Thanks Cato for your report. So we know some more brands where sleep does not work. Anyways this is apparently not a problem regarding only MPs, but also eGPU solutions as well. After my bummer with the 3090FE (would NOT fit!) I was able to get my hands on a 3080 FE. According to some users, sleep should work with this brand. If anyone is interested, I will let you know as soon as the card arrives.
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MP 7,1 Nvidia’s RTX 3090/ 4090/ A6000/ 6000 Ada in a Mac Pro (2019)
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I had even ordered a third one from PNY, but that one appears to be out of stock. I had high hopes for the Palit card though, as someone on the first pages said that his 3080 from Palit worked fine, including sleep mode.
I guess I will try an OpenCore installation on a USB drive next...
I guess I will try an OpenCore installation on a USB drive next...
Did you try with different PCI slots? it would be really nice to find out what factors actually contribute to a working card (regarding sleep). I still guess this is a combination between the firmware of the card vs macOS behavior - that would explain why some cards work and some not - but who knows, what other factors might play a role here ...
I have tried it in PCIe slots 3 and 4. Both to no avail.
I even removed all other cards to rule out side effects.
The error from the report is always the same:
In the system profiler I can see that the 3090 is recognized as a "VGA compatible controller" and it even states "driver installed: yes". And what is funny: i once forgot to switch the cable from the 3090 back to the 5700 and booted into MacOS. And the login screen was displayed as usual... using the Nvidia card. The login failed though, but MacOS obviously was able to use the card in a VESA compatible way.
I am still on Catalina... I wonder if BigSur might make a difference?!
What do you guys think?
I even removed all other cards to rule out side effects.
The error from the report is always the same:
Code:
panic(cpu 8 caller 0xffffff7f93b3e47a): "[9:0:0][PPLIB] PowerPlay Failed Resume. TTL Error Message: .
"@/AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/GPUDriversAMD/GPUDriversAMD-3.10.18/Common/IONDRV/ATI/AMDUniversalFramebuffer/AMDUniversalFramebuffer/Controller/Controllers/AmdRadeonController.cpp:1670In the system profiler I can see that the 3090 is recognized as a "VGA compatible controller" and it even states "driver installed: yes". And what is funny: i once forgot to switch the cable from the 3090 back to the 5700 and booted into MacOS. And the login screen was displayed as usual... using the Nvidia card. The login failed though, but MacOS obviously was able to use the card in a VESA compatible way.
I am still on Catalina... I wonder if BigSur might make a difference?!
What do you guys think?
Thanks again Alex. I'll try to match mine as best as possible and tweak from there.
I'm not sure why the Mac Pro fans are spinning up so much, but I think you're spot on to control them with MacsFanControl. I'll do the same. A light whirr is fine with me and I'll keep an eye on temps.
A quick update on my experience so far with the ASUS 2090 TUF OC.
Firstly, it's a nice looking card (as far as PC graphic cards go). Definitely not in the same league as Nvidia's FE, but nice considering it fits beautifully in the case. Really impressed with the build quality. The small RGB light on the card looks like a beating heart inside the Mac Pro, which is kinda cool. I was planning to disable it (if that's possible), but I kinda like it.
Based on Alex's experience, I opted for Slot 3 - directly above my AMD Radeon Pro Vega II. I chose this slot to avoid the card sag Alex mentioned when installed in Slot 4. This is a pretty heavy card.
Here's the cool part. I added two small spongey sticky circles to the end (at both edges) furthest from the board connector. They were part of a velcro sticky set I purchased a while ago. I used two soft circles. This is to avoid any sag from the card damaging the top of the Radeon card.
As Alex mentioned, there's no real difference in card temperatures between Slot 3 and Slot 4, so I think it makes sense to install the card in Slot 3.
I'm using a temporary Moshi USB-C to DisplayPort Cable (from the Apple Store) while I wait on my Belkin Charge and Sync Cable (for Huawei VR Glass) being delivered from China, which should enable brightness controls in Windows Boot Camp. The Moshi cable works fine for now.
Finally Cyberpunk 2077 runs spectacularly well using Digital Foundry's recommended settings (for 4K) via
Mind-boggling stuff. I'm running these settings along with a V-sync at 60 (to avoid tearing) and it's buttery smooth.
Stock noise levels are acceptable. Pretty much what Alex mentioned in his post. I have the card set to performance mode. Sure, the Mac Pro fans kick on a little during play, but it's not annoying. I'm going to tinker with undervoltage settings this weekend and I'll report back then. I'm hoping to get the same results as Alex. Fast but silent.
It's worth mentioning that I'm running a 16-core 3.2GHz 2019 Mac Pro with 192GB RAM.
Oh, and the card is completely silent when running macOS.
Firstly, it's a nice looking card (as far as PC graphic cards go). Definitely not in the same league as Nvidia's FE, but nice considering it fits beautifully in the case. Really impressed with the build quality. The small RGB light on the card looks like a beating heart inside the Mac Pro, which is kinda cool. I was planning to disable it (if that's possible), but I kinda like it.
Based on Alex's experience, I opted for Slot 3 - directly above my AMD Radeon Pro Vega II. I chose this slot to avoid the card sag Alex mentioned when installed in Slot 4. This is a pretty heavy card.
Here's the cool part. I added two small spongey sticky circles to the end (at both edges) furthest from the board connector. They were part of a velcro sticky set I purchased a while ago. I used two soft circles. This is to avoid any sag from the card damaging the top of the Radeon card.
As Alex mentioned, there's no real difference in card temperatures between Slot 3 and Slot 4, so I think it makes sense to install the card in Slot 3.
I'm using a temporary Moshi USB-C to DisplayPort Cable (from the Apple Store) while I wait on my Belkin Charge and Sync Cable (for Huawei VR Glass) being delivered from China, which should enable brightness controls in Windows Boot Camp. The Moshi cable works fine for now.
Finally Cyberpunk 2077 runs spectacularly well using Digital Foundry's recommended settings (for 4K) via
Mind-boggling stuff. I'm running these settings along with a V-sync at 60 (to avoid tearing) and it's buttery smooth.
Stock noise levels are acceptable. Pretty much what Alex mentioned in his post. I have the card set to performance mode. Sure, the Mac Pro fans kick on a little during play, but it's not annoying. I'm going to tinker with undervoltage settings this weekend and I'll report back then. I'm hoping to get the same results as Alex. Fast but silent.
It's worth mentioning that I'm running a 16-core 3.2GHz 2019 Mac Pro with 192GB RAM.
Oh, and the card is completely silent when running macOS.
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Thanks for the report, great "hack" with the soft pads.
I can absolutely confirm the Cyberpunk 2077 experience
What about sleep mode? Any problems yet? Are you running Catalina or BigSur?
I can absolutely confirm the Cyberpunk 2077 experience
What about sleep mode? Any problems yet? Are you running Catalina or BigSur?
Haha, yeah! It's a neat little hack for sure. You can kinda see it in the close-up shot above the Pro Vega II.Thanks for the report, great "hack" with the soft pads.
I can absolutely confirm the Cyberpunk 2077 experience
What about sleep mode? Any problems yet? Are you running Catalina or BigSur?
As for sleep, yeah I just got my first black screen of death in Catalina when my display went to sleep a few minutes ago. I had "Turn display off after" 10 minutes in Energy Saver. I've now set it to Never to see if that helps.
Been there, done that ;-) I tried to turn off the power nap feature as well, but the problem remained. I am using Amphetamine now to start a session upon startup and disabled the screen from turning off. I can however manually turn off the screen from one of the desktop corners. Edit: does not work!
Oh, and I am right now installing BigSur to an external drive... lets see if that changes anything.
Oh, and I am right now installing BigSur to an external drive... lets see if that changes anything.
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I saw a previous poster saying that the FE 3090 fit the mac pro. I got the 3090 FE today but it does not fit the Mac Pro without forcing it in....
If you are considering a FE 3090, I'd recommend another brand. It'll fit if you FORCIBILY push it in and that in turn flexes the fan bracket.
If you are considering a FE 3090, I'd recommend another brand. It'll fit if you FORCIBILY push it in and that in turn flexes the fan bracket.
I’m about to install a RTX 3080 into my Mac Pro. Does Amphetamine solve the sleep and crashing issue? Is under powering the card really a good idea?Any other glaring issues people are running into? I’ve read through most of the posts and it seems the two issues listed above are most prevalent. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.
Yes and no. It prevents your Mac and Display from sleeping... but it might be good enough if you are "always on".
Regarding Big Sur: I struggled a bit to run it separately from USB. That works now but makes no difference regarding the sleep mode issues
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Depends on the card. There are infos that the RTX 3080 FE for example should sleep just fine, without needing to disable sleep. Will report as soon as I have my own FE. For other brands YMMV, for example MSI ones also should be able to sleep.
Why do you think so?
It would be great if it worked, the smaller MSI 3090 Ventus fits into the case...
I recall reporting someone here with working sleep and a MSI one (Edit: I found it, model see below). However, I think different card models from the same brand are not guaranteed to work the same way ...
It might be helpful if some would compile a table with the exact card model, and the infos if a) it fits physically or not and b) if sleep works on macOS and maybe c) if the card is silent when idling (many of the 30XX cards - but not all - completely shut off their fans when idling)
So, for example:
| Model | Fits in MP | Sleep in macOS | Silent when idle |
| NVIDIA 3090 FE | NO (maybe, but only with force and bending) | NO | YES |
| NVIDIA 3080 FE | YES | NO (not even display sleep) | YES |
| ASUS 3090 TUF OC | YES | NO | ??? |
| MSI RTX 3080 Ventus 3x | YES | YES (allegedly) | ??? |
| PNY RTX 3090 | YES | NO | ??? |
| Gainward GeForce RTX 3090 Phoenix DDR6 | YES | NO | YES |
| Palit GeForce RTX 3090 GamingPro OC 24G | YES | NO | YES |
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Good idea frankiee!
I could add these two:
Gainward GeForce RTX 3090 Phoenix DDR6, Fits: yes, Sleep: no, Silent when idle: yes
Palit GeForce RTX 3090 GamingPro OC 24G, Fits: yes, Sleep: no, Silent when idle: yes
And this has gotten out of control... I just ordered the MSI card to test ? One last try! Will report...
I could add these two:
Gainward GeForce RTX 3090 Phoenix DDR6, Fits: yes, Sleep: no, Silent when idle: yes
Palit GeForce RTX 3090 GamingPro OC 24G, Fits: yes, Sleep: no, Silent when idle: yes
And this has gotten out of control... I just ordered the MSI card to test ? One last try! Will report...
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The Mac Pro's fans ramp up during Cyberpunk but it's not because of the RTX, it's because of the CPU. It's one of the few games that scales well to multiple cores and with ray tracing involved (which also uses multiple threads) it gets the CPU to toasty temperatures. My 16 core Mac Pro hovers around 40% CPU usage, all nicely divided between the cores, and the CPU gets to around 70 celsius.
That being said, I just don't care about the fan noise for this particular game. Sometimes the game is absolutely breathtaking. I'm playing all paths simultaneously on an Xbox Series X, PS5 and the Mac Pro (yeah, I'm that much of a nerd). Ray tracing makes a huge difference and I'm getting a consistent 60FPS only on the Mac (the consoles bog down in some parts of the game, even with much lower graphical settings).
I can't believe how loud the Palit under load. Check this user videos for more info about noise and temperature :
By the way: if someone is interested in running a 3080/3090 with the Display XDR I can recommend this Delock PCIe card. Works like a charm with 6k resolution and full USB support:
https://www.delock.com/produkt/89582/kaufen.html
I also tried the bidirectional AltMode DP <--> USB-C cable from StarTech which works as well, but only without USB support for the Display.
The only thing that's annoying is changing the cables. Has anyone tried these magnetic USB-C cables? That might be an easier way to switch.
https://www.delock.com/produkt/89582/kaufen.html
I also tried the bidirectional AltMode DP <--> USB-C cable from StarTech which works as well, but only without USB support for the Display.
The only thing that's annoying is changing the cables. Has anyone tried these magnetic USB-C cables? That might be an easier way to switch.
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Added to the table. If anyone else has more models, let us know. Maybe we can move this table to a more prominent place as it fills.
Look what I found: https://github.com/mayankk2308/purge-nvda
However this is intended for eGPUs (they have basically the same problems with sleep). Especially this setting seems to be interesting:
Absolutely no idea if this works on a MP7,1 with an internal NVIDIA GPU - so use at your own risk! - but maybe someone gives this a try?
However this is intended for eGPUs (they have basically the same problems with sleep). Especially this setting seems to be interesting:
-sn or --suppress-nv | Suppress NVIDIA GPUs | Disables all NVIDIA GPUs with fixed cold gmux - therefore affecting all macOS installations running on the machine. This patch does not modify any system files. |
Absolutely no idea if this works on a MP7,1 with an internal NVIDIA GPU - so use at your own risk! - but maybe someone gives this a try?
Unfortunately it doesn't work. I still get exactly the same crash when resuming from sleep:
panic(cpu 16 caller 0xffffff7f989455f2): "[9:0:0][PPLIB] PowerPlay Failed Resume. TTL Error Message: .
"@/AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/GPUDriversAMD/GPUDriversAMD-4.2.13/Common/IONDRV/ATI/AMDUniversalFramebuffer/AMDUniversalFramebuffer/Controller/Controllers/AmdRadeonController.cpp:1790