cooperwarner8 Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Hi all, Hope you’re all doing well! I run P3D on my iMac with boot camp (yes I know 😞 but I can’t change it) My GPU is the thing that’s affecting my performance the worst as the processor and memory are still within range at by current settings i am thinking of getting an external GPU, which sold have a Radeon RX Vega 56 with 8gb of HBM2 memory which is compatible with Mac and is double the gpu memory of what I currently have my question is would I see any performance improvement with this external gpu? My Specs are 3.0GHz 6-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz RAM: 8GB Radeon Pro 570X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory  1TB Fusion Drive AMD Ryzen 3800X 3.9 GHz GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Windforce 11GB 32GB 3200MHz RAM 1TB Crucial SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRJ_simpilot Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 What exactly is an external GPU? Are you referring to a dedicated GPU over your GPU that's in the CPU? Also called integrated graphics? If so, then a dedicated GPU should help I guess. Not sure since I don't run P3D. I know in FSX or FS2004, a GPU is largely null and void when it comes to performance since both of those Sims are CPU orientated. But in P3D I guess a GPU can be more utilized due to their upgraded code. OOM errors? Read this. What the squawk? An awesome weather website with oodles of Info. and options. Wile E. Coyote would be impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 What exactly is an external GPU? Are you referring to a dedicated GPU over your GPU that's in the CPU? Also called integrated graphics? If so, then a dedicated GPU should help I guess. Not sure since I don't run P3D. I know in FSX or FS2004, a GPU is largely null and void when it comes to performance since both of those Sims are CPU orientated. But in P3D I guess a GPU can be more utilized due to their upgraded code. He's talking about external GPUs that connect over Thunderbolt 3. They're external to the iMac itself. Provided they are compatible with Windows running in Boot Camp, they should provide better performance than the internal GPUs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 i am thinking of getting an external GPU, which sold have a Radeon RX Vega 56 with 8gb of HBM2 memory which is compatible with Mac and is double the gpu memory of what I currently have In case you haven't come across this, the egpu.io site has some good information. https://egpu.io/bootcamp-setup-guide-tb3-macbook-pro/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRJ_simpilot Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 He's talking about external GPUs that connect over Thunderbolt 3. They're external to the iMac itself. Provided they are compatible with Windows running in Boot Camp, they should provide better performance than the internal GPUs. Well, goes to show you how much I know about Macs. OOM errors? Read this. What the squawk? An awesome weather website with oodles of Info. and options. Wile E. Coyote would be impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Well, goes to show you how much I know about Macs. It isn't exclusive to Macs. A number of Windows laptops also use Thunderbolt ports to allow for more powerful GPUs when at home or in the office. https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-core-x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperwarner8 Posted July 31, 2019 Author Share Posted July 31, 2019 I just ordered online an ungraded ram to install so hoping this will help out my performance but still need to consider the eGPU AMD Ryzen 3800X 3.9 GHz GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Windforce 11GB 32GB 3200MHz RAM 1TB Crucial SSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRJ_simpilot Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 It isn't exclusive to Macs. A number of Windows laptops also use Thunderbolt ports to allow for more powerful GPUs when at home or in the office. https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-core-x Well how be. Kinda like an ASIC. OOM errors? Read this. What the squawk? An awesome weather website with oodles of Info. and options. Wile E. Coyote would be impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted July 31, 2019 Share Posted July 31, 2019 Well how be. Kinda like an ASIC. Thunderbolt ports are essentially an external PCIe interface. You can get external PCIe enclosures for expansion cards in general too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRJ_simpilot Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 (edited) Very interesting. Just found out my gaming desktop motherboard has a Thunderbolt add-in card connector. Not too sure what that is. I'm assuming that's the Thunderbolt connector right there that I can utilize? Edit- Looks like there is Thunderbolt 2 and 3. Are they backwards compatible? Edited August 1, 2019 by CRJ_simpilot OOM errors? Read this. What the squawk? An awesome weather website with oodles of Info. and options. Wile E. Coyote would be impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loki Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 Yes, they are backwards compatible, however, and adapter is needed. Thunderbolt 2 typically uses a port that is physically identical to Mini DisplayPort (which usually did carry both video and data). Thunderbolt 3 uses the same port as USB-C. Here's a good overview. https://www.windowscentral.com/whats-difference-between-usb-c-and-thunderbolt-3 The add-in card would give you the actual ports. Not sure what the connector would be for. Possibly power or USB-C connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRJ_simpilot Posted August 2, 2019 Share Posted August 2, 2019 Thanks. OOM errors? Read this. What the squawk? An awesome weather website with oodles of Info. and options. Wile E. Coyote would be impressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts