MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 Rx6800 or AMD Radeon Pro w5700?

[maldo1982]

I just flashed my bios to enable GOP. I am running a Mac Pro 5,1 with the single core X5680 , running Martin Lo Monterey and a 3g Sapphire Dual x-r9 GPU. I know buying the rx6800 might be an overkill , but I am also debating on getting the Pro w5700. I am using the machine for Photoshop and video editing using Davinci resolve and the differences in price between the two cards is about $150 dollars for me. Any thoughts?

 

[d0sed0se]

Do you have access to a computer running Windows?

That is what you will need in order to flash those cards to work in the 5,1...

 

[maldo1982]

Do you have access to a computer running Windows?

That is what you will need in order to flash those cards to work in the 5,1...

After enabling GOP bios those two cards are supposed to work… I got that information from Mac Sounds Solution on YouTube . Here’s the link to the thread .

EnableGop: Pre-OpenCore GOP support for EFI-era iMacs and Mac Pros

You wait ten years for a driver to enable pre-boot graphics on unsupported GPUs in EFI era Macs, and then two come along at once... This post is to announce a firmware driver to enable the native Apple boot picker and early macOS boot progress bar (plus other parts of the firmware UI: target...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[d0sed0se]

You will still need to flash Syncretic's patched ROM, and that can only be done in Windows.

To make this abundantly clear, flashed here does not mean pre-boot configuration support (Boot screens/Boot Picker/etc). If you haven't yet patched the firmware of a NAVI 2x GPU like the RX 6600/6800XT, you won't even complete POST with the un-flashed GPU when installed into a MacPro5,1.

EnableGop does not make an un-flashed/un-patched NAVI GPU to work with a MacPro5,1. The GPU firmware needs to be patched for the NAVI 2x GPU to work with the ancient EFI 1.10 of MacPro5,1, otherwise the GPU expects UEFI HII support which MacPro5,1 does not support and crashes.

Read THIS

 

[maldo1982]

You will still need to flash Syncretic's patched ROM, and that can only be done in Windows.



Read THIS

Well… that changes things.

 

[maldo1982]

You will still need to flash Syncretic's patched ROM, and that can only be done in Windows.



Read THIS

Got it. So now that I know I will need to flash the cards my first question stands…. Which of the two GPUs from the post question would be best for my needs?

 

[avro707]

Well… that changes things.

Don't panic - just find someone with a PC to flash it. a 7,1 Mac Pro running windows can also do the job, this is what I did for my RX6600XT running on a 5,1.

W5700 seems okay and there is also the Radeon Pro W6800 32GB card (but it is expensive)

I believe both cards will need Pixlas mod to power them by the looks of the cabling. I believe someone here actually has that card running in a 5,1. It's probably the maximum spec you can go to, overkill. It also needs to be flashed.

The W6800 is this: https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Radeon-W6800-32GB-Graphic/dp/B09831VKQ7

Of those I'd probably go the W5700.

 

[maldo1982]

Don't panic - just find someone with a PC to flash it. a 7,1 Mac Pro running windows can also do the job, this is what I did for my RX6600XT running on a 5,1.

W5700 seems okay and there is also the Radeon Pro W6800 32GB card (but it is expensive)

I believe both cards will need Pixlas mod to power them by the looks of the cabling. I believe someone here actually has that card running in a 5,1. It's probably the maximum spec you can go to, overkill. It also needs to be flashed.

The W6800 is this: https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Radeon-W6800-32GB-Graphic/dp/B09831VKQ7

Of those I'd probably go the W5700.

Thanks , just paid for a w5700. The person I purchased from said the card was used in a windows machine...does that matter at all? I figured it didn't if I have to flash it anyway.

 

[mattspace]

I just flashed my bios to enable GOP. I am running a Mac Pro 5,1 with the single core X5680 , running Martin Lo Monterey and a 3g Sapphire Dual x-r9 GPU. I know buying the rx6800 might be an overkill , but I am also debating on getting the Pro w5700. I am using the machine for Photoshop and video editing using Davinci resolve and the differences in price between the two cards is about $150 dollars for me. Any thoughts?

The W5700 is an 8 GB card (as opposed to the MPX version which has 16), the 6800 is 16GB. The w5700 *might* be more stable for display, given all its outputs are Displayport if you're using multiple displays. It also might not if you have displays that are really slow to respond to sleep / wake events on DP.

 

[d0sed0se]

@maldo1982 I would've told you to get a 6800xt, but you probably didn't pay anything for that W5700. I do think you'll still need to do Pixlas though.

I had to do Pixlas when I was running a 5700xt in my 5,1 before I returned it and replaced with the 6800xt (when Syncretic first released his patch). I made a thread about it....

 

[maldo1982]

@maldo1982 I would've told you to get a 6800xt, but you probably didn't pay anything for that W5700. I do think you'll still need to do Pixlas though.

I had to do Pixlas when I was running a 5700xt in my 5,1 before I returned it and replaced with the 6800xt (when Syncretic first released his patch). I made a thread about it....

I was never considering the 6800xt (too expensive). The Rx6800 was 400 new and the AMD Pro w5700 cost me $190. I won't be doing the Pixels mod . I can update the outcome .

 

[d0sed0se]

I was never considering the 6800xt (too expensive). The Rx6800 was 400 new and the AMD Pro w5700 cost me $190. I won't be doing the Pixels mod . I can update the outcome .

Just know that without the Pixlas mod, the W5700 (TDP 205) runs a high risk that you burn out your backplane, and they are non-replaceable.

You have to remember that the 4,1/5,1 was not originally designed for these modern GPUs, and that's why these workarounds exist.

 

[maldo1982]

Hi everyone! as promised here is an update on my w5700 install. Here is my set up; Mac Pro 4,1 flashed to 5,1 single CPU upgraded to x5680 (6 cores @ 3.33 GHz ) and 32 gb of ram. GPU Sapphire Dual-x R9 with 3 gigs of ram. Running Martin Lo Monterey with bios flashed to enable GOP.


I am replacing the Sapphire Dual-x R9 with AMD Radeon Pro W5700. I am powering the w5700 from the backplane using a dual Mini 6 pin to 8 pin which in turns connects to PCI-e 8 Pin Female to Dual 8(6+2) Pin Male PCI Express Adapter which then connects to the GPU 2 ports (one 8 min and one 6 pin).

I purchased the W5700 from eBay and it shows in "like new " condition with box and all adapters for the monitors . I asked the seller and he said the GPU was used in a Windows PC. As soon as the w5700 arrived I decided to give it a shot, hoping that I wouldn't have to flash the bios and to my surprise it work right out of the box ! By the way, I am getting the boot screen (apple logo and all ) .

Not everything is rainbows and sunshine because I ran a Cinebench R23 and the scores were lower than with my previous GPU . I am sure I need to play with something or maybe even flash the GPU to be optimized in my Mac, nevertheless I am eager to hear from the community. Below are my before and after bench test for reference .


CPU multi core with Sapphire Dual-x R9. Score 4263 vs W5700 score of 3625

CPU singe core R9 score 556 vs W5700 score of 553

 

[Tratkazir_the_1st]

BTW, AFAIK Radeon Pro W5700 is Navi based & so needs AVX2 support, which is non-existent in 5,1 CPUs? Ventura & Sonoma unusable?