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Blackmagic eGPU Pro Discontinued

MisterAndrew said:
I think quite a few people buy XDR displays without a Mac Pro. The Macs that can drive the XDR are listed on Apple's website. It's only a few from 2018 up. It looks like the Blackmagic eGPU Pro would be the better choice for the XDR. I was looking over the whitepaper for AMD Polaris (the regular Blackmagic eGPU) and it cannot display HDR content higher than 4K resolution. The Vega whitepaper says it can display HDR content at 5K. It doesn't say anything about 6K though. Of course the regular Blackmagic eGPU should have the same capabilities as the Mac Pro's 580X GPU.
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Yeah, sorry, I thinking of the eGPU Pro. It had something to do with the controller chip they used (as opposed to the controller chip in other eGPUs), but I'm not sure about the non-Pro model. I think they both have that TB chip, but maybe the 580 can't do it.

While several Macs can run it, I think only the new 16" MBP and the Mac Pro can drive it at 6k... (and then TB3 Macs using the eGPU Pro, I think).
 
SteveW928 said:
Yeah, sorry, I thinking of the eGPU Pro. It had something to do with the controller chip they used (as opposed to the controller chip in other eGPUs), but I'm not sure about the non-Pro model. I think they both have that TB chip, but maybe the 580 can't do it.

While several Macs can run it, I think only the new 16" MBP and the Mac Pro can drive it at 6k... (and then TB3 Macs using the eGPU Pro, I think).
Click to expand...

Both Blackmagic eGPUs have the Titan Ridge TB3 controller. The regular one should be able to drive the XDR at 6K. Apple says the 580X in the Mac Pro can drive 2 of them. Only in 32-bit pixel format though (non-HDR). Edit: Perhaps it does support HDR since it's using two DP 1.4 connections via TB3 for each display.
 
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MisterAndrew said:
Both Blackmagic eGPUs have the Titan Ridge TB3 controller. The regular one should be able to drive the XDR at 6K. Apple says the 580X in the Mac Pro can drive 2 of them. Only in 32-bit pixel format though (non-HDR).
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Yeah, the trick seems to be the 6K. Various machines can drive it, but only a couple at 6K. I'm not sure about the Blackmagic though. I was involved in a thread a while back where it was said the Pro could and the non-Pro couldn't. But, yes, they both have that Titan Ridge TB3 controller (and apparently a lot of other eGPUs don't?)

See footnote 1:

Adapters for the Thunderbolt or USB-C port on your Mac - Apple Support

Learn about different adapters for the Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, or USB-C port on your Mac.
www.apple.com www.apple.com
 
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SteveW928 said:
Yeah, the trick seems to be the 6K. Various machines can drive it, but only a couple at 6K. I'm not sure about the Blackmagic though. I was involved in a thread a while back where it was said the Pro could and the non-Pro couldn't. But, yes, they both have that Titan Ridge TB3 controller (and apparently a lot of other eGPUs don't?)

See footnote 1:

Adapters for the Thunderbolt or USB-C port on your Mac - Apple Support

Learn about different adapters for the Thunderbolt 5, Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, or USB-C port on your Mac.
www.apple.com www.apple.com
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I don't see any documentation from Apple that says the regular eGPU cannot drive the XDR at 6K. The firmware update specifically brings XDR support, so it should be able to run the XDR at 6K. The only other eGPU enclosure that has a Titan Ridge controller that I know of is the Akitio Node Titan, but it does not have a TB3 output.
 
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MisterAndrew said:
I don't see any documentation from Apple that says the regular eGPU cannot drive the XDR at 6K. The firmware update specifically brings XDR support, so it should be able to run the XDR at 6K. The only other eGPU enclosure that has a Titan Ridge controller that I know of is the Akitio Node Titan, but it does not have a TB3 output.
Click to expand...

Hmm, you might be right. My memory seems to be coming back a bit, and I think the issue (in that discussion) might have been over driving 2 monitors... as the eGPU Pro has an extra port (display port?).
 
MisterAndrew said:
You should be able to drive 2 monitors with the eGPU, but it won't drive 2 XDRs. It would need 2 TB3 outputs for that.
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Yeah, I think it was something like an XDR and than 1 or 2 other displays at 4k or 5k, and the only way they could do it was with an eGPU Pro. The non-Pro has HDMI which can't go high enough or something like that. The Pro has an additional output.
 
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SteveW928 said:
Yeah, I think it was something like an XDR and than 1 or 2 other displays at 4k or 5k, and the only way they could do it was with an eGPU Pro. The non-Pro has HDMI which can't go high enough or something like that. The Pro has an additional output.
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The tech specs says the HDMI on the regular eGPU supports 4K. So you should be able to run one XDR or UltraFine display plus one 4K display.

The eGPU Pro supports the same plus a 5K display over DisplayPort.

Products | Blackmagic Design

Explore Blackmagic Design products that include professional cameras, broadcast converters, DaVinci Resolve software and live production switchers.
www.blackmagicdesign.com
 
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Someone made a post on this page that explains how the Blackmagic eGPU can drive the 6K display. It supports two DisplayPort 1.4 signals over Thunderbolt 3 at HBR3 speed. So perhaps with an adapter you could drive two 4K displays over the TB3 connection. Along with the HDMI port it could then possibly support three 4K displays. The eGPU Pro could support four 4K displays in that fashion. It should also be possible to drive the Dell 8K display (UP3218K) using a TB3 to dual DP 1.4 adapter. In the Dell user guide they recommend an RX 480 GPU or higher.

apple.stackexchange.com

Why doesn't the iMac Pro (2017) support the Apple Pro Display XDR at 6k resolution?

Apple's Set up and use Apple Pro Display XDR web page does not list the iMac Pro as a supported computer in this section: Pro Display XDR supports a resolution of 6016 x 3384 with 10bpc on thes...
apple.stackexchange.com apple.stackexchange.com
 
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shaown said:
Blackmagic EGPU is up and running (non-pro). Interestingly, had to display Secure Boot to update the firmware (and then I re-enabled it). Plugged into my single UltraFine 24in 4k (hopefully soon to be 2x)
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Just be careful if you decide to do Bootcamp. I had to disable FileVault and such, and nearly got myself into a pickle the on the first attempt.

Florida Gator said:
According to prominent Apple leaker:

The new Blackmagic eGPU Pro is being developed. It may be powered by a Radeon RX 5700 or 5700XT. We don't know the details, but stay tuned!
Click to expand...

Hmm, that sounds great (for me)! But, I wonder if the same criticism won't apply that it isn't high-end enough?

iAssimilated said:
Unfortunately you'll need Catalina to run it :(
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Yeah, though hopefully one of these days, Catalina will be safe to start using.
 
Anyone know whether it's possible to use bootcamp with an LG Ultrafine 24 Inch 4K through the Blackmagic EGPU?

Works great in Mac OS, but just can't get the LG to turn on when using Bootcamp unless I connect my Macbook Pro directly to the display and bypass the Blackmagic.
 
Billiejoe87 said:
Anyone know whether it's possible to use bootcamp with an LG Ultrafine 24 Inch 4K through the Blackmagic EGPU?

Works great in Mac OS, but just can't get the LG to turn on when using Bootcamp unless I connect my Macbook Pro directly to the display and bypass the Blackmagic.
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It should be, but you'll have to do some research and tweaking things here: https://egpu.io

I think the problem is that you have to have the drivers setup correctly, especially to bypass the discrete graphics in the MBP (if you have them). Even on my mini, it was initially a bit tricky to get things going. I'm pretty sure there are some threads dedicated to just this issue, though. (I wrote up a pretty detailed process I used to get my mini working properly, though I'm hoping by now it is easier with newer versions of Windows and Bootcamp drivers, but maybe not.)
 
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ruka.snow said:
They can drive the pro display and are really quiet compared to a build your own.
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Great point. I’m researching eGPU’s now, and I’m torn between the noisy, hot, Razer Core X Chroma + Radeon Vega 64 (upgradeable) , or getting the quiet, TB3 supporting , but non-upgradeable Blackmagic eGPU with Radeon Pro 580X ( not the Pro ) .
 
Sorry to bring this old thread up, but I wasn't able to find any good reference across the web. These seem to show up from time to time on ebay and given both versions are pretty much unavailable everywhere, what would you all consider to be a fair price to get a used one today? Pro or non-Pro?

thanks in advance
 
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I haven’t been monitoring the standard but I’d say 450-500 is good used price right now.

Pro are going for 950-1100.

Granted this is eBay pricing and there are outliers.
 
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dennisroethig said:
Sorry to bring this old thread up, but I wasn't able to find any good reference across the web. These seem to show up from time to time on ebay and given both versions are pretty much unavailable everywhere, what would you all consider to be a fair price to get a used one today? Pro or non-Pro?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Also, there is a rumor a new one is coming based on the 5700... just FYI.
 
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The only thing wrong with the BlackMagic eGPUs were the price.

The only people willing to pay for it are those that require absolute silence. Other people are better served with the Razer Core X.
 
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SteveW928 said:
There could be others, but this was the first place I ran across it:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1263102274340962305
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Thank you. I had not seen that.

arvinsim said:
The only thing wrong with the BlackMagic eGPUs were the price.

The only people willing to pay for it are those that require absolute silence. Other people are better served with the Razer Core X.
Click to expand...
That and stability. The Blackmagic eGPUs do not suffer from the stability issues that so commonly affect custom builds. If stability is important, it is well worth the price.
 
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