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veilrain

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 4, 2022
8
0
For context, I have a rx580 that came with the Mac Pro and a 6900XT I bought later. I could just use 6900XT but the problem is that it's producing so much heat. I live in a place where I don't have AC in my room so it gets too hot in the summer. I would like to use 6900XT only in certain programs like blender and having it completely off when I don't need that graphics computing power.

From my testing, the program only uses the GPU that the primary display is connected to unless the program specifically allows you to choose what GPU to use (like cycles in blender). Is there a way to set a program to start with a specific GPU rather than the default GPU? or some kind of way changing default GPU?

It looks like it should be possible since there is a "prefer eGPU" option for eGPU and for macbooks you can switch between discrete and integrated GPUs. I just couldn't find anything for two internal GPUs in Mac Pro, maybe it's hidden in some command line commands.
 

Stex

macrumors 6502
Jan 18, 2021
280
189
NYC
For context, I have a rx580 that came with the Mac Pro and a 6900XT I bought later. I could just use 6900XT but the problem is that it's producing so much heat. I live in a place where I don't have AC in my room so it gets too hot in the summer. I would like to use 6900XT only in certain programs like blender and having it completely off when I don't need that graphics computing power.

From my testing, the program only uses the GPU that the primary display is connected to unless the program specifically allows you to choose what GPU to use (like cycles in blender). Is there a way to set a program to start with a specific GPU rather than the default GPU? or some kind of way changing default GPU?

It looks like it should be possible since there is a "prefer eGPU" option for eGPU and for macbooks you can switch between discrete and integrated GPUs. I just couldn't find anything for two internal GPUs in Mac Pro, maybe it's hidden in some command line commands.

If there is no answer/solution from knowledgeable forum members (pro users etc) on this, then it could be a good idea to submit a macOS request to Apple. This is definitely a system pref option that should be made available to MacPro7,1 users (and hacked-cMP users too, which includes me!)
 
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