MP 1,1-5,1 Mac pro 5.1 Blender 2.81 cycles and rendering performance?

[Design4]

I have a mac pro (mid 2010) 5.1, 2x5690, 96 GB ram, Sapphire Radeon RX 580 8GB, and runs on Mojave. I am super happy with the setup, in special after upgrade to Mojave the computer works super great, fast and stable. Among heavy programs I use is premiere pro and After effect..works great. But when it comes to Blender 2.81 3D program, I think its more to get out of the computer. It works ok without any lag or Blender hanging or crash, but quite slow on cycles and rendering.
Are there any other here with the same setup that has any advice to get better performance in cycles and render in Blender?

As you know the Amd RX 580 Gpu will not maybe give the best performance for Blender, there is not an option for OpenCL, I have installed and tried the addon, AMD Radeon pro render for Blender and got that to work witch then use GPU for rendering but the quality is not good enough. So mostly I work in cycles, and then it uses the 12 core CPU.

My plan is maybe to buy a used: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition. So then get the benefit of Cuda GPU performance. But from the info I have found, there are no Nvidea drivers to run with GPU Cuda under Mojave. If I use this set up I have to downgrade back to High Sierra, or maybe have dual boot High Sierra and Mojave. ( I have no boot screen so don't know how that will work..but that's next challenge)
Are there any here that use the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition on the same computer set up and in High Sierra that can give me some info about how it works?

If it works great...maybe go for another gtx 1080 and have dual GPU set up...maybe someone here does that as well?

I am in big doubt about this...are also thinking maybe just give up all the hazel with the old mac pro and rater buy a high-end PC to use for blender only..but that's quite expensive and my mac pro work super great to all other application and are in total super happy with it.

I hope for some help and advice here

 

[tsialex]

I have a mac pro (mid 2010) 5.1, 2x5690, 96 GB ram, Sapphire Radeon RX 580 8GB, and runs on Mojave. I am super happy with the setup, in special after upgrade to Mojave the computer works super great, fast and stable. Among heavy programs I use is premiere pro and After effect..works great. But when it comes to Blender 2.81 3D program, I think its more to get out of the computer. It works ok without any lag or Blender hanging or crash, but quite slow on cycles and rendering.
Are there any other here with the same setup that has any advice to get better performance in cycles and render in Blender?

As you know the Amd RX 580 Gpu will not maybe give the best performance for Blender, there is not an option for OpenCL, I have installed and tried the addon, AMD Radeon pro render for Blender and got that to work witch then use GPU for rendering but the quality is not good enough. So mostly I work in cycles, and then it uses the 12 core CPU.

My plan is maybe to buy a used: NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition. So then get the benefit of Cuda GPU performance. But from the info I have found, there are no Nvidea drivers to run with GPU Cuda under Mojave. If I use this set up I have to downgrade back to High Sierra, or maybe have dual boot High Sierra and Mojave. ( I have no boot screen so don't know how that will work..but that's next challenge)
Are there any here that use the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1080 8GB Founders Edition on the same computer set up and in High Sierra that can give me some info about how it works?

If it works great...maybe go for another gtx 1080 and have dual GPU set up...maybe someone here does that as well?

I am in big doubt about this...are also thinking maybe just give up all the hazel with the old mac pro and rater buy a high-end PC to use for blender only..but that's quite expensive and my mac pro work super great to all other application and are in total super happy with it.

I hope for some help and advice here

Pascal NVIDIA GPUs, GTX 1080 is a Pascal GPU, only work up to High Sierra, Mojave won't work with a GTX 1080 at all.

Btw, you can't work with a RX 580 + a GTX 1080 simultaneously with High Sierra unless you use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod.

You can boot Mojave with RX580 + GTX 1080, if you use use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod, but unsupported cards make Mojave very unstable and susceptible to KPs.

High Sierra support RX 580 + a GTX 1080 simultaneously if you use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod, but the performance gains of dissimilar GPUs like these are all over the place and usually don't justify for most apps.

 

[Design4]

Pascal NVIDIA GPUs, GTX 1080 is a Pascal GPU, only work up to High Sierra, Mojave won't work with a GTX 1080 at all.

Btw, you can't work with a RX 580 + a GTX 1080 simultaneously with High Sierra unless you use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod.

You can boot Mojave with RX580 + GTX 1080, if you use use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod, but unsupported cards make Mojave very unstable and susceptible to KPs.

High Sierra support RX 580 + a GTX 1080 simultaneously if you use an external GPU or do a Pixla's mod, but the performance gains of dissimilar GPUs like these are all over the place and usually don't justify for most apps.

Thank you extremely much for putting time in to help me, some bad English from me so was not clear. I did not have the plan to run both rx580 and gtx 1080 at the same time.. I was thinking maybe go for two gtx 1080 and run the machine in high sierra only in that setup..maybe have an own drive only for high sierra I just change to and put it in the computer when working in blender, so this is a blender only set up. I typically work in one sw over time...but again in big doubt, since some money involved..after all, blender works ok enough in Mojave and with the RX 580, and ower all less hazel. Super duper thanks for info.
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Here some Blender benchmark with the 2x5690 (and the rx580):

 

[tsialex]

Thank you extremely much for putting time in to help me, some bad English from me so was not clear. I did not have the plan to run both rx580 and gtx 1080 at the same time.. I was thinking maybe go for two gtx 1080 and run the machine in high sierra only in that setup..maybe have an own drive only for high sierra I just change to and put it in the computer when working in blender, so this is a blender only set up. I typically work in one sw over time...but again in big doubt, since some money involved..after all, blender works ok enough in Mojave and with the RX 580, and ower all less hazel. Super duper thanks for info.
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Here some Blender benchmark with the 2x5690 (and the rx580):

You can run two GTX 1080, but only with external PSU, external powered chassis or Pixla's mod.

Did you ever took a look at Radeon VII? It's the unquestionable king of compute jobs with macOS. Search for benchmarks on this forum, several users own one or two.

 

[Design4]

You can run two GTX 1080, but only with external PSU, external powered chassis or Pixla's mod.

Did you ever took a look at Radeon VII? It's the unquestionable king of compute jobs with macOS. Search for benchmarks on this forum, several users own one or two.

Thanks again for info and suggestion, yes I have looked at the Radeon VII or maybe it was Radeon V..and seen them with setup with two (even 3) )..from what I now understand Radeon VII will give ower all better performance...but it has no use of GPU when run blender 2.81 ? So maybe not so mush better performance with a Radeon VII in blender? hmm I have to find out maybe it works with openCL and then use GPU?

 

[tsialex]

Thanks again for info and suggestion, yes I have looked at the Radeon VII or maybe it was Radeon V..and seen them with setup with two (even 3) )..from what I now understand Radeon VII will give ower all better performance...but it has no use of GPU when run blender 2.81 ? So maybe not so mush better performance with a Radeon VII in blender? hmm I have to find out maybe it works with openCL and then use GPU?

I can't help with Blender questions, I don't use it.

 

[h9826790]

As you said, OpenCL isn't supported anymore in Blender 2.8. So, if you want to use AMD GPU for rendering. Radeon Pro Render is the way to go.

I only use Blender for fun, and I just make a quick screen recording to show you that what can expect from a Radeon VII. (Please watch the Youtube video at 4K, otherwise may looks quite blurry)

 

[Design4]

I can't help with Blender questions, I don't use it.

Blender or not, extremely useful information on gpu, limits and options. Super thanks, helps me a lot. So far I then by this info just stay with my Rx580, after all, works ok, maybe go for a Radeon VII someday later. Again super Thanks!!
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As you said, OpenCL isn't supported anymore in Blender 2.8. So, if you want to use AMD GPU for rendering. Radeon Pro Render is the way to go.

I only use Blender for fun, and I just make a quick screen recording to show you that what can expect from a Radeon VII. (Please watch the Youtube video at 4K, otherwise may looks quite blurry)

Ohh thanks for the youtube video showing how it works for you under Radeon Pro Render, extremely useful for me....It looks quite similar to how it works for me. Thanks for the info about this. Have you done the blender Benchmark? It would be interesting if you get the same result as mine. Thanks to you and Tsialex's generous info, I then so far just stay with my RX 580, as said, after all, works ok. The reason I wanted to maximize my set up is that my learning some years ago stranded due to mush limited hardware, but better now, and able to do tutorials. I also use Blender just for fun..but its extremely fun and addictive. Again super thanks.

 

[h9826790]

Have you done the blender Benchmark? It would be interesting if you get the same result as mine.

Not yet, but I expect 100% slower than yours due to the only device that I can choose to benchmark is my W3690, and you have 2x X5690.