Final Cut Pro X - Which Graphics Card

[SiphoMandle]

What about an rx 470?

 

[lazerbean]

Hi all,

I'm a noob and this is my first post, so please bear with me if I seem a bit dense. I'm in the process of gathering knowledge before attempting my first Hackintosh build, and I have searched and read on this forum for a few days now in an attempt to educate myself: But the issue of graphics cards for hackintosh'es seems like a very complex area, as well as a moving target, as the OS and apps are being updated, so for this reason I hope you don't mind me bringing this up yet again.

Rwillett did a very helpful and good summary in his reply to the OP in this thread - my hope is that someone could please go to the trouble of updating his summary to the current status quo, as some time has passed since 2015 when his summary was originally written:

OK, this is a topic that has been done time and time and time again.

I know this is your first post but its a good idea to search the forums before you ask.

A very quick summary is:

1. nVidia cards work but are not that effective.

2. AMD cards work and are very effective. This ranges from the 5770 (old, serviceable and still very quick and very cheap) to the 280X range.

3. The 280X cards are pretty good value for money. Most seem to work OK, though some have issues with which frame buffer you select. I have dual 280X Vapor-X cards and they just work under Clover, however the mini-display ports don't.

4. Crossfire or SLI or whatever its called doesn't make any difference on OS X. Leave the cable on for Windows though.

5. Multiple identical AMD cards work better in FCP X than single AMD cards. FCP X is optimised for AMD such that dual 5770 cards will easily outpace top end nVidia cards. The cards have to be identical, no mix and matching.

6. Turn off internal graphics cards as FCP may (or may not) prioritise the internal graphics card over your nice fast AMD cards.

7. You can benchmark your cards and FCP X performance using the BruceX benchmark. See first comment on searching the internet.

8. 290X and 295X still seem to be problematic and unless you like playing about with them are best avoided.

9. The 280X is basically the same as the 7970.

10. Some of the 270x cards appear problematic

For a bit more background on my specific needs, for those that may care to come with specific recommendations:
I'm looking to build a CustoMac Pro based on the January 2017 build recommendations. My current workstation is a basic four-core Mid-2010 Mac Pro with a stock 5770 GPU. I could scavenge the GPU from my old MP but as this is my current workstation, and will have to serve backup duty until such time that I feel confident in the stability of my Hackintosh (if ever), I would much rather just leave that card in my old MP, and purchase somethign else for my hack project.

My main needs is for professional stills photo processing (huge amounts of large RAW files as wel as 16-bit editing in Photoshop) using a mix of programs like Photoshop CS6, Capture One 9 (may soon upgrade to C1 10), Lightroom 6, as well as testing out Affinity Photo as a possible long-term Photoshop CC replacement (or I may eventually succumb and become a CC subscriber, I just don't see anything worthwile in CC yet beyond support for newer cameras, which I can always work around using Capture One 10).

My aim is also to get more proficient at video shooting and editing using FCPX and Motion. So I need first and foremost a Hack that will work nicely with the stills programs mentioned above, but will still perform well with FCPX.

Is it still true that multiple AMD cards work better than single Nvidia cards? I'm a bit wary about having to buy second-hand from ebay, as this seems like the only alternative for AMD cards - is that correct? I've been searching for 280X/7970 cards (which gets an honourable mention in rwillets summary) in some of the local shopping search engines where I live (Scandinavia) and I can't find any in stock, so I assume secondhand is the only alternative, and I have to admit I'm a bit sceptical about buying secondhand computer components.

Would any of the newer Nvidia cards be able to compensate for ineffectiveness in FCPX by sheer brute force or through drivers that have improved (I think I saw metion of improved drivers somewhere, but I'm beginning to suffer from information overload after the last couple of days reading ?

The current recommendation in the January CustoMac Pro buying guide is a Nvidia EVGA GTX 960 Super Clocked - what would be the tradeoffs/benefits of going for this one over a 280X/7970 given my usage scenario?

And, even the EVGA GTX 960 Super Clocked is impossible to find new in my part of the world (Scandinavia). I can, however, get a Gainward GeForce GTX 960 Phantom HDMI DP 2xDVI 2GB which is in stock in one of my local shops. Would that card do, or is there a sigificant difference between these cards? (I assume the lesser VRAM accounts for something, but by how much, and are there anything else I should be aware of)?

The next step up that I can source locally is almost double the price up from the 960 - a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 SOC Waterforce HDMI 3xDP 4GB, or the slightly more expensive Galax/KFA2 GeForce GTX 980 Ti HOF HDMI 3xDP 6GB. All EVGA brand GPU's seems like they are sold out (or not imported in the first place) in my part of the world. Is it important which brand of GPU beyond AMD or Nvidia architecture? Or are all "clones" (I'm assuming that is what they are?) with the same "GTX 9XX" kind of name similarly hackintoshable...?

Or is it still a matter of getting hold of a good, second-hand AMD card (or two)? And if so, do anyone have any recommended, trusted sources for second-hand AMD cards that haven't been abused?

Last, but not least, I'm also planning to upgrade my monitor soon. I'm currently looking at the soon-to-be-released BenQ SW320 4K monitor which seems like it ticks an awful lot of boxes for my use at a relatively affordable price (99% AdobeRGB, hardware calibratable through LUT and non-glossy surface at 1/3rd the price of a comparable EIZO). I think I'd still keep my current EIZO CG241W for reference, if the Hackintosh could drive those two monitors side by side. Are there any special considerations i have to make with this monitor setup in mind, or will most of the cards that have been discussed so far be up to the task?

Ok, that was a lot of questions - some of them already answered in here previosly no doubt, in which case I please ask you to bear with me - I would really appreciate pointers in the right direction, as there's a ton of accumulated info in here, and not always easy to find the golden nuggets of knowledge in threads that spans 20-something pages Advance thanks for any input!

 

[rwillett]

Hi all,

For a bit more background on my specific needs, for those that may care to come with specific recommendations:
I'm looking to build a CustoMac Pro based on the January 2017 build recommendations. My current workstation is a basic four-core Mid-2010 Mac Pro with a stock 5770 GPU. I could scavenge the GPU from my old MP but as this is my current workstation, and will have to serve backup duty until such time that I feel confident in the stability of my Hackintosh (if ever), I would much rather just leave that card in my old MP, and purchase somethign else for my hack project.

My main needs is for professional stills photo processing (huge amounts of large RAW files as wel as 16-bit editing in Photoshop) using a mix of programs like Photoshop CS6, Capture One 9 (may soon upgrade to C1 10), Lightroom 6, as well as testing out Affinity Photo as a possible long-term Photoshop CC replacement (or I may eventually succumb and become a CC subscriber, I just don't see anything worthwile in CC yet beyond support for newer cameras, which I can always work around using Capture One 10).

My aim is also to get more proficient at video shooting and editing using FCPX and Motion. So I need first and foremost a Hack that will work nicely with the stills programs mentioned above, but will still perform well with FCPX.

Is it still true that multiple AMD cards work better than single Nvidia cards? I'm a bit wary about having to buy second-hand from ebay, as this seems like the only alternative for AMD cards - is that correct? I've been searching for 280X/7970 cards (which gets an honourable mention in rwillets summary) in some of the local shopping search engines where I live (Scandinavia) and I can't find any in stock, so I assume secondhand is the only alternative, and I have to admit I'm a bit sceptical about buying secondhand computer components.

Would any of the newer Nvidia cards be able to compensate for ineffectiveness in FCPX by sheer brute force or through drivers that have improved (I think I saw metion of improved drivers somewhere, but I'm beginning to suffer from information overload after the last couple of days reading ?

The current recommendation in the January CustoMac Pro buying guide is a Nvidia EVGA GTX 960 Super Clocked - what would be the tradeoffs/benefits of going for this one over a 280X/7970 given my usage scenario?

If your main use if Adobe software and you want to play with FCP X to learn it, then get an nVidia card.

Your stock Apple 5770 will not work very well anyway with a Hackintosh as it has a custom BIOS. From memory you won't get the boot screen so leave it in your Mac Pro.

Affinity Photo is very good, we use it as our main photo editing system along with Affinity Designer. We also use Pixelmator but less so now.

Is it still true that multiple AMD cards work better than single Nvidia cards?

Yes BUT the gap is getting significantly smaller and this is just for FCPX. For your needs get an nVidia card.

I can't comment on specific nVidia cards as I don't have one.

Rob

 

[lazerbean]

Thanks a lot Rob, much appreciated!

Now I just have to find out which nVidia card then...

I found a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 750 Ti OC - 2GB at roughly equivalent to 100 EUR available at a webshop locally, also a KFA2 GeForce GTX 970 HOF White - 4GB at slightly more than twice the price.

I'm trying to figure out which one of those would be better for my needs and most future proof with 4K in mind. I guess the more expensive card would be most future proof, but I haven't been able to find much info about the KFA2 brand, and I'm not sure if the extra expense is really necessary or justified...?

Will continue to search and read in here, but if anyone reads this and have any useful info on any of these cards that I ought to know before pulling the trigger then I would really appreciate it

 

[Kassius]

Hi all,
I have a mac pro with a fourth generation intel core i5 a amd HD5770 AND 16gb ram memory running the El Capitan (10.11.6), i got a second HD5770 and installed it on the mac pro.
I use the Final Cut Pro X for edit videos mostly in 4K.
Here is the problem, i can't notice difference using 1 HD5770 or 2 HD5770. A example, to export a 45 seconds 4k video with lettterings and color correction a 1x HD5770 take 52 seconds and the 2x HD5770 got exactly the same time. Do i need some configuration to put the dual graphic cards to work?

Sorry for the bad english, im still learning it.

 

[rwillett]

Hi all,
I have a mac pro with a fourth generation intel core i5 a amd HD5770 AND 16gb ram memory running the El Capitan (10.11.6), i got a second HD5770 and installed it on the mac pro.
I use the Final Cut Pro X for edit videos mostly in 4K.
Here is the problem, i can't notice difference using 1 HD5770 or 2 HD5770. A example, to export a 45 seconds 4k video with lettterings and color correction a 1x HD5770 take 52 seconds and the 2x HD5770 got exactly the same time. Do i need some configuration to put the dual graphic cards to work?

Sorry for the bad english, im still learning it.

Have you checked that its showing up in About This Mac -> System Report?

It may not be physically installed correctly. I recall when I had a mac Pro 2,1 I just installed a second non-apple 5770 and it worked.

 

[Kassius]

Have you checked that its showing up in About This Mac -> System Report?

It may not be physically installed correctly. I recall when I had a mac Pro 2,1 I just installed a second non-apple 5770 and it worked.

First of all, thaks for the attention.

Looking on the system report on de PCI information both cards are recognised. By the way, both cards are "mac versions".

 

[vandaldeca]

Hi Guys!

I'm having a real serious issue with my FCPX 1.3.1 and my Skylake 6700 with intel iGPU HD 530. FCPX will just randomly reboot my system. Nothing apparently seems to trigger it. It just reboots my system at random times. I can't figure out what's wrong. Anyone facing this similar issue?

Cheers,
Idan

 

[Khalsasingh]

Hi Guys!

I'm having a real serious issue with my FCPX 1.3.1 and my Skylake 6700 with intel iGPU HD 530. FCPX will just randomly reboot my system. Nothing apparently seems to trigger it. It just reboots my system at random times. I can't figure out what's wrong. Anyone facing this similar issue?

Cheers,
Idan

I have the same problem. either it crashes or restarts the computer. its frustrating.

 

[budafilms]

I read al the thread.
Wich is more powerfull gpu for final cut x, 480 or 280x?