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ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
Apple gave end users numerous GPU choices when they purchased a 7.1 Mac Pro...

Apple NEVER said they would offer further GPU upgrades down the road...

Apple has CLEARLY stated their intent to end their reliance on third party CPUs (Intel) & GPUs (AMD)...

Intel does not have an upgrade CPU for the socket in the 7.1 Mac Pro...

AMD is having enough trouble supplying GPUs to the "regular" PC market, and they are being dropped from future Apple products; so why would they want to work with Apple to create another custom GPU for a very limited market...?

Apple owes current 7.1 Mac Pro users nothing...!

LONG LIVE THE NEW APPLE MAC PRO CUBE...!!! ;^P

( ...and the 8.1 Mac Pro; 1/3 the size of the outgoing 7.1, PCIe slots mainly there for the Audio folk & for new Apple Silicon dGPUs... )

They could make a limited batch of 6900 and would sell out just to keep that factory busy and 7,1 customers happy until the Apple Silicon GPU can perform in that upper range.
 

blazerunner

Suspended
Nov 16, 2020
1,081
3,998
Apple gave end users numerous GPU choices when they purchased a 7.1 Mac Pro...

Apple NEVER said they would offer further GPU upgrades down the road...

Apple has CLEARLY stated their intent to end their reliance on third party CPUs (Intel) & GPUs (AMD)...

Intel does not have an upgrade CPU for the socket in the 7.1 Mac Pro...

AMD is having enough trouble supplying GPUs to the "regular" PC market, and they are being dropped from future Apple products; so why would they want to work with Apple to create another custom GPU for a very limited market...?

Apple owes current 7.1 Mac Pro users nothing...!

LONG LIVE THE NEW APPLE MAC PRO CUBE...!!! ;^P

( ...and the 8.1 Mac Pro; 1/3 the size of the outgoing 7.1, PCIe slots mainly there for the Audio folk & for new Apple Silicon dGPUs... )
None of that justifies coming out with a computer priced from $6,000 to nearly $40,000 and shortly after just dropping one of the more crucial upgrade paths.

Please don't make excuses for Apple. This is such disrespect to consumers, it's unbelievable.
 

goMac

macrumors 604
Apr 15, 2004
7,663
1,694
One reason Apple may continue shipping AMD MPX modules is because it doesn’t like like Apple GPU cards are ready to go. The rumors are pointing to the Mac Pro Mini not even having upgradable graphics, or an MPX slot. Something more like the 2013.

So if the full size Mac Pro continues it’s going to have to chart it’s own course for a while. Hence the rumors from people like Mark Gurman that it will continue to be Intel based. Apple won’t have a CPU suitable for it. At least not this year.

Likely the product split will be if you need CPU performance but you don’t care about GPU or upgradability, you can get the Mac Pro Mini. If you need expanability or high end graphics performance, you buy the full size.

AMD has also stated they are still working with Apple.
 

Boil

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2018
3,477
3,173
Stargate Command
They could make a limited batch of 6900 and would sell out just to keep that factory busy and 7,1 customers happy until the Apple Silicon GPU can perform in that upper range.

Tim Cook is, at heart, a bean counter; might be the case that developing numerous PCBs and having them certified for various regions, along with validating drivers & such; this might all cost more than any projected return from sales to a decidedly niche market...?
 
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Boil

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2018
3,477
3,173
Stargate Command
None of that justifies coming out with a computer priced from $6,000 to nearly $40,000 and shortly after just dropping one of the more crucial upgrade paths.

Please don't make excuses for Apple. This is such disrespect to consumers, it's unbelievable.

I am making excuses for no one, but thanks for putting perceived motivation to my thoughts...

I believe Apple knew they were going to transition to Apple Silicon even when they were developing the 7.1 Mac Pro; but they needed something for the Pro market, and the iMac Pro was not cutting it for the audio folk who needed PCIe slots...

If anything, the 7.1 Mac Pro is following the path of the iMac Pro, an interim machine to placate the folks who need (or just feel the need for) a Pro machine...

I feel we will get a Mac Pro Cube to introduce the HEDT Apple Silicon, followed by a 8.1 Mac Pro with fewer PCIe slots (think of the current 7.1 height, then chop off one fan & make it not as deep) & the introduction of Apple Silicon dGPUs...?

At this point "The Transition" will be complete...! ;^p
 

edgerider

macrumors 6502
Apr 30, 2018
281
149
honestly don’t underestimate, the power of the guys from hollywood at apple... I don’t think the 2019 is going anywhere, the price is high, they don’t loose money, they will keep producing it... music industry is covered for the next 10 years with the actual macpro.
but music is not the only business... anyone doing live video capture, or broadcast video, let alone motion picture industry need a lot of pcie slot...
for people like me the 2019 is a tool, and already paid for itself .
Please keep in mind that for some people, it is nothing more than a tool, and that we are used to buy other tools that cost way way more...
look at the price of a true 10bit reference monitor for grading... 30k for a 32 inch monitor... look at a zeiss master prime serie... look at a promise vtrack... I sometime think that there are a lot of people hating/loving apple for emotional reasons ... but actually a lot of those who give advice/their opinion /criticise... actually don’t own a 2019 macpro, nor are doing a business in witch such a machine is needed... so they miss the whole point of this machine and find it an overpriced useless piece of equipment...
now concerning what apple will do regarding MPX, once again, for the market of this machine, if you need gpu power you buy twin pro2 duo...
they don’t really care about making a mpx module with 6000 serie until amd tell them « we don’t have any chip anymore, lets go with this chip » .
what you have to understand is that in large companies who actually buy those machines, no one « upgrade » anything... if you need an upgrade, you tell the IT guy what you want, and it takes 6 month to get validated... or if you need it right now it is bought the next day...
Only a very marginal share of customers for those machine are geek like me who buy a 8 core base model and upgrade it by their own with parts bought from ebay.... and truely apple dont care about customers like me... I am ok with that...

so realistically, as I said, to me as soon as rx5700xt is discontinued, you will see a rx6000 serie on new machine, and then on apple store.
very probably a pro 6500x for entry level, a pro 6700/800 to replace the 5700, and for pro 2 duo, as soon as amd discontinue the instinct Mi60 and replace it , you will see another 7000$ top end gpu offer as a mpx...
they only need 3 gpu :
one low end for music industry that only take one slot.
one middle class - sub 1500$ after apple tax - single man band- graphic/motion designer video editor...
one top notch « money is not an issue, give me all youve got » gpu for motion picture/3d/high end motion designer /grader/editors... this will probably not be a 6900, because with apple tax it wont sale, people will buy pc ones.
so basically we need to wait that they retire the pro 5700x and the very high end will be a 7k option not for us... but we will be able to find used pro 2 duo for the price of a pc 6900 ....
 

drozd1492

macrumors newbie
Mar 14, 2021
2
0
Upgraded to 11.3 beta 3 on my MacBook Pro and my eGPU with a RX6800 still not working. RX5500XT works just fine.
 
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ssgbryan

macrumors 65816
Jul 18, 2002
1,488
1,420
Apple gave end users numerous GPU choices when they purchased a 7.1 Mac Pro...

Apple NEVER said they would offer further GPU upgrades down the road...

Apple has CLEARLY stated their intent to end their reliance on third party CPUs (Intel) & GPUs (AMD)...

Intel does not have an upgrade CPU for the socket in the 7.1 Mac Pro...

AMD is having enough trouble supplying GPUs to the "regular" PC market, and they are being dropped from future Apple products; so why would they want to work with Apple to create another custom GPU for a very limited market...?

Apple owes current 7.1 Mac Pro users nothing...!

LONG LIVE THE NEW APPLE MAC PRO CUBE...!!! ;^P

( ...and the 8.1 Mac Pro; 1/3 the size of the outgoing 7.1, PCIe slots mainly there for the Audio folk & for new Apple Silicon dGPUs... )
And most of those "numerous GPU choices" were obsolete GPUs.

Polaris and Vega to be precise. Now 2 generations back.

SecuritySteve, I would be very surprised - 1. Apple hasn't shown they can do it. 2. Limited target market. 3. Who would fab it? GoFlo has capacity, but moving back to 12nm isn't moving forward
 

SecuritySteve

macrumors 6502a
Jul 6, 2017
949
1,082
California
And most of those "numerous GPU choices" were obsolete GPUs.

Polaris and Vega to be precise. Now 2 generations back.

SecuritySteve, I would be very surprised - 1. Apple hasn't shown they can do it. 2. Limited target market. 3. Who would fab it? GoFlo has capacity, but moving back to 12nm isn't moving forward
1) Their iGPU should be easy enough to pull out into its own part, since the fundamental architecture doesn't require reinventing the wheel, so to speak. After that it only comes down to scaling it up. Apple has been making iGPUs for a long time, and historically has done well in the market segment that they target. It is just unfortunate for us Mac Pro users that Apple has focused on the tiniest GPUs possible - Phones.
2) True, definitely a limited target market - but the market is also saturated with high paying customers. Most "Professional" or "Prosumer" customers will pay gobs for a GPU that could make their Mac work faster. If the non-pro non-mini desktop Mac that is rumored actually does exist, it also increases the target market by opening the door to consumers and even, dare I say, gamers if the quality is good enough.
3) TSMC can make GPUs. They currently make Apple M1 chips, and already make AMD's GPU line-up. As you noted in part 2, production can start small because of the limited target market, and expand as needed by demand.
 

drozd1492

macrumors newbie
Mar 14, 2021
2
0
Just tried upgrading to 11.3 beta 4 on my MacBook Pro and getting black screen with my eGPU with and RX6800. It recognizes that there is a eGPU present for a few moments, but doesn't recognize the card.
 

blazerunner

Suspended
Nov 16, 2020
1,081
3,998
Just tried upgrading to 11.3 beta 4 on my MacBook Pro and getting black screen with my eGPU with and RX6800. It recognizes that there is a eGPU present for a few moments, but doesn't recognize the card.
This is getting ridiculous. WTF is Apple doing to hold back the cards from working? The hardware has been out for about 5 months now.. and you KNOW Apple's had longer than that to prep. This is insulting and embarrassing.

THIS is what we get with a 6+ thousand dollar investment into the Mac Pro??? WTF.
 
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edgerider

macrumors 6502
Apr 30, 2018
281
149
just to put things in perspective for those who think putting 40k€ in a computer is plain stupid : I pay my freelance motion designer 250€/hour.... so on a project where he works 8 hour, if the machine takes 2 hour less to finish a job, I save 500€... going from maxed out 5.1 to 7.1 divided most of the job time by 2, and on heavy lifting such as 8k25p multicam timeline or phantom 4k 1000fs it is something like 3 or four time faster... sure our M1 mac mini is fast if not faster converting final delivery to h264 for customer review... and is dam good to ingest footage over the network... but the 7,1 is absolutely crancking without breaking a sweat on big big projects...
 

08380728

Cancelled
Aug 20, 2007
422
165
Some may argue you’re still stupid when you could reduce your 40k outlay of a Mac Pro to less than 10k into a 64 core ThreadRipper. That machine would cut your time down even by another half or so. You’d save significantly more on the initial outlay and the time savings on the project. But hey if showing off a Mac Pro to clients is more important then well, they should pay you a ‘stupid allowance’ to make up for it ?
 
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blackadde

macrumors regular
Dec 11, 2019
165
242
There are studios that just need FCP for whatever reason. 7,1s are your only semi-reasonable option if you have any heavy lifting to do there.

The only question I have is why anyone would be using an ancient 5,1 until 2019 if they were paying freelancers 250€ / hr on a studio machine ... ouch.
 

renatocanton

macrumors newbie
Jan 21, 2021
4
2
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bsbeamer

macrumors 601
Sep 19, 2012
4,313
2,713
About time...


citing the same OTOY link that is posted in #211
 

0279317

Cancelled
Jan 2, 2020
113
100
So this definitely won't work in a Razor Core X eGPU with stock PSU? What about a reference model?
The 6800XT/6900XT cards require 300 watts, the reference to 750/850 watts are regarding total system requirements. (as per specs on the AMD site). I'll be putting the 6800XT in my Razer Core X Chroma PSU=700 watts. MAYBE not...

Edit: I asked AMD tech support about power requirements for the 6000 series cards. Here's what they said:
"I believe 700-watt PSU is sufficient for the graphic card and please note that AMD has not certified Radeon RX 6000 series retail product for use with EGPU enclosures. AMD does not intend to validate 3rd party vendors that may still decide to support this in their enclosure. Please contact them directly for details."
 
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randy85

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2020
150
136
I'm guessing they'll release the driver when they release the MPX hardware. They didn't go to the trouble of building a proprietary slot only for everyone to go buy off-the-shelf PC parts.

I think dual 6800 XT sounds good... is there enough power for that?
 
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Flint Ironstag

macrumors 65816
Dec 1, 2013
1,334
744
Houston, TX USA
I'm guessing they'll release the driver when they release the MPX hardware. They didn't go to the trouble of building a proprietary slot only for everyone to go buy off-the-shelf PC parts.

I think dual 6800 XT sounds good... is there enough power for that?
Sure, once they've underclocked the cards.
 

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,321
3,003
I'm guessing they'll release the driver when they release the MPX hardware. They didn't go to the trouble of building a proprietary slot only for everyone to go buy off-the-shelf PC parts.

I think dual 6800 XT sounds good... is there enough power for that?

I'll repeat again what I said in Post #151:

Mac OS 10.15.2 offered drivers for the Radeon 5700 series and was released on 12/10/2019. The Apple Radeon Pro W5700X didn't make its appearance until 4/17/2020.

BTW, I'm running an Aorus RX5700XT currently, when the RX6800XT comes down to earth as far as pricing is concerned, I'll be getting one of those - The one with the USB-C connection.
Lou
 
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goMac

macrumors 604
Apr 15, 2004
7,663
1,694
They may have gotten tired of people submitting bugs or running on pre-release drivers so they’ve just yanked it until it’s finished. It sounds like there is evidence under the hood it’s being worked on.
 

blazerunner

Suspended
Nov 16, 2020
1,081
3,998
The 6800XT/6900XT cards require 300 watts, the reference to 750/850 watts are regarding total system requirements. (as per specs on the AMD site). I'll be putting the 6800XT in my Razer Core X Chroma PSU=700 watts. MAYBE not...

Edit: I asked AMD tech support about power requirements for the 6000 series cards. Here's what they said:
"I believe 700-watt PSU is sufficient for the graphic card and please note that AMD has not certified Radeon RX 6000 series retail product for use with EGPU enclosures. AMD does not intend to validate 3rd party vendors that may still decide to support this in their enclosure. Please contact them directly for details."
You should be calling the vendor of the GPU, not AMD. Every AMD GPU is different. For instance, a Gigabyte 5700 XT Gaming OC requires 600w PSU (total system draw) and uses 8+6 pin PCI cables and on average draws 187 watts. The Sapphire 5700 XT Nitro+ draws up to 413w in 1ms spikes but despite that Sapphire claims it uses up to 265 watts and recommends a 650 watt PSU (total system draw). The 5700 GPUs are known to have 'high transient' (huge sudden spikes and drops in power consumption).

I don't know about the 6000 series GPUs but I really hope AMD fixed the spikes. They are more power efficient though.
 

randy85

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2020
150
136
I'll repeat again what I said in Post #151:



BTW, I'm running an Aorus RX5700XT currently, when the RX6800XT comes down to earth as far as pricing is concerned, I'll be getting one of those - The one with the USB-C connection.
Lou
Doesn't that mean it should come out soon then? I'm happy to pay a bit extra for the MPX cus it looks cool and is quiet.
 
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