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Gaming on the new Mac Pro (Far Cry 4, BF H), drivers, over clocking ...

Problem is that while D500 is cut down part, and therefor has OC potential because of unused parts of GPU, D700 has no OC potential because in 129W power envelope its everything what you will get stable.

The thing is: 91 degrees is a bit high for nMP. I have not seen that kind of temperature in this computer before. Also, agazoo, what games are you testing it? I just want the names for comparison records :).

P.S. Could you test for me Heroes of The Storm? I know its not really demanding game, but would love to see some results on nMP.

Also, do you have any of the games from this test suite:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_Fury_Strix/6.html
And could you follow, if you have some of the games, the same procedure? I would like to see direct comparisons between D700/D500 and some of real world stuff with reviewers sites...
 
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Redid both cards using cross approach;

FurMark burn-in test, 7 minutes: 96C card 1, 94C card 2 :-(

94C/90C Battlefield Hardline about 15 minutes of play :-(

Pretty Hot ...
 
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koyoot said:
Problem is that while D500 is cut down part, and therefor has OC potential because of unused parts of GPU, D700 has no OC potential because in 129W power envelope its everything what you will get stable.

The thing is: 91 degrees is a bit high for nMP. I have not seen that kind of temperature in this computer before. Also, agazoo, what games are you testing it? I just want the names for comparison records :).

P.S. Could you test for me Heroes of The Storm? I know its not really demanding game, but would love to see some results on nMP.

Also, do you have any of the games from this test suite:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_Fury_Strix/6.html
And could you follow, if you have some of the games, the same procedure? I would like to see direct comparisons between D700/D500 and some of real world stuff with reviewers sites...
Click to expand...


Battlefield Hardline
Far Cry 4
and GTA V

I'll check if I can get my hand on HofS
 
Thanks for the response. Those are pretty good numbers.

That is interesting about one card being hotter than the other. I'm going to be ordering a 6-core with the D700s next Thursday. I will do some tests and see how hot both cards run from the factory. Sorry it doesn't help you right now, but as as soon as I'm able I'll be able to give you some info.
 
Redid both cards yet again, using different compound (xigmatek PTI G4512) and it seems I am getting reasonable numbers now - around 82C running burn-in for 5 minutes, around 73C running Valley Benchmark;

Will do more testing later one, but performance is solid so far ...
 
I´m getting 88-90C on both D700s running High-End games in CF. I´ve put an additional fan on top that blows away what´s blown out, helps to limit the temps. Anyway 90C are quiet a lot, OC could lead to hardware damage and I´d strongly recommend anyone not to OC this device. For now it´s strong enough for any game with very high or even ultra settings on FHD, als long as CF is working. F.e. AC Unity 40+ FPS on 1440p and high / very high.
 
So you are getting better results than GTX 980 Ti. Pretty predictable despite the downclocking on both GPUs.

Not bad at all. All I am interested is compute power for FCPX and Photoshop, and Blizzard games in 4K resolution: Diablo 3, Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm.

I know that right now D700 is able to handle D3 in 4K easily, even on OSX. The question is, how well it handles HotS and how well it will handle Overwatch.
 
agazoo said:
Redid both cards yet again, using different compound (xigmatek PTI G4512) and it seems I am getting reasonable numbers now - around 82C running burn-in for 5 minutes, around 73C running Valley Benchmark;

Will do more testing later one, but performance is solid so far ...
Click to expand...


Maybe your new thermal paste is making them running cooler than the factory installed D700s now? Good work!

Did you find the install process difficult?
 
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There is a pretty good write up on how to replace cards.
In the course of my dilemma I installed/reinstalled cards probably 20+ times :))) already. I can do one card in under 2 minutes probably :)
I am thinking about extra fan below and on top of the stock fan too, but with the temps I got already light OC is possible.
But really, they do run well as-is;

I'll make comparison table D500/D700 once I gather data. I only have SC2 & World of Warcraft as far as blizzard goes :-(
 
agazoo said:
There is a pretty good write up on how to replace cards.
In the course of my dilemma I installed/reinstalled cards probably 20+ times :))) already. I can do one card in under 2 minutes probably :)
I am thinking about extra fan below and on top of the stock fan too, but with the temps I got already light OC is possible.
But really, they do run well as-is;

I'll make comparison table D500/D700 once I gather data. I only have SC2 & World of Warcraft as far as blizzard goes :-(
Click to expand...


I'm looking forward to seeing the data from the comparison! I'm excited to order mine on Thursday.
 
koyoot said:
So you are getting better results than GTX 980 Ti. Pretty predictable despite the downclocking on both GPUs.

Not bad at all. All I am interested is compute power for FCPX and Photoshop, and Blizzard games in 4K resolution: Diablo 3, Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm.

I know that right now D700 is able to handle D3 in 4K easily, even on OSX. The question is, how well it handles HotS and how well it will handle Overwatch.
Click to expand...

Well I´m sorry to say but D3 ROS is absolutely not enjoyable in 4k resolution, not even on Crossfire. If you´re interested I´ll check that next time (when 2.3.0 will be released...) to give you more detailed data. On CF it´s nice and smooth to play in 1440p and best settings available. (guess 60FPS)

Right now I´m playing Ethan Carter on 4k + all graphic options available on CF with 28-33FPS most of the time, which is acceptable for me in this game. Looks really wonderful !

Witcher 3 = average 30FPS on 1440p, settings high b.wo. NVidia hair effects. On Crossfire 40-50FPS settings very high (still wo hair though), but stuttering and therefore inacceptable. Looks amazing !
 
Got my nMP 6-core, 16 GB RAM, D700s today. Mighty impressed with the comp so far.

Playing some GTA V right now. Everything on max, except Vsync and no SSAO, I'm getting 40-60 FPS.

It most stays around 45-55 FPS. Again, that's everything on max at 1600p (2560 X 1600).

Haven't monitored temperatures yet.

My cMP 6-core has a GTX 980 Ti Superclocked. The D700s are practically on par until I start overclocking the 980 Ti on GTA V. Then the 980 takes the lead by a few FPS. The D700s seem to be more consistent with frame rate in the game however.

I will run some more tests on more games later on.
 
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So I downloaded MSI Afterburner to see what kind of temperatures I'm getting. GPU 1 is staying at 92 degrees C and GPU 2 gets all the way up to 96 C playing Battlefield 4 with everything on Ultra except no Anti Aliasing at 1600p.

Pretty hot. There were no crashes or stuttering, however.

I might see if I can make a custom fan curve.

The game itself averaged around 80 FPS, and easily went above 100 FPS indoors and low texture areas.
 
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Redneck1089 said:
Does anyone know how to get Crossfire working in the Witcher 3?
Click to expand...

With 15.7 the CF flickering issues have been reduced to a bareable level, the FPS gain is significant (+50%) but it doesn´t help since the game ist stuttering then, which is very annoying. Still there´s no fix for that. You can limit FPS down to 30 which reduces but not eliminates the stuttering. Besides you still see flickering in the different menus like inventory, alchemy. I personally gave it up and decided to live without CF. High settings on 1440p / av. 30FPS is okay for me, nice enough to look at and great without flickering and stuttering.
 
MrJandali said:
With 15.7 the CF flickering issues have been reduced to a bareable level, the FPS gain is significant (+50%) but it doesn´t help since the game ist stuttering then, which is very annoying. Still there´s no fix for that. You can limit FPS down to 30 which reduces but not eliminates the stuttering. Besides you still see flickering in the different menus like inventory, alchemy. I personally gave it up and decided to live without CF. High settings on 1440p / av. 30FPS is okay for me, nice enough to look at and great without flickering and stuttering.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response. What settings are you using for it?


I got CrossfireX working yesterday on it. Man, people aren't joking about the stuttering issue. I get 50+ fps one minute and then it drops down to 20 something the next.

It's amazing the difference drivers can make. Battlefield 4 on my nMP is pretty comparable to my cMP with a GTX 980 Ti Superclocked. The latter is a smidgen faster...but then I'm using my 27" 1440p monitor compared to my 1600p monitor with my nMP, so that might be the contributing factor.

Far Cry 4 does pretty well, although there are some big texture issues under Crossfire.

I will try the Witcher 3 with one card running only and see if it's playable. Otherwise, I'll just save it for my cMP.
 
So news is out that Apple has released Boot Camp v6 with support for windows 10. Has anyone tested this and can provide some feedback to which graphics driver is included and performance thereof?

I currently have a working (although some CF flickering issues) 15.7.1 installation for my D700s on Win10 using an upgraded win8.1 installation and am considering to try the new boot camp drivers - however if anyone of you guys have already tested this I would be greatful for your input.

Thanks
 
I have a Mac Pro 6,1 with D500s. When I was on Windows 8.1, I got annoyed with graphics performance on Far Cry 4, because it wouldn't let me play in 1920x1080 for some reason, and it looked like crap in an odd resolution when upscaled to my Asus 4K display. I installed the latest Catalyst drivers using a specific method posted on these forums, and it fixed that issue. I just upgraded to Windows 10 and installed the official Boot Camp 6 drivers. It doesn't have the issue mentioned above, and seems to work fine out of the gate.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what benefits I might get from upgrading to the latest Catalyst drivers again, using the methods posted here?

Not sure if its worth messing with. Thanks!
 
I play Heroes of the Storm quite often on a stock 6-core nMP (d500s, 16GB RAM). I max out all graphics settings and it runs smoothly. I haven't benchmarked it but if I check fan speeds right after playing, they are up around 1200rpm but drop back down quite quickly. I don't notice any noise or major heat issues.
 
Sorry for long delay, just got back to the office. Stuck in Vegas ...

Briefly, everything runs much smoother on basic setting then it did on D500; Valley Benchmark scored 2474 which is equal what I got OCking D500 to over 1000mhz, but visually everything was running a bit smoother.

I can only OC D700 to ~900mhz core, anything above will cause a crash at init. With 900mhz Valley scores at 2639 but temps get 5-6deg higher.

Games run smoother as well, especially BFH. With overclock I had a thermal crash at one occasion on BFH;

I am waiting for NEC 4k (PA322UHD) monitor. Will post results as soon as I get it.
 
My 5.1 mac pro is still sitting around. Wondering what gaming would look like if I stick two best currently available cards (under 1000watt system) in it ....
 
agazoo said:
My 5.1 mac pro is still sitting around. Wondering what gaming would look like if I stick two best currently available cards (under 1000watt system) in it ....
Click to expand...

I have a nMP with D700s and a cMP with a GTX 980 Ti SC in it. The nMP is ever so slightly behind the GTX 980 Ti SC in most games (every once in awhile it beats the GTX on the odd game). If you stuck two 980 Ti's in your cMP you'd easily have a top tier gaming machine.


On your nMP with your newly upgraded D700s, are you saying that you can get a stable overclock taking both cards up to 900 Mhz? If so, is there any danger of hurting the piddly PSU in the nMP?

Also, are you doing the overlock through MSI Afterburner?
 
Redneck1089 said:
I have a nMP with D700s and a cMP with a GTX 980 Ti SC in it. The nMP is ever so slightly behind the GTX 980 Ti SC in most games (every once in awhile it beats the GTX on the odd game). If you stuck two 980 Ti's in your cMP you'd easily have a top tier gaming machine.


On your nMP with your newly upgraded D700s, are you saying that you can get a stable overclock taking both cards up to 900 Mhz? If so, is there any danger of hurting the piddly PSU in the nMP?

Also, are you doing the overlock through MSI Afterburner?
Click to expand...

Yes, I am using Afterburner.

You most certainly can damage hardware with OC. (and) I did many years ago. Fried my Radeon (don't remember the model, was high end in 2003). In case of nMP it seems impossible to over volt and with their stock voltage config, the only real danger imho is the temp. Initially I had temps go over 100deg on one occasion with termal shutdown. After I redid thermal compound (over 10 times), it never exceeds 92-93 deg, in most games within 80-85 range. Im ok with that. I don't do a lot of gaming anyways ...

After some more testing, stable seems to be around 895~, over 900 system crashes once DD initializes. I may have a problem with the driver though, I think I never reinstalled the drivers after D500 upgrade and control center shows that I have different cards.

Speaking of cMP, does it have enough PSU to run dual GTX 980 Ti SC?

Thanks
 
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