external GPU, anyone experience with the BMD eGPU?

barneybroomer

Anyone experience with the eGPU from Black Magic? https://www.blackmagicdesign.c...

barneybroomer

Mmmm, after some search the best option is a Sonnet Box 650 , swappable cards, decent PSU, and capable of delivering 85 watts back to the mac to charge it. With a 9100W card you have 6 DP outputs, with graphic power.

bonemap

@barneybroomer said:

HI,

It is a tough call when the Nvidia GPU Card drivers are not officially supported on Mac OSX at present release.

Best Wishes,

bonemap

barneybroomer

@bonemap Hey! In my search I stumbled on this script

bonemap

@barneybroomer

Hi,

Thanks for the link. I haven't seen that video before, but have been following the eGPU.io forum that it references. It is not 100% clear that the workaround scripts that are currently available are going to be effective on the MacOS X Mojave, although there are some vague references to Mojave most of the discussion recommends using Mac OSX High Sierra. There is a question then about future compatibility, and until Apple allows Nvidia to implement their GPU drivers for this major OSX release, the investment for my money and time does not stack up - unless I am prepared to spend with blind faith that it will all come good in the future at some point.

The other issue is graphics performance under an eGPU. If performance i.e. frame rates, are a big consideration then the eGPU option does not appear to offer the greatest bang-for-buck considering the cost to performance ratio.

I am more inclined, in the short term, to put my investment in a capable PC with an internal Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti gpu. I will wait for Mac OS X compatibility with the top Nvidia cards before looking at the egpu as a serviceable option.

best wishes

bonemap

plastictaxi

Yes. got the new mbpro + Blackmagic eGPU combo when it came out.

It works well - I'm not a tech-head, haven't run any kind of serious tests, but on my latest show I'm drinking in HD video through a connected Intensity shuttle (USB), midi from a controller (USB), and running 2 1080p screens off the eGPU - no problem, while running a third projector off a seperate USB-C out from the mbp, and getting the full 30fps I set things to.

If I connect more controllers through the eGpu I get stuttering - I run into bandwidth problems through the connection; this is the new art: now that we can connect so many things through the USB-C connectors, it's pretty easy to overwhelm the system's ability to process multiple signal streams.

Quite happy with the arrangement: I'm sure I could have done this cheaper if I had more smarts, but I don't have time to troubleshoot a custom rig these days. It worked right out of the box. Also, it chops video rendering time almost in half when I'm running Adobe Premiere.

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barneybroomer

Today I got the Razer Core X in, tomorrow I am expecting an VEGA 56 with 6 outputs, since an W9100 was really out of budget. Next week I will do some tests with a 15 inch MBP 2016, but on High Sierra. (I assume Izzy 2.6.1 is not working on Mojave yet?) The Raze Core X is absolutely a great design, the way you can slide out the whole PCB and PSU plus a powerful 100 watt charging for mac itself.

fubbi

@barneybroomer did it work?

barneybroomer

@fubbi The setup is working, but I am waiting for the final Beta to test it right!

Woland

@barneybroomer said:

I assume Izzy 2.6.1 is not working on Mojave yet?

Isadora 2 is not Mojave compatible, but Isadora 3 is.

barneybroomer

@woland Mojave is installed by now :)