MP 1,1-5,1 GPU & Temperature Control Options

[Nanco]

Hi there,

For at least a couple of months now I’ve been trying to improve the temperature from inside my 2012 5,1 Mac Pro running 10.10.5. I’ve succeeded in doing so for the most part, however I’m failing to be able to control the temperature from my two ATI Radeon HD 5770 cards.

One of the cards is hooked up to a 1920x1080 monitor whereas the other card is hooked up to two 1600x900 monitors.

Each card idles around 50-60 degrees when hooked up to a single display. This will rise to almost 80 degrees idle when two or all three displays are hooked up. The proximity of the two cards doesn't really help matters either.

Both cards have been thoroughly cleaned and had new thermal paste applied, which has made little to no difference to the temperatures.

I have done a lot of research into my options, however I need some help with choosing the “best” solution where to go from here:


1) Mac alternative to MSI Afterburner? (the ideal solution… if it exists)

I can quite easily control the fans in Bootcamp using MSI Afterburner at the expense of a little more noise however, unless someone can (please) prove me wrong, I don’t believe such an app exists in Mac OS. The majority of leads point me back to apps such as iStat, Macs Fan Control, and SMC Fan Control that are all great but don’t support PCIE device controlled fans.

Is it actually possible to control the fan curve from within Mac OS somehow? Though I haven’t tried it yet, would installing MSI Afterburner or even CCC in something like Crossover work?


2) Flashing the BIOS (the next best thing)

I used Radeon BIOS Editor from within Windows to set my own fan curve to match the one I use in MSI Afterburner and flashed each card. It worked… up until Windows or Mac OS actually loaded.

Lets stick with Mac OS for now to keep it simple, but is there something else I need to do from within Mac OS to get this to work? It feels like theres some kind of override happening when the login screen appears that prevents my custom BIOS fan curve from working. Can anyone shed some light into getting this to work?


3) An alternative to the 5770s (the last resort)

Ideally I don’t want to have to buy a new card/s if one of the above two options is at least plausible. The current set up works, however I'm not totally happy about running at those temperatures for extended durations. I mainly use this system for pro audio/recording/mixing etc and occasional regular use (email, YouTube, browsing… the general stuff). I used to (but no longer) use it for casual gaming via Bootcamp, however I've since set up an independent system for that.

It is compulsory that I have access to the three screens for my work (I always had issues with running 3 screens off of a single 5770s in the past).

If options 1 and 2 are honestly out of the question, can anyone suggest a decent graphics card that will handle 3 screens at a reasonable temperature?

Thanks for making it this far and sorry for the lengthy post.

Kind Regards,
Matt

 

[h9826790]

1) No.

The best alternative you can do is just install some fan control software (e.g. MacsFanControl) to spin up the PCIe fan (not the card’s fan) when PCIe ambient temperature increase.

This may have some effect, especially when the card at idle. Without fan control software, the PCIe fan more base on PCIe power draw than the card’s temperature. Which means, when the card at idle, the PCIe fan also at idle, until the GPU really overheating.

So, make it spin up base on PCIe ambient may help.

2) Should work, that what I do with my HD7950, R9 280, R9 380, and RX580. Just need to flash the card, no extra step in MacOS required.

3) Not required, but if you look for a better card, GTX680 can be self flash easily to get boot screen, with native support in 10.10.5, and run cooler during idle with multiple monitors connected.

 

[Nanco]

1) No.

The best alternative you can do is just install some fan control software (e.g. MacsFanControl) to spin up the PCIe fan (not the card’s fan) when PCIe ambient temperature increase.

This may have some effect, especially when the card at idle. Without fan control software, the PCIe fan more base on PCIe power draw than the card’s temperature. Which means, when the card at idle, the PCIe fan also at idle, until the GPU really overheating.

So, make it spin up base on PCIe ambient may help.

2) Should work, that what I do with my HD7950, R9 280, R9 380, and RX580. Just need to flash the card, no extra step in MacOS required.

3) Not required, but if you look for a better card, GTX680 can be self flash easily to get boot screen, with native support in 10.10.5, and run cooler during idle with multiple monitors connected.

Thanks for the response,

1) Sadly MacsFanControl PCIE fan settings doesn’t offer substantial cooling on its own. Even at max RPM the difference is roughly a few degrees at the expense of having an incredibly noisy fan. For every +500 RPM, it roughly equates to -1 degree C.

2) I have flashed the cards, but like I said, the custom fan curve does not work when I reach the login screen. All I did in Radeon BIOS Editor was edit the curve like this. I then used ATI Winflash to program the new BIOS to each card.

Is there something I’ve done wrong or have I missed a step in RBE? All other settings on this screenshot are set as default, but does anything else need to be modified to get this to work in Mac OS?

3) I’m not too bothered about losing the boot screen, but thank you for the suggestion. I’ll bear this in mind.