Samll, 4K@60Hz EFI-compatible GPU for cMP

[MadBlue]

Hello everyone,

after a year with a MBP15tb I'm back to the cMP... (4.1@51...)
Now I'm looking for a good solution to drive my 4K display. So I'm looking for a small (not powerfull) GPU wich should be compatible to the cMP EFI and also HighSierra wich supports 4K@60Hz.

The last to parts are not that hard... RX-460, 560 and 550 GPU's should do the trick. But afaik there is no possibility to flesh them for EFI... Is this correct?

I know a easy choice get a flashable card are the HD79xx Cards... but of course they are big hungry cards... so I'm not happy with this choice.

So I'm thinking of the Radeon HD77xx Cards. They are capable of doing 4K@60Hz... and in the past they where compatible to macOS out of the box. I also saw them on eBay labeld as "flashed for mac pro" so I hope, that there is in fact a possibility to flash them for the Mac EFI...
Has anybody more information about the HD77xx cards in a cMP?

Maybe there are further possibilities I didn't recognized yet?

Would be great if you can help me on this.
And sorry for my poor English...

Sören

 

[tsialex]

Hello everyone,

after a year with a MBP15tb I'm back to the cMP... (4.1@51...)
Now I'm looking for a good solution to drive my 4K display. So I'm looking for a small (not powerfull) GPU wich should be compatible to the cMP EFI and also HighSierra wich supports 4K@60Hz.

The last to parts are not that hard... RX-460, 560 and 550 GPU's should do the trick. But afaik there is no possibility to flesh them for EFI... Is this correct?

I know a easy choice get a flashable card are the HD79xx Cards... but of course they are big hungry cards... so I'm not happy with this choice.

So I'm thinking of the Radeon HD77xx Cards. They are capable of doing 4K@60Hz... and in the past they where compatible to macOS out of the box. I also saw them on eBay labeld as "flashed for mac pro" so I hope, that there is in fact a possibility to flash them for the Mac EFI...
Has anybody more information about the HD77xx cards in a cMP?

Maybe there are further possibilities I didn't recognized yet?

Would be great if you can help me on this.
And sorry for my poor English...

Sören

Not exacty what you want, I’ve been using a MSI 7870 for almost 3 years, without any trouble - but it’s as power hungry card as a 7950.

One thing of note, if boot another macOS install, like now with Mojave beta, you have to change the monitor connection on the card. On 10.13, I had been using DVI, on 10.14 I have to use mDP1.

 

[MadBlue]

Hey tsialex,
thanks for your answer.
I did read about the HD78xx GPUs... they are kind of stuck in the middle... similar PowerHungry as the HD79xx but less Powerfull... Prices are nice around here... can get one for about 60 EUR (70 USD...)

Using the DVI is not a option due it dosn't support 4K@60Hz...
Did you flash the card? Any trouble about that?

 

[tsialex]

Did you flash the card? Any trouble about that?

Yes, I added EFI on the card own firmware, with the instructions on netkas forum. Never had any trouble with the card or compatibility.

Did you loooked on eVGA GTX680? I bought one recently and I’m liking it a lot. It’s another power hungry card but on idle/low GPU usage consumes a lot less than AMD 78xx/79xx. You can buy one of the standard PC ones and flash with the eVGA GTX680 for Mac firmware. I have the SKU models, if you want to search.

 

[h9826790]

Hello everyone,

after a year with a MBP15tb I'm back to the cMP... (4.1@51...)
Now I'm looking for a good solution to drive my 4K display. So I'm looking for a small (not powerfull) GPU wich should be compatible to the cMP EFI and also HighSierra wich supports 4K@60Hz.

The last to parts are not that hard... RX-460, 560 and 550 GPU's should do the trick. But afaik there is no possibility to flesh them for EFI... Is this correct?

I know a easy choice get a flashable card are the HD79xx Cards... but of course they are big hungry cards... so I'm not happy with this choice.

So I'm thinking of the Radeon HD77xx Cards. They are capable of doing 4K@60Hz... and in the past they where compatible to macOS out of the box. I also saw them on eBay labeld as "flashed for mac pro" so I hope, that there is in fact a possibility to flash them for the Mac EFI...
Has anybody more information about the HD77xx cards in a cMP?

Maybe there are further possibilities I didn't recognized yet?

Would be great if you can help me on this.
And sorry for my poor English...

Sören

The 7950 is not that power hunger actually. It's idle power consumption is about 15W for single 4K monitor connection (If you connect multiple monitors, then the idle power consumption will become ~55W). It only draw more when you stress it (about 140W). If you have no plan to stress it, then up to 55W is what you can expect under normal desktop environment usage.

In fact, if you plan to flash it anyway. You can edit the ROM before flashing, in order to control the card's power draw. You can make it a 100W card if you like. But in general, just set the 3D voltage to 0.956V, let it run at max 800/1250MHz is a very good setting. With this settings, this card will perform like the RX460 in both power draw and performance.

Another easy way is just spend $100 on MVC's website to buy a flashed GT630 (Kepler). This card's max power draw is just 25W (according to Nvidia website).

However, AFAIK, none of those OOTB card can display boot screen at 4K 60Hz (they can display boot screen at 4K 30Hz, and support 4K 60Hz after driver loaded). If you want 4K 60Hz boot screen, you will need a flashed 750Ti, but then you will need web driver, otherwise no GPU acceleration available.

 

[MadBlue]

Hi,
that's maybe a good option.
Can GTX680 of other brands be used?
The evga cards are like crazy high in prices...

EDIT:
Oh... for the boot screen there is no need for 4K or 60Hz... FullHD and/or 30Hz will be fine for that.
I just want to be able to work in boot-screen-mode if necessary.

Afaik the GT630 don't support 4K@60Hz at all...
But the option of a flashed GTX750 sounds nice. Didn't know such a thing exists.
The Web-Driver Situation... what's the behavior when there is no driver? Will MacOS boot and let me install a new driver? Or will I need another video card to do that?

EDIT2:
Sorry I'm wrong... the GT630 should work with 4K on display port.
I will have to think about that.

 

[h9826790]

Hi,
that's maybe a good option.
Can GTX680 of other brands be used?
The evga cards are like crazy high in prices...

EDIT:
Oh... for the boot screen there is no need for 4K or 60Hz... FullHD and/or 30Hz will be fine for that.
I just want to be able to work in boot-screen-mode if necessary.

Afaik the GT630 don't support 4K@60Hz at all...
But the option of a flashed GTX750 sounds nice. Didn't know such a thing exists.
The Web-Driver Situation... what's the behavior when there is no driver? Will MacOS boot and let me install a new driver? Or will I need another video card to do that?

EDIT2:
Sorry I'm wrong... the GT630 should work with 4K on display port.
I will have to think about that.

With HD79xx card, the EFI only work with DP 1.1, but will hang the cMP if you boot with DP 1.2 connected. And due to dual ROM design on the 7950, by recommend procedure / usage is...

1) Flash one of the 7950's ROM to Mac EFI ROM
2) Test the Mac EFI ROM with the monitor set to DP 1.1
3) If OK, then flash the other ROM to "low power mode" (no Mac EFI injection)
4) Keep boot from the non Mac EFI ROM for daily use, therefore, you can keep the monitor setting at DP 1.2, and enjoy the 4K 60Hz without any issue.
5) When you need boot screen for firmware update / single user mode, etc. set the monitor to DP 1.1 and boot from the Mac EFI ROM.

Don't expect you can flash the GT630 or 750Ti by yourself. You better buy it directly from MVC but not any other reseller. But for the same cost, you can easily get a HD7950 and flash it by yourself.

I owned the 7950, it's a very nice card, super easy to tune and flash (assume you get the reference design card). And it's power draw at stock clock actually not that bad. The power hunger one is the 7970, or those factory OC cards. That GPU was OK effective at 800/1250, and can easily downvolt from the standard 1.094V to 0.956V (The lowest I can go is 0.888V so far, but 0.956 is a very safe and balanced voltage option for 800/1250MHz). Once go beyond 800MHz, the GPU will require noticeable higher voltage to keep it stable, and will draw more exponentially.


With a flashed non OOTB card, the OS will boot, the card will display, but just no acceleration (like a slide show on the screen). And it will allow you to install the required driver.

 

[tsialex]

Hi,
that's maybe a good option.
Can GTX680 of other brands be used?
The evga cards are like crazy high in prices...

Yes, you can use one from the GTX680 flashable confirmed list.

IMO, it's a lot better economically to hunt for one of these confirmed flashable and flash yourself than buy one of the 630/750. Even here on Brazil where everything cost more than double, with a little patience I found not one but two used eVGA GTX680 (one SC with backplate and one normal) for around US$ 145 each, with shipping. You will find for a lot less than this.

Don't forget to buy the 2 mini 6pin Mac Pro power cables (SC/FTW models needs 1 mini 6pin to 6pin and 1 mini 6pin to 8pin)

 

[MadBlue]

Hey,

thanks so much for the infos tsialex and h9826780. It's helping me a lot.
Buying a card from MVC is no option, due shipping and taxes to Germany direct from the US is just a knightmare...

At the moment, the GTX680 option sounds good to me. I'm looking for a flashed confirmed Card at the moment.
Do this cards work with 4K@60Hz on DisplayPorts and support DP1.2 on the boot screen? This would be kind of golden solution...

At german-ebay there are flashed GTX770 Cards from a professional store. Prices are kind of "OK"... (a bit more than a stock GTX680 but far less than a flashed GTX680...)
I'm not sure if the GTX770 has native support in MacOS...?

 

[tsialex]

Hey,

thanks so much for the infos tsialex and h9826780. It's helping me a lot.
Buying a card from MVC is no option, due shipping and taxes to Germany direct from the US is just a knightmare...

At the moment, the GTX680 option sounds good to me. I'm looking for a flashed confirmed Card at the moment.
Do this cards work with 4K@60Hz on DisplayPorts and support DP1.2 on the boot screen? This would be kind of golden solution...

At german-ebay there are flashed GTX770 Cards from a professional store. Prices are kind of "OK"... (a bit more than a stock GTX680 but far less than a flashed GTX680...)
I'm not sure if the GTX770 has native support in MacOS...?

I can’t help you with 4K questions, I’m using it with 2 24” 1920x1200 monitors. I have tested it on a friend’s 4K monitor, but I can’t tell much more about it.

GTX770, it’s a GK104-425-A2/Kepler card, so you have native driver support, but if it’s a PC Card without Mac EFI - no boot screen. You have to remember that card does not have a public Mac EFI around like eVGA GTX 680 for Mac.