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MP All Models AMD Polaris, Vega, & Navi GPU macOS Support
- Thread starter MisterAndrew
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upgrade the "sata power to 6 pin" cable to DUAL sata power to 6 pin and then you're in the safe zone
6 pin can do ~75w but single SATA is ~50w so hence the need for DUAL SATA
got it!
Yesterday ordered Dual sata - will use it as you advised. No matter what sata power to use - just 2 neighbors? As i understand tere are 4 hdd sata power and 2 for dvd in mac pro 5.1 ?
What about over-draw? The 6pins are confirmed to work reliable >75w (till ~120w) each.
What happens if the two sata ports to 8-pin draws >100w? Will it shut down or could it be even worse then stressing the two 6 pins to the limit? Is it an option to use 3 sata pins?
Of course only in case of a gpu with 2x8-pins.
Thanks for your thoughts this..
Asking about using SATA power for an 8 pin input of a GPU then yes I would suggest going to needing THREE SATA ports to power the 8 pin port. That's due to 8 pin doing ~150w so each SATA port being ~50w, requires three to make it "bullet proof". You would need multiple cables to achieve it. For example, Dual SATA to 6 pin, SATA to 6 pin, and then a dual female 6 pin to single 8 pin male. So 3 cables to use SATA power for an 8 pin input
About over draw. I personally don't have experience with using SATA power to power a GPU. My knowledge just comes from research when I considered what it would take to power something like a 1080ti or Radeon VII properly. So with that said, I am guessing there are some members that could provide more personal experiences with more details on what the "real world" upper limits are. And I will admit, 120w does sound familiar for the mini 6 pins. I am perhaps "playing it safe" but I don't want to advise anything different without personal experience. I'd hate to know someone fried a GPU or something similar because I gave them the idea to power it wrong. So I am suggesting what would be the technical safe zones rather than what could be considered more real world usage
[doublepost=1555507248][/doublepost]
They do not have to be neighboring SATA ports, that just depends on your cable length. Yes there are four SATA power ports on the four drive sled bays, and yes there is also the lesser used SATA ports in the optical drive cage. But it would be almost impossible to route a cable from the optical bay SATA ports down to the GPU and be able to put your cases side door on. So that is not too practical using them that way. Some people utilize the optical bay SATA ports by putting their 2.5" SSDs in there since its not really an issue if the SSD is not "mounted" down. So that would allow up 2 drives to be connected while leaving open all four the sled bay SATA ports open for other drives or as auxiliary power for GPU
meaning it will not be enough to power 6 pin port gpu from dual sata?
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thanks, but I never said it's a good idea to use the ODD SATA ports for powering a GPU for example. What I specifically suggested is if you need to use SATA ports from your sled drive bays but cannot sacrifice the number of drives you can put up to two 2.5" SSDs in the ODD bay instead. that suggestion is sound advice. To clarify further, only one 2.5" SSD if you need to keep the CD/DVD drive installed and connected/powered
[doublepost=1555514652][/doublepost]
sounds like that is the case. I did not know this but it makes sense
I want to reiterate this is NOT what I suggested above in my previous post #1280. Even if you could get 100w+ from the ODD SATA cables it is completely impractical to use them in that fashion (powering a GPU) due to cable routing and being able to close the case. I am stressing the ODD SATA cables do make a good home to SSDs if you need the extra storage or are using drive sled SATA ports to power a GPU for example
SATA power may be very useful in specific cases.
For example: my HD 7970 works with dual 6 pins connectors, but the power part of PSU is “whistling”. When it powered with additional SATA power the “whistling” is gone (mini6 -> 6; mini6 + SATA -> 8).
But PSU mod rocks
For example: my HD 7970 works with dual 6 pins connectors, but the power part of PSU is “whistling”. When it powered with additional SATA power the “whistling” is gone (mini6 -> 6; mini6 + SATA -> 8).
But PSU mod rocks
It’s probably best to avoid using SATA power for a Vega GPU. While the average power draw might be okay, spikes could cause damage. Do pixlas mod or use separate PS to be safe.
Just to add here too:
finaly i have my red dragon vega 56. Pluged as decided dual mini six pin to 8 pin GPU + dual sata to 6 pin GPU.
The card is quite hot - when do aida stress via win 7 bootcamp, i see following temp:
processor max temp 95
gpu hot spot max temp 89-90
psu consumption 860-880
the test duration is 30 min with case opened.
the card is long but fits to the necessary spot in the case.
install last drivers via amd web site for win 7 bootcamp.
Overall it is ok - hope will not burn the MB.
But i have 2 issues:
1. Load with mac os via boot camp tool is not working - any suggestions?
2. In high sierra my desktop is moved to the left side (i have toshiba tv panel pluged). How can i adjust it - any tool in mac os (first booted in mac os, then in win7)?
Also not sure if the fans are stoped in mac os. Need to check.
--- Post Merged, Today at 7:03 PM ---
funny thing - i decided to write to powercolor to ask about right pluging the gpu to mac. Here is the answer:
dear user :
"this product is not design for a MAC system , so we could not provide any information or suggestion for your idea , please do not install this product to mac pro system , this might make hardware damage ."
finaly i have my red dragon vega 56. Pluged as decided dual mini six pin to 8 pin GPU + dual sata to 6 pin GPU.
The card is quite hot - when do aida stress via win 7 bootcamp, i see following temp:
processor max temp 95
gpu hot spot max temp 89-90
psu consumption 860-880
the test duration is 30 min with case opened.
the card is long but fits to the necessary spot in the case.
install last drivers via amd web site for win 7 bootcamp.
Overall it is ok - hope will not burn the MB.
But i have 2 issues:
1. Load with mac os via boot camp tool is not working - any suggestions?
2. In high sierra my desktop is moved to the left side (i have toshiba tv panel pluged). How can i adjust it - any tool in mac os (first booted in mac os, then in win7)?
Also not sure if the fans are stoped in mac os. Need to check.
--- Post Merged, Today at 7:03 PM ---
funny thing - i decided to write to powercolor to ask about right pluging the gpu to mac. Here is the answer:
dear user :
"this product is not design for a MAC system , so we could not provide any information or suggestion for your idea , please do not install this product to mac pro system , this might make hardware damage ."
Is Aida stress test like Furmark? How are the temps using standard benchmarks like LuxMark and Unigine?
[doublepost=1555958210][/doublepost]I think that stress test is designed to push it to the max. Therefore it puts unnecessary strain on your GPU and could cause premature failure. I think it would be best to avoid running a test like that since it doesn't reflect actual usage conditions. To be scientific you should run the same test with the card installed in a PC to see if there's a difference, or find someone who has done that to compare the results with, but since you ran the test in Windows I would expect the results to be similar. This thread is for compatibility in macOS though so you should run tests in macOS to compare results with users here.
[doublepost=1555958658][/doublepost]No obvious changes in the Polaris and Vega drivers in 10.14.5 beta 3.
[doublepost=1555958210][/doublepost]I think that stress test is designed to push it to the max. Therefore it puts unnecessary strain on your GPU and could cause premature failure. I think it would be best to avoid running a test like that since it doesn't reflect actual usage conditions. To be scientific you should run the same test with the card installed in a PC to see if there's a difference, or find someone who has done that to compare the results with, but since you ran the test in Windows I would expect the results to be similar. This thread is for compatibility in macOS though so you should run tests in macOS to compare results with users here.
[doublepost=1555958658][/doublepost]No obvious changes in the Polaris and Vega drivers in 10.14.5 beta 3.
just one thing as Colombo used to say - the screen in attach.
i have toshiba tv plugged, 46 or 50 inch, the desktop looks like on the screen and in "about mac" says: 31,5-inch (1920 x 1080). `How can i adjust it to the size where all fits the screen?
i have toshiba tv plugged, 46 or 50 inch, the desktop looks like on the screen and in "about mac" says: 31,5-inch (1920 x 1080). `How can i adjust it to the size where all fits the screen?
Attachments
What happened to the Vega7 driver that some folks here had tested ? I remember reading somewhere that the Vega 7 beta driver package somehow slows down the fans in Vega cards in the 5.1. Was I wrong? Did Apple eliminate that great beta driver package we are all waiting for... ?
that looks like an underscan/overscan setting.
there should be a slide bar to adjust this in the Display settings. It looks like you went "over" meaning not everything will fit on the screen. going "under" will create black areas around the edges of your screen.
read this article for more details
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202763
and do not care about what about this mac says your TV size is. it is cosmetic as far as I know. I have used a few TVs and some reported the proper size and others did not. it had zero impact on it's functions. my experience was the same as yours, having a 48" TV report it as 41"
i check the link, i do not have this overscan / underscan option in display settings-(
may i change them through terminal?
The Vega 56/64 fan issues are fixed in 10.14.15 beta 2
I just installed a Reference Sapphire Vega 56 into my 2009 4.1>5.1 mac pro running Mojave 10.14.5 beta 3
As others reported the fan is running quietly - I'm going to do some editing in FCPX to see if there are any performance improvements and if fan spins up.
I set the bios switch to the economy setting and I'm using two mini 6pin to 6 pin cables plugged into a EVGA Powerlink to balance the power load.
All seems good for now.....
As others reported the fan is running quietly - I'm going to do some editing in FCPX to see if there are any performance improvements and if fan spins up.
I set the bios switch to the economy setting and I'm using two mini 6pin to 6 pin cables plugged into a EVGA Powerlink to balance the power load.
All seems good for now.....
I have exact same config as @krakman, besides I have mini 6-pin to 8 pin(https://www.frys.com/product/9410051?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG) instead with the EVGA Powerlink. I have run the Heaven benchmark and got pretty stable.
I see no point to run Furmark. I have run couple games like Resident Evil 2 remake and 3Dmark. No issue at all. A reference VEGA 56 only has 150W OR 165W TDP.
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Furmark is stable, even without power balancing.
See:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...u-macos-support.2083168/page-51#post-27276182
That not the full board power though but chip only. Then comes board power as well as HBM power.
Honestly though, I run my VEGA FE from the logic board with 6-pin to 8-pin molex connectors using the low power bios switch and seeing it pull 7.99A from both 6-pin PCIe Boost connectors on the logic board is a bit much, while only 2.4A from the PCIe slot (total ~220 Watt). I'd rather it pulled more power from the PCIe slot.