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Mac mini 2018 - need an egpu?

C

Collie

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 15, 2018
9
0
Hi,

I've jumped to a Mac mini (2018), running Mojave. I'd like to run 3 displays (34" ultra wide + 2 x 24" FHD). Is the internal GPU ok to run this or does an egpu take some strain/heat away from the machine? This is in an audio studio so the least noise the better, be it mac or egpu fans. If I can avoid an egpu, that's obviously better
Thanks
 
Three displays should be fine. Connect two to a Thunderbolt port (or two Thunderbolt ports). Use the HDMI 2.0 port for the smallest display.
I haven't measured how performance changes with different number of displays though. I don't think I've ever heard the Mac mini's fan ramp up but I'm not an audio engineer.

For Mojave, the displays need to be 4K or less. I think a 34" ultra wide is only 3440x1440 and FHD is only 1920x1080.

A 5K x 1440 ultra wide display requires Big Sur to use 5K width.

A 5K x 2160 ultra wide display connected with Thunderbolt uses two DisplayPort connections to support 60Hz 10bpc so the max number of displays that can be connected is reduced by 1. You can force a single DisplayPort connection by using the DisplayPort input instead of Thunderbolt but Big Sur is required for 5K width in that case. A single DisplayPort 1.2 connection can do 5K x 2160 at 60Hz 8bpc or 48Hz 10bpc.

A 5K x 2880 display like the LG UltraFine 5K (which uses two DisplayPort signals over Thunderbolt) works at 5K 60Hz 10bpc in Mojave but will reduce the number of displays you can connect by 1. You could force a single DisplayPort connection by using a non-Thunderbolt connection from a dock but Big Sur is required for 5K width. A single DisplayPort 1.2 connection can do 5K x 2880 at 45Hz 8bpc (but the LG may be limited to 39Hz) or 36Hz 10bpc.
 
Depends...
With games, you need a egpu...
Long rendering of complex video...
You need a egpu...
editing 5k or 6k....
You get the idea.

YouTube has a few guys who ran tests with egpu and without with the intel.

you can hook up lots of stuff with integrated graphics, and it displays...
Does it display well? Or well enough?
Only you can answer that.

integrated graphics have limitations,
An egpu is on my bucket list, but I have a few ati cards already, currently prices on even low end gpu’s for Mac are insane right now, if I did not have cards, I would wait till things settle down, and once miners have better cards to buy available, or Bitcoin drops in value , I bet prices used will drop..like a rock, .right now it’s not the time to buy a gpu....

just my take...
 
Thanks, yeah no 5K stuff, no video editing, gaming or anything that is normally GPU intensive. Its mainly just about display space for a lot of windows/programmes

I've been looking at used egpu's and cards and was a bit shocked alright at the current pricing, even older RX4XX cards are going for silly prices second hand
 
I'm wondering if I would get benefit from an egpu for 1080p casual editing on FCPX, Pixelmator Pro raw editing and so on for my Mac Mini 2018... what do you think? My main usage is audio with 3rd-party guitar and vocals plugins, Go Pro 1080p/60fps stuff.
 
brdeveloper said:
I'm wondering if I would get benefit from an egpu for 1080p casual editing on FCPX, Pixelmator Pro raw editing and so on for my Mac Mini 2018... what do you think? My main usage is audio with 3rd-party guitar and vocals plugins, Go Pro 1080p/60fps stuff.
Click to expand...
Given the cost for even a decent BYO card eGPU cage it is a really tough sell for me when, even if using a relatively cheap card, the money would go a long way towards a new Apple Silicon Mac Mini...
 
sevoneone said:
Given the cost for even a decent BYO card eGPU cage it is a really tough sell for me when, even if using a relatively cheap card, the money would go a long way towards a new Apple Silicon Mac Mini...
Click to expand...
I could get an Asus XG Station Pro + RX570/4GB for around half the price of an AS Mini... what do you think?
 
My 2018 without an eGPU in GeekBench got a score of around 4,600 in OpenCL and Metal. With my Sonnet Puck RX 570 it gets a score of ~33,000.

I was lucky and got it on Facebook marketplace for $200 from a guy that wasn't using it anymore. My opinion is that if you can find one used that works get it. Gamers are constantly upgrading cards so there are a lot on the used market.
 
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