Is Blackmagic eGPU for Mac good for Blender?

[Lok Sang Ho]

Hi,

I am considering getting the following setup for my 3d work:

– Macbook Pro 13 inch (2018)

– Blackmagic eGPU

I am wondering if this setup will allow me to get the most out of Blender, as that is primarily why I am considering the upgrade.  Would I be able to use “GPU Compute” for rendering under Cycles Render, and also would I need to install “AMD Radeon ProRender for Blender” (https://pro.radeon.com/en/software/prorender/blender/) to maximise the performance?

Regards,

LS

[Simon Buz]

Hi, ProRender is a different rendering engine so when you will render in Blender you will have to chose if you want to render with Cycles or with ProRender. Besides ProRender has other shaders too, if I remember correctly.

[Will]

I have the same setup (2017 MBP 13 inch).

The eGPU is recognised and used by Cycles. It also works with ProRender (using Cinema 4D).

I’m away from my desk at the moment, but I can run the Cinebench and Blender benchmark tests when I get back later today.

[Will]

The Blender Benchmark app gave the two results below doing the GPU Quick Benchmark:

• bmw27 – 14:28
• classroom – 22:58
• Total:  37:25.77

Not sure that the cinebench result is terribly meaningful for this, as it’s just an OpenGL test. That gave 62.92 fps, for what it’s worth.

[Lok Sang Ho]

@williama Thank you, that’s very helpful.

[Lok Sang Ho]

@svetimas Ok, thank you.

[Author]

Posts