MacPro 5,1 Updated graphics card questions

[PianoPro]

What kind of problems are you experiencing with you’r RX560 under HS or in which way (except of the bootscreen) is it „not supported“?

I'm using a RX570 (which should be basically the same) with absolutely no issues to it's full potential with HS.

Occasional random glitches of the display, but serious frame buffer issues on certain games (I believe Civ 5 was unplayable, or may have been Civ 4) using High Sierra. There is no driver for RX-560 in HS. It was added in Mojave.

BTW, others reported same problems when I mentioned it on here before, so it wasn't just my card or MP.

 

[mono tech]

Hmmm, strange! I had no problems at all with the 570 from the very beginning. No matter if Mojave or HS. Sure, no bootscreen, but then normal operation.

How did you connect the display? DVI or cdmi? Should it make a difference?

 

[flyproductions]

How did you connect the display? DVI or cdmi? Should it make a difference?

I have a dual-DVI version of the card with two 30" Cinema HDs connected via DVI. But i tried display port via adapter as well as HDMI and they all worked well. I get 4k out of the HDMI without any probs.
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There is no driver for RX-560 in HS. It was added in Mojave.

Don't RX560/570/580 use the same driver?

I'm not a gamer but tried benchmarks like UNIGINE Valley and Heaven, as well as GeekBench OpenCL. And they all delivered results well in the range expected for the card. All with High Sierra. Could this be the case without a driver?

 

[tsialex]

Occasional random glitches of the display, but serious frame buffer issues on certain games (I believe Civ 5 was unplayable, or may have been Civ 4) using High Sierra. There is no driver for RX-560 in HS. It was added in Mojave.

BTW, others reported same problems when I mentioned it on here before, so it wasn't just my card or MP.

RX 460/560 and variants like Radeon Pro 560 with device IDs 67EF and 67FF are supported since 10.12.6.

 

[PianoPro]

RX 460/560 and variants like Radeon Pro 560 with device IDs 67EF and 67FF are supported since 10.12.6.

The MSI RX-560 I have (device ID 0x67ff), which is the official Apple recommended version, does NOT work correctly in HS, but works perfectly with Mojave. There are additional drivers in Mojave (which I understand are for that card) that are not in HS. I had previously asked here if anyone had found a way to use them in HS, but no one had. So I may be wrong that HS did not support it with drivers, but they aren't the same in Mojave and have problems in HS. However, I had read previously the there was no officially supported driver from Apple for it prior to Mojave. And it was of course included in the official metal cards list that was issued for Mojave.

I just tested Civ 5 again, and it has the same problem in HS (and NOT in Mojave). The problem only occurs with the game's 1080p full screen mode and not its windowed modes. The screen is a total mess with portions of a double image displaced by about 1/3 of the screen and flickering, etc. It is entirely unusable. There are also rare flashing screen glitches that occur in HS (you may have to wait a while to see them) during normal use of intensive graphics with other programs.

I wrote about this problem almost exactly 1 year ago. Here is the link:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mojave-performance-on-5-1.2144065/#post-26594590

Also see the link in that comment that refers to someone else blaming HS bugs with the same symptoms that also did not occur with Mojave.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-sapphire-pulse-rx-560.2131835/#post-26422177

Anyway, I'm too busy to follow up on this anymore now, so believe it or not.

Also FWIW, I use 2 1080p and 1 4K monitor with the RX-560 using all 3 of its outputs. But I also tested CIV 5 with only a single 1080p monitor connected to the DVI output and had the same problem.

 

[tsialex]

The MSI RX-560 I have (device ID 0x67ff), which is the official Apple recommended version, does NOT work correctly in HS, but works perfectly with Mojave. There are additional drivers in Mojave (which I understand are for that card) that are not in HS. I had previously asked here if anyone had found a way to use them in HS, but no one had. So I may be wrong that HS did not support it with drivers, but they aren't the same in Mojave and have problems in HS. However, I had read previously the there was no officially supported driver from Apple for it prior to Mojave. And it was of course included in the official metal cards list that was issued for Mojave.

I just tested Civ 5 again, and it has the same problem in HS (and NOT in Mojave). The problem only occurs with the game's 1080p full screen mode and not its windowed modes. The screen is a total mess with portions of a double image displaced by about 1/3 of the screen and flickering, etc. It is entirely unusable. There are also rare flashing screen glitches that occur in HS (you may have to wait a while to see them) during normal use of intensive graphics with other programs.

I wrote about this problem almost exactly 1 year ago. Here is the link:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mojave-performance-on-5-1.2144065/#post-26594590

Also see the link in that comment that refers to someone else blaming HS bugs with the same symptoms that also did not occur with Mojave.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-sapphire-pulse-rx-560.2131835/#post-26422177

Anyway, I'm too busy to follow up on this anymore now, so believe it or not.

Also FWIW, I use 2 1080p and 1 4K monitor with the RX-560 using all 3 of its outputs. But I also tested CIV 5 with only a single 1080p monitor connected to the DVI output and had the same problem.

I don't doubt that you had problems, there are various reported like the DVI pink screen, but driver support started with 10.12.6 and Apple iterated the Polaris drivers with every subsequent release.

For the top CU cards, the last High Sierra drivers already worked perfectly for Polaris 10 and 20, except for not supporting HDMI audio while Polaris 30 needs Mojave to be correctly identified.

 

[mono tech]

I would like to let anyone know that I have fixed my issue with the card. I had both cards installed in the system and the RX 560 was working together with the 5770. Then I removed the 5770 and replaced it with the RX 560 and now I am running Mojave. Thank you all for the support.

 

[David Barkin]

Interesting discussion. Perhaps someone can help me out. I also have a mid 2010 Power Mac 5.1 which I run under Snow Leopard. That's because much of my software won't run under the later OS's. Is there a third party driver for the RX 560 card Apple recomends for Mojave that will work with Snow Leopard?

 

[tsialex]

Interesting discussion. Perhaps someone can help me out. I also have a mid 2010 Power Mac 5.1 which I run under Snow Leopard. That's because much of my software won't run under the later OS's. Is there a third party driver for the RX 560 card Apple recomends for Mojave that will work with Snow Leopard?

No. All AMD cards after HD 6xxx need newer macOS versions than 10.6. RX 560 needs at least 10.12.6. No third-party drivers, no hacks.

 

[David Barkin]

Much thanks for your reply. At the moment I have three partitions, each with a different OS. What I "Now" intend to do is add the RX 560 and keep the old ATI card. With my starting partition Snow Leopard. When I need to boot in the Higher OS, I'll use the switch at startup method. I gather there will be no problems?

 

[tsialex]

Much thanks for your reply. At the moment I have three partitions, each with a different OS. What I "Now" intend to do is add the RX 560 and keep the old ATI card. With my starting partition Snow Leopard. When I need to boot in the Higher OS, I'll use the switch at startup method. I gather there will be no problems?

Mixing supported and unsupported GPUs cause all sort of unexpected problems, may work for you or not.

 

[wallah]

Regarding the MSI RX 560, the Apple officially supported card is the ITX Gaming 4GB. I'm looking at the 2GB version of that same card b/c I'm not doing 3D work or gaming on this machine. Its GDDR5, 128 bit (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0773ZMVRH/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item). The 4GB price is more than double

Anyone have experience with the 2GB on a 5,1 that will be running Mojave? (With correctly updated HS bootROM, which I did today thanks to the guides here )

I would rather get a new 2GB than a used/refurb 4GB for around the same price if it would work. Right cost and new to meet my min. needs v. same cost and used that might exceed my use for it My Dell monitor would most easily support HDMI--HDMI, and maybe DVI-D, so hopefully anyone who has tested this cheaper card could confirm if it works.

Been through a lot of threads on here but haven't seen a reference to this MSI RX 560 in the 2GB iteration yet, so apologies if I missed it.

 

[TheIguana]

Regarding the MSI RX 560, the Apple officially supported card is the ITX Gaming 4GB. I'm looking at the 2GB version of that same card b/c I'm not doing 3D work or gaming on this machine. Its GDDR5, 128 bit (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0773ZMVRH/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item). The 4GB price is more than double

Anyone have experience with the 2GB on a 5,1 that will be running Mojave? (With correctly updated HS bootROM, which I did today thanks to the guides here )

I would rather get a new 2GB than a used/refurb 4GB for around the same price if it would work. Right cost and new to meet my min. needs v. same cost and used that might exceed my use for it My Dell monitor would most easily support HDMI--HDMI, and maybe DVI-D, so hopefully anyone who has tested this cheaper card could confirm if it works.

Been through a lot of threads on here but haven't seen a reference to this MSI RX 560 in the 2GB iteration yet, so apologies if I missed it.

I can't remember where I read this on this forum, but I recall tsialex mentioning that the 2Gb variants of the RX560 were not well supported but Mac OS (same thing as the 4Gb RX580 variants).

 

[David Barkin]

I wasn't aware that Apple was endorsing One Specific Card. I believe there is a list of about 12 cards and that they at least make no distinction between them.

 

[TheIguana]

I wasn't aware that Apple was endorsing One Specific Card. I believe there is a list of about 12 cards and that they at least make no distinction between them.

They have been quite specific about the cards they consider compatible. Your mileage really will vary if you stray away from those and has been something that has been documented on this forum.

 

[David Barkin]

What I said is that don't recommend One specific card. They make no distinction between the below.


AMD Radeon RX 560, AMD Radeon RX 570, AMD Radeon RX 580, AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128 4GB GDRR5, Saphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 8 GB GDDR5, Saphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition, NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

 

[tsialex]

What I said is that don't recommend One specific card. They make no distinction between the below.


AMD Radeon RX 560, AMD Radeon RX 570, AMD Radeon RX 580, AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100, AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, AMD Radeon RX Vega 64, MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128 4GB GDRR5, Saphire Radeon Pulse RX 580 8 GB GDDR5, Saphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition, NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

The point is, Apple recommends cards that work correctly and are certified. They test those cards and expect the same amount of RAM/CUs for any other compatible cards.

So, if you want to use the Sapphire Pulse for the Chinese market that have less CUs or the RX 460/560/480/580 with half of RAM than the cards Apple tested, you are on your own. From my memory, cards that were tested by users here and reported as problematic/non working:

• any RX 550 version
• RX 460/560 2GB
• RX 480/580 4GB
• Dell RX 480/580 (these cards are made specifically for Dell motherboards and require more power from the PCIe slot that MP5,1 can feed, causing frequent shutdowns)

 

[wallah]

Regarding the MSI RX 560, the Apple officially supported card is the ITX Gaming 4GB. I'm looking at the 2GB version of that same card b/c I'm not doing 3D work or gaming on this machine. Its GDDR5, 128 bit (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0773ZMVRH/ref=pe_3034960_233709270_TE_item). The 4GB price is more than double

Anyone have experience with the 2GB on a 5,1 that will be running Mojave? (With correctly updated HS bootROM, which I did today thanks to the guides here )....

Quick update: I installed the 2GB version and works perfectly OOTB, on DVI and DisplayPort. I only got a pink screen on DP when I was playing with my Dell's monitor colour settings and picked 'input colour format' YPbPr, but I switched back to RGB and it's fine.

 

[JCMarquis]

Hi !
Need some help here.

As a trader, I need 6 monitors and be able to switch from mac OS to Windows anyday. My current setup works just fine. Can use FCP, Photoshop, Logic X, Motion 5 under mac OS; can trade with Ninjatrader under Windows.

But here is the problem... I need to upgrade my machine so I can run Blender 2.81 (a 3D Software) under mac OS. Blender hardware requirements are: (1) quad core CPU, (2) 16 GB RAM, (3) Graphics card 4 GB RAM.

My current setup is:

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) running under Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6 (HS) and Windows 10 (different partition);
Processor: 2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
RAM: 10 GB 1066 MHz DDR2 ECC
2x Graphics Cards: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1026 MB (with 6-pin power connectors)
(Each card has 3x outputs for 6 monitors in total)

My understanding is that my processor is okay, but I need to add some RAM and get a new graphics card –fine!

But there seems to be some powering/display/OS issues. Can’t find a solution. Most 4GB cards have 8-pins power connectors (Mac pros 5,1 have 6-pins power connections if I’m not wrong) and only 5x outputs (I need 6). Is there an adaptor on the market to split the 5th output? Heard HS might not support most 4GB cards… (don’t mind keeping HS). Is there a problem with having (let’s say) the current 5770 card with a new RX-570 under HS? Are they compatible? Would they both run side by side on HS? How do you power both of them?
Lot of questions. I’m lost….

Any idea or suggestion?

 

[wallah]

Hi !
Need some help here.

As a trader, I need 6 monitors and be able to switch from mac OS to Windows anyday. My current setup works just fine. Can use FCP, Photoshop, Logic X, Motion 5 under mac OS; can trade with Ninjatrader under Windows.

But here is the problem... I need to upgrade my machine so I can run Blender 2.81 (a 3D Software) under mac OS. Blender hardware requirements are: (1) quad core CPU, (2) 16 GB RAM, (3) Graphics card 4 GB RAM.

My current setup is:

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) running under Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6 (HS) and Windows 10 (different partition);
Processor: 2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
RAM: 10 GB 1066 MHz DDR2 ECC
2x Graphics Cards: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1026 MB (with 6-pin power connectors)
(Each card has 3x outputs for 6 monitors in total)

My understanding is that my processor is okay, but I need to add some RAM and get a new graphics card –fine!

But there seems to be some powering/display/OS issues. Can’t find a solution. Most 4GB cards have 8-pins power connectors (Mac pros 5,1 have 6-pins power connections if I’m not wrong) and only 5x outputs (I need 6). Is there an adaptor on the market to split the 5th output? Heard HS might not support most 4GB cards… (don’t mind keeping HS). Is there a problem with having (let’s say) the current 5770 card with a new RX-570 under HS? Are they compatible? Would they both run side by side on HS? How do you power both of them?
Lot of questions. I’m lost….

Any idea or suggestion?

Welcome to the MacPro forum! All the info you need can be found here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/gpu-compatibility-list-for-cmp.2174600/ in post #1. Based on how you've presented your needs, you can take the shortcut in post #1 to points 6.3 and 7.2. Basically, stick with AMD, the MSI and the Sapphire, and look up the details in the list above that--which will show the output ports. I believe these cards have at least 3 outs. Believe the MSI RX560 lets you stick with the 6-pin connectors. You might need to update your HS bootrom to the latest too--pretty easy to do and to search in the forum to learn. If you need the boot screen to flip in and out of Windows, you may have to spend more $ and effort to acquire cards flashed to do that.

If your trading is speed sensitive, you can check out the Wiki to replace your cpu to get a boost--not difficult if you have reasonable mechanical skills. It will also boost your memory speed to 1333MHz for those new sticks you're gonna buy! And thus starts the journey of endless other mods you can make....

 

[JCMarquis]

....Whoooa ! I already love this forum ---Brilliant input, thx!
Umm... Since I feel even more ignorant, let's say I buy an AMD Radeon RX 550 (that should solve both the powering and the port issue), I still have these questions:
(A) Can I run both my classic ATI Radeon HD 5770 and a new AMD Radeon RX 550 side by side?
(B) If so, wouldn't that solve the boot screen issue?

 

[tsialex]

....Whoooa ! I already love this forum ---Brilliant input, thx!
Umm... Since I feel even more ignorant, let's say I buy an AMD Radeon RX 550 (that should solve both the powering and the port issue), I still have these questions:
(A) Can I run both my classic ATI Radeon HD 5770 and a new AMD Radeon RX 550 side by side?
(B) If so, wouldn't that solve the boot screen issue?

RX 550 have multiple PCIe IDs, just one (the cards that have the same one as RX 560) works correctly - it's a trial and error card, better to buy a RX 560.
A) Only up to High Sierra. Mojave don't work with an unsupported GPU + a supported one correctly.
B) For up to High Sierra.

 

[JCMarquis]

Need some help here....

1- Have a MP 5,1 running on High Sierra 10.3.6
2- Tried to run my classic Radeon HD 5770 1GB side by side with a new Radeon RX560 4GB.
3- But it's not working. Apple won't open.

What could be the problem?

 

[h9826790]

Need some help here....

1- Have a MP 5,1 running on High Sierra 10.3.6
2- Tried to run my classic Radeon HD 5770 1GB side by side with a new Radeon RX560 4GB.
3- But it's not working. Apple won't open.

What could be the problem?

How about remove the 5770?

 

[JCMarquis]

How about remove the 5770?

I tried... Didn't work: the RX 560 alone didn't work.

But with both side by side, the 5770 worked.... on my windows partition !!!
But not the RX 560.
Weird.

Don't get it. Is it because of High Sierra? (I read from someone that it would work....)
...Problem: if I switch to Mojave.... I've read the 5770 will stop working.
I'm facing a wall.