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

[lapsednun]

MAC PRO 2010 and 27" APPLE DISPLAY

Hi ppl.

I'm trying to help a friend out but getting stuck/confused - my MAC knowledge is a bit limited.

Anyways......

She has a Mac Pro 2010 - running Mojave with an Nvidia card ( not sure which one ) and an LG screen - no boot logo/apple.

She has been given a 27" Apple Display that has I presume, a Thunderbolt connector. Can anyone suggest a GPU that will allow her to connect the display or is she stuck with the LG screen?

I have a spare AMD Radeon HD 7950 card that I think has mini-display ports and not Thunderbolt so not compatible I expect; do adapters exist? My google searches imply not.


Thanks for any help/advice.

 

[MarkC426]

A Thunderbolt Display cannot connect to a 2010 Mac Pro.

 

[lapsednun]

A Thunderbolt Display cannot connect to a 2010 Mac Pro.

Wow! speedy response!

Is that a 100% definitive, i.e no compatible GPU's or is it a physical incompatibility hardware wise?

Is that Mac display compatible with anything other than a Mac Book?

 

[MarkC426]

It is a physical compatibility issue.
2010 mac pro's don't have the relevant TB architecture, it is not as simple as adding a card.

A 2013 mac pro does.
All modern Macs have TB.

 

[lapsednun]

Excellent! Thank you very much!

I'll pass on the news and look for a home for the Mac display.

 

[sfalatko]

Excellent! Thank you very much!

I'll pass on the news and look for a home for the Mac display.

Well make sure it is NOT an Apple Cinema Display. They look essentially identical to an Apple Thunderbolt Display. The Cinema display does work with a 2010 MacPro.

 

[zephonic]

@lapsednun:
they look the same but have different connectors. This is the 27” Cinema Display: https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/studio_cinema/specs/apple-led-cinema-display-27-inch-specs.html

And this is the 27” Thunderbolt Display:

Apple Thunderbolt Display 27-Inch Specs (Thunderbolt Display, MC914LL/A, A1407): EveryMac.com

Technical specifications for the Thunderbolt Display 27-Inch. Dates sold, display type, resolution, viewing angle, brightness, price and more.

everymac.com

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

Macvidcards-europe's ebay store has the 6600xt available. They are an MSI variant and appear to be 2.2 slots wide... slightly bigger then the double slot Sapphire Pulse 580. Found the MSI card on newegg and it looks like the extra thickness comes from useless plastics protruding around the fans on the shroud. However, there is an Asrock variant that appears to be only double slot by looking at the images.

Hopefully there will be other variants available from macvidcards-europe. I'll probably end up getting 1 of these eventually but not willing to give up my USB 3 card. The PCIe slots are too close together and putting the GPU in the bottom slot doesn't allow for sufficient cooling (floor it sits on gets hot to the touch).

They also have the Gigabyte 6800xt available but that requires the Pixlas mod (2 8-pin connectors) and looks to be a triple slot card.

I don't see the reason to update from RVII for now, maybe other detailed benchmarks will change my mind.
With updating to 12.3.1 the performance of RVII could be a little better maybe.
I think the cMP 4.1/5.1 could be heavy limiting those new gpus.

 

[startergo]

I don't see the reason to update from RVII for now, maybe other detailed benchmarks will change my mind.
With updating to 12.3.1 the performance of RVII could be a little better maybe.
I think the cMP 4.1/5.1 could be heavy limiting those new gpus.

View attachment 1994033

6900xt is quite different from 6800.

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

View attachment 1994064
6900xt is quite different than 6800.

Yeah, but what about your testing platform? I was testing it inside my old cMP with RVII, I see you have some modern and beefier Intel i9, is that cMP spoofing?

 

[startergo]

is that cMP spoofing

No, it's real. I am wondering though how much this performance depends on the CPU?

 

[Norbert Mikołajczyk]

No, it's real. I am wondering though how much this performance depends on the CPU?

I think it could be two limiting factors, cpu and pcie 2.0

 

[joevt]

I think it could be two limiting factors, cpu and pcie 2.0

if the GPU is waiting for the CPU, then increase the resolution or settings to make the GPU do more work.

 

[sheapuppy]

Hijacking this thread. I am considering the XFX RX 560 2GB GPU for my Early 2009 Mac Pro (already flashed to 5,1) with a classic 2004 Apple Cinema 30" Display. I'm currently in High Sierra and would like to move to Mojave and possibly use Open Core to move to Catalina/BigSur/Monterey. I use it mainly for light Photoshop and audio/video ripping. Any opinions on this card? Best regards! JP

 

[Matty_TypeR]

Hijacking this thread. I am considering the XFX RX 560 2GB GPU for my Early 2009 Mac Pro (already flashed to 5,1) with a classic 2004 Apple Cinema 30" Display. I'm currently in High Sierra and would like to move to Mojave and possibly use Open Core to move to Catalina/BigSur/Monterey. I use it mainly for light Photoshop and audio/video ripping. Any opinions on this card? Best regards! JP

If you can i would go with a GTX-680 will support metal and also you can flash a PC version with Mac boot rom to show boot screen.

 

[jvlfilms]

I wanted to thank you all again for your help here. I was having issues with gaming on my RX 580 on my 4,1 and after doing the Pixlas mod/upgrading to a new GPU - the issues are 99% gone!

I'm guessing it was something funky with my card but my Vega 64 does not have the same stuttering in comparison to my RX 580.

 

[sfalatko]

If you can i would go with a GTX-680 will support metal and also you can flash a PC version with Mac boot rom to show boot screen.

I agree that the GTX 680 flashed is a great choice - just know that after Big Sur it is not supported in macOS so is pretty much a dead end after that.

 

[Stex]

Macvidcards-europe's ebay store has the 6600xt available. They are an MSI variant and appear to be 2.2 slots wide... slightly bigger then the double slot Sapphire Pulse 580. Found the MSI card on newegg and it looks like the extra thickness comes from useless plastics protruding around the fans on the shroud. However, there is an Asrock variant that appears to be only double slot by looking at the images.

Hopefully there will be other variants available from macvidcards-europe. I'll probably end up getting 1 of these eventually but not willing to give up my USB 3 card. The PCIe slots are too close together and putting the GPU in the bottom slot doesn't allow for sufficient cooling (floor it sits on gets hot to the touch).

They also have the Gigabyte 6800xt available but that requires the Pixlas mod (2 8-pin connectors) and looks to be a triple slot card.

A new DIY patch alternative to macvideocards_eu is being tested, but it's already confirmed to work:

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / 6900 XT for macOS?

I have created a patch that allows AMD RX6600/RX6800/RX6900 cards to work on a Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 (and maybe a 3,1? I have no idea if that's even possible). I examined ROM dumps of RX6600/6600XT and RX6800/6800XT/6900XT from various manufacturers, and every one I looked at used the same (broken)...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Matty_TypeR]

A new DIY patch alternative to macvideocards_eu is being tested, but it's already confirmed to work:

AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / 6900 XT for macOS?

I have created a patch that allows AMD RX6600/RX6800/RX6900 cards to work on a Mac Pro 4,1/5,1 (and maybe a 3,1? I have no idea if that's even possible). I examined ROM dumps of RX6600/6600XT and RX6800/6800XT/6900XT from various manufacturers, and every one I looked at used the same (broken)...

forums.macrumors.com

Thats great work, a shame no boot screens, but great work. I have just been looking at the 6900XT variants and most now are either 3 x 8 pin or 2 x 8pin + 1 x 6pin on power requirement. seems they can draw alot of juice from the PSU in a Mac pro 4.1 or 5.1 especially if your running a dual 3.47ghz CPU tray. I know they have a 1000w PSU but they are getting old these PSU's and you would certainly be pushing its limit's with a 6900XT on board.

The 6800XT looks favourable with 2 X 8 pin VGA sockets but the Pixlas mod would be a must for sure.


We could do with a walk through if someone has the time and card to do it.

 

[sheapuppy]

I agree that the GTX 680 flashed is a great choice - just know that after Big Sur it is not supported in macOS so is pretty much a dead end after that.

Thanks for letting me know! I may also need to update the WiFi/BT cards once I jump to Catalina.

 

[hwojtek]

I agree that the GTX 680 flashed is a great choice - just know that after Big Sur it is not supported in macOS so is pretty much a dead end after that.

You may run it with post-install OCLP patches. Open Core must be used to run Big Sur and later on an 5,1 anyway, so it's a legit way for Adobe users.

 

[iOrbit]

I have a question.

I have a 5,1. I want to get a metal capable GPU on this list. But, I also want a GPU to work with my 27inch iMac in target display mode, and a 24inch Apple Cinema Display (late 2008 model)

so if I were to buy a non-mac edition GPU that is metal capable, will those HDMI ports (no MiniDP ports) work with target display mode iMac and provide the same performance and abilities and MiniDP to a regular Cinema Display? or is there literally no material difference/compromise?

I'm willing to get a Mac edition card if I have to, to keep things working together smoothly.

 

[mikas]

Depends on your iMac. What year model? iMacs from 2009-2010 are mini display port Macs and thus more versatile, 2011-2014 are thunderbolt iMacs, and they require thunderbolt for target display mode. From 2015 and on, there is no more target display mode for iMacs.

If your iMac is the one mentioned in your signature (2013), you can not use it with cMP Mac Pro without thunderbolt.

24" cinema is doable with almost anything because of its mini display port.

Target Display Mode

 

[iOrbit]

Depends on your iMac. What year model? iMacs from 2009-2010 are mini display port Macs and thus more versatile, 2011-2014 are thunderbolt iMacs, and they require thunderbolt for target display mode. From 2015 and on, there is no more target display mode for iMacs.

If your iMac is the one mentioned in your signature (2013), you can not use it with cMP Mac Pro without thunderbolt.

24" cinema is doable with almost anything because of its mini display port.

Target Display Mode

sorry I forgot to mention. I have two iMac's - Late 2009 27inch, and Late 2013 27inch. I'm using my cMP with the Late 2009 27inch via MDP-MDP. I have a 24 inch Cinema Display to go with it too.

So yeah, if im using a Metal capable flashed to Mac refi GPU, will a HDMI to MiniDP or an adapter, make it work seamlessly all the same, or is there a difference?

Target display mode and audio transfer, booting etc are all important to me.

I'd rather get a Mac edition at some stage if native MiniDP is better in some discernible way.

 

[iOrbit]

Does the GTX 680 PC version (flashed to Mac) have the boot screen post flash?