At our workplace we have a fellow with a Mac Mini connected to a 32" 4K display that does software coding, but all the code is stored and compiled on a cloud server so the Mini is really more a "dumb terminal" to connect to the back-end.
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Blackmagic Releases New eGPU Firmware With Pro Display XDR Support
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At our workplace we have a fellow with a Mac Mini connected to a 32" 4K display that does software coding, but all the code is stored and compiled on a cloud server so the Mini is really more a "dumb terminal" to connect to the back-end.
Yeah, it isn't meant for the hardware hacker who cares about specs above all else. It works great, is quiet, and the parts are probably worth a bit more than you're thinking, too. (It has a high-end TB controller, and fits all the needs I have for an external hub.) And, great engineering does cost some money.
Sure, it would be nice to be able to swap the GPU, but I can swap Blackmagic units one day if I need to. It's honestly one of the best hardware purchases I've ever made. It exceeds expectations. Did I mention it is the most quiet device with a fan I've owned, even when running 24x7 at 100% utilization? Try that with your Sonnet.
Ok, I get wanting a nice monitor, but the XDR is a very expensive (or super cheap, depending on how you look at it) specialized display for a certain high-end-tier of graphic professionals. I think you just went kind of nuts, so probably good you came to your senses!
I think you should have kept the Blackmagic though, and just sent back the XDR if you needed a better GPU.
Hmm, well yes, the Blackmagic is quite a bit bigger than the mini. Were you expecting otherwise? I put mine on top of my mini, so it doesn't take up any extra desk space. I think it slightly helps cool the mini, too.
While the USB A ports might be 'old school' most of the world is still USB A, and it has kept me from needing the mess of an extra USB hub on my desk. With the mini and Blackmagic ports, I don't need any other external 'hubs' and I have ports to spare.
There where a few graphic glitches (if I recall... like the screen going red or a few bars of characters?) when I first set things up and especially when installing Bootcamp. But, since setup, I've noticed nothing particularly odd. Everything has worked flawlessly. I've been using it for over a year now.
But if you didn't need extra GPU power, why get either? There are a lot of nice displays the mini can drive perfectly well. That said, your mini might run a bit cooler with an eGPU. I haven't run my mini non-eGPU enough to know the difference, but it should help a bit.
Well, yeah. This is a bit like saying you can buy a Chevy engine, steering wheel, some wheels, etc. for cheap, so that guy buying the Porsche is just paying for integration in a nice slick package.
What kind of argument is that?
And, do you think I (and other Blackmagic owners) weren't aware of other eGPU options? I spent several weeks researching them (and many months following articles, etc.). The Blackmagic was the only thing that fit my requirements, or was even close. It wasn't that hard of a decision, no matter how much I wanted to save some money and have an upgradable card.
Someone with a mini (or other compatible Mac) who needs a display with those specs? It seems you don't understand what an XDR is really for (but you're in good company, it seems most don't). It isn't just an expensive accessory for an expensive machine... unless you just have money to burn.
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I wish they'd provide a bit more detail though. Does it do anything besides that? Should we even bother if we don't have an XDR?
Not necessarily. My maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini was about $2.5k and it serves me very well. I don't need a Mac Pro, which starts at about $6k at the base configuration and would have less RAM than my machine does. I do Photoshop work, not video rendering, so more RAM is more helpful for my work than processor speed/cores.
Paying for "niceness" is a lot of what makes Apple Apple.
I agree, it's ultimately not worth the money for most use cases (if you're gonna' treat the eGPU like an appliance I feel like it's not a very cost-effective option) but it's the choices of what you prioritize the most.
I think some people don't understand that the mini is a fairly powerful machine. It would be nice if it were in a bit bigger case with cooling more like an iMac Pro or Mac Pro, and maybe have more user-serviceable RAM and storage, but aside from that, it's pretty darn powerful with an eGPU.
The only Macs more powerful are the iMac Pro and Mac Pro, unless you don't need the T2, and then the very top spec'd iMac is slightly faster.
This product needs a refresh, concerning they are still selling 3 year old GPUs as a solution. They should update as Apple updates it’s support.. or maybe Apple doesn’t want them to make too competitive a product? it might hurt some Apple sales?
I do hope they keep updating them and adding more current GPUs. Given the designs, they probably are going to follow the industry a bit instead of having a new model out right after new GPUs come along... but I'm not sure where you get the idea they are so far behind.
Also, while it is nice to have the latest and greatest, it isn't like the GPUs they are selling are that much slower than the latest ones. I suppose to some a few percent faster matters, but a Vega 56 isn't a bad GPU. Even the 580, while not being special, is a solid performer. It just depends on what you need it for.
Dell Ultrasharp U2718Q is a pretty decent 27" monitor, with accurate colors if you can live with 4K resolution? As a bonus, the stand of a Dell Ultrasharp works just as good as Apple Pro Stand in every way, and it comes in the box too. No need to spend $999.
Ordered my XDR display, (order Mac Pro later this year) and currently looking for an used Blackmagic eGPU to connect with my mid-17 MBP during the transitional period. It looks like with this update, the eGPU can easily boot up to 6K on XDR?
What’s interesting in this thread is all the negative comments about the BM product, everyone has their own reasons for buying a particular product. I tried the cheaper option using a Gigabyte RX580 Gaming Box, as it was the only one at the time that had been tested by Apple. Performance was excellent, and it is clocked higher than the BM but the noise, it’s random disconnects and the lack of a TB3 daisy chain port pushed me to sell and pick up a used BM. I am glad I did, it suits me very well, coupled with my MBP, but it won’t suit all, and their are some good egpu boxes on the market if you have the space on your desk and a TB3 cable long enough and are happy with the noise.
Personally BM and Apple should have provided a 1m TB3 cable in the box, but I know that cable length is crucial when using the eGPU.
Not sure why the cards need a refresh? apart from rendering quicker I am not sure what additional gains can be made with a new card, unless you are someone that dual boots.
Personally BM and Apple should have provided a 1m TB3 cable in the box, but I know that cable length is crucial when using the eGPU.
Not sure why the cards need a refresh? apart from rendering quicker I am not sure what additional gains can be made with a new card, unless you are someone that dual boots.
I hear you, but the Vega 64 is not a bad GPU and I'm still using it as my eGPU solution. However, the 5700 series is supported and the Vega 56/64 came out many years ago. The black magic is dated...so are the ports. It's a nice product, don't get me wrong, but they could do better
If your use pattern is BootCamp Windows to play games, the BlackMagic isn't a good choice as you are probably driving a gaming monitor directly off the eGPU, there are better gaming-oriented video cards (that run like hair dryers with all the cooling fans, so chassis noise is irrelevant) and you do not need additional connectivity.
The folks singing the praises of the BlackMagic don't fit that use pattern.
If your use pattern is BootCamp Windows to play games, the BlackMagic isn't a good choice as you are probably driving a gaming monitor directly off the eGPU, there are better gaming-oriented video cards (that run like hair dryers with all the cooling fans, so chassis noise is irrelevant) and you do not need additional connectivity.
The folks singing the praises of the BlackMagic don't fit that use pattern.
I think you may have misunderstood me, I don’t game. I love my BM eGPU
That you do not game is likely why you love your BM, which was the intent of my post (in other words, folks who primarily want an eGPU for gaming look unfavorably on the BM while those who primarily want an eGPU for non-gaming uses look favorably on the BM).
I understand all that, but the question is more related to the display... I guess you cannot get comparable performance for less to fit a <$6K computer? It's interesting to hear of a setup where the display is the most expensive item, by quite a large margin.
My Razer Core X Chroma is whisper quiet, and I'm rocking a RTX 2060 Super card. That's the big advantage with the Razer (and other egpus), I you can replace/upgrade the GPU
It depends on your priorities, I suppose. Some people always want the latest GPU. And, if you depend on and/or make money by having an edge, swapping in a new/latest GPU might gain you 15% or 20% and that is worth a lot.
The non-upgradability is certainly a downside. But, for some of us, the upsides are more valuable.
Is the 5700 that much faster, though? I realize it isn't the latest thing, but my understanding is that it isn't all that outdated in terms of capability. But, I don't keep up on that stuff like I used to.
But, yeah, I'm hoping as GPUs advance, they will continue to make newer models (or maybe the GPU in the regular and pro versions just change over time).
re: ports - as I previously noted, I'm quite happy with them. Maybe someday when everything is USB-C, I won't need the USB-A ports, but right now, it is nice to have them. For example, even software key-dongles tend to be USB-A. My Logitech mouse dongle is USB-A. etc. If I didn't have the BM ports, I'd have to have USB-A to USB-C adapters hanging all over my equipment.
You want to run the monitor off the eGPU if possible, and I do so with the BM. Do you mean laptop owners to accelerate their internal display? That works, but it isn't optimal, as TB3 bandwidth is a bit too limited for full acceleration. I don't do a lot of PC gaming, but I certainly could. It would just be a more expensive option for doing so.
Hmm, maybe we have a different definition of whisper quiet and near silent? When we're saying the Blackmagic is quiet, I mean like you'd only know it is running if you're in a completely silent room and carefully listening for it. There is a VERY faint low-pitched woosh type sound, so it isn't completely silent, but darn close. (And, that's even when running at 100% utilization for weeks on end. It hangs out between 50C-60C too, so it isn't even breaking a sweat.)
If you have a GPU with fans in your external case, it absolutely isn't even close to as quiet.
And, it isn't going to look like this.
Actually it is, the Core X Chroma seems to use a very quiet fan for the power supply, and my 2060 super is a model that has some nice cooling technology (MSI RTX 2060 Super gaming x). The fans only spin up when the temps hit a threshold. Yes, playing a AAA game pushing the RTX 2060 super those fans will spin up. Its not very loud or noticeable. My laptop's fans are actually louder. Doing normal stuff and even playing less demanding games like Age of Empires (or even Fallout 4), those fans don't spin up at all or spin up to a noticeable stage.
Compared to other solutions the 1,200 dollar Radeon Pro 580 is woefully overpriced and given the current state of GPUs woefully underpowered compared to what you can buy now. That's the beauty of most other eGPUs. You can have a choice of what GPU you want Opening up my Razer Core X, doesn't even require tools, and the Core X [non-chroma] seems to be the most popular over on egpu.io, while the blackmagic is tied for 9th
In short, I have a quiet egpu, that has a specific card that I want and it provides superior performance then the blacmagic at a price that is significantly less
I actually prefer the looks of mine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Thanks for the heads-up. I know next to zip about external GPUs and your post gives me something to chew on.
Nice unit I just don’t have the space for something that big or the desire to change graphics cards
Hmm, I'm still thinking we're on different scales of noise here. The Mac mini, compared to MBPs I've used, is quieter. And, my mini is crazy noisy compared to to the Blackmagic. And, again, I'm talking 100% utilization. You can't hear it AT ALL when it isn't under load. When it is under full load, you can barely hear it if you know what you're listening for in a completely silent room.
Why do I care? I do a lot of recording and use a condenser mic. I don't really want any fan noise. I run my mini (i7, 6-core) with Turbo Boost disabled, which keeps it quiet as well unless I'm really pushing it. So, in terms of computer or equipment noise, I have effectively none.
So, when you say the laptop fans are louder... yeah, but laptop fans are WAY, WAY too loud for me. I understand if you're saying compared to a typical gaming PC or something, but I wouldn't even consider something that noisy.
If the fans run on a GPU, that's too noisy.
I'm fussy.Yeah, to each their own. In my case, it is practical as well as you can see I have a pretty small desk... which might get even smaller depending on where we move next.
This.
Apple are being an utter pain in the backside here, dangling proper eGPU usage, only to stick with precisely one massively overpriced out-dated non-upgradable model that offers the TWO TB3 ports required for XDR usage (or even LG 5K3K's with daisy chaining functionalities).
Why even bother Apple, go away, and go back to your little drawing board...again.
(and yes, this is Apple's fault, because they initiate third-party brands to offer products to fit their ranges, just as we have Promise and Blackmagic doing internal products for the new cg Mac Pro right from release.)
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