MP 1,1-5,1 Mac 3 Gpu Limit

[Lost Artist]

Hello,
Recently purchased an older Cubix Xpander unit that has 4 single width slots. I can’t get the computer to recognize more than 3 GPUs at a time in any configuration.
2010 5,1: 2x3.46 6core Xeon 128ram
10.14.6
I was originally running 2x Vega64FE’s via Pixlas mod each. Slots 1,4
WX7100 slot 2
1Tb NVME slot 3

I’ve had no problems. Use it for Blender and FCPX

Removed Wx7100 slot 2 and put in the Cubix card. Mac recognized Wx7100 from Cubix, tested all 4 slots, tested all 4 Wx7100’s. Put them individually through a short render cycle everything checks out.

Once I put in a 4th card the computer refuses to boot. 2xVega and 2 Wx, 1 Vega and 3Wx, swapped Cubix card to slot one and tested there, no difference. Once the total number of cards in the computer and Xpander box exceeds 3 the computer refuses to boot.

It took a while but there are some references to the 10.9 upgrade and Apple basically shut the door on more than 3 cards. Apparently overnight anyone who was using a setup that had more than 3GPUs found themselves out of the game.

I wish I had found these references before, I feel this would be a huge deal and more people posting about it. So I’m guessing its just my own user error and this should work. I can't imagine there aren't others out there trying to mash together a bunch of GPUs for rendering.

I’m trying to get this system to recognize my cards, and let me render in blender with 6 GPUs. All I can find are endless references to TB3 boxes with a single card. References to success stories dealing with PC’s.

I figure if this was a software block it can be a software fix. Any wisdom out there?


Thanks!

 

[bsbeamer]

Do not know for 10.14+ but for many previous versions, all GPUs needed to match. And by match, I mean 100% identical. One client running CUBIX ran into an issue where one additional GPU with a revision would not work in combo with others of the original release.

There was a period of time where the GPUs needed to be "Mac" versions or "Mac Hacked" to work properly. Unsure if that changed at some point.

 

[startergo]

Hello,
Recently purchased an older Cubix Xpander unit that has 4 single width slots. I can’t get the computer to recognize more than 3 GPUs at a time in any configuration.
2010 5,1: 2x3.46 6core Xeon 128ram
10.14.6
I was originally running 2x Vega64FE’s via Pixlas mod each. Slots 1,4
WX7100 slot 2
1Tb NVME slot 3

I’ve had no problems. Use it for Blender and FCPX

Removed Wx7100 slot 2 and put in the Cubix card. Mac recognized Wx7100 from Cubix, tested all 4 slots, tested all 4 Wx7100’s. Put them individually through a short render cycle everything checks out.

Once I put in a 4th card the computer refuses to boot. 2xVega and 2 Wx, 1 Vega and 3Wx, swapped Cubix card to slot one and tested there, no difference. Once the total number of cards in the computer and Xpander box exceeds 3 the computer refuses to boot.

It took a while but there are some references to the 10.9 upgrade and Apple basically shut the door on more than 3 cards. Apparently overnight anyone who was using a setup that had more than 3GPUs found themselves out of the game.

I wish I had found these references before, I feel this would be a huge deal and more people posting about it. So I’m guessing its just my own user error and this should work. I can't imagine there aren't others out there trying to mash together a bunch of GPUs for rendering.

I’m trying to get this system to recognize my cards, and let me render in blender with 6 GPUs. All I can find are endless references to TB3 boxes with a single card. References to success stories dealing with PC’s.

I figure if this was a software block it can be a software fix. Any wisdom out there?


Thanks!

I couldn’t get more than 3 either. Did not know about the 10.9 limit. Do you have reference link? Now a question arises: How will one enable more than 3 cards on a 7.1? Will it never work there?

 

[startergo]

Well it looks like 7.1 boots with 4 GPU’s. So where is the catch? Why not in the cMP 5,1?

2019 Mac Pro With Four GPUs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

 

[bsbeamer]

Also check the CUBIX. Older ones had limitations. Without knowing the exact model, there’s a lot of speculation.

 

[Grumply]

Have you reached out to the team at Cubix? They're super helpful, and will give you detailed responses and answers - they were a godsend for getting my Desktop Xpander going with the 5,1.

 

[CreatePro]

I tried 4 x matching RX 580's and 4 x matching 5700XT's but it would not even chime. Pretty sure there did not used to be a limit, only for Nvidia GPUs (Maxwell and newer)

 

[bsbeamer]

Just stumbled on this thread, might be helpful:

MacOS - Max number of GPUs

This isn't specifically eGPU related but I thought someone here might be able to answer. Apparently recent versions of MacOS can only address 3 Nvi...

egpu.io

 

[Lost Artist]

Hey Everyone,
Havn't heard back from Cubix regarding these issues. Have tried just the 7100's and once I hit 4 the GPUs limit and the computer refuses to boot. I love my 5,1, the 2x Vega FE's do just fine on FCPX and the system does fine with the vector animation software as well, internet and world processing are a go as well. I'll keep looking but until then I'll have to make a few changes in order to get a proper Blender system going. I'm not going all "Anti'Mac" or anything but I'm probably going to have to get a PC box. We've got a lot of super smart folks here who do cross platform work. I was wondering if there was anyone who might be able to give a suggestion for a system that might be able to make solid use of the Cubix with 4xWX7100's.
Thanks again!