MP 1,1-5,1 Does the AMD RX 590 (MSI) can work in a 3,1 Mac Pro?

[upbythomas]

Hi everyone, recently I bought a MSI RX590 Armor 8GB OC for my 3,1 Mac Pro. Obviously, I've installed macOS Catalina with dosdude's solution before connecting the new RX video card in there (and Catalina works perfectly with the original ATI card).

But, after put the 590 in and connected the 2x6pin connector to 8pin, when I start the Mac Pro the GPU does not work... Black screen, fan does not turning on. In my opinion, the GPU requires more power supply... or is it the driver (but RX590 is recognized natively by Catalina...).

Could you help me ?

Thanks,
Thomas (from France)

 

[tsialex]

RX 4xx/5xx/VEGA driver requires SSE4.2, MP3,1 Xeon don’t have it. For a RX 590 to work you have to use a SSE4.2 emulator, but most people can’t get it working correctly. There is a thread about that.

 

[upbythomas]

RX 4xx/5xx/VEGA driver requires SSE4.2, MP3,1 Xeon don’t have it. For a RX 590 to work you have to use a SSE4.2 emulator, but most people can’t get it working correctly. There is a thread about that.

Yes, I know, but in dosdude's Catalina Patcher you can see this thing :

So I imagined this GPU could work in my Mac Pro... In all cases, it doesn't respond to my question : why the GPU doesn't start...

 

[Syncretic]

I wrote the aforementioned SSE4.2 emulator (MouSSE), and I don't think "most people can't get it working correctly" is a fair assessment (unless I've missed a lot of discussion somewhere). Aside from a weird interaction with some Microsoft products (which I have yet to figure out), the only people that have reported problems were not using AMD video cards (i.e. loading the emulator when it was completely unnecessary). I imagine the emulator's user base only numbers in the dozens, but it seems to do the trick. I've been using it with an RX570 for about seven months now, with zero issues.

Does your 590 respond at all when you first power on the Mac? Do the fans even twitch? Do you have access to a PC you could stick it into, just to see if the card is dead? You may be right about the power...

 

[tsialex]

I wrote the aforementioned SSE4.2 emulator (MouSSE), and I don't think "most people can't get it working correctly" is a fair assessment (unless I've missed a lot of discussion somewhere). Aside from a weird interaction with some Microsoft products (which I have yet to figure out), the only people that have reported problems were not using AMD video cards (i.e. loading the emulator when it was completely unnecessary). I imagine the emulator's user base only numbers in the dozens, but it seems to do the trick. I've been using it with an RX570 for about seven months now, with zero issues.

Does your 590 respond at all when you first power on the Mac? Do the fans even twitch? Do you have access to a PC you could stick it into, just to see if the card is dead? You may be right about the power...

I was referring about the older Netkas one, almost no one got it working correctly. Nice to see that you are making one that works.

 

[Syncretic]

I was referring about the older Netkas one, almost no one got it working correctly. Nice to see that you are making one that works.

Whew! I was wondering if I had been kept out of the loop or something...
I released MouSSE publicly about two months ago, and it has been standard in @dosdude1's installers since late October. As I mentioned, no widespread problems that I'm aware of.

Original MouSSE release thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...emulation-to-enable-amd-metal-driver.2206682/

 

[upbythomas]

Thanks for your feedbacks guys,

Does your 590 respond at all when you first power on the Mac? Do the fans even twitch? Do you have access to a PC you could stick it into, just to see if the card is dead? You may be right about the power...

No ! The 590 doesn't respond when the Mac Pro starts, this MSI card is new... Black screen, fan aren't turning... I've installed Catalina very recently thanks to dosdude's patcher and your emulator 'MouSSE'! Do you think it could come from the dual 6pin to 8pin cable? Or another power supply is needed for the Mac Pro?

Thanks!
(Please tell me if my English is not right)

 

[Syncretic]

No ! The 590 doesn't respond when the Mac Pro starts, this MSI card is new... Black screen, fan aren't turning... I've installed Catalina very recently thanks to dosdude's patcher and your emulator 'MouSSE'! Do you think it could come from the dual 6pin to 8pin cable? Or another power supply is needed for the Mac Pro?

Thanks!
(Please tell me if my English is not right)

(@tsialex can correct me if the following is inaccurate, since he's the guru on these matters.)
How exactly is your power hooked up? From what I can see, the RX590 has 2x 8-pin power connectors.
The MSI site shows the RX590 using 220W. The MP3,1 PCIe slot can provide 75W. Each 6-pin connector on the MP3,1 motherboard can also provide 75W. If you use both 6-pin connectors (using 2x 6-pin to 8-pin adapters), you can provide the card a maximum of 225W, which is awfully close to its rated power. You might need an external power source for that card in a MP3,1.

If you are using a "splitter" cable (1x 6-pin split to 2x 8-pin), you definitely are not providing the card with enough power. If you are using (effectively) 2x 6-pin to 8-pin cables (one from each 6-pin on the motherboard to an 8-pin on the card), then power shouldn't be the problem - I'd expect it to at least try to spin up in that case, even if it quit later.

(Et je suis certain que mon français est pire que votre anglais. )

 

[upbythomas]

(@tsialex can correct me if the following is inaccurate, since he's the guru on these matters.)
How exactly is your power hooked up? From what I can see, the RX590 has 2x 8-pin power connectors.
The MSI site shows the RX590 using 220W. The MP3,1 PCIe slot can provide 75W. Each 6-pin connector on the MP3,1 motherboard can also provide 75W. If you use both 6-pin connectors (using 2x 6-pin to 8-pin adapters), you can provide the card a maximum of 225W, which is awfully close to its rated power. You might need an external power source for that card in a MP3,1.

If you are using a "splitter" cable (1x 6-pin split to 2x 8-pin), you definitely are not providing the card with enough power. If you are using (effectively) 2x 6-pin to 8-pin cables (one from each 6-pin on the motherboard to an 8-pin on the card), then power shouldn't be the problem - I'd expect it to at least try to spin up in that case, even if it quit later.

The 590 is connected to one of the 8-pin from a 2x6pin to 8-pin. I thought I read that 3,1 Mac Pro has 2x6-pin of 150W per port ? Or is it only for the 4,1 & 5,1?

(And your french is totally right!)

 

[Syncretic]

The 590 is connected to one of the 8-pin from a 2x6pin to 8-pin. I thought I read that 3,1 Mac Pro has 2x6-pin of 150W per port ? Or is it only for the 4,1 & 5,1?

My understanding is that MP3,1 6-pin ports are 75W each. And just so I understand:
1) Does your RX590 have 1x 8pin or 2x 8pin ports?
2) Are you connecting 6pin->8pin + 6pin->8pin (two separate connections), or something else?

 

[upbythomas]

My RX590 has 2x8-pin ports and I'm connecting it with 2x6-pin to 1x8-pin tanks to this cable :

I saw however I can use a SATA cable to 8-pin port to take SATA power from a hard drive slot :

 

[Syncretic]

My RX590 has 2x8-pin ports and I'm connecting it with 2x6-pin to 1x8-pin tanks to this cable :

View attachment 882583


I saw however I can use a SATA cable to 8-pin port to take SATA power from a hard drive slot :
View attachment 882584

OK, so you have 2x6pin->1x8pin to one of the RX590 connectors, what about the other 8pin connector? What is that connected to?

 

[upbythomas]

Curently, nothing is connected to the second 8-pin of the RX

 

[Syncretic]

Curently, nothing is connected to the second 8-pin of the RX

...and that is the problem. There are 2x 8pin connectors because it needs 2 connectors (if you draw too much current through a single connector, you can damage the PCB or components). The card won't work with only half the power connected.

Instead of using a 2x6pin->1x8pin, you might try 6pin->6+2pin (x2, one for each 8pin connector). The total power is still very close to the MP3,1 capacity, but it might work OK. Or just add external power.

 

[upbythomas]

Okaaaay guys, I found at home another 1x6-pin → 1x8-pin, I removed one of the two in the 6-pin from the 2x6-pin to 1x8-pin (Tell me if you did not understand)...

And, it just works !!! The GPU is recognized by the Mac Pro as a 'AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB', Metal acceleration works perfectly, I tested it a little bit in Final Cut (because in France it's 2am lol), and it's amazing...

However, I found one big issue : The two fan of the RX aren't turning on, so I won't push the GPU at is limits (for the moment). So I think I will use an external power supply because I don't want to blow it lol

 

[Andre Pulse Rodrigues]

Okaaaay guys, I found at home another 1x6-pin → 1x8-pin, I removed one of the two in the 6-pin from the 2x6-pin to 1x8-pin (Tell me if you did not understand)...

And, it just works !!! The GPU is recognized by the Mac Pro as a 'AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB', Metal acceleration works perfectly, I tested it a little bit in Final Cut (because in France it's 2am lol), and it's amazing...

However, I found one big issue : The two fan of the RX aren't turning on, so I won't push the GPU at is limits (for the moment). So I think I will use an external power supply because I don't want to blow it lol

Hello friend, were you able to keep this GPU on your mac 3.1? Please, I am wanting to install an equal one in my 3.1 too, is it possible? If so, what do I have to do? Thank you

 

[Macschrauber]

Okaaaay guys, I found at home another 1x6-pin → 1x8-pin, I removed one of the two in the 6-pin from the 2x6-pin to 1x8-pin (Tell me if you did not understand)...

And, it just works !!! The GPU is recognized by the Mac Pro as a 'AMD Radeon RX 590 8GB', Metal acceleration works perfectly, I tested it a little bit in Final Cut (because in France it's 2am lol), and it's amazing...

However, I found one big issue : The two fan of the RX aren't turning on, so I won't push the GPU at is limits (for the moment). So I think I will use an external power supply because I don't want to blow it lol

You will blow your MP logic board if you keep on overload it. Do a Pixlas mod (yes even with a 3.1 possible) or a 2nd PSU.