Post your GPU bench Mac Pro 2006-2007

[richgoga]

I've got a flashed, overclocked Sapphire HD 7950 working great and giving results a bit lower than the ones Sheep posted.

Considering that the 2006 Pro only has PCIe 1, is there any point removing the R17 resistor to push the card to 5GT/s? It's running at 2.5GT/s at the moment.

 

[sarthak]

I'm still hunting down a 5770/5870 official Apple card. Anything more powerful (7950 mac / GTX 680 mac) either doesn't support EFI boot screen properly or costs more than the machine it self.

It's good to see the machine can still handle the newer cards.

 

[Chung123]

This is the Luxmark score for a dual ATI 5770 setup and Mac Pro 1,1 with X5355 upgrade.

I have a Powercolor HD 7950 coming and should be interesting if a single 7950 is faster than a dual 5770.

 

[Bob360]

This is the Luxmark score for a dual ATI 5770 setup and Mac Pro 1,1 with X5355 upgrade.

I have a Powercolor HD 7950 coming and should be interesting if a single 7950 is faster than a dual 5770.

1288 with a Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition

 

[Chung123]

So I just got the 7950..(turns out it is an AMD 7950 version) and get this score. Some improvements. And one not so much.

 

[h9826790]

[Deleted]

 

[Chung123]

So I just flashed the card and get better results? That's a head scratcher. But looks good.

 

[666sheep]

Check compute units on "unflashed screenshot" and you'll see why you got better performance after the flash.

 

[Chung123]

Installed a second 7950 in a 2006 Mac Pro. Yowza.

 

[pixxelpusher]

Hi, I've posted elsewhere but have been pointed to this thread.

I'm looking to up the GPU performance in my 2006 Mac Pro by upgrading the video card and am wondering is there a limit on where gains can be seen?

What I'm basically trying to work out, is it worth spending the money on a top end card for this Mac (like a GTX 980), or would I be wasting my money and a 7xx or 6xx series card be better.

I've been looking at lots of benchmarks but it's difficult to work out if I will be limited by the 2006 hardware? I'll be using it primarily for gaming under Windows 7, so not really concerned about mac side / software usage.

Would something like a GTX 670/680 be an ok alternative to a GTX 970? They're about a quarter the price on ebay! (good for my wallet).

I'd be upgrading from a Mac HD5870, and have done all the other usual upgrades to max out my system (2x Quad Core 3GHz, 32GB Ram, SSD).

Trying to weigh up: Performance / Power Draw / Price.

Thanks for any advice on selecting a card.

 

[fhenry]

Hello, it depens but you will be cpu limited anyway for recent games.

----------

The r9 280 has the nbest open gl score

 

[pixxelpusher]

Hello, it depens but you will be cpu limited anyway for recent games.

----------

The r9 280 has the nbest open gl score

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that, are you saying the CPU's I have will be a bottleneck in my system?

I thought most games were mainly dependent on the video card? Also, doesn't windows use DirectX not OpenGL?

 

[chrisrand]

Installed a second 7950 in a 2006 Mac Pro. Yowza.

Did you have to install an auxiliary power supply? If so which one did you use?

Thanks

 

[h9826790]

I thought most games were mainly dependent on the video card? Also, doesn't windows use DirectX not OpenGL?

It really depend on the game, but quite a few modern 3D games' performance actually depends on GPU + CPU single core performance.

The GPU can help to draw more objects / details, however, it still require the CPU to calculate how this objects move / react.

e.g. There are 100 cars on the screen, GPU will draw the cars, but CPU determine how the cars moves. If the CPU is not fast enough to calculate how the cars moves, the GPU can do nothing but only wait.

 

[666sheep]

Thanks for the info. I didn't know that, are you saying the CPU's I have will be a bottleneck in my system?

I thought most games were mainly dependent on the video card?

This should help you: http://abundantcores.blogspot.com/p/a-cpu-can-bottleneck-and-gpu-in-gaming.html

 

[pixxelpusher]

This should help you: http://abundantcores.blogspot.com/p/a-cpu-can-bottleneck-and-gpu-in-gaming.html

Thanks, I think I now understand. Do you know how to get that info (GPU, CPU, FPS, MEM etc) up on screen? That might help me work out if it's my CPU's that are causing a bottleneck. I think though I am running the fastest you can get for this system, 2x Intel X5365 Quad Core 3GHz.

 

[Chung123]

Did you have to install an auxiliary power supply? If so which one did you use?

Thanks

Yes, I purchased the ePower aux power supply(recommended on the threads I've read on this forum):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101044

You have to remove the metal faceplate shroud on the power supply which "protects" the fans so you can put it into the second CD bay. (Voids warranty on the ePower though...)

This is how my setup looks currently. (I moved everything over to a Mac Pro 5,1 from the 2006)

 

[sarthak]

Original Apple 5870 scores attached. Does seem to perform quite well even at 2560x1600.

Unigine Valley
1920x1080 (windowed) ~29.8 FPS
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~22.1 FPS 2xAA

LuxMark 2.1 GPU Only
sala.cfg 750
luxball HDR 8032
room 376


Not sure about LuxMark as the scores seem to be all over the place (unsure if Yosemite related bug?).

Will add more soon.

 

[Baunkjaer]

Does anyone know if the HD5870 can have the 5.0GT/s link speed mod done?


Thank you

Seems so. My MP 5,1 came with this card, and it´s not an original Apple...

 

[666sheep]

Original Apple 5870 scores attached. Does seem to perform quite well even at 2560x1600.

Unigine Valley
1920x1080 (windowed) ~29.8 FPS
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~22.1 FPS 2xAA

Did tests with your settings + one with maxed out @2560x1600.

Flashed 7950:

Unigine Valley
1920x1080 (windowed) ~34.4 FPS
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~30.0 FPS 2xAA
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~18.4 FPS 8xAA Ultra

GTX 680 2GB:

Unigine Valley
1920x1080 (windowed) ~27.2 FPS
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~27.2 FPS 2xAA
2560x1600 (fullscreen) ~17.8 FPS 8xAA Ultra

 

[lowendlinux]

I got in trouble for bumping this thread because I thought it was interesting. There are a lot of high powered cards in here like that 680 from way back so I wanted to compare them to my GTX 750 non-Ti single slot. I think there pretty comparable.

 

[666sheep]

I got in trouble for bumping this thread because I thought it was interesting. There are a lot of high powered cards in here like that 680 from way back so I wanted to compare them to my GTX 750 non-Ti single slot. I think there pretty comparable.

Not so much. Benchmarks like Heaven and Valley are dependent on single threaded CPU performance. 5650 is clock for clock about 60% faster than 5355 or 5365. Not to mention faster memory and PCIe 2.0 impact (small, but always). You'd need to bench your 750 Ti in a 2,1 to get comparable to results posted in this thread.

This very same 7950 when put in 5,1 with 5675 CPU, is almost twice as fast in Valley as in 2,1 with 5365s.

 

[lowendlinux]

Not so much. Benchmarks like Heaven and Valley are dependent on single threaded CPU performance. 5650 is clock for clock about 60% faster than 5355 or 5365. Not to mention faster memory and PCIe 2.0 impact (small, but always). You'd need to bench your 750 Ti in a 2,1 to get comparable to results posted in this thread.

This very same 7950 when put in 5,1 with 5675 CPU, is almost twice as fast in Valley as in 2,1 with 5365s.

I was more referring to the GPU only benchmarks.

 

[pixxelpusher]

Some benchmarks for my HD 5870 under 4 OS's.

My Specs:
Mac Pro 1,1 > 2,1 firmware
2x Quad Core Intel Xeon X5365 3GHz CPU's
32GB Ram
ATI HD 5870 Mac Version
OWC SSD

Medium settings in Heaven and Valley with AA turned off.

 

[pixxelpusher]

Also LuxMark Sala