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Mac Pro 5,1 and Metal GPU compatibility…

D

De'Mello

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 20, 2007
25
1
Might be too soon to ask this question but…

Will Metal work on a 2010 Mac Pro, with the right gpu?

AMD Radeon HD 7950 or Nvidia Geforce GTX 680

Has anyone got experience of these cards?

I want to invest in a Photo and Video/FCX system that is Metal ready… it might be possible to stretch to a 2012 MP eventually, if it is compatible, but the 2013 MP would be way out of budget…

Thanks
 
According to iMore:

"During a "What's new in Metal" session at WWDC, Apple announced that Metal support in OS X extends to Macs built since 2012."

"Mac models made since 2012 include:

  • MacBook 12-inch (Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air 11-inch (Mid 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Pro 13-inch (Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina (Late 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Pro 15-inch (Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina (Mid 2012 and later)
  • Mac mini (late 2012 and later)
  • iMac 21.5-inch (Late 2012 and later)
  • iMac 27-inch (late 2012 and later)
  • iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch (late 2013 and later)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)"

Unofficially, netkas' site has found the following GPUs to be supported:
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 400 series and newer
  • Intel HD4000 and newer (Ivy Bridge or newer)
  • AMD HD7000 and newer
 
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pastrychef said:
Also, they only state that 2012 Mac Pros are supported. Does that mean 2009 (4,1) and 2010 (5,1) Mac Pros are not??
Click to expand...
Apple is talking about models that may still have Apple Care and whose official specs meet Metal requirements (although the 5x00 series card shouldn't).

It's the same reason they don't mention older machines will easily run Windows 10. That doesn't mean the software doesn't work. They just don't want to 'officially' provide technical support for anything more than 3 years old.
 
Assuming the lists are correct, I would love to see what an Apple Genius does for a customer that brings in a stock 2012 Mac Pro and asks them to get Metal working.
 
pastrychef said:
According to iMore:

"During a "What's new in Metal" session at WWDC, Apple announced that Metal support in OS X extends to Macs built since 2012."

"Mac models made since 2012 include:

  • MacBook 12-inch (Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air 11-inch (Mid 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Pro 13-inch (Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro 13-inch Retina (Late 2012 and later)
  • MacBook Pro 15-inch (Mid 2012)
  • MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina (Mid 2012 and later)
  • Mac mini (late 2012 and later)
  • iMac 21.5-inch (Late 2012 and later)
  • iMac 27-inch (late 2012 and later)
  • iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch (late 2013 and later)
  • Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)"

Unofficially, netkas' site has found the following GPUs to be supported:
  • Nvidia GeForce GTX 400 series and newer
  • Intel HD4000 and newer (Ivy Bridge or newer)
  • AMD HD7000 and newer
Click to expand...


Looks like they will have to support the MP 2012 as it is on the list - just hoping it will work with the GPUs (and better) on the driver list...

Time will tell

Thanks for this information
 
Has anyone tested a mid-2012 MP with a supported GPU running El Capitan to see whether it supports Metal yet?
 
De'Mello said:
Looks like they will have to support the MP 2012 as it is on the list - just hoping it will work with the GPUs (and better) on the driver list...

Time will tell

Thanks for this information
Click to expand...

That's an interesting reasoning and I am curious to see who it turns out in the end. Magnus
 
AlexMaximus said:
I would like to try that. Do you have any idea how to test this?
So far, El Capitan runs very smooth on this system. Is there a "Metal-Test-App" around?
Click to expand...
I can't for the life of me remember where I found this, but there's a "Metal Capability Test" tool out there (more than one but this one came with source code so I trusted it, whereas another was just posted to a random russian file sharing site.

I'm running a mid-2012 with a standard, non-flashed 7970. System definitely runs a lot smoother after update to 10.11 whereas on a 2011 MBP things slowed down a little.

Test code:

Code: 
#import "AppDelegate.h"
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import <Metal/Metal.h>

@interfaceAppDelegate ()

@property (weak) IBOutletNSWindow *window;

@end

@implementation AppDelegate

- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification {

    // Insert code here to initialize your application

    @autoreleasepool {

        NSArray<id<MTLDevice>> *devices = MTLCopyAllDevices();

        printf("Metal-capable devices: %d\n", (int) devices.count);

        for (id<MTLDevice> device in devices) {

            const char *name = device.name.UTF8String;
            const char *lowpower = device.isLowPower ? "yes" : "no";
            const char *headless = device.isHeadless ? "yes" : "no";

            printf(" - %s (low power: %s, headless: %s)\n", name, lowpower, headless);

        }

    }

}

- (void)applicationWillTerminate:(NSNotification *)aNotification {

    // Insert code here to tear down your application

}

@end

Returns:

2015-10-01 15:12:53.642 metaltest[2417:1218336] Metal GPU Frame Capture Enabled

2015-10-01 15:12:53.643 metaltest[2417:1218336] Metal API Validation Enabled

Metal-capable devices: 1

- AMD Metal (low power: no, headless: no)
 
Okay then I put that code I posted above in to a really simple app, signed with my Apple Developer ID so you don't get the 'can't run this' warning the command line tools out there give you.

http://fabulouspanda.com/downloads/metaltest.app.zip
Needless to say, this app requires 10.11

metalapp.png
 
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I have a 7950 in my 3,1 and it supports Metal using the above application. So, it seems GPU limited, not machine limited.
 
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Sapphire Mac Edition 7950 in a 4,1 (flashed) also testing "yes" for Metal using the above app (thanks for it). These cMPs just keep trucking along.
 
Thanks for all the reports! It's good to know the older, aluminium metal Mac Pros get Metal too ^.^

rawweb you are correct, I've updated the app slightly so now it'll print:
No Metal capable devices detected

and for chanoh:
Screen Shot 2015-10-02 at 11.04.37.png
 
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MentalFabric said:
Thanks for all the reports! It's good to know the older, aluminium metal Mac Pros get Metal too ^.^

rawweb you are correct, I've updated the app slightly so now it'll print:
No Metal capable devices detected

and for chanoh:
View attachment 588917
Click to expand...

Fantastic work on this @MetalFabric. It's nice to see exactly what system supports this. It would have been nice for Apple to include a small item in System Prefs, oh well.

I knew coming into 10.11 that my precious L11 17" MacBook Pro wouldn't play with Metal. A real shame since it's only one generation behind the curve (AMD 6770 and Intel 3000). Until this, I've been able to get it to support everything (I upgraded it to bluetooth 4 for Yosemite). Maybe my hopes will be answered someday when a matte 17" returns to the lineup. Who am I kidding...
 
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rawweb said:
Fantastic work on this @MetalFabric. It's nice to see exactly what system supports this. It would have been nice for Apple to include a small item in System Prefs, oh well.

I knew coming into it that my precious L11 MacBook Pro 17" wouldn't play with Metal. A real shame since it's only one generation behind the curve and the last of it's kind. Oh well, for now, it's still a beast!
Click to expand...
Thanks :)

I feel your pain on the MBP. I too have a matte screen 17" from '11 and would have loved for it to get a new lease of life with Metal.
 
Great work, thanks!! So mine says two metal capable devices. Which is good. I was under impression if you had a dual GPU system the dedicated graphics GPU would not support metal, only the intel iris could. So is this not a true statement? Can the dedicated GPUs take advantage of metal? hmmmmm, perhaps I heard actually that the dedicated GPU could not take advantage of it for UI stuff in el cap but could for games.

Can anyone clear this up for me? =]
 
AtheistP3ace said:
Great work, thanks!! So mine says two metal capable devices. Which is good. I was under impression if you had a dual GPU system the dedicated graphics GPU would not support metal, only the intel iris could. So is this not a true statement? Can the dedicated GPUs take advantage of metal? hmmmmm, perhaps I heard actually that the dedicated GPU could not take advantage of it for UI stuff in el cap but could for games.

Can anyone clear this up for me? =]
Click to expand...
That's correct, only integrated Intel GPUs are used for the UI. I'm guessing this was a deliberate move on Apple's part to keep their MacBooks from firing up the dedicated GPU full time causing the device to run hot and drain the battery faster. However, for those who opt to turn off auto-graphics switching and use the dedicated GPU solely, it seems nonsensical. That said I don't have a MacBook that supports Metal so I'm going on info from netkas and may be wrong.

The dedicated GPUs will use Metal for apps/games that utilise it, however.
 
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MentalFabric said:
That's correct, only integrated Intel GPUs are used for the UI. I'm guessing this was a deliberate move on Apple's part to keep their MacBooks from firing up the dedicated GPU full time causing the device to run hot and drain the battery faster. However, for those who opt to turn off auto-graphics switching and use the dedicated GPU solely, it seems nonsensical. That said I don't have a MacBook that supports Metal so I'm going on info from netkas and may be wrong.

The dedicated GPUs will use Metal for apps/games that utilise it, however.
Click to expand...
I gotcha. Well thank you for the reply and the app!!
 
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