MP 7,1 Its up and running: 2x VII + 580X

[bxs]

I am having zero issues connecting the Radeon Pro 580X to the LG OLED. Works PEFECTLY. Running at 2560x1440... sitting around 1m away from the display. Once I tried this setup... I don't think I would ever buy another display. The image quality on this OLED is AMAZING!!!

View attachment 885481

Not sure why it says 72"

Important thing is to setup the HDMI port settings to PC in TV settings.

Apple sells in the Online Store two Belkin HDMI cables now... one 4K and an 8K. Am using the 8K one. I tried the 4K... no difference. The 8K is just a thicker cable.

I REALLY wanted the Radeon VII to work... but I guess we can't have everything 🤷‍♂️

Interesting about -> "Important thing is to setup the HDMI port settings to PC in TV settings."

I plan to hook my MP7,1 to my 65" LG OLED TV. I needed an HDMI cable of 20 to 30-foot long and bought mine from MonoPrice.com.... Monoprice Luxe Series Active High Speed HDMI Cable - 4K@60Hz 18Gbps HDR 28AWG YCbCr 4:4:4 CL3 30ft Gray.

 

[GamerZer0]

Interesting about -> "Important thing is to setup the HDMI port settings to PC in TV settings."

Setting it to "PC" disables many of the features not needed for such connection like "Just Scan" which is ON by default and greyed out... an some settings as seen below (only gamma can be changed)...

A friend is getting the RX 5700 XT for his Mac Pro... I will ask him to try the card in my setup and post the results here.

 

[Z28McCrory]

For graphics the 5700 XT _seems_ like a better option than the Radeon VII anyway. It frequently benches as well or better for a fraction of the price.

Radeon VII/Vega 2 looks like the king of compute though.

Yeah I’m curious about this. I probably won’t return my VIIs (looks like Newegg has a pretty harsh restocking fee since they’re opened).

On paper, the VII seems to have a big edge though.

-60 compute units (vs 40 on the 5700)
-2x as much VRAM
-The VRAM has twice the bandwidth

Am I missing something? It seems like the VII would have a huge performance edge when it comes to photo/video rendering.

 

[goMac]

Am I missing something? It seems like the VII would have a huge performance edge when it comes to photo/video rendering.

Vega should always be the fastest GPU for graphics on paper. It never is. I'm not entirely sure why. I've heard everything between driver optimization issues and design issues for the hardware itself.

Radeon 5700 XT would fall behind if you were rendering something that required more than 16 gigs of VRAM. There will be people out there with that requirement, but that's a pretty high end crowd.

 

[MarkC426]

I am having zero issues connecting the Radeon Pro 580X to the LG OLED. Works PEFECTLY. Running at 2560x1440... sitting around 1m away from the display. Once I tried this setup... I don't think I would ever buy another display. The image quality on this OLED is AMAZING!!!

View attachment 885481

Not sure why it says 72"

Important thing is to setup the HDMI port settings to PC in TV settings.

Apple sells in the Online Store two Belkin HDMI cables now... one 4K and an 8K. Am using the 8K one. I tried the 4K... no difference. The 8K is just a thicker cable.

I REALLY wanted the Radeon VII to work... but I guess we can't have everything 🤷‍♂️

Your seriously sitting 1m away from a 6 foot screen, that sounds like a bad idea for your eyes for long periods of time.

 

[zhpenn]

Seeing that Apple doesn't support the Radeon VII (in name 👉 Apple eGPU support) AND as noted by one member here the Sonnet document highlighted this bug... I will return the Radeon VII and get an RX 5700 XT instead.

how good is 5700XT compare to stock 580x? I saw a lot of 5700xT on the market right now, is there any good brand that on the market good to buy? thanks

 

[GamerZer0]

Your seriously sitting 1m away from a 6 foot screen, that sounds like a bad idea for your eyes for long periods of time.

The LG OLED was purchased for totally different reason. When I got it home... I thought to myself "how does it preform as monitor? 🤔"

I had iMac 5K before the Mac Pro... using a TB3 to HDMI adapter... I hooked up the thing. Did a few adjustments in TV settings... set resolution to 2560x1440... and I never looked back since.

Setting it to native 4K is no good... even in 55" size

The clarity - text - images - videos just looks amazing in OLED

And Netflix is just one click away 😁

For my eyes, this is more relaxing... and I spend many hours behind the screen.

My eyes are sensitive to bad displays/setups... this setup is the best I've ever had.

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how good is 5700XT compare to stock 580x? I saw a lot of 5700xT on the market right now, is there any good brand that on the market good to buy? thanks

The 580X is based on a GPU released two years ago and the current RX 5700 XT is a "newer" architecture released this year and in general shows twice the speed in most benchmarks. BUT using it on a Mac is dictated by the current drivers and support in OS and also the software used. I guess we will see more and more feedback in this forum of people using the RX 5700 XT in the new Mac Pro and their experiences.

 

[MarkC426]

The LG OLED was purchased for totally different reason. When I got it home... I thought to myself "how does it preform as monitor? 🤔"

I had iMac 5K before the Mac Pro... using a TB3 to HDMI adapter... I hooked up the thing. Did a few adjustments in TV settings... set resolution to 2560x1440... and I never looked back since.

Setting it to native 4K is no good... even in 55" size

The clarity - text - images - videos just looks amazing in OLED

And Netflix is just one click away 😁

For my eyes, this is more relaxing... and I spend many hours behind the screen.

My eyes are sensitive to bad displays/setups... this setup is the best I've ever had.

View attachment 885489
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The 580X is based on a GPU released two years ago and the current RX 5700 XT is a "newer" architecture released this year and in general shows twice the speed in most benchmarks. BUT using it on a Mac is dictated by the current drivers and support in OS and also the software used. I guess we will see more and more feedback in this forum of people using the RX 5700 XT in the new Mac Pro and their experiences.

Even more bizarre is seeing my thread on your screen...... 😜
Seeing the screen on your desk, it does look cool 😎

 

[GamerZer0]

One more issue I noticed using the Radeon VII... is the temp reported by Unigine Valley. It was over 125°C (~255°F). Maybe error in reported temp 🔥

Also tried a Vega 64 in the Mac Pro... black screen... didn't even work for some reason.

 

[Z28McCrory]

One more issue I noticed using the Radeon VII... is the temp reported by Unigine Valley. It was over 125°C (~255°F). Maybe error in reported temp 🔥

Also tried a Vega 64 in the Mac Pro... black screen... didn't even work for some reason.

I think the temp is a bug. Mine stayed at 129 the entire time, even at the very beginning when the card was “cold” (hadn’t ran anything else prior to that). I’m assuming it gives no reading, or gives a false reading at the max that can be measured by that type of sensor.

 

[tommy chen]

macOS cannot read information about temperature and load on the radeon VII

 

[GamerZer0]

That probably explains behavior I noticed... or not. While the Mac Pro is in Sleep Mode... the GPU fans all of a sudden go full blast... then quiet. A few minutes later full blast again. It cycles through this in Sleep Mode.

 

[bsbeamer]

Some have reported there is firmware that can be modified in Windows, but there is no macOS version or similar utility. Have not personally explored the code, but from reports it appears it’s not in a standard ROM format that other AMD GPUs use so flashing would be difficult unless you’re developing on your own (or like an MVC version).

If you can live with it, keep the GPU. If not, most others would be better with another option or Apple-issued. Hopefully we’ll see more compatible off the shelf 16GB+ cards soon.

 

[GamerZer0]

I feel the RX 5700 XT will be the BEST official GPU for now. Waiting to test that to decide. The Radeon VII is a beast... but reports of AMD discontinuing it and the "issues" we're having... its best to just install officially supported cards. I don't wanna take chances damaging my new Mac Pro.

Lets hope more MPX modules are offered...

 

[Z28McCrory]

Id be curious to see someone post some results from Luxmark with the RX 5700 XT.

I ran the luxball test last night with the 580X and only got a score of 13,053. The VII is averaging around 50,000 on the same test. If the RX 5700 XT is estimated to be 2x the performance of the 580X, it's still only half as powerful as the VII.

For video rendering and any other video/photo editing tasks that utilize the GPU, I'm fine with living with the fan speed issue if it means getting such a large performance increase over a 580X or 5700XT.
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I feel the RX 5700 XT will be the BEST official GPU for now. Waiting to test that to decide. The Radeon VII is a beast... but reports of AMD discontinuing it and the "issues" we're having... its best to just install officially supported cards. I don't wanna take chances damaging my new Mac Pro.

Lets hope more MPX modules are offered...

Just to clarify, the only issue I've had with the VII is the fan speed issue in sleep mode. Other than that, its performed flawlessly. I've used it with both HDMI and DP monitors (and 3 at the same time).

 

[norsemen]

2019 Mac Pro With Four GPUs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

 

[Blair Paulsen]

At the moment, going with the VII GPU(s) and coping with the fan issue seems like a great way to save some serious coin. There's clearly some risk that Apple may not ever properly support the VII despite its similarity to the Vega II, so it's useful lifespan may be limited.
IMHO, none of the current "blessed" offerings have compelling price/performance ratios. So perhaps the clever move is to just get the 580 from Apple, add a VII for immediate compute muscle and hope the Big Navi sporting RDNA2 drops sooner than later (or the earth stops spinning and Apple buries the hatchet with nVidia).
After waiting close to a decade for a proper tower to replace my four 5,1s, I may have to wait a bit longer to outfit a 7,1 with GPUs that can justify their cost.

 

[zhpenn]

Id be curious to see someone post some results from Luxmark with the RX 5700 XT.

I ran the luxball test last night with the 580X and only got a score of 13,053. The VII is averaging around 50,000 on the same test. If the RX 5700 XT is estimated to be 2x the performance of the 580X, it's still only half as powerful as the VII.

For video rendering and any other video/photo editing tasks that utilize the GPU, I'm fine with living with the fan speed issue if it means getting such a large performance increase over a 580X or 5700XT.
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Just to clarify, the only issue I've had with the VII is the fan speed issue in sleep mode. Other than that, its performed flawlessly. I've used it with both HDMI and DP monitors (and 3 at the same time).

hi is that means if I never put the mac to sleep mode will not have any issue right? coz my mac is always on for years. and no issue for screen sleep right?

 

[Z28McCrory]

2019 Mac Pro With Four GPUs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

Very nice. It took me a second to realize that I was reading it backwards... first reaction was "yeah the VIIs are pretty close", then I realized they actually beat the VIIs in most of the tests!
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hi is that means if I never put the mac to sleep mode will not have any issue right? coz my mac is always on for years. and no issue for screen sleep right?

Yep thats correct. I quit allowing the Mac to go to sleep (I simply set the screens to turn off instead when its idle), and there have been no issues since then. The screens wake back up with no problems.
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Nice build!

Can you swap the position of the lower Radeon VII (the one in Slot 3) with the 580X?

If you move one Radeon VII to Slot 1 (at the bottom), then move the 580x to Slot 3, you can then move your top Radeon VII down to Slot 4 (since the 580x doesn't exhaust hot air upwards, but outwards), and then that will free up Slot 6 (an x8 slot) since it will no longer be blocked by the Radeon VII.

Thank you for the suggestion! I just swapped positions, and everything works fine, plus I gained an extra unobstructed x8 slot.

 

[chfilm]

I feel the RX 5700 XT will be the BEST official GPU for now. Waiting to test that to decide. The Radeon VII is a beast... but reports of AMD discontinuing it and the "issues" we're having... its best to just install officially supported cards. I don't wanna take chances damaging my new Mac Pro.

Lets hope more MPX modules are offered...

I have a Vega II but I feel like I could use even more horsepower, as the VRAM gets filled up pretty heavily depending on what I do, probably due to dual 5k Displays.
Maybe it would be better to have both screens each attached to it's own GPU.
I'm contemplating a second VEGA eventually, and of course the infinity fabric should give such a setup some sort of edge - but I'm wondering how a Vega paired with a RX5700 when it comes out as an MPX module is gonna behave.
What do you think? Is this gonna be a suitable path, or makes no sense whatsoever?

 

[Z28McCrory]

Small update on my original post:

I finally added more RAM today (Don't buy from Newegg if you want proper 1 day shipping!). Surprisingly, going from 32GB over 4 channels, to 192GB over 6 channels actually increased the GB5.1 CPU performance. The multicore score went up by ~1800 points. So now it has a Multi Core score of 15,891.

 

[XNorth]

You may have see this...Barefeats.com benchmarked the 5700 XT against the VII on the 5,1 and it came out ahead 3 out of 7 tests.

 

[zhpenn]

2019 Mac Pro With Four GPUs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

above test 2019 Mac Pro 12-Core stuffed with FOUR GPUs - Will it work? Will it scream?
looks like VII and Vega II almost the same benchmarked result

but on Max's test, the VII is not that high score, look like not Drive optimise

but is AMD ever release GPU drivers for mac before?

 

[arock]

2019 Mac Pro With Four GPUs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

above test 2019 Mac Pro 12-Core stuffed with FOUR GPUs - Will it work? Will it scream?
looks like VII and Vega II almost the same benchmarked result

but on Max's test, the VII is not that high score, look like not Drive optimise

but is AMD ever release GPU drivers for mac before?

He is running an older Geekbench for that test. With Geekbench 5.1, the Metal score for Radeon VII went from under 50K to more than 68K. There were some optimizations required in the Geekbench code and they made a big difference. Here's my result with a Radeon VII: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/364729

 

[zhpenn]

He is running an older Geekbench for that test. With Geekbench 5.1, the Metal score for Radeon VII went from under 50K to more than 68K. There were some optimizations required in the Geekbench code and they made a big difference. Here's my result with a Radeon VII: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/364729

thanks a lot,
I check some Vega II, got about 10000

MacPro7,1 - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacPro7,1 with an Intel Xeon W-3235 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

MacPro7,1 Xeon macOS - Geekbench 5 Compute Search - Geekbench