External GPU question

[thizisweird]

I have a '15 MBA and I would like to "upgrade" its video editing capacity a bit. I currently have access to a couple GPUs that are collecting dust, and am wondering if using one would be a decent pairing with my MBA (2x Radeon 5770). Is the CPU powerful enough to handle the extra processing the 5770 could/would add under heavy load? Or would the CPU even be a limiting factor?

I'm not trying to do too much demanding work, maybe a little color correction and some minor animations I'd expect to be most demanding with what I'd do for now. I'll upgrade the MBA to something else when it's time lol.

Thanks for any input!

 

[nicho]

Short answer - not happening.

The 5770 is 10 years old and doesn't support Metal. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208898

Support for eGPUs over thunderbolt 2 is limited, lower bandwidth than a TB3 one and requires a hack to enable - I wouldn't invest money in one (since you'll need to buy the GPU as well as the enclosure) for your limited uses. Save it to bring forward your upgrade by a year or something.

 

[thizisweird]

Thanks man. Sounds good to me. I've been looking into swapping this one out for a newer MacBook as it is. Just was curious if I would be able to do that since the GPU is collecting dust lol.