[GUIDE] Injection of AMD Vega Power and Fan Control Properties

[jaymonkey]

Also, when you have time, can you boot in both A and B and see if you're performance is identical?

@Douirc,

I could be wrong about this but I believe the A - B switch only works in Windows ... at least this is the case with my Sapphire Vega 64 Liquid Cooled card, in MacOS performance is the same regardless of the switch position. When in windows it will be in High TDP mode if the switch is towards the back of the case, and in "Balanced" mode if the switch is towards the front.

Cheers
Jay

 

[jaymonkey]

Is there a list of Vegas that are actually can be controlled by VGtab? I know about reference PSBs but what about custom ones?

@Mech314,

There is no list that I know of, I think the easiest way to know is just by looking at the cooling solution, if it's different from the AMD designs that its most likely got a custom VBIOS.

On Vegas that follow the AMD reference designs, the fan(s) are basically controlled by MacOS through the drivers where as on most 3rd Party OEM designs the fan(s) are either controlled by an onboard temp/fan controller or via the VBIOS.

I think most Vega designs from manufactures such as Gigabyte, Asus, ASRock, XFX .. etc, target the Windows gaming market so engineer their own Cooling Solution and VBIOS without any regard for MacOS. Would be nice if those manufactures could put a sticker on the box indicating full MacOS compatibility but i guess that would be too much to ask.

Cheers
Jay

 

[demonknight9]

@Mech314,

There is no list that I know of, I think the easiest way to know is just by looking at the cooling solution, if it's different from the AMD designs that its most likely got a custom VBIOS.

On Vegas that follow the AMD reference designs, the fan(s) are basically controlled by MacOS through the drivers where as on most 3rd Party OEM designs the fan(s) are either controlled by an onboard temp/fan controller or via the VBIOS.

I think most Vega designs from manufactures such as Gigabyte, Asus, ASRock, XFX .. etc, target the Windows gaming market so engineer their own Cooling Solution and VBIOS without any regard for MacOS. Would be nice if those manufactures could put a sticker on the box indicating full MacOS compatibility but i guess that would be too much to ask.

Cheers
Jay

Thanks for the guide Jay. It was super helpful

 

[DaTony]

I have injected SoftPowerPlayTable to my Vega 64 with just changing idle to 900rpm, since it was way too noisy.
(to be exactly: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=AE163547-6889-4073-BBF6-9DB2C45BB233&lang=deu )

But I noticed a very strange noise every time when I scroll or change window position, it sounds like a little short circuit.
I am sure it is not a short circuit, but it is the best association to describe it with.
Also, the blue/red light indicators went on and off in serial sequence.
Here a Video: http://sendvid.com/iwok1q19

1. My question, should/could I put also 300 or 500 as idle without risk? Because the fans should regulate still themselves higher if needed?
2. Are the lights and strange hum/buzz noise, parallel to my bigger screen moves, normal?

 

[Dutchie2]

I have injected SoftPowerPlayTable to my Vega 64 with just changing idle to 900rpm, since it was way too noisy.
(to be exactly: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=AE163547-6889-4073-BBF6-9DB2C45BB233&lang=deu )

But I noticed a very strange noise every time when I scroll or change window position, it sounds like a little short circuit.
I am sure it is not a short circuit, but it is the best association to describe it with.
Also, the blue/red light indicators went on and off in serial sequence.
Here a Video: http://sendvid.com/iwok1q19

1. My question, should/could I put also 300 or 500 as idle without risk? Because the fans should regulate still themselves higher if needed?
2. Are the lights and strange hum/buzz noise, parallel to my bigger screen moves, normal?

I've got an Sapphire nitro+ Vega 56, the fans are standaard (below 50 deg.) off. With the Vega_Tab kext I made the fans are on, have a look at my settings -> screenshot.
Perhaps we can try even a lower fan speed.

 

[demonknight9]

I've got an Sapphire nitro+ Vega 56, the fans are standaard (below 50 deg.) off. With the Vega_Tab kext I made the fans are on, have a look at my settings -> screenshot.
Perhaps we can try even a lower fan speed.

Does that turn the fans off on idle? I have 55c target temp, idle and min at 400rpm and target speed at 1500rpm and max 2500rpm. I will need to test with VGTab disabled after the latest 10.14.3 Supplemental update. Apple might have fixed our fan problems but I doubt it

 

[JozoR]

I've got an Sapphire nitro+ Vega 56, the fans are standaard (below 50 deg.) off. With the Vega_Tab kext I made the fans are on, have a look at my settings -> screenshot.
Perhaps we can try even a lower fan speed.

Try Idle at 400. With this speed voltage is too low to allow fans to spin. On my Powercolor Red Dragon Vega 56 flashed with Nitro+ BIOS (but that probably wasn't needed) fans are off until needed. Change target temp to 50 °C.

As for control of fans via VGTab on after market cooling of Vegas – afaik it should work anyway as we set Soft power tables in card and those command tables are standard for every Vega. With our custom Soft power table we are telling the BIOS that it should change fan speed (thus voltage) at given temperature. BIOS, even custom one then handles fan speed on it's own after it receives command to do so.

I see no reason why it shouldn't work then. After all, we are doing the same as under Windows either in Wattman or Afterburner. And as many examples here show (mine included) it works.

Don't forget guys – 800 or even 700 RPM for Idle fans on custom cooling cards that allows Fans off is way too much to have fans turned off in Idle. Change it to 400 or even 200 and you are good. Don't forget, you are not setting RPM of fans. This is just upper layer above the voltage control of fans. By changing RPM we change max. voltage fans gets via cables. If RPM at idle is above some treshold, there is bigger voltage that allows them to spin which we don't want if our cooling allows it.

Be aware, you should ALWAYS VISUALLY check your GPU fans when experimenting with this. Wrong setting on Target RPM and your fans may never even start to spin, which is BAD and might damage your card given a big temperature!

 

[NOHOPEFORYOUNOW]

yep, third party not supported (only the sapphire pulse/nitro seem to work)

 

[jaymonkey]

I have injected SoftPowerPlayTable to my Vega 64 with just changing idle to 900rpm, since it was way too noisy.

But I noticed a very strange noise every time when I scroll or change window position, it sounds like a little short circuit.
I am sure it is not a short circuit, but it is the best association to describe it with.

@DaTony,

The noise is most likely coil whine .. its a common issue ..

You could try a slight undervolt of the HBM and Core Voltages which can help to reduce it but it wont get rid of it completely.

Cheers
Jay

 

[skydevment]

I've just got my Sapphire Radeon RX Vega 56 8176 MB in my system and was playing around with VGTab. On the first inspection it seems to work but i'm not sure. The HW Monitor displays Total Power around 400 Watt on the desktop and a temprature around 75° C at idle so it's never lowering the fan speed and the card is audible. Is that behavior normal?