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Think my GPU is failing, just wanted to double check & get recommendations for a new one

H

HumidSting

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 8, 2018
30
3
Minneapolis, MN
So I got a 280x for my 5,1 shortly after getting my Mac Pro. I flashed it with the ROM from that one thread about flashing a 280x since it was the exact same card, and everything seems mostly fine (sometimes the EFI screen won't show on boot up, but it will always show up when choosing a boot option). But about a week ago, I started getting weird 3D glitches in games in Windows where the 3D model will just expand infinitely upwards, so the model is just streaked across the screen. I also got a small area of pixelation/artifacting while playing PUBG a couple of days ago. I thought it was just Windows, but earlier today I was editing a photo in Photos.app when I saw the same pixelation/artifacting in the picture. My card is going, right? I've seen enough PCMR threads about bad GPUs to know what it looks like when a GPU looks bad, but I wanted to double check. My artifacting isn't colored, it just looks like someone took an area of my screen and made it into one of those games were you move the blocks around to get the original image.

If my card is going, what card should I get? I feel like I have to go AMD since I use FCPX a lot, but the current market is, while getting a lot better, still abysmal for buyers of current-gen GPUs. I don't do much gaming, just some CSGO, PUBG, and SC2, but I would like to start playing AAA games again. My only concern is that, while I've found ways around not having the EFI screen, I would still like to have it, which really limit my options to the R9 series. I'm also, while most likely capable of doing the Pixlas mod, do not have the courage to do it, so higher end GPUs are out I think.

Let me know what you think my GPU is doing, and what you have/recommend!

Cheers!
 
HumidSting said:
So I got a 280x for my 5,1 shortly after getting my Mac Pro. I flashed it with the ROM from that one thread about flashing a 280x since it was the exact same card, and everything seems mostly fine (sometimes the EFI screen won't show on boot up, but it will always show up when choosing a boot option). But about a week ago, I started getting weird 3D glitches in games in Windows where the 3D model will just expand infinitely upwards, so the model is just streaked across the screen. I also got a small area of pixelation/artifacting while playing PUBG a couple of days ago. I thought it was just Windows, but earlier today I was editing a photo in Photos.app when I saw the same pixelation/artifacting in the picture. My card is going, right? I've seen enough PCMR threads about bad GPUs to know what it looks like when a GPU looks bad, but I wanted to double check. My artifacting isn't colored, it just looks like someone took an area of my screen and made it into one of those games were you move the blocks around to get the original image.

If my card is going, what card should I get? I feel like I have to go AMD since I use FCPX a lot, but the current market is, while getting a lot better, still abysmal for buyers of current-gen GPUs. I don't do much gaming, just some CSGO, PUBG, and SC2, but I would like to start playing AAA games again. My only concern is that, while I've found ways around not having the EFI screen, I would still like to have it, which really limit my options to the R9 series. I'm also, while most likely capable of doing the Pixlas mod, do not have the courage to do it, so higher end GPUs are out I think.

Let me know what you think my GPU is doing, and what you have/recommend!

Cheers!
Click to expand...

The Rx580 is a really good card, I've been happy with mine, however it lacks an EFI firmware, so no boot screens.

Most cards will run off a single 8pin so you just need the dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin power connector for a MP5,1. The RX580 I have runs fine off a single 6 pin, even when I run it for ether mining and it doesn't reduce the hash rate vs when I connect to an 8 pin.

As long as you get a card that doesn't peek over 225 watts you should be fine with the 5,1 without mods.

Really, if you want boot screens, and a modern card, you wouldn't have a lot of choice but to go with a modded nVidia card, as no one has been making EFI ROMs for later AMD cards.

Tho, there is the next loader, that has some support for newer cards with GOP firmwares.

https://github.com/abdyfranco/next-loader

I haven't used it myself, don't own a MP, and work on it is ongoing, so I don't know how well the boot screens work, and with what cards.
 
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If you're on FCPX (and not anything Adobe) you should probably stick with AMD.

The NVIDIA GTX 1080 Founders Edition works great, but you need to use NVIDIA web drivers. Only option for CUDA. Works with OpenCL and Metal, though I'd never recommend Adobe & Metal with NVIDIA on Mac over CUDA or OpenCL.
 
DearthnVader said:
The Rx580 is a really good card, I've been happy with mine, however it lacks an EFI firmware, so no boot screens.

Most cards will run off a single 8pin so you just need the dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin power connector for a MP5,1. The RX580 I have runs fine off a single 6 pin, even when I run it for ether mining and it doesn't reduce the hash rate vs when I connect to an 8 pin.

As long as you get a card that doesn't peek over 225 watts you should be fine with the 5,1 without mods.

Really, if you want boot screens, and a modern card, you wouldn't have a lot of choice but to go with a modded nVidia card, as no one has been making EFI ROMs for later AMD cards.

Tho, there is the next loader, that has some support for newer cards with GOP firmwares.

https://github.com/abdyfranco/next-loader

I haven't used it myself, don't own a MP, and work on it is ongoing, so I don't know how well the boot screens work, and with what cards.
Click to expand...
That Next Loader stuff looks really cool. I haven't been able to get it working as I have no idea how to install it, but I'll figure it out.

A 580 would be pristine, but that price just gets me every time. I remember when I bought my 480 for 200-ish at launch...
[doublepost=1527724156][/doublepost]
bsbeamer said:
If you're on FCPX (and not anything Adobe) you should probably stick with AMD.

The NVIDIA GTX 1080 Founders Edition works great, but you need to use NVIDIA web drivers. Only option for CUDA. Works with OpenCL and Metal, though I'd never recommend Adobe & Metal with NVIDIA on Mac over CUDA or OpenCL.
Click to expand...
Yeah I 100% agree. It's hard because I would love to get a 580/480, but the boot screen is nice, and, just browsing the forums, in the BruceX benchmark there's not too much of a performance delta between the two, but there's a large price delta. I may just pick up another 280x and hope it does't fail again.
 
I am in the middle of transcoding on FCPX right now. I'm running a 7970, modded by MVC to give a boot screen, and I love it. Not much in the NVIDIA world does as well on FCPX. I'd just get another 280 if I were you.
 
Came here to post a similar question. My cMP 5,1 (flashed from 4,1) has just arrived. If I put in a rx580 that should work fine and complement the GT120 in there?
 
what budget do you have?
(ball park idea, helps a lot or GTX1080/or vaga 56 are the best cards but maybe not best price for you so an idea of budget helps a lot)
do you have any Vram requirements?
 
I have a Vega 56 already in an eGPU case but I’m reading the cMP might not have the power to run it?
 
Most of the Vega56/64 that I've seen are dual 8-pin. Tough to power those cards without an external PSU or some major wiring hurdles.

I typically recommend GPUs with 6-pin, dual 6-pin, or single 8-pin power requirements. Cards with 6-pin+8-pin or dual 8-pin are not simply connected to the board via the two mini 6-pins with standard cables/adapters.
 
yeah, so I was thinking of the RX580, or try and get the eGPU working on the cMP with a USB-C card
 
Doubt you'll get eGPU over USB working properly in the short term. Unless the eGPU chassis manufacturer provides drivers you can use (or repurpose with some modifications), there is no native macOS support for eGPU over anything other than Thunderbolt 3 (TB3). The connectors may physically look the same, but the protocols are different.
 
I got it working on a 2010 17" MBP via TB2 (with adapter), so I have my hopes high for a USB-C (TB3?) card in the cMP to get it to work?
 
TB/TB1 and TB2 were initially supported by many chassis manufacturers (and Apple in Beta), so not shocked they worked or are currently working. Several have either released a restricted workflow option for TB2 or are planning to do so shortly.

USB-C is not the same as TB3. You're basically asking for eGPU over USB. You'd be better off with a PCIe expansion chassis for cMP usage.
 
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