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MP 7,1 GPU Options 2024 for MacOS and Windows

Tony Danger

Tony Danger

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 19, 2014
111
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So I’ve picked up one of these recently and am looking at making it my main machine. I want to upgrade the GPU from the 580MPX.

Currently I have an RTX 4060, I could use that in the MP but I don’t want to deal with 2 cards, outputs and disabling one in MacOS and the other in Windows.

I’d rather have 1 card that works in both OS.

I’ve read the 6600XT and 6800XTs are pretty good cards for this for performance / budget. I’ve also read a bunch of them are too big to fit.

Are there any recommended specific models that work well with the system and fit nicely?

Thanks
 
I’m confused. You’re saying the 6800 will work up to Monterey and not in Sequoia?
 
The other option I guess is to nuke macOS completely and just have windows installed on the machine then just use the Nvidia GPU. I know it used to be possible on older macs, able for this one?
 
krakman said:
AFAIK the latest drivers in Sequoia require AVX2 instruction set which the Mac Pro CPU does not have and there is no way of adding.

Monterey was the last OS where this card worked natively, before Apple rewrote the code. In fact there are now more and more apps that require AVX2 and will not work/crash without it.

Monterey is considered the last/best/stable OS for the 5.1 Mac Pro
Click to expand...

This is a mac 7,1. The 2019 Mac Pro
 
krakman said:
AFAIK the latest drivers in Sequoia require AVX2 instruction set which the Mac Pro CPU does not have and there is no way of adding.

Monterey was the last OS where this card worked natively, before Apple rewrote the code. In fact there are now more and more apps that require AVX2 and will not work/crash without it.

Monterey is considered the last/best/stable OS for the 5.1 Mac Pro
Click to expand...

Are we talking about the Mac Pro 5,1 or the Mac Pro 7,1? The title of the article is MP 7,1, which use Xeon W-32xx processors.

If the latter then the processor(s) in the OP's system support AVX2 as well as AVX-512. As that is basically AVX10.1, it's likely the system will die a hardware death / unsupportable for other reasons before its CPU is obsolete.
 
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bzgnyc2 said:
Are we talking about the Mac Pro 5,1 or the Mac Pro 7,1? The title of the article is MP 7,1, which use Xeon W-32xx processors.

If the latter then the processor(s) in the OP's system support AVX2 as well as AVX-512. As that is basically AVX10.1, it's likely the system will die a hardware death / unsupportable for other reasons before its CPU is obsolete.
Click to expand...
whoops sorry didn't spot the 7.1 !

I'm so used to talking about the 5.1 on this forum. will delete my replies
 
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Tony Danger said:
Yes it's a 7,1 with the 12 core W-3235 CPU, 96GB DDR4.

I was considering something like either a RX 6800 (If I can find one in stock that isn't too long!) or an RX 6600xt

Which this suggests works: https://blog.greggant.com/posts/202...-upgrade-guide.html#completecompatiblecpulist
Click to expand...
I do not know you budget. But if you are not going for a MPX card from Apple.
You can check the card lengths here RX 6800

Screenshot 2024-12-12 at 22.44.45.png

These two cards should fit nicely, shorter that 300mm
 
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Regulus67 said:
I do not know you budget. But if you are not going for a MPX card from Apple.
You can check the card lengths here RX 6800

View attachment 2461639
These two cards should fit nicely, shorter that 300mm
Click to expand...

From what I gather, it looks like these models are all 305 or under:
  • Most 6600XT Models
  • Stock 6800/XT cards
  • ASRock RX 6800 Challenger Pro OC
  • ASRock RX 6800 Phantom Gaming D OC
  • GIGABYTE AORUS RX 6800 MASTER
  • GIGABYTE RX 6800 GAMING OC
  • KUROUTOSHIKOU Fighter RX 6800
  • ASUS ROG STRIX LC RX 6800 XT GAMING OC
  • GIGABYTE RX 6800 XT GAMING OC
  • GIGABYTE RX 6800 XT GAMING PRO OC
I've been looking for that Gigabyte model but there's really not many available in the UK right now!
 
Regulus67 said:
And expensive :oops:
Click to expand...

Yes: £4,000.00 or Best Offer

Condition: “Used in a working machine for a few years and have had zero issues with it. Full working order.”
Click to expand...

What guarantee do you have that it's going to be working correctly, and that's an enormous chunk of money for a multi-years old card that has been used. If it goes wrong, what avenues do you have?

If we could just run Radeon Pro 7000 series cards in our Mac Pro 7,1 machines in MacOS these old MPX W6800 and W6900s would be worth very little second hand. The values on those would drop quickly.
 
I'd be curious how the vanilla Radeon Pro 6800 works in the 7,1 - 6 proper displayports, no stupid video mixed with the storage bus etc.
 
mattspace said:
I'd be curious how the vanilla Radeon Pro 6800 works in the 7,1 - 6 proper displayports, no stupid video mixed with the storage bus etc.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that it just works as expected like any other compatible GPU?
 
Tony Danger said:
I was under the impression that it just works as expected like any other compatible GPU?
Click to expand...

yeah, except that AMD specifically calls it out as not being "supported"' for Mac Pros. Hence I'd be curious if there's any "issues" with it - ie like it having more display outs than the Apple version.
 
avro707 said:
If we could just run Radeon Pro 7000 series cards in our Mac Pro 7,1 machines in MacOS these old MPX W6800 and W6900s would be worth very little second hand. The values on those would drop quickly.
Click to expand...
They would drop, but not by as much as one might wish. Just look at the Pro Vega II (Duo) cards.
 
Regulus67 said:
I had not thought of that. Does the PC cards work with Apple displays?
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't they? (I've seen comments saying they will work without brightness control etc)

Something I won't be able to help with when I buy a new GPU. I've just got a Samsung ultra wide.
 
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They work straight out of the box. I didn’t install anything or flash anything. These are reference cards. They’ve been working for about 3 years… I think. I ordered them on launch day.

The USB-C doesn’t work on them.
HDMI and DP ports work fine.
My monitors are connected to the top card, while the bottom one is only for computations.

This computer is a color grading workstation, so powerful GPUs are the foundation of this system.
 
Last edited:
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