iMac Pro X299 - Live the Future now with macOS 10.14 Mojave [Successful Build/Extended Guide]

[izo1]

Hmm........I've never had any of these issues with the Nitro+ Vega 64, either one of them.....and I do an awful lot of exporting to a large number of formats, from Premiere, Media Composer and sometimes Resolve.

This is a known issue even with a real iMac Pro.

There’s various users who had the same issue on this forum as well.

 

[ddsmith11111993]

Hello all, a couple of questions after updating to Mojave:

-Could anyone provide some advice on how to set VGTab so the Sapphire Vega 64 Nitro+ runs quieter? The fans are loud and the coil whine drives me insane. This is the third card, btw, before you ask whether I've had it replaced...

-I asked the man, the myth the legend (kgp) on the 10.13.6 thread about SpeedStep (EIST) and he told me to turn it off, but in the Mojave guide the setting is still "Enabled". Could someone please tell me which the right setting is? Don't wanna annoy the man again.

Thank you very much and a happy year to you all,

Dan

 

[izo1]

Could maybe the firmware update procedure (that was accidentally included with a particular build of High Sierra 10.13.3) also work for the 5Gb version Aquantia controller?
Note: if it does work, would probably disable proper LAN port functionality under Windows.

Yeah I'm trying to avoid that route...I wish there was an OOB ability.

 

[izo1]

Hello all, a couple of questions after updating to Mojave:

-Could anyone provide some advice on how to set VGTab so the Sapphire Vega 64 Nitro+ runs quieter? The fans are loud and the coil whine drives me insane. This is the third card, btw, before you ask whether I've had it replaced...

-I asked the man, the myth the legend (kgp) on the 10.13.6 thread about SpeedStep (EIST) and he told me to turn it off, but in the Mojave guide the setting is still "Enabled". Could someone please tell me which the right setting is? Don't wanna annoy the man again.

Thank you very much and a happy year to you all,

Dan

Almost all Vega core packages are similar. Some are binned better (Vega Frontier Air + Water Cooled get the best binned GPUs) and some are lower tier Vega GPUs (think of the Vega 64 with AMD stock coolers).

The difference lies in how a particular board partner does their BIOS and cooler, in your case the Sapphire.

Since it's a different cooler than the other Vegas, most likely your "Target Speed" is similar to a stock one as seen in the VGTab defaults.

I would advise you just give it a try and then run Valley Benchmark for maybe 20-30 mins and see how fast the fans run and how hot the GPU core gets (85c max thermal for Vega is ok, but better to stay below that).

So try these with VGTab:

Idle Speed:
850

Target Speed:
2000

Minimum Speed:
400

Maximum Speed
3000 (also try 2600 if 3000 is too loud).

Target Temperature:
75 (be wary of this, the default is 70)

Then drop that built kext in your efi/other and reboot and do the test.

It's worth trying lower Maximum Speeds because you have a cooler with 3 big fans on it, so it doesn't really need to hit 4900 or so.

Usually with Triple fan setups anything above 1200RPM will have audible noise.

But also keep in mind you need to be checking the GPU core temp while you're benchmarking. Make sure it stays below 85c anything higher you will start throttling and it may damage your GPU (if you keep it running) since you're forcing a power table that's not within spec.

If you see temps spike up really quickly to 85c stop the benchmark and either delete the VGTab kext/reboot or try another variation.

Remember, Vega is a ridiculously powerful card (and power hungry by default), however the way AMD designed them made it into a super power hungry card because they were trying to compete with NVIDIA.

I personally undervolt the GPU in Windows and it drops down by at least 70watts while I bump the memory speeds a tiny bit, and I get exactly the same (if not better) performance in video games. So all in all AMD has, by default really bumped the voltage too high out of factory.

With VGTab you're only tweaking the fan speeds but the voltage stays the same.

I would, in your case, flip the small switch thats near the back ports on the card away from it, this will run Vega in "Standard" mode, which means less generated heat/less noise/slower fan speeds (with VGTab).

Hope this helps.

 

[ddsmith11111993]

Almost all Vega core packages are similar. Some are binned better (Vega Frontier Air + Water Cooled get the best binned GPUs) and some are lower tier Vega GPUs (think of the Vega 64 with AMD stock coolers).

The difference lies in how a particular board partner does their BIOS and cooler, in your case the Sapphire.

Since it's a different cooler than the other Vegas, most likely your "Target Speed" is similar to a stock one as seen in the VGTab defaults.

I would advise you just give it a try and then run Valley Benchmark for maybe 20-30 mins and see how fast the fans run and how hot the GPU core gets (85c max thermal for Vega is ok, but better to stay below that).

So try these with VGTab:

Idle Speed:
850

Target Speed:
2000

Minimum Speed:
400

Maximum Speed
3000 (also try 2600 if 3000 is too loud).

Target Temperature:
75 (be wary of this, the default is 70)

Then drop that built kext in your efi/other and reboot and do the test.

It's worth trying lower Maximum Speeds because you have a cooler with 3 big fans on it, so it doesn't really need to hit 4900 or so.

Usually with Triple fan setups anything above 1200RPM will have audible noise.

But also keep in mind you need to be checking the GPU core temp while you're benchmarking. Make sure it stays below 85c anything higher you will start throttling and it may damage your GPU (if you keep it running) since you're forcing a power table that's not within spec.

If you see temps spike up really quickly to 85c stop the benchmark and either delete the VGTab kext/reboot or try another variation.

Remember, Vega is a ridiculously powerful card (and power hungry by default), however the way AMD designed them made it into a super power hungry card because they were trying to compete with NVIDIA.

I personally undervolt the GPU in Windows and it drops down by at least 70watts while I bump the memory speeds a tiny bit, and I get exactly the same (if not better) performance in video games. So all in all AMD has, by default really bumped the voltage too high out of factory.

With VGTab you're only tweaking the fan speeds but the voltage stays the same.

I would, in your case, flip the small switch thats near the back ports on the card away from it, this will run Vega in "Standard" mode, which means less generated heat/less noise/slower fan speeds (with VGTab).

Hope this helps.

Thank you very much for the detailed reply!
I am a professional music composer, I don't game or do anything graphically intensive under MacOs, just under Windows and for that I have a secondary system. I am looking for a way to make the card basically shut up while not destroying itself. For the fans I removed the PowerPlayTable, the PP_DisablePowerContainment and the PP_FuzzyFanControl and replaced them with DisableFanControl=1. Note: I use the SSDT.
That took care of the fan noise, since the card basically turns the fans off and on on its own (contrary to some posts saying that the automatic fan off is disabled). At least I ran Valley, the fans ramped up, then ramped down and eventually turned off on their own after a while.
I still have the coil whine though.

My questions for you: Is the Valley temp readout reliable or do you use the terminal command?
Also, do you have any input on EIST on/off under Mojave?

Thank you very much,

Dan

 

[kgp]

Totally get that & appreciate you taking time to share your expertise. I've not ordered the Sapphire Vega+ RX580 yet, and I was just going to do the initial install by pulling the AORUS RX580 from my PowerUP build. The Sapphire NITRO+ Vega 64 is like $700 @ NewEgg & was recommended by my esteemed colleague @kgp. But it sounds like that recommendation was based on more robust abilities to tweak fan speed/noise, and some fun stuff with LEDs. Since my CPU box will be sitting in another room (to mitigate machine noise), that's why I thought the Sapphire RX580 would be a prudent choice. But if iMacPro 1,1's actual hardware is a Vega 64, then it makes total sense to go that route.

I will start looking at some other brands/models of Vega 64. In the meantime, as I'm reading over the notes, in C.1b, there is a note "Also Nvidia Kepler Graphics Cards are natively implemented." I actually have a spare Kepler card - EVGA GeForce GT740SC. I'm wondering if I can use this successfully for initial build/install purposes only, and that will buy me some time to find a proper Vega 64 card & get it in-hand?

I agree with @izo1. If you have a spare Kepler or RX580 GPU, use it for your initial setup. If you are not content with the performance or you run into problems due to missing iGPU support with SMBIOS iMacPro1,1, change to Vega 64. If you are on X299 and Skylake-X, don’t abandon SMBIOS iMacPro1,1 due to expectable RX580 issues. Rather go for a Vega 64 in this case.

Good luck,

KGP

 

[kgp]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply!
I am a professional music composer, I don't game or do anything graphically intensive under MacOs, just under Windows and for that I have a secondary system. I am looking for a way to make the card basically shut up while not destroying itself. For the fans I removed the PowerPlayTable, the PP_DisablePowerContainment and the PP_FuzzyFanControl and replaced them with DisableFanControl=1. Note: I use the SSDT.
That took care of the fan noise, since the card basically turns the fans off and on on its own (contrary to some posts saying that the automatic fan off is disabled). At least I ran Valley, the fans ramped up, then ramped down and eventually turned off on their own after a while.
I still have the coil whine though.

My questions for you: Is the Valley temp readout reliable or do you use the terminal command?
Also, do you have any input on EIST on/off under Mojave?

Thank you very much,

Dan

EIST should be off also under Mojave.

The Valley GPU temps are reliable.

 

[ddsmith11111993]

EIST should be off also under Mojave.

The Valley GPU temps are reliable.

Thank you very much for the reply. Would you be able to provide a "cool and quiet" (limit coil whine and fan noise) .aml please? I am running the default BIOS on the position away from the ports/back of the case. I am not so sure the DisableFanControl setting is very good for the card, the fans don't ramp up under valley and the temp sits around 87°... Terminal reports 70° at the same time...Not sure who to believe anymore.

Thanks again,

Dan

 

[kgp]

Almost all Vega core packages are similar. Some are binned better (Vega Frontier Air + Water Cooled get the best binned GPUs) and some are lower tier Vega GPUs (think of the Vega 64 with AMD stock coolers).

The difference lies in how a particular board partner does their BIOS and cooler, in your case the Sapphire.

Since it's a different cooler than the other Vegas, most likely your "Target Speed" is similar to a stock one as seen in the VGTab defaults.

I would advise you just give it a try and then run Valley Benchmark for maybe 20-30 mins and see how fast the fans run and how hot the GPU core gets (85c max thermal for Vega is ok, but better to stay below that).

So try these with VGTab:

Idle Speed:
850

Target Speed:
2000

Minimum Speed:
400

Maximum Speed
3000 (also try 2600 if 3000 is too loud).

Target Temperature:
75 (be wary of this, the default is 70)

Then drop that built kext in your efi/other and reboot and do the test.

It's worth trying lower Maximum Speeds because you have a cooler with 3 big fans on it, so it doesn't really need to hit 4900 or so.

Usually with Triple fan setups anything above 1200RPM will have audible noise.

But also keep in mind you need to be checking the GPU core temp while you're benchmarking. Make sure it stays below 85c anything higher you will start throttling and it may damage your GPU (if you keep it running) since you're forcing a power table that's not within spec.

If you see temps spike up really quickly to 85c stop the benchmark and either delete the VGTab kext/reboot or try another variation.

Remember, Vega is a ridiculously powerful card (and power hungry by default), however the way AMD designed them made it into a super power hungry card because they were trying to compete with NVIDIA.

I personally undervolt the GPU in Windows and it drops down by at least 70watts while I bump the memory speeds a tiny bit, and I get exactly the same (if not better) performance in video games. So all in all AMD has, by default really bumped the voltage too high out of factory.

With VGTab you're only tweaking the fan speeds but the voltage stays the same.

I would, in your case, flip the small switch thats near the back ports on the card away from it, this will run Vega in "Standard" mode, which means less generated heat/less noise/slower fan speeds (with VGTab).

Hope this helps.

I do not recommend to use the VGTab kext in line with the Vega SSDT. VGTab can create a loadtable directly to be implemented in the Vega SSDT with copy and paste. Absolutely no need for the kext. The VGTab loadtable does not only account for fan speed settings but also allows the modification of GPU frequency and voltage during different GPU load conditions. In fact the idea is to choose a proper combination of GPU frequencies, voltages and fan rotations.

Good luck,

KGP

 

[kgp]

Thank you very much for the reply. Would you be able to provide a "cool and quiet" (limit coil whine and fan noise) .aml please? I am running the default BIOS on the position away from the ports/back of the case. I am not so sure the DisableFanControl setting is very good for the card, the fans don't ramp up under valley and the temp sits around 87°... Terminal reports 70° at the same time...Not sure who to believe anymore.

Thanks again,

Dan

See post 1012. Else, Valley and Heaven GPU temps might slightly deviate from iStat Menus. Anyway.. with my load table for my water blocked Sapphire Nitro+ Vega 64 in my Vega SSDT, I reach 78 deg C at most under both valley and heaven with else quite resenable performance.

Now I really would like to continue with my holidays.

Cheers,

KGP