macOS Sierra PB: Need testers for new AMD Radeon drivers!

[Gigamaxx]

With FCPX 10.3.1 you need to delete some of the Skylake graphics drivers. There currently seems to be a conflict in the latest version of fcpx.

You removed the SKL CRB kexts, or some of them right? If your using a graphics card this is a great fix since you don't really need the igpu functionality only to get the RX or other AMD cards working.

 

[jerryy2345]

...

Did today's AMD announcements at the CES show make you happy?

 

[Gigamaxx]

Did today's AMD announcements at the CES show make you happy?

Ryzen now and Vega 6-10 months from now! Real HappyQ!f&...@Ryzen.

If and that's a pretty big IF Vega 10 is as good as they're claiming this will be good for us. If they did come out with Vega first, I bet nobody would bother to buy the Zen boards so I guess they did what they had to do. Turds!

 

[TwoSenses]

This FCP X issue is intriguing me even if I don't use FCP X. According to Digital Rebellion it's an issue with Effect Rendering and Flexo. Since FCP X opens up the last event and timeline it crashes when attempting to render it.

4 Flexo 0x00000001040a863b -[FFRendererInfo initWithLocation:] + 587​

Deleting those two bundles does work (they are the OpenGL and the Metal drivers respectively) but that effectively kills the iGPU which for people using only the dGPU it's not an issue. Those of us who will be using a secondary monitor plugged into the iGPU it will cause issues most likely.

I have 10.2.3 and that opens with no issue! So this is one of those "start playing with Final Cut Pro.app and it's various parts" or just wait until Apple silently releases an update to Final Cut Pro that fixes this.

Of course with 10.2.3 I can report that the kext mod makes my BruceX benchmark 27 seconds, a good 10 second drop. I'm sure if I upgrade my RAM it'll drop even more.

And at this point I should take my screwing around in Final Cut Pro to a new thread! Or just not screw around with it and use 10.2.3 for now until Apple releases 10.3.2

 

[TwoSenses]

The latest version of Premiere Pro has Metal support under Project Settings for Video Rendering and Playback.

Speaking as someone who supports a ton of media companies they almost all use Adobe Premiere for editing. I know of two clients who use Avid, one client who still uses FCP 7 (somehow) and one who uses FCP X. And that client with FCP X is starting to switch to Premiere. So you should learn Premiere, it's easy to pick up if you've ever used FCP 7. Oh and they're all on Macs which is all AMD so sure it may be more CUDA but with Metal support who knows.

I'll throw a demo of Premiere and run some tests between CPU, OpenCL and Metal. I can't test CUDA since I don't have an Nvidia card. Though it'll be a benchmark project (probably from http://ppbm7.com/index.php/homepage/instructions) though I just remembered I have some test footage from a client from a C300, two Sony cameras and a RED all in camera raw format so we'll see how Premiere handles those.

 

[Gigamaxx]

The Red Devil wants 16 lanes. X99 systems with Xeon chips can accommodate more lanes but most cpus don't.

If your config.plist is good you can do the black screen boot. You set cover settings to auto boot, when you turn on your computer it will be a black screen until you reach the log in screen. That's with one screen, if you have two you can see everything.

I am using a vga cable to my igpu (vga is not supported in Sierra) and have HDMI connected to the RX card. When I boot I see the clover screen (vga) and when it reaches Sierra the vga drops and I select hdmi input on the monitor. Some monitors have dual hdmi inputs and work this was as well. I've had dual and triple monitors connected at various times so there are many ways to configure your setup.

 

[Fl0r!an]

I don't plan to use Intels internal GPU, just the choosen PCIe card. So when i disable the iGPU in BIOS (if possible) and just use the plugged one - shouldn't it be easier to get the System conflict free up and running?

The problem is that the RX 480 isn't able to work as primary GPU at the moment, so you'll need to configure your iGPU as primary (which can introduce problems FCPX).

As for the PCIe lanes: There are also some PCIe lanes coming from the PCH (through DMI connection), so you can easily use a fast GPU and PCIe m.2 storage at the same time.

The Samsung SM951 is available both in AHCI and NVMe flavors. AHCI tends to be a bit more pricey, but that's just how it is. Compare with Apple SSD prices and be happy!

 

[rhys216]

Now here are my two bits. I swore I would never stop using FCPX. I'm in love with it, and can do more with it than anyone I know. All that said, I've finally had to admit this year that it's just not sustainable longterm. Unless you want to get stuck or have your potential capped, you need to be ready to start using Adobe. And even if you have all the workarounds like I do, and kept using FCPX, you're still going to end up using After Effects, which requires way more horsepower than FCPX (my laptop can handle 5k & 6k RED raw in FCPX, while shitting the bed in AE), and Adobe stuff is far more optimized for CUDA.

Do you have to do this with Hackintoshs on every new version of an application of just as long as your system has a stable and working status and then never again if you don't change it?

No. This is the first time I had this issue with fcpx. The only times you would need to do this is when you update sierra to a new version. Unless apple update fcpx so it doesn't have this issue like earlier versions didn't.

Tbh I really like fcpx especially 10.3.1, it's incredibly fast on my system compared with adobe alternatives.
Combined with colorfinale it makes grading etc really easy. I use LUT's and lookconverter to basically convert my lightroom tools for colour correction etc. to use in fcpx. It basically allows me to edit video as if it were a picture in lightroom.
It also allows me to apply things like VSCO film simulation onto video which works really well.

 

[rhys216]

AMD cards use Opencl.

I don't game and just use my gpu for fcpx. An rx480 smokes a 980ti in that. And in terms of performance, fcpx smokes premiere etc. it really isn't even a close.
https://www.macprovideo.com/hub/final-cut/final-cut-pro-x-vs-adobe-premiere-pro-performance-test

Using a gpu in lightroom seems pointless to me. When you scroll from image to image in develop module, the image blurs and then sharpens (even with previews pre-rendered), which hurts my eyes. You don't get this when you disable GPU acceleration and just pre-render previews.
Lightroom is basically the slowest least optimised image editor there is, despite being the most used. As far as I'm concerned adobe really need to up their game in terms of optimisation and code quality. Processing D810 raws on a maxed 5k imac was torture. Hence the addition of my hackintosh. FCPX in comparison ran really fast and smooth on a 5k screen because the coding is optimised well.

 

[Fl0r!an]

So my question is: when i build my system tomorrow, and get it "best practice working", is it realistic that we'll see a better support or dedicated drivers in the upcoming time to get this AMD GPU working more easily, probably OOB like R280 cards nowdays? I just hope it won't turn into a drama like with Pascal cards today.

The issue with AMD cards is around since El Capitan Beta 1 was seeded, so it's more than 1.5 years now. I wouldn't expect it to be fixed any time soon.

If we're lucky, Apple will add official support for the RX 480 soon, so we won't need to spoof the device ID and hack the accelerator kext for full performance. The boot to black screen issue will most likely persist, requiring the iGPU as primary graphics device.