Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac Pro Gaming
- Thread starter MagicThief83
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Hm...so my hope of connecting a monitor on one of its hdmi ports and take advantage of both GPUs power combined, for every graphics intensive application (including games) is out of discussion, then ? It's not like they will work together as one ? (I mean something like Crossfire/SLI)
I don't actually know but for that information you need to look at the specifications for OS X 10.9 on Apple's dev site.
Ah I see, regardless the h/w, the operating system should support such connectivity, for this to happen.
There are lots of unanswered questions regarding this machine by lots of people. I guess we'll have to be patient for a little longer.
I'm just going to hope that Apple implements their own version of Crossfire that is more transparent and robust. Kind of like what they did with graphics switching on the MBPs. Optimally, it would detect what was being displayed on each monitor, and shunt the power around accordingly.
Just as long as Apple make Windows drivers for it this time though
Just as long as Apple make Windows drivers for it this time though
Windows will most likely allow crossfire even if OS X only uses both cards for OpenCL and extra display ports. Personally this is just fine for what I do as I don't ever intend to 'game' in OS X. I am also not in the market for a new Mac. But if I was, this would not deter me. OS X gaming ports have more to worry about than trying to get SLI and Crossfire working. Like using the currently available power without crapping out at 50% the FPS Windows enjoys. That and mouse acceleration retardation. I only play the least demanding games in OS X if I HAVE to. Probably run the new Shadowrun in OS X and enjoy it. Nothing too demanding or requiring precision.
Yes, they do have bigger problems to solve on the gaming section, but these are more long-term problems. Regardless, it would be kind of disappointing if the new Mac Pro houses 2x of these beasts (which will probably won't be upgradeable as well) but be unable to combine them in a crossfire-like implementation.
Well, it seems like the new Mac Pro is not going to kill its professional side after all. I suspect it is going to kill its gaming side.
I think it is possible that Apple will get crossfire working with the new Mac Pro, but I kind of doubt it. I also think that not having crossfire would be a terrible, terrible mistake on their part.
We'll see!
----------
Can't Radeons do 6 monitors each? How many monitors do you need, man?
No idea. For me personally I think 3 is ideal. Two 24" dudes for the work area and something like a 15" (A4) touch display with a fine resolution digitizer layer - which is good for navigating some tool interfaces and also art touchups, drawing, and etc. But that's just me.
In the past few months here I've noticed people using 8 and more displays and this has been going on for years now! WTF for? Beats me. IMO the frames around any and all of the monitors I've ever seen are too thick to make a wall sized display out of them. We need monitor models which can be placed edge to edge with less than a 1mm gap in order for that kind of arrangement to work. I've even played with running the panels separate from their housing and encased electronics and still there's too much of a gap. So why anyone would want more than 3 or 4 is beyond me personally - but they do. <shrug>
I didn't see any crossfire interconnect headers on the mac pro images. they still require that correct?
They require a physical connection but Apple could do that, if they wanted, somewhere else. Current location of the interconnect serves the in-line PCI tower form factor. On a custom PCB it could be anywhere. On the dual cards (7990, GTX 690) they have the connect elsewhere too.
Crossfire is buggy and problematic even in Windows, where it has had years to mature. I cannot imagine it working well in OS X.
I just watched a part of MARI demo presentation, especially the part referencing to the new Mac Pro. When the talk came to the dual GPUs, the word used was "combined", in a way that gave the impression he was talking about 2 GPUs that combine power (he actually also said that this was used till now only for gaming, and that this was possible on the new Mac Pro thanks to some new OpenGL libraries). It might be crossfire or something else (a new custom implementation ?) but it looks like that the new Mac Pro will be able to use both GPUs combined for gaming.
Sounds pretty groovy. I can imagine a lot of different ways to get two cards to co-operate so that certainly is a possibility.
Hopefully many ways that are more low level, transparent and robust than GPU 1 saying to GPU 2 "I'll do this half, you do that half."
I just hope we know pricing and config info before the new retina MacBook Pros are released. Otherwise, I will buy the laptop.
I really would like a Mac Pro for gaming though as long as the base model is around 2k and is good for gaming.
I really would like a Mac Pro for gaming though as long as the base model is around 2k and is good for gaming.
Nah, I' actually planning on moving to a 5,1 for my gaming.
I have a GTX 660 3GB in the house that want's a new home.
I'll then add in some SSD's, a USB3 PCIe card and get going.
I don't think it died, I think people just realized it's more productive to do something with their time (such as revitalizing a old gen Mac Pro or building a Hackintosh), instead of wasting time talking about the new Mac Pro lol
I think it's just that everyone said what they wanted to say. What else is left? I suppose we could all say it again. We seem to do that in some threads.
I'm just going to hope that Apple implements their own version of Crossfire that is more transparent and robust. Kind of like what they did with graphics switching on the MBPs. Optimally, it would detect what was being displayed on each monitor, and shunt the power around accordingly.
Just as long as Apple make Windows drivers for it this time though
Crossfire has been "maturing" in windows machines for years and is only now starting to become useable. NVidia's SLI implementation is vastly superior.
I highly doubt that even if Apple can create a crossfire for mac that it'll be worth a darn for a good long while. And as far as a brand new type of Crossfire/SLI that would be specific to the Mac Pro, that's a gigantic investment that I could not be more skeptical of.
I could definitely see an openCL implementation that would be good for certain applications, but I would have huge doubts as to the scalability of adding a second card out of the gate. Again, just based on the history of multi-GPU implementations.
It will all be said again!
Mac Pro Gaming-"I just got the 6,1, anyone using it for games?"
4K Apple Displays-"Anyone try the new NEC on their 6,1 yet?"
Thunderbolt slots vs PCIe slots-"I knew thunderbolt on the 6,1 would be too slow!" and "I don't miss my PCIe slots at all since I got the 6,1!"
How Will The New Mac Pro Be Launched?-"I knew Apple would only advertise on their website!" and "I was totally surprised to see an ad on tv about the 6,1!"
Mac Pro GeekBench-What's Your Score?-"My geekbench for my 6,1 is disappointing!" and "WOW, look at my 6,1 geekbench score!"
Hard Drive Cloning-"Anyone know how to clone the data in the 6,1?"
I Found A Mac Pro On The Street-"I checked again and it was a 6,1!"
Many of the current threads will continue with 6,1 talk once it comes out. Pro and Con!
Last edited: