MP 1,1-5,1 GPU: How do PCIe bus and memory interface affect real-world use?

[pullman]

Hello everyone

I'm curious to know if there will be any noticeable downside to using an 8-bit, as opposed to a 16-bit, AMD GPU.

I'm considering upgrading my cMP 3,1 to Mojave or Catalina. I'm not playing any games but use the computer for image editing in Photoshop CS6 of often quite large files.

Thanks in advance
Philip

 

[tsialex]

Hello everyone

I'm curious to know if there will be any noticeable downside to using an 8-bit, as opposed to a 16-bit, AMD GPU.

I'm considering upgrading my cMP 3,1 to Mojave or Catalina. I'm not playing any games but use the computer for image editing in Photoshop CS6 of often quite large files.

Thanks in advance
Philip

What you are talking about? Hardware or software? HDR?

What you are asking with 8 vs 16-bit since the only thing that could be 8-bit is colour depth of the panel, but that should be 8 vs 10-bit colour depth (or the high end Dolby Vision/HDR 12-bit). There are no 16-bit colour depth panels and we won't see one in the foreseeable future.

 

[pullman]

Apologies for the completely unclear question. I wrote in a bit of a rush and confounded the parameters I am wondering about – the 128 vs 256 bit memory interface and the PCIe bus x8 and x16. I'll edit the title.

I'm currently looking for a single-slot AMD to use with Mojave or Catalina on my 3,1 and am considering the various Radeon Pro WX models.

I'm trying to understand how the PCIe bus, both in terms of version and lanes, and the memory interface affect real-world usage. I obviously see the MHz of the GPU and the memory, but am wondering how these other parameters affect how powerful a card is.

I should say that I don't know if all cards below work under Mojave and Catalina, but have read that the 4100, 5100 and 7100 do.

Cheers
Philip

What you are talking about? Hardware or software? HDR?

What you are asking with 8 vs 16-bit since the only thing that could be 8-bit is colour depth of the panel, but that should be 8 vs 10-bit colour depth (or the high end Dolby Vision/HDR 12-bit). There are no 16-bit colour depth panels and we won't see one in the foreseeable future.

 

[tsialex]

Apologies for the completely unclear question. I wrote in a bit of a rush and confounded the parameters I am wondering about – the 128 vs 256 bit memory interface and the PCIe bus x8 and x16. I'll edit the title.

I'm currently looking for a single-slot AMD use with Mojave or Catalina on my 3,1 and am considering the various Radeon Pro WX models.

I'm trying to understand how the PCIe bus, both in terms of version and lanes, and the memory interface affect real-world usage. I obviously see the MHz of the GPU and the memory, but am wondering how these other parameters affect how powerful a card is.

I should say that I don't know if all cards below work under Mojave and Catalina, but have read that the 4100, 5100 and 7100 do.

Cheers
Philip

View attachment 1784237

Ok, now this make some sense. Anyway, it's useless to look at PCIe v3.0/v4.0 8x/16x cards for a MP3,1 that badly can saturate a PCIe v2.0 x8 GPU unless you want to upgrade to a newer Mac Pro.

 

[pullman]

Thank you. That was probably the fastest reply I've ever seen ?

I see what you mean - it would be an overkill in light of the 3,1 capacity. I will probably at some point get another Mac Pro though in the future though for now I'm trying to keep this one alive as long as I can.

I'm looking at these AMD cards also because I don't see any single-slot AMD GPUs in the GPU compatibility thread.

Ok, now this make some sense. Anyway, it's useless to look at PCIe v3.0/v4.0 8x/16x cards for a MP3,1 that badly can saturate a PCIe v2.0 x8 GPU unless you want to upgrade to a newer Mac Pro.