Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Do I get a Sapphire RX 580 8GB Pulse or RX Vega 56?

PowerMac G4 MDD

PowerMac G4 MDD

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 13, 2014
1,900
277
Naturally, my classic Mac Pro has been having issues with my GTX 1060. In fact, the GTX 1060 has it the worst, since there's a driver glitch which causes screen artifacts every time GTX 1060 owners wake their machines up. It requires that the user logs out and logs back in, every time...

Someone recommended that I replace this with an RX 580 8GB Pulse card, since it's the same card that Apple is using for their eGPU beta kits; but, now, the RX Vega 56 has been released, and it appears to have the same price tag as an RX 580 8GB and much better performance.

I wondering if I buy the 580 soon or just wait to see if the RX Vega 56 works fine in a classic Mac Pro and also runs solely off the two motherboard connectors. What do you all think?
 
I personally weighed this choice up and decided to go with the RX 580. Vega seems to simply rely on brute force (power) to get results. Add to that that here in the Netherlands I've seen prices as high as €1000 for the Vega 64, I can't imagine the Vega 56 will be much cheaper over here.

The prices of RX 580's are however becoming more and more reasonable, the one I have on order (Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB) cost me about €270.

Made the most sense to me.
 
Usually until Amazon ships them this is not a purchase contract and the price not guaranteed - fell too often for that in the past, especially on AMD AM1 CPUs... but it seems some qty is distributed at this price:

The cheapest 580 available i see is 11265-05-20G (Sapphire) at 197€ without VAT and markup - stock listed as 27.08.2017

Vega 64 (MSRP 499$) cards are EU wide available in <100 qty for 499.99€ w/o VAT and seller markup (this is 21275-02-20G, Sapphire also). I paid initial offer 424€ without VAT at Mindfactory (DE) - with VAT that are 509€

Vega 56 are not shipping yet it seems; listed price for <100 at distri in Germany is - again without VAT and markup - 375€, retail with VAT 475€

At 200€ the 580 is the better deal, at 300€ (non Amazon price, eg. Mindfactory, Klarsicht and Also) or more a 56 might make more sense.
 
Hey Gang, I'm new here - I have a 2010 cheese grater 12 core, 3.46 with 64gb ram that i use for Pro Tools and Final Cut - i have an R9 280x that i was hacked that i bought off of ebay - has 5.0gt/s link and boot screen. Just wondering if I can upgrade to an 8gb RX580, I am running El Capitan, but I think all of my stuff will work with Sierra, so I am not worried about upgrading. I want to get as much life as possible out of the cheese grater.
 
GCSMatt said:
Hey Gang, I'm new here - I have a 2010 cheese grater 12 core, 3.46 with 64gb ram that i use for Pro Tools and Final Cut - i have an R9 280x that i was hacked that i bought off of ebay - has 5.0gt/s link and boot screen. Just wondering if I can upgrade to an 8gb RX580, I am running El Capitan, but I think all of my stuff will work with Sierra, so I am not worried about upgrading. I want to get as much life as possible out of the cheese grater.
Click to expand...

Of course you can install the RX580 if you want to. However, it won't work in El Capitan, you have to upgrade the OS as well.
 
10.12.6 is the minimum for OOTBness. Wonder how much more power in the RX580 vs the R9 280X which is a pretty cool choice for a cMP. Benches? Real life feedback?
 
pierrox said:
10.12.6 is the minimum for OOTBness. Wonder how much more power in the RX580 vs the R9 280X which is a pretty cool choice for a cMP. Benches? Real life feedback?
Click to expand...

I just tested the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 on a Mac Pro Early 2009, dual quad core 2.26 Hgz, running High Sierra.

The card works OOTB.

However the results are 1/3 lower to what the card gets on Windows 7 Boot Camp (on the same machine of course).

Does anyone know if I'm missing something? Should I do anything more to unlock the full potential of the card?
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 19.38.50.png
    Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 19.38.50.png
    99 KB · Views: 651
  • Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 22.22.15.png
    Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 22.22.15.png
    87.3 KB · Views: 372
  • Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 23.14.34.png
    Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 23.14.34.png
    145.5 KB · Views: 422
  • Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 22.25.37.png
    Screen Shot 2017-11-21 at 22.25.37.png
    949.1 KB · Views: 513
dariusz M said:
I just tested the Sapphire Nitro+ RX 580 on a Mac Pro Early 2009, dual quad core 2.26 Hgz, running High Sierra.

The card works OOTB.

However the results are 1/3 lower to what the card gets on Windows 7 Boot Camp (on the same machine of course).

Does anyone know if I'm missing something? Should I do anything more to unlock the full potential of the card?
Click to expand...

I think there is nothing wrong, just the driver on MacOS side is as poor as usual.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dariusz M
While on the subject, same CPUs etc
Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 9.19.14 AM.png

Who knows what is happening with OpenGL in macOS, except that it is still on ver 4.1...

dariusz M said:
However the results are 1/3 lower to what the card gets on Windows 7 Boot Camp (on the same machine of course).
Click to expand...
Did you use OpenGL or DirectX in Windows?
OpenGL score will be better in Win, but DirectX will be much better!:)

EDIT:
Forgot to add DirectX, same settings from Win10
Heaven_Extreme_GTX680.PNG

As you can see, two different worlds.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: dariusz M
owbp said:
While on the subject, same CPUs etc
View attachment 737565
Who knows what is happening with OpenGL in macOS, except that it is still on ver 4.1...


Did you use OpenGL or DirectX in Windows?
OpenGL score will be better in Win, but DirectX will be much better!:)

EDIT:
Forgot to add DirectX, same settings from Win10
View attachment 737580
As you can see, two different worlds.
Click to expand...
What’s interesting is the min FPS for Windows.
 
MarkJames68 said:
What’s interesting is the min FPS for Windows.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but just one big maybe, it has something to do with Windows 10 being on extremely slow HDD and macOS on SSD?
Those frame drops usually occur during scene change in Heaven or Valley benchmarks (although i did let both test run one full circle before starting benchmark).
 
owbp said:
Maybe, but just one big maybe, it has something to do with Windows 10 being on extremely slow HDD and macOS on SSD?
Those frame drops usually occur during scene change in Heaven or Valley benchmarks (although i did let both test run one full circle before starting benchmark).
Click to expand...
Could be. Just was interesting as an outlier.
 
owbp said:
While on the subject, same CPUs etc
View attachment 737565
Who knows what is happening with OpenGL in macOS, except that it is still on ver 4.1...


Did you use OpenGL or DirectX in Windows?
OpenGL score will be better in Win, but DirectX will be much better!:)

EDIT:
Forgot to add DirectX, same settings from Win10
View attachment 737580
As you can see, two different worlds.
Click to expand...
@owbp I used DirectX
 

Attachments

  • unigine windows.JPG
    unigine windows.JPG
    114.5 KB · Views: 1,013
  • wingfxbench opencl.JPG
    wingfxbench opencl.JPG
    77.1 KB · Views: 362
  • Capture.PNG
    Capture.PNG
    43.6 KB · Views: 364
After posting my benchmarks from WIndows 7 bootcamp it went hostile on me minutes after :)

While testing the card on Rise of Tomb Rider on windows bootcamp after a few minutes the Mac Pro suddenly switched off dead and I couldn't turn it on for a few minutes. Eventually it started - the graphics card was very hot.

My suspition is that the fans on the RX580 don't turn on at all while on windows 7 - they do work on Mac OS. I wasn't able to install original graphics card drivers for Radeon Nitro+ RX 580 on Boot Camp and I only succeded with radeon crimson re live drivers https://www.techpowerup.com/download/amd-radeon-graphics-drivers/

Any Thoughts?

Would an upgrade to Windows 10 help here?
 
dariusz M said:
After posting my benchmarks from WIndows 7 bootcamp it went hostile on me minutes after :)

While testing the card on Rise of Tomb Rider on windows bootcamp after a few minutes the Mac Pro suddenly switched off dead and I couldn't turn it on for a few minutes. Eventually it started - the graphics card was very hot.

My suspition is that the fans on the RX580 don't turn on at all while on windows 7 - they do work on Mac OS. I wasn't able to install original graphics card drivers for Radeon Nitro+ RX 580 on Boot Camp and I only succeded with radeon crimson re live drivers https://www.techpowerup.com/download/amd-radeon-graphics-drivers/

Any Thoughts?

Would an upgrade to Windows 10 help here?
Click to expand...

The Nitro+ do draw quite a bit more power then a reference RX580 indeed. And even worst, because it comes with 6+8 pin. The card is programmed to draw less from the PCIe slot but more from the 6 and 8pin. Depends on how you power the card, if you accidentally hit the shutdown limit on either mini 6pin output. The Mac Pro will hard shutdown, and can’t be turn on until a SMC reset (or may be wait for a certain period of time).

And because the computer suddenly power off when the GPU is under full stress. The cooler’s fan also stopped to provide any cooling when the GPU is hottest. Therefore, the graphic card is expected to be very warm (or even hot) if you touch it right after the hard shutdown.

If that only happen in Windows, the solution is simple. AMD driver control panel has Wattman, you can limit the TDP at there, then the card should not able to draw that much anymore.

Or if you can power the card in better way to avoid shut down protection, e.g. share the loading (between mini 6pins), use SATA power (properly), use Pixlas mod, or extra PSU.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: foliovision and owbp
Since the product page for Nitro+ rates it under 235W, it is most certainly 8 pin that is drawing to much power.
Download iStat (15 days trial) and see what's the amperage on PCI-e booster connections.
Distributing that load will bring you back to safe usage of your GPU.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back