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Retromac2008

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 9, 2015
209
36
I only play Overwatch and Paladins, can i play at decent frame-rate at 5K resolution if i buy a external box for egpu and put in a Titanxp ?
 
I only play Overwatch and Paladins, can i play at decent frame-rate at 5K resolution if i buy a external box for egpu and put in a Titanxp ?

first better get 1080ti, second - yes, but why would you? UHD works wonders for both games, they're not Witcher 3 where you would notice a graphical difference
 
I only play Overwatch and Paladins, can i play at decent frame-rate at 5K resolution if i buy a external box for egpu and put in a Titanxp ?

Since you specifically mentioned gaming at "5K," I'm going to go ahead and assume you meant gaming on the iMac's internal 5K screen, in which case the answer is, with an eGPU No, with the internal GPU MAYBE if you have an iMac with the Radeon Pro 580 GPU.

First things first, using an eGPU to accelerate the internal screen on macOS generally isn't possible, and while some machines CAN do this under windows, it generally results in a rather large performance hit vs using an external monitor hooked up to the eGPU. Given that the 1080Ti is already fairly handicapped by TB3 without the strain of having to pipe everything back to the iMacs screen, even IF you can do this with the latest iMacs under Windows (and I'm not sure you can, search eGPU scene sites) I doubt the performance driving the internal screen would be a significant improvement over the built in GPU.

As for the internal GPU, assuming you have (or are planning to buy) a Radeon Pro 580 model, it may well drive Overwatch and Paladins at 5K resolution, but don't expect 60FPS (at least for Overwatch) without some significant tweaking. If you're interested, try looking up Overwatch benchmarks for the RX 580 or 570 at 4K and then take a good chunk of additional performance off.

That said. If you're seriously thinking of dropping the kind of cash required to get an eGPU enclosure AND a Titan XP / 1080Ti, you should really just consider a gaming PC (unless you have an actual CUDA accelerated productivity use case for the iMac + TitanXP)
 
Since you specifically mentioned gaming at "5K," I'm going to go ahead and assume you meant gaming on the iMac's internal 5K screen, in which case the answer is, with an eGPU No, with the internal GPU MAYBE if you have an iMac with the Radeon Pro 580 GPU.

First things first, using an eGPU to accelerate the internal screen on macOS generally isn't possible, and while some machines CAN do this under windows, it generally results in a rather large performance hit vs using an external monitor hooked up to the eGPU. Given that the 1080Ti is already fairly handicapped by TB3 without the strain of having to pipe everything back to the iMacs screen, even IF you can do this with the latest iMacs under Windows (and I'm not sure you can, search eGPU scene sites) I doubt the performance driving the internal screen would be a significant improvement over the built in GPU.

As for the internal GPU, assuming you have (or are planning to buy) a Radeon Pro 580 model, it may well drive Overwatch and Paladins at 5K resolution, but don't expect 60FPS (at least for Overwatch) without some significant tweaking. If you're interested, try looking up Overwatch benchmarks for the RX 580 or 570 at 4K and then take a good chunk of additional performance off.

That said. If you're seriously thinking of dropping the kind of cash required to get an eGPU enclosure AND a Titan XP / 1080Ti, you should really just consider a gaming PC (unless you have an actual CUDA accelerated productivity use case for the iMac + TitanXP)


thank you, great advice!
I already have the gpu , i only should buy the egpu enclosure,i posted to understand if it s worth it

sadly my imacs s gpu is not decent :(

what s your opinion about it ?
 
thank you, great advice!
I already have the gpu , i only should buy the egpu enclosure,i posted to understand if it s worth it

sadly my imacs s gpu is not decent :(

what s your opinion about it ?
The confusion here is that you are posting in the wrong forum if your signature is correct. This is the iMac forum, hence Malus120's post.
 
thank you, great advice!
I already have the gpu , i only should buy the egpu enclosure,i posted to understand if it s worth it

sadly my imacs s gpu is not decent :(

what s your opinion about it ?

Regardless of what mac you own (assuming it's not a Mac Pro/Mac Mini in which case you have to deal with Thunderbolt 2 not being officially supported) the answer will still be more or less the same. Since you can't (generally) use the eGPU to power the internal screen, you'll need at least an eGPU enclosure AND an external monitor just to be able to game with it connected to a Thunderbolt 3 Mac AT ALL. Since you already own the GPU (what are you using it in right now and why don't use you just continue to use that???), whether or not picking up the enclosure and a high res monitor (unless you already have one) is worth it is up to you.
 
The topic is 5K gaming on a 5K iMac. You don’t have a iMac according to your signature so you should post in the MacBook Air forum.
It's possible the OP is considering in buying a 5K iMac? :rolleyes:

in the sign i only wrote my pref apple devices.

i own 3 x imac 5k and the titanxp (in a custom gaming pc)
[doublepost=1521561005][/doublepost]
Regardless of what mac you own (assuming it's not a Mac Pro/Mac Mini in which case you have to deal with Thunderbolt 2 not being officially supported) the answer will still be more or less the same. Since you can't (generally) use the eGPU to power the internal screen, you'll need at least an eGPU enclosure AND an external monitor just to be able to game with it connected to a Thunderbolt 3 Mac AT ALL. Since you already own the GPU (what are you using it in right now and why don't use you just continue to use that???), whether or not picking up the enclosure and a high res monitor (unless you already have one) is worth it is up to you.

now the gpu is in a custom gaming pc, but i don t use it, i only use my macs (so it s useless to leave the card there)
 
in the sign i only wrote my pref apple devices.

i own 3 x imac 5k and the titanxp (in a custom gaming pc)
[doublepost=1521561005][/doublepost]

now the gpu is in a custom gaming pc, but i don t use it, i only use my macs (so it s useless to leave the card there)
Wow. It doesn't sound like money is a problem so if you're bored may as well give an eGPU a go right... :D

That said, since you already have a gaming PC (with a Titan XP no less), have you thought about Moonlight?

http://moonlight-stream.com

It's an open source implementation of Nvidia's GameStream tech. Basically you install the "server" app on your gaming PC, and the client app on your mac. You then launch the client app and play games on your mac. Assuming you've got a half way decent CPU in that gaming PC and as long as you're home network is halfway decent you should be able to stream even demanding games (let alone Overwatch and Paladins) to your iMac @4K 60FPS.

Given your stated goals (gaming on that beautiful 5K iMac screen at near native res) I feel like this may be your best option (by far). The best part is, it won't even cost you anything (unless you want to contribute to Malus120's new GPU fund or, you know, the Moonlight project :p )
 
Wow. It doesn't sound like money is a problem so if you're bored may as well give an eGPU a go right... :D

That said, since you already have a gaming PC (with a Titan XP no less), have you thought about Moonlight?

http://moonlight-stream.com

It's an open source implementation of Nvidia's GameStream tech. Basically you install the "server" app on your gaming PC, and the client app on your mac. You then launch the client app and play games on your mac. Assuming you've got a half way decent CPU in that gaming PC and as long as you're home network is halfway decent you should be able to stream even demanding games (let alone Overwatch and Paladins) to your iMac @4K 60FPS.

Given your stated goals (gaming on that beautiful 5K iMac screen at near native res) I feel like this may be your best option (by far). The best part is, it won't even cost you anything (unless you want to contribute to Malus120's new GPU fund or, you know, the Moonlight project :p )

lol, thank you for the advice, but i don t use my gaming pc because it s in another house (in the country) and i go there about 3 times a year. so it s not an option sadly :(
 
Even the Titan will struggle with 5k gaming at full graphics settings, just use it at 1440p it will still look stunning and you will get fairly decent frame rates.
 
Given the viewing distances I'd probably just stick with full HD. I game on a PC (GTX 980Ti GPU) with a 27" 4K monitor and yes there is a difference in quality when I play at 4K if I sit there and look at it, but games are much more fluid at full HD and generally much more enjoyable. Remember it's not just about how pretty it looks, gameplay is much more important.
 
Give it a shot. If you drop it down to 1440p you'd probably be able to crank more settings and you won't really lose any definition. If you drop down to 1080p you'll be able to crank even more but you'll get a bit of blurriness.

Oh and I'm not sure if the eGPU can run the internal display on an iMac 5K. Might want to check the egpu.io forums on that.
 
I have to agree here. Yes, 4K will look a little bit better, especially with foliage, however 1440p with decent AA (or even just Reshade w/SMAA) is more than good enough. It looks very crisp and detailed, and I'm quite picky about these things. 1080p on the other hand looks like crap IMO. 4K simply isn't worth it, also in terms of the added stress and heat to the iMac system.
 
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