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Fcis

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 23, 2020
73
5
I have a Mac Pro 5.1 2010 currently running macOS El Capitan 10.11.6 and I wanted to update the GPU and after I checked Apple’s recommendations for GPU upgrades I just bought a Sapphire Radeon RX 580. So I removed the two old GPUs (ATI and Nvidia) and plugged in the two 6pin into an 8pin adaptor as shown below and put the new Sapphire as shown in the below photos. But seems that it’s not working as I tried multiple screens but they are not detecting any signal. Is it a macOS EL Capitan problem and do I need to update to Sierra or High Sierra first Before being able to use it?

AA21C3A9-4295-47DA-9E14-1D105CC42545.jpeg

F4A2DAF4-E7D5-469B-ABEB-4CC12AC23088.jpeg

0D31D9C1-1971-4378-933D-31A4BB2A60BC.jpeg

2C6E3A33-CC04-4391-8F1A-7B07BCA6551E.jpeg
 
RX580 requires 10.13.6 minimum. But I had the best experience with 10.14 Mojave. You will not have a boot screen. The screen will come alive at the login screen or desktop if you have disabled login.

A standard 2x 6mini to 8pin cable worked for me to power it.

** MAC OSX 10.12.6 is the minimum - thanks IndioX
 
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RX580 requires 10.13.6 minimum. But I had the best experience with 10.14 Mojave. You will not have a boot screen. The screen will come alive at the login screen or desktop if you have disabled login.


you are wrong - support for polaris cards starts with 10.12.6

but you are right with mojave

bootscreen (or bootpicker) comes with opencore ; -)
 
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Fcis

1. Did you un-install the NVIDIa drivers ?

Mac Pros don't like having AMD and NVIDIA cards installed together.

2. What is your Bootrom version ?
 
Fcis

1. Did you un-install the NVIDIa drivers ?

Mac Pros don't like having AMD and NVIDIA cards installed together.

2. What is your Bootrom version ?

1- I didn’t uninstall Nvidia drivers

2- Here is my bootrom version:

30341063-620E-4AE8-ABBF-B69A5A8AA223.jpeg
 
1. Have you checked that your GPU power cables are 100% plugged in ? Happened to me once.

2. Have you done the Triple Consecutive "happy Mac " NVRAM reset ?
( Power down first & remove the Mac Pro power cord for 5 minutes first )

NVRAM_PRAM_ResetMac.jpg
 
If after installing Sierra or HS, I still doesn't work , I guess its the wrong adapter cable.
 
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It looks like 2x Pixlas in the picture, I thought that too.
But I think the cables are connected to the mini 6pin.
fcis

You definitely DON'T need the Pixlas mod to power the Sapphire RX 580.

You could try just powering it with the TWO x Mini 6pin to ONE by 8 pin.

My MSI Armor RX 580 8gb works fine with this cable.

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Express-Video-Power-Adapter-Compatible/dp/B082ZD28VR

View attachment 927048


Okay, just to understand:
1- If all cables are correct, and if I do the NVRAM reset, should this GPU work normal on my current macOS El Capitan?
2- You mean that I am using the wrong cable? If so, I have searched from where here in Sweden I can get two mini-6pin to 1 8pin but I cannot find it, could you advise me if it has another name I can look for or search with it? Thank you
 
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Amazon

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Also, I " think " that the RX 580 8gb drivers did not appear until Mojave - I have never checked this. You should check it.

So . . .you might need Mojave 10.14.6 ( full 6.05gb installer ) AND the Dual Mini 6 pin to ONE 8 pin cable to get your RX 580 8gb up and running.
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fcis

1-as has been said: you need to install Sierra or High Sierra first ( with one "old" GPU installed). This card will not work in El Capitan.
2-the link @MIKX sent doesn't work (here), but it's the correct cable .

For Europe look here:
I live in Japan so Firefox . . or. . Amazon often changes my search results to a Japanese site or some other.


Just Google this ..

" amazon.com Dual Mini 6 pin to 8 pin Mac Pro "
 
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Will those work also?

iHaospace Dual Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin PCI-e Y Splitter Power Adapter Cable for Mac Pro Video Card Power Cable 30 cm

Ils 16AWG Dual Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin PCI-e FOR MAC PRO GTX1080 Video Card Power Cable
 
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To the OP - If all connections with your cables are good, your cabling looks OK. But, as others have said, you need to run a later OS to get the drivers for the card. It also would be a good idea to update your boot ROM to 140.0.0.0.0. there are instructions on this site for the install.

Lou
 
On a 5,1, OS 10.12.6 is the minimum OS for RX580 support. It will show in About this Mac as a more generic GPU, but it works. I've done this very install on a friends cMP. He wants to stay on 10.12 for FCP7 support.

RX580 support gets better through 10.14.6. That's what I run on my cMP with RX580.

Updating to 10.14 is recommended, though you may have your reasons for not doing so. In any event, upgrading to 10.14.6 will also update your BootROM to 144. There are several benefits to this, including enabling full speed on slot 1, which presumably is where your GPU will live. You can update the BootRom without updating the OS.

For a great majority of people, updating is straightforward especially if they read through the sticky at the top of the forum.
 
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Hello all, I have a mid 2012 5,1 running Mojave OS 10.14.6 and Sapphire Radeon RX 580 for 26 months. Installation of everything was easy and relatively automatic. No drivers to install and Apple Support made all the installs to OS 10.14. One month out of 2yr warranty my mac started powering of without any warning. Just "click" and dead like I pulled the power cord out. Allowing it to "rest" for a few hours with the power cord actually unplugged would return it to normal service for 5min to 5 hours, unpredictable. No gaming or video editing...heaviest work GPU gets is youtube "how to" videos which have not been interrupted or reduced the fps at all. A fan speed app to increase cooling made no difference. It's bee this way since Aug/2021. No better no worse. When it clicks of, I move all the cable to the rear of the Backup mac, a 2006 5,i. I backup my work on a thumb drive and install on the 2006 mac and go on. Problem acts like a loose part moving with temperature but I'd like to hear some other thoughts on it...like mabe the GPU is overclocked or something less than a new card. Thanks for reading all this.
 
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