RX 580 - no Sapphire Pulse 8GB available - "pure cosmetics?"

[Heblon]

Hey there,

i own a cmp5,1 with 2*5690X still running the Ati Radeon HD 5770 - HS 10.13.1 installed.

i ordered a Sapphire RX 580 Pulse 8GB a few weeks ago - actually it was "available" but I dont belive in recieving one...

Is the right idendification of the GPU really pure cosmetics? -i am skeptical-
Will any RX 580 8GB with 8-pin power connection work?Is it even possible that the GPU pulls more than 225W with only one 8-pin?

I own the needed adapter cables, soldering and DIY solutions might be an option as i am accomplished (but: too time-consuming right now). Any benefits in not pulling all the power from the dual mini-6pins?
Also im sceptical with pulling power from the drive bays - so i guess a 8pin card powerd by both mini-6pins is the best solution for me.

I really need the most stable OpenGL performance possible - after what i've read i don't think that i want to be part of team green, even if i use alot Adobe CC and would definetly benefit from CUAD, but I mainly use a CAD software using OpenGL and I use Cinema 4D.

a bit offtopic: right now i run a SM951 Blade with OS in slot 3 and a SSD as Scratch Disk in slot 4 - is there any faster option than the SM951 - im curious due to new APFS. so the SM951 could be my new Scratch disk...

Cheers!

 

[mikas]

What brand or make is your CAD software, if I may ask?

I use ArchiCAD as my daily job (and weekends too), with a lot of different machines. I use Rhino Mac too, and Grasshopper. I've got Cinema 4D too, but don't pretend to know how to use it. It's for my rendering farm mostly now (Team Render). C4D could be of more help and use, if I had more time to learn to use it properly.

My machines are all pretty old stuff, upgrades to new ones are pending still..

Currently I'm on a multiple of pretty old workstations:
Mac Pro 4.1->5.1, 3.33GHz Xeon X5680 six core, RX 570 4GB (workhorse number 1)
HP Z400 3.33GHz Xeon X5680 six core, RX 460 2GB (darkhorse number 1 )
iMac 2010 2.93GHz four core, HD 5750 1GB (did a heart surgery from 2.8 i5 -> i7 2.93)
Mac Mini 2012 i7, 2.6GHz, HD4000 (temperatures do rise above 100°C at the core sometimes when rendering some heavier 3D-stuff).

And I've got some other machines too not worth mentioning..

First two are acceptable. Quite good even with large point clouds in ArchiCAD. Not perfect though. I'd like to upgrade, I'd like to upgrade within Apple family, but there is no thing I could buy, but the iMac 2017 27" at allmost full spec. And I don't think that's going to last very many years with me, not with my expectations how a workstation should last. There are no upgrade options apart from the memory (RAM). With iMac Pro these options are gone too, so what to do? Wait, buy now, or switch?

I lusted for the Sapphire Pulse 8GB too for my Mac Pro, but to no avail. They are like non existent at the time of being. Asus RX 570 4GB does the job right now. It's quite allright, honestly. No boot screen, but performance is quite good. It is at least 2-3 times more efficient with point clouds (tens of millions of points with luminance values) than my iMac i7, HD 5750 is.

I bought a HP Z400 this year, if I remember correctly, and I upgraded it consciously on par with my 2009 Mac Pros. And to prove myself, I have found it's performing at the par of my Mac Pro's at least with my workflow. The only thing I do not like as much as I like in my Mac Pro's is the operating system. I still like OSX, MacOS nowadays, more than any flavor of windows ever. But it migth just as well be a reason from my habits, than an objective review. After all I started with Macs at 80's. Windows was a no contender at that time, was it?

 

[Heblon]

Hey,

thanks for response. I'm using Vectorworks - imo best allrounder right now, even if super buggy if used proberly and not "just" for 2D illustrations i really love it - especially the new possibility to script...
If this would be my daily job machine I would switch to Windows immedialtely... but i like OSX - as you said: because of workflow habits.
This is my private machine, mostly used for creative stuff like music production and some ArchViz, and from time to time i work on it...

RX 570 4GB is too low for my purposes, at work i max out 6GB VRAM constantly.

 

[StuAff]

Is the right idendification of the GPU really pure cosmetics? -i am skeptical-
Will any RX 580 8GB with 8-pin power connection work?Is it even possible that the GPU pulls more than 225W with only one 8-pin?

It's purely cosmetic. I did the kext edit thing (as on theitsage's tutorial) but for some reason it hasn't stuck since I had to reinstall the OS last week, so it's back to ID'ing as 'R9 xxx 8GB'. Makes absolutely no difference to performance at all. Aorus RX 580 8GB (not the XTR), running both 2x6 pin to 8 pin power. Plenty of people have run multiple cards, and/or more power hungry ones, in cheesegraters even on standard power.

 

[Heblon]

It's purely cosmetic

nice to hear. So did you bench OpenGL Performance or is it just an subjective feeling?

So i will reorder a 580. Hope to find a 8 pin one...
but actually the Sapphire Nitro+ is available and the quality of the Sapphire cards seems to be the best. And maybe i will flash ist some day...

So I could power it like this:
8pin: powered by dual mini-6pin
6pin: powerd by two drive bays

 

[StuAff]

nice to hear. So did you bench OpenGL Performance or is it just an subjective feeling?

So i will reorder a 580. Hope to find a 8 pin one...
but actually the Sapphire Nitro+ is is available and the quality of the Sapphire cards seems to be the best.

So I could power ist like this:
8pin: powered by dual mini-6pin
6pin: powerd by two drive bays

Benchmarks I've run have been on a par with others posted on here and elsewhere, regardless of whether the edit was applied or not. The Pulse is the only RX 580 that will ID correctly OOTB, for the simple reason it is the only card Apple has added into the relevant kext. It has no bearing or relevance to the OS's AMD drivers at all. Just find a card you can actually buy (and power) and you'll be fine, regardless of whether you do the kext edit. That's it. Seriously.

 

[mikas]

Me too have checked the 8GB RX 580 offers. There is this Gigabyte card for 329 € with only one 8-pin power connector, which would be just plug-in and play type of update for me. I could use the RX 570 4GB in my back-up 4.1 Mac Pro.

VectorWorks is being developed under the the same umbrella company, Nemetscheck group, as graphisoft ArchiCAD nowadays. They merged a few years ago. And Maxon's cinema 4D is there in their portfolio too. AllPlan has been there for long time now, and a BIM company called Solibri has joined the Group lately too. I think they are as a company a strong contender in engineering and architectural business these days.

 

[Heblon]

VectorWorks is being developed under the the same umbrella company, Nemetscheck group, as graphisoft ArchiCAD nowadays. They merged a few years ago. And Maxon's cinema 4D is there in their portfolio too. AllPlan has been there for long, and a BIM company Solibri has joined the Group lately too. I think they are as a company a strong contender in engineering and architectural business these days.

especially for landscapearchitects a good choice, but there are still underdeveloped tools for them compared to the architecture tools in it or infrastructure orientated tools from other engenieering softwares that would be very handy when not doing garden design, really sad, espacially when doing BIM in bigger projects, a real pain in the ass, but still most flexebile solution when it comes to BIM...

 

[mikas]

I agree that BIM is a pain in the ass. Butt that's what's it's gonna be, from now on. To the future, I'm afraid.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

Just to confirm, I've just compared a Sapphire RX 580 Nitro+ 4GB to a Pulse 8GB and they're basically identical in performance and usability. The Nitro+ runs fine with only the 8-pin power connected. Basically no difference in benchmarks between the two.

 

[fendersrule]

At low resolutions (1080p) maybe.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

I've tested at 3440x1440.
But yeah, when doing CAD or video editing, the more VRAM the better.
My post was just about the fact that the Pulse has no performance advantages compared to other RX 580 under macOS.

 

[h9826790]

Just to confirm, I've just compared a Sapphire RX 580 Nitro+ 4GB to a Pulse 8GB and they're basically identical in performance and usability. The Nitro+ runs fine with only the 8-pin power connected. Basically no difference in benchmarks between the two.

The Nitro+ "should" run fine with just the 8pin, but seems the report is not consistent. You still better plug in both 6pin and 8pin connectors.

In terms of performance. I also believe before you run out of VRAM, their performance should be more or less the same. 4GB is not that much on today's standard, but of course, depends on your usage.
[doublepost=1510508922][/doublepost]

I've tested at 3440x1440.
But yeah, when doing CAD or video editing, the more VRAM the better.
My post was just about the fact that the Pulse has no performance advantages compared to other RX 580 under macOS.

Absolutely correct.

 

[Kris Kelvin]

You still better plug in both 6pin and 8pin connectors.

Sapphire itself says the additional 6-pin is optional. I'm running the card on the "silent" BIOS, so it's running with stock clock. I'd be really surprised if it pulls more than 150 watts, and if it does, the Mac Pro's AUX is insufficient anyway. But we'll see. I'll report any problems.

 

[Heblon]

Hey,

thank you all for responding!
Hopefully I will recieve the Nitro+ 8GB this week.
Due to the fact that i have two 3,5" to 2,5" converters and a 6pin pciE extension cable at home i ordered a double sata to 6pin pciE cable, I will glue the sata into the drive converters. So I will power the card properly, I just have one internal Backup HDD, so bay 3 and 4 aren't in use anyway...
I guess there is nothing wrong about being fastidious

Cheers!

 

[h9826790]

Sapphire itself says the additional 6-pin is optional. I'm running the card on the "silent" BIOS, so it's running with stock clock. I'd be really surprised if it pulls more than 150 watts, and if it does, the Mac Pro's AUX is insufficient anyway. But we'll see. I'll report any problems.

The two mini 6pin can deliver up to around 120W EACH continuously. Even the Nitro+ draw more than 150W from the AUX, you won't notice about it.

The following graph is from my own cMP with the 1080Ti. I have another set of data is running 2x HD7950 buy just that two mini 6pin. More or less the same. The mini 6pin clearly can deliver more than 75W each. The 97W cap is a display limit. By calculation, the actual limit should be about 120W.

And yes, Sapphire say that. May be it is BIOS switch related. Because another Nitro+ user here reported that his card doesn't run correctly if didn't connect the 6pin cable.

 

[William Payne]

Speaking of the Nitro+ RX580, one of the main computer hardware stores down here in New Zealand is selling the 8GB version for only $50 more then the 4GB one.

I can understand budgets and stuff but when I look at that it makes me wonder why one would bother to buy the 4GB one.

 

[corbuso]

well, I ordered on Amazon my Sapphire RX 580 Pulse end of June and still have not received it... so be patient

 

[Squuiid]

well, I ordered on Amazon my Sapphire RX 580 Pulse end of June and still have not received it... so be patient

Same here. June and still not even a delivery estimate from Amazon. Starting to lose hope.

 

[theitsage]

The "Radeon RX 580" identification in macOS with the Sapphire RX 580 8GB Pulse is purely cosmetics. I flashed the VBIOS of a reference RX 480 8GB successfully and documented the process here. It's not worth the trouble imo.

 

[Synchro3]

Same here. Ordered my Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB in June and still waiting...

 

[BillyBobBongo]

Ordered mine in August. Got an email last week that my order has been cancelled and that the store are no longer going to stock it. Back to square one. Currently trawling the second hand market, but the prices are still a bit too high for my liking.

 

[fendersrule]

I would keep waiting until you can score an 8GB Reference for $250.

 

[leon771]

I would keep waiting until you can score an 8GB Reference for $250.

I had ordered a Sapphire RX 580 8GB Pulse in September from Amazon UK. Received a shipping notice this morning that it had been despatched.
Due to their price guarantee (it somehow dropped in price since my order) I have paid £85 + £15 shipping to Australia, which is about US$110

Bargain.

 

[LightBulbFun]

I am just going to mention

theres more then just cosmetics with the Pulse RX580, one major thing the Pulse RX 580 has over RX 580s in OS X is its assigned a proper frame-buffer personality which means all the ports etc are going to work 100% its also thanks to this frame-buffer that it gets a proper name in the first place

RX 580s that are not the pulse one and which get the Generic R9 xxx name is because they are initialised by OS X differently by using a Generic frame-buffer that is built using info from the cards VBIOS, while this generally works quite well there have been reports of issues (especially when it comes to multi-monitor setups)

I just figured id throw this out there as its useful info to have...