eGPU

Vumad

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
I found a used eGPU on craigslist so I went ahead and got it. I have believed eGPU are the future for a while now and they are finally catching on which is pretty exciting.

This is my macbook pro https://support.apple.com/kb/SP719?locale=en_US with the 2.2 ghz quad.

This is the eGPU I got. https://www.powercolor.com/product?id=1497236280 It is larger than some others because it is much more of a docking station. For example, it has a 2.5" drive bay. I have to use a TB3 to TB2 adapter.

This is the Card inside the box. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...VgUsNCh0fHQDdEAQYASABEgLOuPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I got MacOS all setup and it's quite impressive to an external display. 430% (530%) over the stock iGPU (no dGPU). The internal performance is a little underwhelming, although still quite impressive, probably because of the TB2 instead of TB3 port. Internal is 179% (279%) over stock.

I have not been able to get the Windows side of things going yet because of Code 12 error.

Here is the link to eGPU.io where I detailed the steps I took to setup the eGPU and asking for help with Code 12. https://egpu.io/forums/pc-setup/201...pu-error-12-in-windows-10/paged/3/#post-46750

These are my benchmarks in MacOS

Settings External: 1920x1080, 2xAA, High, other stuff disabled...
Stock MBP w/ HDMI out, FPS 9.3, Score 234
eGPU output to monitor, FPS 49.3, Score 1241, 530% of stock (430% improvement)

Settings Internal 1440x900, other same
Stock MBP, FPS 15.3, Score 386
eGPU to internal display, FPS 42.7, Score 1075, 279% of stock (179% improvement)

If you do decide to look into the eGPU, be sure the get a TB3 enclosure. Saving the money on an old TB2 connection is not worth it in the long run.
 
chadly

chadly

Location
minnesota
external gpus are pretty sweet tho, i gamed on a laptop for a few years and wish i had that option when i did. now with a dedicated pc i'd never want a laptop again though.
 
Vumad

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
Big Kahuna said:
What?
Click to expand...

An eGPU is a Graphics Card mounted in an external enclosure. It allows a portable (laptop, tablet, etc) to utilize a full sized desktop graphics card. This is made possible through the slot your SSD or wireless card mounted in on older laptops, or Thunderbolt 1-3 on newer laptops.

My macbook got 9 frames per second on the Heaven benchmark app using it's own power. It got 49 FPS on the same settings using an external GPU. This is an over 400% improvement from what the laptop can do on its own. Not only was performance greatly increased, but the fans in the laptop ran MUCH less, meaning the laptop generated much less heat with the eGPU.

I have been a believer that eGPUs are going to be the mainstream future of laptop. I believe that in the future you will find tablet style laptops that have powerful CPUs and RAM that utilize very powerful docking stations. While eGPUs are expensive currently, but I believe when they become mainstream that the prices of the enclosures will become very inexpensive and they will all plug and play.

Apple has released native support on all TB3 macs with eGPU using current AMD cards. Windows, Intel, AMD and Nvidia are all working on improving their plug and play solutions.

chadly said:
ew mac
Click to expand...

I agree completely. I actually got an HP Omen gaming laptop but it was a complete POS so I returned it. They have decided Apple is the bee knees at work so I figured that a macbook would improve my adaptability to the environment. I am dual booting windows from my MacBook so I am currently using both OS.

I am trying to figure out this Code 12 problem so I can eGPU my windows. I'll post some benchmarks if/when I get it to work.
 
chadly

chadly

Location
minnesota
you should tell your work macs are closer to the goats elbows compared to the knees of bees lol. how are you liking the performance of gaming on a mac thats running windows over its os?
 
Vumad

Vumad

Super Hero, with a cape!
Location
St. Pete, FL
chadly said:
you should tell your work macs are closer to the goats elbows compared to the knees of bees lol. how are you liking the performance of gaming on a mac thats running windows over its os?
Click to expand...

The same as any other windows PC that has a similar graphics card.

And it's not running anything over anything. It boots the OS I want as if it's the only OS on the system. Actually MacOS is offering native eGPU support guaranteed to work with specified hardware. That is something windows can't claim. Not at all a Mac fanboy, but I'll counter whatever nonsense a fanboy wants to argue.
 
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