the desk. A cost of $779 empirically for all this isn't a bad value proposition, IMHO. I will be ordering once it becomes available.