MP 1,1-5,1 What GPU for video rendering/encoding

[Aaron111]

I got my hands on a Mac Pro 5,1 (Mid 2012) for a rather good price. While I have everything to upgrade it like better CPU and RAM I am not sure as to what GPU I should be getting for it.
Currenctly it has its original HD 5770 which obviously keeps me stuck on High Serria. I have looked up the Ultimate mac pro guide for supported GPUS but can't find out what one is best for my needs. My mac pro will not be gamining at all, it is only for audio recording and video/rednering/encoding.
Someone once sugested I get a wx workstation card but I can't find much if any information on how they preform compared to consumer GPU's (as reviews only focus on gaming)
Oh and I will not being Adobe at all as it is horrible, probably FCP and few others.

So any recomendation would be much appreciated.

 

[tsialex]

You can enable VideoToolbox hardware assisted encoding, decoding, color grading and pixel transfer (what is usually called here AMD hardware acceleration) with any AMD GPU starting with the RX 460/560.

The best GPUs for hardware assisted encoding/decoding are the high end Polaris (RX 570/580/590) and the VEGA GPUs (VEGA 56/64 and VII). People compared the performance of Polaris and VEGA GPUs and usually is at least 1,5x, with some operations having more than 2x performance for the latter ones.

The pro-versions of AMD cards usually work more or less the same as the gaming/consumer versions with the same CUs when installed on a Mac, it's the same GPU after all.

Some WX GPUs are single slot and people that use all slots tend to buy it. Pro cards are usually extremely overpriced when comparing to the same GPU on the consumer side, but nowadays with the insane GPU prices, some WX cards are palatable.

Btw, no WX card with a LEXA GPU will work, do your research before buying to know what works or not with a Mac Pro.

 

[Aaron111]

You can enable VideoToolbox hardware assisted encoding, decoding, color grading and pixel transfer (what is usually called here AMD hardware acceleration) with any AMD GPU starting with the RX 460/560.

The best GPUs for hardware assisted encoding/decoding are the high end Polaris (RX 570/580/590) and the VEGA GPUs (VEGA 56/64 and VII). People compared the performance of Polaris and VEGA GPUs and usually is at least 1,5x, with some operations having more than 2x performance for the latter ones.

The pro-versions of AMD cards usually work more or less the same as the gaming/consumer versions with the same CUs when installed on a Mac, it's the same GPU after all.

Some WX GPUs are single slot and people that use all slots tend to buy it. Pro cards are usually extremely overpriced when comparing to the same GPU on the consumer side, but nowadays with the insane GPU prices, some WX cards are palatable.

Btw, no WX card with a LEXA GPU will work, do your research before buying to know what works or not with a Mac Pro.

Thank for all this information, I don't know much when it comes to AMD since my gaming pc is intel/NVIDIA.

Since I want at least 4GB of Vram the lowest WX GPU that I can find is the WX 4100 for about £150/ $202 which doesn't use the LEXA GPU. According to TechPowerUp the WX31/2100 do use it.

Considering the price for a HD 7950 3gb is also £150/$202 on Ebay (more if it is already flashed) I would think the Wx4100 is a better deal.
I have seen a WX7100 8GB for sale for just under £300/$405 which i think is equal to a RX480/580 depending on forums I find, which also goes for about the same price.
Final option I have found is a Saphhire Nitro+ RX580 8GB for sale for £280/$378.

Just doing some checking as far as I can tell the RX580 is just a refresh of the RX480 to which both of them and the WX7100 us the Polaris 10 XT chipset (WX7100 uses Polaris 10 XT GL)
Of course with GPU prices being stupid at the moment VEGA and VII are well over £600/$811

 

[tsialex]

Thank for all this information, I don't know much when it comes to AMD since my gaming pc is intel/NVIDIA.

Since I want at least 4GB of Vram the lowest WX GPU that I can find is the WX 4100 for about £150/ $202 which doesn't use the LEXA GPU. According to TechPowerUp the WX31/2100 do use it.

Considering the price for a HD 7950 3gb is also £150/$202 on Ebay (more if it is already flashed) I would think the Wx4100 is a better deal.

HD 7950 are more than three years older than the first AMD GPU with the ASICs required for VideoToolbox. Forget it.

I have seen a WX7100 8GB for sale for just under £300/$405 which i think is equal to a RX480/580 depending on forums I find, which also goes for about the same price.

WX7100 is a very good GPU, an equivalent of a RX 480, single slot and with a lot less power draw/heat. WX cards always get the best binned GPUs.

Final option I have found is a Saphhire Nitro+ RX580 8GB for sale for £280/$378.

Nitro+ installed on slot-1 blocks slot-2. Also, Nitro cards are overclocked and will need Pixla's mod, since the power draw is a lot over what the backplane can provide.

Just doing some checking as far as I can tell the RX580 is just a refresh of the RX480 to which both of them and the WX7100 us the Polaris 10 XT chipset (WX7100 uses Polaris 10 XT GL)
Of course with GPU prices being stupid at the moment VEGA and VII are well over £600/$811

The Ellesmere GPUs (RX 480) had several refinements over the years and the performance is a lot better for the latter cards (RX 580/590).

What you really want is the VRAM and the ASICs, don't look too much on the PowerPlay performance of the gaming cards.

 

[Aaron111]

HD 7950 are more than three years older than the first AMD GPU with the ASICs required for VideoToolbox. Forget it.

WX7100 is a very good GPU, an equivalent of a RX 480, single slot and with a lot less power draw/heat. WX cards always get the best binned GPUs.

Nitro+ installed on slot-1 blocks slot-2. Also, Nitro cards are overclocked and will need Pixla's mod, since the power draw is a lot over what the backplane can provide.

The Ellesmere GPUs (RX 480) had several refinements over the years and the performance is a lot better for the latter cards (RX 580/590).

What you really want is the VRAM and the ASICs, don't look too much on the PowerPlay performance of the gaming cards.

Well I spend a long time digging around and I think I will probably go with the WX7100 over the RX580.
I had to big up the Wx7100 user manual and pro software guide to find what I was looking for.

Managed to find that the WX 7100 supports AVC (H.264)/ HEVC (H.265) 4K just like the RX 580. While the 580 might be a little better overall the WX 7100 is single slot, 1-6pin power and *blue*

Unless I am missing something or just not looking correctly I don't think I will be missing out on much with the WX7100 since I my mac pro isn't for gaming.

 

[tsialex]

Well I spend a long time digging around and I think I will probably go with the WX7100 over the RX580.
I had to big up the Wx7100 user manual and pro software guide to find what I was looking for.

Managed to find that the WX 7100 supports AVC (H.264)/ HEVC (H.265) 4K just like the RX 580. While the 580 might be a little better overall the WX 7100 is single slot, 1-6pin power and *blue*

Unless I am missing something or just not looking correctly I don't think I will be missing out on much with the WX7100 since I my mac pro isn't for gaming.

It's the same ASIC for UVD and VCE for all high end Polaris GPUs, AMD only changed it with VEGA and VII.

 

[l008com]

You can enable VideoToolbox hardware assisted encoding, decoding, color grading and pixel transfer ... with any AMD GPU starting with the RX 460/560.

How does one enable it? I have a macpro5,1 with an RX 480 8 GB card. Its a really nice card, it lets me run the SABR filter in OpenEMU at full framerate, I used to do run hashcat for a month straight. It does basically everything I need, including some very nice gaming when I boot into windows.

I went with the RX 480 because its only a tiny bit less powerful than the RX 580, but it's power consumption is under 150 watts, meaning I can run two in this machine if I ever have the need. (and I almost bought a second during my hashcat project).

Anyway all that is just to say, I have an RX 480 but I don't get any videotoolbox options in Handbrake. I'm running the latest version of Handbrake and the latest version of high sierra. But nada. Is there some trick to enabling it?

 

[tsialex]

How does one enable it? I have a macpro5,1 with an RX 480 8 GB card. Its a really nice card, it lets me run the SABR filter in OpenEMU at full framerate, I used to do run hashcat for a month straight. It does basically everything I need, including some very nice gaming when I boot into windows.

I went with the RX 480 because its only a tiny bit less powerful than the RX 580, but it's power consumption is under 150 watts, meaning I can run two in this machine if I ever have the need. (and I almost bought a second during my hashcat project).

Anyway all that is just to say, I have an RX 480 but I don't get any videotoolbox options in Handbrake. I'm running the latest version of Handbrake and the latest version of high sierra. But nada. Is there some trick to enabling it?

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