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rx78

macrumors regular
Nov 10, 2020
102
17
Slightly off topic but I don't think this question warrants a full thread. Only thought to post here as it's the GPU thread.

I'm considering buying a Netstor NA211A and moving my Vega 56 over to it. Since the box only has PCIE 2.0 x8 slots (one of which "allows" a x16 to fit) , how much performance am i going to lose going from x16 to x8? Thanks
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,966
4,259
Slightly off topic but I don't think this question warrants a full thread. Only thought to post here as it's the GPU thread.

I'm considering buying a Netstor NA211A and moving my Vega 56 over to it. Since the box only has PCIE 2.0 x8 slots (one of which "allows" a x16 to fit) , how much performance am i going to lose going from x16 to x8? Thanks
Isn't the host adapter card of the NA211A only PCIe 2.0 x4?

Whether it's x8 or x4, it's going to be faster than a Thunderbolt eGPU even though Thunderbolt is faster because Thunderbolt has more latency.

google "performance pci-express scaling site:techpowerup.com" to see how performance of GPUs scale with PCIe bandwidth.
For each GPU (going back to the GTX 980 and RTX 480), go to the Performance Summary page.
PCIe x8 1.1 = PCIe x4 2.0
PCIe x16 1.1 = PCIe x8 2.0
 

rx78

macrumors regular
Nov 10, 2020
102
17
Isn't the host adapter card of the NA211A only PCIe 2.0 x4?

Whether it's x8 or x4, it's going to be faster than a Thunderbolt eGPU even though Thunderbolt is faster because Thunderbolt has more latency.

google "performance pci-express scaling site:techpowerup.com" to see how performance of GPUs scale with PCIe bandwidth.
For each GPU (going back to the GTX 980 and RTX 480), go to the Performance Summary page.
PCIe x8 1.1 = PCIe x4 2.0
PCIe x16 1.1 = PCIe x8 2.0
Doh! I forgot the host card was x4.

So it's probably a 5-8% reduction going from x16 to x8 then x4.....

Thanks, will have to give this some more thought :)
 

ahihi

macrumors newbie
Mar 14, 2020
10
4
hi,

i am trying to use an ASUS Radeon HD 7870 (unflashed) in my MacPro3,1. i've installed Mojave as well as RefindPlus & OpenCore and am having some issues:

1. no video in RefindPlus/OpenCore boot menus
2. video works once booted into Mojave, but with no more than two displays

the compatibility list for 7850/7870/270/270x says "Several cards can't work in Mojave (black screen)" but i'm not sure what exactly this means or whether it applies to my card. could anyone clarify what i should expect to work with this setup?
 

FirDerrig33

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2017
126
38
California
Can someone give an example as to why the NVidia GeForce GT 120 is "so bad" on 10.11-10.13?

I'm looking for a second graphics card for the sole purpose of running a 23" Aluminum Apple Cinema Display with DVI while my 5770 runs my 27" LED Cinema Display with mini Display Port. I'm currently running High Sierra 10.13.6 and I have no plans to upgrade to Mojave or later.

I don't game other than the rare occasion of STEAM games that don't require a lot of processing power.

my configuration would be as follows:

Slot 1 : Radeon HD 5770 for the 27" LED cinema display
Slot 2: GT 120 for the 23" ACD

Thanks for the assistance!
 

FirDerrig33

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2017
126
38
California
Hello. Yes I know that the card can do that and that's what I am doing now. I'm just not happy with the way the 5770 is performing. I originally had the 23" connected via DVI until the card stopped working with it. Now I have it connected via a mDP-DVI adapter. I am just trying to have each display connected to a single graphics card.

I can't seem to get any real information on how the machine runs with the GT 120 and High Sierra.
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,554
2,328
somewhere
If I have a RX580 and I need to flash it .. can I just put the gt120 in as well and boot into a usb live linux install to flash the card ?
 

MarkC426

macrumors 68040
May 14, 2008
3,693
2,096
UK
I can't seem to get any real information on how the machine runs with the GT 120 and High Sierra.
From the first page:


4. Nvidia GeForce GT 120 512 MB
Performance: 28% RPI. macOS GUI in FullHD works bad.
Power consumption: from PCIE slot only.
Outs: DL-DVI + mDP.
Compatibility: DirectX 10.0, OpenGL 3.0, CUDA 1.0. macOS 10.5.6 - 10.11.x (very bad performance in 10.12.x - 10.13.x).
Other: occupies 1 slot, looks good. There is "mac edition" of cards.
Unflashed (PC version): doesn't work; no information about flashing possibility.
 

FirDerrig33

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2017
126
38
California
From the first page:


4. Nvidia GeForce GT 120 512 MB
Performance: 28% RPI. macOS GUI in FullHD works bad.
Power consumption: from PCIE slot only.
Outs: DL-DVI + mDP.
Compatibility: DirectX 10.0, OpenGL 3.0, CUDA 1.0. macOS 10.5.6 - 10.11.x (very bad performance in 10.12.x - 10.13.x).
Other: occupies 1 slot, looks good. There is "mac edition" of cards.
Unflashed (PC version): doesn't work; no information about flashing possibility.
I saw that and that's why I posted in an earlier post "Can someone give an example as to why the NVidia GeForce GT 120 is "so bad" on 10.11-10.13?"

Just seeing that in bold doesn't give me an example of why it is so bad or very bad in those versions of Mac OS. I was curious to know why it was so bad. I'm not looking for gaming or graphics performance. I'm curious to know how it performs the very basic task of having a 23" ACD connected to it and if it will work. If no one knows, then that's fine.
 

MarkC426

macrumors 68040
May 14, 2008
3,693
2,096
UK
I saw that and that's why I posted in an earlier post "Can someone give an example as to why the NVidia GeForce GT 120 is "so bad" on 10.11-10.13?"

Just seeing that in bold doesn't give me an example of why it is so bad or very bad in those versions of Mac OS. I was curious to know why it was so bad. I'm not looking for gaming or graphics performance. I'm curious to know how it performs the very basic task of having a 23" ACD connected to it and if it will work. If no one knows, then that's fine.
The point of the sticky, is many users have tried and tested different cards.
The results speak for themselves.
GT120 crap in High Sierra.
And as stated above, no drivers.
 

KeesMacPro

macrumors 65816
Nov 7, 2019
1,453
596
Just seeing that in bold doesn't give me an example of why it is so bad or very bad in those versions of Mac OS. I was curious to know why it was so bad. I'm not looking for gaming or graphics performance. I'm curious to know how it performs the very basic task of having a 23" ACD connected to it and if it will work. If no one knows, then that's fine.

Apart from explanations posted by others, there's always the option to buy a GT120 for a symbolic amount of money , install it and see if it meets your expectations.
 
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FirDerrig33

macrumors regular
Jan 12, 2017
126
38
California
Apart from explanations posted by others, there's always the option to buy a GT120 for a symbolic amount of money , install it and see if it meets your expectations.
That's what I've decided to do. I have seen some posts where the GT 120 was running under Mojave (although w/o hardware acceleration). I don't really have any expectations; just hopes. I need a fairly inexpensive card that can support the resolutions of the displays (and the GT 120 does that). So we'll see.
 

ADDvanced

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2015
147
23
Can someone help point me in the right direction? I have a 7970 and 10.14 and it's fine but I'd like to have hardware encoding.... I also need a boot screen.

What do?
 

Nguyen Duc Hieu

macrumors 68040
Jul 5, 2020
3,016
1,006
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Can someone help point me in the right direction? I have a 7970 and 10.14 and it's fine but I'd like to have hardware encoding.... I also need a boot screen.

What do?

For boot screen:
1. Install Windows
2. Extract the VBIOS from the card (use GPU-Z)
3. Cook the VBIOS (add Mac OS support to the original VBIOS) with Hex Editor
4. Write back the cooked vBIOS to the card (amdflash)

Necessary softwares can be found on techpowerup
Guidance on how-to cook the vBIOS can be found on netkas

For hardware encoding:
H.264 is supportted, but H.265 is not supportted with 7970.
 

TNJed

macrumors newbie
Apr 1, 2021
8
3
Couldn't sort out how to edit the original wiki but may want to add a note that the GTX 980 4GB can be flashed by MVC. I know because I currently have one. Of course it's still limited to High Sierra due to lack of NVIDIA drivers beyond that.
 
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Nguyen Duc Hieu

macrumors 68040
Jul 5, 2020
3,016
1,006
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Only in Windows, not in any OSX / macOS.

There is no HWAccel from 7970 (AKA D700 on the 6,1) at all in macOS.

Even in Windows, HW acceleracted HEVC encoding is only support with AMD RX family, and nVidia GTX 1050 or later, Quadro P620 or later.
For intel CPUs, HW accelerated HEVC encoding is officially support with HD610 family and later.
 

00.FCy

macrumors newbie
Apr 20, 2021
3
0
Hello hope there all good, Im very excited with this modifications because here in Brazil MacPros is so expensive, I'm doing a upgrade on my MP3,1 here... I have some questions about power supplying...

There I go:

1. Each mini 6pin to 8pin delivers 150W so for an EVGA GTX680 4GB Classified can I plug two of these from logic board to GPU? Anyway it will have 375w (plus 75w from slot), right?

2. This is enough? GTX680 4GB Classified don't need all the 550w to work propely with macpro3,1?

3. If is not enough, how can I get this 550W without an external power supply?

4. Whats is (definitely) the best way to power up this GPU, have lots of threads and posts in controverse on the web, help me please!

Thanks!!!
 
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