Anyone using an EGPU with MBP ?

Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Aug 2004
Posts
10,987
Cheshire, near Crewe.

I saw because if you're local, you're welcome to pop over and try it out if it helps!

What a ledge, I'm from Staffordshire origionally and pop back to see the parents when I can - may I bare it in mind to pop round at a suitable for you time at some point ? be a month or so I'd imagine.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
7,614
Location
Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
Razer Core X with an ASUS Vega 64 Strix working fine in both Mojave and Bootcamp on a 15" Macbook Pro, 6 core, 16GB, 512GB

Really only use it for gaming in Bootcamp with Project Cars 2, Fornite, World of Warships, Assetto Corsa Competizione, Company of Heroes and it's been great. Only issue I've found is that sometimes when loading into Windows, if you have devices plugged in such as keyboard/mouse, etc then it can cause the whole system to 'lag' every few seconds. Unplug everything apart from the eGPU on load up and then plug in devices after.

This is all on a superwide, 4K ish monitor.

For some reason Apex Legends hates the setup and has horrible lag when rotating the screen.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
3,416
Location
Retired Don
Only hassle I'm having at present is randomly the MBP locks up watching web based videos (youtube, bbq news etc) cant tie it directly to the eGPU, but it never occurred without it!

Maybe 3-4x a week. Otherwise it plays well, dont have issues with many games, crank all the settings up (and given its only a late 16 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7, its holding its own)

I might actually end up getting a Mac Pro anyway as the latest MBP doesnt seem to be much better than this!
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
Joined
22 Aug 2008
Posts
25,023
Location
Tunbridge Wells
How does the CRG9 with eGPU setup look? I assume you still have to deliver power to the macbook directly and then connect the eGPU to another port and then the CRG9 goes into the eGPU.

Considering the monitor to replace 2 21.5" LG 4K monitors but unsure how well it all works with a mac.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
3,416
Location
Retired Don
How does the CRG9 with eGPU setup look? I assume you still have to deliver power to the macbook directly and then connect the eGPU to another port and then the CRG9 goes into the eGPU.

Considering the monitor to replace 2 21.5" LG 4K monitors but unsure how well it all works with a mac.

Only One Thunderbolt connection from eGPU to Mac. This then gives me sound out of the CRG9 also.

Then I have wireless apple keyboard and touchpad.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Aug 2004
Posts
10,987
Which one did you go for?

I am thinking of retiring my 2012 iMac soon and use my 13" MBP solely with external monitor and eGPU.

Razer X as it was the cheapest one - Vega 56 GPU

It's good for on the road, but my 15" MBP 2016 is still enormously sluggish compared to my windows Ryzen 1700x system for photo editing.

But I am on the road a lot now (I take the EGPU with me in my camper, solar panels power everything easily) - so its perfectly sufficiant using the MBP screen - also EGPU makes 1 external 4k monitor nice enough - again though my Ryzen system slaughters it for speed in photo editing with LR.

I'll be getting the 2020 MBP redesign for sure, that will then be my only machine.

But, conversily, my MBP with EGPU slaughters my ryzen PC for 4k video editing so.............its very bizarre!

Ryzen windows = home photo editing
MBP + EGPU = on the road photo editing
MBP + EGPU = All video editing (final cut)

I would be dubious to use a 13" MBP for any sort of heavy work tbh.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
74,018
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
Razer X as it was the cheapest one - Vega 56 GPU

It's good for on the road, but my 15" MBP 2016 is still enormously sluggish compared to my windows Ryzen 1700x system for photo editing.

But I am on the road a lot now (I take the EGPU with me in my camper, solar panels power everything easily) - so its perfectly sufficiant using the MBP screen - also EGPU makes 1 external 4k monitor nice enough - again though my Ryzen system slaughters it for speed in photo editing with LR.

I'll be getting the 2020 MBP redesign for sure, that will then be my only machine.

But, conversily, my MBP with EGPU slaughters my ryzen PC for 4k video editing so.............its very bizarre!

Ryzen windows = home photo editing
MBP + EGPU = on the road photo editing
MBP + EGPU = All video editing (final cut)

I would be dubious to use a 13" MBP for any sort of heavy work tbh.

Well, I am thinking 2018 i7 6 cores with 16G of ram with eGPU would be suffice for LR.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Aug 2004
Posts
10,987
Well, I am thinking 2018 i7 6 cores with 16G of ram with eGPU would be suffice for LR.

I don't think it would - mines i7, sure its a quad, but the single thread speeds are about the same as the 2018 (within 5%), due to throttling galore on everything - don't get me wrong im an apple user for all my devices, currently going to attempt a thunderbolt 3 NVME drive to see if that helps (helped abit trying to edit off the internal drive) - but its just not fast enough, if a 1st gen Ryzen pc its absolutely hammering it.

I believe your a professional photographer like me - id highly recommend just getting the 16" rumored MBP - with apples WWDC 2019 bringing pros back into focus, I would guess the new MBP will be fixed and run faster than my ryzen.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
74,018
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I don't think it would - mines i7, sure its a quad, but the single thread speeds are about the same as the 2018 (within 5%), due to throttling galore on everything - don't get me wrong im an apple user for all my devices, currently going to attempt a thunderbolt 3 NVME drive to see if that helps (helped abit trying to edit off the internal drive) - but its just not fast enough, if a 1st gen Ryzen pc its absolutely hammering it.

I believe your a professional photographer like me - id highly recommend just getting the 16" rumored MBP - with apples WWDC 2019 bringing pros back into focus, I would guess the new MBP will be fixed and run faster than my ryzen.

In that case I might as well go down the new Ryzen route then with like 12 cores for $500.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Aug 2004
Posts
10,987
In that case I might as well go down the new Ryzen route then with like 12 cores for $500.

I would if your a home office - or the new mac pro / imac pro is a good choice if your someone who edits from home all the time if you wish to stay in apples eco system.

2020 MBP for me - as long as it equals the speed of the ryzen 8 core im using i'll be happy with that - but to do that, they will absolutely have to fix the thermals causing it to clock down.

But also, given my current MBP completely destroys my Ryzen in video editing goes to show how important optimisation is and good programming - something of which adobe has never been great at - I wish apple would create a new pro photo editing suite, final cut pro is ace.
 
Caporegime
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
74,018
Location
Wish i was in a Ramen Shop Counter
I would if your a home office - or the new mac pro / imac pro is a good choice if your someone who edits from home all the time if you wish to stay in apples eco system.

2020 MBP for me - as long as it equals the speed of the ryzen 8 core im using i'll be happy with that - but to do that, they will absolutely have to fix the thermals causing it to clock down.

But also, given my current MBP completely destroys my Ryzen in video editing goes to show how important optimisation is and good programming - something of which adobe has never been great at - I wish apple would create a new pro photo editing suite, final cut pro is ace.

I think before putting out like £3k for a new iMac, an eGPU and monitor might be the way to go to see how well that works.
 
Back
Top Bottom