iMac with eGPU

[evilmurries]

Hello!

I am looking to consolidate from two desktops down to one (preferably my mac). Cannot really find any good assessments on people using eGPUs with their iMacs so I am asking the MacRumors crowd. Has anyone here tried it, and how was the experience?

My use case is as a CS student so primarily development with low performance requirements, but I would like the option to run windows and game a bit if I ever find time. The iMac is a 2019 with the 580x and 3.7gHz i5 that I added 32gigs of ram to. These days it is getting harder and harder to justify having a second hobby machine, and I cannot imagine switching to developing in windows or linux anytime soon. Thanks for the help!

 

[ruslan120]

I use it on the daily!

I’ve even made a few videos covering this topic because I had the same exact question when I was deciding.

tl;dr: Worth it! Although I bought the RX 580 as my external GPU and wish I had bought faster.

iMac (2017) + eGPU

iMac (2019) + eGPU

 

[nihil0]

from what I read is that you need secondary display hooked directly to GPU output because if you will drive it only to iMac via TB3, it will be much slower (I read on egpu.io that it will only act as using PCIe 3.0 4x instead of PCIe 3.0 16x)

 

[canopic]

IMO, patience, wait about 6-9 months and get a PS5 or Xbox Series S.

It'll cost you much the same as an EGPU setup, and perform MUCH better.

 

[Ledgem]

from what I read is that you need secondary display hooked directly to GPU output because if you will drive it only to iMac via TB3, it will be much slower (I read on egpu.io that it will only act as using PCIe 3.0 4x instead of PCIe 3.0 16x)

Depends on what you're doing, really. If just using software that can utilize the graphics chip then you don't necessarily need a screen to be plugged directly to the GPU. Either way, you can still make this happen. Get a dual-enclosure like the Akitio Node Duo, load the graphics card into one slot, and put a Thunderbolt controller into the other slot, which gives you back another Thunderbolt port. (Alternately, you can load two GPUs, which does have some benefits - again, depending on what you're doing.)

The concern for me with recommending this option to evilmurries is that I've heard some mixed things about eGPU support in BootCamp, which is where I presume they are planning to play their Windows games. I'm not sure how well that would work.

 

[Sam Marks]

Another solution would be getting a good gaming laptop with an Nvidia GPU. I did this and I am very happy. The performance is much better than any eGPU attached to an iMac in my opinion. A relatively cheap GTX 1660 ti laptop easily outperforms the Vega 48 in a i9 2019 iMac, and with less heat and less noise, for playing, rendering, machine learning and Adobe apps.

 

[nihil0]

Another solution would be getting a good gaming laptop with an Nvidia GPU. I did this and I am very happy. The performance is much better than any eGPU attached to an iMac in my opinion. A relatively cheap GTX 1660 ti laptop easily outperforms the Vega 48 in a i9 2019 iMac, and with less heat and less noise, for playing, rendering, machine learning and Adobe apps.

but it runs Windows, so nope

 

[Sam Marks]

Yes, it can run Windows 10 Pro, but is ready for a relatively straight forward OSX installation and Linux installation, the only thing to add is the WiFi interface and it works exactly as a OSX Laptop (except for the design, the TB3 ports and the display). I was about to make a triple OS install Win 10, Catalina and Linux, I started with W10 Pro, and I saw that Adobe Apps and Machine Learning frameworks run much smoothly under W10 Pro latest build than in my iMac i9 Vega 48 with 40gb RAM and 512 SSD, so I will decide later if I install also OSX in my laptop. The only cases that I foresee that OSX is required are: developing apps for the Apple ecosystem, Logic Pro or Final Cut use mainly. After 10 years using only OSX my transition to Windows 10 is very smooth so far. I use Ableton Live, Pro Tools and Reaper and Adobe Premier, and PS.

 

[maflynn]

Check out the egpu.io resource, they have a lot of info on what to get, what to avoid and what works best at any given budget.

 

[Sam Marks]

I wish that there will be someday OSX drivers for new nvidia GPUs

 

[maflynn]

I wish that there will be someday OSX drivers for new nvidia GPUs

I hear ya, one advantage that I'm enjoying since leaving the Mac platform is the ability to rock with a RTX 2060 Super card. Yet with that said, AMD has made some significant improvements, for instance the RX 5700 holds it own against the RTX 2070 card.

 

[Sam Marks]

I hear ya, one advantage that I'm enjoying since leaving the Mac platform is the ability to rock with a RTX 2060 Super card. Yet with that said, AMD has made some significant improvements, for instance the RX 5700 holds it own against the RTX 2070 card.

I am also enjoying much more GPU power since I moved from the i9 iMac with Vega 48 to the Clevo Windows laptop with GTX 1660ti properly cooled with its own fan for the GPU and i7 9700 desktop processor not thermally limited and with an advanced thermal design.

I was about to select the RTX 2070 in this laptop for a little more, but preferred the 1660 ti to stay as much cooler and silent as possible (lower TDP and very good fps per watt) yet with enough gaming and video editing power. When I compare this laptop to the new MBP 16 I see that the Apple tax in this case is 4 times the price of a comparable (€1,400 vs €5,700), similar (or more powerful). I even like more the mate FHD IPS panel than the reflective Retina dislplay) Windows laptop. And the performance of the cross platform apps is the same in my case between OSX and Windows.

 

[evilmurries]

Another solution would be getting a good gaming laptop with an Nvidia GPU. I did this and I am very happy. The performance is much better than any eGPU attached to an iMac in my opinion. A relatively cheap GTX 1660 ti laptop easily outperforms the Vega 48 in a i9 2019 iMac, and with less heat and less noise, for playing, rendering, machine learning and Adobe apps.

I am trying to consolidate my computer experience, and as far as gaming goes, I’d rather have a big beefy tower that can be periodically updated.

Thank you everyone for all the helpful responses. I will checkout egpu.io and do a little more research before dropping the coin.

 

[Azrael9]

I am trying to consolidate my computer experience, and as far as gaming goes, I’d rather have a big beefy tower that can be periodically updated.

Thank you everyone for all the helpful responses. I will checkout egpu.io and do a little more research before dropping the coin.

There are plenty of options. (But not the mid-tower beefy we REALLY want from Apple...)

iMac plus eGPU.
Mac Mini plus eGPU.
Macbook plus eGPU.
Mac pro plus kidney plus eGPU.
PC.
PC/Hackintosh dual boot. (eg. 12 core, ultra fast 512 SSD, back up 1TB SSD, 5700XT or a 2080 NV, 32 gigs of ram etc. Very easily done for 2k.)

If you want a big beefy tower, you're only option is the last route. (Unless you have two kidneys to spend on Mac Pro plus their recently added 5700XT option.)

Azrael.