Hands-On With Razer's New Core X Chroma eGPU

[Dezmond]

Seems like a waste of money since you can buy an enclosure with videocard for just a little more.

I got an Aorus Gaming Box eGPU with Nvidia GTX 1070 card in it. Works like a charm for my games through bootcamp and really amazed how good it functions considering I got the low end Macbook Pro 13inch from 2017. Framerate is top notch and amazing for such a setup even with external display.

And best of all that enclosure is also upgradable so I can always swap out the videocard for another one if needed. Only downside is Apple not giving Nvidia the option for drivers on the latest OSX from what I understand. But for my setup it doesn't really matter.

 

[Eightarmedpet]

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]
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.

Razer Blade RTX is what this gen of MacBooks should have been...

 

[NBAasDOGG]

Or you can just get the new Razer Blade 2019 packed with a 512Gb SSD, i7 9750H, 32GB RAM, RTX2080 MAX-q, 4K/60 panel for $3300, or $2600 with the RTX2070.

You get a working keyboard and for lower price than this MacBook setup!

 

[nikaru]

These eGPU’s are confusing to me. Sure having a laptop that you can game on would be cool, and sure a laptop that you can do more heavy editing on would be cool as well. But at what point should we just get a desktop? eGPU IS $400 (if I understand correctly that is not including the actual GPU...) another $300-400 for a great GPU a decent screen that is another $500. That almost $1,500. Seems crazy to me. Maybe I’m missing something?

Some people dont want to have several computers and move from one to another just to edit a video properly for example. With one computer do-it-all you can avoid any syncing issues, moving files between computers and switch faster between ultraportable computing and desktop experience by just pluging a single cable.

 

[timber]

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.

There are some decent laptop GPUs available. RTX 2060 or 2070 15" notebooks weight 2 kilos (4,4 pounds).

And those laptops run circles around anything Apple offers.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

You can physically put Nvidia cards in there, but you can't run Mojave properly.

I don't know what Apple's problem with Nvidia is, but it makes me have a problem with Apple.

Go to Nvidia’s driver download page and try to find a macOS driver for Maxwell, Turing, Pascal or RTX cards. No official support exists. Therefore Apple is not obliged to green light a driver that Nvidia won’t officially support. We have been highlighting this on the Mac Pro forum for the last 4 years, along with so many bugs in the Nvidia web drivers.

At some points the Nvidia web drivers were so bad that ebooks in iBooks showed blank pages and apps like Adobe CC and FCP were crashing or showing glitches. Users went crying to Apple with complaints because they incorrectly didn’t identify the graphics drivers as the culprit. Then it turns out many of these complaints come from Hackintosh users. What a pain in the back side.

 

[avkills]

Go to Nvidia’s driver download page and try to find a macOS driver for Maxwell, Turing, Pascal or RTX cards. No official support exists. Therefore Apple is not obliged to green light a driver that Nvidia won’t officially support. We have been highlighting this on the Mac Pro forum for the last 4 years, along with so many bugs in the Nvidia web drivers.

At some points the Nvidia web drivers were so bad that ebooks in iBooks showed blank pages and apps like Adobe CC and FCP were crashing or showing glitches. Users went crying to Apple with complaints because they incorrectly didn’t identify the graphics drivers as the culprit. Then it turns out many of these complaints come from Hackintosh users. What a pain in the back side.

If Apple is still supporting the cheese grater MacPro then they are obliged to support end users who wish to install nVidia cards to boost performance. Nobody can deny that currently nVidia is king of the hill for GPU power.

Personally I have not had problems with the Web Drivers on my hack; and I run Adobe Creative Cloud apps and Lightwave 3D which are both GPU intensive. LW3D is just ****ing amazing with a 1080ti under Mac OS. And here is the real kicker, I have done real world testing on the Mac and Windows side and Windows is only slightly faster on the same hardware running those apps.

With that said, I have never complained on Apple's forum about stuff that does or does not work on my hack. Perhaps if Apple would sell a machine that is what I am looking for, I would not have to resort to the hack.

Intel just released new mobile 9th gen CPUs; so here is hoping Apple updates the laptops with a 8-core i9 option. And while they are at it, stuff a RTX 2080 max-Q design in there and make something that can compete and that is actually worth the premium paid for that shiny Apple logo. But it is Apple, so they won't; and again we will have sub-par GPU performance.
[doublepost=1556111309][/doublepost]

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.

Totally wrong. There hasn't been a A list game released for a console that hasn't also been released for PC at the same time.

 

[archer75]

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.

Plausible for you perhaps. But every reason was great for me. Almost all the games I play have Mac clients. And no, it's not noticeably worse. I don't care for windows so I want a Mac. Again, I've built computers for decades. I have many PC's here now including my gaming PC. I still prefer Macs. And it goes beyond simply gaming.

 

[Onelifenofear]

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 we are not all children that play video games*

That's not the only thing you can go with a GPU y'know
Design houses
Design electronics
Visual effects
Editing
Animation
Rendering

Explained.


*Well I am actually but.....

 

[archer75]

Go to Nvidia’s driver download page and try to find a macOS driver for Maxwell, Turing, Pascal or RTX cards. No official support exists. Therefore Apple is not obliged to green light a driver that Nvidia won’t officially support. We have been highlighting this on the Mac Pro forum for the last 4 years, along with so many bugs in the Nvidia web drivers.

At some points the Nvidia web drivers were so bad that ebooks in iBooks showed blank pages and apps like Adobe CC and FCP were crashing or showing glitches. Users went crying to Apple with complaints because they incorrectly didn’t identify the graphics drivers as the culprit. Then it turns out many of these complaints come from Hackintosh users. What a pain in the back side.

That's because the drivers are built in to MacOS. Nvidia submits them to apple who signs them and puts them in the OS. You don't download them from nvidias site.

 

[- rob -]

How do you write an article about eGPU alternatives on MacOS without at least mentioning Apple’s co-designed Blackmagic eGPU?

Like for example if MacRumors tried the enclosure with a 570, isn’t it st least of note the standard BM has a 580? How about a total cost comparison?

Is none of that mentioned because this other company is an affiliate partner, or is this simply incomplete reporting? Either way, not a great look.

 

[archer75]

There are some decent laptop GPUs available. RTX 2060 or 2070 15" notebooks weight 2 kilos (4,4 pounds).

And those laptops run circles around anything Apple offers.

But they aren't Macs so it's irrelevant. You buy a Mac because you want a Mac. It isn't necessarily about pure specs.
[doublepost=1556111862][/doublepost]

How do you write an article about eGPU alternatives on MacOS without at least mentioning Apple’s co-designed Blackmagic eGPU?

Like for example if MacRumors tried the enclosure with a 570, isn’t it st least of note the standard BM has a 580? How about a total cost comparison?

Is none of that mentioned because this other company is an affiliate partner, or is this simply incomplete reporting? Either way, not a great look.

Because it's about this new product. An article about a new product doesn't have to include mention every other product. There are dozens of egpu's out there.
And the black magic egpu's are horribly overpriced. This particular Razer enclosure along with the same card used in the blackmagic would be hundreds of dollars cheaper.

 

[Onelifenofear]

That's because the drivers are built in to MacOS. Nvidia submits them to apple who signs them and puts them in the OS. You don't download them from nvidias site.

Well actually you can.. Nvidia web drivers - But the underlying part I think still needs to be allowed by apple.

I suspect this is more a way of stopping Hackintosh crowd.

However... This appears a few days ago.

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/04/22/macos-10-15-api-device-drivers/

Personally I am running a 1080ti on a 9900K Hackintosh for 3d Rendering with Redshift which currently only works with CUDA / Nvidia. That apparently is changing though and AMD will be supported. However if this Modular Mac Pro arrives with Nvidia Support that will make a lot of people happy.

And presumably it will work with the eGPUs / laptops which would be awesome for me to go away and work.
[doublepost=1556112377][/doublepost]

There are some decent laptop GPUs available. RTX 2060 or 2070 15" notebooks weight 2 kilos (4,4 pounds).

And those laptops run circles around anything Apple offers.

They do. They also run windows which is horrible. Come back to me when it's nice to use on a day to day basis.

 

[- rob -]

Because it's about this new product. An article about a new product doesn't have to include mention every other product. There are dozens of egpu's out there.
And the black magic egpu's are horribly overpriced. This particular Razer enclosure along with the same card used in the blackmagic would be hundreds of dollars cheaper.

The base product with the reviewed card is $200 cheaper but w the fancy light one it is only $100 cheaper. And that’s with a 570-–a weaker card. This is not a major price difference.

If you have actually read about and used eGPUs on a Mac, you would know one of the major issues with eGPUs on macs so far is compatibility and stability. You get this assurance with the Blackmagic series.

Along with silent performance. I completely disagree this “review” stands on its own legs and that the BM doesn’t warrant mention.

 

[timber]

But they aren't Macs so it's irrelevant. You buy a Mac because you want a Mac. It isn't necessarily about pure specs.

But you shouldn't have to buy them despite of the specs. Isn't it nice when iPhones and iPads have superior performance, great software and in short, Apple's general great care?

They do. They also run windows which is horrible. Come back to me when it's nice to use on a day to day basis.

If a bunch of nobodies can come up with that using what are practically of the shelf parts I dream with Apple could do...

 

[archer75]

The base product with the reviewed card is $200 cheaper but w the fancy light one it is only $100 cheaper. And that’s with a 570-–a weaker card. This is not a major price difference.

If you have actually read about and used eGPUs on a Mac, you would know one of the major issues with eGPUs on macs so far is compatibility and stability. You get this assurance with the Blackmagic series.

Along with silent performance. I completely disagree this “review” stands on its own legs and that the BM doesn’t warrant mention.

This razer enclosure with a radeon VII, much faster than the 570, is still $100 cheaper than the blackmagic.
Edit - I was thinking of the Vega 56. The razer enclosure with a radeon VII is $100 cheaper than the blackmagic with the vega 56.
Actually looking at the numbers again this razer enclosure with a 580 is still $100 cheaper than the equivalent black magic. And you can upgrade your card while you can't on the blackmagic which is a dealbreaker. Of course you can get the cheaper razer core X enclosure and save $200.

Some of the early enclosures had issues. Now it's fine. Have you read the crappy blackmagic reviews on apples site?

 

[Kettil]

How do I connect this to my Newton? It's been running kinda slow lately...

 

[archer75]

But you shouldn't have to buy them despite of the specs. Isn't it nice when iPhones and iPads have superior performance, great software and in short, Apple's general great care?

Sure, but it's not the only consideration. Software can be more important as you live and work in that environment.

[doublepost=1556115205][/doublepost]

However... This appears a few days ago.

https://www.idownloadblog.com/2019/04/22/macos-10-15-api-device-drivers/

Thanks for the link! Great info. This could change everything.

 

[bernuli]

Its good that it has 4X USB and Gigabit Ethernet. If it had some USB C ports and a SD Card reader, it would also serve as a proper docking station.

True that. Would also like to see 10 GB enet as that is moving into popularity.

 

[iBluetooth]

Use windows ?

Does Windows support external GPU's ?

 

[archer75]

Does Windows support external GPU's ?

Yes

 

[iBluetooth]

How about "we have a huge lead in CUDA, especially with machine learning, but Apple won't buy our products, so let's drag our feet and kill their platform"?

Apple used to be the biggest client and ended up giving free repairs for all those failed NVIDIA cards. But for 4K and 5K resolutions the AMD cards are better than the Nvidia.
[doublepost=1556116140][/doublepost]

Yes

Does anyone have experience with running Windows on eGPU? I was building a Win machine and to support USB-C 5K I had to buy the most expensive GPU cards.

 

[avkills]

Apple used to be the biggest client and ended up giving free repairs for all those failed NVIDIA cards. But for 4K and 5K resolutions the AMD cards are better than the Nvidia.
[doublepost=1556116140][/doublepost]
Does anyone have experience with running Windows on eGPU? I was building a Win machine and to support USB-C 5K I had to buy the most expensive GPU cards.

It has to do more with the output port version than the card; older cards do not have the required DP1.4 or HDMI2.0 port to handle the bandwidth that 5k requires or MST.

A blanket statement like AMD is better for 4k and 5k resolutions is meaningless. AMD gets hammered by nVidia at nearly every single benchmark.

And I really doubt Apple was ever the biggest client of nVidia.

Off the shelf motherboards for PCs have just began to support dedicated GPUs running through the USB-C (TB3) connectors out of the box; and again unless the GPU output connector has the bandwidth for 4k/5k; it isn't going to be able to do it through the thunderbolt 3 USB-C connector.

 

[Oohara]

Typical semitism. Be happy we have options, and it works JUST fine with any AMD GPU. Get over yourself.

Semitism?

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

If Apple is still supporting the cheese grater MacPro then they are obliged to support end users who wish to install nVidia cards to boost performance. Nobody can deny that currently nVidia is king of the hill for GPU power.

So tell Nvidia to list official support for the cards and squash the bugs. I was the first guy to use these drivers with Maxwell and Pascal cards and gave thorough test results to the Mac Pro forum for a long time. But the bugs were bad. The driver performance isn't optimal. There is no HDR support in these drivers so video editors won't benefit either.

The Geforce gaming performance in Windows is great but the macOS performance is mixed, sometimes not much better than a Radeon 580. Radeon are generally better in productivity apps. Radeon also supports 10bit HDR on macOS, very important for content creation.

[doublepost=1556124099][/doublepost]

That's because the drivers are built in to MacOS. Nvidia submits them to apple who signs them and puts them in the OS. You don't download them from nvidias site.

The drivers that people are using with Maxwell and Pascal cards are the Kepler driver downloadable from Nvidia's site. These feature unofficial unlisted support for the drivers. If you were an employee at Apple responsible for certifying these buggy, unsupported drivers for use with Mojave and new Geforce cards you would probably get a lot of trouble. They should never have been signed for Sierra or High Sierra either.

If you want proper official drivers that list support for Maxwell, Pascal, Turing and RTX cards you need to put the spotlight on Nvidia. People blaming Apple are misguided and not using their heads.