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AMD FirePro W7100 and 2010 mac pro possible ?.

josakax

josakax

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2015
16
0
ok.. I have been read read reading.. !
but it seems I cant find one person trying this card in their older mac..
I have found a couple of people that say the w7000 works (with no boot screen)


Am I mad to think this is possible?
are the tahiti cards flashable..?
is there any other issues ?


anyone with any help or tips would be greatly appreciated..
thnx in advance :)
 
..you mean the extensions folder and the AMD7000Controller kext?
would it still need a flash to get the boot screen? and ifs so .. is there one?
 
I think W7100 is Tonga, so you'd have to look in AMD9000Controller (as well as X4000 kext). No ROM available, so no bootscreens possible on this card.

If your device ID is missing there you can manually add it, which would violate kext signing/SIP though.
 
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"If your device ID is missing there you can manually add it, which would violate kext signing/SIP though."

right .. I'm going to need to look that up.. :)
yes it is "tonga" the w7100..
do you think a "rom" will become available at a later date?

I'm new to the world of (non compatible) graphics cards ..managed countless other upgrades however
so not a complete novice..:)

what would be the situation running it with the current card for bootscreen ?
 
I don't think anyone will bother to make a Tonga ROM, since Tahiti delivers equal performance and can be flashed easily.
 
not filling me with joy.. :) now looking at the gtx980ti.. not sure I will get the same fcpx performance..
 
josakax said:
..so the w8000 can be flashed fairly easily..?
Click to expand...
It's Tahiti, right?

I guess the HD7950 EFI will technically work, it will require a good portion of luck and some modifications to get some/all outputs going.
Oh, and of course the device ID has to be in the drivers.

Do you have this card? If you can supply a ROM dump I'd gladly take a look and try to predict if it's flashable.
 
Fl0r!an said:
It's Tahiti, right?

I guess the HD7950 EFI will technically work, it will require a good portion of luck and some modifications to get some/all outputs going.
Oh, and of course the device ID has to be in the drivers.

Do you have this card? If you can supply a ROM dump I'd gladly take a look and try to predict if it's flashable.
Click to expand...
yes its tahiti.. its cheap these days.. well relatively.. I don't have the card yet.. I have been searching a lot and cant find one person who's tried this !!.. there are a couple of w7000 users who seem to say its working for them.. ..the kexts say amd 7000 amd 8000 and amd 9000
 
Yes W7000 is working, that doesn't mean anything for the W8000 though.

The names of AMD kexts don't directly refer to AMD model names. AMD7000 is GCN 1.0 generation (Tahiti, Pitcairn, ...), AMD8000 is GCN 1.1 (Hawaii, Bonaire), AMD9000 is GCN 1.2 (Tonga).
=> W7000/8000 device IDs have to be in AMD7000, W7100 has to be in AMD9000.

Why do you want to buy a FirePro card instead of the normal consumer versions? For OS X there's no real benefit...
 
josakax said:
yes its tahiti.. its cheap these days.. well relatively.. I don't have the card yet.. I have been searching a lot and cant find one person who's tried this !!.. there are a couple of w7000 users who seem to say its working for them.. ..the kexts say amd 7000 amd 8000 and amd 9000
Click to expand...
Fl0r!an said:
Yes W7000 is working, that doesn't mean anything for the W8000 though.

The names of AMD kexts don't directly refer to AMD model names. AMD7000 is GCN 1.0 generation (Tahiti, Pitcairn, ...), AMD8000 is GCN 1.1 (Hawaii, Bonaire), AMD9000 is GCN 1.2 (Tonga).
=> W7000/8000 device IDs have to be in AMD7000, W7100 has to be in AMD9000.

Why do you want to buy a FirePro card instead of the normal consumer versions? For OS X there's no real benefit...
Click to expand...

if that is the case which card would you recommend..? ..my logic was along the lines that the new mac pros are using them.. im not interested in gaming.. this is for fcpx and video plus photos and rendering
 
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HD 7950 (= R9 280) and HD 7970 (= R9 280X) are good candidates (basically the same as D700 in MacPros).

If you want to flash them, get one with reference port layout (=> 2xmDP, DVI, HDMI) and stay away from XFX.
 
Fl0r!an said:
HD 7950 (= R9 280) and HD 7970 (= R9 280X) are good candidates (basically the same as D700 in MacPros).

If you want to flash them, get one with reference port layout (=> 2xmDP, DVI, HDMI) and stay away from XFX.
Click to expand...
really.. these do not seem like pro cards at all.. they seem aimed at gamers..
would the gtx980ti be a better option..? you are you saying these bigger memory more powerful cards are wasted in mac pros..? is there a reason? :)
 
Professional workstation GPUs like FirePro or Nvidia Quadro series are essentially built for CAD workstations. They don't differ notably in hardware, but feature optimized drivers for software like CATIA or Siemens NX.

In OS X there is no such optimization (well, in fact most of that CAD software doesn't even exist for OS X). I think Apple just calls them FirePro because that's what you'd expect in a workstation.

Just have a look at benchmarks, e.g. this one: nMP vs. cMP (scroll down for GPU)
The cMP with dual 7970s is essentially as fast as the nMP with Dual D700s in synthetic LuxMark OpenCL benchmark as well as real world FCPX / Motion benchmarks.

The GTX 980Ti is obviously much faster than those 3-4 year old AMD cards, especially in terms of gaming performance. I bet barefeats also has benchmarked it against the nMP, just search for it :)
 
Fl0r!an said:
Professional workstation GPUs like FirePro or Nvidia Quadro series are essentially built for CAD workstations. They don't differ notably in hardware, but feature optimized drivers for software like CATIA or Siemens NX.

In OS X there is no such optimization (well, in fact most of that CAD software doesn't even exist for OS X). I think Apple just calls them FirePro because that's what you'd expect in a workstation.

Just have a look at benchmarks, e.g. this one: nMP vs. cMP (scroll down for GPU)
The cMP with dual 7970s is essentially as fast as the nMP with Dual D700s in synthetic LuxMark OpenCL benchmark as well as real world FCPX / Motion benchmarks.

The GTX 980Ti is obviously much faster than those 3-4 year old AMD cards, especially in terms of gaming performance. I bet barefeats also has benchmarked it against the nMP, just search for it :)
Click to expand...

interesting tests.. I have my ssd's taking up one slot so "dual" 7970s are out..
software like nuke and 4/5/6 k video is something i may dabble with.. even some 3d modelling.. so cards optimized for video are what im really after.
..like to see the gtx980ti in those same fcp tests.. :)
 
Fl0r!an said:
Found this: Dual 980 vs. others
This is the only benchmark with the 980ti, sadly without AMD cards for reference: 980ti in cMP
Click to expand...
thanks for that.. the 980(overclocked) (non ti) might be a sensible option.. seems they can be flashed..

but on the other hand.. "3. The BruceX graph illustrates what happens when a pro app function consumes gobs of VRAM. The 980 Ti's 6GB of GDDR5 was fully utilized. Consequently, in this case, it smoked the 980 (4G) and 680 (2G)."
 
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GTX 9xx cards would have to be flashed by MacVidCards, no public option available.
 
Fl0r!an said:
GTX 9xx cards would have to be flashed by MacVidCards, no public option available.
Click to expand...

really? darn.. just got one lined up(gtx 980ti) for £460 (maybe less) might do it .. then find a way..
 
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plumped for a 980ti after looking at the brucex speeds with the new drivers... now just a wait for the efi.. :)
 
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