MP 1,1-5,1 Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX570 / Mac Pro 5,1 -2010

[Mariner19]

Mac Pro 5,1 2010 model assembled 04/2012. Would like to install a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX570 GPU. Total power draw per factory specs is 195w. I noticed that that the GPU has a 8pin and a 6 pin power port. Now I realize the x2 mini 6 pin connectors on the logic board provides 75w each and the GPU slot provides an additional 75w for a total of 225w. Am I going to be running into problems using a mini 6 pin to 8 pin PCIE cable and a mini 6 pin to 6 pin PCIE cable?

Thank you

 

[tsialex]

Mac Pro 5,1 2010 model assembled 04/2012. Would like to install a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX570 GPU. Total power draw per factory specs is 195w. I noticed that that the GPU has a 8pin and a 6 pin power port. Now I realize the x2 mini 6 pin connectors on the logic board provides 75w each and the GPU slot provides an additional 75w for a total of 225w. Am I going to be running into problems using a mini 6 pin to 8 pin PCIE cable and a mini 6 pin to 6 pin PCIE cable?

Thank you

Your assumptions are wrong from the start, it's not because the PCIe slot can feed up 75W that a GPU is gonna use the 75W from the PCIe slot. GPUs have multiple power rails and PC GPUs are designed to take the most needed power draw from the PSU connectors.

First thing, no modern GPU (anything released after the AMD RX 480 reference edition fiasco, read bout it) draw over ~45W from the PCIe slot.

Second, your GPU can power draw a lot more continuously than the manufacturer presumed 195W, several lab tests show your Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 drawing over 235W. Instantly, it's even worse.

Connecting the Nitro+ versions just to the backplane power is asking to kill the backplane over time. At least you need an eVGA PowerLink to equalize the power draw over the two miniPCie 6-pin backplane power connectors.

Don't power your GPU the way you were thinking, you gonna kill your backplane.

 

[Mariner19]

Thank you for the response: Did I make a mistake choosing this particular GPU? I'm sure it was listed on Apples list for metal capable GPU. Would appreciate further advice.
Thank you

 

[tsialex]

Thank you for the response: Did I make a mistake choosing this particular GPU?

Yes, this is an overclockers GPU and besides the power draw is one that is oversized and makes the slot 2 useless.

I'm sure it was listed on Apples list for metal capable GPU. Would appreciate further advice.
Thank you

No, it's not, you are mistaken, this is the full list, no Sapphire Nitro+ versions whatsoever:

These specific third-party graphics cards are Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

Some other third-party graphics cards* based on the following AMD GPU families might also be compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):

• AMD Radeon RX 560
• AMD Radeon RX 570
• AMD Radeon RX 580
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
• AMD Radeon Frontier Edition

If the graphics card in your Mac Pro isn't listed above, you need to install one that's compatible with macOS Mojave. If you need additional help, contact Apple Support.

 

[MIKX]

The Sapphire Dual X HD 7970 3gb ( power 8 pin & 6 pin sockets ) can be added to the list.

It can be EFI flashed & undervolted. Runs fine with the EVGA PowerLink - comes with a spare 6 pin plug socket ( output ) which can be installed to the PowerLink to connect extra power from any two empty internal SATA bays via a DUAL SATA to 6 pin cable to the right side of the PowerLink's 8 pin input socket and then a 6 pin to 6 pin from the PowerLink spare 6 pin socket to the GPU for balanced total power for heavy users. A good, reliable GPU as a backup too.

 

[Mariner19]

Yes, this is an overclockers GPU and besides the power draw is one that is oversized and makes the slot 2 useless.

No, it's not, you are mistaken, this is the full list, no Sapphire Nitro+ versions whatsoever:

I had thought about & researched the SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5 that everyone seems to be using. It's a 8pin, But I wondered about the 225 TPD. It's amazing that $200.- MRP GPU's are going for triple that price.

 

[tsialex]

I had thought about & researched the SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5 that everyone seems to be using. It's a 8pin, But I wondered about the 225 TPD. It's amazing that $200.- MRP GPU's are going for triple that price.

Any recent GPUs (AMD GPUs released after 2017/2018) are exorbitantly priced right now. If it's a Mac Pro preferred GPU the price becomes beyond insane, like the RX 560 and RX 580 models that Apple list on the support article.

If you just want a METAL supported GPU to run Mojave and newer macOS releases, there are cost-conscious options like the ~$50 HP GT630 2GB that you can MacEFI flash and have pre-boot configuration support (Boot screens/boot picker/etc) and work fine for 2D and light 3D work. It's a very common GPU in some markets, HP sold a lot of GT630s with corporate PCs, recycling centers usually have it

Lot's of people are using this GT630 as a stop gap until the GPU market goes back to more sane levels. I even got a pair on the AliExpress BF sale, waiting it to be delivered this week.

Also you could just get an eVGA PowerLink and use your Nitro+ if you don't need to use the slot-2. At least your Mac Pro won't shutdown when your GPU needs lot's of power draw.

 

[Mariner19]

Do you have a link for the eVGA PowerLink? And the procedure for hooking up everything? I wish the Quadro 4000 for mac that came with this 5,1 was metal. No such luck. Any other GPU's besides the GT360? It is a Nvidia correct. I just want to be careful not to burn out the backplane, that's why I posted my first question and was answered very polite.

 

[tsialex]

Do you have a link for the eVGA PowerLink? And the procedure for hooking up everything? I wish the Quadro 4000 for mac that came with this 5,1 was metal. No such luck. Any other GPU's besides the GT360? It is a Nvidia correct. I just want to be careful not to burn out the backplane, that's why I posted my first question and was answered very polite.

You can get all info on eVGA PowerLink here:

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=600-PL-2816-LR

Just connect two mini-PCIe 6-pin power cables to the PowerLink, install it on your GPU. It's very adjustable and you can even change the outputs for your GPU.

 

[Mariner19]

I checked out the link. Looks like the PowerLink re-routes the power ports to the end of the GPU. But the new location has x2-8 pin ports. Compatibility list states it is only for EVGA GP. I didn't see any provision for adjusting power to GPU, or is it internally controlled. I found this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IUOQAS...olid=1QGXNCGV70UXY&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it. Is this the one you spoke of?

 

[tsialex]

I checked out the link. Looks like the PowerLink re-routes the power ports to the end of the GPU.

Yes

But the new location has x2-8 pin ports.

Yes, you can connect two mini-PCIe 6-pin cables, PowerLink PCB equalizes both inputs internally. No need to use 6-pin to 8-pin cables at all - for power hungrier GPUs you have to connect it directly to the PSU with a Pixla's mod.

Compatibility list states it is only for EVGA GP. I didn't see any provision for adjusting power to GPU, or is it internally controlled. I found this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IUOQAS...olid=1QGXNCGV70UXY&psc=0&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it. Is this the one you spoke of?

Yes, you can get it even cheaper on AliExpress.

44.99US $ |For Hp Nvidia Geforce Gt630 2gb Pci-e 2.0 Graphics Card 684455-002 702084-001 - Graphics Cards - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

Use the parts numbers from here to find it locally/eBay:

Mojave Compatible ROM for the NVIDIA GeForce GT630 2GB Graphics Card (HP 684455-002 702084-001 B4J92AT) - loremipsum.info

This ROM will give you EFI boot screens on the Classic Mac Pros, but it isn’t recognised by the Mojave installer as a metal card. It does give you the option of a cheap general use metal EFI compatible card, it will drive 1 monior to 4k resolutions. You’ll need a windows PC and NVFlash […]

www.loremipsum.info

 

[tsialex]

Btw, the loremipsum post is correct that the Mojave createinstallmedia Mojave USB installer don't recognize the Nvidia Kepler GPUs as METAL supported, but you can still install Mojave from macOS selecting another disk - read more on the first post of the stickie thread below:

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

 

[MIKX]

Do you have a link for the eVGA PowerLink? And the procedure for hooking up everything?

Yes.

EVGA PowerLink with AMD GPUs

Just got the EVGA PowerLink working with my Sapphire Dual-X 7970 3gb. IMPORTANT : The power input sockets on the PowerLink are 2 X 8 Pin female and cannot be changed. The EVGA PowerLink ensures that exact power demanded by a GPU is supplied. That said, one must still supply enough power to...

forums.macrumors.com

You can find the EVGA PowerLink here. . .

EVGA PowerLink, Support All NVIDIA Founders Edition & All EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti/2080/2070*/2060*/Super*/GTX 1660 Ti*/1660*/1650/1080 Ti/1080/1070 Ti/1070/1060 0600-Pl-2816-Lr

The EVGA powerlink is designed to provide both a more stable power source and reduce ripple and noise, compared to connecting your power supply directly to the graphics card. The EVGA powerlink has another function: to make your PC look even more awesome. This adapter allows you to reroute the po...

www.amazon.com

 

[Mariner19]

AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB EFI Flashed. Just received today as I received a decent deal. I noticed it has input PCie 6 pin on the left & a PCie 8 pin on the right. Power cables - new mini PCie 6 pin to 6 pin & mini PCie 6 pin to 8 pin were provided with the GPU. Am I safe with this power cable arrangement or should I use the EVGA Powerlink with the current cables. GPU has the red case with black trim - P/N: 102C3860800 021062, single fan. I see there is a Bios switch on the right lower side. It is set at position 2, does this have anything to do with the EFI flash? Should it be left at position 2? My research provided some information regarding the switch, position 1 is factory setting & 2 is making setting changes? Is there any links for a user manual?

 

[tsialex]

I noticed it has input PCie 6 pin on the left & a PCie 8 pin on the right. Power cables - new mini PCie 6 pin to 6 pin & mini PCie 6 pin to 8 pin were provided with the GPU. Am I safe with this power cable arrangement or should I use the EVGA Powerlink with the current cables. GPU has the red case with black trim - P/N: 102C3860800 021062, single fan.

Some people install this card just with miniPCIe 6-pin to 8-pin adapters and say that works fine, but I tested the power draw of the rails of the HD 7790 7970/R9-280X reference models back in the day with a Keysight bench PS and a data logger DMM and I was surprised by the instant power draw variations between the two power inputs and I would never use this card without a PowerLink or Pixla's mod.

Anyway, people will say that "works fine", but I don't like and I try to never to use anything near the safe limit of the design - HD 7970/R9-280X is over the red line and needs a PowerLink to balance the power draw between the two rails.

 

[Mariner19]

Some people install this card just with miniPCIe 6-pin to 8-pin adapters and say that works fine, but I tested the power draw of the rails of the HD 7790/R9-280X reference models back in the day with a Keysight bench PS and a datalogger DMM and I was surprised by the instant power draw variations between the two power inputs and I would never use this card without a PowerLink or Pixla's mod. Anyway, people will say that "works fine", but I don't like and I try to never to use anything near the safe limit of the design - HD 7790/R9-280X is over the red line and needs a PowerLink to balance the power draw.

I've got the Powerlink on order, to arrive on Sunday - 12/19/21. I noticed MIKX used 2x miniPCIe 6-pin to 6-pin with his 7970. Do you feel its okay to use the supplied cables received? 6-pin to 6-pin, 6-pin to 8-pin. I noticed that your information was about the HD 7790, does that card have more power draw than the HD 7970?

 

[tsialex]

I've got the Powerlink on order, to arrive on Sunday - 12/19/21. I noticed MIKX used 2x miniPCIe 6-pin to 6-pin with his 7970. Do you feel its okay to use the supplied cables received? 6-pin to 6-pin, 6-pin to 8-pin. I noticed that your information was about the HD 7790, does that card have more power draw than the HD 7970?

With a PowerLink, you can use the miniPCIe 6-pin to 6-pin original cables.

Using the miniPCIe 6-pin to 8-pin cables just fool the GPU to think that it has up to 150W available to power draw, while the backplane can safely provide ~95W for non-continuous use and 75W continuously. While it's ""safe"" for normal GPU usage, it's not ok for any heavy use and the backplane will shutdown when the power draw spikes over 95W.

HD 7790 was a typo, corrected.

My point is, the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition power envelope is correct for MacPro5,1, the card have a little PowerPlay de-tuning and the GPU itself have less CUs to power, while HD 7970/R9-280X are PC only versions, more power hungrier by design and have more CUs to be feed than the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition.

 

[Mariner19]

With a PowerLink, you can use the miniPCIe 6-pin to 6-pin original cables.

Using the miniPCIe 6-pin to 8-pin cables just fool the GPU to think that it has up to 150W available to power draw, while the backplane can safely provide ~95W for non-continuous use and 75W continuously. While it's ""safe"" for normal GPU usage, it's not ok for any heavy use and the backplane will shutdown when the power draw spikes over 95W.

HD 7790 was a typo, corrected.

My point is, the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition power envelope is correct for MacPro5,1, the card have a little PowerPlay de-tuning and the GPU itself have less CUs to power, while HD 7970/R9-280X are PC only versions, more power hungrier by design and have more CUs to be feed than the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition.

I'm impressed, you really respond quickly. So I should use 2x mini PICe 6-pin to 6-pin. Do not use the 6-pin to 8-pin? Plug the PCIe 6-pin plugs to PowerLink PCIe 8-pin plugs towards the right?

 

[Mariner19]

Can I just clip off the jumper wires on the 8-pin side? That way I do not have to hunt down another PCIe 6-pin to 6-pin.

 

[tsialex]

Don't matter the cables if you are using the PowerLink, the power rails are bridged internally. The two mini-PCIe 12V rails/outputs from the backplane are bridged and equalized inside the PowerLink. You can use the 8-Pin + 6-Pin cable combo.

There is a thread here about PowerLinks and someone did a teardown and made a circuit diagram for it, shouldn't be too difficult to find it.

 

[MIKX]

I've got the Powerlink on order, to arrive on Sunday - 12/19/21. I noticed MIKX used 2x miniPCIe 6-pin to 6-pin with his 7970. Do you feel its okay to use the supplied cables received? 6-pin to 6-pin, 6-pin to 8-pin. I noticed that your information was about the HD 7790, does that card have more power draw than the HD 7970?

You seem to have mis-read my PowerLink + 7970 post.
Please read this ( carefully )

EVGA PowerLink with AMD GPUs

Just got the EVGA PowerLink working with my Sapphire Dual-X 7970 3gb. IMPORTANT : The power input sockets on the PowerLink are 2 X 8 Pin female and cannot be changed. The EVGA PowerLink ensures that exact power demanded by a GPU is supplied. That said, one must still supply enough power to...

forums.macrumors.com

1. Dual Mini-6pin to one of the PowerLink's 8 pin INPUT socket

then . . ..

2. DUAL SATA to single 6 pin cable to PowerLink's 6 input = You have to remove ONE of the PowerLink's input 8 pin power sockets then install the ( Powerlink's ) INCLUDED 6 pin power socket to the same input position.
The Powerlink comes with a small Allen Key to change over the 6 pin socket
to the Powerlink's 8 pin socket.

Of course using the DUAL SATA to 6 pin cable assumes that you have access to TWO Mac Pro SATA bays, I do as I boot from a Samsung NVME 970 EVO Plus 500gb on a PCIe adapter card.
All four of my lower SATA bays are empty.

The cMP ( 4,1 & 5,1 ) models have TWO SATA connections in the Disk Drive area in front of the Power Supply.

 

[richardallan]

I have had a Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX570 GPU running I'm my 2010 5,1 Mac Pro for almost a year with zero problems. I am powering it with a double mini six pin to eight pin cable.

 

[Mariner19]

Received the EVGA Powerlink today. Plugs into the AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB EFI Flashed card fine. But it doesn't leave any room for the PCie plugs, Powerlink butts right up to the fan. This has become a very frustrating upgrade. I'll probably RMA everything back And stick with the crappy ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB card and High Sierra. All I wanted was a GPU that was going to give me the boot screen to change to Windows 10 easily and be metal for OS upgrades.. I've read over the Open Core information, but that is way over my head. If this post needs to be re-titled / moved could a moderator help?

 

[tsialex]

Received the EVGA Powerlink today. Plugs into the AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB EFI Flashed card fine. But it doesn't leave any room for the PCie plugs, Powerlink butts right up to the fan. This has become a very frustrating upgrade. I'll probably RMA everything back And stick with the crappy ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB card and High Sierra. All I wanted was a GPU that was going to give me the boot screen to change to Windows 10 easily and be metal for OS upgrades.. I've read over the Open Core information, but that is way over my head.

It's not easy to modernize a 2008 design, we all had some troubles with things not going exactly to the plan. Did you tried to let the PCIe fan in the unlocked position? I had to do that with a R9-280X.

You can start with OCLP and learn the basics on how to use OpenCore, then you can move to more advanced configs like the one from the OpenCore stickie here. OCLP is very easy to install and works fine for most Mac Pro configs.

GitHub - dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher: Experience macOS just like before

Experience macOS just like before. Contribute to dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com