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Most of the data for the monitors is actually coming from the GPU, not the Mac. That’s kind of the whole point of eGPUs - to get better graphics performance while lessening demand on the CPU.

Graphics processing is different than bandwidth. The eGPU can process the graphics, but how will it send over 60Gbp/s of video data to the MBP? Can you find an example of this actually working?
 
Graphics processing is different than bandwidth. The eGPU can process the graphics, but how will it send over 60Gbp/s of video data to the MBP? Can you find an example of this actually working?
The video data isn’t going to the MacBook Pro - it’s going the monitors.
 
The Nvidia Linux drivers might not be great, but at least they're there.
Unlike you there are many people out there who do care about quality of drivers. For them it really doesn't matter if the OS has the drivers, it is all about working properly (no crashes, no weird behaviour, etc.). Linux users in general do not like the Nvidia drivers, they much rather prefer those from Intel or AMD because unlike Nvidia's they actually work properly. The stability and performance is there. The fact that both Intel and AMD started to care for Linux has also won a lot of people over. The fact that Nvidia keeps on refusing to do a proper job steers people away.

NVIDIA proprietary drivers have been far better than anything AMD put out on Linux until 2015-2016, when AMD started their AMDGPU open-source driver project and started to care about supporting Linux. Go look at any phoronix benchmark article from the past seven years if you need any further proof. I believe you are correct in that RadeonSI has had far better support from AMD then nouveau from NVIDIA.
That was exactly my point. AMD and Intel changed course and improved their drivers. Nvidia did nothing. That's the entire issue with Nvidia vs AMD on Linux/UNIX.

Apple uses AMD cards because they went all-in on OpenGL/OpenCL when they launched the redesigned Mac Pro in 2013. With the redesigned Mac Pro I don't think they will mind if NVIDIA comes along, as OpenCL has been stagnant it seems.
That's another reason to be using those. AMD also had better support at the time when it came to multiple displays.
The problem with OpenCL is that it seems to be on the late side. Nvidia had a chance of building a very solid base with CUDA which is now the de facto standard. Now that Apple, Microsoft and AMD have also turned to doing things very different than previously with the GPU and GPGPU support the landscape has changed yet again.

They went all-in on OpenCL, not OpenGL. AMD specializes in OpenCL, while Nvidia specializes in OpenGL.
Those are rather different technologies. If you want to compare OpenCL to anything than compare it to CUDA. Both are meant as a tool for GPGPU. Both manufacturers seem to be supporting things like DirectX and OpenGL equally well.

The video data isn’t going to the MacBook Pro - it’s going the monitors.
It's not that simple. If you use an eGPU you can only use it for the internal display in macOS if you trick it into thinking something is connected to it. There are special dongles for the GPU that do that (you put them in the HDMI/DisplayPort port). That would imply that part of the data is also being run through the Mac, not just the GPU alone. Perhaps that changes when you run the Mac in clamshell mode (and thus disable the internal display entirely).
 
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Do you have an example of anyone got this working?
I have an eGPU which I use for gaming and I have an external monitor connected to it. The performance is a lot better than you would expect, largely because the Nvidia driver allows for data compression. But the performance would be a lot worse if I had the game displaying on my MacBook’s screen.
 
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I have an eGPU which I use for gaming and I have an external monitor connected to it. The performance is a lot better than you would expect, largely because the Nvidia driver allows for data compression. But the performance would be a lot worse if I had the game displaying on my MacBook’s screen.

I was looking for a dual 5K over 1 cable example
 
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Unlike you there are many people out there who do care about quality of drivers. For them it really doesn't matter if the OS has the drivers, it is all about working properly (no crashes, no weird behaviour, etc.). Linux users in general do not like the Nvidia drivers, they much rather prefer those from Intel or AMD because unlike Nvidia's they actually work properly. The stability and performance is there. The fact that both Intel and AMD started to care for Linux has also won a lot of people over. The fact that Nvidia keeps on refusing to do a proper job steers people away.


That was exactly my point. AMD and Intel changed course and improved their drivers. Nvidia did nothing. That's the entire issue with Nvidia vs AMD on Linux/UNIX.


That's another reason to be using those. AMD also had better support at the time when it came to multiple displays.
The problem with OpenCL is that it seems to be on the late side. Nvidia had a chance of building a very solid base with CUDA which is now the de facto standard. Now that Apple, Microsoft and AMD have also turned to doing things very different than previously with the GPU and GPGPU support the landscape has changed yet again.


Those are rather different technologies. If you want to compare OpenCL to anything than compare it to CUDA. Both are meant as a tool for GPGPU. Both manufacturers seem to be supporting things like DirectX and OpenGL equally well.


It's not that simple. If you use an eGPU you can only use it for the internal display in macOS if you trick it into thinking something is connected to it. There are special dongles for the GPU that do that (you put them in the HDMI/DisplayPort port). That would imply that part of the data is also being run through the Mac, not just the GPU alone. Perhaps that changes when you run the Mac in clamshell mode (and thus disable the internal display entirely).
When you have the eGPU connected, go to About This Mac and click on the Displays tab. Then you can see which GPU is driving which monitor.
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I was looking for a dual 5K over 1 cable example
I can’t help you there. I haven’t tried that. I don’t know if anyone has. Also, you have to shutdown the Mac before disconnecting the eGPU - to avoid a kernel panic. You also need to reboot for the eGPU to start working.
 
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When you have the eGPU connected, go to About This Mac and click on the Displays tab. Then you can see which GPU is driving which monitor.
That is not going to give you any insights as to how the data is flowing between the GPU and the rest of the system that is housed in the notebook. There seems to be the need for a physical connection in order for the eGPU to be activated in macOS no matter if you are going to use the internal display or not. That means that the data isn't going to the displays connected to the eGPU alone, it also seems to be going to the internal display as well. That would mean the data is flowing in 2 directions which impacts the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt connection (display signal is one-way).
 
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That is not going to give you any insights as to how the data is flowing between the GPU and the rest of the system that is housed in the notebook. There seems to be the need for a physical connection in order for the eGPU to be activated in macOS no matter if you are going to use the internal display or not. That means that the data isn't going to the displays connected to the eGPU alone, it also seems to be going to the internal display as well. That would mean the data is flowing in 2 directions which impacts the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt connection (display signal is one-way).
Actually, the Mac provides information for the GPU, the GPU works with that information and then displays the result on the screen. A great example is loading a game. The Mac loads the game, sends it over the eGPU, and then pretty much all of the computations are done by the GPU - aside from CPU-dependent graphics settings.
 
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And yet again that wasn't the question. Try reading someones post before replying, it prevents people being annoyed by you.

Not to mention that your example is not even correct. The game is not being send to the eGPU, it's small pieces of data on how to draw the graphics on the display. The thing is that there still is data flowing back and forth between the eGPU and the notebook itself due to that internal display but only if there is a display directly connected to the ports of the GPU in the eGPU case (or rather PCIe box). Your reply provides no answer.

Instead of explaining things as if you are talking to an average consumer you could have pointed out that it might actually be the eGPU not seeing the internal display and the software (which would be things like kernel extensions and such and which need to be patched) not being able to tell the eGPU that there is an internal display.
 
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Well then. I hope the new High Sierra support for eGPUs allows them to work plug and play like the Razer Core. TBH this is the main reason I haven't jumped on board yet.

Reading the dev kit notes, hot-plugging needs to go back to the login screen.
Main pain for me is that it doesn't support accelerating internal screens.
 
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Reading the dev kit notes, hot-plugging needs to go back to the login screen.
Main pain for me is that it doesn't support accelerating internal screens.
So you mean, you plug in the eGPU, log in again, and you're running? That's awesome!

I don't personally care about accelerating the internal display, but sorry it's an issue for you.
 
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I'm very excited by native eGPU support, and the initial beta seems to show good promise, even though I have a TB2 rMBP I'd go out and buy an Apple branded eGPU if it worked exactly how you'd expect it to.

The fact it already seems like it's not just the DevKit eGPU that is supported is great though, hopefully the open nature of support is kept going forward.
 
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I wonder if there will be an eGPU that can drive the LG 5K monitor? I suspect it will only power on if connected directly with a Mac with a Thunderbolt 3 port. :oops:
 
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You could just plug the monitors into the eGPU like everybody else.
The point I was trying to make was that A) 1 GPU cannot drive 2 5K monitors simultaneously AFAIK, and B) the Thunderbolt bus on a single port or controller may not be able to fully support running 2 eGPUs at once, due to a lack of bandwidth.
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They went all-in on OpenCL, not OpenGL. AMD specializes in OpenCL, while Nvidia specializes in OpenGL.
I think that you meant CUDA for Nvidia. OpenCL was derived from OpenGL, to be used for mathematics instead of graphics.
 
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