Resolved Mac Pro 5,1 - Radeon R9 290x tearing and sleep issues

[mateuszd]

Hey guys, quite new here although I've been reading the forum for a while.

This is my first thread, I am also going to raise a thread about CPU issues I'm experiencing.

A few months ago I've acquired a MP 5,1 for free so I decided to turn it into my functional Mac which required a bunch of changes, one of those was an upgrade of the GPU to make 4K work at 60p

I have a 4K monitor so the original ATI card didn't do the job so I got a GTX 960 which did fine in High Sierra but wouldn't work in Mojave so then I got my old Radeon R9 290x installed which kind of works but I'm experiencing two issues with it:
- after a cold boot, the screen experiences some kind of tearing issues, usually visible when moving the mouse. This one is fixable by reconnecting the screen/changing resolutions
- after waking up from sleep, the screen doesn't usually come back on, I have to keep pressing space every few seconds until it eventually comes on, but in some cases, this won't happen and I have to unplug the cable and plug it back in.

Do any owners of the Radeon R9 290x experiences those issues? I have now ordered a Flashable EVGA GTX 680 that hopefully solves the GPU issues, but I wanted to check if anyone is experiencing issues like this. I've not been able to find much about the tearing issue, but if needed, I can post a video of it.

Thanks

 

[Alaska_guy]

Your second issue happened to me with my R9 280x. How are you powering your video card? I am using mini to 8 pin connectors. My Mac Pro no longer boots up. I have a power supply that should be here today to see if that resolves it. If I put the r9 280x back in my machine I will be doing the pixlas power supply mod.

 

[mateuszd]

Me too, I'm using the mini to 8pin. I just took out the Radeon and put in a 680 from eBay and the mac booted up, no atrifacts, I'm yet to test sleep behaviour and then I'll flash the card to mac firmware in a few days to have the boot screen.

 

[mateuszd]

So, running the GTX 680 so far seems to do the trick.
I'd not recommend the R9 290x Vapor-X for use with the Mac.

 

[startergo]

So, running the GTX 680 so far seems to do the trick.
I'd not recommend the R9 290x Vapor-X for use with the Mac.

I don't think generalization based on results from one card is wise.

 

[VaZ]

What brand is that 290x ?

 

[MIKX]

Me too, I'm using the mini to 8pin. I just took out the Radeon and put in a 680 from eBay and the mac booted up, no atrifacts, I'm yet to test sleep behaviour and then I'll flash the card to mac firmware in a few days to have the boot screen.

The R9 290X has both 8 pin & 6 pin power sockets. Both MUST be powered.

Gigabyte R9 290X

How are you powering the 6 pin socket ?

It MUST be powered. A 2 TWO X SATA to 6pin cable will do the job.

This card will also work with the EVGa powerLink
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/evga-powerlink-with-amd-gpus.2166917/#post-27038019

I'm not sure that the R9 290X can be EFI flashed. Perhaps the HD 7970 rom might be OK.
Both the R9 280 and the R9 280X can be flashed.

You can check on the Netkas site ( down at the moment but will eventually be back ON. )
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,5619.0.html

 

[mateuszd]

What brand is that 290x ?

Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290X Vapor-X Tri-X GDDR5 Graphics Card (4GB, PCI Express 3.0, HDMI, DVI-D, Display Port, 512 Bit)

I am sure I tried both connectors, but I might be wrong. It's been a few months. Either way, for now, the 680 works and that one is also connected with two connectors.

Perhaps it's this particular variant of the 290X from Sapphire that is problematic.

 

[VaZ]

I picked up the very same card and i don't seem to have those issues at all.