MP 7,1 Vega II vs Radeon W6800

[Fastball32]

Hi,

I have a 2019 Mac Pro with a Vega II MPX module.
I am curious to see if there are any potential benefits of the Vega II over the W6800 in any world case scenarios.
I know the new W6800 will be faster in most computational tasks, but since the Vega II has the faster HBM2 memory with double the faster bandwidth, I’m wondering if there are situations where the Vega II will be faster.
I remember when comparing framerates in games, the expensive HBM2 made a difference when it first came out, but if the W6800 is overall faster will it negate the positives of HBM2 memory?
The thought was that higher end GPU’s will all eventually go HBM2 but that has not been the case.

I’m curious to see what the community opinions are on the matter.
I don’t do anything graphically intensive but use multiple monitors for what it’s worth, however I do dabble with video editing and games.

Thanks

 

[DFP1989]

I don’t do anything graphically intensive but use multiple monitors for what it’s worth, however I do dabble with video editing and games.

For nothing other than curiousity, why do you have a 2019 Mac Pro with a Vega II? And old Dell with an iGPU can do multimonitor.

 

[Fastball32]

For nothing other than curiousity, why do you have a 2019 Mac Pro with a Vega II? And old Dell with an iGPU can do multimonitor.

Your response is way off topic. But no, an old Dell with an iGPU would not meet my needs, just like I don’t think you carry an iPhone 4 to make calls, texts, or troll.

 

[flowrider]

Pro W6800 versus RX 6000 series in Mac Pro 2019

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

RX 6800 XT versus 6900 XT in Mac Pro 2019

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

With today's announcement, you now have other choices.

Lou

 

[rondocap]

Hi,

I have a 2019 Mac Pro with a Vega II MPX module.
I am curious to see if there are any potential benefits of the Vega II over the W6800 in any world case scenarios.
I know the new W6800 will be faster in most computational tasks, but since the Vega II has the faster HBM2 memory with double the faster bandwidth, I’m wondering if there are situations where the Vega II will be faster.
I remember when comparing framerates in games, the expensive HBM2 made a difference when it first came out, but if the W6800 is overall faster will it negate the positives of HBM2 memory?
The thought was that higher end GPU’s will all eventually go HBM2 but that has not been the case.

I’m curious to see what the community opinions are on the matter.
I don’t do anything graphically intensive but use multiple monitors for what it’s worth, however I do dabble with video editing and games.

Thanks

What type of workflow are you doing the most? Generally the W6800 should be faster, I tested extensively with two 6900 XT versus the Vega ii and duo, And the 6900 XT for the most part was Superior, even when it came to things that you would think the vram makes a difference, like 12k braw or 8k raw.

in video, Resolve and FCP, the 6000 series gpus are def better. Now, the w6800x is $2800, and a used Vega ii likely under $1900 at this point, so there is a price gap

 

[profdraper]

Curious to know is anyone has experience with 'mixing and matching' these Raedon cards, in particular re. rendering in Da Vinci Resolve studio. Once upon a time, there were recommendations that the GPUs needed to be identical lest one of these fall back to the lowest speed of the other card. Alternately, one card could be used for screen-only IO, the other for GPU rendering. These days I'm not so sure this is still the case (and Blackmagic don't seem to be talking about this as yet).

So, I have 2 x Vega IIs (not a Duo) and the xtra IO is very useful for recording studio (many thunderbolt and USB devices). The GPU throughput on Resolve is reasonable, but am mulling the option of keeping one Vega II and possibly replacing the other with (say) a W6800x or even a dDuo. & yes of course the price is mad-as but still ....

 

[rondocap]

Curious to know is anyone has experience with 'mixing and matching' these Raedon cards, in particular re. rendering in Da Vinci Resolve studio. Once upon a time, there were recommendations that the GPUs needed to be identical lest one of these fall back to the lowest speed of the other card. Alternately, one card could be used for screen-only IO, the other for GPU rendering. These days I'm not so sure this is still the case (and Blackmagic don't seem to be talking about this as yet).

So, I have 2 x Vega IIs (not a Duo) and the xtra IO is very useful for recording studio (many thunderbolt and USB devices). The GPU throughput on Resolve is reasonable, but am mulling the option of keeping one Vega II and possibly replacing the other with (say) a W6800x or even a dDuo. & yes of course the price is mad-as but still ....

I have tried many combinations, including Vega ii plus 6900xt. 2 of the same always work better, even in resolve. It does funny things result wise with different gpus

 

[Fastball32]

Curious to know is anyone has experience with 'mixing and matching' these Raedon cards, in particular re. rendering in Da Vinci Resolve studio. Once upon a time, there were recommendations that the GPUs needed to be identical lest one of these fall back to the lowest speed of the other card. Alternately, one card could be used for screen-only IO, the other for GPU rendering. These days I'm not so sure this is still the case (and Blackmagic don't seem to be talking about this as yet).

So, I have 2 x Vega IIs (not a Duo) and the xtra IO is very useful for recording studio (many thunderbolt and USB devices). The GPU throughput on Resolve is reasonable, but am mulling the option of keeping one Vega II and possibly replacing the other with (say) a W6800x or even a dDuo. & yes of course the price is mad-as but still ....

I've had combinations of Vega II, 580X, and W5700X but all were Apple MPX modules and I did not see any unexpected performance issues. Maybe the only thing with mixing is unusual screen flickering/resizing when the Mac initially boots up to the login screen but that may be related to multi monitor setups, but pretty stable once things get going.
I would not be afraid to mix your Vega with one of the new w6800x cards especially since you use Da Vinci Resolve, as it would likely help your work rendering speeds.

 

[Fastball32]

I just did some brief internet research and it seems that GDDR6 can have potentially faster bandwidth, but the one for Mac Pro does not. But the new W6800x does not have HDMI 2.1 or PCIE4. Seems like AMD will be transitioning away from HBM2 to more GDDR6 memory due to having the potential for higher speeds but at the cost of higher power consumption, it is also much cheaper to manufacture. Sounds like the HBM2 architecture is more 3-dminesional, much like the Intel Optane SSD's which create snappier performance but since it's an older generation, it won't have the brute computational strength as the newer Navi graphics. Just like the Intel Optane SSD's, the cost won't make HBM2 a mainstream option.

 

[triton100]

I've had combinations of Vega II, 580X, and W5700X but all were Apple MPX modules and I did not see any unexpected performance issues. Maybe the only thing with mixing is unusual screen flickering/resizing when the Mac initially boots up to the login screen but that may be related to multi monitor setups, but pretty stable once things get going.
I would not be afraid to mix your Vega with one of the new w6800x cards especially since you use Da Vinci Resolve, as it would likely help your work rendering speeds.

I thought the Mac Pro only used one GPU and didn’t make use of multiple ones?

 

[MisterAndrew]

There probably isn’t anything the Vega II MPX can do better than the W6800X or W6900X. Vega is better at computation than RDNA Navi, but the Vega II for the Mac is crippled at 1/16th double precision like the Navi GPUs. You’d need to get the PC version Pro VII to get full double precision performance. So for HPC applications that’s what you’d want. For everything else the new Navi GPUs are better.

 

[profdraper]

I thought the Mac Pro only used one GPU and didn’t make use of multiple ones?

BTO 2012 Mac Pro includes options for up to 2 x Duos (ie 4 xGPUs).