Changing the graphics card. Help in choosing.

[xsynapse]

Hello gentlemen

I will not write long and I will try to provide only the specifics.

Well, I want to replace the RTX Geforce 2060 Super with a card from the AMD family. I am asking you for advice in choosing a card so that it is at the same level of performance as the mentioned Geforce, or even better. I work at Davinci Resolve and Premiere Pro, so I need an efficient monster for 4K renderings etc.

I'm not complaining about rtx, but i want to go back to mac. Windows is ... terrible.

 

[Edhawk]

Currently the closest AMD matches would be the RX 5700 XT and the Radeon VII.

See this High End GPU comparison chart - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

• The RTX 2060 Super is ranked - 30
• The RX 5700 XT is ranked - 26
• The Radeon VII is ranked - 23

Here is a side by side comparison of the three GPUs - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...XT-vs-GeForce-RTX-2060-SUPER/4050vs4111vs4117

The newer RX 6000-series GPU's are not supported in macOS as yet, this may change. You may want to hang on till the RX 6800 XT is supported, it is currently ranked - 4 on the High End chart - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+RX+6800+XT&id=4312

You may find that the cost of these AMD cards are prohibitively high. If you are serious about switching to macOS and using an AMD card, you may need to look at the second-hand market for an RX 5700 XT or Radeon VII, on eBay or similar sites.

 

[xsynapse]

Currently the closest AMD matches would be the RX 5700 XT and the Radeon VII.

See this High End GPU comparison chart - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

• The RTX 2060 Super is ranked - 30
• The RX 5700 XT is ranked - 26
• The Radeon VII is ranked - 23

Here is a side by side comparison of the three GPUs - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/...XT-vs-GeForce-RTX-2060-SUPER/4050vs4111vs4117

The newer RX 6000-series GPU's are not supported in macOS as yet, this may change. You may want to hang on till the RX 6800 XT is supported, it is currently ranked - 4 on the High End chart - https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+RX+6800+XT&id=4312

You may find that the cost of these AMD cards are prohibitively high. If you are serious about switching to macOS and using an AMD card, you may need to look at the second-hand market for an RX 5700 XT or Radeon VII, on eBay or similar sites.

Thank you very much. You helped me a lot.

My computer is used for work. I don't play games on it. I am a film colorist and mainly work on DaVinci Resolve. I built a more powerful PC to save some money which is why I worked on Windows 10 for over a year.

Should I consider anything? I don't know ... if something will not fit together, if DaVinci Resolve will work smoothly with my configuration etc.

 

[Edhawk]

From what I understand about DaVinci Resolve either of the two AMD GPUs I mentioned should be fine for 4K editing. The Radeon VII would be better if you are working with 6K or 8K video. As it has twice the VRAM compared to the RX 5700 XT.

 

[jaymonkey]

My computer is used for work. I don't play games on it. I am a film colorist and mainly work on DaVinci Resolve. I built a more powerful PC to save some money which is why I worked on Windows 10 for over a year.

@xsynapse,

As @Edhawk states above, the Radeon VII is a much better GPU for heavy compute workflows such as 3D, 4K and 8K video editing .. etc, in most real world compute tests the Radeon VII beats the 5700 XT due to its 16GB of fast, on-die HBM2 memory. The MacOS drivers for it are also more mature than those for the 5700 XT.

The Radeon VII is also know as a Vega 2 card, its basically the same architecture as the Vega 56 and 64 but manufactured using a 7nm process with more compute units. Apple uses the same Vega 2 GPU chips in the MPX modules for the 2019 Mac Pro so its fair to say that the Vega 2 GPU drivers are probably the most well maintained.

The only thing you need to be careful about with when choosing a Radeon VII is that it still draws a lot of power (over 380W) despite it being a 7nm design, so make sure you have a good quality PSU (such as CORSAIR) with at least 800W and use a good sized case that has excellent air flow around the PCI slots.

Many of the reported problems with the Radeon VII where down to the fact that the PSU wasn't keeping up with the GPU power demands and/or the card throttling heavy due to poor air flow.

I believe that EK produce a water block for the Radeon VII which would be the ultimate cooling solution for that card. I have a water cooled Vega 64 (AMD reference AIO) which also draws a lot of power (around 360W) under sustained full load but it never get hotter than 65 degs C and never throttles or makes much noise. I was always surprised that AMD never released water cooled version of the Radeon VII themselves like they did with the Vega 64.

Cheers
Jay

 

[xsynapse]

@xsynapse,

As @Edhawk states above, the Radeon VII is a much better GPU for heavy compute workflows such as 3D, 4K and 8K video editing .. etc, in most real world compute tests the Radeon VII beats the 5700 XT due to its 16GB of fast, on-die HBM2 memory. The MacOS drivers for it are also more mature than those for the 5700 XT.

The Radeon VII is also know as a Vega 2 card, its basically the same architecture as the Vega 56 and 64 but manufactured using a 7nm process with more compute units. Apple uses the same Vega 2 GPU chips in the MPX modules for the 2019 Mac Pro so its fair to say that the Vega 2 GPU drivers are probably the most well maintained.

The only thing you need to be careful about with when choosing a Radeon VII is that it still draws a lot of power (over 380W) despite it being a 7nm design, so make sure you have a good quality PSU (such as CORSAIR) with at least 800W and use a good sized case that has excellent air flow around the PCI slots.

Many of the reported problems with the Radeon VII where down to the fact that the PSU wasn't keeping up with the GPU power demands and/or the card throttling heavy due to poor air flow.

I believe that EK produce a water block for the Radeon VII which would be the ultimate cooling solution for that card. I have a water cooled Vega 64 (AMD reference AIO) which also draws a lot of power (around 360W) under sustained full load but it never get hotter than 65 degs C and never throttles or makes much noise. I was always surprised that AMD never released water cooled version of the Radeon VII themselves like they did with the Vega 64.

Cheers
Jay

Jay, are you a card manufacturer? Do you work as an engineer? Man, you rock Thank you very much!

Radeon VII is hard to get, because it is no longer produced. Generally now anything is hard to get. Do you know when the delivery of cards will be? I live in Europe and it's hard to access and the auction prices are sick.

 

[CelestinSOUM90]

I found models of radeon VII for sale on alibaba, I do not know if it is good but it is

 

[jaymonkey]

Jay, are you a card manufacturer? Do you work as an engineer? Man, you rock Thank you very much!

@xsynapse,

I have designed custom PCI cards in the past but never a GPU ...

Radeon VII is hard to get, because it is no longer produced. Generally now anything is hard to get. Do you know when the delivery of cards will be? I live in Europe and it's hard to access and the auction prices are sick.

Yes ... the current boom in crypto-mining has caused a global shortage of new mid and high range GPU's which has sadly pushed the used market prices up. The Radeon ViII is a good card for crypto-mining so used ones are going to be snapped up quickly.

The boom in crypto-mining along with a global general chip shortage and some foundries still powered down from Covid makes this a perfect storm and a very difficult time for anyone wanting to upgrading a GPU.

The only thing you can do is keep searching ... new XFX Branded Radeon VII's sometimes pop up on sites like Overclockers in the UK ... and yes you can safely use a XFX Radeon VII with MacOS as it has the same reference design and VBIOS as the AMD one, All Radeon VII's no matter what brand are the same AMD reference design.

If you don't need the raw compute power of a Radeon VII then you could try for a used Vega 64 which is still a very capable GPU for use with MacOS compute based workflows. I bought my water cooled Vega 64 used on eBay a few years ago ... it was one of the best PC/Hack purchases I ever made.

Cheers
Jay