![]() All for the <1% of users that run an eGPU. Developers now need to check what type of GPU is connected, what features it supports and what is the best way to program for it - increasing the development time, making testing more complicated and significantly increasing the chance of bugs (to be fair, this is how GPU programming currently works on Intel Macs or in fact on any PC, but that's also the aspect that Apple Silicon makes that much better. These GPUs don't support same things that Apple GPUs support, and they don't come with the same programming model, performance guarantees or the streamlined set of features. Then, if you want an eGPU, you are probably talking about an AMD or Nvidia one (because let's be honest, why would Apple make an eGPU - it's a very niche market that won't make any sense for them). Most significantly, they break unified memory. Now, the problem with eGPUs is that they completely break the Apple Silicon GPU model. I like to compare Apple Silicon Macs to consoles in this regard - you know what hardware you run and Apple gives you fairly decent amount of control over what that hardware can do, something you don't really have when working with a Windows or Linux machine. Basically, Apple Silicon is a huge step for GPUs on Macs, not only in terms of performance, but - what I personally consider to be much more important - in terms of stability, predictability and ease of development. For example, high-performance unified memory of Apple Silicon has amazing potential for professional applications since it allows the CPU, GPU, ML accelerators and any other specialized processors to work on the same data in tandem, something that is impossible with a traditional PC where the GPU is connected to the rest of the system via a slow data bus. If you as developer take advantage of these features, you can build software that performs very well with high efficiency and flexibility. Second, Apple GPUs have unique features that no mainstream GPU can offer: unified memory¹, TBDR, shared memory across shader invocations etc. First, it significantly cuts down the development and testing time, since you don't have to take care of all the hardware differences and driver bugs you encounter - everything from the TV to the Mac Pro runs the same hardware and the same driver, just different "quantities" of it. ![]() Two things are especially important here. Thunderbolt 4 uses the same physical USB-C connector design, and Thunderbolt 4 ports and cables are backward and cross-compatible with USB 4, Thunderbolt 3, and other USB standards.Īpple's M1 Macs, which include the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, are available for purchase today and will begin arriving to customers on November 17.To put it simply: one of the primary advantages of Apple Silicon is that it offers a streamlined GPU programming model with predictable performance across the entire ecosystem. ![]() Intel has also designed new cables that support Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4, with longer lengths that don't compromise the 40Gb/s speeds.
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