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MP All Models Does RX 560 need to be MSI?

smirk

smirk

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Apple recommends the MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 for Mojave. I'm pretty ignorant with video cards... does it truly need to be that exact model, or would any RX 560 work out of the box?

I've also seen MSI RX 560 models with both one fan and two fans, all other specs seemed the same. What's that about?

Thanks!
 
tsialex

tsialex

Contributor
Jun 13, 2016
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smirk said:
Apple recommends the MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 for Mojave. I'm pretty ignorant with video cards... does it truly need to be that exact model, or would any RX 560 work out of the box?

I've also seen MSI RX 560 models with both one fan and two fans, all other specs seemed the same. What's that about?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Apple identifies the card by the product ID, if the driver found a different product ID, the generic framebuffer is used.

I don't know how this works with the RX 560, but with RX 580, if the driver find the product ID for Sapphire Radeon Pulse, the Orinoco framebuffer is attributed to the GPU.

This is important because some of the cards have non standard ports layout than the models that Apple supports and recommend. People are finding that some non reference RX 580, like Gigabyte Aorus, are practically incompatible with Macs. May be a bad card, but be warned.
 
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h9826790

h9826790

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Apr 3, 2014
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smirk said:
Apple recommends the MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 for Mojave. I'm pretty ignorant with video cards... does it truly need to be that exact model, or would any RX 560 work out of the box?

I've also seen MSI RX 560 models with both one fan and two fans, all other specs seemed the same. What's that about?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Usually no need to get the exact model. However, the more deviate from the recommended model, the higher the chance has compatibility issues.


e.g. HD7950 Mac Edition card is a reference card made by Sapphire.

Most (if not all) Sapphire 7xxx card can work on the cMP.

Most (if not all) reference 7xxx can work on the cMP.

All 7950 reference card 100% can work on cMP.

All 7970 reference card 100% can work on cMP.

However, some customised XFX 7950 can NOT work on cMP.


Or like RX460 (which has same device ID as the RX560), but AFAIK, all single slot RX460 won't work on cMP (the Apple recommended MSI RX560 4GB model is a dual slot card)


Therefore, if possible, get this one.

https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-560-AERO-ITX-4G-OC.html
 
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PianoPro

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Sep 4, 2018
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smirk said:
Apple recommends the MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 for Mojave. I'm pretty ignorant with video cards... does it truly need to be that exact model, or would any RX 560 work out of the box
Click to expand...
Not all RX-560 are equal. Some require more power than others (nearly twice as much) and an aux power cable, which is not a big deal. But it is convenient to be able to just plug in the card and go without fiddling around with a power cable, especially if you plan on removing and reinstalling the card very often. Or if you ever plan to install a 2nd card, even temporarily, which needs aux power from both of the available aux connectors. And it's always nice to have a card that requires less power, no cable, runs virtually silently, etc, especially if you ever decided to use 2 RX-560 cards (for more than 3 monitors). The MSI RX-560 ITX 4 GB card (the one officially supported by Apple) is such a card, and it's cheap (I paid $130 for a new one.)

The RX-560's also come in two basic performance models, one with 14 CUs/896 Stream Processors and one with 16 CU's/1024 Stream Processors. The MSI card is the 16/1024 version. The performance difference is pretty small, but again why not use the Apple approved card just so you know it will be supported for a while?
 
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PianoPro

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MisterAndrew said:
Sapphire Pulse RX 560 is fine also. I don't know what other specific models have been tested.
Click to expand...
There are, or were (not sure which of them are still available new), numerous versions of the Sapphire Pulse RX-560. They fall into both categories I discussed above, so people considering them should check out which version they are getting - if it matters to them. Again, to most people it probably won't matter if it requires an aux power cable or not, whether it's a 45 watt, 60 watt, 75 watt, or 90 watt card since they are all very low for Mac video cards, and the difference is less than 15% whether it is a 16 cu or 14 cu card. There are also slightly different clock rates for different cards, but those differences are slight. But if you do care, then look carefully at the specs for the Sapphire card you are considering.

This is the only officially Apple supported RX-560 card (Apple calls it the MSI Gaming Card):
MSI RX-560 AERO ITX 4G OC 16 CU/60W/no aux power cable supports 3 displays (DP/HDMI/DVI-D)
This is apparently a new card? (I've never seen one for sale, reviewed, or discussed outside of MSI website yet):
MSI RX-560 AERO ITX 4G OCV2 16 CU/60W/no aux power cable supports 4 displays (DP/2xHDMI/DVI-D)


These are the Sapphire Card Versions:
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 11267-00 16 CU/90w/requires one 6-pin power cable
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 11267-25 16 CU/90w/requires one 6-pin power cable

SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 11267-01 16 CU/45w/no aux power cable

SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 11267-18 14 CU/75w/requires one 6-pin power cable
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 4GD5 11267-20 14 CU/75w/no aux power cable

There are also 2GB Sapphire versions, but I wouldn't want one of those:
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 2GD5 11267-13 16 CU/45w/no aux power cable
SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon™ RX 560 2GD5 11267-22 14 CU/45w/no aux power cable
 
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Morpheo

Morpheo

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Feb 26, 2014
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smirk said:
I've also seen MSI RX 560 models with both one fan and two fans, all other specs seemed the same. What's that about?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have this one: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-560-AERO-ITX-4G-OC.html

...I also have seen the ones with 2 fans as opposed to single fan, and tbh I don't really see any difference looking at the specs. In fact the single fan seems (very) slightly faster than the dual fans.

I don't need a lot of GPU power so I don't need a top-of-the-line card, just something decent and Metal-compatible. This card is perfect for me in that regard.
 
MisterAndrew

MisterAndrew

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It's not exactly accurate to state that the MSI RX 560 is the only officially supported RX 560. It's just the only one they specifically mention as being compatible that they have tested. It hasn't been given any special frame-buffer or identification in the drivers that would make it better supported than any other RX 560 that has a correct device ID. They state that other RX 560s are also compatible, but don't specifically list which models are. Instead they state, "Third-party graphics cards vary, so you should check with the vendor of your specific graphics card for compatibility details."
 
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PianoPro

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MisterAndrew said:
It's not exactly accurate to state that the MSI RX 560 is the only officially supported RX 560. It's just the only one they specifically mention as being compatible that they have tested. It hasn't been given any special frame-buffer or identification in the drivers that would make it better supported than any other RX 560 that has a correct device ID. They state that other RX 560s are also compatible, but don't specifically list which models are. Instead they state, "Third-party graphics cards vary, so you should check with the vendor of your specific graphics card for compatibility details."
Click to expand...
I'm not trying to be argumentative, and I'll bet you are right that others are compatible. But Apple does not guarantee or state they are. They state they "might also be compatible".

From https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898 :

These specific third-party graphics cards are Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):

  • MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
  • ...
Some other third-party graphics cards* based on the following AMD GPU families might also be compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):
  • AMD Radeon RX 560
  • AMD Radeon RX 570
  • AMD Radeon RX 580
  • ...
* Third-party graphics cards vary, so you should check with the vendor of your specific graphics card for compatibility details.
 
MisterAndrew

MisterAndrew

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Well yeah they listed a couple cards to make it easy for people. They don't expect people to dig into the driver and the GPU's bios to figure out if the device ID matches. Although it would be nice if they provided that list for people and then the 3rd party manufacturers could list which cards of theirs are supported in macOS. I was just pointing out that there isn't anything special support-wise for the MSI RX 560. However, there is special support for the Pulse RX 580.
 
O.N.Y.X

O.N.Y.X

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Morpheo said:
I have this one: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/Radeon-RX-560-AERO-ITX-4G-OC.html

...I also have seen the ones with 2 fans as opposed to single fan, and tbh I don't really see any difference looking at the specs. In fact the single fan seems (very) slightly faster than the dual fans.

I don't need a lot of GPU power so I don't need a top-of-the-line card, just something decent and Metal-compatible. This card is perfect for me in that regard.
Click to expand...

I replaced the stock Radeon with the RX 560 AERO just recently. Plugged in, turned on, done. Works without problems since. I’m still on MacOS Sierra by the way.
 
feethea

feethea

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Dec 12, 2018
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Thanks to everybody for their input above. Using that info, yesterday I purchased and this morning installed this card - GIGABYTE GV-RX560GAMING OC-4GD AMD Radeon RX 560 Gaming OC 4G PCI Express Graphics Card - Black on my mid-2010 Mac Pro.

Simple to install, updated to the latest version of OS Mojave without problem, and all runs perfectly.
 
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dknightd

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Mar 7, 2004
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feethea said:
Thanks to everybody for their input above. Using that info, yesterday I purchased and this morning installed this card - GIGABYTE GV-RX560GAMING OC-4GD AMD Radeon RX 560 Gaming OC 4G PCI Express Graphics Card - Black on my mid-2010 Mac Pro.

Simple to install, updated to the latest version of OS Mojave without problem, and all runs perfectly.
Click to expand...

Does it give you the boot screen, or, jump straight to the login screen?
 
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