MP All Models AMD Polaris, Vega, & Navi GPU macOS Support

[bsbeamer]

Thanks. Can you confirm this is a correct model? https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-rx-580-100411p8gocl/p/N82E16814202278

11265-05-20G is the one I’m using. There are a few threads comparing them. Search this forum for part numbers. I believe it will work, but confirm.

This is the exact that I’ve been using for about a year:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ6FMF8/

 

[scottr02]

Okay, I'm going to order this and will respond when I get it installed. Fingers crossed things go smoothly. Thanks everyone for all the advice, very much appreciated!

 

[flowrider]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

These specific third-party graphics cards are Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
• NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

I'm using this with Mojave:

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Graphics-Card/GV-RX580AORUS-8GD-rev-10-11#kf

Lou

 

[mokeiko]

This is the exact that I’ve been using for about a year:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ6FMF8/

I purchased this exact card and it was DOA and returned it back to Amazon. I didn't want to deal with a replacement so I went to my local BestBuy and got the XFX Radeon RX580 Black Edition and have no problems, Works great OOTB. YMWV.

 

[scottr02]

This is the exact that I’ve been using for about a year:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZ6FMF8/

I purchased this exact card and it was DOA and returned it back to Amazon. I didn't want to deal with a replacement so I went to my local BestBuy and got the XFX Radeon RX580 Black Edition and have no problems, Works great OOTB. YMWV.

Incidentally, and I probably should have come here first before troubleshooting the issue, but here's a pic of the display, with the old 5870 graphics card. From what I read online, the vertical lines indicate a faulty graphics card. The lines are hard to see in this pic, but they are gray on a lighter gray screen, kind of like the initial boot up screen colors but with lines on them instead, and no apple logo. I tested this on multiple monitors and on different ports and got the same lines.

When I removed this graphics card and installed the new xfx radeon 580 card, there was no signal at all to the monitors. Just thought I'd mention this, as I'm waiting to get the new sapphire card, which should be arriving tomorrow.

 

[mokeiko]

scottr02,

It seems all these cards are a hit and miss kind of thing. Mine didn't even make it to boot, it just hung in a black screen (no signal to monitors as well). I tested it on a PC and it did the same thing.

Good luck with the Sapphire and keep us posted.

 

[bsbeamer]

SOME of the newer Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB have a dual BIOS switch. Make sure you set that correctly before "determining" it's DOA on a Mac Pro 5,1. They are officially supported by Apple by default in latest versions of High Sierra and Mojave. Also make sure your BootROM is up to date.

 

[mokeiko]

SOME of the newer Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB have a dual BIOS switch. Make sure you set that correctly before "determining" it's DOA on a Mac Pro 5,1. They are officially supported by Apple by default in latest versions of High Sierra and Mojave. Also make sure your BootROM is up to date.

Yes, I checked the dual switch, bootrom updated as well.

Like I mentioned I tried it on a PC and the card showed the same symptoms, Stuck on boot with black screens.

I've had an OWC accelsior ssd blade die (twice), a Sonnet esata card port die, a Sapphire 7950 mac HDMI die, I understand these things happen. It's all mute anyway as I returned the card.

 

[scottr02]

Yes, I checked the dual switch, bootrom updated as well.

Like I mentioned I tried it on a PC and the card showed the same symptoms, Stuck on boot with black screens.

I've had an OWC accelsior ssd blade die (twice), a Sonnet esata card port die, a Sapphire 7950 mac HDMI die, I understand these things happen. It's all mute anyway as I returned the card.

Success! It installed and seems to be running correctly, monitors have signals. Do I also need to install the driver install dvd that came with the card or is it automatically updated?

 

[h9826790]

Success! It installed and seems to be running correctly, monitors have signals. Do I also need to install the driver install dvd that came with the card or is it automatically updated?

No need to install anything, that DVD is not for MacOS.

 

[scottr02]

No need to install anything, that DVD is not for MacOS.

Thank you! And thanks to everyone here who helped me out here. I now have a dual monitor setup working correctly. My last step is getting my Wacom cintiq plugged in, and I just realized the Wacom male port won't fit the female port in the new card, so I've ordered a dvi-d male to dvi-i female, which I THINK should not only connect the Wacom but add it as a 3-way monitor. Getting the part Wednesday, I'll update what happens.

 

[MisterAndrew]

This is interesting. Now that the gaming focused Navi GPUs have been released, the Radeon VII is nowhere to be found. I guess that makes sense since the Navi cards accomplish what the Radeon VII was intended for at a much lower price. The Radeon VII was a bargain for what it really is though, a workstation/enterprise GPU.

https://www.nowinstock.net/computers/videocards/amd/radeonvii/

 

[goMac]

This is interesting. Now that the gaming focused Navi GPUs have been released, the Radeon VII is nowhere to be found. I guess that makes sense since the Navi cards accomplish what the Radeon VII was intended for at a much lower price. The Radeon VII was a bargain for what it really is though, a workstation/enterprise GPU.

https://www.nowinstock.net/computers/videocards/amd/radeonvii/

There is no Navi equivalent to the Radeon VII yet, and I don't believe any of them are faster than the Radeon VII.

Navi is for budget and mid level right now. There is no high end Navi GPU released.

 

[orph]

Radeon VII was killed last month i think, not sure where i saw it but google kicks out lots of hits
https://hexus.net/business/news/components/132671-rumour-amd-radeon-vii-declared-end-life/

i suspect it was to cheep for the pro market and to much for gamers

 

[atonaldenim]

Since Newegg has the MSI Air Boost Vega 56 OC on sale today for $229 (after promo code and mail-in rebate) I decided it's finally time to upgrade from the 7950. If my system isn't stable enough with the aux power alone, I guess I'll man up and try the Pixlas mod.

 

[scottr02]

Since Newegg has the MSI Air Boost Vega 56 OC on sale today for $229 (after promo code and mail-in rebate) I decided it's finally time to upgrade from the 7950. If my system isn't stable enough with the aux power alone, I guess I'll man up and try the Pixlas mod.

Okay, so I hit a bit of a snag in the new video card install. Although the card works perfectly and I have dual monitors linked, I have a third monitor which is a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet, which requires a different cable plug than what is included in the new radeon 580 video card. To resolve this, I purchased a cheap adapter that connects the Wacom to the card port. It fits perfectly, however I'm not getting any signal to the Cintiq.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I ordered a backup card which is the 5870 and it has the correct port. Would it be advisable or not to add the 5870 card to one of the empty slots? Then I could simply attach the Cintiq cable to the 5870 card. But I have no idea of that's possible or even safe to add two video cards.

I've uploaded image of the adapter and the card port:

 

[atonaldenim]

Okay, so I hit a bit of a snag in the new video card install. Although the card works perfectly and I have dual monitors linked, I have a third monitor which is a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet, which requires a different cable plug than what is included in the new radeon 580 video card. To resolve this, I purchased a cheap adapter that connects the Wacom to the card port. It fits perfectly, however I'm not getting any signal to the Cintiq.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I ordered a backup card which is the 5870 and it has the correct port. Would it be advisable or not to add the 5870 card to one of the empty slots? Then I could simply attach the Cintiq cable to the 5870 card. But I have no idea of that's possible or even safe to add two video cards.

I wouldn't recommend installing the older Radeon HD 5870 card just for connecting your Wacom tablet. It's probably just a matter of finding the correct adapter to use with your RX 580. What specific adapter are you using? With DisplayPort adapters it can be sometimes important to use an "active" adapter rather than a "passive" one to get the best results.

 

[scottr02]

I wouldn't recommend installing the older Radeon HD 5870 card just for connecting your Wacom tablet. It's probably just a matter of finding the correct adapter to use with your RX 580. What specific adapter are you using? With DisplayPort adapters it can be sometimes important to use an "active" adapter rather than a "passive" one to get the best results.

I'm using a DVI-D male to DVI-I female. I don't know what the difference is between an active and passive, can you clarify?

 

[atonaldenim]

I'm using a DVI-D male to DVI-I female. I don't know what the difference is between an active and passive, can you clarify?

The difference between DVI-D and DVI-I is that the DVI-D port on your RX580 is putting out a digital signal only. DVI-I includes an analog signal as well (think VGA). So it could be that your Wacom depends on that analog signal in the DVI-I connection. Look up the specs of your Wacom to confirm what it needs, and try a different adapter which will create that needed analog signal.

It relates more to DisplayPort connections, but passive adapters simply change the connection type and rely on the video card to do the real work of changing from one type of signal to another. Active adapters actually contain chips that will actively do the conversion between signal types within the adapter itself, rather than depending on the video card.

If you have more questions I'd suggest starting a new thread specific to this issue. Cheers

 

[scottr02]

The difference between DVI-D and DVI-I is that the DVI-D port on your RX580 is putting out a digital signal only. DVI-I includes an analog signal as well (think VGA). So it could be that your Wacom depends on that analog signal in the DVI-I connection. Look up the specs of your Wacom to confirm what it needs, and try a different adapter which will create that needed analog signal.

It relates more to DisplayPort connections, but passive adapters simply change the connection type and rely on the video card to do the real work of changing from one type of signal to another. Active adapters actually contain chips that will actively do the conversion between signal types within the adapter itself, rather than depending on the video card.

If you have more questions I'd suggest starting a new thread specific to this issue. Cheers

Thanks! Apparently I need a DVI-I female to display port. Ordered and arriving on the 20th.

 

[atonaldenim]

I modify the performance settings in the Soft PowerPlay Table, just as you would if you were running the card in Windows or Linux; you add the table to the info.plist in the AMD10000Controller.kext. There are a number of ways to get the table:

1. Edit and test your settings in Windows, then export the PP_PhmSoftPowerPlayTable settings from the Windows registry to OSX. (https://www.overclock.net/forum/67-...inary-view-amd-vega-bios-26.html#post26297003)
2. Edit the settings in Excel or Google Sheets and import in OSX. (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-rhYsaRXO1ahk3PyrEgT9gXzs7ImAzh-sbqtgwy8HQg/edit?usp=sharing)
3. Edit the table in OSX with VGTab-en.app which generates a property list file and import the settings. (DL-link here, can't find the original Asian site. https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/t...n-high-sierra/?do=findComment&comment=2628317)
4. Use someone else's kext / settings, e.g. like Max has been sharing here.

Fwiw, I'm actually undervolting the Vega to avoid high temperatures, throttling and any risk to the Mac Pro, plenty of articles on this, but this one is somewhat comprehensive: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-vega-64-undervolting,5234.html

What is the status of custom Vega PowerPlay Tables in 10.14.5, with its improved native Vega drivers? @Pval are you still undervolting your Vega 64?

I'm getting a Vega 56 (MSI Air Boost OC) and I'd like to use the new 10.14.5 drivers for best compatibility, fan control etc. but I'm also interested in the possibility of reducing power consumption with additional tweaks, like you can do in WattMan (Windows) with the "Power Save" BIOS #2 profile. Tom's Hardware shows the Vega 56 can be limited to RX 580-like power consumption levels with software tweaks (see their custom "Power Limit 25% BIOS #2" profile.)

I've read elsewhere that some custom PowerPlay Table tweaks no longer work with 10.14.5 so I'm curious if anyone here has more experience with this?

 

[MisterAndrew]

There is no Navi equivalent to the Radeon VII yet, and I don't believe any of them are faster than the Radeon VII.

Navi is for budget and mid level right now. There is no high end Navi GPU released.

RX 5700 XT appears to be equivalent to Radeon VII for gaming. The Anniversary Edition is a few percent faster. For workstation tasks of course Navi is inferior, but Radeon VII is not marketed as a workstation card. Now that there is Navi for gaming I think Vega 20 (maybe all Vega) will be assigned only to workstation and enterprise use (such as the Vega II GPUs in the 7,1) where it can be profitable (expensive).

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-5700-XT-vs-AMD-Radeon-VII/4045vs4035

 

[orph]

yep the Radeon VII was just to cheep, looks like the Navi compute drivers are a mess from all the reviews iv seen so comparisions are still a bit iffy.

 

[CIA]

As was expected based on the betas, the formal 10.14.6 release today finally shows all the correct information in both "System Information.app" and "About this Mac" for my 8GB RX 590.

 

[Djeross]

What is the status of custom Vega PowerPlay Tables in 10.14.5, with its improved native Vega drivers? @Pval are you still undervolting your Vega 64?

I'm getting a Vega 56 (MSI Air Boost OC) and I'd like to use the new 10.14.5 drivers for best compatibility, fan control etc. but I'm also interested in the possibility of reducing power consumption with additional tweaks, like you can do in WattMan (Windows) with the "Power Save" BIOS #2 profile. Tom's Hardware shows the Vega 56 can be limited to RX 580-like power consumption levels with software tweaks (see their custom "Power Limit 25% BIOS #2" profile.)

I've read elsewhere that some custom PowerPlay Table tweaks no longer work with 10.14.5 so I'm curious if anyone here has more experience with this?

Hi,
Did you get your MSI Air Boost ?
If so, do you have any fan issue with it, or is this problem solved with 10.14.5 ?
If anyone else has the answers, don't be shy ^^

Thanks