Blackmagic eGPU Pro Discontinued

[MacRumors]

Blackmagic today informed MacRumors that it is no longer manufacturing its Blackmagic eGPU Pro due to AMD discontinuing its Radeon RX Vega 56 graphics chip.

Apple removed the Blackmagic eGPU Pro from its online store earlier this week, just days after marking the product as temporarily out of stock. The standard Blackmagic eGPU with AMD Radeon Pro 580 graphics remains available to purchase for the time being, but with a lengthy shipping estimate of 10-12 weeks.

Priced at $1,199, the Blackmagic eGPU Pro first came out in October 2018 alongside refreshed Mac mini and MacBook Air models.

It is unclear if the Blackmagic eGPU Pro will return with a newer graphics chip at a later date.

Article Link: Blackmagic eGPU Pro Discontinued

 

[Koudspeel]

A somewhat short product life cycle if you ask me..

 

[CWallace]

I'm guessing we will see a refresh with the W5700X or something similar from the Navi GPU family. Maybe even an RDNA 2 option once AMD formally releases them.

 

[carlos700]

I think this makes sense. It was a high price when it came out and now a 6GB Radeon RX 5600 XT outperforms it. I'd love to see a 5600 XT and/or 5700 XT-based eGPU with Thunderbolt 3 outputs.

 

[adamjackson]

What's replacing the Vega 56? Seems IDK weird that they'd just kill it instead of updating to the latest and greatest.

Apple and NVIDIA need to kiss and make up.

 

[jrlcopy]

It's way cheaper and smarter to just roll your own.
[automerge]1587136015[/automerge]

What's replacing the Vega 56? Seems IDK weird that they'd just kill it instead of updating to the latest and greatest.

Apple and NVIDIA need to kiss and make up.

Been dead for a year now, they went to 5600 xt.

 

[Hastings101]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you can replace the GPUs in these so it seems kind of a weak choice compared to other solutions.

 

[mediacomposer]

I love the idea of these - especially as someone with the LG 5K monitor and I believe this is the only eGPU with that support - but my question is at what point is TB3 the bottleneck, and should we all wait for a TB4 eGPU that can presumably handle a higher throughput to fully take advantage of a 2080ti type power card. I believe currently TB3 has only x4 PCI - would TB4 be able to do a x16 type card? Someone pleasssseee explain

 

[ruka.snow]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you can replace the GPUs in these so it seems kind of a weak choice compared to other solutions.

They can drive the pro display and are really quiet compared to a build your own.

 

[MacInDawg]

I have the right to delete.

 

[DrEGPU]

I think this was pretty overpriced from the start. It made sense only if you needed a silent solution and/or easy 5k connections.

As for the PCIe lanes, MOST GPU’s don’t even scratch the surface of 8x lanes for MOST applications, so the 4x PCIe lanes for TB3 won’t incur too bad of a performance hit. There are always exceptions, of course.

 

[NickName99]

I bought a used Razer Core X for $225, and a used Vega 56 for $200, last year. Still serving me really well in both Mac and Windows 10 (via Boot Camp). I flashed the BIOS on that Vega 56 to a Vega 64, which provided a nice little boost as well, and is easily reversible using command line tools.

 

[69Mustang]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think you can replace the GPUs in these so it seems kind of a weak choice compared to other solutions.

You are not wrong. It was a glaring deficiency when they brought out the first egpu. It remained a glaring deficiency on the pro model.

They can drive the pro display and are really quiet compared to a build your own.

So can other egpu set ups. The quietness of the set up couldn't outweigh the lack of an upgrade path imo. Probably why we're here now with the product being discontinued.

 

[rylim]

It would be interesting if they just sell the enclosure instead a whole set.

 

[PSCConMP]

I chose the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 650 instead of the Blackmagic box because the user can select whatever compatible graphics card he wants and it is upgradeable. I chose the WX8200. Works very well indeed.

 

[nvmls]

It was a massive cash grab, feel sorry for whoever bought it.

 

[baryon]

Release a damn enclosure already and let use use any GPU we want. And make it cheap.

 

[avtella]

I love the idea of these - especially as someone with the LG 5K monitor and I believe this is the only eGPU with that support - but my question is at what point is TB3 the bottleneck, and should we all wait for a TB4 eGPU that can presumably handle a higher throughput to fully take advantage of a 2080ti type power card. I believe currently TB3 has only x4 PCI - would TB4 be able to do a x16 type card? Someone pleasssseee explain

TB4 will actually have the same bandwidth as TB3 according to Intel. Not sure what changes are there to warrant a name change, maybe the usage PCIE 4.0 lanes.

I also like how in an indirect/convoluted way Intel compared TB4 to TB3 by saying TB4 will be 4x faster than USB3.2 Gen2 instead of just simply saying there will be no bandwidth gain over TB3 lol.

 

[iAssimilated]

I thought about getting this when I bought my 2018 Mac mini, but $1,199 vs. the $600 I ended up spending for an eGPU was too much to get over. The bonus, my eGPU is upgradable. I don't regret my decision for a minute.

 

[now i see it]

The example photo clearly illustrates the absurdity of it all— go to all the trouble of making a tiny computer only to have a mini tower sized graphics card enclosure plopped next to it on the desk

 

[kemal]

Let's put a 5700XT, with a 16 lane PCIe 4.0 connection on a 4 lane PCIe 3.0 bus. That should give you 1/8th the potential bandwidth of that video card.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Both had their place and are still useful, but the Pro was released way too late to market at an inflated price relative to the benefits of the Vega 56. Blackmagic really needs to release cheaper versions using either the 5500 Pro/5600 Pro and a Pro model with the Pro WX 5700.

NVIDIA isn’t an optionand their are plenty of DIY options for those who want to go that route. The BM versions are something I would have leased rather than bought given the relative age of the GPUs. The fact of the matter is that AMD’s RDNA/RDNA2/NAVI rollout has been maddeningly slow. That and the GPU drivers have been abysmal, according to what I have read.

 

[carlos700]

RDNA's rollout has been very maddening. Even on Windows, drivers have been a mess. I think yields must be low since AMD is still relying so much on Vega for APUs and for Mac Pro.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Let's put a 5700XT, with a 16 lane PCIe 4.0 connection on a 4 lane PCIe 3.0 bus. That should give you 1/8th the potential bandwidth of that video card.

There isn’t a consumer GPU sold today that is exhausting PCIe 3.0 x16 bandwidth, much less taking advantage of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth, but sure, you feel free to try and trot out that particular canard and lets see which idiots bite.

 

[az431]

A somewhat short product life cycle if you ask me..

2 1/2 years? You do know that Apple releases new iPhones and iPads every year right?