MP 1,1-5,1 GPU Compatibility List for cMP

[Visualsense]

Hello all,
I have a 2009 Mac Pro 2.66 quad core. I recently upgraded the cpu to 3.46MHz 6 core flashed to 5,1 and upgrades OS X to high Sierra.
I then purchased a metal supported video card all went well until I tried to upgrade to Mojave which displayed unexpectedly quit loading plugin?
The system is showing 5.1 and tried 2 video cards one from a 2010 running Mojave but still get the same error I’ve hit a wall! Can anyone help?

 

[h9826790]

Hello all,
I have a 2009 Mac Pro 2.66 quad core. I recently upgraded the cpu to 3.46MHz 6 core flashed to 5,1 and upgrades OS X to high Sierra.
I then purchased a metal supported video card all went well until I tried to upgrade to Mojave which displayed unexpectedly quit loading plugin?
The system is showing 5.1 and tried 2 video cards one from a 2010 running Mojave but still get the same error I’ve hit a wall! Can anyone help?

Unpatched Mojave? Which cards?

 

[MarkC426]

Finally have an app that uses my RX580.
In istat menus 50% memory and 100% processor used, but a bit nervous ? as it was hitting 225/229w power. Standard connection 2 mini 6 pin.
Is this gonna cause any damage with prolonged use, my normal power is less than 100w (as nothing was using the gpu processor before).

 

[h9826790]

Finally have an app that uses my RX580.
In istat menus 50% memory and 100% processor used, but a bit nervous ? as it was hitting 225/229w power. Standard connection 2 mini 6 pin.
Is this gonna cause any damage with prolonged use, my normal power is less than 100w (as nothing was using the gpu processor before).

That power draw is erroneous, you can safely ignore that.

 

[MarkC426]

As it was using 100% of the gpu processor, I asume that is the max power it would ever draw.

 

[h9826790]

As it was using 100% of the gpu processor, I asume that is the max power it would ever draw.

You can read this if you want to know more about RX580's power draw

Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB VBIOS Study

*** For info, this mod is NOT compatible with the OpenCore boot screen mod *** This thread is about how to mod the Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB card's ROM image. If you worry about bricking the card, or void the warranty etc. STOP HERE! For those who has MVC flashed RX580. Do NOT perform this mod...

forums.macrumors.com

And no, 100% GPU utilisation rate doesn't mean max power draw. Sometime, it is, but no absolute relationship.

 

[MarkC426]

FYI played around with some settings in the app and gpu not 100% usage now, fans only kick in periodically also..... ?
Originally default settings all set high, with all graphics features on.

 

[Objectivist-C]

I’ve been thinking of trying some mild overclocking of my RX 580 in Windows, and also eventually swapping that card out for an older GeForce 780. Would either of those things benefit from adding an EVGA PowerLink and tapping a SATA port or two for additional power?

 

[Sixtyhorses]

I’ve been thinking of trying some mild overclocking of my RX 580 in Windows, and also eventually swapping that card out for an older GeForce 780. Would either of those things benefit from adding an EVGA PowerLink and tapping a SATA port or two for additional power?

I am curious as to why you would swap the RX 580 for a GeForce 780. Is it for exclusive use in Windows or..?

I use a flashed GeForce 770 for Mac that supports metal family 4 and runs perfctly in it as it does with High Sierra and Mountain Lion, which are the three Mac OS boot drives I use for music and video editing. I would love to move to the RX 580, but I would not be able to boot Mountain Lion with it so I am waiting until I am done with ML before I move to the RX 580.

 

[Sixtyhorses]

I am quite sure it can work in cMP. Just a matter of how, and in which OS.

As long as the PCIe slot is there, I can’t see why wouldn't work.

"Unlike the Vega56/64, there are NEVER power issues with these. A good way to transition into newer OSs and prepare for 7,1 Mac Pro. They should also function normally on a 7,1 when you make the jump."

EFI AMD 5700XT for Mac Pro 4,1/5,1

The #1 place for Mac Pro graphics cards. GPU upgrades from AMD and Nvidia.

www.macvidcards.com

 

[Objectivist-C]

I am curious as to why you would swap the RX 580 for a GeForce 780. Is it for exclusive use in Windows or..?

Yeah, I’m looking to build a separate PC in the near future and the 580 is going to move there until the video card supply situation calms down a bit.

 

[Sixtyhorses]

Yeah, I’m looking to build a separate PC in the near future and the 580 is going to move there until the video card supply situation calms down a bit.

Makes sense.

 

[MikeymikeT5]

Good morning Gents,

I started to experience a glitch a few days ago with my machine (recently updated with latest Opencore, hardware accel, etc), insoafar as I'm seeing some flashing green bands across movies that I export. Within FCP, they play ok, but if I upload to Youtube, or just export the files to play on the computer, I'm seeing this issue. The Card is a Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB (actually the Nitro+ version, as I found it really cheap on Amazon a couple of months or so ago). Any ideas?... (Vid link below)

 

[MikeymikeT5]

EDIT, update...

I managed to get things working again normally, but it seems (and everything points to) the graphics card starting to fail. Everything is fine, except when the card is heavily taxed, processing and exporting movies.

Soooo.... I found an XFX Radeon Vii here in Japan (new) that I'll be fitting in the next couple of days. It seemed the only way to go....

(Below is the original thread reply I posted a few days ago)...



I messed with it, got it working again, but it doesn't seem to have the speed now...

I did and NVRAM and SMC reset. Had trouble booting after that, but after disconnecting power (SMC) again, it started in Recovery Mode. I then managed to select the correct Startup Disc, and get up and running again. But, it seems that the boot picker has disappeared, and the movie exports are a little slow. I checked CSRUTIL status, and it seems that this has gone back to 'enabled' (I left it set to 'disabled' before).

The green flashing bands on the exported movie files are now fine, it just seems slow exporting compared to before.

 

[nagus]

Hi, I have a mac pro 5,1 and tried to flash a a Sapphire 7950 (single fan)

I used the guide from netkas.org forum ( http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,5619.0.html ) but I cannot get it to work. The script keeps saying that java runtime is needed (of course, I installed it). It spits out a rom that i can flash onto the card, but my monitor on the mac pro keeps black. I tried a few oder roms from other users that posted their files on the forum and I found one that worked... with one major downside: the fan is stuck at 100%... and that is WAY to loud for daily use.

Can someone please help me? I attached my original rom file from the card.
Thanks!

 

[wnlewis]

Has anyone used an Nvidia P4000 in a cMP 5,1 running Catalina, and Windows 10 natively?

The Nvidia K5000 (Kepler Architecture) will work, but it seems like it would be a step backwards since I have a Radeon Saphire RX 580.

I am needing the Nvidia to meet the demands of a Windows CAD package.

 

[whgmkeller]

Hi. Does anyone have any info on the club 3d radeon hd 6870 gpu? This has 6 x mDP which would allow me to hook up three 27” inch monitors to my 5,1 Mac Pro.

thanks!
Willem

 

[Objectivist-C]

Has anyone used an Nvidia P4000 in a cMP 5,1 running Catalina, and Windows 10 natively?

The Nvidia K5000 (Kepler Architecture) will work, but it seems like it would be a step backwards since I have a Radeon Saphire RX 580.

I am needing the Nvidia to meet the demands of a Windows CAD package.

The P4000 appears to be Pascal? I don’t think that would work in Catalina.

I’ve been thinking of trying some mild overclocking of my RX 580 in Windows, and also eventually swapping that card out for an older GeForce 780. Would either of those things benefit from adding an EVGA PowerLink and tapping a SATA port or two for additional power?

I mashed the auto-overclock button in Windows and it bumped the RX 580 up to 1436Mhz. I haven’t seen it exceed 180W of power draw even in C2077 so I’m leaving it at that.

 

[wnlewis]

The P4000 appears to be Pascal? I don’t think that would work in Catalina.

Yes. Pascal. The three architectures are: Kepler (the oldest), Maxwell, and Pascal.

The K5000 should work in the cMP 5,1 for both windows and Mac (in Mojave).

The current card, Radeon Sapphire RX 580 has 8 Gb of RAM and passes the requirements for Metal 2 (Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1). However it is definitely not CUDA certified and fails for the Windows Solid CAD animation packages (SolidWorks, Creo, etc.) (it will do solid CAD modeling with Creo Parametric).

The thing that seems like it would be ideal, would be to be able to switch back and forth between two video cards, one for Mac and one for Windows. Probably not possible, but I can wish.

 

[klover137006]

Hi! Just found this thread and it's very handy. But there's one question I'm searching the answer to:

is there a Metal capable card (for Mojave support) that doesn't cause the PCI fan speed bug?

I used a GTX680 before which caused this problem, and although the OpenGL Cube Test trick worked, I just couldn't stand having to resort to that kind of workaround, so I downgraded back to High Sierra.

So, if anyone knows if there's a card that doesn't cause this bug but will support Mojave and have boot screen, I would love to know! The HD7970 for example, does the same thing happen with that?

FYI, I'm on a Mac Pro 5,1 2010.

Thanks!

 

[h9826790]

Hi! Just found this thread and it's very handy. But there's one question I'm searching the answer to:

is there a Metal capable card (for Mojave support) that doesn't cause the PCI fan speed bug?

I used a GTX680 before which caused this problem, and although the OpenGL Cube Test trick worked, I just couldn't stand having to resort to that kind of workaround, so I downgraded back to High Sierra.

So, if anyone knows if there's a card that doesn't cause this bug but will support Mojave and have boot screen, I would love to know! The HD7970 for example, does the same thing happen with that?

FYI, I'm on a Mac Pro 5,1 2010.

Thanks!

There is an automatic solution even you hit that bug

AirOut: A solution to the racing fan bug

Introduction The racing fan bug is a well known issue that affects certain cMP systems with upgraded video cards, particularly systems with SMC version 1.39f5. On these systems the PCI, PS, and booster fans spin abnormally fast at idle, causing unnecessary noise. Although the issue appears to...

forums.macrumors.com

For boot screen, almost any new AMD card can show boot screen on cMP by using OpenCore.

This is the demo from my unflased Radeon VII

And this is the thread about OpenCore on cMP

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[MarkC426]

klover137006​

Why do you need the boot screen?
Additional to h98 post above, there are many gpu's you can use (with no boot screen).....

 

[klover137006]

klover137006​

Why do you need the boot screen?
Additional to h98 post above, there are many gpu's you can use (with no boot screen).....

I often switch between drives and sometimes installs other operating systems, so the ability to choose boot drive is necessary. But, it's good to know that OpenCore exists, so that can remain a possibility even with an unflashed card.

There is an automatic solution even you hit that bug

AirOut: A solution to the racing fan bug

Introduction The racing fan bug is a well known issue that affects certain cMP systems with upgraded video cards, particularly systems with SMC version 1.39f5. On these systems the PCI, PS, and booster fans spin abnormally fast at idle, causing unnecessary noise. Although the issue appears to...

forums.macrumors.com

Thanks! I already know about that solution, but I'm just curious about whether or not anyone has stumbled upon a card that doesn't need this kind of solution.

 

[h9826790]

I often switch between drives and sometimes installs other operating systems, so the ability to choose boot drive is necessary. But, it's good to know that OpenCore exists, so that can remain a possibility even with an unflashed card.


Thanks! I already know about that solution, but I'm just curious about whether or not anyone has stumbled upon a card that doesn't need this kind of solution.

It’s not 100% because of the card. Some cMP keep hitting this bug even with the genuine Mac Edition card.

If your cMP tends to suffer from this bug, then it can happen with pretty much any card. Choose the card that you need, and deal with the bug, should be better than hopefully find a card that won’t trigger this bug.

 

[klover137006]

It’s not 100% because of the card. Some cMP keep hitting this bug even with the genuine Mac Edition card.

If your cMP tends to suffer from this bug, then it can happen with pretty much any card. Choose the card that you need, and deal with the bug, should be better than hopefully find a card that won’t trigger this bug.

Yeah, I know this behavior exists with genuine Mac cards as well. There's a thread somewhere on this forum that goes in to great detail about the cause of this behavior, and I think the key difference was that the original HD5870 starts spinning up fast at boot (and draws more current) while the GTX680, for instance, starts in low power mode.

So, maybe, if there's a metal card that does boot in "high consumption mode" (or something) it would get rid of this behavior...?

I was just hoping someone here would have first hand experience with such a card. I know it might seem strange obsessing over this instead of just accepting the software workaround. But I can't help it, when something's not working the way it's supposed to I just can't relax. ? And then I'd rather stick with an older OS version.

(Actually, I'm one of those who'd love to stick with Snow Leopard, if only it was more widely supported. Every OS update since then has introduced new ways of handling things that require me to change how I work, which I don't like. Duplicate instead of Save as, showing MP3 tag titles instead of filenames in spotlight search, replacing ftp with sftp, making "natural scrolling" the default . Although, I really enjoy iCloud drive, and auto-save can be nice sometimes, though sometimes it can be bad.)