AMD Radeon RX Vega Plug-and-Play in 10.13

[krishnaM]

Thanks for prompt reply. The only one currently available from reputable site is this one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137135

This is probably not as fast or able to overclock like other gaming 580s. But that doesn't bother me as I don't play games and will probably never over clock the system. My only use is for Photoshop or video editing as I am getting the new Nikon 850 camera which has 4K video capability. As the previous mac cards (GT120 or HD7950) were reference style with blower style fan and I am presuming this will be ok in the cMP 2009 (flashed to 5,1).

I don't mind waiting for Sapphire but sales person at Newegg mentioned that the companies have stopped making this card as the VEGA is the current model and I don't want to buy used cards in ebay as they must have been used in the mining computers.

 

[fendersrule]

THat's exactly what I ordered. MSI makes great cards. It's a sexy reference card.

Gaming 580s and a reference 580s....don't make a big deal about that. You're only looking at 2-3 FPS difference.

I'll probably mildly overclock the MSI reference card eventually when it arrives.

 

[devon807]

THat's exactly what I ordered. MSI makes great cards. It's a sexy reference card.

Gaming 580s and a reference 580s....don't make a big deal about that. You're only looking at 2-3 FPS difference.

I'll probably mildly overclock the MSI reference card eventually when it arrives.

Im returning my 560's and exchanging them for this. I didn't even know Newegg had stock at a (somewhat) reasonable price.

 

[krishnaM]

However, you better make sure they are the reference card.

I am wondering why did you specify to get 'Reference' card and why only MSI carried that style of card? Also is it better to get two cards to avoid excess stress and fan noise while rendering video in fcpx?

 

[h9826790]

I am wondering why did you specify to get 'Reference' card and why only MSI carried that style of card? Also is it better to get two cards to avoid excess stress and fan noise while rendering video in fcpx?

non-reference card may not work in cMP. e.g. lost of XFX card doesn't work on cMP at all because custom PCB and ROM.

Cooler type is not that important indeed. But there is a quiet blower type, I will prefer that more than anything. It can push the hot air out of the case more effectively.

IMO, yes, FCPX really able to utilise dual card very well (most likely due to highly optimised for the nMP's dual D700). I used to use FCPX quite a bit, dual 7950 can finish BruceX in 15s on my single processor cMP. Editing 4K video without any problem.

I tried single 7950 heavy OC and dual 7950 under volt. Definitely prefer dual 7950 undervolt. Very good performance to cost ratio. Both cards will run very quiet even under the most demanding scenario. And I assume undervolt can make the card last longer than heavy OC. But of course, the down side is very clear, 2 double width GPU will occupy 3 slots in the cMP. Leave me only one PCIe slot for other expansion card.

 

[krishnaM]

IMO, yes, FCPX really able to utilise dual card very well (most likely due to highly optimised for the nMP's dual D700). I used to use FCPX quite a bit, dual 7950 can finish BruceX in 15s on my single processor cMP. Editing 4K video without any problem.

I tried single 7950 heavy OC and dual 7950 under volt. Definitely prefer dual 7950 undervolt. Very good performance to cost ratio. Both cards will run very quiet even under the most demanding scenario. And I assume undervolt can make the card last longer than heavy OC. But of course, the down side is very clear, 2 double width GPU will occupy 3 slots in the cMP. Leave me only one PCIe slot for other expansion card.

Thanks again. Does it matter if the cards are of different brand? I mean to say that if by luck, I am able to get Sapphire Pulse card in future, can I use it along with MSI card?

 

[h9826790]

Thanks again. Does it matter if the cards are of different brand? I mean to say that if by luck, I am able to get Sapphire Pulse card in future, can I use it along with MSI card?

Doesn't really matter.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...mac-with-2-d700s.1732849/page-5#post-21722712

 

[krishnaM]

Great, I'll contact you regarding powering two cards in cMP when I get Sapphire Pulse.

 

[h9826790]

Great, I'll contact you regarding powering two cards in cMP when I get Sapphire Pulse.

With reference to this

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...or-approaching-silence.1982499/#post-23120938

and this

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...nd-play-in-10-13.2065419/page-5#post-25027472

If you don't down volt the card. Each card should draw ~110W from the 8 pin. Therefore, it's OK to power them with just a single mini 6pin.

FCPX's loading is lighter than Luxmark, therefore, dual RX580 should be fine (without any mod or extra PSU)

However, you CANNOT run anything more demanding than Luxmark. It may cause an instantaneous shut down (it's a protection)

If you want to play safe, you better down volt the card. I never play around with the RX580. But from the RX480 review, down volt it actually make it run faster (less thermal throttling) and cooler.

I highly suggest you study how to mod the RX580 ROM now, and down volt the card (if you plan to run dual RX580 in cMP without any mod). For FCPX, I am very sure it's not mandatory, but make the card run cooler, quieter still a bit better.

And I really want to see how dual RX580 can perform in FCPX. May be something like 10s BruceX

 

[krishnaM]

Thanks for the links, however I am not a computer expert, just an enthusiast. Last year I was able to upgrade the firmware and exchange the cpu, just because you all helped me. I am sure I'll knock the door again when it gets real technical.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the links, however I am not a computer expert, just an enthusiast. Last year I was able to upgrade the firmware and exchange the cpu, just because you all helped me. I am sure I'll knock the door again when it gets real technical.

It's totally OK, just want to give you a head up that dual RX580 (stock setting) can shut down your Mac under very high demand situation.

And if you have time, you can study how to downvolt it.

 

[MisterAndrew]

If you don't down volt the card. Each card should draw ~110W from the 8 pin. Therefore, it's OK to power them with just a single mini 6pin.

FCPX's loading is lighter than Luxmark, therefore, dual RX580 should be fine (without any mod or extra PSU)

I thought we decided powering an 8-pin off a single mini 6-pin isn't a good idea.

 

[h9826790]

I thought we decided powering an 8-pin off a single mini 6-pin isn't a good idea.

Of course it can cause problem. But if do it properly is not a problem at all. At the end it's about the actual power draw, not the pin numbers.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Some people were saying anything more than 75w sustained could hurt the logic board though.
[doublepost=1505838223][/doublepost]This review claims the power consumption of the Vega 56 is "nearly identical" to the RX 580 and is actually more power efficient. They also said, "With the RX 580 there’s a 25 Watt power consumption increase when you plugin a second monitor. With RX Vega adding a second monitor raises power consumption by about a Watt."

So it would seem that running two RX 580 cards using the mini 6-pins would be a bad idea.

https://semiaccurate.com/2017/08/14/amds-radeon-rx-vega-56-review/

 

[h9826790]

Some people were saying anything more than 75w sustained could hurt the logic board though.

My real world personal experience told me that's not a problem at all. The cut off limit is ~120W, and I tried dual downvolt 7950 running Furmark with just that 2x mini 6pins. Power usage already outside iStat / Hardware monitor can display. Calculation shows about 105W per mini 6pin, since there is almost always a 10W difference between them. So it's most realistic to assume 100W on mini 6pin A, and 110W on mini 6pin B. I ran that for 15min three times. No problem at all.

I bought my Mac Pro directly from Apple in 2009, it still working normally, those mini 6pin still healthy. Logic board still alive.

Some people can say whatever they want. 75W is the official limit is a fact. But the cMP should not be damaged because pull more than 75W is also a fact. And it's not some body say, but I did all the test by myself.

I should make it clear, I personally won't recommend anyone to do this. However, if someone want to, I will help, since it's absolutely doable, and not that risky.

 

[karsten]

For those of you with Vega 56 on hand, have you tried with the other dual-BIOS switch setting and measured power draw? It's a physical switch by the pcie connector. For Vega 64 at least, it had a noticeable difference in power consumption - independent of the driver setting. I'm thinking it would help in Mac OS - https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Radeon_RX_Vega_64/29.html

Edit-- here's Tom's results with the bios switch on Vega 56: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-rx-vega-56,5202-21.html

 

[Kris Kelvin]

For those of you with Vega 56 on hand, have you tried with the other dual-BIOS switch setting and measured power draw?

The switch did not help with my Mac Pro shutting down when running FurMark, so I didn't bother testing further.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Just FYI, the MSI Vega 56 is in stock at MSRP at Newegg today (Radeon Red Pack for $499).

 

[Flint Ironstag]

These are some ******** prices. Not paying above retail for Pascal cards either... I need to buy 4 x 1080 or better come October. Hope prices get back in line soon. 1080Ti & Titan are the only cards selling at MSRP.

 

[fendersrule]

Why do you need 4 cards? Perhaps some rendering?

 

[fendersrule]

My MSI RX 580 boots in MacOS as long as you have 10.12.6.

Uni performance seems comparable same as my R9 did.

Stuff isn't listed correctly, but that's to be expected. Let's see what High Sierra does when it comes out.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Why do you need 4 cards? Perhaps some rendering?

Hash cracking and compute.

 

[William Payne]

It's amazing how we are all talking about what we want in this one machine. Yet all our needs are so vastly different.

 

[fendersrule]

That's exactly what makes the cMPs so great that Apple forgot. It doesn't matter your use case, the cMP can do it.

 

[William Payne]

Say AMD turns out to be the way to go with high Sierra. What are the options regarding a modern card with 10 bit OpenGL support?

I'm not knowledgeable on the AMD stuff.