Think the new Studio Display will work with an eGPU? (Blackmagic eGPU/eGPU Pro)

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varenhizzlesvarenhizzles
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in Current Mac Hardware
For those of us still on Intel Macs, anyone have an idea if the Studio Display will work with the Blackmagic eGPU/eGPU Pro? These are the eGPUs most officially support by Apple and nearly the only eGPUs with Thunderbolt output.  The Vega 56 eGPU Pro is the one I have, and it's been discontinued, but Apple is still selling the RX 580 Blackmagic eGPU.

The Studio Display tech specs page just says it requires a modern Mac with Monterey 12.3 or later. The Pro Display XDR specs page explicitly notes that the Blackmagic eGPU is supported. So maybe the Studio Display WON'T work with the Blackmagic eGPU??  That would be so sad and insane.  I'm really hoping it'll work just fine and Apple just doesn't want to encourage or welcome new Intel Mac eGPU users.  Also I wonder if macOS Monterey 12.3 is truly a requirement or not.

Cheers

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  • Reply 1 of 9
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,191administrator
    varenhizzles said:
    For those of us still on Intel Macs, anyone have an idea if the Studio Display will work with the Blackmagic eGPU/eGPU Pro? These are the eGPUs most officially support by Apple and nearly the only eGPUs with Thunderbolt output.  The Vega 56 eGPU Pro is the one I have, and it's been discontinued, but Apple is still selling the RX 580 Blackmagic eGPU.

    The Studio Display tech specs page just says it requires a modern Mac with Monterey 12.3 or later. The Pro Display XDR specs page explicitly notes that the Blackmagic eGPU is supported. So maybe the Studio Display WON'T work with the Blackmagic eGPU??  That would be so sad and insane.  I'm really hoping it'll work just fine and Apple just doesn't want to encourage or welcome new Intel Mac eGPU users.  Also I wonder if macOS Monterey 12.3 is truly a requirement or not.

    Cheers
    Hm, that's a good question. We'll ask.
    varenhizzles
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  • Reply 2 of 9
    varenhizzlesvarenhizzles Posts: 11member
    Would love to hear what Apple says! 

    I did chat with Apple's online chat support, which impressively connected me with a real human, and after checking with someone else the agent confirmed that yes, the Studio Display should work with the Blackmagic eGPU's Thunderbolt output.  It didn't feel super authorative though, but is at least an optimistic sign.

    Cheers!
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  • Reply 3 of 9
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,191administrator
    varenhizzles said:
    Would love to hear what Apple says! 

    I did chat with Apple's online chat support, which impressively connected me with a real human, and after checking with someone else the agent confirmed that yes, the Studio Display should work with the Blackmagic eGPU's Thunderbolt output.  It didn't feel super authorative though, but is at least an optimistic sign.

    Cheers!
    That's not who I wanted to ask, because Apple support isn't the best.

    That said, this time, they're right. I spoke with Blackmagic about it and they say yes. However, it will function like the display will on a PC, and things like the webcam and whatnot they say won't work.
    varenhizzles
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  • Reply 4 of 9
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Mike Wuerthele said:
    varenhizzles said:
    Would love to hear what Apple says! 

    I did chat with Apple's online chat support, which impressively connected me with a real human, and after checking with someone else the agent confirmed that yes, the Studio Display should work with the Blackmagic eGPU's Thunderbolt output.  It didn't feel super authorative though, but is at least an optimistic sign.

    Cheers!
    That's not who I wanted to ask, because Apple support isn't the best.

    That said, this time, they're right. I spoke with Blackmagic about it and they say yes. However, it will function like the display will on a PC, and things like the webcam and whatnot they say won't work.
    That's strange.  Does the Blackmagic eGPU also not support the additional USB-A and C ports on the LG UltraFine?  I don't see why it would be any different.

    Also, does "whatnot" include the speakers?
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  • Reply 5 of 9
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,191administrator
    crowley said:
    Would love to hear what Apple says! 

    I did chat with Apple's online chat support, which impressively connected me with a real human, and after checking with someone else the agent confirmed that yes, the Studio Display should work with the Blackmagic eGPU's Thunderbolt output.  It didn't feel super authorative though, but is at least an optimistic sign.

    Cheers!
    That's not who I wanted to ask, because Apple support isn't the best.

    That said, this time, they're right. I spoke with Blackmagic about it and they say yes. However, it will function like the display will on a PC, and things like the webcam and whatnot they say won't work.
    That's strange.  Does the Blackmagic eGPU also not support the additional USB-A and C ports on the LG UltraFine?  I don't see why it would be any different.

    Also, does "whatnot" include the speakers?
    This is what I have right now from everybody, and things are still in flux.

    There's no reason the speakers shouldn't work, given how USB-C alt mode carries the entire DisplayPort spec, which includes audio.
    edited March 2022
    muthuk_vanalingamvarenhizzles
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  • Reply 6 of 9
    varenhizzlesvarenhizzles Posts: 11member
    Thanks for the info!  The LG Ultrafine 5K also has speakers and a webcam, and I assume they both work with a blackmagic eGPU... 

    Though Spatial Audio and Center Stage could mean Apple has some special sauce for communicating with the 6 channel speaker array and webcam to support all that. Though if that's the case I'd hope the speakers still work but just gracefully downgrade to being only a simple stereo audio device.  Like when using Air Pods with spatial audio support on a non-Apple device.

    We'll see! My ship date isn't until early April but I'll report back then if these questions are still unresolved.
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  • Reply 7 of 9
    varenhizzlesvarenhizzles Posts: 11member

    Update on this! Not looking good...


    I got my Studio Display yesterday and while it works on the Blackmagic eGPU Pro + Catalina, it only supports 3840x2160 (4K) resolution. This results in a really horrible experience and makes it impossible to avoid fuzzy pixel scaling jankiness. (even by setting a "looks like" resolution of 2560x1440, which should be retina 2x scaling, macOS only outputs a 4k signal, which the monitor then upscales to 5k).

    Though as a caveat, I'm still running macOS Catalina and so might be hopefully is my fault for not upgrading.  The speakers also don't appear, though a Studio Display network interface appears which I assume is used for internal purposes on Monterey. Going to be upgrading soon finally...

    Can anyone else confirm that I should get the proper 5k resolution with a Blackmagic eGPU [Pro] if I finally upgrade to Monterey?  Or is the Blackmagic eGPU firmware update required?  Thanks!
    edited April 2022
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  • Reply 8 of 9
    Mike Wuerthelemike wuerthele Posts: 7,191administrator

    Update on this! Not looking good...


    I got my Studio Display yesterday and while it works on the Blackmagic eGPU Pro + Catalina, it only supports 3840x2160 (4K) resolution. This results in a really horrible experience and makes it impossible to avoid fuzzy pixel scaling jankiness. (even by setting a "looks like" resolution of 2560x1440, which should be retina 2x scaling, macOS only outputs a 4k signal, which the monitor then upscales to 5k).

    Though as a caveat, I'm still running macOS Catalina and so might be hopefully is my fault for not upgrading.  The speakers also don't appear, though a Studio Display network interface appears which I assume is used for internal purposes on Monterey. Going to be upgrading soon finally...

    Can anyone else confirm that I should get the proper 5k resolution with a Blackmagic eGPU [Pro] if I finally upgrade to Monterey?  Or is the Blackmagic eGPU firmware update required?  Thanks!
    The display requires Monterey 12.3.

    https://www.apple.com/studio-display/specs/
    muthuk_vanalingam
     0Likes 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 9 of 9
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Mike Wuerthele said:

    Update on this! Not looking good...


    I got my Studio Display yesterday and while it works on the Blackmagic eGPU Pro + Catalina, it only supports 3840x2160 (4K) resolution. This results in a really horrible experience and makes it impossible to avoid fuzzy pixel scaling jankiness. (even by setting a "looks like" resolution of 2560x1440, which should be retina 2x scaling, macOS only outputs a 4k signal, which the monitor then upscales to 5k).

    Though as a caveat, I'm still running macOS Catalina and so might be hopefully is my fault for not upgrading.  The speakers also don't appear, though a Studio Display network interface appears which I assume is used for internal purposes on Monterey. Going to be upgrading soon finally...

    Can anyone else confirm that I should get the proper 5k resolution with a Blackmagic eGPU [Pro] if I finally upgrade to Monterey?  Or is the Blackmagic eGPU firmware update required?  Thanks!
    The display requires Monterey 12.3.

    https://www.apple.com/studio-display/specs/
    A display has an OS requirement?  Come on Apple, not acceptable at all.
    muthuk_vanalingam
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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