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Darth Tulhu

macrumors 68020
Apr 10, 2019
2,148
3,528
For those knocking this thing, please understand, this is a product designed for Razer PCs, yet the fact that it works with Apple machines at all is a good thing, and it makes all Macs and (underpowered) PCs way more powerful and flexible.

I can imagine setting up a rig with a Mac mini on one side and a small form-factor PC on the other while sharing a decent monitor and having the best of both worlds.

Been waiting for this since they first announced Thunderbolt!
 

archer75

macrumors 68040
Jan 26, 2005
3,116
1,746
Oregon
OK, explain to me again why I would spend $400 for an enclosure plus another $200+ for a graphics card and only be able to play video games that have a Mac client versus spending $1000 on a Dell G7 and be able to play all video games?

Thankfully I went with the G7.
Because you want a Mac. Because MacOS is better. And it's not just about gaming. You may want to run multiple high Rez monitors. You want to do video editing. Professional photo work.
The majority of the games you play are on a Mac? Mine are. Of course I could also boot in to windows too and play everything else. All depends on a persons wants and needs.

As I mentioned before, we also have multiple laptops in the house and any one of them could plug in to this and make use of a high end card on a ultra wide monitor.

If it were just me and all I wanted was gaming then no, this probably wouldn't make sense. But it's not just me. And there's multiple needs for this.
 

Plutonius

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2003
9,005
8,346
New Hampshire, USA
Waat? A decent Windows gaming pc will run rings around any console.

Er, no, consoles are not at all "cutting edge". Console hardware is a few years behind PC hardware. There's a brief window immediately after the release of a new generation where they're sort of competitive, but even then they're hampered by the fact that they need to be cheap, and you don't get cutting edge hardware by being cheap. Especially these days when consoles use mostly off-the-shelf components and are no longer highly customized like they used to be. They're basically locked-down, low-end PCs.

--Eric

LOL.....you cannot be serious with that last sentence. It isn’t remotely correct.

A decent spec PC ( which won’t break the bank these days ) will run rings around a console. Sure, it’s going to cost more than a console but a PC is far more flexible and longer life - you can switch components, GPU, CPU very easily as needed. Xbox, for example contains AMD GPUs, AMD cannot outperform NVIDIA ( outclassed unfortunately).

I'm not referring to specs.

Games seem to come out for consoles first. If you want the cutting edge game, you need a console.
 

iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Feb 6, 2011
3,789
906
The most popular games don't run on macOS, so... :p

(And I am not saying that to be an arse - I finally just decided to buy a dedicated nVidia Windows Gaming PC and have it share the monitor I use as a secondary with my 2017 iMac 5K. That way I have "the best of both worlds" for my productivity and my gaming.)

At some point I also thinking of getting the best of both worlds by buying a full specced iMac, back in 2012. What a horrible plan that was. At first it could run AAA games properly, but prolonged game sessions make the iMac overheat quite a bit, and damaging GPU by the first year.

Well F that, Mac and gaming isn't going well together. You are correct, just buy a dedicated gaming box, and Mac for whatever works you need on MacOS.
 

Eric5h5

macrumors 68020
Dec 9, 2004
2,487
582
Apple has gotten so artsy fartsy with computer designs that we have to add a giant black box in order to keep up with the rest of society. I guess this is what Apple meant when they were making a modular designed mac pro.
You do know these eGPUs are made for Windows laptops, right? (OK, that was a rhetorical question...you didn't know, but decided to make an ill-informed comment anyway.) They happen to work with Macs too, but they're primarily made for PCs.

I'm not referring to specs.

Games seem to come out for consoles first. If you want the cutting edge game, you need a console.
Still not true.

--Eric
 

GoodWheaties

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2015
781
835
Um, no. The specs for a Vega 56 recommend a 650W power supply; with a Vega 64 it's 750W. Not sure if you realize these things have *thousands* of processors; power-wise it's not cheap to run them. Why do you think the electricity usage for cryptocurrency mining is so absurd?

--Eric
I’m not trying to argue, but AMD’s 650W recommendation is for an entire computer. It is also somewhat overkill as they are giving room for over clocking (CPU or GPU), or having an inefficient power supply or anything like that. I don’t think the Vega 64 pulls over 350W stock and some can be undervolted to close to 200W.
 

Internet Enzyme

macrumors 6502a
Feb 21, 2016
999
1,794
It would be really pretty fantastic if with the Mac Pro and os 10.15 we get some Nvidia 20-series love. Thats a pipe dream. What i can see is Radeon Vii being the top end macOS gpu. Which is very disappointing. My iMac has a radeon 580 and ill be looking into an external gpu to drive my external 4k display at some point in the future, it’s just entirely dependent on what Apple or AMD decide to do over the next few years.
 

Craigy

macrumors 6502
Jan 14, 2003
403
48
New Zealand
As a content creator - FCP / Protools / Adobe - this is reasonable value. Did a recent edit with 2 x Vega 56 on an iMac and it was crazy. I guess if it's your livelihood and your daily rates are up there this direction is a no brainer.
 

pipis2010

macrumors regular
Jan 7, 2015
204
154
Greece
I guess it's which games people consider popular ?

To me, all my favorite games run on both MacOS and Windows with only a small handful requiring bootcamp.

If you want to run cutting edge games, neither macOS or Windows will cut it and you need a console.

Obviously you have no idea what you are talking about - Windows PC's are way-way-way-way better than consoles and the fact, that they are upgradeable, makes them ALWAYS better than consoles :) Do your research first, before making such statements please :)
 

Apple Master

Suspended
Jan 13, 2009
232
193
Los Angeles
This isn’t a Mac Pro, it’s a third party eGPU enclosure.

No ****, I guess the sarcasm went right over your head.
[doublepost=1556086125][/doublepost]
You do know these eGPUs are made for Windows laptops, right? (OK, that was a rhetorical question...you didn't know, but decided to make an ill-informed comment anyway.) They happen to work with Macs too, but they're primarily made for PCs.


Still not true.

--Eric

Oh brother, you missed the point completely. It doesn't matter who they are made for, the point is macs are so far behind that we do have to attach a box (made for windows) to our boxes in order to get the graphics processing we need. Makes sense now doesn't it. Try to keep up mmmmmm kaaaaaay?
 

anson42

Contributor
Mar 13, 2014
1,064
979
Oakland, CA
It doesn't matter who they are made for, the point is macs are so far behind that we do have to attach a box (made for windows) to our boxes in order to get the graphics processing we need.

How are Mac's far behind in this sense? You can't have a desktop class GPU in a laptop – dedicated power hungry gaming laptops don't count – and good luck trying to upgrade any GPU that's in a laptop. An eGPU case such as this is the perfect device to gain graphics performance if you don't have nor want a desktop. The negative for some is lack of Nvidia support in Mac OS but that's not an issue at all for many. Now if you are saying that iMac's are far behind, you might have an argument, but an eGPU like this can really benefit the laptop user.
 

shansoft

macrumors 6502
Apr 24, 2011
437
268
I’m not sure what your use case is, but I don’t recommend gaming on a 5k display.

I actually do use my PC desktop with thunderbolt 3 PCIE to bind the GPU 2xDP signal into TB3 to UltraFine 5K.
It works great on 5K using 2080 Ti. In fact I don't need to turn on anti-aliasing for the games that I play. It's a huge bonus, since most games these days only supports TXAA or FXAA, which dramatically decrease the graphic quality and makes texture blurry.
 
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ROGmaster

Suspended
Apr 12, 2018
976
675
Vega 64 (not sure if 64X is for sale yet), maybe Radeon VII soon unless they have already added support.

I think the best GPU for Windows is the RTX 2080 Ti. Its a little faster than the Radeon VII for a similar price and has ray tracing, which only a few games support right now but is pretty neat.
It's 35% faster in 3D applications and consumes less power although it's using the older 12nm manufacturing process.
The RTX 2080 Ti is a much better GPU than the Radeon VII.
 
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Eightarmedpet

macrumors regular
Dec 23, 2013
215
247
London's famous London
Incompatible with thunderbolt 3 display is a problem. Using all these eGPU except BlackMagic prevent you from using the LG UltraFine 5K.
2 years and I am still waiting for a solution that isn't the black magic...
[doublepost=1556088391][/doublepost]
I actually do use my PC desktop with thunderbolt 3 PCIE to bind the GPU 2xDP signal into TB3 to UltraFine 5K.
It works great on 5K using 2080 Ti. In fact I don't need to turn on anti-aliasing for the games that I play. It's a huge bonus, since most games these days only supports TXAA or FXAA, which dramatically decrease the graphic quality and makes texture blurry.
I use my 5K and accept the performance loss from going eGPU > Macbook > Display, but your set up sounds very interesting. Any more details of pics/specs?
 

ROGmaster

Suspended
Apr 12, 2018
976
675
Because you want a Mac.
This is the only plausible reason you gave.
Also it's not that relevant how many games are compatible with MacOS(there aren't many compatible triple A games anyway) when most of them run noticeably worse than on Window even if the Mac laptop or computer has similar hardware. So the simple fact is game optimization on MacOS is way worse than on Windows.
Also with Windows computers you can have it all, gaming and productivity.
[doublepost=1556088763][/doublepost]
How are Mac's far behind in this sense? You can't have a desktop class GPU in a laptop – dedicated power hungry gaming laptops don't count
LoL you just contradicted yourself.
Anyway take a look here. https://www.techsiting.com/best-thin-and-light-gaming-laptops/
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 8GB sounds pretty desktop class to me.
 
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PickUrPoison

macrumors G3
Sep 12, 2017
8,131
10,720
Sunnyvale, CA
No ****, I guess the sarcasm went right over your head.

Oh I got it, but a stupid post deserves a stupid response, don’t you think?

Sorry that went right over your head... whooossshhhh

Makes sense now doesn't it? Try to keep up mmmmmm kaaaaaay?
Oh brother, you missed the point completely. It doesn't matter who they are made for, the point is macs are so far behind that we do have to attach a box (made for windows) to our boxes in order to get the graphics processing we need.
So your point is that Macs that need this eGPU are “so far behind” Windows PCs... which... also need this eGPU???

Are you sure you thought this through? Guess you’re the one who missed the point—of your pwn post... D’oh!!!

Bizarre post, hmmmm... yup avatar checks out.

:confused::eek::rolleyes:
 
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nottorp

macrumors 6502
May 12, 2014
399
483
Romania
Hmm nothing about the noise.

Considering Razer products lately don't fully work without installing their software AND being always online in their cloud crap, I'd stay away anyway. Even if the eGPU part works without signing in, I'm sure someone at Razer is feverishly working to make it not work.
 

fastasleep

macrumors 6502
May 21, 2010
410
531
Seattle, WA
As a content creator - FCP / Protools / Adobe - this is reasonable value. Did a recent edit with 2 x Vega 56 on an iMac and it was crazy. I guess if it's your livelihood and your daily rates are up there this direction is a no brainer.

Curious about your setup for this, 2 eGPUs each with Vega 56, both powering the internal display? Or something different? Thanks.
 

Gogeta-Blue

Suspended
Dec 10, 2018
244
308
I will settle the Nvidia vs apple who's fault debate once and for all
they are both guilty in a way
no need to go back and explain everything all over again
after looking at all the evidence from both sides
we can agree or I came to the conclusion that both sides screwed up big time in a way or another
so there is no point saying this company is guilty and the other one is not

they are both guilty

sorry I made a long story short
but there is no point on telling the same story over and over again

this situation is totally unacceptable from both companies
they have no excuse or no justification, this is just plain wrong
 
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