Do I need an eGPU for my tasks?

[ozanuk]

So everyone knows that the i5 in the Mac mini is strong enough for almost everything. We can put that behind us. Except for 3D rendering related tasks, one will need an eGPU. I'd say that now but I'm not sure.

[1] Sooo......What do you call as 3D rendering? My workflow includes Photoshop, Premiere Pro (or Final Cut then), Illustrator and some Adobe After Effects for 2D stuff.
---> Do I need an eGPU for that tasks listed above and do you think that they will ran well without? I would like to save some money because everythings expensive af in Germany. I don't even want to do 4K.


[2] Additional question: Do you think an i3 would ran well too?

 

[open0]

Yes, Mac mini core i5 can be strong enough for the most. But for 3D render and hard-core tasks with Final Cut Pro, the eGPU is needed.

 

[ozanuk]

Yes, Mac mini core i5 can be strong enough for the most. But for 3D render and hard-core tasks with Final Cut Pro, the eGPU is needed.

I feel like you don't even want to give a serious advice. I really don't want to make a wrong decision purchase. What do you define as "hard-core" tasks?

 

[F-Train]

I feel like you don't even want to give a serious advice. I really don't want to make a wrong decision purchase. What do you define as "hard-core" tasks?

The guy tried to help.

If you care so much, maybe you should make the effort to look at the thread on eGPUs that has over 400 posts and 35,000 views: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/

If you look at that thread, or do a basic search, you’ll discover that Adobe has support pages on how its applications use an eGPU. The list is actually pretty limited.

With the i5, you do not need an eGPU for standard Final Cut editing, especially if you aren’t working in 4K. I haven’t used the i3 and therefore can’t comment on it.

 

[FilmIndustryGuy]

i have the i3 with 32 gb ram and am currently editing 4k 8bit footage on it in FCPX. cutting footage and moving it around only uses about 20% of the processor. Doing anything like colors, flipping footage, stabilizing footage will need a few seconds to render first before you can view it smooth. I guess this is where an external GPU would improve the process by doing those renders fast. If you export footage, the processor is used 100%

My brother does After Effects 2D work and he told me in windows hes seeing its mostly eating the CPU.

For software like Lightroom, i see its eating about 70% of the i3 when i was exporting 50 RAW images color corrected. I read some stuff about adobe prodicts like AE using 1 core to process images while another core is used to process some titles etc so maybe all teh cores arent used for the same task but each core takes on different tasks. not really sure about adobe since i dont have an eGPU right now.

if you are using Apple software like FCPX, it seems its well optimized to run smooth on anything. I was able to cut 4k footage on a Macbook 12 inch 2017. that macboook has 1.2 GHz CPU and no fans.

RAM definitely helps. 8GB is a bottleneck from my tests unless you are just using a couple of simple programs at the same time.

 

[open0]

I feel like you don't even want to give a serious advice. I really don't want to make a wrong decision purchase. What do you define as "hard-core" tasks?

Hard core task such as editing a long , high resolution, multi layer video for example.

 

[mikehalloran]

I feel like you don't even want to give a serious advice. I really don't want to make a wrong decision purchase. What do you define as "hard-core" tasks?

He gave excellent advice. It is you who needs to do your research.

BTW, the i7 was the correct machine for your needs despite your assertion that the i5 is enough. If you’re within the 14 day window, spend the $200 for the upgrade. AV projects will load and process faster. If you are a pro, Time = Money. If you’re a hobbyist, you will wait longer for certain tasks to finish while you do something else and wish you had spent the $$$.

I’m only the messenger.

 

[Photoshopper]

BTW, the i7 was the correct machine for your needs despite your assertion that the i5 is enough. If you’re within the 14 day window, spend the $200 for the upgrade. AV projects will load and process faster. If you are a pro, Time = Money. If you’re a hobbyist, you will wait longer for certain tasks to finish while you do something else and wish you had spent the $$$.

Good advice. At least 16GB ram makes sense, too. Here's a good article on configuring a mini for video, including whether or not you need an eGPU:
https://larryjordan.com/articles/configure-a-mac-mini-2018-for-video-editing/