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00:00["Turtle Power Theme Song"]
00:12Hey, how's it going guys? This is Dave2D, and this is a video on using external GPUs with the 2016 MacBook Pros.
00:18Now, when these laptops first launched, I was pretty excited about this connection,
00:21because these laptops have nothing but Thunderbolt 3 connections,
00:24and these external GPUs have Thunderbolt 3 ports, so they should just work, right?
00:28Well, they don't.
00:29The first issue is that Apple currently prevents Thunderbolt 3 enclosures from communicating with MacBook Pros.
00:35The second thing is that you need macOS to recognize that there's an external GPU in there,
00:39and by default, it doesn't.
00:41And then, if you want to run this thing in Boot Camp for Windows,
00:44the issue there is the allocation of PCIe bridges.
00:47All complicated stuff.
00:48But fortunately, some people have found some solutions to these issues.
00:51The thing is, before you kind of get into them,
00:53understand that there is an element of risk to this.
00:56I found that they're safe, I think that it's necessary to make this connection happen,
00:59so I did them, but kind of do this stuff at your own discretion, do it at your own risk.
01:04So, first, you have to figure out which MacBook you're using,
01:07and also whether or not you want to use it for macOS, or use it for Boot Camp Windows.
01:11You can make all of them work, it's just a matter of figuring out which one you want to use it for.
01:15I've linked a general guide down below,
01:17but if you want to get into it, and you're actually interested in doing this for your own MacBook,
01:21I suggest you read into it and kind of figure out exactly the steps,
01:24because the biggest thing is that the process is going to change over time.
01:28As new devices come out, as software updates happen,
01:31the information that I would present in a video won't be accurate forever.
01:34So I've linked stuff below, kind of use that as a guide.
01:38Okay, so all of the 2016 MacBooks can be connected to Thunderbolt 3 enclosures.
01:42The easiest one to connect up is the 13-inch MacBook Pro, without the touch bar.
01:46That one has the fewest number of tweaks to do.
01:49The 13-inch model with the touch bar needs a bit more work,
01:52and then the 15-inch model can also work, but they need some more tweaking,
01:55because they have AMD cards in there.
01:57But they're all able to connect.
01:58In terms of enclosure options, we have a couple existing ones, like the Razer Core,
02:02and we have a few that are coming out from Akidio, Bison, and Asus, to name a few.
02:07Now before Thunderbolt 3 enclosures were all the rage,
02:09there were a handful of Thunderbolt 2 enclosures,
02:12and using the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter,
02:15these still connect perfectly.
02:17And in fact, right now, the Thunderbolt 2 enclosures have better compatibility
02:21than any of the Thunderbolt 3 enclosures, which is kind of weird.
02:24They need fewer steps to get them working in either macOS or Windows.
02:28The downside to these Thunderbolt 2 enclosures is bandwidth.
02:31Thunderbolt 3 can handle 40 gigabits per second,
02:33Thunderbolt 2 can only handle 20 gigabits per second,
02:35so that's a pretty big difference in potential bandwidth.
02:38So I ran a bunch of benchmarks using different cards and different enclosures,
02:41and these are the results.
02:43The first thing to keep in mind, right off the rip,
02:45you're not going to get the same kind of performance as a desktop PCIe slot.
02:48That connection will always be the fastest.
02:50When you put a card into a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure,
02:52you're getting a drop in performance of about 10%,
02:55maybe a bit more on some cards.
02:56Kind of expected.
02:57We've seen this type of performance with Windows laptops and the Razer Core.
03:01The surprising thing to me was the performance on the Thunderbolt 2 enclosures.
03:05It's a further drop in performance because of the even tighter bandwidth restriction,
03:09but it's still pretty good.
03:10You're going to get around 80% to 85% of the maximum performance of the card.
03:14And all the tests were done with a monitor connected to an external GPU for maximum bandwidth.
03:18If you pipe data to the external GPU and then back to the laptop screen,
03:22you get a big performance drop.
03:24And the same thing applies if you want to use the 5K Thunderbolt 3 display from LG.
03:28Coming back through the cable hurts performance, so I really don't recommend it.
03:32So, the things that do work.
03:33Most things work when you're running Boot Camp in Windows.
03:36Everything from using CUDA cores for video editing to heavy gaming, it's all good.
03:40VR works nicely, and every video card that I tried had no issues.
03:44macOS is a different story.
03:46The GTX 10 series cards from NVIDIA, like the GTX 1060 or 1080,
03:50those don't work there because there are no Mac drivers for the 10 series cards right now.
03:54You need to use the 900 series.
03:56Other things that don't work that well, some benchmarks don't work properly in macOS,
04:00and when you're using extended displays, it can be a little bit glitchy.
04:03So I preferred using mirrored displays, but everything else basically works.
04:06CUDA cores work in Premiere, and 3D games run nicely.
04:09If you want to see particular frame rates for a particular game using a particular video card or resolution,
04:14you're going to have to look them up individually.
04:16But in general, you're getting around 80% of the performance when you're using a Thunderbolt 2 enclosure,
04:20and about 90% of the performance of the card when you're using a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
04:24My recommended card, if you want something for both Boot Camp Windows and macOS,
04:29the 980 Ti has come down a lot in price.
04:31If you want something for just Boot Camp Windows, you can use the 10 series cards,
04:36but on a 13-inch MacBook Pro, because it only has two cores,
04:39putting a high-end card in there like a GTX 1080 can be wasteful if your game is more CPU-dependent.
04:44I'd save the 1080 for a 15-inch MacBook Pro.
04:47But basically, choose your card depending on what you plan on doing with it.
04:50One last thing, you need an active Thunderbolt 3 cable to make the Thunderbolt 3 enclosures work properly.
04:55They're often short, but they can be up to 2 meters in length.
04:57But just look for the Thunderbolt symbol.
04:59If the cable doesn't have this symbol, there's a very good chance it won't work,
05:02even if it's a super short cable.
05:04And that's basically it.
05:05External GPUs are viable on MacBooks.
05:07They work, and for the most part, they're pretty reliable.
05:10Now, they're not going to have the same kind of performance as a regular desktop connection,
05:14and they're not the easiest things to set up,
05:15but if you're looking for an NVIDIA card for your MacBook,
05:17or if you just want to amp up your gaming experience, now you can do it.
05:20That's the end of this video.
05:21Hope you guys liked it.
05:22Thumbs if you did.
05:23Subs if you loved it.
05:24It's been nice.
05:25I'll see you guys next time.