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RChav

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2014
32
33
So after installing a 3090 & Windows drivers to my 7,1, I wanted to do some testing. I have an LG Ultrafine 4k (new edition) connected to the Apple Thunderbolt 3/USB card via a TB3 cable. I then went into device manager and disabled the Vega II in Windows, which should have disabled my monitor's display output, per @joevt. However, I kept receiving video on my display, along with all USB functionality working perfectly fine, so I booted up flight sim 2020 and had a flight around, no problems and great performance on ultra (struggled to keep 60fps on ultra due to the Xeon processor bottleneck), kinda ran hot but nothing crazy. Much better than the Vega normally would get though, and could confirm in task manager all of this was being rendered on the 3090.

When I removed and plugged back in the TB3 cable to my monitor, I had full USB functionality from my keyboard etc, but no display, as I expect whatever display stream caching Windows had been doing with the MPX module had been lost. So it seems like there may be a way to reroute the display output to a Thunderbolt 3 port, but it would take some careful programming that I'm not skilled enough to do in Windows.
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,963
4,257
So after installing a 3090 & Windows drivers to my 7,1, I wanted to do some testing. I have an LG Ultrafine 4k (new edition) connected to the Apple Thunderbolt 3/USB card via a TB3 cable. I then went into device manager and disabled the Vega II in Windows, which should have disabled my monitor's display output, per @joevt. However, I kept receiving video on my display, along with all USB functionality working perfectly fine, so I booted up flight sim 2020 and had a flight around, no problems and great performance on ultra (struggled to keep 60fps on ultra due to the Xeon processor bottleneck), kinda ran hot but nothing crazy. Much better than the Vega normally would get though, and could confirm in task manager all of this was being rendered on the 3090.

When I removed and plugged back in the TB3 cable to my monitor, I had full USB functionality from my keyboard etc, but no display, as I expect whatever display stream caching Windows had been doing with the MPX module had been lost. So it seems like there may be a way to reroute the display output to a Thunderbolt 3 port, but it would take some careful programming that I'm not skilled enough to do in Windows.
No, something else is happening. I think maybe the Vega II was not disabled. Did you see how/where the display was connected in the Device Manager? Did you have the ability to change resolution?
 

IA64

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2013
552
66
yes thats it. I can confirm that going from display port out to usb c into the thunderbolt display works with 6k. I tried about 10 cables to get there.

That's very strange, multiple posts and thread about the Moshi cable stating that it doesn't work with the XDR display and on Apple website it's rated up to 5K resolution.

Where you able to control the screen brightness etc..?
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
That's very strange, multiple posts and thread about the Moshi cable stating that it doesn't work with the XDR display and on Apple website it's rated up to 5K resolution.

Might be outputting 8 bit 6K (less bandwidth) but misreporting it as 10 bit. Misreporting happens in macOS and Windows. Sometimes 10 bit is misreported as 8 bit and 8 bit misreported as 10 bit.

Whenever setting up a monitor it is best not to rely on System Profiler only. Open large wide gamut TIFF images with gradients to check how well wide color is being supported. You can find a lot of them online with AdobeRGB, P3 and ProPhoto color profiles.
 

RChav

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2014
32
33
No, something else is happening. I think maybe the Vega II was not disabled. Did you see how/where the display was connected in the Device Manager? Did you have the ability to change resolution?

It was disabled, but my guess is Windows is trying to do something smart so it keeps existing displays connected. I cannot change the resolution, nor can I access the NVidia control panel. But the Vega is disabled, and the 3090 is definitely handling the rendering/GPU tasks on my TB3 monitor. Its actually a fine work around IMO, requires no cards, no special cables, just to disable the AMD GPUs after plugging to a non-GPU TB3 port. Performance is fantastic.

devices.png
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,963
4,257
That's very strange, multiple posts and thread about the Moshi cable stating that it doesn't work with the XDR display and on Apple website it's rated up to 5K resolution.

Where you able to control the screen brightness etc..?
6K only requires HBR2 link rate (like 4K) with DSC. The RTX cards support DSC.

Screen brightness requires a solution that includes USB (plus Boot Camp driver for Windows). The Moshi and any similar DisplayPort-only cable do not include USB. Without USB, there is a possibility of using an app that uses DDC/CI to control screen brightness - I don't remember if anyone said DDC/CI works with the XDR - but that doesn't give other features such as presets and USB hub.

Might be outputting 8 bit 6K (less bandwidth) but misreporting it as 10 bit. Misreporting happens in macOS and Windows. Sometimes 10 bit is misreported as 8 bit and 8 bit misreported as 10 bit.

Whenever setting up a monitor it is best not to rely on System Profiler only. Open large wide gamut TIFF images with gradients to check how well wide color is being supported. You can find a lot of them online with AdobeRGB, P3 and ProPhoto color profiles.
With DSC, it could be 12 bit. macOS only reports the bit depth of the framebuffer. The bit depth may be different for the output signal. In macOS, the AGDCDiagnose command will tell you the bit depth for certain GPUs (AMD?) and macOS versions.

It was disabled, but my guess is Windows is trying to do something smart so it keeps existing displays connected. I cannot change the resolution, nor can I access the NVidia control panel. But the Vega is disabled, and the 3090 is definitely handling the rendering/GPU tasks on my TB3 monitor. Its actually a fine work around IMO, requires no cards, no special cables, just to disable the AMD GPUs after plugging to a non-GPU TB3 port. Performance is fantastic.
When looking at Device Manager, it helps to "view by connection" to see where the display is connected to.
I suppose if it's working as you say, it will stop working if you did not have the Vega installed.
Perhaps it's using an EFI framebuffer (setup during boot before Windows starts) and Windows is able to tell the RTX GPU to render to that using DMA. Since it's an EFI framebuffer, there's no way to change the resolution.

An EFI framebuffer occurs on Macs when you boot using a GPU that doesn't have drivers in macOS.

Does Device Manager have more info about the display?
 

IA64

macrumors 6502a
Nov 8, 2013
552
66
So to sum it up because I can't find any conclusive answer.

WHICH cable works with Nvidia RTX 3000 series and Apple XDR display at FULL resolution and provides screen control and USB hub?
 

joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,963
4,257
So to sum it up because I can't find any conclusive answer.

WHICH cable works with Nvidia RTX 3000 series and Apple XDR display at FULL resolution and provides screen control and USB hub?
The Belkin Charge and Sync Cable for Huawei VR Glass
I'm not sure if anyone tested the Huawei VR 2 Computer Connection Cable or the Wacom Link Plus with the XDR.
 

thexash

macrumors member
Jan 19, 2020
60
29
Any chance I could put a RTX 3080 in the Mac Pro and do a GPU Pass Through to a VM? Anyone has experience doing this? I know (well think) its doable on Linux... but I dont know whether macOS allows that.
 

Kcetech1

macrumors 6502
Nov 24, 2016
258
120
Alberta Canada
Any chance I could put a RTX 3080 in the Mac Pro and do a GPU Pass Through to a VM? Anyone has experience doing this? I know (well think) its doable on Linux... but I dont know whether macOS allows that.

not that ive ever seen. we do it lots using Unraid but not MacOS
 

thexash

macrumors member
Jan 19, 2020
60
29

RX 6900 XT seems to be a very good alternative​


Yes, I didnt expect anything close to the new RTX cards from AMD, that solves my problem. Now just have to wait for it to be available and make sure there's some decent macOS driver - some already in BigSur? Could even hope for a MPX module but at the rate Apple's going with those it probably wont be before March-April 2021 - and it'll be $2-4K for a W6800/6900...
 

MadJuju

macrumors newbie
Sep 2, 2020
20
0
Yes, I didnt expect anything close to the new RTX cards from AMD, that solves my problem. Now just have to wait for it to be available and make sure there's some decent macOS driver - some already in BigSur? Could even hope for a MPX module but at the rate Apple's going with those it probably wont be before March-April 2021 - and it'll be $2-4K for a W6800/6900...
Not necessary to have MPX juste add the card ?
 

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,321
3,003
^^^^Yes, as long as long there are drivers. I'm running an Aorus RX5700XT in my NcMP.

Lou
 

milen1901

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2020
7
3
Hey all,

Wondering if someone can help with setting up the GPU. I just installed an RTX 3090 in the Mac Pro running a Pro XDR display. Also purchased the Belkin Charge and Sync Cable for Huawei VR Glass as I read this would be the best option.
However I am struggling to get the RTX to run as a main gpu on the Pro XDR
I was able to get it to run with great performace on a second Dell display, however that's not ideal as the Dell needs to be set as primary and the XDR as secondary display. In this case I also need to have both AMD and NVidia adapters enabled in the device manager to get any picture (black screen otherwise). This however causes both GPUs to work to display an image on both displays and causes some slowdowns in certain operations (slow highlighting of text for example)
This is not ideal and I would like to get the XDR to run as a primary and single display with only the RTX 3090 running (AMD disables)
Has anyone been able to get this config to work? How did you plug in the cables? Does the XDR get connected directly to the MPX module or the top usb-c plugs? Does the Belkin cable get plugged in to the RTX displayport directly?
Also I am not too bothered by losing volume/brigthness controls.

Any tips? Thanks in advance
 

milen1901

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2020
7
3
Ignore my last post.. issue was on my end. Seems like the Belkin cable was a bit flimsy and needs a bit of force to make connection with the RTX displayport, and I hadn't pushed it far enough
I can report that the setup is working really well in Windows with Pro XDR. I still need to see if there will be any issues in Mac OS
 
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flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,321
3,003
^^^^As I posted previously I needed to cut the plastic on the Belkin cable DP plug to get it to seat in my RX5700XT. Don't understand why the cable was constructed this way. Otherwise works fine in Big Sur, except no boot screen.

This cable enables the Apple USB controls.

Lou
 

OkiRun

macrumors 65816
Oct 25, 2019
1,005
585
Japan
Ignore my last post.. issue was on my end. Seems like the Belkin cable was a bit flimsy and needs a bit of force to make connection with the RTX displayport, and I hadn't pushed it far enough
I can report that the setup is working really well in Windows with Pro XDR. I still need to see if there will be any issues in Mac OS
As a side notation query >. Do you think XDR seems a little muted compared to your previous screen/monitors.
 

milen1901

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2020
7
3
^^^^As I posted previously I needed to cut the plastic on the Belkin cable DP plug to get it to seat in my RX5700XT. Don't understand why the cable was constructed this way. Otherwise works fine in Big Sur, except no boot screen.

This cable enables the Apple USB controls.

Lou
Yes that's what it was. I shaved a bit off the cable plug with a knife and it fits perfectly. Thanks for the tip!

As a side question, I can't seem to get both Mac OS and Windows to find the display without re-plugging the cables. The XDR has only one Thunderbolt (and the 3 USB-C) and both Windows and Mac OS seem to require their respective cards plugged to this Thunderbolt in order to get a picture on the screen. If I plug the RTX to the USB-C I just get a black screen in Windows. Same if I plug the MPX module to the USB-C - just black screen in Mac OS.
Does anyone have any tips on how to connect the cables from XDR to the back of the Mac Pro so I don't have to re-lug every time I switch OS?
 
Last edited:

milen1901

macrumors newbie
Nov 13, 2020
7
3
As a side notation query >. Do you think XDR seems a little muted compared to your previous screen/monitors.
My Previous screen was the display on the iMac Pro. Even though I thought the iMac Pro had the best display I had ever worked on, the Pro XDR I think is miles better. It's much brighter, colours looks better and of course it makes a huge difference for me. The halo effect around brighter bits and the dimming around the edges is definitely there though, but they don't bother me a lot.
Not sure if that answers your question, what exactly do you mean by muted?
 
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MadJuju

macrumors newbie
Sep 2, 2020
20
0
just installed my EVGA GEFORCE RTX 3090 XC3 ULTRA GAMING
without removed amd drivers. No issues
Running very well in FS2020
 
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