It also means that highly demanding games can be played at maximum resolution on Mac – something that current Macs struggle with or can’t handle.Īlthough there are other innovative gaming solutions like NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, they don’t compare to the advantages of having an eGPU box connected to your Mac.Īn eGPU allows you to play graphics intensive games at maximum frame rates just as if you were playing it on a PC – even on older Macs as long as they have a Thunderbolt 3 port. Unless you have one of the new Apple silicon M1 Macs or one of the iMac Pros then an eGPU is a good investment to enhance the graphic processing capabilities of your Mac.Īn eGPU unit can turn your humble MacBook Pro or MacBook Air into a powerful desktop gaming system or 4K video editing system capable of competing with the very best.Īdvanced 3D graphics platforms such as NVIDIA CUDA, which are way beyond the capabilities of current Macs, suddenly become accessible with an eGPU. However, although there are many eGPUs on the market, not all are Mac compatible. With the introduction of super fast Thunderbird 3 ports on Macs and eGPU compatibility in the latest versions of macOS Monterey, Big Sur and Catalina, you can finally accelerate 3D graphics in Metal and OpenCL using an eGPU.Īn eGPU is essential to keep up with the demands of the latest games, graphic intensive applications and meet the demands of Virtual Reality (VR) games or Augmented Reality (AR). Can You Use NVIDIA Cards With eGPUs On Mac?Īn eGPU (External Graphics Processing Unit) is an external graphics card which enhances your Mac’s ability to handle graphics.Īn eGPU will enhance the graphics performance of any Thunderbolt 3 Mac running macOS High Sierra 10.14.4 or higher.Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro. Tested with prerelease Final Cut Pro X using a 50-second picture-in-picture project with three streams of Apple ProRes RAW video at 8192 x 4320 resolution and 29.97 frames per second, a 50-second picture-in-picture project with seven streams of Apple ProRes RAW video at 4096 x 2160 resolution and 59.94 frames per second, a 50-second picture-in-picture project with 12 streams of Apple ProRes RAW video at 4096 x 2160 resolution and 29.97 frames per second, and a five-minute picture-in-picture project with 16 streams of Apple ProRes 422 video at 4096 x 2160 resolution and 30 frames per second. Mac Pro systems tested with an attached 5K display. 1 Testing conducted by Apple in May 2019 using preproduction 2.5GHz 28-core Intel Xeon W-based Mac Pro systems with 384GB of RAM and dual AMD Radeon Pro Vega II graphics with Infinity Fabric Link and 32GB of HBM2 each, configured with Afterburner and a 4TB SSD.

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