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MP 7,1 Mac Pro 2019 and Gaming
- Thread starter seasurfer
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You can get a Mac Mini add an EGPU and a decent graphics card, then play the latest games at decent resolution and speed and high settings.
Or an iMac Pro as they had a gaming GPU in it and not a ‘Pro’ one.
Or an older Mac Pro cheers grater, add a card same thing..
Noone's mentioned it, but modern Xeons emphasize core count and throughput over clock rate, and even today, most games really can't take advantage of more than 6 cores. The lga 1366 chips in the cMP are unique in that basically they are nearly identical to the core i7 chips, just with ecc and optional dual cpu capability. That's why lga 1366 MBs go for an arm and a leg--pop an OC'd x5650 in the thing and you have a 6 core 4+ghz chip for $20.
My Mac Mini 2018 with RX 580 eGPU -> StarCraft II (macOS, Metal) in 4K resolution around 40 fps.
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Now that’s pretty impressive! Especially when the RX 580 can be bought cheap second hand now. Bet it looks epic too!
Well, lets say I already have a 2019 MP - why should I do this? And then makes no sense to add a 2nd Mac just for gaming, an ordinary PC would be much better for that (faster & cheaper).
The point is to avoid adding a second computer at all in this case.
No it’s not, it’s hardly unplayable and most console games run at 30FPS!
If you already have a 6 grand plus Mac Pro then I’d advise unless your using it for that odd game you have, you need to bump up its GPUs so it can play all the latest games...
Or just buy a gaming PC or console....
The RX 580 was never intended for 4K gaming, at most 1440p. However with metal support not to much demanding games are playable in 4K.
The fps will go down of course, but less with an i7-8700B in the Mac Mini as with an W3690 in a Mac Pro. Starcraft supports only two cores.
It looks sharp:
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And I was wrong about the 40 fps in 4K; actually in macOS 10.14.15 with Metal the eGPU RX 580 achieves around 47 fps. This +
Comparison Starcraft II in 4K resolution in macOS, same scene.
Mac Mini 2018 eGPU RX 580 macOS 10.14.5
- Starcraft II OpenGL 2.1 - 25 fps
- Starcraft II OpenGL 4.1 - 24 fps
- Starcraft II Metal - 47 fps
Mac Pro 4,1 GTX Titan X macOS 10.13.6 (Nvidia Web driver)
- Starcraft II OpenGL 2.1 - 34 fps
- Starcraft II OpenGL 4.1 - 46 fps
- Starcraft II Metal - 61 fps (buggy with screen tearing)
PC i7-7700K, GTX 1080 Ti Windows 10 v1809
- Starcraft II DirectX - more than 120 fps
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Edit August 2019:
Mac Pro 4,1 GPU RX 580 macOS 10.14.6
- Starcraft II Metal - 67 fps
Conclusion:
- PCI-E 2.0 16x is faster than Thunderbolt 3
- an RX 580 with Metal support beats a GTX Titan X
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I don't think drivers for 5700/Navi have shown up in either 10.14 or 10.15. An entry card that would have contributed to an "even later launch" for the Mac Pro would have been the wrong move. Things are going to be late enough as it is.
The 580 had high value as the entry card for the new Mac Pro because the drivers are done and substantially field tested in 2016-2017 Macs. It is also a "half height" MPX module so it also "less bleeding edge' in hardware too. This card is basically 'lift' and mutate from the 27" iMac BTO configuations and feedback from eGPUs ( where 580 was on the supported list ).
For the vast majority of audio work the gap between the 580 and 5700 is of negligible value. The 580 is more cost effective. AMD ha a price increase on the 5700 series. The performance stats are better than 600 series but the price is also substantively higher too. That is potentially problematical on an entry card.
There is a decent chance drivers for the 5700 won't show up for macOS until December or later.
Risk mitigation is probably going to show up in the Vega II Solo and Duo designs too. The Solo is probably just going to be a "stripped down" duo with "empty" space second GPU and supporting 2nd set of caps/power would go. The GPU package closest t to the edge ports would be constant in both versions.
In 2020, some 5700 variant could be the entry card but for "end of 2018 - early 2019" timeframe that wasn't the best fit.
Multiple people have already stated that this would not be the reason they would be buying this. Buying this for work, and then buying a different system for gaming could be a worse use of money.
I know it'll be interesting to see if Macs get any type of GPU upgrade path, or stuck how they leave the factory...
I'm getting ~60FPS in 4K gaming on ultra/high settings with my RX-6800XT in my cMP, it's definitely holding me over while I wait for 7,1 prices to come down from fantasyland. I've been playing Hitman Trilogy, Elden Ring, Forza Horizon 5, GTAV, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, without a hitch. Love it!
This is fine to me, as the 4K monitors I have max out @ 60Hz anyway, so anything above that is pointless...
This is fine to me, as the 4K monitors I have max out @ 60Hz anyway, so anything above that is pointless...
I will find out - I just ordered a brand new 7,1 with a reasonably middle level spec (3.2ghz 16 core) but it has the W6800X 32GB Radeon Pro. It was a nasty price but time to upgrade.
I know my old 5,1 MP with RX580 runs Zwift quite well (through 4K TV screen).
The 7,1 isn't intended for gaming use however - but I will see how it goes just out of interest.
The only other "games" I could think of running would be Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 or Lockheed-Martin Prepar3D on Windows, but I haven't thought of even how to install windows on it yet, nor have I got either of those two titles.
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I got mine recently and put a 3090 in it. Under Bootcamp, I’m getting ~80FPS in valheim at 4K with all setting cranked to the highest. Since my monitor is only 60Hz, works for me. Cyberpunk 2077 subjectively looks and runs well to me. Sorry, those are the only 2 games I really play right now…
I love that you put an RTX in it!
I'm assuming you keep the MPX module installed, yeah?
Does the machine automatically switch over to MPX when you go back into macOS?
The machine will, so if your monitor has auto detect input it’s relatively seamless. RTX generally causes sleep/wakeup issues in MacOS. Joevt created a “dummy” kext you can install that essentially tells macos to ignore the RTX.
I actually ended up putting two RTX 3090’s in it and used a single slot AMD GPU in an 8x slot to just drive a display.
Does the MPX module work fine under Windows? I haven't yet received my machine yet - Apple is building it. It's almost like ordering and taking delivery of a car.
