

- Best external video card for mac skin#
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While I definitely needed the performance improvement, what I really wanted was one of the ultrawide displays. eGPU and display performanceĪlthough my old 2013 iMac was as fully-equipped as it was possible to do back in 2013, it was huffing and puffing a bit doing multicam 4K video.
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It's sounding like both the Mac Mini and the Helios enclosure are actually pretty silent. But so far, I haven't noticed any noise coming from it, and I've produced a bunch of video. There is no doubt the enclosure is a bit of a beast. I routed my Thunderbolt 3 cable from the Mac Mini to the Helios FX and then a DisplayPort cable to my 38-inch (yay! finally!) monitor. No, it's not easyĪll you do is drop the GPU card into the slot, plug in the power connectors, and close it back up.
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If you've built a PC, you've seen this kind of case.Īlso: Yes, it's possible to upgrade a 2018 Mac Mini's RAM.
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The skin unscrews with three thumb screws at the back and lifts out and up.
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It's basically a small form factor PC case.
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But since even Apple's Pro eGPU doesn't support the Vega 64, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.Īs for the Helios FX enclosure, there's not much to say. Those are bigger, and the Helios isn't huge. The only limit on the Helios FX enclosure is that it won't fit the Vega 64 cards. This is the OWC Mercury Helios FX eGPU case. I'd simply be able to buy the next generation and drop it into the Helios FX enclosure. Even if I upgrade after a year or two of use, I can probably get close to half my board cost back. It's a standard PC board, and given how many crypto miners are buying up GPUs, there's always a used board market. There's no upgrade path between the two units.īy contrast, I can sell my Vega 56 at any time. Had you bought that for $699, you would have been out of luck in October, just four months later, when Apple introduced the eGPU Pro. In June, Apple announced the BlackMagic eGPU, containing a Radeon Pro 580 GPU. While the extra $320 might be worth it for the extra ports, the big ding against Apple's eGPU solution is that it's not upgradeable. It also contains an 8GB Vega 56, but it adds a bunch of ports, turning it into a Thunderbolt hub. Now, compare that to Apple's recommended BlackMagic eGPU Pro, which sells for $1,199. If you add the $299 price of the Helios FX enclosure to the $579 GPU, the total eGPU solution cost is $879.Īlso: Max out your new Mac Mini with iFixit's new RAM upgrade kit It's still a whole lot less expensive than a MacBook Pro or iMac, both with screens I didn't want.

See it now: Helios FX enclosure at AmazonĪt $579, the card was a quarter of the cost of the whole Mac Mini, but I expected the expense when I planned the purchase.

