MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5.1 / RX480 stopping boot

[Ivan Ebrahim]

Hi

Hoping i can get some help troubleshooting. Ive been running a Mac Pro 5.1 for some years now with following hardware:

2 x 3.46 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon
64GB 1333 MHz DDR3
256GB AHCI PCI card
MSI Radeon RX480 8GB GPU
4 x 6TB Hard Drives in 12 TB Mirrored RAID

Its been great for what i do which is editing Video.

Today i came into the office and the computer was off despite having been left on. It wouldn't boot up. I tried unplugging everything and pulling power cable out, then replacing power cable and switching on. I got a click sound but no lights and no fans. I opened up the box and searched forums etc etc and eventually after pulling everything out the computer booted up. I started replacing things one by one and eventually worked out that the computer would boot with everything in except the RX480. I tried the RX480 connected to both power outlets on the motherboard, same deal. I have now replaced the RX480 with the original Nvidia GT 120 (which doesn't require power from the motherboard) and the computer boots and works fine.

Is the RX480 just fried?? What can i do to work out what's going on here?

Thanks so much

 

[tsialex]

Hi

Hoping i can get some help troubleshooting. Ive been running a Mac Pro 5.1 for some years now with following hardware:

2 x 3.46 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon
64GB 1333 MHz DDR3
256GB AHCI PCI card
MSI Radeon RX480 8GB GPU
4 x 6TB Hard Drives in 12 TB Mirrored RAID

Its been great for what i do which is editing Video.

Today i came into the office and the computer was off despite having been left on. It wouldn't boot up. I tried unplugging everything and pulling power cable out, then replacing power cable and switching on. I got a click sound but no lights and no fans. I opened up the box and searched forums etc etc and eventually after pulling everything out the computer booted up. I started replacing things one by one and eventually worked out that the computer would boot with everything in except the RX480. I tried the RX480 connected to both power outlets on the motherboard, same deal. I have now replaced the RX480 with the original Nvidia GT 120 (which doesn't require power from the motherboard) and the computer boots and works fine.

Is the RX480 just fried?? What can i do to work out what's going on here?

Thanks so much

Start testing the GPU with a PC.

Btw, any RX 480 with just one 6-pin power input is known to damage Mac Pro backplanes overtime.

 

[Ivan Ebrahim]

Start testing the GPU with a PC.

Btw, any RX 480 with just one 6-pin power input is known to damage Mac Pro backplanes overtime.

i don’t have access to a PC unfortunately.

what card would you recommend for best performance without upgrading power supply?? Im just trying to keep this machine meeting my needs for 6 months or a year til the ARM MacBook Pro’s land

E

 

[tsialex]

i don’t have access to a PC unfortunately.

what card would you recommend for best performance without upgrading power supply?? Im just trying to keep this machine meeting my needs for 6 months or a year til the ARM MacBook Pro’s land

E

Apple recommended ones are MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and Sapphire Pulse RX 580.

Sapphire Pulse RX 580 is probably the same price today as the weaker RX 560, AMD is not producing RX 560 chips anymore and prices are now insane, while RX 580 is easy to find, with frequent promos, and the GPU chip is still produced by AMD.

 

[Ivan Ebrahim]

Apple recommended ones are MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and Sapphire Pulse RX 580.

Sapphire Pulse RX 580 is probably the same price today as the weaker RX 560, AMD is not producing RX 560 chips anymore and prices are now insane, while RX 580 is easy to find, with frequent promos, and the GPU chip is still produced by AMD.

That’s great, thanks. What about the VEGA 16gb card with a modified PSU, think I’ll get a significant performance jump?

 

[tsialex]

Newegg has this MSI RX 560 refurb.

That’s great, thanks. What about the VEGA 16gb card with a modified PSU, think I’ll get a significant performance jump?

Only if your application supports AMD hardware acceleration, if not a VII/Vega will be marginally faster. If it supports, like FCPX, the performance gains will be major.

 

[Ivan Ebrahim]

Thanks - for now I have gone with your suggestion of the sapphire pulse RX 580 with the 2 6 pin to 1 8 pin power cable. Fingers crossed it gets me back up and running and the problem is not with the board!

 

[Ivan Ebrahim]

580 got me back in the game - Thanks!