What are the "Best" current Graphics cards for cMP?

[Mac Gus]

Apologies if this information is common knowledge or easily available somewhere. If so, please direct me.

I'm curious as to what the current best GFX cards are for the the cMP, both for AMD and Nvidia.

From what I understand the best NVIDIA cards are the Titan X 12MB and below it, the 980 Ti 6GB.

I'm out of the loop on AMD.

I currently have a 7970 and want to get a card that will improve performance with FCX (and possibly Premire if I switch to that).

Also, I'm looking to get a new monitor and am going to go 4K. I read that the Titan X does 5K?? Do any other cards do 5K? Between the 27" Dell and LG is there a preference here?

Thanks.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

For FCP? AMD cards still, dual even better.

 

[theitsage]

Atm, Radeon R9 Fury X is the best AMD card.

R9 280x (same as 7970) in macOS Luxmark 3.1


R9 Fury X in macOS Luxmark 3.1

 

[Mac Gus]

Does the Fury X need to be flashed to have a boot screen on Mac OS?

And would that card operate better than the Titan X for FCX?


Also, I'm looking the Fury X up on ebay and they seem to be liquid cooled??

 

[Fl0r!an]

Modern AMD cards can't be flashed for boot screens, as they'd refuse to work in OS X when flashed. It's actually the same story on hackintoshs, either boot screen or OS X, can't have both.

 

[Ph.D.]

The 280X is a popular card due to its excellent over-all compatibility and its ability, typically, to sneak in under the power limits of the cMP without a secondary power supply. I use one with a 6 to 8-pin adapter without the slightest trouble except for a single very demanding game that will occasionally crash (not sure that it's the power situation of the card).

The Fury X, while faster, almost certainly requires a supplementary power supply and would likely be dangerous to your system's health without one.

ATI/AMD cards such as the 280X work particularly well for Final Cut and perhaps some other Apple-centric applications, as Apple has fine-tuned its programs to take advantage of these cards. The "Mac Edition" GTX 680 or other semi-compatible Nvidia cards may be better for games and probably significantly better for software that takes particular advantage of CUDA.

There seems to be progress getting the new AMD 4XX series cards working, at least with the 460 (the suspicion being that these will be used in a new iMac). These may not be faster than a 280X but will definitely be more power-efficient, and they have more memory. If compatibility improves, especially with the faster variants, then these will likely become preferred in the future.

 

[h9826790]

Nvidia may produce better GPU, however, for FCPX, AMD actually works better due to it's highly optimised for AMD card.

My dual 7950 setup (stock clock, under volt, native power supply), only need 15s to finish BruceX, I think it can be faster than TitanX in most real world FCPX task.

Stock clock Luxmark 3 result

Power draw during Luxmark (LHS is the V2, and RHS is the V3, obviously Luxmark 3 is more demanding).

The power draw when rendering 4K video in FCPX. Even the peak loading is within the 75W limit.

 

[Mac Gus]

So if the 280X is the same as the 7970, should i just be sticking with my current card? (I'd like to stick with stock power supply)

 

[Ph.D.]

So if the 280X is the same as the 7970, should i just be sticking with my current card? (I'd like to stick with stock power supply)

Yes, unless you simply must try for something more in some way. Besides, better newer 14 nm cards may become available for the Mac sometime in the next 6 months or so.

 

[Mac Gus]

I guess as long as the 7970 can run a 4k monitor without issue, I'll stick with it now and see what comes down the line. Thanks

 

[ixxx69]

The 280X is a popular card due to its excellent over-all compatibility and its ability, typically, to sneak in under the power limits of the cMP without a secondary power supply. I use one with a 6 to 8-pin adapter without the slightest trouble except for a single very demanding game that will occasionally crash (not sure that it's the power situation of the card).

The Fury X, while faster, almost certainly requires a supplementary power supply and would likely be dangerous to your system's health without one.

ATI/AMD cards such as the 280X work particularly well for Final Cut and perhaps some other Apple-centric applications, as Apple has fine-tuned its programs to take advantage of these cards. The "Mac Edition" GTX 680 or other semi-compatible Nvidia cards may be better for games and probably significantly better for software that takes particular advantage of CUDA.

There seems to be progress getting the new AMD 4XX series cards working, at least with the 460 (the suspicion being that these will be used in a new iMac). These may not be faster than a 280X but will definitely be more power-efficient, and they have more memory. If compatibility improves, especially with the faster variants, then these will likely become preferred in the future.

Doesn't the cMP have a 1000w PSU or something like that? All the folks around here with their Titan X's are adding secondary PSU's? Or are you just referring to the necessary adapters?

 

[PowerMike G5]

Doesn't the cMP have a 1000w PSU or something like that? All the folks around here with their Titan X's are adding secondary PSU's? Or are you just referring to the necessary adapters?

No, I am running the Titan X completely from internal power. I currently run it with a dual mini6pin to 8pin and power the other 6pin via the 2 sata power ports in the optical bay.

 

[h9826790]

Doesn't the cMP have a 1000w PSU or something like that? All the folks around here with their Titan X's are adding secondary PSU's? Or are you just referring to the necessary adapters?

It's nothing to do with the PSU's rating, but how much power can draw from the logic board. The cMP's logic board only provide 2x mini 6pin output, which means 75W each ONLY (technically and officially). If the TDP of a graphic card > 225W (75W from PCIe slot + 75W from mini 6pin A + 75W from mini 6pin B), the card may draw more power than the logic board is rated. Therefore, in worst case, it can burn the logic board.

The TitanX is a 250W GPU. So, that's why someone suggest power it by an additional PSU.

 

[William_si]

Therefore, in worst case, it can burn the logic board.

Mostly it just turns off the Mac, i had it happen a lot when i tried a 2x 290X + 280X config where the aux PSU was not sufficient:

https://i.imgur.com/zIpmUYK.jpg

No permanent damage in any way, same on other 4,1/5,1 i did play around with, this is pretty good fused.

Doesn't the cMP have a 1000w PSU or something like that? All the folks around here with their Titan X's are adding secondary PSU's? Or are you just referring to the necessary adapters?

Yes, around 1kW, however the outputs - including the cable to the DVD bay - are current limited and will as above shut down the Mac on too much draw. You can however tap the PSU directly (the cables are in the DVD bay behind the metal separation) and draw even on a high end Dual CPU config 500W+ from there straight. Cables are all black so needs some counting skills (or luck...)

 

[h9826790]

Mostly it just turns off the Mac, i had it happen a lot when i tried a 2x 290X + 280X config where the aux PSU was not sufficient:

https://i.imgur.com/zIpmUYK.jpg

No permanent damage in any way, same on other 4,1/5,1 i did play around with, this is pretty good fused.

I know, I tested that myself, the shutdown limit is around 120W on each mini 6pin. However, for the WORST case, it can cause permanent damage, just normally won't happen.

 

[H2SO4]

If you have the money to burn, and I do mean completely incinerate, how about a 7950??

 

[Asgorath]

Nvidia may produce better GPU, however, for FCPX, AMD actually works better due to it's highly optimised for AMD card.

My dual 7950 setup (stock clock, under volt, native power supply), only need 15s to finish BruceX, I think it can be faster than TitanX in most real world FCPX task.

As I've posted several times, BruceX finishes in 14 seconds on my single TITAN X (Maxwell) card. It's not surprising that using 2 GPUs is faster than 1 GPU in general as FCPX does a good job of load balancing between the two cards (something Apple added for the new Mac Pro).

 

[Mac Gus]

If you have the money to burn, and I do mean completely incinerate, how about a 7950??

Used to have one of those but upgraded to a flashed 7970.

 

[H2SO4]

Used to have one of those but upgraded to a flashed 7970.

But did you see the price man?

(A 3GB 7970?).

 

[Mac Gus]

But did you see the price man?

(A 3GB 7970?).

Yeah mine's 3gb. You can get them used for much less on ebay.

 

[H2SO4]

Yeah mine's 3gb. You can get them used for much less on ebay.

Not in England you can’t.

 

[hwojtek]

Not in England you can’t.

Yes, you can. In England. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XFX-ATI-R...151348?hash=item1a21cbc234:g:PDwAAOSwo4pYUDYG

£110.00 for a 3GB 7970 to be flashed, as Gus said:

Used to have one of those but upgraded to a flashed 7970.

 

[h9826790]

As I've posted several times, BruceX finishes in 14 seconds on my single TITAN X (Maxwell) card. It's not surprising that using 2 GPUs is faster than 1 GPU in general as FCPX does a good job of load balancing between the two cards (something Apple added for the new Mac Pro).

I know, that's why I said AMD card usually a better choice for FCPX even though Nividia produce better GPU. I was not just talking about GPU performance, but what's the best FCPX solution.

For dual 7950, it only cost $200, and it's easily self flash to get Mac EFI. And in real world, it can be faster than a more expensive single TitianX in FCPX which cost a lot more.

Since it's possible to run dual 7950 without any mod / additional PSU. What I was try to compare is a cost effective / OOTB solution. But not single / multi card performance. If the cMP can handle dual TitanX without PSU mod, I doubt if there is anything can beat that at this moment, however, it cannot.

In fact, I did think about 4x RX460 / 2x RX480 / 2x R9 Nano as well. However, kext edit may be required, and due to some posts about possible crash during stress tests. Therefore, I don't think they are good solutions at this moment.

Anyway, as I said, even TitanX is a better GPU, it doesn't mean that's the best FCPX solution. However, if OP willing to go through Pixlas mod, don't care about OOTB driver support, and cost is not an issue. Dual TitanX may be actually the best solution at this moment.

You can keep believing TitanX is the best performance GPU avail in cMP. I won't doubt about it as well. However, please accept that is not necessary the best solution for everything, especially when talking about FCPX, which is a well known programme optimised for AMD GPU.

 

[H2SO4]

Yes, you can. In England. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XFX-ATI-R...151348?hash=item1a21cbc234:g:PDwAAOSwo4pYUDYG

£110.00 for a 3GB 7970 to be flashed, as Gus said:

My bad, yes. I was using Mac 7970 as a search term instead of just 7970.

 

[STek ZeNIO]

Great to find out that cMP can safely handle GPU <225W! And finally it has become a global well-known fact that such a powerful, affordable and power-efficient card like RX 480 reference (TDP = 150W) can fit and sit pretty comfortably inside cMP without having us to deal any more with hassles of complex wiring management, or worries of power supply need (no extra PSU). Gonna be quite a breath of fresh air for our aging but still mighty cMP!

So then out of curiosity and with some time in hand, I've been eyeing on XFX GTR 8GB, MSI ARMOR 8GB, Sapphire Nitro+ 8GB, or even Asus ROG STRIX 8GB (too much for cMP?). Gigabyte, and PowerColor seem ok too albeit with some mixed reviews (then again almost all reviews perhaps NOT relevant to cMP). Some of those are rated as TDP=150W (like the reference) while most aren't. I don't see any compelling reasons why not installing into cMP with aftermarket RX 480s 8GB that are build on incredibly power-efficient Polaris architecture. I run into a lot of discussion about the reference but not much about the aftermarkets. Are the aftermarkets feasible for cMP? What is your experience? I'm not much of a hardcore gamer but looking for mainstream top-tier performance card with future-compatibility under $300. Plz feel free to enlighten me.