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Graphics card upgrade with similar TDP to 5770 (2010)

S

steveOooo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 30, 2008
743
89
UK
Seeing as I'm having issues with my flashed 7950, was thinking I could try another random card to see what the issue is - one that I can buy from amazon uk and easily return

Don't really need a grey boot screen so perhaps a filthy PC Card would work?

I'd need AMD as I use FCPX quite alot but something like the 7950 or lower - ideally with a LOW TDP - lower than the 7950

7950 - 200w
5770 - 108w

So between 108-200w
 
A Pitcairn GPU (HD 7850, HD 7870, R9 270X) is pretty much the only choice which fulfills this requirement. They will be hard to find new though.
A Tonga-card (R9 380) might also be slightly below 200W, didn't look it up, but that's pretty much it.

We do you care about the TDP?
 
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Fl0r!an said:
A Pitcairn GPU (HD 7850, HD 7870, R9 270X) is pretty much the only choice which fulfills this requirement. They will be hard to find new though.
A Tonga-card (R9 380) might also be slightly below 200W, didn't look it up, but that's pretty much it.

We do you care about the TDP?
Click to expand...

The mp is by my bed - any power saving even 10% is better than nothing plus

I ordered a Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 380X Nitro GDDR5 from amazon uk - if that doesnt work then my mac might have issues with two 6 pin connected cards.

It's 190w TDP too
 
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The R9 380X won't work, device ID is missing in the drivers. You could add it to both AMD kexts, but this will violate kext signing/rootless...
Btw, the card will only use its full power when it's pushed really hard (e.g. FurMark). In normal desktop usage, all recent cards use very little power.
 
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Yes, a R9 380 will work. They just have different device IDs, and Apple only adds some device IDs to the drivers (completely arbitrary).
The OS X drivers would be perfectly able to drive a R9 380X, but they won't load because the device ID is unknown.
 
Thanks guys

Also, are there any hdmi 2.0 cards out? I do alot of 4k video editing but using full hd monitors etc.. Having faster renders is more important than using a 4monitor. Perhaps in a year or two ill upgrade my monitor (or get a new Mac Pro trash can or iMac)

As I've heard 4k can do 60hz
 
AMD doesn't have offer HDMI 2.0 cards, but it isn't properly supported by OS X anyway.
 
The non OC 7950 should only draw around 140W (max) in FCPX, well below the 225 limit.

I have 2x 7950 installed in my 4,1 mainly for FCPX, each powered by a single 6pin source (via a mini 6pin to 2X 6pin cable). Both card work at 800MHz and lower the voltage to 0.956V.

The max power draw usually occur when rendering 4K video. And each card rarely draw more than 75W from the cable. Most of the time each card draw lower than 55W.

So, what I want to say is that the 7950's real power draw is not that much. Of course, it's more than the 5770, but the 7950 should have better performance per watt. This should be true in FCPX.

Since you have a 5770, it should be very easy to know if the cable / power source work or not. Just install the 5770, power that by the cable you want to test. Stress it a bit. If everything OK, plug the cable to another mini 6pin source (after shut down, of course). Stress it again. If still not problem, switch cable and test both power source one by one again.

If all 4 tests are OK, then the mini 6pins and the cables should be good.
 
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h9826790 said:
The non OC 7950 should only draw around 140W (max) in FCPX, well below the 225 limit.

I have 2x 7950 installed in my 4,1 mainly for FCPX, each powered by a single 6pin source (via a mini 6pin to 2X 6pin cable). Both card work at 800MHz and lower the voltage to 0.956V.

The max power draw usually occur when rendering 4K video. And each card rarely draw more than 75W from the cable. Most of the time each card draw lower than 55W.

So, what I want to say is that the 7950's real power draw is not that much. Of course, it's more than the 5770, but the 7950 should have better performance per watt. This should be true in FCPX.

Since you have a 5770, it should be very easy to know if the cable / power source work or not. Just install the 5770, power that by the cable you want to test. Stress it a bit. If everything OK, plug the cable to another mini 6pin source (after shut down, of course). Stress it again. If still not problem, switch cable and test both power source one by one again.

If all 4 tests are OK, then the mini 6pins and the cables should be good.
Click to expand...

Will be trying both cables on a brand new r9 380 from amazon - if that does the same thing then it must be the cables.

If new cables do the same thing then i may have one 6 pin port thats a bit dodgy.

Not that bothered about boot screens so mightas well get something more powerful than the 7950 (and brand new that works)
 
You've got the cart WAY in front of the horse.

You need to look in the AMD drivers of whatever OS you want to run and see what cards are supported.

They appear as a list of device ids.

Turn that list into the list of supported cards, then pick one of those.

EVen the "supported" cards aren't a sure thing. The Hawaii card (R9 290X and R9 390X) is there, but the DP support is hit and miss.

I can tell you this, if the card ISN'T in the drivers, it absolutely WILL NOT work. Being in the drivers gives you a "maybe".

AMD is beholden to Apple so they don't peeve them by releasing drivers for all of their cards like Nvidia does.
 
Fl0r!an said:
Yes, a R9 380 will work. They just have different device IDs, and Apple only adds some device IDs to the drivers (completely arbitrary).
The OS X drivers would be perfectly able to drive a R9 380X, but they won't load because the device ID is unknown.
Click to expand...

Is there any possibility to cause deeper problems than just a black screen if installing a PC Card that's not supported?

Ie a corrupted hardrive / loss of data?

Also, a way to stress test a gfx card to check its performing better than the 5770?
 
No, your MacPro will boot up fine, just with a black screen because the driver doesn't pick it up.
Unigine Heaven is a popular GPU benchmark.
 
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Fl0r!an said:
No, your MacPro will boot up fine, just with a black screen because the driver doesn't pick it up.
Unigine Heaven is a popular GPU benchmark.
Click to expand...

Could I also get ultra HD 60hz from the r9 380 is using a display port connection? Is it supported in 10.11 ?
 
ActionableMango said:
Is it the noise that's bothering you? If so, then TDP is not a good measure because there are powerful, quiet cards and there are weak, loud cards.
Click to expand...

It would be nice to render over night but the machine noise is a little off putting
I didnt help myself by installing a x5690 cpu - realised after installation that there was a lower TDP cpu outthere but then my mp could be a 10+ year machine unless I start editing 8k video anytime soon.

Any recommendations for quite-ish cards? PC only is fine - I use fcpx and only want AMD and with the possibility to drive a 4k monitor in 60hz ( think it needs display port)
 
Didn't you get a R9 380? This card shouldn't be too noisy if you didn't get the cheapest one.
 
arrived - had to take the backplate off (didnt realised id ordered one with a backplate), the springs in the screws means the screw protrude out.

About 10% quieter than the 7950 - about the same as the 5770 in terms of noise.

Only issues - the hdmi output is not working - dvi to my monitor is, but not to my Samsung Smart TV - anyway to get this to show?

See screenshots - before with the 5770 (9am) and after (2pm) - both benchmarked today.
 

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Benchmarks look fine :)
Doesn't it detect the Samsung TV at all? Maybe an unsupported resolution? Does it work alone, if you unplug your screen?
You could also try replugging it after the machine has booted or booting with the Samsung TV enabled and plugged in.
 
Fl0r!an said:
Benchmarks look fine :)
Doesn't it detect the Samsung TV at all? Maybe an unsupported resolution? Does it work alone, if you unplug your screen?
You could also try replugging it after the machine has booted or booting with the Samsung TV enabled and plugged in.
Click to expand...

no it doesnt detect the HDMI at all - Displayport and DVI are working fine together - good enough. you have to select mirror display in system prefs or use disablemonitor if you want one screen.

ill try a dvi to hdmi adapter which should work - I have a 5m hdmi cable running from my mac to the tv so dont fancy re-cabiling that.

At least DisplayPort works so a 4k monitor at 60hz might work down the line.

Sleep wise, i set the monitor to turn off after 1min - it didn't after 2 mins but the sleep button puts the mac to sleep and i tend to turn the monitor off when i get up anyway.

Ive not missed the grey boot screen (yet!) as my boot drive is on a SSD, im in the login screen within 5 seconds anyway.

So far so good, no glitches or freezes but its only been an hour!

EDIT - have tried unplugging everything inc the tv, doing a SMC reset and the HDMI port is still not recognised - only Displayport and DVI
 
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steveOooo said:
Any recommendations for quite-ish cards? PC only is fine - I use fcpx and only want AMD and with the possibility to drive a 4k monitor in 60hz ( think it needs display port)
Click to expand...

No, my last experience with AMD was the 5770.

However in the past when I wanted to build a 100% silent HTPC, I found the following website to be a great resource because their reviews are focused on noise levels: http://www.silentpcreview.com/

GPUs and GPU coolers are here:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/section22.html

It sounds like you already have your card though.
 
steveOooo said:
no it doesnt detect the HDMI at all - Displayport and DVI are working fine together - good enough. you have to select mirror display in system prefs or use disablemonitor if you want one screen.

ill try a dvi to hdmi adapter which should work - I have a 5m hdmi cable running from my mac to the tv so dont fancy re-cabiling that.

At least DisplayPort works so a 4k monitor at 60hz might work down the line.

Sleep wise, i set the monitor to turn off after 1min - it didn't after 2 mins but the sleep button puts the mac to sleep and i tend to turn the monitor off when i get up anyway.

Ive not missed the grey boot screen (yet!) as my boot drive is on a SSD, im in the login screen within 5 seconds anyway.

So far so good, no glitches or freezes but its only been an hour!

EDIT - have tried unplugging everything inc the tv, doing a SMC reset and the HDMI port is still not recognised - only Displayport and DVI
Click to expand...

What is the card id'd as?
 
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