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randy85

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2020
150
136
I don't have experience with your setup, but I found that disabling my W5700X MPX module and just using my 6800 XT for compute improved my performance in Resolve.

If you go to Preferences and then 'Memory and GPU' you can turn the individual cards on/off for display or compute.
 

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,322
1,994
Berlin
I think it depends a bit of which codec you're using. If it's H265 it'll probably tank either system. I'd personally would get one w6800 to take advantage of doubling up in the future.

I'm also not convinced PP is any good at using multiple anything (so one more powerful card is a probably better). It's multicore CPU performance the last time I checked, seemed bad compared to Resolve.

Either way if what you're replacing is really old you will be happy I'm sure!
so still no h265 decoding with these new cards, correct? Is there hope that the next gen of AMD cards will improve things? Or is the only way to get a new mac pro in the fall!?
 

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,322
1,994
Berlin
HEVC decode/encode is available on all AMD cards beginning with Polaris and later (maybe even earlier).
Well yes, I know that, I shouldve been more specific.. I was wondering if there is anything close to m1 level acceleration on those cards when it comes to h264/h264 decoding.
 
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diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,156
2,466
OBX
Well yes, I know that, I shouldve been more specific.. I was wondering if there is anything close to m1 level acceleration on those cards when it comes to h264/h264 decoding.
Does Apple use the (de)encoders on the AMD dGPU's at all? It seemed like they only used QuickSync on the Intel Macs.
 
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randy85

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2020
150
136
Well yes, I know that, I shouldve been more specific.. I was wondering if there is anything close to m1 level acceleration on those cards when it comes to h264/h264 decoding.
Yes I don't think its on the same level. 4k HEVC from my C70 can be choppy on my Mac Pro whereas it looks smooth on M1 systems (from what I've seen on Youtube).

I now only use proxies for this type of file (which are the smallest) where as raw and prores are like butter on my Mac Pro... which is a bit of a paradox considering you want to save on storage with compressed formats. You could potentially save a lot of hard drive space by getting an Apple Silicon computer and shooting H265 if your work allows for it.

My workflow is primarily prores, so its not a huge deal for me, but I look forward to the perk of easy H265 editing once I get an Apple Silicon machine.
 

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,322
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Berlin
Yes I don't think its on the same level. 4k HEVC from my C70 can be choppy on my Mac Pro whereas it looks smooth on M1 systems (from what I've seen on Youtube).

I now only use proxies for this type of file (which are the smallest) where as raw and prores are like butter on my Mac Pro... which is a bit of a paradox considering you want to save on storage with compressed formats. You could potentially save a lot of hard drive space by getting an Apple Silicon computer and shooting H265 if your work allows for it.

My workflow is primarily prores, so its not a huge deal for me, but I look forward to the perk of easy H265 editing once I get an Apple Silicon machine.
And what gpu is in your Mac Pro?
 

startergo

macrumors 601
Sep 20, 2018
4,816
2,200
Yes I don't think its on the same level. 4k HEVC from my C70 can be choppy on my Mac Pro whereas it looks smooth on M1 systems
On my old cMP with RX-580 4k HEVC decoding was never choppy. I can't imagine Mac Pro 7,1's performance being inferior to the cMP's and of course 6800XT or 6900XT is doing much better job than the RX-580.
 

chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,322
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Berlin
On my old cMP with RX-580 4k HEVC decoding was never choppy. I can't imagine Mac Pro 7,1's performance being inferior to the cMP's and of course 6800XT or 6900XT is doing much better job than the RX-580.
Hard to imagine.. it’s almost unplayable on my 7.1 in davinci resolve. Canon R6 footage that is.
 
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randy85

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2020
150
136
And what gpu is in your Mac Pro?
I'm using a 6800 XT for compute in Resolve but also have a W5700X MPX module in there too which is just set up to drive my display. I think the main takeaway should be that even a really good AMD GPU won't match the optimisation of Apple Silicon for this particular task.

On my old cMP with RX-580 4k HEVC decoding was never choppy. I can't imagine Mac Pro 7,1's performance being inferior to the cMP's and of course 6800XT or 6900XT is doing much better job than the RX-580.
That's ok if you can't imagine it. I actually have tried it, so I know for sure!
 
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chfilm

macrumors 68040
Nov 15, 2012
3,322
1,994
Berlin
I'm using a 6800 XT for compute in Resolve but also have a W5700X MPX module in there too which is just set up to drive my display. I think the main takeaway should be that even a really good AMD GPU won't match the optimisation of Apple Silicon for this particular task.


That's ok if you can't imagine it. I actually have tried it, so I know for sure!
@startergo and I have run some tests, and yea it's about the particular flavors of hevc, like 422 10 bit that aren't supported. I'm just wondering if the next gen of gpus will change anything about that... it's really an interesting thinking game to weigh the advantages of the upgradable current mac pro vs a potential new killer machine that is more like a twice as strong mac studio with an upgradable ssd.

I'm contemplating wether or not it makes any sense to stick with this current machine, or potentially even put a 28 core cpu and a 3rd party GPU in, or just to jump ship as soon as possible, survive on my macbook for a while and then get the new monster..
 

rylim

macrumors regular
Aug 17, 2017
111
22
Has anyone compared W6900X with W6800X Duo? Is it worth of paying extra $1000?

Besides that, I saw a Youtube video showing the thermal throttle issue on the W6800X Duo, and wonder if the issue being fixed?
 

Morgonaut

macrumors member
Apr 5, 2020
73
39
Has anyone compared W6900X with W6800X Duo? Is it worth of paying extra $1000?

Besides that, I saw a Youtube video showing the thermal throttle issue on the W6800X Duo, and wonder if the issue being fixed?
I answered to you already under my video. "issue" cannot be fixed. It's physics... Too much power in small footprint cannot be efficiently cooled passively.
 
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mkzayar

macrumors newbie
Jun 22, 2020
11
3
Has anyone compared W6900X with W6800X Duo? Is it worth of paying extra $1000?

Besides that, I saw a Youtube video showing the thermal throttle issue on the W6800X Duo, and wonder if the issue being fixed?
I bought 2 of W6800X Duo after watching thermal issue videos. And monitor with both istat menu and tg pro but did not see any thermal issue yet.

It is true that 6900 is faster than 6800 but don’t think it will be mile ahead. Maybe a few minutes.

In my view for W6900X , I really don’t think it’s worth to buy. I pay premium price to get 64GB VRAM. But for just 32GB I would buy 2 of RX6900XT. I also have one RX6900XT as well.

My case and your will be different . I paid just little over W6900X price for 2 x W6800X Duo.

This is just my view.
 
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DFP1989

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2020
462
362
Melbourne, Australia
On my old cMP with RX-580 4k HEVC decoding was never choppy. I can't imagine Mac Pro 7,1's performance being inferior to the cMP's and of course 6800XT or 6900XT is doing much better job than the RX-580.
The performance was garbage on my 7,1 and I tried one W5700x, two W5700X and even an RX 6900 XT. FCP, DaVinci, didn’t matter. HECV 10-bit 4:2:2 was a non-starter without transcoding, and that’s BS.

Dipped my toe in the water with an M1 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and was impressed, though 16GB RAM was too limiting for large projects.

Sold off the 7,1 as soon as my M1 Max MBP with 64GB RAM arrived and showed it could run rings around it. Got a stupid price for the 7,1 (seen them going for half what I sold for recently), and just picked up an M1 Ultra Mac Studio.
 

maikerukun

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2009
719
1,036
Has anyone compared W6900X with W6800X Duo? Is it worth of paying extra $1000?

Besides that, I saw a Youtube video showing the thermal throttle issue on the W6800X Duo, and wonder if the issue being fixed?
I have, and my pair of W6800X Duos has NEVER had a SINGLE problem. Stays cool and gets as hot as it's supposed to when doing heavy rendering and GPU intensive 3D animation work.

I watched the "thermal issue" videos which honestly felt like a very odd hit job since literally nobody else that has ever tested them or works with them on a daily basis has ever had any of those issues. Even to this day you can search for issues in videos and those particular videos stand out as almost lies...very strange indeed.

Anyway, I run 2 w26800x Duos with a 28-core setup and they've been nothing but genuinely magical. My system will still be competitive with the 4090's when those drop, theoretically running at almost parallel speeds as 2 RTX 4090's. So is it worth it? Absolutely. I however cannot speak on the 6900, as I have messed with machines that have them but have not extensively pushed one.

The best move is keeping a 7.1 and picking up an M1 Max MacBook Pro or an M1 Ultra Mac Studio. The combination of those two machines whichever they may be gives you the cutting edge in terms of speed for everything between editing the most demanding footage all the way up to creating the most demanding 3D animations and VFX.
 

AlexMaximus

macrumors 65816
Aug 15, 2006
1,186
544
A400M Base
Hi guys,

I just have found out about the AMD RX 6950XT card. Its slightly faster.

How probable is it, that it will work in the 7.1 ??

I am on pins and needles to get one and test it in a 7.1. It should use the same driver, shouldn't it??

What's your opinion about it? Another great substitute to Apple overpriced GPUs ??

 

tsialex

Contributor
Jun 13, 2016
13,067
13,276
Hi guys,

I just have found out about the AMD RX 6950XT card. Its slightly faster.

How probable is it, that it will work in the 7.1 ??

I am on pins and needles to get one and test it in a 7.1. It should use the same driver, shouldn't it??

What's your opinion about it? Another great substitute to Apple overpriced GPUs ??

Not yet compatible with current NAVI drivers, new cards have a different PCIe id.

 
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startergo

macrumors 601
Sep 20, 2018
4,816
2,200
6950xt can be made to work in Hacks by spoofing device-id in OC, bit unfortunately does not work in 7.1. After spoofing and booting the kernel just dies. There is some restriction/incompatibility with the firmware.
 
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startergo

macrumors 601
Sep 20, 2018
4,816
2,200
Can someone please attach or pm me an IOREG backup from 7,1 with W6800X or duo?
I am trying to make an SSDT for my W6800 using the pro drivers and identities 7,1 is using for the W6800x.
 
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