Sonnet Announces New eGPU Docks With AMD Radeon RX 5000 Series GPUs and Support for Pro Display XDR

[BigMcGuire]

Why is that?

I don't know. I've heard the bitcoin miners are buying again like crazy. I do know that pre-Thanksgiving last year all the graphics cards disappeared - everywhere. Amazon, Best Buy, etc. And it's been that way since. Some people are offering them from overseas for a lot more $$$ than they usually are.

 

[LavenderCaptain]

More likely they found out well into product development, that eGPU support was ending on ARM Macs and decided to release it anyway for current Intel Mac users.

I expect that not only is eGPU dead on ARM Macs, but it's the end of third Party GPUs in any form. ARM Macs will only have Apple GPUs.

Maybe, but all we're really talking about is drivers... After all, all an eGPU is really doing is exposing a PCI-E slot with a video card to the system... Software drivers make that card to show video, and at that point all you're really doing is telling the driver "Hey, instead of sending data to internal PIE-E slot X, send to external slot Y"...

Now if we're saying that the ARM Macs aren't using PCI-E anymore, then this becomes a problem... But isn't exposing PCI-E lanes part of the thunderbolt spec? And isn't this used for other things other like high speed data transfer and not just eGPU (and thus dropping it a big deal?)

Hoping this is just a driver thing, and that they didn't want to write/port x86 AMD drivers to ARM (as they aren't needed for internal stuff), but that they will eventually...

After having a taste of eGPU (using a 5700XT now - makes a huge difference in graphics work), I'm not interested in any Mac without it.

 

[nikaru]

Maybe, but all we're really talking about is drivers... After all, all an eGPU is really doing is exposing a PCI-E slot with a video card to the system... Software drivers make that card to show video, and at that point all you're really doing is telling the driver "Hey, instead of sending data to internal PIE-E slot X, send to external slot Y"...

Now if we're saying that the ARM Macs aren't using PCI-E anymore, then this becomes a problem... But isn't exposing PCI-E lanes part of the thunderbolt spec? And isn't this used for other things other like high speed data transfer and not just eGPU (and thus dropping it a big deal?)

Hoping this is just a driver thing, and that they didn't want to write/port x86 AMD drivers to ARM (as they aren't needed for internal stuff), but that they will eventually...

After having a taste of eGPU (using a 5700XT now - makes a huge difference in graphics work), I'm not interested in any Mac without it.

I really look forward for Apple announcing support for eGPUs even if the list of supported cards is not that extensive.

 

[weaztek]

Will hooking the LG Ultrafine 5K up to this thing and my MBP16 (2019) mean my laptop fans won't be screaming all day now when it's using the internal GPU?

In addition to the obvious graphics card upgrade, an eGPU helps lower the temperature of your computer by putting the gpu in a discrete, cooled case away from the processor. It's a win, win.

as it's the only laptop (noting the Mini isn't a laptop, but could use this, however has moved to M1 already) that hasn't moved to the M chips yet.

I see your point, but only the i3 Mini has been replaced to date.

After having a taste of eGPU (using a 5700XT now - makes a huge difference in graphics work), I'm not interested in any Mac without it.

That's just not a sound argument. The Metal and OpenCL performance of the M1's is massively improved. And they are only the first-gen, entry level machines. If Apple doubles or triples the graphics performance in the next-gen, pro-grade machines they could achieve great graphics with the system on a chip (SoC).

 

[pugxiwawa]

Why buy this when you can get Razer Core X + other AMD card and be able to upgrade in the future?

 

[BeatCrazy]

Why buy this when you can get Razer Core X + other AMD card and be able to upgrade in the future?

Small/portable form factor, I imagine.

 

[strayts]

Why would someone spend that much on a 2 generation old card? I guess that's the PC user in me talking, but man.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Why would someone spend that much on a 2 generation old card? I guess that's the PC user in me talking, but man.

Just one generation old right? And it has mature drivers from Apple, so you can basically buy it, plug it in, and get right to work.

 

[Spock]

Why would someone spend that much on a 2 generation old card? I guess that's the PC user in me talking, but man.

To be fair, you could build a pretty decent gaming machine for $899.

 

[turbineseaplane]

If eGPU support doesn’t come to Apple Silicon, these products are basically dead on arrival

 

[turbineseaplane]

Why buy this when you can get Razer Core X + other AMD card and be able to upgrade in the future?

Portability would be my guess

 

[bakerzdosen]

To those complaining about the price: yes, you could acheive the same effect (8GB 5700xt eGPU for your Intel mac) for less by purchasing a Razer Core X for $300. Then the cheapest you've been able to find a 5700 xt recently (September) is/was about $370 (after a $20 rebate, but still...) So really, you're looking at $670 - best case scenario. So for $230 more, you're getting miniturization/portability, a product from a company that seems to be willing to support Macs into the future (go look into Razer's stance on Mac products...), and actual availability (good luck finding a 5700 xt these days for $370. Best I could quickly find at Amazon/Newegg/BB/Walmart was around $600, though ebay seems to have some for a few $ less so as always, YMMV).

People have paid more for less...

 

[Stella]

I'd be more impressed if they'd support RX6000 range, or is this a drip approach of supporting yesterday's technology?

 

[Yebubbleman]

Super tempting (as I will have an Intel Mac that isn't a 16" MacBook Pro or a 2020 iMac). I wonder if there's Windows compatibility (not like I don't also have Thunderbolt 3-equipped Windows laptops also).

 

[ikir]

Really nice solutions, these eGPUs are small but powerful especially Radeon 5700 is a great solution and with 2 USB ports they become a mini dock. Approved.

 

[ikir]

I'd be more impressed if they'd support RX6000 range, or is this a drip approach of supporting yesterday's technology?

There arent’t seria 6000 GPU chip to buy, 5700 is a great card and a boost for many Macs as you see in the benchmark results. Also macOS still hasn’t working drivers for those cards.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I'd be more impressed if they'd support RX6000 range, or is this a drip approach of supporting yesterday's technology?

AMD RX 6xxxx Series GPUs are almost non-existent for retail purchase at this time and will be for quite some time. This is typical of AMD. Also, GPU drivers for macOS on Intel don’t exist, much less native Apple Silicon drivers for any GPU at all. Third, these puck solutions are more than simply sticking a PCIe card in a metal box and take longer to engineer to get running correctly in such a small form factor.

 

[Stella]

AMD RX 6xxxx Series GPUs are almost non-existent for retail purchase at this time and will be for quite some time. This is typical of AMD. Also, GPU drivers for macOS on Intel don’t exist, much less native Apple Silicon drivers for any GPU at all. Third, these puck solutions are more than simply sticking a PCIe card in a metal box and take longer to engineer to get running correctly in such a small form factor.

Yes, the 6000 are in extremely short supply, but is that a reason not to support them? No of course not.

We know why there are no Apple Silicon drivers, because the machines don't support the GPUs.. and may never support eGPU.

AMD 5000 range weren't great CPUs.. in the Windows world, but for Macs, they are good ( that speaks for crap GPUs for Macs )

 

[Johnny907]

What’s the point? Their new architecture doesn’t support egpus anyway.

 

[oppastopa]

Now isn't black magic due for an update?

 

[strayts]

Just one generation old right? And it has mature drivers from Apple, so you can basically buy it, plug it in, and get right to work.

The 5500 and 5700 were released 6 months apart. I get that they're essentially the same architecture, so you're right, but still.

 

[djgamble]

Presumably they wouldn't have bothered if Apple was going to end eGPU support in the next few months... I would imagine that they have some degree of insider knowledge...

Agreed. That or they're banking on this being a decent stop gap solution. I use a Razer Core X eGPU with a Vega 64 on my 2018 Mac Mini. It works fine and I don't wanna move to ARM yet to go figure.

The only thing I'll note is that I dunno if having a Radeon 5700 in my eGPU would offer THAT much of a performance gain over my Vega 64. Haven't seen any data on it but I reckon eGPUs get to a point where faster GPUs provide little benefit due to bandwidth issues.

 

[joevt]

Why buy this when you can get Razer Core X + other AMD card and be able to upgrade in the future?

Because these are the only eGPUs (besides the Blackmagic eGPUs) that allow direct connection of Thunderbolt displays (either a single LG UltraFine 5K or Apple Pro Display XDR, or up to two LG UltraFine 4K) where the Thunderbolt display is controlled by the GPU in the eGPU instead of the GPU in the Mac. Other methods of connecting older Thunderbolt displays (those that don't also support USB-C) to eGPUs are expensive, and may not allow all the features of the display to work.

Since the GPUs support DSC, it may be possible to connect two Apple Pro Display XDR displays using a Thunderbolt 4 hub or dock that has more than one downstream Thunderbolt 4 port. I haven't seen any reviews of the OWC Thunderbolt 4 Hub or Dock connected after another Thunderbolt 3 device though.

The reason these new eGPUs only have one downstream Thunderbolt 3 port is because the JHL8440 doesn't have any DisplayPort inputs. The JHL8540 and older Thunderbolt controllers have two DisplayPort inputs, but only two Thunderbolt ports (if the JHL8540 can be used in a peripheral, then one Thunderbolt port would be for upstream leaving only one Thunderbolt port for downstream). I'm guessing the size of the JHL8540 and JHL8440 means that you can either have two DisplayPort inputs or two Downstream Thunderbolt ports but not both. So the way to make an eGPU with multiple downstream Thunderbolt ports for multiple Thunderbolt displays is to connect two or three Thunderbolt 3 controllers internally to a JHL8440. Each Thunderbolt 3 controller has two DisplayPort inputs so you only need two controllers if the GPUs only support 4 DisplayPort outputs. If you want to add a DisplayPort or HDMI port then you could add a DisplayPort mux to switch the DisplayPort outputs of the GPU between a Thunderbolt controller input and the output port. The mux would be controlled by the hot plug detect pin of the output ports. There already exists multiple eGPUs that use two Thunderbolt controllers chained together (one for the GPU and the other for USB devices) so this would be a Thunderbolt 4 extension of that.

 

[Eightarmedpet]

Unfortunately, Mac users. Look at the GPUs Apple has builtin to its Macs.

The RX 5300 and above in the iMac is hardly terrible?
Same for the 16inch Pro.

 

[PassiveSmoking]

I doubt that Sonnet has insider information about this and the company would most likely not take the risk of releasing an eGPU because they think that Apple might support the eGPU on the M1.

It's more likely that their eGPU has been in the design pipeline for awhile and that they were surprised at the pace Apple has implemented the M1.

I'm sure that Sonnet hopes that Apple ends up supporting eGPUs on the M1 and also that Sonnet at least breaks even on this eGPU.

My suspicion is that it's a software issue, more specifically drivers. Rosetta 2 can't translate stuff that's supposed to run in the kernel like graphics drivers and other kexts, and a GPU driver needs to be tied pretty intimately to the underlying hardware it's running on. Hopefully Apple and/or AMD are working on this.

It should be noted that all the M1 machines that have come out thus far are for products that don't have third-party GPUs, external or otherwise. I wonder if they've got something in the pipeline that does support GPUs for the iMac, big Macbook Pro, etc?