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MP 1,1-5,1 Compatible RX580 8GB Brands on Mac Pro 5,1
- Thread starter t8er8
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I don’t think an eVGA Powerlink will fit on a Powerlink Red Dragon Radeon RX Vega 56 due to the placement of the power connectors on the card......
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It can be done. This is my RX 580 in my 4,1>5,1 cMP with the EVGa PowerLink.
I also included a 2 X SATA to 1 x 6pin to the PowerLink's "Power input side"
You would need TWO 8 pin male to 8 pin female cables from the PowerLink to the Red Dragon.
It will work but will look messy cablewise.
===============================================
( Old photo, cMP cables have since been tidied up.)
( Have since installed a 2 X SATA to 1 x 6 pin to the PowerLink's INPUT. )
( The two cables on the right side of the cabinet are . .
1. USB powered fan for m.2 NVMe adapter
2. Drive activity LED from M.2 NVME adapter )
The cable between the CPU heatsinks is for a USB powered fan for the Northbridge Tdiode.
===============================================
IMPORTANT.
POWER TO the PowerLink
2 x mini 6 pin to 1 x 8 pin
plus
2 x SATA to 1 x 6 pin ( the Powerlink comes with a spare 6 pin input socket )
( I worry that a 2 x SATA to 1 x 8 pin would draw too much power from the motherboard. )
======================================
Power FROM the Powerlink to the Red DRAGON
2 x female 8 pin to male 8 pin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE : 6 pin cables can be connected to the RIGHT SIDE of GPU 8 pin sockets.
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Yes, you are correct for the model with open fan, this post from @Synchro3 shows it nicely:
eVGA Powerlink will only work for cards that have the reference design and not the cards that use the Nano inspired layout.
The reference design is the one I want since I have a SSD7101A-1 and the blower type fan works a lot better with it, one Mac Pro with Sapphire Pulse RX 580 blocking the slot2 is enough here.
Just for clarification, how do you use the 2 x mini-PCie 6 pin cables. Presumably the Powerlink plugs into the 2 x 8 pin sockets on the Vega 56 then the two 6 pin cables into the 8 pin sockets on the Powerlink?
No, not at all. Powerlink don't restrict anything, it just balance equally the power draw between AUX A and B.
A common problem with video cards that have dual power inputs is unbalanced power draw when in load, to use a lot of power from one input and little for another. Unbalanced power draw, let's say AUX A using 120W and AUX B 50W, causes the Mac Pro power protection sensors to shutdown the PSU.
With this hypothetical 120W + 50W, the Mac Pro power protection sensors will shutdown the PSU, but if you have the same 170W power draw balanced with eVGA Powerlink, you will be using 85W from each PCIe AUX and will be nowhere near the ~120W burst power protection cut from one PCIe AUX of the Mac Pro.
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It's a lot more complicated.
Mac Pro can safely provide 75W from the PCIe slot and 75W from each PCIe AUX power output. So, then you think that a 225W card will be safe within the power draw limits of Mac Pro. This is just wrong.
The problem is that GPUs almost never use the power equally between the different power inputs. Most use a lot less from the PCIe slot, let's say 50W and the rest from the PCIe AUX. GPU power planes usually are connected to different circuits and have different power consumptions, this even change over time depending what you are using the GPU for. This is clear with the GPUs that have 8+6 pin power connectors but the same is valid for 8pin+8pin too since the connectors are wired to different circuits inside the GPU.
So my hypothetical example shows the problem now, if you use around 120W from one PCIe AUX, your backplane power monitoring circuit will sense the overconsumption and trigger a shutdown. So, a GPU using different amounts of power from PCIe AUX A and PCIe AUX B is a problem with MP5,1 where you have to keep power feed more or less balanced and always inside the limits or you will trigger the backplane power protection circuit.
This is not a problem for GPUs used in PCs, since they are usually feed directly from the PSU. Since GPUs are made for PCs and not MP5,1, you have to overcome this problem. You can use eVGA Powerlink or some specially made cables to balance the power usage for GPUs that have power consumption below the backplane power feed capacity, but with more power hungrier GPUs you have to go for external PSUs or Pixla's mod.
eVGA Powerlink is the cheapest/easiest option for GPUs that have around 250W or less power consumption, more than that you should go with Pixla's mod. VEGA 64 are know to cause shutdowns with some Mac Pros even with eVGA Powerlink, VEGA 56 with standard ROM is the limit.
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Yes I did that but when checking the AMD site here https://www.amd.com/en/products/graphics/radeon-rx-vega-56 it states typical board power 210w.
Many thanks tsialex.
For anyone reading and interested here is the specific page link for the bios details for the Vega 56...
www.techpowerup.com
For anyone reading and interested here is the specific page link for the bios details for the Vega 56...
TechPowerUp
Extensive repository of graphics card BIOS image files. Our database covers submissions categorized by GPU vendor, type, and board partner variant.
Sorry to double check Ive got this correct. Should I be using a 2 x mini 6 pin to 2 x 8 pin cable or 2 x mini 6 pin to 2 x 6 pin ( For a 2 x 8 pin Vega 56 reference card ) ?
Reference card with an eVGA Powerlink plus 2x mini-PCIe 6-pin to 6-pin cables.
I don't have a VEGA56 yet, but I had an even more power hungrier card, eVGA 1080Ti SC Black Edition that worked fine with just dual mini 6-pin + eVGA Powerlink. This card went to my son's gaming PC and I got a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 for my Mac after Mojave removed NVIDIA web drivers support.
Another one of my Mac Pros have other ~250W OC card too, a GTX 680W 4GB Classified where you can't use a Powerlink, and works fine with dual miniPCIe 6-pin except when running Furmark where it triggers the backplane over current power protection.
I did the installation/tested a reference Powercolor VEGA56 for a friend and never triggered the over current protection even when running Furmark, other friends did the same after seeing that. I'm just waiting one cheap enough with the reference design, the tree fan heatsink with the NANO PCB is more common here and that card won't work with my SSD7101A-1.