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zarf2007

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 27, 2010
247
47
London, UK
For best performance using a single card under osx, as I already have the 6900xt, do any of the mpx cards beat this for performance? Just trying to see how the 6900xt compares.
 
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Maybe the W6800X Duo might be better in certain uses where the dual GPU setup is supported.

Aside from that, the thunderbolt ports on the card are useful. But the Duo is very expensive however.

You can see what I’m suggesting.

If you were to run Windows natively then you could use far more powerful and modern Nvidia GPUs.
 
Stick with the 6900XT for macOS. That's the best priced card you can have an dpretty much what the user above suggested. The W6800X Duo is not worth it imo.

If you want a faster card under windows, get an NVIDIA card and a DisplayPort switch to swap between the GPUs as needed.

How fast of a GPU do you really need under macOS?
 
I guess I saw some of the mpx based cards with their 32gb vram and wondered if they are more powerful or is it just more vram. Just want one card for both MacOS and windows and the 6900 seems like the sweet spot but wanted to confirm.
 
some of the mpx based cards with their 32gb vram and wondered if they are more powerful or is it just more vram
They have more VRAM yes, but the normal gaming cards are often faster for most things. However the W6800X Duo if your application supports the dual GPUs might be better. But that is expensive.

For most things my dual W6800X Duo machine (4x W6800 GPUs and 4x 32GB VRAM) is only really useful for specific applications. But for those it is still great. Both of them with the W3275M are great for the local dev environment of an enterprise CMS I run, they start that so fast. Also running builds is very, very fast on both of them.

If you are gaming in Windows, like for MS Flight Simulator 2020, then the 32GB cards can be really useful - I've seen Nvidia cards with 24GB RAM crashing on out of memory at times, while my W6800X 32GB has no issues. Also interesting that the W3275M and W6800X 32GB combination gives very stable frame rates all the time. No stuttering.
 
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I guess I saw some of the mpx based cards with their 32gb vram and wondered if they are more powerful or is it just more vram. Just want one card for both MacOS and windows and the 6900 seems like the sweet spot but wanted to confirm.

The question is what are you trying to do under macOS that requires something higher than a 6900XT?

If you want to game in Windows, get an NVIDIA 4080/5080 (or 5090 if you can afford it) + 6900XT for macOS.

I'm personally thinking of getting a 5090 for Windows on top of my 6900XT/macOS. I know some people have successfully done it without any mods since the 5090 fits perfectly in the 7,1 case. I'd like to game at 4k/5k on my Studio Displays at 60Hz maxed out, but I'm pretty happy with the 6900XT with gaming although I have to use FSR and drop down the resolution a bit below 4k to get 60fps in modern titles. You can get a DisplayPort switch to go between the non-Mac card and the Mac card with a switch of a button, unless your display has multiple inputs. I have 2 Studio Displays so I have to get a switch. I'm playing Metal Gear Solid Delta at 1440p and 60fps maxed out with FSR and it looks pretty good/good enough for me.

I really don't want to build a PC, I hate the sight of them. I vouched to never get a PC ever again after the 7,1 came out.

I really don't see W6800X Duo as being a good option since you have to use the Pro drivers I think (correct me if I'm wrong) and the game title has to support dual GPU.
 
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They have more VRAM yes, but the normal gaming cards are often faster for most things. However the W6800X Duo if your application supports the dual GPUs might be better. But that is expensive.

For most things my dual W6800X Duo machine (4x W6800 GPUs and 4x 32GB VRAM) is only really useful for specific applications. But for those it is still great. Both of them with the W3275M are great for the local dev environment of an enterprise CMS I run, they start that so fast. Also running builds is very, very fast on both of them.

If you are gaming in Windows, like for MS Flight Simulator 2020, then the 32GB cards can be really useful - I've seen Nvidia cards with 24GB RAM crashing on out of memory at times, while my W6800X 32GB has no issues. Also interesting that the W3275M and W6800X 32GB combination gives very stable frame rates all the time. No stuttering.
Thanks I will stick with the 6900XT. I think as it’s been very stable and has enough power for me so far.
 
The question is what are you trying to do under macOS that requires something higher than a 6900XT?

If you want to game in Windows, get an NVIDIA 4080/5080 (or 5090 if you can afford it) + 6900XT for macOS.

I'm personally thinking of getting a 5090 for Windows on top of my 6900XT/macOS. I know some people have successfully done it without any mods since the 5090 fits perfectly in the 7,1 case. I'd like to game at 4k/5k on my Studio Displays at 60Hz maxed out, but I'm pretty happy with the 6900XT with gaming although I have to use FSR and drop down the resolution a bit below 4k to get 60fps in modern titles. You can get a DisplayPort switch to go between the non-Mac card and the Mac card with a switch of a button, unless your display has multiple inputs. I have 2 Studio Displays so I have to get a switch. I'm playing Metal Gear Solid Delta at 1440p and 60fps maxed out with FSR and it looks pretty good/good enough for me.

I really don't want to build a PC, I hate the sight of them. I vouched to never get a PC ever again after the 7,1 came out.

I really don't see W6800X Duo as being a good option since you have to use the Pro drivers I think (correct me if I'm wrong) and the game title has to support dual GPU.
My only concern with the 5090 is the power required. My 6900xt required 3 x power cables so not sure if I have the power available and don’t want to go external chassis/cables etc. I will likely consider a 5090 for the future for windows gaming, do you know of a specific model that is best suited to the 7,1?

Also note that you run Tahoe, has it been stable even in beta on your 7,1?
 
My only concern with the 5090 is the power required. My 6900xt required 3 x power cables so not sure if I have the power available and don’t want to go external chassis/cables etc. I will likely consider a 5090 for the future for windows gaming, do you know of a specific model that is best suited to the 7,1?

Also note that you run Tahoe, has it been stable even in beta on your 7,1?

The 7,1 PSU supplies 1,400 Watts, so power isn't an issue. There's 4 AUX Power ports on the 7,1. I've seen some folks install a 6900XT + 5090 (Windows) with no issues and no mods. I'll post a link when I find it.

The 5090 model that works and fits perfectly is the Founders Edition version directly from NVIDIA. It's 12 inches long and fits perfectly, and the card is 2 slots compared to 3 slot 4090.

Regarding Tahoe, I'm running the latest beta and it works pretty well. It's fully coming out shortly and it's the last macOS version supported under 7,1.
 
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OP, if you're comfortable with some terminal and spoofing device IDs, I understand the 6950XT also works in MacOS. There's some unicorn reference model that is at or under 305mm and will JUST fit. Couple of success stories here and Reddit.
 
OP, if you're comfortable with some terminal and spoofing device IDs, I understand the 6950XT also works in MacOS. There's some unicorn reference model that is at or under 305mm and will JUST fit. Couple of success stories here and Reddit.
would there be much of a performance increase between my 6900xt and the 6950xt?
 
would there be much of a performance increase between my 6900xt and the 6950xt?
Both GPUs use the same chip. They only differ in clock speeds and power settings. According to the Wikipedia specs the base clock goes up 3.5%, but the boost clocks only go up 2.6%. 7.7% boost on the cache speed, and 12.5% on memory bandwidth.

I suspect around a 3% performance boost on average - it would differ by game engine. Probably enough to notice, but only just barely.
 
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