We noted in our latest Back to the Mac feature the mixed state of play when it comes to the official external GPU (eGPU) support added in macOS 10.13.4.
But new benchmark tests show that, while there are still plenty of issues to be resolved, the gains available from a high-end eGPU are substantial …
ArsTechnica benchtested the AMD Radeon RX 580 against the top-end 2016 MacBook Pro’s own Radeon Pro 460 – though it should be noted that the 2017 model offers the Radeon Pro 560. The enclosure used was the Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box 350W.
The site found that some metal apps ran more than twice as fast.
Ars did, though, note that performance varied significantly by app, often without any obvious reason.
Metal performance was sometimes more than twice as fast on the RX 580 compared to the Pro 460. OpenGL saw performance boosts ranging from around 20 percent up to about 75 percent, depending on the application. For users interested in demanding applications like 3D modeling software and triple-A games in macOS, this is great news.
Hitman, an app the site typically includes in its benchmarks, didn’t run at all.
One surprising fact is that Final Cut Pro X didn’t use the external GPU.
Senior reviews editor Samuel Axon echoed our own Jeff Benjamin’s view that eGPU support is still in its infancy.
It’s both surprising and disappointing that the Apple-made application that could most benefit from this technology doesn’t seem to use it
If you’re a fan of eGPUs, have you taken the plunge already, or are you waiting for now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
