Zotac Amp Box & Amp Box Mini promise eGPU acceleration over Thunderbolt 3

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2018
Zotac has announced the Amp Box and Amp Box Mini, two upcoming eGPU enclosures that, in combination with a compatible video card, should boost the graphics performance of Thunderbolt 3-equipped MacBooks.




The standard Amp Box supports dual-slot cards up to 9 inches in length, and GPU power consumption up to 250 watts. It also adds three regular USB 3.0 ports, plus a single "Quick Charge" 3.0 connection.

The Amp Box Mini can also handle dual-slot cards, but only up to 7.8 inches and 150 watts. Similarly, while it has four USB 3.0 ports, none of them are Quick Charge-capable.




Neither enclosure will fit the biggest video cards, or higher-end models like the Vega 64, but they may nevertheless help speed up the MacBook Pro when attached to an external display, since Pros otherwise use mobile-sized or even CPU-integrated graphics.

Pricing has yet to be announced. Zotac is targeting a launch in the first half of 2018. Apple's full support for external GPU enclosures arrives in the spring of 2018, with limited compatibility with some AMD cards available now.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member
    Those things need to be able to support a GTX 1070 or 1080 to be usefull
    emig647xzu
  • Reply 2 of 5
    hypoluxahypoluxa Posts: 680member
    herbapou said:
    Those things need to be able to support a GTX 1070 or 1080 to be usefull
    Agreed. Hopefully they offer bigger enclosures for the more pro level options.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,711member
    herbapou said:
    Those things need to be able to support a GTX 1070 or 1080 to be usefull
    NVIDIA cards suck these days on Macs. Their driver support is not that great. Yes, they may have a supported driver, but it has never worked that well for me. Its one of the reasons why I had to use macOS Sierra instead of High Sierra on my 2012 Mac Pro with an NVIDIA GeForce 970. The driver for High Sierra just did all kinds of weird stuff. 
    edited January 2018 racerhomie3
  • Reply 4 of 5
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,723administrator
    hypoluxa said:
    herbapou said:
    Those things need to be able to support a GTX 1070 or 1080 to be usefull
    Agreed. Hopefully they offer bigger enclosures for the more pro level options.
    Zotac has larger boxes for larger cards, and ones with higher power demands. These are just the newest.
    edited January 2018 hypoluxa
  • Reply 5 of 5
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    hypoluxa said:
    herbapou said:
    Those things need to be able to support a GTX 1070 or 1080 to be usefull
    Agreed. Hopefully they offer bigger enclosures for the more pro level options.
    Those exist. Hopefully there will be a broad range of these boxes. I can imagine a whole range of users who might want to, say, use a MacBook, MacBook Air, Mini, or even base level MacBook Pros but add a GPU for gaming, etc. They won't necessarily need the top-of-line GPU, but usually need more than the integrated one.
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