Black Magic eGPU pro

[trifid]

Neither Blackmagic nor Apple have made a single claim about integration.

According to Apple's website, Blackmagic eGPU was created in close collaboration with Apple. There is a webpage dedicated to it at Apple's site, and it strongly suggests integration, otherwise why would Apple work "in close collaboration" if it wasn't well integrated?

On a personal note I was surprised at how buggy Blackmagic eGPU was, I had to constantly unplug and plug monitors after reboot because it'd stay stuck in macOS, it did remind me of my hackintosh days in trying to troubleshoot and find out all these hardware quirks.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208897

 

[F-Train]

According to Apple's website, Blackmagic eGPU was created in close collaboration with Apple. There is a webpage dedicated to it at Apple's site, and it strongly suggests integration, otherwise why would Apple work "in close collaboration" if it wasn't well integrated?

On a personal note I was surprised at how buggy Blackmagic eGPU was, I had to constantly unplug and plug monitors after reboot because it'd stay stuck in macOS, it did remind me of my hackintosh days in trying to troubleshoot and find out all these hardware quirks.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208897

The people in this thread were talking about integration with Mojave, especially to address an issue with FileVault.

If you read the whole of my post (#14) and not just the first sentence, it should be clear that I am talking about operating system integration specifically. The post states why I do not believe that Apple will write features into Mojave that discriminate in favour of Blackmagic and against competing eGPU enclosures.

 

[smirking]

If you read the whole of my post (#14) and not just the first sentence...

You know, you could have just said, "Ok, but that's not what I meant" instead of dishing a backdoor insult.

 

[DrKeys]

don't waste your money on Blackmagic Pro

I bought Razer Core X for 299, and AMD Vega 64 with 8GB for 399 = same performance plug and play, didn't have to configure anything plugged my i7 2018 Mac mini into it and started using.. no software download, no scripts to run, run it as primary graphics card. Driving a LG 38 ultra wide display no issues

 

[inmnbob]

don't waste your money on Blackmagic Pro

I bought Razer Core X for 299, and AMD Vega 64 with 8GB for 399 = same performance plug and play, didn't have to configure anything plugged my i7 2018 Mac mini into it and started using.. no software download, no scripts to run, run it as primary graphics card. Driving a LG 38 ultra wide display no issues

where did you get it?

 

[Zdigital2015]

where did you get it?

You can buy a Razer Core X on B&H for $299.99 and you can get a Sapphire Radeon Vega 64 for $409.99 at New Egg. It’s a single fan reference design model, so not ideal for cooling, but there are sales cycling on and off various sites, so YMMV as far as other cards.

 

[Cashmonee]

I think many of those here may want to hold off as long as possible. GPU prices are falling, and there are indications they are going to really tumble in the next few months. The RX580 was selling in the $400 neighborhood over the summer and now can easily be had under $200 ($250 is pretty high for this card right now). AMD is also rumored to be releasing the Navi line in the spring at possibly ridiculous cheap prices (the RX 3080, MSRP $250 for a card that is 15% faster than a Vega 64). I think a lot of people investing in Vegas and overpriced 580s are going to be really regretting those decisions.

https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-radeon-rx-3080-could-match-geforce-rtx-2070-for-half-the-price

And for the love of mike, do not spend the money on Blackmagic's products. Those are just silly prices. I would also be very careful not to go too far into investing in a TB3 monitor. There is no indication that anyone other than Apple is really embracing TB3 and that will severely narrow your choices (like with a rather poorly reviewed LG UltraFine or outrageously overpriced Blackmagic eGPU).

I would suggest the following subreddit for pricing, although be careful. It may make you mad at companies like Blackmagic and Apple when you realize how cheap most of these components really are.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/

 

[inmnbob]

What’s the difference between the AMD, ASUS, Sapphire Radeon, Msi etc. Vega 64 devices? Seems like the Vega 64 comes in a. Lot of variations.

 

[F-Train]

What’s the difference between the AMD, ASUS, Sapphire Radeon, Msi etc. Vega 64 devices? Seems like the Vega 64 comes in a. Lot of variations.

It's explained in part here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/page-11#post-26891266

From an eGPU perspective, the main difference is that the reference cards use blower ventilation and the custom cards use heat dissipation/fan systems that are said to be helpful if the card is in a computer box. There are also overclocking differences, style differences, etc. The Sapphire Nitro+ Vega 64 is a special case because it requires three 8-pin power connectors, something that one needs to be really aware of if purchasing one.

 

[F-Train]

I think many of those here may want to hold off as long as possible. GPU prices are falling, and there are indications they are going to really tumble in the next few months. The RX580 was selling in the $400 neighborhood over the summer and now can easily be had under $200 ($250 is pretty high for this card right now). AMD is also rumored to be releasing the Navi line in the spring at possibly ridiculous cheap prices (the RX 3080, MSRP $250 for a card that is 15% faster than a Vega 64). I think a lot of people investing in Vegas and overpriced 580s are going to be really regretting those decisions.

https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-radeon-rx-3080-could-match-geforce-rtx-2070-for-half-the-price

And for the love of mike, do not spend the money on Blackmagic's products. Those are just silly prices. I would also be very careful not to go too far into investing in a TB3 monitor. There is no indication that anyone other than Apple is really embracing TB3 and that will severely narrow your choices (like with a rather poorly reviewed LG UltraFine or outrageously overpriced Blackmagic eGPU).

I would suggest the following subreddit for pricing, although be careful. It may make you mad at companies like Blackmagic and Apple when you realize how cheap most of these components really are.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/

Just a couple of caveats to this...

There are lots of rumours about when AMD will release the Navi line and many of those rumours say that fall of 2019 is more realistic.

It is not at all clear that AMD will replace the Vega cards in the foreseeable future.

I agree that prices are coming down, and that there is pressure from the used market, but I don't believe that they are going to collapse. Prices at or somewhat below original MSRP are more realistic. Also, there is a price difference between reference and custom cards that can't be ignored. Finally, I believe that the price of the new RX 590 will put a floor under the price of the RX 580.

For info on the price history, price pressures and the original MSRPs, see this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/

 

[Cashmonee]

Just a couple of caveats to this...

There are lots of rumours about when AMD will release the Navi line and many of those rumours say that fall of 2019 is more realistic.

It is not at all clear that AMD will replace the Vega cards in the foreseeable future.

I agree that prices are coming down, and that there is pressure from the used market, but I don't believe that they are going to collapse. Prices at or somewhat below original MSRP are more realistic. Also, there is a price difference between reference and custom cards that can't be ignored. Finally, I believe that the price of the new RX 590 will put a floor under the price of the RX 580.

For info on the price history, price pressures and the original MSRPs, see this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/

You are right. Release is still rumored as is pricing. Having said that, I think we are about to witness a collapse of the GPU prices. Looking at the 580, I think we already are. That card is selling for about a third of what it sold for only 4 or 5 months ago. I also do not think the current Vegas are a great option. I think I would rather grab a dirt cheap 580 and hold out for the next release.

Side note/question: How much gain is there in a Vega 56 or 64 vs an RX580 for something like video encoding? I know in gaming the Vega cards are a pretty decent upgrade, although at a steep cost of being very power hungry and hot.

 

[F-Train]

You are right. Release is still rumored as is pricing. Having said that, I think we are about to witness a collapse of the GPU prices. Looking at the 580, I think we already are. That card is selling for about a third of what it sold for only 4 or 5 months ago. I also do not think the current Vegas are a great option. I think I would rather grab a dirt cheap 580 and hold out for the next release.

Side note/question: How much gain is there in a Vega 56 or 64 vs an RX580 for something like video encoding? I know in gaming the Vega cards are a pretty decent upgrade, although at a steep cost of being very power hungry and hot.

I think that one should distinguish between a collapse of GPU pricing from cryptocurrency mining and collapse from original MSRP. On the first issue, I was probably the first person on the mini forum to say that pricing was grossly inflated and is undergoing a serious correction. I have written a dozen posts about this, at least one of which includes a chart showing retail prices of the RX 580 over time. In this very thread, I have argued, against considerable resistance, that an RX 580 price of US$250 is unsustainable.

MSRP is another matter. These cards were released in the spring/summer of 2017 at specific MSRPs and I think that we will see prices hover around those MSRPs, by which I mean maybe up to 20% less. The RX 580 is a special case because its price will be affected by the release a few weeks ago of the RX 590, which has an MSRP of US$580. I agree with AnandTech that the prices of the RX 580 and 590 are closely tied. Also, the Vega MSRPs were in fact notional, because they never actually sold at MSRP, and indeed the custom cards were not even released until last December/January. Finally, there are perceived quality differences between the custom cards, which I believe do affect price, and Asus, in particular, is clearly reluctant to compete on price.

I have just exchanged a Sapphire Nitro+ RX 590 for an Asus RX Vega 56, so obviously I don't agree with your view on the Vega cards.

I will be able to directly compare the RX 590 and the Vega 56 this weekend on performance and such issues as noise and heat. I will be reporting what I learn in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/page-12

On video encoding, it depends on what you mean. I have tested H.264 to H.265 encoding with and without an RX 590. If you are interested, there is a post on the result, which includes a link to the file that was used, in the thread mentioned above. Indeed, there are two posts, one before and one after Compressor's recent move to 64-bit.

The last 2-3 pages of the above thread include Benchmark results for the RX 590, Vega 56 and Vega 64.