- Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO. - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations. - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string.And the only cost seems to be Windows - this one's about 10 Pro- and the use of VMWare and a piece of freeware. The how-to guy from 9-to-5 Mac has full directions on You Tube. I discovered this by searched for that sentence on Google (or roughly that). You can indeed put Bootcamp Windows on an external SSD.Is this the eGPU that you should consider for your Mac? Watch our hands-on video for the details. Blackmagic advertises its ultra quiet status right on the product packaging, and it’s not joking, this enclosure is extremely low noise.With a launch alongside highly anticipated new MacBook Pro hardware, the Blackmagic eGPU is now available exclusively at Apple Stores. In this article we explain the advantages of using an external graphics card with your Mac or MacBook, and round up the best buying options currently available.Another reason to take note is that the Blackmagic eGPU is the first external graphics chassis to include official support for the LG UltraFine 5K display ( hands-on), a monitor that Apple recommends as a replacement for its now discontinued Thunderbolt Display.But perhaps the most appealing feature of the Blackmagic eGPU is its silence.Still, it’s a lot of money when you consider that another all-in-one eGPU, the Gigabyte RX 580 Gaming Box ( review) provides similar graphics acceleration at a significantly cheaper price. That cost largely stems from the fact that it comes with a non-upgradable AMD Radeon Pro 580 GPU built in. Dimensions: roughly 11.5-inches high-by-6.5-inches wideSubscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videosThe Blackmagic eGPU is pricey at $700 before tax. Officially supports LG UltraFine 5K Display via Thunderbolt 3 85W of Power Delivery for full speed MacBook Pro charging
The enclosure is over 8-inches at its widest point. The panels that make up the unit are quite tall, with the overall height, including the built-in stand, coming in at just under a foot. Not everyone will agree with the design, and some may argue that it’s over the top and too large, but it’s not just a black rectangle meant to be tucked away in a shadowy office corner.The Blackmagic eGPU features an 8-sided shape made up of an aluminum outer panel. Download lagu wiro sablengA Thunderbolt 3 hubThe Blackmagic eGPU provides users with full charging capabilities up to 85W, four USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, and a single HDMI 2.0 port. Because the stand is designed in a way that features four openings on each side, the LED light helps to illuminate the footprint of the device in a dark environment. I can’t help but get trash can Mac Pro flashbacks when looking at the way the I/O is laid out, and you likely will too.The last little design detail is a single down-firing LED light that rests above the stand on the bottom of the enclosure. It’s not like the unit will be moving much anyway, because as you might imagine, it’s quite hefty.On the rear of the eGPU you’ll find all of the I/O ports. It’s difficult to see, but if you look closely through the mesh layer, you’ll see the large heat pipes that are there to help prevent the Radeon Pro 580 from breaking too much of a sweat when under load.On the bottom of the eGPU, you’ll find the familiar wave pattern, along with a built-in stand with rubber feet to keep it planted firmly on your desk. Right underneath the mesh is a large fan to help keep the GPU that lies beneath cool. What’s missing?Conspicuously missing from the Blackmagic eGPU is DisplayPort connectivity. To remove the eGPU, you’ll notice a special eject eGPU button in your Mac’s menu bar, it works similarly to ejecting USB flash drives. When you connect the Thunderbolt 3 cable to a Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac running macOS 10.13.4 or later (Blackmagic says in its documentation that their unit requires 10.13.6), your Mac will automatically recognize the eGPU, performing all the necessary configuration on the fly. For example, I like the idea of connecting CalDigit’s TS3 Plus Thunderbolt 3 dock ( review), which gives me all sorts of nifty I/O.There is no power button on the Blackmagic eGPU that you’ll need to mess around with. Under the right circumstances it can be a true set-it-and-forget it solution for professionals.For those opting to connect to an HDMI display, the extra Thunderbolt 3 port can be used to daisy chain additional peripherals. This additional port can be used to drive the LG 5K UltraFine display with additional power. A quiet operationIt’s easy to lament over the non-upgradable nature of the enclosure, but such a design does have its advantages. A 2-meter active Thunderbolt 3 cable like this one from CalDigit ( review) costs more, but provides so much more flexibility when it comes to chassis placement. The HDMI connection is also targeted at those who wish to use VR headsets like the HTC Vive.Blackmagic is far from the only company to provide users with inadequately short 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 cables, but I wish this trend would stop. Thankfully, the HDMI 2.0 port allows you to connect to a 4K-enabled display at 60Hz. The Blackmagic eGPU, because of its end-to-end design, is much quieter than typical enclosure setups where the user provides their own GPU.Generating noise at approximately 18dB, you’ll have to put your ear up to the Blackmagic eGPU in order to hear fan noise, even when it’s under load. These users, more often than not, desire quiet work spaces. This allows for thermal engineering that can eclipse do-it-yourself eGPU setups and results in much quieter operation.Although eGPUs have obvious gaming applications, the sort of person willing to drop $700 on this particular eGPU is likely a creative professional. This is something that no other eGPU solution on the market can currently claim, as off-the-shelve graphics cards come with cooling setups that won’t hesitate to make their presence known when under load. With the super-quiet Blackmagic eGPU handling the graphics load, it provided a quiet workspace, even with highly taxing computation work occurring before my eyes. I was very impressed to run the Unigine Heaven and Unigine Valley benchmark tests — known for making the fans inside my MacBook Pro sound like they’re preparing for take off — in complete and utter silence. So yeah, the eGPU might be super quiet, but this benefit can be negated when the fans in your MacBook Pro spin up.Thankfully, however, this doesn’t always happen. Many of the applications that take advantage of the eGPU, such as Blackmagic’s own DaVinci Resolve, will, if pushed hard enough, cause the MacBook Pro fans to kick into high gear. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because the company has been very forward-thinking with wielding external graphics to their advantage. Below is a DaVinci Resolve export using the base model 2018 MacBook Pro with integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655.Blackmagic’s own DaVinci Resolve stands to gain a big performance boost from external graphics, and is arguably one of the key reasons to consider this eGPU. For both OpenCL and Metal performance, the Radeon Pro 580 inside of Blackmagic’s external graphics chassis provides a clear 2x boost.If you own a Mac without a discrete GPU, like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the performance difference will be even more apparent. Longer bars are better unless otherwise noted.Starting off with GeekBench 4 OpenCL and Metal tests, you can immediately see the potential that an eGPU brings to the table. Yet, as benchmarks have shown, the RX 580 can noticeably increase the graphics performance of machines like the MacBook Pro, as long as your expectations aren’t too high.Note: all tests, except where noted, were performed with a 15-inch 2018 Retina MacBook Pro with 6-core Core i9 CPU. External Cpu 9To5 2018 Benchmark Upgrade To YourTitles using the Metal API will usually perform better on the Mac. Games like Rocket League will play great at high settings, but don’t expect to max out settings on graphics-intensive modern titles using OpenGL. If you primarily work in DaVinci Resolve, then an external GPU can provide a major upgrade to your workflow.OpenGL benchmarks from Unigine performed better with the eGPU, but not enough for it to really matter to gamers looking to play AAA titles.
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