MP 1,1-5,1 Sudden 5770 issue (dead card?)

[Porco]

Suddenly had some weird glitches with my Radeon 5770 in my 5,1 Mac Pro the other day... screen went blank for apparently no reason. Later I rebooted and had a display again, but there were occasional glitches. Finally I started up and only had vertical lines (white/grey with thin black lines) on the screen.

I've tried removing the card and reinstalling it but now I get nothing but the lines. Everything seems completely ok with a GT120 installed instead.

I'm not sure what to try next - could it possibly be the power cable? That would be a cheap fix. Or is the card dead? I've been to this dance before when I tried to upgrade the card a while back, which didn't go well. I'm not sure I want to put much more money into this machine at this point, but on the other hand if I did get a better card I guess I could run Mojave (I'm still on Sierra on this machine, planning to go to High Sierra any day really... well, I was until this!).

I can't seem to get the Apple Hardware test to run either.

I'm sure there are lots of things I haven't tried yet. Worst case I can probably put up with the GT120 for a little while, but I'm more concerned if this is a sign of bigger problems to come I guess... and also whether I'm going to have similar issues if I do spend money on another card that needs additional power like the 5770 (unlike the GT120 that doesn't).

Any suggestions or advice/observations/things to try next would be appreciated...

 

[MIKX]

The 5770 is so old now. Yours is probably worn out and also 5770s are not Metal Supported.

These cards can be EFI flashed and are Metal Supported for Mojave.

AMD cards : HD 7950 R9 280 HD 7970 R9 280X

NOTE : The R9 270X might also be Metal Supported. I don't have one now.

You can learn how to EFI flash the above cards here at the Netkas site

Rom things

Rom things

forum.netkas.org

 

[Porco]

The 5770 is so old now. Yours is probably worn out and also 5770s are not Metal Supported.

Thanks for the reply @MIKX .

Alright, I'm going to try the MSI RADEON RX 560 AERO ITX as recommended by Apple.

MSI RADEON RX 560 AERO ITX 4G OC Graphics Card '4GB GDDR5, 1196MHz, mini ITX Design, AMD Polaris 21 GPU, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, Single Fan Cooling System'

MSI RADEON RX 560 AERO ITX 4G OC Graphics Card '4GB GDDR5, 1196MHz, mini ITX Design, AMD Polaris 21 GPU, DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, Single Fan Cooling System'

www.amazon.co.uk

I might investigate something more experimental another time if I find something cheap on eBay.

Anyone know if it works ok on Sierra (10.12) or should I upgrade to High Sierra (10.13) first with the GT120 in the MP? I'm not too bothered about moving to Mojave yet, I might not at all depending on what happens in the next year or so.

In fact if anyone else has installed this card and has any other experiences to relay that'd be great (I will search for such posts too, but as I've already started this thread...)

 

[bsbeamer]

Update to at least High Sierra. For better drivers with RX 560 go to Mojave.

 

[Porco]

Update to at least High Sierra. For better drivers with RX 560 go to Mojave.

thanks but will it work ok in Sierra? Like, are you saying 'update because I think you should update' or are you saying update because it won't work' ?

 

[tsialex]

thanks but will it work ok in Sierra? Like, are you saying 'update because I think you should update' or are you saying update because it won't work' ?

Sierra has initial/beta Polaris drivers, RX 560 is a Polaris 21 GPU, and it works poorly. Apple had decent support High Sierra, while with 10.14.6 the Polaris drivers are top notch.

 

[Porco]

Sierra has initial/beta Polaris drivers, RX 560 is a Polaris 21 GPU, and it works poorly. Apple had decent support High Sierra, while with 10.14.6 the Polaris drivers are top notch.

Thanks @tsialex . I did/do plan on upgrading to High Sierra soon regardless, I just wanted to know if I could install this RX 560 like, tomorrow afternoon(!) or if it was strictly required to upgrade to 10.13 first. Sounds like a (qualified) yes it will work in 10.12 (to some degree)?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks @tsialex . I did/do plan on upgrading to High Sierra soon regardless, I just wanted to know if I could install this RX 560 like, tomorrow afternoon(!) or if it was strictly required to upgrade to 10.13 first. Sounds like a (qualified) yes?

You will need to upgrade your Mac Pro firmware with the GT120 before installing the RX 560. You need to read this before anything, it's says Mojave, but applies to you:

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

It's a two step firmware upgrade, from your current BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 with your GT 120, then the next firmware upgrade will need a METAL supported GPU and RX 560 will work perfectly for upgrading to 144.0.0.0.0.

Sierra works with RX 560, poorly.

 

[Porco]

You will need to upgrade your Mac Pro firmware with the GT120 before installing the RX 560. You need to read this before anything, it's says Mojave, but applies to you:

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

It's a two step firmware upgrade, from your current BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 with your GT 120, then the next firmware upgrade will need a METAL supported GPU and RX 560 will work perfectly for upgrading to 144.0.0.0.0.

Sierra works with RX 560, poorly.

Right. Thank you.

 

[Porco]

Got the RX560 installed without a hitch... and it seems like it's going to work fine (so far, touch wood!) for my uses right now (general computing/Logic Pro X/some photo/graphics work).

After further reading/research I see what you guys mean about the performance being better in Mojave, so I have that to look forward to. I took the opportunity to do an (extra) back-up and update my firmware ready for an upgrade to High Sierra soon too, so when I get more time I can do that and maybe test out Mojave on another disk.

Thanks again for the hand-holding to those who replied!