MP 1,1-5,1 MP5,1 - GPU Upgrade with Auto Restarts/White Speckles

[mhtran]

Specs:
Mac Pro 5,1 mid 2010
High Sierra 10.13.6
32GB memory
2x2.4GHz quad core
Sapphire Pulse RX 580
Apple Cinema HD Display LCD

Hi all,

I just upgraded my GPU to a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 (bought via eBay used) powered with the dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable. It was a smooth install and worked well on both Mac OS and BootCamp (windows 10 EFI). Played Witcher 3 with medium settings and the performance difference was huge compared to the stock 5770 GPU.

A couple days ago though, I crashed twice during the game. The machine auto rebooted itself. I’m not sure what the GPU stats were right before those crashes, but I did notice that the fan was running loudly. The GPU was initially installed in slot 2, so I opened my machine up and placed it in slot 1 hoping the airflow would be better. Got back on the game and monitored my stats and noticed the GPU fan climbed up to 3000rpm within 5 minutes and stayed there during gameplay. GPU temps would range from 50-80c and power intake was 115-135W.

Additionally, upon manual shut down two times, I noticed white speckles that briefly appeared on the top left corner of my screen when the background went black. (Picture attached)

Last thing to note, when my system was off and I tried to power on via power button, it would just beep and didn’t turn on/no light on front of the machine. I just replugged the power cable a couple times and it finally turned on.

Is my GPU faulty? I’m concerned that it was used for mining and that I should return it for a different one. I’m not sure why I got random restarts or white speckles. I’m wondering if the issue is my power supply as well since I had trouble turning on my computer.

Any input helps, much appreciated!

 

[tsialex]

Specs:
Mac Pro 5,1 mid 2010
High Sierra 10.13.6
32GB memory
2x2.4GHz quad core
Sapphire Pulse RX 580
Apple Cinema HD Display LCD

Hi all,

I just upgraded my GPU to a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 (bought via eBay used) powered with the dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable. It was a smooth install and worked well on both Mac OS and BootCamp (windows 10 EFI). Played Witcher 3 with medium settings and the performance difference was huge compared to the stock 5770 GPU.

A couple days ago though, I crashed twice during the game. The machine auto rebooted itself. I’m not sure what the GPU stats were right before those crashes, but I did notice that the fan was running loudly. The GPU was initially installed in slot 2, so I opened my machine up and placed it in slot 1 hoping the airflow would be better. Got back on the game and monitored my stats and noticed the GPU fan climbed up to 3000rpm within 5 minutes and stayed there during gameplay. GPU temps would range from 50-80c and power intake was 115-135W.

Additionally, upon manual shut down two times, I noticed white speckles that briefly appeared on the top left corner of my screen when the background went black. (Picture attached)

Last thing to note, when my system was off and I tried to power on via power button, it would just beep and didn’t turn on/no light on front of the machine. I just replugged the power cable a couple times and it finally turned on.

Is my GPU faulty? I’m concerned that it was used for mining and that I should return it for a different one. I’m not sure why I got random restarts or white speckles. I’m wondering if the issue is my power supply as well since I had trouble turning on my computer.

Any input helps, much appreciated!

The screenshot is normal, all recent AMD GPUs do what you call white speckles with the frame buffer when shutting down, no problem here.

For the other problem, could be that you have a defective GPU, mining firmware or even a problem with your own Mac Pro PSU.

Do you have a PC or another Mac Pro to test the GPU?

 

[Snow Tiger]

I don't see a problem with the reported GPU temps . The card will normally go as high as 84 C . But in a sudden OT situation , the card will shut down before you can read the sensors . The card power connectors are rated for 75 W ( Logic Board PCIe Slot ) + 150 W ( 8 Pin PCIe Booster ) . It's common for a GPU to draw no more than around 30 W or so from the PCIe Slot , so it seems you are good on the power side . If I were you , since this is an used GPU from eBay , I'd learn to tear it down and re-thermal paste it with Arctic MX4 . I do this for all my used GPUs that wind up in my Builds and I've been rewarded with this practice .

By the way , when was the last time you cleaned the inside of the PSU of your Mac ? She's ten years old .

 

[mhtran]

The screenshot is normal, all recent AMD GPUs do what you call white speckles with the frame buffer when shutting down, no problem here.

For the other problem, could be that you have a defective GPU, mining firmware or even a problem with your own Mac Pro PSU.

Do you have a PC or another Mac Pro to test the GPU?

Oh I see! That puts me to ease, thank you so much for the info. Ahhh that’s what I’m worried about. Unfortunately no I don’t have another computer I can test on :/ is there any other way to test the GPU?
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I don't see a problem with the reported GPU temps . The card will normally go as high as 84 C . But in a sudden OT situation , the card will shut down before you can read the sensors . The card power connectors are rated for 75 W ( Logic Board PCIe Slot ) + 150 W ( 8 Pin PCIe Booster ) . It's common for a GPU to draw no more than around 30 W or so from the PCIe Slot , so it seems you are good on the power side . If I were you , since this is an used GPU from eBay , I'd learn to tear it down and re-thermal paste it with Arctic MX4 . I do this for all my used GPUs that wind up in my Builds and I've been rewarded with this practice .

By the way , when was the last time you cleaned the inside of the PSU of your Mac ? She's ten years old .

Gotcha! Thank you so much. Would repasting the thermal help even if there is that possibility that the GPU was used for mining? Hmm I actually got this Mac 3 years ago. I haven’t done a PSU cleaning in that time and not sure if it was done before either.

 

[mattspace]

The screenshot is normal, all recent AMD GPUs do what you call white speckles with the frame buffer when shutting down, no problem here.

That happens here in High Sierra, but not Sierra - I thought it was a holdover from having the machine set to boot in verbose mode (which obviously you can't see on boot with the 580).

 

[Shortadvice]

I've just bought a new Pulse RX580 with dual bios. If switch on "compute" I noticed also a shutdown twice. If switch on "gaming" no shutdown since then. Could be that the "compute" bios does not work with the drivers (Mojave 10.14.6)?

 

[crjackson2134]

That happens here in High Sierra, but not Sierra - I thought it was a holdover from having the machine set to boot in verbose mode (which obviously you can't see on boot with the 580).

For me, that issue finally went away in Mojave/Catalina. Otherwise it's been there for YEARS in various AMD/ATI GPU's. It has nothing to do with verbose mode.