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MacManu77

macrumors regular
Jan 31, 2018
110
4
There is reason to use that cables combination. Which is balance the power draw between the mini 6pins.

The card not necessary draw power evenly from the 8pins. Better to balance them by ourselves, in order to avoid over stressing one of the mini 6pin.

if instead I connect an evga powerlink with the rx vega 56, then it is correct to use two cables: mini 6Pin to 8Pin?
 

krakman

macrumors 6502
Dec 3, 2009
450
511
if instead I connect an evga powerlink with the rx vega 56, then it is correct to use two cables: mini 6Pin to 8Pin?

You can use mini 6 pin to 6 pin to connect to the Powerlink.

all the 12V power supply are contained in the min6 pin configuration the other 2 pins in an 8 pin plug are just Sense and GND, the 6pin plug will fit into an 8 pin socket.
 

MIKX

macrumors 68000
Dec 16, 2004
1,815
691
Japan
Apart from the 2xMini 6pin to 1 x 8 pin to the PowerLink .. . . I also added the extra 6 pin socket to the PowerLink's 'power-input' and then a 2xSATA to 1x 6 pin to that as 'spare power' for my MSI Armor RX580 8gb.
I use X-Plane 11 a lot which really pushes GPUs

Everything works OK.
 

pottersfield

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2020
13
5
Hi, any confirmed information, that the newly released Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 5600 XT is supported in a cMP 4.1/5.1 under macos 10.13 or higher?
 

pottersfield

macrumors newbie
Jan 22, 2020
13
5
Any developer with access to a Sapphire Radeon Pulse RX 5600 XT can check if it is supported in the latest 10.15.3 beta 3 or if there are any changelogs which suggests the support of that card! I would really appreciate that!
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
You likely won't find out about 5XXX drivers or additions until the PUBLIC beta is available, usually a few days after the developer beta.
 
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MisterAndrew

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 15, 2015
2,895
2,390
Portland, Ore.
A new BIOS was issued for the RX 5600 XT. It makes the gaming performance higher than a Vega 56 or 64 card, at least at lower resolutions, and seems to be nearly on par with the RX 5700. Now those still running a cMP, and with Catalina, can run a Vega level GPU with no power mods at all.

 
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ssn5512

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2018
9
0
NJ
What I have:

Mac mini 2018 with the Razer Core X and a Red Dragon Vega 56 and my os is 10.15.3

I ran Geekbench 5 and I get around 54,000 in metal. I bought the card at Micro Center for $220 open box. I have 2 weeks if I want to return it. I was thinking of the Red Devil RX 5700 XT. Ive read tons of reviews and watched YouTube videos. Is the performance going to be worth the upgrade. Any help would be appreciated thanks
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
What I have:

Mac mini 2018 with the Razer Core X and a Red Dragon Vega 56 and my os is 10.15.3

I ran Geekbench 5 and I get around 54,000 in metal. I bought the card at Micro Center for $220 open box. I have 2 weeks if I want to return it. I was thinking of the Red Devil RX 5700 XT. Ive read tons of reviews and watched YouTube videos. Is the performance going to be worth the upgrade. Any help would be appreciated thanks

Not same machine, but all my tests with Catalina and MBP16,1 with RX 5700 XT in eGPU are here:

 

ssn5512

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2018
9
0
NJ
Thanks for your response.... Reading your tests it looks like DP1,DP2 and HDMI hooked up to 3 separate monitors should give a higher GB. You would think it would only get better from here. Im just hoping if I maker the move that I'm not shooting myself in the foot lol. Based on your tests do you feel I'm better off staying with the Vega 56 or taking the plunge and getting the 5700 xt. If I hook it up the way I mentioned in the beginning of my post I should hopefully get a score around 66,000. Thanks again for your help
 

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853

Are there signs of this in MacOS already?
 

bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713

The RADEON PRO W5500 is officially announced and should be around $400 at the end of the month. On the surface seems like an RX 5700 XT would have more compute power and might be better option for that budget.

The W5700 is around $800 and no pricing for the W5700X for MP7,1.
 
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KingCachapa

macrumors member
Feb 29, 2020
62
3
Hellos, I really appreciate all the discussion that takes place in these forums and how far this machine has come. I am installing a Vega 56 to a Mac Pro 5,1 with 2 processors (flashed from 4,1 single) and after all the different ways of setting this GPU up without Pixlas, I wanted to sum up with this diagram below – it seems to be the safest setup (non-pixlas) based on what I've read so far. Let me know and thanks again! Questions if anyone has the time and patience:

1) Is this correct?
Paper.Journal.3.JPG


2) to confirm is this all I need then?

Screen Shot 2020-02-29 at 6.23.51 PM.png


3) for the 8pin to 2x 6pin connection, where exactly do the 2 6pin cables go? It's pretty clear in the pics where one goes but I can't tell what people are doing with the second 6pin here.

4) for the 2 SATA connector heads, I'm assuming each one goes to a different bay? do both need to be connected or can use just 1? Is not connecting to SATA at all too risky? (I'm still in the process of getting rid of my HDDs but I have all my bays full at the moment, would like to only sacrifice one for now if possible)

5) am I just wasting my time with EVGA and just simplify cables and do a different diagram?
 
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h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Hellos, I really appreciate all the discussion that takes place in these forums and how far this machine has come. I am installing a Vega 56 to a Mac Pro 5,1 with 2 processors (flashed from 4,1 single) and after all the different ways of setting this GPU up without Pixlas, I wanted to sum up with this diagram below – it seems to be the safest setup (non-pixlas) based on what I've read so far. Let me know and thanks again! Questions if anyone has the time and patience:

1) Is this correct?
View attachment 896802

2) to confirm is this all I need then?

View attachment 896800

3) for the 8pin to 2x 6pin connection, where exactly do the 2 6pin cables go? It's pretty clear in the pics where one goes but I can't tell what people are doing with the second 6pin here.

4) for the 2 SATA connector heads, I'm assuming each one goes to a different bay? do both need to be connected or can use just 1? Is not connecting to SATA at all too risky? (I'm still in the process of getting rid of my HDDs but I have all my bays full at the moment, would like to only sacrifice one for now if possible)

5) am I just wasting my time with EVGA and just simplify cables and do a different diagram?
IMO, EVGA PowerLink should be good enough to share the power load and smooth out the spike.

Of course, you can also use SATA ports to share the load, your plan should work. And if you want to do that, both SATA connectors should be connected.

But if I were you, I will simply use the PowerLink and downvolt the Vega56. This not only can ensure won’t trigger the shutdown protection, but also increase the card’s performance.
 
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StuAff

macrumors 6502
Aug 6, 2007
391
261
Portsmouth, UK
MVC has posted on his blog that EFI for native 5700XT support on 4,1s & 5,1s has been sorted. 10.15.1 needed for driver support, but will still work for basic video in earlier OSs. Pre-orders start today, shipping next week or so.
 

KingCachapa

macrumors member
Feb 29, 2020
62
3
IMO, EVGA PowerLink should be good enough to share the power load and smooth out the spike.

Of course, you can also use SATA ports to share the load, your plan should work. And if you want to do that, both SATA connectors should be connected.

But if I were you, I will simply use the PowerLink and downvolt the Vega56. This not only can ensure won’t trigger the shutdown protection, but also increase the card’s performance.

Thanks! @h9826790 I'll think about the downvolting, but a lot of sources are pointing to the SATA part of the solution as way more than what I need for the Vega56. Questions:

- If I eliminate the 2x SATA to 1x 6pin part of the equation, what do I replace it with? (this leaves one 8pin open on the P.Link where this was going)

- I'm confused where I plug in the other 6pin from the double cable that comes from the 8 pin on the P.Link

and lol @StuAff of course, right as I buy the Vega 56. I'm gonna use it until I have extra cash laying around and upgrade to the VII with Pixlas
 
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h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Thanks! @h9826790 I'll think about the downvolting, but a lot of sources are pointing to the SATA part of the solution as way more than what I need for the Vega56. Questions:

- If I eliminate the 2x SATA to 1x 6pin part of the equation, what do I replace it with? (this leaves one 8pin open on the P.Link where this was going)

- I'm confused where I plug in the other 6pin from the double cable that comes from the 8 pin on the P.Link

and lol @StuAff of course, right as I buy the Vega 56. I'm gonna use it until I have extra cash laying around and upgrade to the VII with Pixlas
Technically, you can leave it open. However, some users reported that they need to connect that to another 6pin source to make it work. So, 2x "single mini 6pin -> 8pin" may works better.
 

KingCachapa

macrumors member
Feb 29, 2020
62
3
Technically, you can leave it open. However, some users reported that they need to connect that to another 6pin source to make it work. So, 2x "single mini 6pin -> 8pin" may works better.
I see what you mean, so for the sake of simplicity with that in mind, could I just use 2 cables of mini 6 pin to 8 pin to connect from motherboard to EVGA? I'm having trouble finding 6pin x2 to 8pin x2 –– but like that I have both 6pin PCIe connected on the motherboard and both 8 pins connected on EVGA.

Then I go from EVGA to Vega56 with 2 cables of 8pin to 8pin.

– Question since I didn't realize the Vega56 size makes me lose a PCIe slot (is this the same case with the VII btw?) – do I have a choice which slot to sacrifice? As it stands, this card connected on the bottom PCIe and makes me lose both bottom PCIes which from what I understand are the two faster ones? Could I move it one up, and have NVMe on the bottom?

Right now I have, from top to bottom:

- USB 3.0 card
- NVMe card for one drive (want to upgrade to Squid x4slot or something that allows same performance and reliability for regular use and have more space, not planning on using RAID)
- OWC PCIe SSD card (have to remove this and relocate to optical bay, other project :p)
- Current GPU

I will have to reorganize my layout losing that slot ?
 
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mikas

macrumors 6502a
Sep 14, 2017
898
648
Finland
Could I move it one up, and have NVMe on the bottom?
Yes you can do that, but there is a caveat to it.
#320
I think if your card blocks the second x16 slot when installed in the bottom x16 slot number 1, it will block all your other x4 slots left above it if it is installed in x16 slot number 2.
Thats why I chose powercolor red dragon brand (see link above, post #320 at GPU compatibilty thread). It is a double wide slot card (at least approximately it is). I could fit two of these in slots 1 and 2 if I wanted to ( #318 ), and stil have one x4 slot free. It would pretty tight though, so I haven't done it that way. At least not yet.
 
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KingCachapa

macrumors member
Feb 29, 2020
62
3
Yes you can do that, but there is a caveat to it.
#320
I think if your card blocks the second x16 slot when installed in the bottom x16 slot number 1, it will block all your other x4 slots left above it if it is installed in x16 slot number 2.
Thats why I chose powercolor red dragon brand (see link above, post #320 at GPU compatibilty thread). It is a double wide slot card (at least approximately it is). I could fit two of these in slots 1 and 2 if I wanted to, and stil have one x4 slot free. It would pretty tight though, so I haven't done it that way. At least not yet.
I see... wow I really thought it was the same size as the PowerColor. I just happened to find this one for a good price so I went with it. Depending on spacing I'm on the hunt for a PCIe riser solution so I can still use slot 2 for the 4slot NVMe Squid somehow and maintain the ability to use 2 more PCIe cards above
 
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