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Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

blackmagicdesign.com

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Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#171

Post by GoToRO »

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #152
GoToRO wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My HP laptop died, the integrated GPU died. And HP support said they do not manufacture that motherboard anymore. So what's the point of having it upgradable? Sometimes it works, other times not.

It's always been the case with laptops that if the mainboard or some part ON the main board died, well, that's that. But being able to upgrade RAM, HDD or wifi was always great so you could eek a couple more years from it. People who want upgrade-ability aren't wrong for wanting to buck the throw away society we've become.

I choose upgrade-ability too, it's just that I was shorted by HP choosing bad quality and lack of spares. I flipped the coin and I lost it seems.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#172

Post by ntsplnkv2 »

blattimwind wrote: post #111
themagician wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The value in the ability to upgrade is often misperceived as being worth more than it really is. If you buy something mid-to-top range you are really only going to be able to get a single upgrade cycle out of it out (where there is some substantial marginal benefit for the cost) before the rest of the system starts to obsolete itself. If you watch things closely and the tick-tock cycles are aligned then maybe you get…

> The value in the ability to upgrade is often misperceived as being worth more than it really is. If you buy something mid-to-top range you are really only going to be able to get a single upgrade cycle out of it out (where there is some substantial marginal benefit for the cost) before the rest of the system starts to obsolete itself. If you watch things closely and the tick-tock cycles are aligned then maybe you g…

It's interesting seeing arguments about how valuable upgrade-ability is, and yet comments like this further outline how upgrade-ability is overrated.

Clearly technology isn't advancing like it used to. I've been running a machine since 2011 when I built it. 15 years ago I maybe would've upgraded every 4 years. Now I'm almost 8 years strong.

Now everyone has different needs, and I think Apple and similar products haven't really been aligned with those needs perfectly, but how much, from now, can graphics REALLY improve, for most use-cases?

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#173

Post by torstenvl »

ant6n wrote: post #109
torstenvl wrote: post #16

I like that it has four USB Type A ports. This would essentially take the place of a Thunderbolt 3 dock for me, which is already $200-$300. I'm considering getting one.

Let's say I plug a bunch of external HDDs on this dock, and I want unplug this all. Do I have to dismount them all one by one?

Yes I believe so. However, if you have "a bunch" of disks to attached, maybe consider NAS?

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#174

Post by _fzslm »

ant6n wrote: post #109
torstenvl wrote: post #16

I like that it has four USB Type A ports. This would essentially take the place of a Thunderbolt 3 dock for me, which is already $200-$300. I'm considering getting one.

Let's say I plug a bunch of external HDDs on this dock, and I want unplug this all. Do I have to dismount them all one by one?

You can unmount them all at once. Select the disks that you want to unmount on your desktop, then press Cmd+E.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#175

Post by sctb »

xxpor wrote: post #2

I don't know why the title says "Apple's". It works with MBPs but the company seems to have nothing to do with Apple Inc.

Thanks. We've updated the title from “Blackmagic eGPU: Apple's external graphics processor”, which was editorialized and misleading.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#176

Post by mbreese »

geezerjay wrote: post #69
k3liutZu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are the 0.01%

No, I'm really not. In fact, the only reason this isn't done more often is because some OEMs defraud their customers by forcing obsolescense into their products, such as intentionally designing them to be very impractical if not impossible to do basic stuff such as cleaning air ducts or replacing a HD. If you asked any macbook pro owner if they were willing to spend money to double its RAM or HDD capacity I'm sure yo…

But for what cost???

The price of upgradabilty is a heavier, thicker machine with probably less battery life (because they now squeeze the cells into every nook and cranny).

The ability to upgrade a machine is not a no-cost argument.

If given a blanket question of - ‘would you like to be able to upgrade your laptop?’ I’m sure the answer would be 100% Yes!

But, if you said ‘would you like to be able to upgrade your laptop but it will be half an inch thicker and a pound heavier?’ You’d get quite a different answer.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#177

Post by hddherman »

gambiting wrote: post #117
jasonjs wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even before the more polished products existed, people have hacked together external GPU enclosures, often interfaced to the host's PCIe bus via ExpressCard slots or ribbon cables hanging off of Mini PCIe slots. And more recently, with the interest in cramming many dual-slot GPUs onto a single motherboard for cryptomining rigs, you can find cheap, "barebones stand-alone PCIe slots" (for lack of a better term) for han…

The problem with all of those has always been that they only worked with an external display - there never was any way to send the image back to the laptop's own display.

It actually is possible with nVidia GPU-s, but you'll be taking a huge performance hit as some of the tiny bandwidth is now used to send the rendered image back to the laptop and then to the screen.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#179

Post by mitchty »

RealityVoid wrote: post #170
aikinai wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it’s intentionally obtuse to assume the only reason you would ever sacrifice upgradeability is for planned obsolescence.

But is it really far fetched? I am certain some people somewhere have considered this a big plus and weighted in their decision more than perhaps many of the other reasons for making HW impossible to upgrade.

> But is it really far fetched?

Yes, making things upgradeable generally adds weight and size to components. Sockets aren't "free", calling it planned obsolescence is absurd. They've been designed to have wired in components for a reason. You may not agree with that reason, say size constraints, but that is the constraints it was designed under. Weighting any decision is: how much will this cost our design? (note, cost here is not just money, its time, size, weight, manufacturing cost, complexity, etc...)

Upgradeability is a feature, if nobody is willing to pay for it, guess what will happen to the feature? Same thing as happened to our own species tails, they became obsolete.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#180

Post by freeone3000 »

mbreese wrote: post #176
geezerjay wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm really not. In fact, the only reason this isn't done more often is because some OEMs defraud their customers by forcing obsolescense into their products, such as intentionally designing them to be very impractical if not impossible to do basic stuff such as cleaning air ducts or replacing a HD. If you asked any macbook pro owner if they were willing to spend money to double its RAM or HDD capacity I'm sure yo…

But for what cost??? The price of upgradabilty is a heavier, thicker machine with probably less battery life (because they now squeeze the cells into every nook and cranny). The ability to upgrade a machine is not a no-cost argument. If given a blanket question of - ‘would you like to be able to upgrade your laptop?’ I’m sure the answer would be 100% Yes! But, if you said ‘would you like to be able to upgrade your la…

It's not. People buy Thinkpads all the time, with their actual screws, separate drive bay, and swappable RAM. Half an inch and a pound is right - such a low price to pay.
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