AMD Polaris GPUs Plug and Play in macOS 10.12.6 & 10.13

[Derived]

Prices are gradually going back to MSRP for these cards. Be patient and you'll find one.

I don't have much to add right now other than this is a very funny post to read right at this moment.

And sad too, I was hoping this would be the case...I really wanted to slap a Vega into my 5,1 so I could stop dealing with Nvidia web drivers once and for all, but not at these prices.

I missed a $640 opened but unused Vega 64 by hours a couple weeks ago...really hurts...

 

[Jaho101]

I don't have much to add right now other than this is a very funny post to read right at this moment.

And sad too, I was hoping this would be the case...I really wanted to slap a Vega into my 5,1 so I could stop dealing with Nvidia web drivers once and for all, but not at these prices.

I missed a $640 opened but unused Vega 64 by hours a couple weeks ago...really hurts...

I actually waited over a year for Vega to come out, and for Apple to support it, and now that it's all in place they're impossible to buy. I thought I'd get a 64, but now I can barely even find a 56. It's ridiculous, but I really do wonder if a proper crash is coming anytime soon.

 

[h9826790]

I don't have much to add right now other than this is a very funny post to read right at this moment.

And sad too, I was hoping this would be the case...I really wanted to slap a Vega into my 5,1 so I could stop dealing with Nvidia web drivers once and for all, but not at these prices.

I missed a $640 opened but unused Vega 64 by hours a couple weeks ago...really hurts...

Yeah, the GPU price is going crazy. But I don't think you miss too much, The Vega thread suggested that the support is still quite broken. Even you bought the card few weeks ago, you may still forced to put it aside and wait for Apple to fix the driver.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

10.13.3 improves HEVC decoding on AMD Polaris

I'm seeing smoother graphics performance all round with the latest High Sierra update. Some glitches have gone, and 4K HEVC videos now play smoothly with REC 709 color profile, but REC 2020 color profile is still jerky (but better than before).

 

[devon807]

Can confirm that RX 580 is now fully recognized in macOS 10.13.4 Beta. Sleep is also functioning properly.

 

[yurc]

4K 10 bit videos play smoothly enough. CPU usage was around 20-30% across a few cores so I don’t know how much GPU assistance there is.

Regarding 10 bit HEVC decoding on iMac Pro, probably it have accelerated by iGPU from custom Xeon chips. Off shelf normal W-2XXX Xeon normally not have those capability, probably because that reason custom Xeon chip used by Apple.

So yeah, I assume this reason custom Xeon chips was used, besides for cooler thermal management (current i9 counterparts LGA2066 chips are pretty damn hot probably same with their normal Xeon counterparts) they also include built-in iGPU which usually not available on HEDT chipset.

This is only my conclusion after reading this article from Pike R. Alpha's blog. Sadly he probably will away for long time despite he provide many useful information.

 

[h9826790]

Regarding 10 bit HEVC decoding on iMac Pro, probably it have accelerated by iGPU from custom Xeon chips. Off shelf normal W-2XXX Xeon normally not have those capability, probably because that reason custom Xeon chip used by Apple.

So yeah, I assume this reason custom Xeon chips was used, besides for cooler thermal management (current i9 counterparts LGA2066 chips are pretty damn hot probably same with their normal Xeon counterparts) they also include built-in iGPU which usually not available on HEDT chipset.

This is only my conclusion after reading this article from Pike R. Alpha's blog. Sadly he probably will away for long time despite he provide many useful information.

So far, it's more evidence pointed to the hardware decoding is done by the Vega.

 

[Susurs]

Is there a boot screen on latest High Sierra with RX 5xx?

Any way to enable it?

 

[StuAff]

Is there a boot screen on latest High Sierra with RX 5xx?

Any way to enable it?

No, and no. Boot screen would require Mac firmware on the card- OS has nothing to do with it.

 

[RetroDan]

No, and no. Boot screen would require Mac firmware on the card- OS has nothing to do with it.

ASUS RX 580 shows up as this in 10.13.3. I thought this was supposed to be PnP?

 

[h9826790]

ASUS R9 580 shows up as this in 10.13.3. I thought this was supposed to be PnP?

Apart from the ident, is there anything wrong?

 

[StuAff]

ASUS R9 580 shows up as this in 10.13.3. I thought this was supposed to be PnP?

It's fully functional, by the looks of it....

 

[RetroDan]

It's fully functional, by the looks of it....

As best I can determine, it's working perfectly. Aside from the well known sleep bug in 10.13.3. Supposedly fixed in the 13.4 beta, so I'm looking forward to the official release.

Is there a way to kext this to report correctly?

I just expected auto detection. There's only one thing I like being labeled as "XXX" when it comes to computers...

 

[StuAff]

As best I can determine, it's working perfectly. Aside from the well known sleep bug in 10.13.3. Supposedly fixed in the 13.4 beta, so I'm looking forward to the official release.

Is there a way to kext this to report correctly?

I just expected auto detection. There's only one thing I like being labeled as "XXX" when it comes to computers...

There's a Kext hack on https://www.theitsage.com/install-radeon-rx-480-gpu-macos-sierra/ Skip to step 6. 10.13.4 won't be long and should identify the card correctly anyway. He also put the fix for the sleep bug on his site, https://www.theitsage.com/fix-rx-580-sleep-issue-10-13-2/ (scroll down for the less complicated version!).

 

[RetroDan]

There's a Kext hack on https://www.theitsage.com/install-radeon-rx-480-gpu-macos-sierra/ Skip to step 6. 10.13.4 won't be long and should identify the card correctly anyway. He also put the fix for the sleep bug on his site, https://www.theitsage.com/fix-rx-580-sleep-issue-10-13-2/ (scroll down for the less complicated version!).

Think I'll wait until 13.4. I'm not desperate enough to really muck about with kexts for just a cosmetic fix. This, of course, coming from the guy who altered his 4,1>5,1's "About this Mac" page to read "mid-2012"...

EDIT: As of 10.13.4, my RX 580 is now correctly identified without need for kext modification. Still only 2.5GT/s, though. Where is that damn resistor mod?!

 

[t8er8]

Hey guys I’m looking for some help, has anyone gotten a white screen on first boot with their gpu, I’m trying a rx 560 sapphire and I’m in 10.13.4 and when I boot eventually a white screen shows up, can anyone give me some info on how I could fix this and get the card running?

 

[Jayson A]

Does anyone know if the RX 560 works out of box on macOS Sierra 10.12.6?

 

[csd]

Does anyone know if the RX 560 works out of box on macOS Sierra 10.12.6?

I can confirm it does. I have a Sapphire RX 560 4 GB and have used it under 10.12.6, 10.13.3 and 10.13.4.

Under 10.12.6 it worked fine most of the time, but there were issues waking the monitor from power saving where I had to unplug and plug the DP port from the back of the monitor to get the display working again properly.

Since upgrading to 10.13.4 this problem has gone away and the card type is displayed properly in About this Mac... overall everything is running smoothly under this version -- I'm very happy with it.

/csd

 

[skizzo]

I can confirm it does. I have a Sapphire RX 560 4 GB and have used it under 10.12.6, 10.13.3 and 10.13.4.

Under 10.12.6 it worked fine most of the time, but there were issues waking the monitor from power saving where I had to unplug and plug the DP port from the back of the monitor to get the display working again properly.

Since upgrading to 10.13.4 this problem has gone away and the card type is displayed properly in About this Mac... overall everything is running smoothly under this version -- I'm very happy with it.

/csd

Could you specify which Sapphire RX 560 4GB you used?

Such as Pulse? Nitro+ ? or whatever version?

 

[Chung123]

I've been running dual AMD 7950s on my Mac Pro 5,1 with a single monitor for about 3 years now. (I used an ePower auxiliary power supply). Today, one of the cards seems to have failed. I've been thrilled at the performance of dual 7950's in Final Cut Pro X (Open CL performance). Since I'm now only running 1 card and considering options, is there a single plug-and-play card that is faster or equal than dual 7950's? Would an RX580 do the trick?

 

[h9826790]

I've been running dual AMD 7950s on my Mac Pro 5,1 with a single monitor for about 3 years now. (I used an ePower auxiliary power supply). Today, one of the cards seems to have failed. I've been thrilled at the performance of dual 7950's in Final Cut Pro X (Open CL performance). Since I'm now only running 1 card and considering options, is there a single plug-and-play card that is faster or equal than dual 7950's? Would an RX580 do the trick?

Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB. Roughly the same compute (BruceX) performance as dual 7950, and have much more usable VRAM.

 

[Chung123]

Thanks for the reply! That helps a lot. I can sell the remaining 7950 to offset the cost of a new card if I want to stick with the 5,1. (The problem with getting a used-refurbished Mac Pro cylinder is what to do with my drives). I'm looking at Amazon and Microcenter. Is this the same idea as a PULSE? http://www.microcenter.com/product/478849/Radeon_RX-580_ROG_Overclocked_8GB_GDDR5_Video_Card
And here is a Sapphire version? http://www.microcenter.com/product/478681/Radeon_Pulse_RX-580_Overclocked_8GB_GDDR5_Video_Card

Thanks for being so helpful here.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the reply! That helps a lot. I can sell the remaining 7950 to offset the cost of a new card if I want to stick with the 5,1. (The problem with getting a used-refurbished Mac Pro cylinder is what to do with my drives). I'm looking at Amazon and Microcenter. Is this the same idea as a PULSE? http://www.microcenter.com/product/478849/Radeon_RX-580_ROG_Overclocked_8GB_GDDR5_Video_Card
And here is a Sapphire version? http://www.microcenter.com/product/478681/Radeon_Pulse_RX-580_Overclocked_8GB_GDDR5_Video_Card

Thanks for being so helpful here.

Technically, reference RX580 should work, any RX580 with customise PCB will have higher potential to have issues.

And the reason to go for Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB is because Apple sell this GPU in their eGPU development kit. Therefore, should have best compatibility (in other word, least issues).

 

[Chung123]

Technically, reference RX580 should work, any RX580 with customise PCB will have higher potential to have issues.

And the reason to go for Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB is because Apple sell this GPU in their eGPU development kit. Therefore, should have best compatibility (in other word, least issues).

Thank you again. I'm going to go for the Pulse. It will be nice to restore my 5,1 back to a stock looking box.

I do wish, the Vega cards (from what I'm reading on the forum here) would work without challenges such as power draw and high cost.

 

[h9826790]

Thank you again. I'm going to go for the Pulse. It will be nice to restore my 5,1 back to a stock looking box.

I do wish, the Vega cards (from what I'm reading on the forum here) would work without challenges such as power draw and high cost.

I don't think power draw will be "fixed". AMD never intend to make the Vega card work in cMP. So, won't magically to lower the TDP to fit inside the cMP

Apple has no intention to let the cMP use any Vega card as well, so, no Mac Edition will exist.

If you interest in this card, then Pixlas mod is considered mandatory to make it work internally.

Anyway, Sapphire PULSE Vega 56 also confirmed working good in cMP, but if also consider cost / performance ratio, or power draw issue, etc. Then I still believe RX580 is a better choice at this moment.