Is anyone looking at the eGPU that Apple is selling?

Abu Khadija

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2016
1,108
0
0
Visit site
I have a 2017 15” MacBook Pro. 2.9ghz with 512gb storage. Is anyone looking at the eGPU that Apple is selling? Is it even worth considering? My MacBook also has the 560 4gb Radeon graphics card. The eGPU has an 8gb card.

Would I now have 12gb or just 8gb? I don’t really do much now. Haven’t started yet on Final Cut or even Xcode.

Just wondering if anyone is looking at it.

Just my 5 1/2 cents.
 
Last edited:

Golfdriver97

Trusted Member Team Leader
Trusted Member
Aug 19, 2013
536
0
16
Visit site
Not too familiar with AMD's lineup, but these are my thoughts:

1. Awfully expensive considering the card itself retails for about $325 (hard to tell it's true price as mining is still affecting GPU prices)

2. There are GPU enclosures that you can add whatever kind of card you want, making that option upgradeable. Gigabyte also makes an enclosure with the same card for $200 less.

3. I'm personally concerned about cooling. Sure there is a big vent at the top, but I don't see any way for cool air to enter the unit for the fan that would be mounted to the GPU to be effective.

As for what your VRAM would be, I think it would be 8 GB. The system would ignore the onboard GPU.
 

Abu Khadija

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2016
1,108
0
0
Visit site
Can’t upgrade my 2017 15” MacBook Pro. I’ve had mine since July of 2017, can’t see upgrading to the 2018 model. Maybe I can upgrade in a couple of years.

So, the bottom line is, can I do anything with Apple’s eGPU?
 
Last edited:

Golfdriver97

Trusted Member Team Leader
Trusted Member
Aug 19, 2013
536
0
16
Visit site
I am not sure what can be done with the eGPU. I just watched a video from TWiT where a guest speaker said something to the effect of at this point, without a script running, the eGPU won't help in Final Cut Pro

Video, skip to time index 13:35 (it's a little bit after that, but not much...maybe 10 seconds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DcIP6FtuRk
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
259,860
Messages
1,764,758
Members
441,207
Latest member
Erik4711