Radeon VII vs Vega 64 - eGPU Performance Comparison

The $700 Radeon 7 or the $400 Vega 64.. Which graphics card is better for use in an eGPU?
The best eGPU enclosure (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/n14F
This graphics card is the winner (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/jusAn
Razer Core X eGPU Box (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/AhuN
Radeon VII (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/5f0RCUp
Vega 64 (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/1PSNwi
Timestamps:
Razer Core X Enclosure - 0:34
Installation - 1:08
Radeon VII GB4 OpenCL - 1:53
Radeon VII Unigine Heaven - 2:30
Vega 64 Tested - 2:42
FCPX Stabilization Test - 4:10
FCPX BruceX Test - 4:39
FCPX Canon RAW Playback - 4:58
eGPU Differences - 5:29
Radeon VII Worth it? - 6:01
In this video, we test the Radeon VII & Vega 64 graphics cards as eGPU's using the Razer X Core eGPU enclosure. We hook it up to a 2018 15" Vega 20 MacBook Pro and compare scores from Geekbench 4, Unigine Heaven and Final Cut Pro X against the 2017 iMac Pro and the 2019 i9 Vega 48 5K iMac.
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[@MaxTechOfficial]

What do you guys think of these results? Comment below if you're currently using an eGPU or planning on it! Subscribe for more! This graphics card is the winner (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/jusAn Razer Core X eGPU Box (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/AhuN Radeon VII (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/5f0RCUp Vega 64 (Amazon) ➡ geni.us/1PSNwi Timestamps: Razer Core X Enclosure - 0:34 Installation - 1:08 Radeon VII GB4 OpenCL - 1:53 Radeon VII Unigine Heaven - 2:30 Vega 64 Tested - 2:42 FCPX Stabilization Test - 4:10 FCPX BruceX Test - 4:39 FCPX Canon RAW Playback - 4:58 eGPU Differences - 5:29 Radeon VII Worth it? - 6:01

[@elijahfreeman1555]

Is there a follow up video yet?

[@Johanniscool]

Imagine if Apple made a computer that you could slide open and add graphics cards. They could call it MacPro.

[@copypaste3526]

Dream on brother.

[@JussimirPasold]

Imagine if you could also easily upgrade the cpu, ram and add multiple hard drives (including nvme compatibility) all on a elegant enclosure connected to a new apple 5K (or 8k) cinema display with 144hz (powered with a single thunderbolt 3 cable). That really would be the dream to most pro apple users.

[@timothyandrewnielsen]

How dare you insult Apple! To the dungeons with him lads and m'ladies!

[@christiandang7530]

A new update of a new Mac Pro coming to 2019.

[@JussimirPasold]

christian dang we got 32” 6K hdr, unfortunately no promotion 144hz monitor... and upgradibility seems great, but only single xeon

[@kgotter]

This test seems incomplete. You Should of also ran the EGPU in Bootcamp. Then you can get a fair idea on how much drivers are to blame and how much the EGPU is slowing it down.

[@MaksimYuryev]

We will definitely cover this in the future. This video was meant to compare these two now that you can get the Vega VII to run.

[@WolfSilverLone]

@@MaksimYuryev I would have done this on windows as well.. see if this setup is idea for laptop that have the proper connectors but are not equiped with a dedicated video card.. (work stations units)

[@sivanyc]

Been waiting for a comparison video from these 2 cards in egpu. Thanks!

[@lore88824]

...time to do an update and see if the current version of Mac OS has optimized drivers and if the Radeon VII is finally worth it, isn't it? I just got a Razer Core Chroma and I'm looking for which graphic card to put in...

[@wickeRstick]

Would love to see this comparison in a Mac Pro 5,1

[@MichaelSchmidt_UrbnPxl]

what ... the RADEON VII works now? ... having it here but did not install it yet since it is not officially announced at all anywhere

[@keithh8176]

it works on macOS 10.14.5 beta

[@drsuppan]

Any chance to get an update on the results to see whether the driver for the Radeon VII has improved?

[@digitaldevigner4080]

I’m not surprised the performance was at best 13% faster than the Vega 64. That’s the nature of this stuff and each level higher only adds a small performance gain. It’s that way with CPU and GPU and at the top we usually spend about $300 to get at best an extra %10 increase. This is why I rarely buy the top components because the ROI just isn’t there. If one needs it for bragging rights then go ahead but realistically it likely won’t matter much. With that said 77fps vs 68fps is still a de Ent jump if a game is right on the performance edge and the Vega64 just can’t maintain 60 FPS. Might be worth it to some people. Most of us have known for some time that eGPU does lose some performance. It’s a 4x slot vs the 16x slot on a motherboard so without a doubt there is some potential for loss. Where eGPU is important is that we get to use the GPUs on laptops, Mac Minis and iMacs. Something that would be physically impossible with a graphics card in the past. It’s about allowing the use of increased graphics performance no matter what kind of computer a user has. Even the cheapest MacBook Air benefits from a eGPU. Mac users don’t really care if a Windows tower can use them faster because it’s not a realistic comparison. All that matters is how much it improves MacOS performance. If one has a iMac with the Vega 48 it is without a doubt pointless to add a eGPU unless one uses an application like Resolve that can use more than one GPU for processing. That’s another area where eGPU has its true value. On a top Vega 48 iMac or Vega 56 iMac Pro it isn’t about getting massive performance over the internal GPU but adding to it for those applications that can use both. We buy a Mac with a dedicated GPU so we don’t have to use a eGPU. The Radeon VII isn’t a great value for the cost and neither was the Vega 64 either. That’s why I added a Vega 56 eGOU to my new Mac Mini. In the end I’m only down another 10% over the Vega 64 and it just wasn’t worth it. Sam goes for the Radeon VII. I knew the iMac with Vega 48 would be close to my eGPU but I also didn’t want to invest in a Mac with a $1,200display that I could never use on another Mac in the future. I love the flexibility of my Mini setup and I didn’t have to invest in the Vega 48. I can now change the GPU and sell it as needed to move up or switch to a different technology like Nvidia for bootcamp as needed.

[@BigFourHead]

Would love a full over view of best price/performance on AMD cards and eGPU setup.

[@MarceloTezza]

Nice exclusive test! Very interesting content, thanks!

[@cloudrazor3621]

So the fact that is one of the only options with 16GB on the mac doesn’t matter at all?

[@FourPeaksFilms]

I have been using a 64gb Ram 16gb video card iMac Pro for the last year. Tried this graphics card out just now with a baseline MacBook Pro 15 2018 and averaged 83 to 85 fps on U Heaven. Stellar results!

[@skatasay123]

IMAGINE was the pro worth the money

[@espro436]

I'm waiting for 10.14.5 and will buy this GPU for my hackintosh :)

[@D-One]

So you will pay double the price of a vega 64 for about %5 more performance? 3:10 Why!?

[@cerberus.5640]

Alphacool is almost done making an AIO for the card then the overclocking potential will kill the vega 64 in comparison

[@verymental6999]

D-One We don’t like money sitting in the bank while a juicy VII is on the storeshelfs! I am getting better performance in real applications on my hack - we are not there yet completely - but it’s a start. Don’t look to geekbench... use real applications. My Bruce X went from 15 to 10 seconds going from Vega 56 to VII.. with beta drivers. My Vega 56 is custom watercooled.

[@TechnoLadz]

If you could afford it could you add the Vega 64X iMac Pro, everything else base but just the gpu upped to a vega 64X

[@ResizeFilms]

Hello, would like to know if the baseline iMac Pro with internal Vega 56 would benefit running with the Vega 64 or Vega 7 on eGPU? Thank you for your time, much appreciate!

[@10veryintelligentlevels35]

Thanks for the tests. Some of these benchmark tests are old and can't be maxed out anymore. Even in the future we won't see the results change much or at all. The Geekbench scores for Vega 56/64 in eGPU are usually higher than the one you got with the Radeon VII. Best not to benchmark beta drivers.

[@WarriorsPhoto]

Personally, a powerful GPU will work fine, inside a Mac. The need for external GPUs at this time isn’t for my needs. I will also more then likely make myself another Hackintosh if I need that much more rendering performance. Sad but true, that’s the way to go if that much processing power is needed on a budget.

[@chinamobilemag]

The Geekbench Open CL scores are wrong right now. Vega 64 and 56 reach exactly the same scores as well. In 10.14.4 my Vega 64 used to reach 204k in Geekbench on macOS (Hackintosh). It's either the benchmark that needs to be updated or some issue with the drivers in 10.14.5. I assume it's an issue with Geekbench tho since for example Luxmark doesn't have reduced scores.

[@AlbertVasquez4Homes]

Please help me understand what the bottleneck of an eGPU is? Why is the same card underperforming when it’s eGPU vs having it internal like an iMac? Is there something that Apple can do to make the eGPU perform a lot closer to how that sane card performs on an internal gpu?

[@MaxTechOfficial]

There is some loss from having the data being sent from the laptop to the eGPU and back and on top of that thunderbolt 3 only has access to 4 PCI lanes where a graphics card internally typically has 16 or 8 so it’s bandwidth starved. With some weaker cards it could matter less than other more powerful ones. I want to explore and test this more - Max

[@AlbertVasquez4Homes]

Max Tech thanks for the reply Max. Wow, that sucks then. That means in theory, 3 years from now, we will have a lot more powerful gpu’s but a lot of that power won’t make it to a Mac mini or any other Mac using egpu. I just bought a Mac mini for the upgradability of changing out graphic cards as the years go by but that seems like it won’t benefit me as much. It’ll probably be thunderbolt 4 that gets the better use of eGPU since you are saying that it’s a hardware limitation

[@spacebb]

@@AlbertVasquez4Homes this is a driver problem too so there will be noticeable performance improvements

[@helloooooo473]

Thanks for the tests and video! In line with your other videos, what were the respective times to export a 5min 4k clip with 2 luts and film grain applied? I think in previous videos you have shown the MBP Vega 20 to do 3:21, iMac i9 in 3:14, and iMac Pro Vega 56 in 3:03. Thanks in advance guys

[@DueM]

probably more of a bandwidth limitation from it being off board than card power, pretty cool idea though.

[@ydm5856]

Hi there, would you recommand using this eGPU set up on an i9 iMac with Pro 580x to boost the graphics performance? Thanks!

[@tribalart88]

How did you set up premiere pro to work with eGPU? My eGPU isn't connecting to render using the external graphics card. Can you advise, please?

What about performance of this to card with new Prores Raw ? New update video ?

[@AnkushNarula]

Where's the Windows Bootcamp test on the MBP?

[@aparre]

Hello friends! I would like to consult you. I have an iMac 2019 64gb Ram Radeon Pro vega 48 8gb. I dedicate myself to video editing and my main program is premiere pro. I have in mind to invest money in the second-hand market to buy an eGpu, but I don’t know if it’s worth it or not and I don’t know which would be the best option. Can you help me? Thank you!!

[@D-One]

Since you mentioned results with windows, it would be nice to see geekbench results with windows bootcamp.

[@RussellAlboroto]

Does anyone know if Metal works better than OpenCL in Premiere Pro if you’re using AMD eGPUs?

[@MacGuy3135]

Your results seem off My unigine heaven result was 104.7 with a vega 64 hooked up to a Mac mini same settings.

[@skatasay123]

what cpu? and is your setup more than good enough for botw on cemu or na

[@mattiaantonelliofficial]

Thanks Max, the video is really useful, do you have any updates for us? Does the Radeon VII work fine and at full power with FCPX?

[@nottoxicD2]

What keyboard are you using in this video?

[@jokerbug1985]

Logitech Craft.

[@sirzackefeller]

I have the same setup right now, but is there any way to get the fans on the card itself to work? I have one of those Sapphire Vega 64 cards with 3 fans and 2 x 4 pin fan connection points, but the razer core x doesn't come with those cables and right now the only fan running is the Razer core's, which works ok but it'd be cool if I could utilize the other 3 fans that are otherwise just wasting away.

[@gr8motive]

Hows the performance from the R7 now with newer drivers?

[@ImSteveSwish]

You should be testing with Metal API. Games I play like WoW have dropped openCL support entirely and force Metal because its much better now on Mac.

[@xueshaoyang]

I really prefer the Vega 64 for my MacBook Pro 2017 15'', Can this Razer Core enclosure support build-in screen acceleration? thx for help!

[@WNJOfficial]

Very helpful info about these 2 cards, good job!

[@WNJOfficial]

I originally wanted to sell out my Gigabyte Aorus Nvidia 1080 Gaming Box in the recent days and buy Razer Core X with Radeon VII...Now I think I should consider carefully...

[@WNJOfficial]

and....would you please test the BootCamp Windows performance using these 2 cards?

[@liuhe7813]

Have you think about the reason of why they don't have much different is because of the CPU?

[@TheWastehead]

I can't get My Radeon VII to work in latest 10.14.5 with my MacBook Pro TB3 or My MacPro TB2(with Purge wrangler) ??? On the MacBook 15" 2017 TB3 it says "Cant use the Thunderbolt accessory" ??? and on the MacPro 2013 Trashcan it says "Permissions Denided for Sudu" when trying to run Purge-Wrangler!??? Any expert/pro that can help me???

[@MrNosugarcoating]

That keyboard looks nice from the front. I imagine I don’t need it because people don’t see the front of my keyboard.

[@arthuryang3004]

Just curious: what version of Mac OS X were you running these tests against? 10.14.4? Thanks.

[@nottoxicD2]

10.14.5

[@TheWastehead]

​@@nottoxicD2 I can't get My Radeon VII to work in latest 10.14.5 with my MacBook Pro TB3 or My MacPro TB2(with Purge wrangler) ??? On the MacBook 15" 2017 TB3 it says "Cant use the Thunderbolt accessory" ??? and on the MacPro 2013 Trashcan it says "Permissions Denided for Sudu" when trying to run Purge-Wrangler!??? Any expert/pro that can help me???

[@beretkim8231]

I have bought R7 for egpu, the performance is not very good, and the fan likes helicopter. ..what happened???

[@martin_wood]

Been wondering about the vii. Thanks for testing it. Wonder if thunderbolt 3 or the enclosure is the bottleneck now 🤔

[@juanmj93]

probably thunderbolt

[@georgerobles9747]

So does this work with an LG 5K Apple display on a MacBook Pro?

[@JakeM218]

A lot of the tech channels and people in the comments seem to suggest avoiding the Blackmagic EGPU and EGPU Pro because they’re not upgradable. But this seems like some of the cards at the moment are already pushing the limit of an EGPU enclosure and Thunderbolt 3...? So is it worth considering a blackmagic EGPU or EGPU Pro for their reduced noise and improved thermals. It seems computers will need Thunderbolt 4 (and newer egpu enclosures) in order to take advantage of the newer cards that will be released in 2020 and beyond, so it defeats the point of having an upgradable EGPU.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Good point. The new Vega 7 is a powerhouse, though. Definitely louder, but either way, you'll be dumping the Blackmagic eGPU soon as well. You can check out Max's review of the Blackmagic eGPU. -Vadim kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnWuhqFmar90pKs

[@Jacob_Roberts]

Max, it would help me if you would define your terms. For example, you show a score of 164,998. What does this mean? Is this video directed towards a very limited technical audience?

[@pushpad1626]

Can the radeon 7 fit inside the razor core v2

[@Mars_punch]

what keyboard is that? Looks great!

[@tribalart88]

Have you been able to use the Radeon VII with Premiere Pro 2019 as I can't seem to get it to work?

[@MalcolmREBORN]

I read that a Mac mini would actually benefit way more than a 15-inch MacBook Pro because it already has a dedicated GPU inside. EGPUs like it when Intel graphics are present. I believe this very channel once demonstrated that.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

The MacBooks also have intel graphics

[@edcgadgets-de]

I have the new i7 Mac mini and Radeon VII + Razer Core X, still beta but holy moly that’s a beast. Didn’t make benchmarks though... Stay tuned for updates

[@mikedziados4308]

Will either one of these provide better video editing performance than the vega 20 in a 15" mackbook pro?

[@martin_wood]

both are desktop gpus and will dance around a laptop gpu

[@arudanel5542]

Well, do have to consider the longer term benefits as well. After all, on Windows 10 at launch, the Radeon 7 was almost 25% slower than the RTX 2080. Now, less than 6 months later, the card in Windows 10 can match, and even slightly beat the 2080 in benchmarks and games. It's clear AMD has issues optimizing drivers, that's nothing new. Once this card is optimized it will be a BIG boost. Also, glad to see you used the proper ports, the right side are half speed on the macbook pro. (2 PCI lanes vs 4)

[@H.Phamily]

I thought on the 15" both sides are equal and the 2018 macbook 13" fixed it and both sides are 4 lanes now . Am I wrong?

[@DylanGalletly]

What keyboard do you have there?

[@MadmusicalHulk]

I'm thinking of the Radeon VII with an eGPU since my iMac Pro is only Vega 56, I couldn't justify getting the Vega 64 version knowing that I could use an eGPU later on

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Great choice! Drivers aren't fully ready for the Radeon VII but it's still performing great. -Vadim

[@MadmusicalHulk]

@@MaxTechOfficial I'm under the impression that there is support when the next release of Mac OS comes out. As for my laptop it would be a welcome boost from Vega 20 in my MacBook Pro. . btw thanks for quick reply!

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Actually testing that right this second :) Depending on the work you're doing.. it may not be a welcome boost at all. Stay tuned ;) -Vadim

[@MadmusicalHulk]

@@MaxTechOfficial That's useful to know. I use Capture One Pro rather than Adobe Lightroom for my Photoshoots. I also use FCPX, Avid Media Composer for film editing and Logic Pro X. .. I don't know if this helps. Although I am considering upgrading my PC from Ryzen Gen 1 to Gen 3 in late July anyway so the card wouldn't be completely be a waste of money.

[@superfly13161205]

Final Cut is a poor user of external GPU's. Davinci Resolve 15 and beyond will show a much better improvement. And even if an egpu would give you a 15% improvement, this would be massive for pro/prosumer editors who render/use fusion on project after project. Agree it probably isn't worth it for the average user, but still might be more valuable to test this config a program that actually uses the egpu's to their full potential.

[@moh__gs9157]

I hope you test it in bootcamp. (Games benchmark)

[@allischanging]

Nice Review : )

[@almenarab]

Radeon VII under Mac?? Didn’t know there were aiready drivers

[@dennyroozeboom4795]

Thought it was beta software

[@MrVindork]

Propably beta software thing but I score on my Razer Core with Vega 64 liquid cooled geekbench around 170k. Not undervolted or clocked. You can check my build and benchmarking here: imgur.com/a/6SFtJvd

[@billB101]

I have a Razer Core X Vega 64 eGPU running with my 2018 I7 MBP, I bought it to run C4D then realised ( the hard way ) that non of the high end renderers ( Cycles, Redshift, Octane etc. ) run on AMD cards. They all run on Nvidia with CUDA and Apple won't support Nvidia. And now Apple have dropped Open CL and GL support too in favour of their proprietary Metal ( which non of the industry leaders in graphics seem to be bothered about developing for ) So apart from a slight performance hike in Davinci resolve ( I don't see any in premiere or after effects ) I honestly can't see the point of running an eGPU on OSX for any kind of high end graphics or video work. It's just a pointless and expensive upgrade. Benchmarks mean nothing if OSX can't run the industry standard software and renderers. So after 3 decades of using Apple gear I'll be selling and buying a PC as my next investment, that's For sure. Apple have made that decision for me.

[@aadam2695]

The Radeon 7 and Vega 64 aren’t reaching anything close to their potential since Apple shares bandwidth with their custom controller,and also thunderbolt 3 has only max 4 pcie 3.0 lanes which is way far to let them reach their potential

[@rawandkarim8970]

what is a best gpu for mac mini 2018 please ?

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Vega 64

[@rawandkarim8970]

thanks@@MaxTechOfficial

[@maxcarter2729]

You can make games test ? And on windows too ! Pls

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Here's a gaming test on the iMac. We may do a gaming test with the MBP and eGPU soon. -Vadim kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIaYiJRjd9qfmqc

[@alimamalseryawi1765]

is the Radeon VII work fine on hackintosh ?

[@D-One]

Once 10.4.5 is released yes.

[@alimamalseryawi1765]

@@D-One are you sure ?

[@datamedicpr]

Tested with a Vega FE 16gb

[@pwneytube]

Are you going to retest once the drivers mature? Otherwise this seems like a pointless video lol.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Yea we will. This was the first time it’s supported so as you may have seen in the comments not many even know it’s possible.

[@MariusNilsen]

VEGA 2 not Radeon 7

[@RiccardoMerloVegan]

Radeon VII performance will increase over time

[@Shahaaim]

by that time they'll already have Navi

[@twistedoracle1144]

You should have used an external display

[@MaxTechOfficial]

I did. Look again. -Vadim

[@twistedoracle1144]

Max Tech I am sorry. I didn’t notice. My bad.

[@nikiale]

Max Tech are you tested MBP Vega 20 with external display too?

[@philipkolbo]

Where do you find the Vega 64 for $400? I can only find it used for more.

[@sail4horizon]

Newegg. $419

[@PizzaFrix]

"Bottleneck doesn't exist is just a mith " "But dude those cards have like 30% of performance difference in a desktop and now are preatty much the sam..." "I SAID DOESN'T EXIST!" "But mate listen me thunderbolt cannot have same speed of a pcie ..." "IS ACTUALL FASTER!" "Fren all your cards loose at least 30% of performances" "YOU ARE JUST JELOUS OF MY SETUP ! I KNOW YOU HAVE REAGREATS BCZ MY SYSTEM IS BETTER THAN YOURS SO SHOUT UP!" "Dude my vega64 litterally outperform you RADEON7 bcz eGPU is not wor..." "DON'T EVEN SAY THAT!" "Dude i'm not sayng that your apple stuff is not good ... What I'm sayng is that is not meant for gaming" "SHUT UP FOLK, I CANNOT HEAR WITH MY AIRPODS!"

[@JussimirPasold]

What keyboard are you using?

[@MaxTechOfficial]

Logitech Craft Keyboard: geni.us/3jgbik Currently on sale, great for video and photo editing and other things! -Vadim

[@gniothegratemakes5323]

Can you do giveaways

[@brokenstereotype]

Second

[@whisperer1998]

First

[@ttebroc236]

Its called a Bottleneck... stay away from apple