Not really... just want the best bang for may buck. Honestly, the RX 480 is probably good enough for my current needs, but I just feel like it's getting outdated and an upgrade will not only boost my workflow now, but well into the future. Just don't want to drop money on a card to have it eclipsed a month or two later.
I guess I didn't realize other companies don't announce things like Apple does: "you can preorder it now, and it will be available next week".
I had been looking at the RX580, Vega 56 and Vega 64 cards for a while to use in an eGPU. I held off earlier this year due to lack of availability and the crypto-mining boom driving prices sky high. When prices began dropping, my interest was rekindled. Prices have dropped precipitously, but they are still not low enough to make me pull the trigger. Added to that, rumors have been ongoing for the past 12-18 months about Navi, 7nm, Vega Instinct, et al. and with expectations around the next iteration of the iMac, I was apprehensive that AMD had GPUs up its sleeve to put into a Late 2018 iMac introduction. Those rumors have not materialized, and with it being so close to the end of the RX5xx, Vega 56 and Vega64 series GPU before new ones would be introduced.
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion, wait. My logic is this -
- AMD gave zero warning that they were going to release the Radeon RX590, although the rumor mill was abuzz for at least 45-60 days before the press release and the tweet that AMD used to let us know the RX590 went on sale. Although only a few AIB makers had cards ready to that and they were in limited supply, it was possible to purchase one via New Egg or Amazon that day.
- The RX3060, 3070 and 3080 are perfect candidates for the next iMac. The advantage being that you get native support out of the box once Apple updates macOS after the iMac ships. You also get to see how the cards perform in the iMac and that can serve as a gauge as to what card you might want.
- I cannot tell what eGPU you currently use, but will it support a Vega 64's power requirements? Looking at Sonnet Tech's website, a Vega 56 requires the eGFX 550 Breakaway Box and the Vega 64 needs the eGFX 650 Breakaway Box due to the Vega 64's power usage. If you have a box that can handle the Vega 64, no worries, but if not, then you may need to upgrade the PSU in your current eGPU box, so that would be an added expense. Matching the PSUs that some of the eGPU vendors use is not cheap based on my research.
While I certainly cannot say when the next GPUs from AMD will ship or when Apple will release an iMac with that GPU, the wait might well be worth it to buy a card at the start of a generation and enjoy more years given how many years we typically get out a GPU generation at this point.
However there is one huge
CON to my argument in that we may be waiting until June before we see a new iMac, given that Intel has not released all of the 9th Gen CPUs that Apple needs to complete the range - if they intend on skipping 8th Gen (Coffee Lake) CPUs altogether. Intel did the same thing with 8th Gen using a staggered launch in Q3/Q4 2017 and finished up in April of 2018. Should Intel do the same thing here, then June is the earliest we would see new 21.5" and 27" iMacs with new AMD GPUs, which would then give you native support out of the box.
If you would prefer not to wait that long then perhaps there are still some deals to be had through Christmas and New Year. Good luck!
