MP 7,1 Radeon VII in new Mac Pro?

[newwest]

Hey Fellow Mac Nerds,

Longtime lurker, first post. I've been running a MacMini as a stop gap with a Radeon VII as an eGPU. It would seem to outperform the 580X in the new MacPro (16 Core) I just ordered.

Any idea if I can run it as a standard graphics card (not MPX) in the new MacPro? It's supported in Mojave driving my 4 displays. My gut that it would be compatible? But it's been quirky waking up from sleep as an eGPU - would love to not have that on this new (expensive!) rig.

Thanks for any ideas!

Cheers,

Cody

 

[natxo_hd]

Hope it works.
Please tell us how it goes when you receive the new MacPro.

 

[goMac]

It will work. Won't provide Thunderbolt video though. You need the Belkin power cable kit that Apple sells.

Apple says that off the shelf PC Cards are supported. They recommend the ones in the eGPU list. Technically the Radeon VII is not in the eGPU list, but we know that it works even though it's not on that list.

 

[newwest]

Right on. Fingers crossed! Right now I'm using it with 2x4k displays and 2x1080p displays. I'd only need a power cable kit if I were using a Thunderbolt Display? Not an internal power cable for the card, right?

Two more questions...is it likely system level display behavior be effected? (e.g. the waking up from sleep issue I'm currently having?) And should I keep the 580 MPX unit in the machine as well?

Thanks much!

 

[goMac]

Right on. Fingers crossed! Right now I'm using it with 2x4k displays and 2x1080p displays. I'd only need a power cable kit if I were using a Thunderbolt Display? Not an internal power cable for the card, right?

You need the power kit to get the card to work at all.

Thunderbolt displays won't be supported with the card at all. Even with the power cables.

Two more questions...is it likely system level display behavior be effected? (e.g. the waking up from sleep issue I'm currently having?)

No one knows for sure but - generally no. Apple doesn't say that third party cards will cause these issues.

And should I keep the 580 MPX unit in the machine as well?

If you want to keep the ability for the Mac Pro's Thunderbolt ports to connect to a display, then you can keep the 580 installed. Any connected Thunderbolt Display will be routed to the 580.

Apple's support docs do say an MPX module and a third party GPU could cause problems in Boot Camp. If you use Boot Camp there are a bunch of troubleshooting steps they have. Worst case - You can remove the MPX module and run only with the Radeon VII.

 

[Z28McCrory]

Just stumbled across this thread...

I order my 7,1 yesterday (16 Core, 580X), and also ordered 2x VIIs. From everything I've researched over the last few days, It should be a very powerful combo at a significant cost savings over the MPX Vega IIs (or even 1 Vega II... the VIIs are on sale for $499 right now).

I'll report back soon as to whether I was able to keep the 580X in place with both VIIs.

 

[jinnyman]

Well I'm using Radeon VII with Razer Core X eGPU enclosure with no issue.
There's report of the same exact combination forcing the fan of GPU to full blast, but I'm not experiencing that issue. Since it's just a simple plug and play, I'm pretty sure this will work no problem. I'm curious to see if boot screen will work or not.

 

[MaxYuryev]

I used the Radeon VII in our video here (towards the end) works perfectly find even for booting. No issues there but the performance was sub par. I also tested the 5700XT and Vega 64. I have the Vega II in my Mac Pro. As others have stated you'll want to keep that 580 if you want to connect thunderbolt 3 displays (I tested my LG 5K).

What do you get with your in the eGPU?

 

[newwest]

Sorry - I should have kept it to this thread....but had a few other things so started a new post...

But I cannot seem to get the Radeon VII (in slot 3) driving my 4 displays. It certainly sees it and I was able to get one display intermittently working via HDMI but no dice on the display ports. I had it internal with the Belkin kit....but also tried the Radeon VII in it's external eGPU case via thunderbolt (which works with my Mac mini) and no dice. I've got a thunderbolt 3 - 2 display port adapter coming Sunday...so I may just stick with the stock card for now if it works, but any advice would be appreciated! The one thing I didn't try was taking the MPX out...

 

[MaxYuryev]

I only tried it with the MPX card out and only a single display. Sorry!

 

[UmarOMC]

Hey, just watched your video (you make good videos man). Dropped a comment; It looked like you had the Radeon VII in the x8 slot instead of an x16 @12:21 according to the PCI Expansion Slot Utility that's what the PCIe slot next to the Slot 1 MPX module is, that could explain your scores

 

[Z28McCrory]

Hey, just watched your video (you make good videos man). Dropped a comment; It looked like you had the Radeon VII in the x8 slot instead of an x16 @12:21 according to the PCI Expansion Slot Utility that's what the PCIe slot next to the Slot 1 MPX module is, that could explain your scores

I just watched the video again, and it looks like the Radeon VII was in Slot 1. The black box you see below it is the power supply, not an MPX module.

 

[UmarOMC]

Thanks. That makes sense.

 

[flowrider]

2019 Mac Pro - GPU options

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

Lou