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Question about iMac with Thunderbolt egpu

I

iMike_vs_world

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 16, 2015
4
0
Hi, friends i really have an important question which revolves about the iMac and Thunderbolt eGPU(external Graphics Card).
So far all i know is that the iMac does support External graphics card but when it comes to its very own Mac OSX, it does not support but when boot camping windows it does support. But my concern is that, is it really true that mac osx does not support egpu but windows does(by boot camp), and is it also true that imac does support External gpu, i was asking because all i watched videos in youtube about thunderbolt egpu are with MacBook Pro but not with iMac.
Please a guide and an accurate answer would be very helpful.

thanks in advance..!!!
 
iMike_vs_world said:
Hi, friends i really have an important question which revolves about the iMac and Thunderbolt eGPU(external Graphics Card).
So far all i know is that the iMac does support External graphics card but when it comes to its very own Mac OSX, it does not support but when boot camping windows it does support. But my concern is that, is it really true that mac osx does not support egpu but windows does(by boot camp), and is it also true that imac does support External gpu, i was asking because all i watched videos in youtube about thunderbolt egpu are with MacBook Pro but not with iMac.
Please a guide and an accurate answer would be very helpful.

thanks in advance..!!!
Click to expand...
They are hugely expensive and will not run at full speed. You shouldn't waste any more time on the issue. Put money into 1. A windows gaming PC or 2. An XBOX or 3. A new iMac
 
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iMike_vs_world said:
Hi, friends i really have an important question which revolves about the iMac and Thunderbolt eGPU(external Graphics Card).
So far all i know is that the iMac does support External graphics card but when it comes to its very own Mac OSX, it does not support but when boot camping windows it does support. But my concern is that, is it really true that mac osx does not support egpu but windows does(by boot camp), and is it also true that imac does support External gpu, i was asking because all i watched videos in youtube about thunderbolt egpu are with MacBook Pro but not with iMac.
Please a guide and an accurate answer would be very helpful.

thanks in advance..!!!
Click to expand...

You could buy a windows gaming PC with the money a current eGPU solution would currently cost to put together.
 
I have not done it myself, but I have a fair bit of research on the topic. eGPUs appear to work in both OSX & bootcamp. The reason you see more footage of eGPU gaming in bootcamp is because there is a preference for bootcamp within the gaming community (due to better performance / higher framerate). One of the reasons you mostly see eGPUs for Macbooks & Mac minis is because it requires an external monitor - not because there is some incompatibility w/ iMacs. Most people who break bank to buy a 5k iMac aren't also going to buy a gaming monitor, GPU, & enclosure... and forsake the 5k apple screen. As someone else briefly alluded to, Thunderbolt 2 does not have the bandwidth to take full advantage of the GPU's performance capacity. You will definitely get better performance than the dGPU & iGPUs Apple uses, but depending on how far you push the system - not quite as good as you would see on a PC build w/ that card in a PCIe slot. Thunderbolt 3 will bring us closer to that bandwidth though and make eGPU solutions more viable. Sonnet even has some enclosures that they claim will be able to swap their TB2 cards out for TB3 cards, when the time comes. But of course that doesn't matter unless you upgrade to a Mac w/ TB3 and carryover your eGPU solution.
 
kødskjold said:
I have not done it myself, but I have a fair bit of research on the topic. eGPUs appear to work in both OSX & bootcamp. The reason you see more footage of eGPU gaming in bootcamp is because there is a preference for bootcamp within the gaming community (due to better performance / higher framerate). One of the reasons you mostly see eGPUs for Macbooks & Mac minis is because it requires an external monitor - not because there is some incompatibility w/ iMacs. Most people who break bank to buy a 5k iMac aren't also going to buy a gaming monitor, GPU, & enclosure... and forsake the 5k apple screen. As someone else briefly alluded to, Thunderbolt 2 does not have the bandwidth to take full advantage of the GPU's performance capacity. You will definitely get better performance than the dGPU & iGPUs Apple uses, but depending on how far you push the system - not quite as good as you would see on a PC build w/ that card in a PCIe slot. Thunderbolt 3 will bring us closer to that bandwidth though and make eGPU solutions more viable. Sonnet even has some enclosures that they claim will be able to swap their TB2 cards out for TB3 cards, when the time comes. But of course that doesn't matter unless you upgrade to a Mac w/ TB3 and carryover your eGPU solution.
Click to expand...

ya man,.. i am already with windows pc, but i really like iMac's too, and a windows pc around a price like iMac's(which is more than $1000) are always better, and ya thunderbolt 3 & 4 would bring closer to PC GPU performance. i hope soon iMac's gpu's performance would be similar to that of PC's GPU's.
 
iMike_vs_world said:
ya man,.. i am already with windows pc, but i really like iMac's too, and a windows pc around a price like iMac's(which is more than $1000) are always better, and ya thunderbolt 3 & 4 would bring closer to PC GPU performance. i hope soon iMac's gpu's performance would be similar to that of PC's GPU's.
Click to expand...

They won't be they use mobile graphics cards and will never reach the heights of a desktop card with huge fans or water cooling.
 
playing with an egpu on MacBooks internal Display is only possible with an intel gpu ... I think this would probably the same with iMacs.
 
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