So will this replace the function of the internal GPU, or do they work in tandem? If you have a 2GB internal the the 8GB external, are you actually working with 10GB of video processing?
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Hands-On With Apple's New $699 Blackmagic eGPU
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I have one from both and the radeon is plug and play with, so far, zero breaks with macOS updates, even in to Mojave dev previews. Just plug it up and it works.
I have a 1080Ti inside an akitio node water-cooled with EK water block, D5 pump, a 120mm radiator and hardlined and all works on the stock PSU.
Then on a Sonnet Breakaway box is a Vega64 LiquidCooled with a Corsair SF600 power supply swap and the 64 will spike 375w in benchmarking.
The 1080ti is much more powerful but the setup will break if you sneeze on it while the vega64 will plug in and run on any TB3 Mac I've connected it to and a simple script will allow it immediately with TB2 Macs.
Again, no. It's a sold, for the time being, exclusively by Apple - likely in exchange for Apple supplying technical support to Blackmagic during the design phase with respect their Metal API. That's all. It was conceived and designed by Blackmagic Design - part of their core business of video editing and processing. Go to Apple's web page where it is sold, where it's referred to as the Blackmagic eGPU, and you'll find very little information other than an overview and highlights.
Apple never learns and never looks back. This is a bad idea from the start. Look at the Apple SAN. Apple has terrible history supporting these one-off third party designs. I would not be surprise if it does not work on next years macOS.
As I stated before, there are people who are simply not comfortable opening up an eGPU case and sticking a card into a PCIe slot, for whatever reason.
The BlackMagic eGPU provides those particular users with a Plug and Play solution, as does the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box (Developer Edition) or the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box (1070/1080/RX580).
The market (consumers) will decide whether the BlackMagic eGPU ends up being a sales hit or miss. The relative cost premium over all other solutions available (DIY or Plug and Play) is up to the customer to decide.
Is the Blackmagic eGPU an Apple product?
No, the Blackmagic eGPU was developed by Blackmagic Design in collaboration with Apple. (FAQ, blackmagicdesign.com)
unfortunately all other choices are loud, and not even much cheaper. this is ment to give some power but also silence which is very important aspect. also the reason the gpu is not replaceable. is it hit or miss, it really depends on apple and developers. if they dont bring more ways to utilize egpu other than just running benchmark tests and comparing what it could be and what it isnt now, or getting just something from davinci, it is doa.
i would appreciate if the power of the egpu is used with differend application rather than pushing the limits from igpu and cpu all the time. Especially in 13” macbook which doesnt have a dedicated gpu other than an integrated intel chip. im not sure what even apple is expecting to happen. they worked with blackmagic to introduce this but they forgot to mention about it to other big companies like adobe and more or less, they didnt even add a support to fcpx to utilize the egpu out of the box, without running a script made by someone else. it looks like apple developers are working in separate rooms and never talk to each other about their plans.
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dont forget to add the box (and ports) and the cable. you dont get them free, or do you?
But this is targeted at Pros yeah? The ones who are demanding Apple makes a decent desktop so they can expand the machine themselves.
They could sell a preconfigured one, in Apple stores with a couple of GPU options, or sell just the enclosure.
No gamer is going to buy this. A gamer would know the GPU is poor and wouldn't be wasting their money going down that route.
No, the point of an external GPU is an external GPU. All things being equal, if you can upgrade the physical 'card' in it... that's a plus.
The upgrade, though, is super simple. Unplug cord... set down new eGPU... plug in.
i.e.: same laptop. This year, I have an RX580. Next year, maybe it's a Vega. Even easier upgrade than swapping cards.
Look, I'd love for it to be a nice case cards can swap in and out of, but no one has made one of those yet that is well designed. If someone comes along with one that can be quiet, where I can swap cards (which would probably mean removing their fans), and has other ports on it... I'll pay even more for that.
I have purchased this unit - I was really attracted to how silent it is, which was of extreme importance to me, consider it would be sitting two feet away from my head. It also looks really great sitting on the desk - very SGI-like, for those who remember, but of course updated to modern design standards. As far as I can tell, the case can't be opened in any easy way (no visible screws) so the upgrade options will probably mean selling this one, and buying a new one sometime in the future.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the unit overall - it is really incredibly silent considering that I'm used to GPUs fans for this kind of GPUs sounding like jet engines. This is more like a low hum, I would best describe it as sounding like a barely audible stream of water. It is not just quite silent, but also the kind of hum that's not annoying. So far I've only tried running it in the Mac mode (have to update to latest windows on bootcamp before I attempt anything there, but I've read reports of plug and play being possible with 2017 MBPs). Here's what I've tried so far:
- OS with high sierra was really completely plug and play, and I immediately got an extended desktop on a second monitor through the eGPU. Added bonus - much less heat and fan noise on MBP than when the internal 560 is used to drive external monitor. Working just like this in OS with no massive GPU utilization, this eGPU unit is nearly completely silent.
- Indigo renderer: you will get accelerated rendering with a preview on the internal display because the eGPU is only used as compute, and not for displaying. The rendering speedup is predictably huge, and you can even combine internal 560 with external 580 for an even faster renders, just by checking simple checkboxes, but then you lose some of the UI responsiveness. If you enable just 580, the UI pretty much flies, and MBP barely breaks a sweat - fans never kick into overdrive, 560 is used for OS and app UI display and eGPU for compute render - the whole setup becomes a pleasure of silence and responsiveness basically
- Rise of Tomb Raider is one game I knew was going to run well on this, and indeed, framerates are at least doubled compared to built in 560 using the same settings, actually more like 2.5x higher I think. It is possible to play the game in nearly locked 60FPS on 1920x1080 resolution, and fluctuating 45-60 in 2200x1120 (or something like that). This is with everything on high, and some things like textures on very high.
- The Witness was another game I tried that ran really great on this. I was able to run it in monitor's native 2560x1440 resolution with 2xMSAA and everything on high, in what looked like unbroken 60FPS when you look around standing in place, and some frame drops when you keep running around (it looks like the game's on-the-fly resource management is causing some trouble to mac, as I was able to see these drops, no matter how low I've set the resolution and the settings. Overall though, it was a huge improvement vs. running the game on the embedded 560 GPU.
- Dolphin, the Wii/Gamecube emulator was a surprising success, as I expected it to not have any gains (it's not using Metal) but it gives framerate boost of about 50% in few games I tried. It is now possible to for example play Donkey Kong Country Returns at nearly locked 60FPS, whereas it otherwise runs at 45FPS and in slow motion with 560.
- Photoshop, I haven't really noticed anything different to be honest (other than overall the MBP being more silent as it doesn't have to drive external monitor). I haven't really played much with it, as Photoshop was fast enough for what I use it for anyway.
- I tried a few other games, but generally to not much or mixed success. They either ran slower than they would on internal monitor, or were difficult or impossible to run in full screen, or even in window on an external monitor. These games include Bioshock Infinite (can only run in a 1440x900 window on external monitor, and it runs well, but has screen tearing), Fez (runs slower than on internal), Dreamfall Chapters (runs much faster than on internal, but again only in a window of 1440x900 resolution, which feels small on an external monitor), Pro Pinball Ultimate (seems to run with no visual advantages compared to internal, but then again it was locked 60FPS on internal to begin with - however the fan noise from MBP predictably did not go into overdrive like it does normally when playing this game).
That's about it so far - I really think that this setup is a good solution for certain types of work, that also makes financial sense vs. the iMac Pro, if you already own a good external monitor, of course. I will try to get it working on bootcamp today, and that's where I predict things will be really challenging, but also hopefully really good for games.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by the unit overall - it is really incredibly silent considering that I'm used to GPUs fans for this kind of GPUs sounding like jet engines. This is more like a low hum, I would best describe it as sounding like a barely audible stream of water. It is not just quite silent, but also the kind of hum that's not annoying. So far I've only tried running it in the Mac mode (have to update to latest windows on bootcamp before I attempt anything there, but I've read reports of plug and play being possible with 2017 MBPs). Here's what I've tried so far:
- OS with high sierra was really completely plug and play, and I immediately got an extended desktop on a second monitor through the eGPU. Added bonus - much less heat and fan noise on MBP than when the internal 560 is used to drive external monitor. Working just like this in OS with no massive GPU utilization, this eGPU unit is nearly completely silent.
- Indigo renderer: you will get accelerated rendering with a preview on the internal display because the eGPU is only used as compute, and not for displaying. The rendering speedup is predictably huge, and you can even combine internal 560 with external 580 for an even faster renders, just by checking simple checkboxes, but then you lose some of the UI responsiveness. If you enable just 580, the UI pretty much flies, and MBP barely breaks a sweat - fans never kick into overdrive, 560 is used for OS and app UI display and eGPU for compute render - the whole setup becomes a pleasure of silence and responsiveness basically
- Rise of Tomb Raider is one game I knew was going to run well on this, and indeed, framerates are at least doubled compared to built in 560 using the same settings, actually more like 2.5x higher I think. It is possible to play the game in nearly locked 60FPS on 1920x1080 resolution, and fluctuating 45-60 in 2200x1120 (or something like that). This is with everything on high, and some things like textures on very high.
- The Witness was another game I tried that ran really great on this. I was able to run it in monitor's native 2560x1440 resolution with 2xMSAA and everything on high, in what looked like unbroken 60FPS when you look around standing in place, and some frame drops when you keep running around (it looks like the game's on-the-fly resource management is causing some trouble to mac, as I was able to see these drops, no matter how low I've set the resolution and the settings. Overall though, it was a huge improvement vs. running the game on the embedded 560 GPU.
- Dolphin, the Wii/Gamecube emulator was a surprising success, as I expected it to not have any gains (it's not using Metal) but it gives framerate boost of about 50% in few games I tried. It is now possible to for example play Donkey Kong Country Returns at nearly locked 60FPS, whereas it otherwise runs at 45FPS and in slow motion with 560.
- Photoshop, I haven't really noticed anything different to be honest (other than overall the MBP being more silent as it doesn't have to drive external monitor). I haven't really played much with it, as Photoshop was fast enough for what I use it for anyway.
- I tried a few other games, but generally to not much or mixed success. They either ran slower than they would on internal monitor, or were difficult or impossible to run in full screen, or even in window on an external monitor. These games include Bioshock Infinite (can only run in a 1440x900 window on external monitor, and it runs well, but has screen tearing), Fez (runs slower than on internal), Dreamfall Chapters (runs much faster than on internal, but again only in a window of 1440x900 resolution, which feels small on an external monitor), Pro Pinball Ultimate (seems to run with no visual advantages compared to internal, but then again it was locked 60FPS on internal to begin with - however the fan noise from MBP predictably did not go into overdrive like it does normally when playing this game).
That's about it so far - I really think that this setup is a good solution for certain types of work, that also makes financial sense vs. the iMac Pro, if you already own a good external monitor, of course. I will try to get it working on bootcamp today, and that's where I predict things will be really challenging, but also hopefully really good for games.
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I just purchased the Akito Node and MSI RX580X 8GB (slightly used) from a guy locally who has been experimenting with some of these solutions. I put it together and had it all set up in just a couple of hours. Of course that included replacing my antiquated 24" Cinema Display with an ultra-wide LG monitor.
Hooked it up to my 2017 MacBook Pro w/touchbar. The whole set up was really simple, and once I had it all together on my desk it fired right up and everything works flawlessly. Benchmarks tripled in Open CL (all I could test in the Geekbench free-version). I think it's pretty cool we can add so much GPU processing power on our MacBooks and have it work so well out of the box.
Glad I went with the Node over BlackMagic (although the BM does look very nice IMO, and I'd like to have that built in USB hub). I admittedly purchased one slightly used but I only paid $360 OTD and just wanted to see how well things would work. Didn't expect it to be so simple, and I'm definitely glad that I can upgrade anytime now that I know how well it does.
Hooked it up to my 2017 MacBook Pro w/touchbar. The whole set up was really simple, and once I had it all together on my desk it fired right up and everything works flawlessly. Benchmarks tripled in Open CL (all I could test in the Geekbench free-version). I think it's pretty cool we can add so much GPU processing power on our MacBooks and have it work so well out of the box.
Glad I went with the Node over BlackMagic (although the BM does look very nice IMO, and I'd like to have that built in USB hub). I admittedly purchased one slightly used but I only paid $360 OTD and just wanted to see how well things would work. Didn't expect it to be so simple, and I'm definitely glad that I can upgrade anytime now that I know how well it does.
I think this is targeted at prosumers who don't want a buggy DIY solution and corporate IT that does not want anything hacked running in the corporate environment. I think for a MacBook 13in user, this can be used for at least 3 years or longer before it becomes truly obsolete as long as apple sticks with integrated GPUs for their MacBook Pro 13in models.
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Are you using the Akito Node with the LG 5K display? Did it work for thunderbolt to thunderbolt connectivity?
Internal display acceleration absolutely can be done in a general case under bootcamp - many people have done it with MBP. Games, OS and everything else is accelerated.
On the Mac side, it's possible only with the software that specifically supports it. An example are the raytracing software packages that use compute from eGPU to calculate image, and then display the realtime preview on your internal monitor, where the OS is rendered on an embedded GPU. Another example would be a game that uses eGPU to render directly to an internal screen which has become possible on High Sierra, but only for games that have bespoke support for it. So far there are no games that support it, as far as I know.
*edit* according to the 9to5Mac review, the F1 2017 supports acceleration on an internal display, but the performance gains are not as much as when running it on an external display:
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No. I am in experimental mode and just barely let go of the old Cinema Display. I purchased the LG34UM61 2560x1080 IPS Ultra-wide from Costco for $279, and it only has HDMI which works fine. It's going back tho, as I just cannot do 1080 on a large screen after looking at my Retina display all this time. I haven't looked at monitors in over 10 years (I really liked that Cinema Display lol) so I may need to try a few out. That LG5K is nice, but I do enjoy a little gaming so I've been looking to find the best compromise.
The Node does connect directly from Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt.
If you can get it running in Windows that would be awesome. By any chance if you do get it working, could you download https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ and post a screenshot, so we can see what the frequencies are and how many shaders it has? Also download http://www.userbenchmark.com/ and show results? Thanks...
Do they also offer an external solution with a well cooled CPU?
No doubt. That would be really cool (pardon the pun). But, there have been some reports of an eGPU helping keep the laptops cooler (as the internal GPU doesn't have to work hard, so the laptop doesn't have to get rid of CPU + GPU heat).
Yeah, exactly. I'm not how these people are calculating it. I get that they don't like the fact that they can't just swap in another card... fair enough. But you can't compare the price of a raw GPU 'card' to the price of this. Once you add a reasonably good eGPU case, you're right in the same price range... but maybe with a better GPU, sure.
And, then further limit it to TB3.
I don't know what the heck they are doing with all this limiting of what could be great expandability/extendability.
I get that there is even more performance decrease on TB2, but there is on TB3. Especially until they get some new Macs out with TB3, adding one of these to a TB2 Mac would make a lot of sense. (I know you can hack it, but Apple should directly support it.)
Well said!
I only take a bit of exception with the last sentence. Yes, that could be the situation. But, this is also a much better designed case/device that isn't like any of the options I've yet seen on the market. I have no issue putting cards into cases (I used to build machines and servers quite often). But, I don't want a leaf-blower on my desk while working, or especially while recording!
Yeah, if only Apple would release one with 4-cores and TB3.
Well, this seems more aimed at Apple's new 'pro' audience of laptop owners who have lots of money (not necessarily all the various high-end pros... who probably won't use a laptop in the first place).
And, gaming is a whole different thing. While the marketing on the Blackmagic site shows gaming, that seems more an aside to it's primary purpose. But, for someone with a 13" MBP (or other TB3 machines), it might make gaming much more possible where it wasn't previously. That's probably worth $700 if you're not buying a whole new machine.
Thanks for the feedback. This is the aspect that really draws me to this product. Hopefully others will make eGPU variations with a bit more focus on quality and quiet. I'd love to see a broad range of these things.
Yeah, from the reviews I've read, none of the other eGPUs on the market are currently an option... just way too noisy.
This might help you: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8463425
"Jul 19, 2018 6:44 AM in response to Loner T
https://egpu.io/bootcamp-setup-guide-tb3-macbook-pro/
Step 1. Ran DDU and turned off auto driver installation in windows settings
Step 2. Used the USB key method for the efi trick
Step 3. Not applicable for my machine (2016 13in MBP nTB)
Step 4. Fixed error 12 with combination of step 2 and disabling the iSight/FaceTime camera
That at got rid of all errors except for Error 31 (no driver).
I then went to device manager, clicked on the eGPU and clicked Update Driver-Update Driver Through Windows Update. Windows update found and installed the correct AMD driver and the AMD utility/AMD XConnect.
A couple random restarts and hangs at first but then runs smoothly. I keep the Blackmagic plugged in at all times and can boot into High Sierra or Windows 10 1803 at will. I keep the USB key with the EFI trick plugged into the back of the Blackmagic."
"Jul 19, 2018 6:44 AM in response to Loner T
https://egpu.io/bootcamp-setup-guide-tb3-macbook-pro/
Step 1. Ran DDU and turned off auto driver installation in windows settings
Step 2. Used the USB key method for the efi trick
Step 3. Not applicable for my machine (2016 13in MBP nTB)
Step 4. Fixed error 12 with combination of step 2 and disabling the iSight/FaceTime camera
That at got rid of all errors except for Error 31 (no driver).
I then went to device manager, clicked on the eGPU and clicked Update Driver-Update Driver Through Windows Update. Windows update found and installed the correct AMD driver and the AMD utility/AMD XConnect.
A couple random restarts and hangs at first but then runs smoothly. I keep the Blackmagic plugged in at all times and can boot into High Sierra or Windows 10 1803 at will. I keep the USB key with the EFI trick plugged into the back of the Blackmagic."
That's an iMac Pro with a Vega card. It has nothing to do with the power of the iMac but the slower card in the eGPU.
In addition to what you were saying, I know people (like Mike W. at AI) have gotten various eGPUs to send accelerated graphics back to internal laptop displays at some point (as they did performance analysis). But, maybe Apple removed support for that, like they did for TB2/TB1?
And, I think there are hacks that enable it... but like above, there is a substantial performance hit, as TB3 really isn't fast enough for that (it's barely fast enough for one-way with only about a 10% performance degradation).
Sorry, I'm not understanding the point you're making here. Of course the iMac Pro outperformed it.
It's a pretty incredible powerhouse of a computer, using a much more advanced GPU.
You're right - it is actually possible to make this work under MacOS, using the script provided by 9to5 mac site, but I haven't tried it yet.