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OS X Should Apple bring back eGPU support?
- Thread starter groove-agent
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The W series are workstation-class cards rather than consumer/gaming focused GPUs, and AMDs strategy there is unrelated to the consumer side. On the heels of deciding not to release a 4090 competitor last year, AMD has also gone on record that they will not be going after Nvidia's flagship 5000 series parts either.
Apologies, it wasn't first explained that "workstation-class" cards were not "high end". They certainly are the highest end as far as price goes and in terms of specs.
The 5090 appears to be high-end on power consumption if the rumours are correct: 600w!
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The chip it is based on matters. Aside from RAM there is no difference between an AMD workstation card and their consumer equivalent. The data center cards use a different chip (CDNA vs RDNA).
The 5090 isn’t using more power than the 4090. Power usage rumors for the cards appear to be the same, again.
I know everyone is focused on gaming, but what about 3D rendering and AI? Both fields are becoming very GPU-dependent and having an extra GPU around can help a lot. Adding eGPU support would really help the MacStudios and Pros make sense for 3d artists. Currently, people are using them but then offloading their rendering to second computers(PC or Linux boxes, which adds complexity) or render farms hosted on the cloud (which costs money).
That’s actually quite amazing. I always dreamed of something like a mini-computer that is portable but you can dock and change its functionality. In particular if we could use phones as the mobile PC, that would be ultimate theoretical setup for computing.
Also I love the Apple Pie and Big Mac names!
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The problem is the cost will outweigh the return, Apple had the technology back in 2018 but abandoned it for the silicon series and basically turned their back on the gaming community who use egpu options. So now that market has either continue to run what they have like me or switched over to PC's and gaming consoles at a reduced cost.
Apple vs. Nvidia. : What happened?
If you've been using macOS for a while, you might remember a time when Apple had both GPU options from ATI (purchased later by AMD) and Nvidia. In fact, the ...
blog.greggant.com
Oversimplified
- NVIDIAs faulty GPUs burned Apple pretty bad = They Switched to AMD
- AMD also had faulty GPUs and couldn't truly compete against NVIDIA = In-house alternative (M-Series)
- Intels faulty CPUs burned Apple pretty bad (lol) = Possible Switch to AMD Rumors, but AMD couldn't compete at the time = In-House alternative (M-Series)
While they must've been working on the M-Series for a long time. Each time they were burned it would just justify the need for control of the hardware stack. The M-Series put a nail on eGPU coffin and lunched it into the sun. Why support a standard that would let the competition out perform you?
Because the eGPU market had always been a small niche community the continued support wasn't really worth the resources. Especially when the M-Series was ready to lunch when the last set of AMD GPUs that did have macOS support were released. Add the limited bandwidth of Thunderbolt4/USB4 any high-end card would always be handicapped.
Oculink and TB5 never had a chance to bring better eGPU support to a Mac. An additional port while Apple was trying to cut down, an in-house alternative...
Should they? As an eGPU user myself. I had an Intel-Mini and a MBP that I used a 6900XT on. It made playing games so much better, but I also wasn't a heavy enough user to justify a dedicated gaming PC. The games I did play all had official macOS versions which was less of a reason to spend on that. I came across a good deal on an eGPU enclosure and the GPU. So to me the price was well worth it.
Now, I have a gaming PC because I started gaming more and my buddies would favor games that did not have macOS versions. I still held onto my eGPU and did my own casual Mac gaming from time to time. I've moved onto a newer MacBook with an M series so I can't use the eGPU anymore. I would still want eGPU support to come back. Only because it would mean gaming meant more to Apple than it currently does. It might also lead to Apple finally getting with Valve on adding official Proton/GPTK support.
But, I'm old and my enthusiasm for new video games isn't what it used to. Especially since they just don't make them like they used to.
- NVIDIAs faulty GPUs burned Apple pretty bad = They Switched to AMD
- AMD also had faulty GPUs and couldn't truly compete against NVIDIA = In-house alternative (M-Series)
- Intels faulty CPUs burned Apple pretty bad (lol) = Possible Switch to AMD Rumors, but AMD couldn't compete at the time = In-House alternative (M-Series)
While they must've been working on the M-Series for a long time. Each time they were burned it would just justify the need for control of the hardware stack. The M-Series put a nail on eGPU coffin and lunched it into the sun. Why support a standard that would let the competition out perform you?
Because the eGPU market had always been a small niche community the continued support wasn't really worth the resources. Especially when the M-Series was ready to lunch when the last set of AMD GPUs that did have macOS support were released. Add the limited bandwidth of Thunderbolt4/USB4 any high-end card would always be handicapped.
Oculink and TB5 never had a chance to bring better eGPU support to a Mac. An additional port while Apple was trying to cut down, an in-house alternative...
Should they? As an eGPU user myself. I had an Intel-Mini and a MBP that I used a 6900XT on. It made playing games so much better, but I also wasn't a heavy enough user to justify a dedicated gaming PC. The games I did play all had official macOS versions which was less of a reason to spend on that. I came across a good deal on an eGPU enclosure and the GPU. So to me the price was well worth it.
Now, I have a gaming PC because I started gaming more and my buddies would favor games that did not have macOS versions. I still held onto my eGPU and did my own casual Mac gaming from time to time. I've moved onto a newer MacBook with an M series so I can't use the eGPU anymore. I would still want eGPU support to come back. Only because it would mean gaming meant more to Apple than it currently does. It might also lead to Apple finally getting with Valve on adding official Proton/GPTK support.
But, I'm old and my enthusiasm for new video games isn't what it used to. Especially since they just don't make them like they used to.