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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

#251

Post by everyone »

GoToRO wrote: post #62
dmix wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd bet 99.9% of people buying PC Laptops never upgrade a single chip... Apple's non-pro lines are likely not much different. Apple largely sacrificed that ability (in a few product lines) in favour of creating some of the thinnest laptops available. I don't remember them ever doing that before Macbook Air, for now reason. That said, in this case, I don't see what is being gained by not making the GPU swappable or at…

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.

"HP support said they do not manufacture that motherboard anymore"

You can probably still buy one of those mobos and swap it out. Just look on ebay.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#252

Post by closetohome »

cududa wrote: post #203
awalton wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd bet 99.9% of people buying PC Laptops never upgrade a single chip... Some huge percentage of that is because many if not most laptops shipping today have wired everything down. You can't even update the Wifi chip in most laptops today, even though the whole reason we put Wifi on a daughtercard in the first place is because we knew the standards were going to have to move... Meanwhile, I'm typing this from a fiv…

You are the first person I've ever heard complain about not being able to upgrade the wifi in their laptop.

Ooh I actually did this a long time ago! Upgraded the Airport card in my PowerBook.

But, you know, once in 30 years of owning laptops.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#253

Post by closetohome »

ctvo wrote: post #151

- Radeon Pro 580 - 300 USD - USB Hub / Thunderbolt 3 Hub - 100 USD - eGPU - 300 USD (Akitio Node, others) It's reasonably priced given the components. If it only had upgradability, it'd be very nice, but it's not a dealbreaker.

If you ever see a Thunderbolt 3 hub for $100 let me know!

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#254

Post by pdpi »

cptskippy wrote: post #202
pdpi wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OTOH $699 sounds like a reasonable price for a GPU in that class? You're just trading an internal interface for an external one.

Except that the GPU they've got in their should have a retail price of $200-300. So there's a $400 markup for a PSU and usb hub.

Hmmm, you're right. I was under the impression the Pro had higher specs than the RX 580 but the numbers they published really don't seem to differ from the RX 580. Damn.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#255

Post by vokep »

everyone wrote: post #219
anentropic wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the design has been optimized for quiet operation" this is important to me, glad to hear it!

I dont get really this.. I have a stock air-cooled asus GTX 970, and for almost all use cases on my PC it is completely silent. The fans only turn on when the card temp goes over a certain value. The only thing that causes this is a modern taxing AAA type game (eg. The witcher 3). And when I'm playing a game like that Ive got my headphones on. I can be running Unity, visual studio, adobe premier, illustrator, photosh…

its likely targeted to video editing or vfx work where you're gonna need some rendering power

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#256

Post by forrestthewoods »

__david__ wrote: post #87
hit8run wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, would this be feasible for first person shooters where every millisecond counts?

If this added even a single millisecond I'd be extremely surprised. I can guarantee any latency this adds is imperceptible.

Most laptops with discrete GPUs don’t have a direct connection to the display. They copy the frame buffer back to the integrated GPU’s frame buffer and then send it to the display.

When that display is a VR headset the latency is very real and it’s a big problem. Only in the last year or two has the hardware started to change.

I would be shocked if this didn’t add latency. It’s just a matter of how much.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#257

Post by saagarjha »

rvanmil wrote: post #106
saagarjha wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works without an external display as well.

Thanks, I investigated a bit more since this doesn't seem obvious (to me) reading the egpu product pages or reviews. This is what I found: https://github.com/mayankk2308/set-egpu so it doesn't look like things currently just work out of the box?

I was basing my response on a friend who has a setup like this working. He’s probably using a tool like this one; I’ll ask him.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#258

Post by jillesvangurp »

binaryblitz wrote: post #231
jillesvangurp wrote: post #132

I kind of like where this is going. Plug and play performance and less noise. I'm not really interested in dropping thousands of euros on the latest gaming hardware. I'm not in the pointlessly blinking leds equipped PC market. And I'm done building my own PC after having to replace the power supply in my last effort three times. I do tend to have up to date mac hw. For me the whole point of that is buying one and the…

> I'm not really interested in dropping thousands of euros on the latest gaming hardware. > I'm probably going to drop around 3-4K on whatever replaces it. ...

I'm not doing this for gaming though and what I buy is not optimized for games but for comfort, looks, and I just like running OS X.

So spending 600$ to actually be able to play games and plug in some vr kit, sounds very reasonable to me.

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#259

Post by mattbierner »

ratsimihah wrote: post #188
phonebucket wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would definitely have been nice. But if you're thinking about scientific programming, it's not so much effort to use AWS GPUs. I do that, and don't think I would buy an eGPU even if it was CUDA capable.

Isn't AWS expensive in the long term? I want to have a 1080 Ti but I don't even have a desktop to begin with.

It depends. Small instances are a few bucks an hour, so if you just need a GPU for like a hundred hours then it’s great. If you are running the instance 24/7 for months on end, the equation changes. The big instances are cool though because they give you access to hardware that would be pretty unobtainable otherwise

I really wish they had a lambda of gpus

Re: Blackmagic eGPU – Thunderbolt 3 external graphics processor

#260

Post by nottorp »

everyone wrote: post #250
nottorp wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have to wear headphones when the GPU is at max, it can be more quiet...

I dont have to. In any situation where the fans have come on. I already am, cus I'm playing a game.

Ok, I'll elaborate.

It's very nice that you wear headphones when you're playing a game. Me, and probably a lot of other people, don't.

You not being able to hear the GPU when using headphones does not mean it's quiet. It means you can't hear it. Incidentally, any other people in the room or maybe even in the adjacent rooms would be able to hear it very well.

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