MP 1,1-5,1 Using Vega 56 in MP 5,1 - questions

[Dayo]

In general, no need to use two mini 6pin to power one 6pin.

I meant a Female 8 pin to single 6 pin.

That way, I can leave my current Dual 6 pin to 8 pin in place (I use this for my RX580) and when I want to use my HD5770, I can just plug a Single Female 8 -> Single 6 pin (if exists) into that cable. Similarly, I can plug the Female 8 pin to dual 6+2 into the same when I want to use Titan X (8 + 6).

Purely for convenience as swapping the cables into the board on MP31 when swapping GPUs is a very fiddly affair and I have been doing quite a few tests and swapping GPUs recently as part of code development.

Takes ages sometimes to get them in. A few mm more space on the surrounding plastic would have made a world of difference. I suppose I could trim things back a bit there but just prefer to leave it as it came.

Titan X has recently started triggering a shutdown although that might be because I tried to start it on Yosemite which I later gathered is not supported. Would have expected it to simply not show a screen as opposed to triggering a shutdown though. Need to try on HiSierra at some point.

 

[h9826790]

I meant a Female 8 pin to single 6 pin.

That way, I can leave my current Dual 6 pin to 8 pin in place (I use this for my RX580) and when I want to use my HD5770, I can just plug a Single Female 8 -> Single 6 pin (if exists) into that cable. Similarly, I can plug the Female 8 pin to dual 6+2 into the same when I want to use Titan X (8 + 6).

Purely for convenience as swapping the cables into the board on MP31 when swapping GPUs is a very fiddly affair and I have been doing quite a few tests and swapping GPUs recently as part of code development.

Takes ages sometimes to get them in. A few mm more space on the surrounding plastic would have made a world of difference. I suppose I could trim things back a bit there but just prefer to leave it as it came.

Titan X has recently started triggering a shutdown although that might be because I tried to start it on Yosemite which I later gathered is not supported. Would have expected it to simply not show a screen as opposed to trigger a shitdown though. Need to try on HiSierra at some point.

I think just a female 8 to dual 6+2 make more sense. No matter RX580, HD5770, or Titan X, the same cable always work, you only need to change the card.

Of course, doesn't looks that clean when you open the case. However, that should be out of sight in general.

 

[Dayo]

Got it. You mean I can just use one of the 6+2 if needed. Makes sense.
Need to order one then.

 

[royaltimetv]

You need two mini 6 pin to 6pin cables. The additional pins on an 8 pin plug do not supply any extra power.

A 6 pin plug will fit into an 8 pin socket.


You must supply power to BOTH the 8 pin connectors to make the GPU work.

Better still, buy an EVGA powerlink.

Read this thread from the beginning, all the info is here.

Thanks karkman for replying back. So can I use the Mac pro original GPU cables (mini-6 pin to 6 pin). I tried it with Vega 56, Radeon light turning on, but no screen is coming on. If not , Ordered the two (mini-6 to 8pin) and also two (mini-6 to 6pin). which one you think will work best with POWERLINK. The only powerlink i can find on amazon is this one. Can I use Vega 56 at stock setting with power link ? Or does it needs to be in low power mode ?​

EVGA PowerLink, Support All NVIDIA Founders Edition & All EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti/2080/2070*/2060*/Super*/GTX 1660 Ti*/1660*/1650/1080 Ti/1080/1070 Ti/1070/1060 0600-Pl-2816-Lr

The EVGA powerlink is designed to provide both a more stable power source and reduce ripple and noise, compared to connecting your power supply directly to the graphics card. The EVGA powerlink has another function: to make your PC look even more awesome. This adapter allows you to reroute the po...

www.amazon.com

 

[krakman]

The only powerlink i can find on amazon is this one. Can I use Vega 56 at stock setting with power link ? Or does it needs to be in low power mode ?

yes that is the one.

it is best to put the Vega 56 into low power mode.

Here is a review from a few years ago:

Using the secondary BIOS with a power limit reduced by 25% gets us 159.4W and 32.7 FPS. Compared to the stock settings, just 71.6% of the power consumption serves up 89% of the gaming performance.

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/reviews/radeon-rx-vega-56,5202-22.html

I understand the in low power mode is -28% less electricity but only -11% drop in performance.

Ordered the two (mini-6 to 8pin) and also two (mini-6 to 6pin). which one you think will work best with POWERLINK.

The powerlink is just a small circuit board with a capacitor, this is to smooth out the power draw.

The two extra pins on an 8 pin plug are just for Ground and Sense, neither of which carry any extra current. A 6 pin plug will fit into an 8pin socket.

personally I would use the mini 6 pin to 6 pin cables connected to the Powerlink.

 

[mrkapqa]

well regarding low power mode,
wonder how this would function on my card,
since it has "two" switches (on around the middle of card, one on the more far end of card) , and both switches can be turned on to position 1 (left) and position 2 (right), but there is no description on what those switches do.

 

[bookemdano]

well regarding low power mode,
wonder how this would function on my card,
since it has "two" switches (on around the middle of card, one on the more far end of card) , and both switches can be turned on to position 1 (left) and position 2 (right), but there is no description on what those switches do.

The middle switch is for controlling the LEDs. The switch nearest the slot cover is the BIOS switch. I believe the default (higher power) setting is with the setting closer to the slot cover, and moving the switch to the position closer to the front of the cMP should be the lower power BIOS. If your card was purchased used then it's possible the BIOSes could have been modified, so you may want to double check.

Read posts here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macpro2010-gpu-in-2019.2176887/post-27306497
and here: https://www.reddit.com/r/radeon/comments/avcxow

 

[royaltimetv]

You need two mini 6 pin to 6pin cables. The additional pins on an 8 pin plug do not supply any extra power.

A 6 pin plug will fit into an 8 pin socket.


You must supply power to BOTH the 8 pin connectors to make the GPU work.

Better still, buy an EVGA powerlink.

Read this thread from the beginning, all the info is here.

Thank you Krakman. Read the whole thread. (6pin to 8 pin)cables worked fine and the Vega 56 worked on Mac Pro 5'1. I also got the Powerlink, but didn't had the chance to use it.

Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin PCI Express Video Card Power Adapter Cable for Mac Pro Tower/Power Mac G5 14-inch(35cm) (Pack of 2) COMeap

Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin PCI Express Video Card Power Adapter Cable for Mac Pro Tower/Power Mac G5 14-inch(35cm) (Pack of 2) COMeap

www.amazon.com

 

[royaltimetv]

I upgrade from Mac pro 2010 stock gpu ( ATI Radeon HD 5870 1 GB) to Vega 56 8GB. Finally made it work using 6pin-8pin ( pack of two cables). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0725K3ZSN?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

My TEST result for a 10 minutes 1080p video clip export in Adobe Premiere 2018, shows absolutely no improvement in export time. Tried both OpenCL and Metal setting! Export time for both ATI Radeon HD 5870 and Vega 56 is the same. I was really hoping to get a big boost in export time. Is there a way to utiliz Vega 56 better for adobe premiere ? Should I upgrade to Mojave or Premiere 2020, if that will improve performance?

System
Mac Pro 2010 (5'1)
2 x 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
NVME boot 2TB and NMVE footage drive 2TB ( Samsung Evo970pro) ( disk speed limited 1500mb on PCIe2.0 4x slot)
OS High Sierra 10.13
Boot Rom 144.0

 

[h9826790]

I upgrade from Mac pro 2010 stock gpu ( ATI Radeon HD 5870 1 GB) to Vega 56 8GB. Finally made it work using 6pin-8pin ( pack of two cables). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0725K3ZSN?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

My TEST result for a 10 minutes 1080p video clip export in Adobe Premiere 2018, shows absolutely no improvement in export time. Tried both OpenCL and Metal setting! Export time for both ATI Radeon HD 5870 and Vega 56 is the same. I was really hoping to get a big boost in export time. Is there a way to utiliz Vega 56 better for adobe premiere ? Should I upgrade to Mojave or Premiere 2020, if that will improve performance?

System
Mac Pro 2010 (5'1)
2 x 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
96 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
NVME boot 2TB and NMVE footage drive 2TB ( Samsung Evo970pro) ( disk speed limited 1500mb on PCIe2.0 4x slot)
OS High Sierra 10.13
Boot Rom 144.0

Export (e.g. encoding to H264) is CPU’s job in your setup. That’s why upgrade the GPU has no effect.

If you want to use the GPU to encode, you should upgrade to Mojave. And install OpenCore to fully unlock your Vega’s Media Engine.

Activate AMD hardware acceleration

[For existing OpenCore users, you can always download my latest OpenCore package at post #1314 for update] Full HWAccel achieved now! Everything is covered in the OpenCore thread. The step by step tutorial to enable AMD hardware acceleration is now at here, but I strongly recommend you go...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Lyndon92]

I just ordered a Vega 56 to replace my old RX560.
I read a lot of things, and i feel confused about how to power that GPU.
I don't want to use Pixlas Mod (Until i find someone who could do it for me , i don't feel confident doing it myself)

I don't live in USA but in Europe, so it's not always easy to find right components (I can't find a EVGA powerlink, for example)

Can i just connect my GPU with 2x 6 mini pins to 8 pins ? Or it won't work at all ?
I tried to follow https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ii.2194899/page-3?post=27846084#post-27846084
But i can't find a dual 6 mini pins to single 6 pins , 100% impossible to find this

I don't really know what to do.

 

[mode11]

I just ordered a Vega 56 to replace my old RX560.
I read a lot of things, and i feel confused about how to power that GPU.
I don't want to use Pixlas Mod (Until i find someone who could do it for me , i don't feel confident doing it myself)

I don't live in USA but in Europe, so it's not always easy to find right components (I can't find a EVGA powerlink, for example)

Can i just connect my GPU with 2x 6 mini pins to 8 pins ? Or it won't work at all ?
I tried to follow https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ii.2194899/page-3?post=27846084#post-27846084
But i can't find a dual 6 mini pins to single 6 pins , 100% impossible to find this

I don't really know what to do.

The Vega56 is OK without Pixlas, but make sure the card's BIOS switch is in the 'low power' position (may be called something else e.g. Eco).

Does the card you bought have one or two 8 pin connectors?

 

[Lyndon92]

Fine, it has two 8 pins connector.
What cable should i use, so ?

 

[mode11]

Fine, it has two 8 pins connector.
What cable should i use, so ?

If you're following @h9826790's example, you'd need one of these and one of these.

Note that these are the first examples I saw - feel free to shop around for a better deal etc.

The idea is to electrically tie both the mini-6 pin outputs together, then distribute to the GPU's 8 pin connectors. Ensures equal load on both 6 pin motherboard outputs (rather than risking the GPU taking most of the power from one)...

Or buy a Powerlink here? Ships abroad.

 

[Lyndon92]

What about 2x https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B089JY8WGY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ?
(Sorry for french language)

The power will not be enough with this one ?

 

[mode11]

That will work, but then each GPU power input is being powered by a separate motherboard power output. If the GPU decides to take e.g. 90% of its power from one input, it will stress the related motherboard output.

You may get away with it, but why take the risk?

 

[Lyndon92]

I understand .
It’s because I am living in France and it’s nearly impossible to find the good cables with a fast delivery 😂

 

[krakman]

I don't live in USA but in Europe, so it's not always easy to find right components (I can't find a EVGA powerlink, for example)

Amazon

EVGA PowerLink, Support All NVIDIA Founders Edition & All GeForce RTX 2080 Ti/2080/2070*/2060*/Super*/GTX 1660 Ti*/1660*/1650/1080 Ti/1080/1070 Ti/1070/1060 0600-Pl-2816-Lr

The EVGA powerlink is designed to provide both a more stable power source and reduce ripple and noise, compared to connecting your power supply directly to the graphics card. The EVGA powerlink has another function: to make your PC look even more awesome. This adapter allows you to reroute the po...

www.amazon.co.uk

 

[krakman]

I understand .
It’s because I am living in France and it’s nearly impossible to find the good cables with a fast delivery 😂

try amazon:

mini 6 pin to 6 pin

You do NOT need mini 6 pin to 8 pin. the extra 2 pins are sense and ground. they do not deliver power.

The 6 pin plug will fit into an 8 pin hole.

EVGA POwerlink

 

[Lyndon92]

I see. With this, i won't get any issue at all ?

 

[Lyndon92]

try amazon:

mini 6 pin to 6 pin

You do NOT need mini 6 pin to 8 pin. the extra 2 pins are sense and ground. they do not deliver power.

The 6 pin plug will fit into an 8 pin hole.

EVGA POwerlink

I found someone selling a EVGA Powerling, i will get it in a few days !

mini 6 pin to 6 pin How many cables do i need to order, please ? One is enough ?

 

[h9826790]

I found someone selling a EVGA Powerling, i will get it in a few days !

mini 6 pin to 6 pin How many cables do i need to order, please ? One is enough ?

Two

 

[Lyndon92]

Thank you. I ordered the EVGA powerlink + these cables . I'll give a try

 

[royaltimetv]

Thank you. I ordered the EVGA powerlink + these cables . I'll give a try

Hi,

Option 1: You don't need 6pin to 6pin cables. If you are using EVGA powerlink , just use the original GPU power cables that came with the mac. I'm doing the same thing. I'm using the mac pro 2010 original GPU power cables 6pin-6pin with the EVGA powerlink and its works fine, even at full power setting. No crashes.

EVGA PowerLink, Support All NVIDIA Founders Edition & All EVGA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti/2080/2070*/2060*/Super*/GTX 1660 Ti*/1660*/1650/1080 Ti/1080/1070 Ti/1070/1060 0600-Pl-2816-Lr

The EVGA powerlink is designed to provide both a more stable power source and reduce ripple and noise, compared to connecting your power supply directly to the graphics card. The EVGA powerlink has another function: to make your PC look even more awesome. This adapter allows you to reroute the po...

www.amazon.com

Option 2: If you don't want to use EVGA powerlink , then you need these 6-pin to 8pin cable. Note: 6-pin-6pin directly to GPU will NOT power up/start the card.

THIS PACK ALREADY CONTAINS TWO CABLES

COMeap Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin (6+2) PCI Express Video Card Power Adapter Cable for Mac Pro Tower/Power Mac G5 14-inch(35cm) (Pack of 2)

COMeap Mini 6 Pin to 8 Pin (6+2) PCI Express Video Card Power Adapter Cable for Mac Pro Tower/Power Mac G5 14-inch(35cm) (Pack of 2)

www.amazon.com

I SUGGEST to go with option 1. The power distribution is better and more stable. No crashes.

 

[Lyndon92]

Thank you for answering, but i don't have the original cables from the Mac Pro.
For now, i just ordered EVGA Powerlink + https://www.amazon.com/Express-Vide...jJ9BK-rKfU64nuIBAjLRfrkigTbfntcBoCDwAQAvD_BwE