External GPU Retina 27 imac

[ninjawt]

I'm thinking of buying the new 27 imac. I'm going with an i7, 256 ssd, 24GB of RAM and the AMD Radeon R9 M395 with 2GB video memory.

I'm going to be using it for editing and gaming. I noticed there's not a big difference between M395 and M395x, a 10-15% gap, performance wise.

So I came across this site : https://bizon-tech.com/us/bizonbox2-egpu.html/

Which offers an external gpu which boasts up to 9x boost in performance.

It's a bit expensive, but I think it'll work better in the long run, I mean it's probably better than paying top bucks to get the M395x now and get outpaced two years later.

So what do you guys think?

Has anyone had any experience with external gpu and if so, is it worth it?

 

[Ledgem]

Thanks for sharing that video. It made it look pretty easy... at least, using Windows. Seems a bit weird that OS X only allows the external graphics chip to drive its own display.

For what it's worth, Intel has been marketing external graphics solutions as a feature of Thunderbolt 3 (which no Mac is currently sold with). I'm not sure if there's any change with the protocol or if the speed boost will now be high enough that graphics chips will be able to work at 100%... clearly, external graphics have been used with Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2 already. I wonder if Thunderbolt 3 will cause Apple to offer better support for it.

 

[v.i.p.e.r]

on the iMac it is only possible to use an external monitor ... this is stupid - imho
Even the price is horribly high.

 

[ninjawt]

on the iMac it is only possible to use an external monitor ... this is stupid - imho
Even the price is horribly high.

Damn, I didn't know this. Why does it only work for an external monitor?

 

[v.i.p.e.r]

because the internal solution only works with intel gpu's - as far as I know ...

This is a good forum to find some information:
http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/

 

[ninjawt]

because the internal solution only works with intel gpu's - as far as I know ...

This is a good forum to find some information:
http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/

Thanks!

 

[TimmyDee]

FWIW, BizonBox seems to be a lightly modified PCIe box with a jacked up price.

http://forum.techinferno.com/enclos...riced-modified-akitio-thunder2-enclosure.html

Here's the original equipment:

http://www.akitio.com/expansion/thunder2-pcie-box

 

[Sirmausalot]

if you want a desktop video card get a desktop computer, not an imac. but many misleading things about that test. 1. it is compared to integrated graphics, not a dgpu. 2. you won't be able to use the imac displat with an egpu and the egpu doesn't run at full speed.

many are quite satisfied with the gaming and video editing capabilities f the 395x. bur if you want more graphics power than that, get a different computer.

 

[Ledgem]

if you want a desktop video card get a desktop computer, not an imac. but many misleading things about that test. 1. it is compared to integrated graphics, not a dgpu. 2. you won't be able to use the imac displat with an egpu and the egpu doesn't run at full speed.

many are quite satisfied with the gaming and video editing capabilities f the 395x. bur if you want more graphics power than that, get a different computer.

Some people want more graphics power than what we currently have, but I think a lot of us are interested in these types of solutions for the possibilities of upgrades down the line. Processors aren't going out of date as quickly as they used to, and with the massive amounts of RAM we can put into modern iMacs we're unlikely to be left behind there, either. Graphics development is still pretty fast-paced, and the one area where I fully expect my iMac to be out of date in 2-4 years. It would be fantastic if I could buy an add-on that allowed me to be current, instead of having to swap out the entire system.