Does an eGPU help when using the MBP display?

[N9JIG]

I have a Sonnett Breakaway Puck eGPU (RX560) I had been using on my 2018 Mac Mini with UHD 630 graphics, 1.5GB when I needed 3 or 4 displays. I no longer need that many so I disconnected it and set it aside.

I also have a 2019 MacBook Pro 15" (also with the UHD 630 graphics, 1.5GB).

Does it make any sense to use the Puck connected to the MBP at home connected to no external display? How about connected to the Mini with the displays connected to the Mini instead of the eGPU?

 

[casperes1996]

If it's a 2019 15" it's going to have another GPU as well other than the Intel UHD.

There's going to be overhead to running an eGPU and even greater overhead for using it to accelerate tasks that are connected to the frame buffer of another GPU. Yeah you can use it to accelerate rendering that's displayed on the internal display or displays not connected directly to the eGPU but it's going to work a lot better with displays connected to the eGPU.

And depending on what the other GPU is in your laptop the overhead may make some tasks slower on the eGPU than using the internal dGPU. Though using the eGPU might produce less heat in the laptop allowing the CPU to boost higher during GPU workloads, so it's very task dependant