Sonnet eGFX and AMD Radeon Pro Bundles
No longer held back by hardware
Serious external power
With today’s ever-increasing demand on our machines, sometimes we need that extra boost. Replacing your work machine can be an expensive, disrupt and even waste time, which is where the eGFX Breakaway Box from Sonnet comes in.
As laptops and desktops become ever increasing in their upgrade cycles, sometimes a machine from a couple years ago is just fine on the CPU front and the bottleneck generates from the graphics card becoming out of date. The Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box is the perfect solution to upgrading a recent laptop like a Macbook Pro or one of our lower end 3XS system machines and even circumvent the cycle of buying everything new again.
A professional choice of card
Radeon Pro Professional graphics are designed and built from the ground up to provide a reliable, powerful working experience. Optimised by leading Independent Software Vendors (ISV) to ensure that users get the best performance under the extreme workloads you might find yourself tackling.
This time around, we’ve got a choice of the WX8200 and WX9100 for you to choose from. The WX8200 is a little less powerful than its counterpart, but is still a roaring powerhouse. Both are perfect to introduce into your workflow for faster render times, better timeline playback and get your high end Thunderbolt 3 devices into a VR ready state. This isn’t just for video editors, but for all creators.
Thunderbolt 3
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and originally utilised a repurposed Display Port connection to bring faster speeds than USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 for Macs.
Since the introduction of USB-C, Thunderbolt made the switch to that form factor and now both Windows and Mac can achieve speeds of 40GB/s during transfer, utilise peripherals and "daisy chain" multiple devices together for increased storage and connection options.
With the improvements that have come with Thunderbolt 3, external graphics and more have become open to the masses, with Sonnet one of the leading pioneers of the hardware. Because of its versatility, the full power of the graphics card can be powered through just a power and a Thunderbolt 3 cable, bringing that type of power to a whole new swath of devices.
VR on almost anything
VR is intense on a system, having to drive a headset and the program underneath is incredibly taxing on a laptop or lower end system’s custom or integrated GPU and in some cases, not even working at all. However, CPUs in high end MacBook Pros and portable workstations are more than capable at running VR, with some now featuring Intel’s i9.
To combat this and still keep your preferred system about, the eGFX box will take over all the graphical processes from your machine and display exactly as you’d expect. Of course, on lower end systems, you’ll still need to approach it with a grain of salt as results will vary if you’re not on an i7 or above, as a good rule of thumb.
Where are you working?
Whatever software you use you’ll find that the eGFX Box AMD Bundle is perfect accompaniment to your workflow. DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro both render or playback far faster all the way up to 8K, while 3D modelling software sees a massive increase in what it can do with the added horsepower of both Radeon Pro cards.
Adobe Creative Cloud
Adobe Premiere Pro CC is widely used by everyone from those learning the ropes to high end production houses. Its easy-to-learn user interface and robust suite of tools make it the complete package by itself, but when combined with the full Adobe Suite, including direct connections with Photoshop and After Effects, it's almost too good to be true.
Find out moreDaVinci Resolve Studio 16
With its tried and true colour grading suite and now fleshed out non-linear-editor, with integrated Fusion effects suite. DaVinci Resolve Studio continues to blaze a path forward for those just starting out or those deep within the industry.
Find out moreBenchmarks
All benchmarks were done by Sonnet on macOS and Apple hardware. But with similar specs existing across the board for a majority of Windows PCs, you’ll find similar results in the programs mentioned.
Adobe Premiere Pro
H.264 Export Speed Test 10 Minute Timeline of 4K fotage with multiple effects
Autodesk Maya
Rendering Performance
DaVinci Resolve
1080p Candle Benchmark 24FPS Timeline, 36 Blur Nodes
Maxon Cinema 4D
Rendering Performance
Multiple eGPUs
Increase the power of any system by adding more hardware to your machine. Programs like DaVinci Resolve will recognise the external GPUs and start incorporating them into your workflow via rendering and other functions. This also opens up even more options for external monitors to be used.
Tested on an iMac Pro, with an on board Radeon Pro Vega 56 in DaVinci Resolve
2 X Sonnet eGPUs
1 X Sonnet eGPU
Referance
Candle Benchmark
24FPS timeline with 36 blur nodes
2 X Sonnet eGPUs
1 X Sonnet eGPU
Referance
8K Footage
10 minute timeline
1 X Sonnet eGPU
1 X Radeon RX580
MacBook Pro
Sonnet eGFX 650
Sonnet eGFX 650 Box with WX9100 vs Radeon RX580 vs MacBook Pro 15" with RX560X
(4K RAW timeline in Resolve)
Creativity, no longer limited
We’ve recommended Apple’s iMac Pro, as without voiding the warranty and ripping the innards out, it’s almost impossible to upgrade the Vega card inside. To get around this and get more out of the system’s spec, Sonnet’s Bundle is just a sublime addition.
Outside of this, obviously MacBook Pros will benefit from not being hindered by the Intel Iris GPU during intense tasks that the rest of the laptop is built for, while you can turn the Mac Mini 2018 into the start of your very own little render farm.
For those more Windows inclined, Intel’s NUC range is similar in scope to the Mac Mini or on par with a MacBook Pro. This includes the Hades Canyon, an already powerful little critter of a machine, by adding on the WX9100 or WX8200, you’ll see applications get slaughtered by a pair that don’t even take up that much room!
Of course, any laptop with Windows 10 and a Thunderbolt 3 that needs an extra kick will work great, see below for our picks