Flashed 1080, standard 1080Ti, or RX 580 8GB?

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

My brother is wanting to know which of these three cars he should purchase for his Mac Pro. I made suggestions, but he'd like input from more people. What do you all think?

"Hi. I'm planning a 4,1 build, flashed to 5,1 firmware. Between these three cards, ignoring cost, which is the best for general, amateur creativity (e.g. Photoshop), and gaming usage on a Mac Pro? (I do GPU computation too but only in Linux, so that doesn't apply here.)
- GTX 1080, flashed by MacVidCards
- GTX 1080Ti, unflashed
- RX 580, unflashed
I know about the power issues with the 1080ti and can resolve them. I also don't need a boot screen (my native 2600 is lying around as backup).
If it's not a big difference, I'd lean towards the 1080ti because I might use it elsewhere too, and it's clearly the most powerful in a regular PC."

(Flashed 1080Ti is not up there because of the sheer cost.)



-Thanks

 

[fendersrule]

I don't think there is a best card for computation AND gaming.

Unless, you are gaming at 1080p max AND need the best computation, then the RX580 is the answer in that list.

No need for a flashed card. A boot screen can go to hell for all I care--with SSD drives you don't see much of it anyways.

AFAIK, photoshop won't care what card is in there.

 

[h9826790]

Pretty much the same suggestion.

There is virtually no difference when using Photoshop. Therefore, RX580 is the best, because it's the cheapest.

If no particular reason to go for 1080 or even 1080Ti, then RX580 is better supported in MacOS (especially the Sapphire PULSE RX580). There is no point to go for unflashed Nvidia card and force himself the deal with the Web driver (even though it's pretty easy job IF the web driver is ready).

If the compute will be done in Linux, and if those compute support CUDA, then most likely 1080Ti is the most powerful card.

Gaming, again, 1080Ti is the most powerful choice. However, it depends if he will gaming at above 1080P 60 FPS. If not, then RX580 should be good enough. There is not much reason to pay more, and unable to use it, those powerful GPU's price will drop later. He can always upgrade again later with lower cost. Pay more for future proof generally is not a good practice on an upgradable computer.

I love my 1080Ti's gaming, but because my monitor is a 3840x1080 144Hz gaming monitor. And in fact, for max setting, even without AA, the card can't quite push up to 144FPS for AAA game (usually around 100FPS). So, I am actually able to fully utilise the card, didn't waste it (can I see the difference between 100FPS and 60FPS? That's another matter)

Anyway, if he prefer 1080Ti, I highly suggest only go for the reference card. Some Pascal user complained that the web driver is very buggy, but my own experience is flawless so far. I really don't know which card they are using, but my card (link in my signature) is a reference PCB card, and it's very logical that Nvidia web driver work best on their own reference PCB.

However, cooler is another matter, on 1080Ti, the reference blower will let the card go up to 84C straight away and then thermal throttling occur. I personally prefer after market cooler on a reference PCB. But so far, I only found 2 cards has this combination. Not sure if he like it or can get it at reasonable price.

Flashed 1080 is the middle of everything. It provide boot screen. This may be extremely important if he run Linux. Because there is no BootChamp / Bootcamp manager equivalent for Linux. Once he boot to Linux, the only way to boot back to MacOS may be by PRAM reset (if using a non flashed card). And that will break the Nvidia web driver. So, unless he run Linux via LiveCD (by holding C to boot). Using non flashed card to run Linux via HDD / SSD may be very painful.

In fact, IMO, "how he using Linux" is almost the most critical single factor to consider in this case. Because he may really need the boot screen. And the flashed 1080 may be the only option that can make his life easier.

 

[AndreeOnline]

I'd also say that for general creativity, I'd choose the RX580 from that list.