MP All Models AMD Polaris, Vega, & Navi GPU macOS Support

[MisterAndrew]

as I thought

http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,13818.0.html

MVC got ahold the new black magic eGPU and indeed it uses the "Yelcho" frame-buffer.

best keep eyes peeled incase any more frame-buffer personalities show up

Cool. So that mystery is solved. Looks like it performs a little lower than a desktop RX 580 as expected. I don't really understand how it's better than a Sonnet box + Pulse RX 580 for $500.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Newegg has an RX 580 8GB for $199.99 after promo code & rebate. It’s kind of a weird card though since it only has a single DVI port.

Link

 

[bookemdano]

Newegg has an RX 580 8GB for $199.99 after promo code & rebate. It’s kind of a weird card though since it only has a single DVI port.

Link

I think because it's meant for mining. Also, PowerColor has sort of a reputation for crap quality (90 day warranty on this card!)

But in general, seems like Radeon prices are finally coming down now. Stupid coin mining!

 

[XNorth]

I requested this on another thread but that seems inactive...It would be great if the sticky first post of this thread includes recommendations for Mac EFI and Metal supported cards.

 

[Mattww]

Since the 10.13.6 update I'm finding it takes noticeably longer for the display to come on after sleep (RX580 Pulse).

 

[crjackson2134]

Since the 10.13.6 update I'm finding it takes noticeably longer for the display to come on after sleep (RX580 Pulse).

Many people are reporting the same behavior (including me). I don’t think it has anything to do with the RX580 specifically. I have an HD 7970 w/Mac EFI.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I requested this on another thread but that seems inactive...It would be great if the sticky first post of this thread includes recommendations for Mac EFI and Metal supported cards.

There are currently no Mac EFI roms available for Polaris and Vega GPUs, but they all support Metal. The only officially supported cards that support both Mac EFI and Metal are the HD 7950 & Nvidia GTX 680 Mac Editions, and Quadro K5000 for Mac. However, those older cards support a reduced Metal feature set in Mojave (family 1 vs family 2). So I recommend keeping one of those cards as a backup for firmware updates and use a Polaris or Vega card as your primary. If you require FileVault then you can install a flashed low-end Nvidia Kepler card such as GT 630 or 640 as a second card that doesn't require additional power, although a GT 120 would still work with no acceleration in Mojave.

 

[AndreeOnline]

I don't really understand how it's better than a Sonnet box + Pulse RX 580 for $500.

If it's as silent as it seems to be (and the huge heatsink is a good indicator that it might be), that's reason enough for lots of people who will use it on the desktop like in the marketing material.

I'm also not sure if the common eGPU cases like Sonnet can deliver the 85W of power for single cable? If not, that is pretty huge too.

And another minor point might be the design itself. It's pretty large, but it does seem kind of nice and purpose build—at least to my eyes. If that's important enough to motivate the higher price is up to the buyer.

But I don't think the price for the BMD eGPU is outrageous. But they should have made one with Frontier or at least Vega 64 while they were at it.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I think Vega supply is still pretty bad since a lot of cards from AMD partners like the Pulse 64 still haven’t been released yet. I bet we’ll see a lot more Vega products over the next year as supply gets better.

 

[eksu]

I'm trying to determine which Vega 56 card is short enough that I could try to power it via EVGA PowerLink while also not blocking PCIE slot #2 (and has working fans).

Is my best bet a reference 56 flashed with a working bios? The problem with a lot of these NANO PCB's is that the position of the power plugs wouldn't work the PowerLink.

Thanks for compiling all this information together.

 

[Synchro3]

I'm trying to determine which Vega 56 card is short enough that I could try to power it via EVGA PowerLink while also not blocking PCIE slot #2 (and has working fans).

Is my best bet a reference 56 flashed with a working bios? The problem with a lot of these NANO PCB's is that the position of the power plugs wouldn't work the PowerLink.

Thanks for compiling all this information together.

If the AMD card has one 8 pin connector this cable should be enough, no PowerLink needed: https://www.ebay.com/itm/16AWG-Dual...-Video-Card-Power-Cable-GTX1080/323094106850?

If the card has one 6 and 8 pin connector the PowerLink adapter is useful.

But if the card has two 8 pin connectors the EVGA PowerLink will not help. It will help for cards like GTX 980 Ti/GTX 1080 Ti with power draw up to 250 Watt. RX Vega 56/64 have much more power draw.

RX Vega 56 Nano Edition should work with the EVGA PowerLink:

 

[MisterAndrew]

I'm trying to determine which Vega 56 card is short enough that I could try to power it via EVGA PowerLink while also not blocking PCIE slot #2 (and has working fans).

Is my best bet a reference 56 flashed with a working bios? The problem with a lot of these NANO PCB's is that the position of the power plugs wouldn't work the PowerLink.

Thanks for compiling all this information together.

I suppose you could try the Red Dragon on secondary bios for lower power, but use a dual mini 6-pin to single 8-pin + single 8-pin to 6+8 pin cables instead of the powerlink to balance the draw. I believe TDP is 165W on the secondary bios. It might still have high spikes though.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I noticed Sapphire released a new BIOS for the Pulse RX Vega 56, dated March 15th. Here's the links: 113-376XL-UO2 (primary), 113-376XL-U44 (secondary). I put them on my card and both are working fine. Notice that there is another 113-376XL-UO2 BIOS on techpowerup and I tried that one first and the Mac would not boot so perhaps that one is corrupted or modified, so only use the one I linked.

There is also a new BIOS for the Nitro+ RX Vega 56 (not limited edition), dated March 26th: 113-D0500310-O02 (primary). I have not tested that one.

 

[PowerMac84]

By the way in Mojave Beta 4 Apple seems to have changed a lot. Red Debayering in FCPX is a lot faster. I could play back 7K at 1/2 with my Vega card. That was not possible in the previous Beta versions or on High Sierra.

Good news!

 

[h9826790]

Just install the PB5. Only run that for a few minutes for some quick test.

RX580 HEVC hardware decode still there (hopefully Apple won't take that away, you know, that's Apple, they may intentionally doing this kind of action)

Hardware encoding still not working yet. However, the system still default to use hard encoding, end up no way to export in QuickTime Player in both H264 and HEVC.

FCPX support seems still quite broken.

Anyway, just found something interesting on the RX580 in High Sierra (most likely true in Mojave as well).

I occasionally use 3D-coat (a 3D modelling software) for fun. Both the 1080Ti and RX580 can do that with good performance and no issue. However, I just realise that the RX580 work similar to have Radeon Chill support. When there is nothing change on the 3D model, the GPU will go back to idle. But for the 1080Ti, it will keep at the high performance state.

Again, not the hardware difference, but AMD has much better software / driver support in macOS.

 

[jumper981]

I can confirm that under macOS Mojave Beta 6 and custom Mac-Pro my Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse have the fan issue.They spin up to the desired RPM but doesn’t slow down.Already tried:
-Modified AMD10000Controller.kext
-Kext Injector
-PowerPlay Tables of Windows Registry

Workaround:
Play a video with IINA Player.

Also,any help it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I can confirm that under macOS Mojave Beta 6 and custom Mac-Pro my Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse have the fan issue.They spin up to the desired RPM but doesn’t slow down.Already tried:
-Modified AMD10000Controller.kext
-Kext Injector
-PowerPlay Tables of Windows Registry

Workaround:
Play a video with IINA Player.

Also,any help it would be greatly appreciated.

Are they spinning faster for you than in previous builds?
[doublepost=1533708092][/doublepost]3 free games with a new Sapphire graphics card promotion.

https://sapphirenation.net/radeon-3-free-games-assassinss-creed-odyssey/

 

[jumper981]

Are they spinning faster for you than in previous builds?
[doublepost=1533708092][/doublepost]3 free games with a new Sapphire graphics card promotion.

https://sapphirenation.net/radeon-3-free-games-assassinss-creed-odyssey/

No,when they are arrived at maximum RPM(1650) they continue to spin at the desired RPM,but without turning down anymore until I play a Video with IINA Player and fans turn down to the normal usage.

 

[MisterAndrew]

No,when they are arrived at maximum RPM(1650) they continue to spin at the desired RPM,but without turning down anymore until I play a Video with IINA Player and fans turn down to the normal usage.

Is this a hackintosh or actual Mac Pro?

 

[jumper981]

Is this a hackintosh or actual Mac Pro?

It becames a nearly-hackintosh.

 

[MisterAndrew]

It becames a nearly-hackintosh.

Okay. I had to test this myself. I'm on Mojave Beta 6 and the fans don't spin at all at idle, just like in Windows; so that's great! I just did a LuxMark benchmark and the fans spun up, but just like you experienced they haven't turned down. So that is interesting. I'm going to submit a bug report with Feedback Assistant.

Anyone experiencing different fan behaviors with other Vega cards such as reference RX or FE in the latest beta?

Here's the new LuxMark result. Pretty impressive. Higher than ever. Even higher than with 64 bios I tested previously.


[doublepost=1533755301][/doublepost]What kind of video did you play in IINA Player? I opened a H.264 video and the fans continue to spin.
[doublepost=1533755460][/doublepost]Okay, playing an H.265 video returns the fans to normal. It doesn't have to be played with IINA Player.
[doublepost=1533756740][/doublepost]I submitted a bug report with both Feedback Assistant and at https://bugreport.apple.com. I encourage others to do the same who experience this issue with build 18A353d.

However, at least the bug is fixable by playing an H.265 video.
[doublepost=1533756826][/doublepost]The Mac is so quiet now I think I may use Mojave full time now.

 

[jumper981]

Okay. I had to test this myself. I'm on Mojave Beta 6 and the fans don't spin at all at idle, just like in Windows so that's great! I just did a LuxMark benchmark and the fans spun up, but just like you experienced they haven't turned down. So that is interesting. I'm going to submit a bug report with Feedback Assistant.

Anyone experiencing different fan behaviors with other Vega cards such as reference RX or FE in the latest beta?

Here's the new LuxMark result. Pretty impressive. Higher than ever. Even higher than with 64 bios I tested previously.

View attachment 775060
[doublepost=1533755301][/doublepost]What kind of video did you play in IINA Player? I opened a H.264 video and the fans continue to spin.
[doublepost=1533755460][/doublepost]Okay, playing an H.265 video returns the fans to normal. It doesn't have to be played with IINA Player.
[doublepost=1533756740][/doublepost]I submitted a bug report with both Feedback Assistant and at https://bugreport.apple.com. I encourage others to do the same who experience this issue with build 18A353d.

However, at least the bug is fixable by playing an H.265 video.
[doublepost=1533756826][/doublepost]The Mac is so quiet now I think I may use Mojave full time now.

Many thanks in Advance for your BugReport.So appreciated.
The same thing is happening to me but I can play any video with IINA(or any other player) for turning fans down.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Many thanks in Advance for your BugReport.So appreciated.
The same thing is happening to me but I can play any video with IINA(or any other player) for turning fans down.

Does your Mac have the original Apple logic board?

 

[jumper981]

Does your Mac have the original Apple logic board?

Until 3 months ago...now I changed motherboard(Z370),CPU(8700K),GPU(RX Vega 56 Pulse),Ram(2666Mhz-16Gb),SSD(970EVO) & pulled a WiFi Card from an original iMac(BCM94360CD) all into the original Mac Pro 5,1 case.Some components were also tested with the OEM Motherboard.From an iMac18,3 I Changed all the ACPI Tables to match with macOS original definitions.Power Management of CPU, IGPU(for Quicksync),dedicate Video Card are now properly configured.Sleep/Wake,Audio,iMessage,Handoff/Continuity,MSR,USB (2.0,3.0,3.1 gen2) Power & Mappings are fully working.
I achieve better benchmarks scores on macOS than Windows...
So,
practically there is nothing left of the Original Mac...

 

[MisterAndrew]

Until 3 months ago...now I changed motherboard(Z370),CPU(8700K),GPU(RX Vega 56 Pulse),Ram(2666Mhz-16Gb),SSD(970EVO) & pulled a WiFi Card from an original iMac(BCM94360CD) all into the original Mac Pro 5,1 case.Some components were also tested with the OEM Motherboard.From an iMac18,3 I Changed all the ACPI Tables to match with macOS original definitions.Power Management of CPU, IGPU(for Quicksync),dedicate Video Card are now properly configured.Sleep/Wake,Audio,iMessage,Handoff/Continuity,MSR,USB (2.0,3.0,3.1 gen2) Power & Mappings are fully working.
So,
practically there is nothing left of the Original Mac...

Okay, that's a hackintosh. The behavior of these GPUs is different in a hackintosh so issues in those systems should be posted in a hackintosh forum.