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Vega Frontier Edition on 4,1 5,1 Classic Mac Pro

EddieK420

EddieK420

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
86
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Hey guys. I wanted to start this thread to get information together on running the newly announced Vega Frontier Edition on our beloved classic Mac Pros. I currently have an Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti on my 2009 4,1 (upgraded to 5,1 & 12-core) Mac Pro running Sierra 10.12.5. While the GTX 1080 Ti is awesome under Windows 10 (I have a dualboot setup) that performance just does not translate to macOS using the nvidia web drivers. In Starcraft 2 on MacOS opengl rendering is slow and using metal rendering on SC2 shows some weird artifacts with my 1080Ti. Metal rendering I guess is not the best using Nvidia web drivers. Most metal apps dont work. FCP X performance its also subpar on Nvidia compared to AMD gpus.

With High Sierra 10.13 coming up soon I am looking to maybe change gpus to the AMD Vega Frontier Edition.

Does anyone have any information if the Vega Frontier Edition runs well under macOS? Apparently people are getting native support on RX 480s and RX 580s on 10.13 High Sierra betas without having to mod any kexts anymore. It just works. Also there is METAL 2 support. AMD has native support. Nvidia does not have any high sierra web drivers out yet.

Having native driver support and better FCP X performance just feels like AMD GPUs are a better fit for a Mac Computer vs Nvidia that sees better performance under Windows 10 gaming. While I like gaming on Windows I would prefer a GPU that performs well in macOS.

The graphics card is available here:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814105073&ignorebbr=1

Is anyone able to test one of these on their classic 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pro?
 
What Soy said. And I hope you have some power mod completed to your Mac, because at 300 TDP, this thing is pig, especially with its performance which seems lackluster.

I'm also looking forward to running a great GPU in a Mac Pro that runs well in MacOS and in windows. Sounds like the nvidia web driver isn't getting the job done.
 
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You could try one, but as fendersrule said, it's a power hungry pig (375W TDP for the liquid cooled version (!)). I think it's a pretty disappointing card for the price, unless you're comparing it to a Quadro P5000. It might give you the best performance for what you're trying to do on a Mac as it edged out the Titan Xp on the Cinebench R15 OpenGL benchmark, but for gaming it sits in-between a GTX 1070 and 1080.

Here's a review: https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Radeon-Vega-Frontier-Edition-16GB-Air-Cooled-Review
 
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fendersrule said:
What Soy said. And I hope you have some power mod completed to your Mac, because at 300 TDP, this thing is pig, especially with its performance which seems lackluster.

I'm also looking forward to running a great GPU in a Mac Pro that runs well in MacOS and in windows. Sounds like the nvidia web driver isn't getting the job done.
Click to expand...

Yeah I did the Pixlas mod on my 4,1 MacPro. Before I did the mod I was experiencing shutdowns with my 1080 Ti. Let's wait and see if the Vega consumer edition is a better choice.
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MisterAndrew said:
You could try one, but as fendersrule said, it's a power hungry pig (375W TDP for the liquid cooled version (!)). I think it's a pretty disappointing card for the price, unless you're comparing it to a Quadro P5000. It might give you the best performance for what you're trying to do on a Mac as it edged out the Titan Xp on the Cinebench R15 OpenGL benchmark, but for gaming it sits in-between a GTX 1070 and 1080.

Here's a review: https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Radeon-Vega-Frontier-Edition-16GB-Air-Cooled-Review
Click to expand...

Do you know if they have macOS drivers or if it's supported natively on 10.13 high sierra and metal2?
 
id gess we will have to wait till after the imac pro is out for any drivers and performance.

also SC2 is CPU limited not GPU limited even on windows, you may get better permanence on windows but that's just windows better optimization (both on game/OS).
artifacts are a pain tho and may be a nvidia driver problem.

and no drivers for 10.13 is not a big surprise as it's not out yet.
 
there will be id gess after the imac pro comes out, wait.
+ vaga is not relay out yet, kind off still just worth waiting to see what the line will be and as always to wait for drivers to be fixed.
 
Has anyone tried the Vega in the Mac Pro 5,1?
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MisterAndrew said:
You could try one, but as fendersrule said, it's a power hungry pig (375W TDP for the liquid cooled version (!)). I think it's a pretty disappointing card for the price, unless you're comparing it to a Quadro P5000. It might give you the best performance for what you're trying to do on a Mac as it edged out the Titan Xp on the Cinebench R15 OpenGL benchmark, but for gaming it sits in-between a GTX 1070 and 1080.

Here's a review: https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Radeon-Vega-Frontier-Edition-16GB-Air-Cooled-Review
Click to expand...

Hmm. The Tomb Raider results for the Vega FE in the review linked above were pathetic. For the price and specs, it should be performing on the level of the GTX 1080 Ti, not the 1070. It was only slightly faster than the RX 580 running Tomb Raider in this review:
https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graph...-8GB-Review-Polaris-Populism/Rise-Tomb-Raider

Yet I suppose I shouldn't pre-judge it until I see how it performs running some OpenCL and Metal based apps.
[doublepost=1500467541][/doublepost]I have a RX 580 in the Sonnet Breakaway eGFX Box connected to a TB3 port of the 2017 iMac 5K (Pro 580). When I run LuxMark 3.1 OpenCL benchmark's "Hotel" scene with just the RX 580 selected, it produces a rating of 2698 KSamples/sec.

When I render LuxMark "Hotel" scene with both the Pro 580 and RX 580 selected, the rating is 5208 KSamples/sec.

In the PC Perspective review of the Vega FE, its LuxMark "Hotel" rating is 4690 KSamples/sec. So in that metric, the Vega is impressive and bodes well for OpenCL based pro apps like FCPX and Motion.
 
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Good to know that Vega works fine in High Sierra 10.13. Will wait a bit longer to see if Nvidia supports High Sierra before I make a decision on whether to switch to Vega. Vega performance apparently sits between a gtx 1070 and 1080.
 
EddieK420 said:
Good to know that Vega works fine in High Sierra 10.13. Will wait a bit longer to see if Nvidia supports High Sierra before I make a decision on whether to switch to Vega. Vega performance apparently sits between a gtx 1070 and 1080.
Click to expand...

My personal guess, if you mean web driver, 99% will be supported, but if you mean OOTB, 99% will not be supported.
 
Hi all,

New to this, but I am interested in AMD cards because I'm hoping it will work OOTB with the next MacOS.

What is the max TDP of a GPU that my 2010 5,1 cMP? I looked up the wattage of the cMP's power supply and I believe its 980 watts according to this site selling PSUs for my mac, http://www.macpartsonline.com/661-5...0-watts-for-mac-pro-2012-2010-2009-a1289.html

If 980 watts is the max power what is a "safe" TDP max wattage that a GPU can run safely in my machine? Seems like 210, 290, or even 300 would work if you have 980 watts to work with. Right now I am using GTX 970 6pin/8pin.

Is there any app that can read how much wattage my current components are using?

Sorry I am a newbie to all of this and probably asking a silly question, but if someone could help me understand I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
 
alhazred823 said:
Hi all,

New to this, but I am interested in AMD cards because I'm hoping it will work OOTB with the next MacOS.

What is the max TDP of a GPU that my 2010 5,1 cMP? I looked up the wattage of the cMP's power supply and I believe its 980 watts according to this site selling PSUs for my mac, http://www.macpartsonline.com/661-5...0-watts-for-mac-pro-2012-2010-2009-a1289.html

If 980 watts is the max power what is a "safe" TDP max wattage that a GPU can run safely in my machine? Seems like 210, 290, or even 300 would work if you have 980 watts to work with. Right now I am using GTX 970 6pin/8pin.

Is there any app that can read how much wattage my current components are using?

Sorry I am a newbie to all of this and probably asking a silly question, but if someone could help me understand I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

No worries, at least we can see that you did some homework before you ask, and know there is a 980W PSU.

Back to your question. NO, not all 980W can go into GPU, that's the rated max power for the whole computer. Depends on efficiency, temperature, etc, the PSU may not really able to deliver 980W. That's just the max rated wattage, not the guarantee wattage.

However, I never see any consumer graphic card that has 980W TDP. If fact, rarely go above 400W. So the cMP do have enough power for most GPU indeed. e.g. (Titan Xp)

But the problem is, there are only two mini 6pin aux power avail from the logic board, that mean there is no way to deliver more than 225W from the PSU to the graphic card (officially). 75W from the slot, 75W from mini 6pin A, and 75W from mini 6pin B.

In real world, we discover that the mini 6pin can actually deliver up to around 120W before hitting the shutdown protection. That's why you can run a 6+8pin 970 in your cMP without issue. (Because the 8pin won't really draw 150W in your case).

If you want to run any high end card. It's preferred to carry out the Pixlas mod (use the search function please). In this case, you can easily power any high end card directly from that 980W PSU.

Last but not least, yes, you can download Hardware monitor, or istat menu to monitor the power draw on the mini 6pins.
 
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I think the GPU you all should be most interested is Vega Nano. Small form factor, single 8 pin connector and 150W TDP.

This is actually the only GPU that I am interested in, unless there will be AIB boards of RX Vega 56, with single 8 pin connector. It would also be great if there would be 6 pin only versions of Vega Nano from AIB's but I haven't heard anything about them, so far.
 
koyoot said:
I think the GPU you all should be most interested is Vega Nano. Small form factor, single 8 pin connector and 150W TDP.

This is actually the only GPU that I am interested in, unless there will be AIB boards of RX Vega 56, with single 8 pin connector. It would also be great if there would be 6 pin only versions of Vega Nano from AIB's but I haven't heard anything about them, so far.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with using 2 of the proper 6-pin to 8-pin adapters. As h9826790 said, you'll get 240W stable; higher than the 56's TDP.
 
koyoot said:
I think the GPU you all should be most interested is Vega Nano. Small form factor, single 8 pin connector and 150W TDP.

This is actually the only GPU that I am interested in, unless there will be AIB boards of RX Vega 56, with single 8 pin connector. It would also be great if there would be 6 pin only versions of Vega Nano from AIB's but I haven't heard anything about them, so far.
Click to expand...

I want to buy a new GPU for my 2010 cMP and was thinking about the Gigabyte RX 580. But you mention waiting for the Vega Nano, when will this be coming out and will it be more powerful than a Gigabyte RX 580 and will it be supported by the latest macOS 10.12.6 support it out of the box?
 
MisterAndrew said:
There's nothing wrong with using 2 of the proper 6-pin to 8-pin adapters. As h9826790 said, you'll get 240W stable; higher than the 56's TDP.
Click to expand...
That is not what I meant ;). Simplicity is what you all should be looking for ;).

eyeangle said:
I want to buy a new GPU for my 2010 cMP and was thinking about the Gigabyte RX 580. But you mention waiting for the Vega Nano, when will this be coming out and will it be more powerful than a Gigabyte RX 580 and will it be supported by the latest macOS 10.12.6 support it out of the box?
Click to expand...
I can tell you about the hardware itself, not about other specifics related to running it in MP. There is a lot of people much more knowledgeable about this on this forum than I am.

Supposedly this GPU is going out on 14th August but that has to be confirmed.
 
eyeangle said:
I want to buy a new GPU for my 2010 cMP and was thinking about the Gigabyte RX 580. But you mention waiting for the Vega Nano, when will this be coming out and will it be more powerful than a Gigabyte RX 580 and will it be supported by the latest macOS 10.12.6 support it out of the box?
Click to expand...

The Nano is a very tempting card indeed, if it has native support. From what I've read, Vega 56 and 64 will release on August 14th and the Nano will follow 'later on'. Your guess is as good as mine how long that will be.

I've recently put in an order for a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB (paid about €280), it has an estimated delivery date of December 7th. Should the Nano come to market before December 7th then I may just cancel my order and order one instead. Safe to say I'm keeping my options open.
 
BillyBobBongo said:
I've recently put in an order for a Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB (paid about €280), it has an estimated delivery date of December 7th. Should the Nano come to market before December 7th then I may just cancel my order and order one instead. Safe to say I'm keeping my options open.
Click to expand...
I should ask: which year, December 7th? ;)

Damn, that is a hell long wait time for a GPU :D
 
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