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R9280X - Which brand?

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Motherboard
GA-Z87X-UD5H Z87R
CPU
i5-4670K Haswell Quad-Core 3.4GHz
Graphics
ASUS R9280X-DC2T-3GD5 Graphics Cards x2
Mac
  1. iMac
Mobile Phone
  1. Android
  2. iOS
I know, I know, this has been done to death but it seems that a lot of posts that claim their OOB success with FCPX and GPU's just state the card type and not the Brand/re-brand manufacturer.
I am assuming (correct me if I am wrong) that there will be some R9280x cards that might not be as compatible as others due to drivers?
I have found new cards on eBay and the like ranging from about $130 and up. You get what you pay for to an extent but there must be a sweet spot.
I would think that the AMD cards would be the best. After all, it is their own design, but what other cards at, let's say, a nicer price point, are OOB fully compatible.
I am running Yosemite and would like to use either 1 or 2 cards in my hack. I don't game, this Hack is primarily for FCPX.

Also, please specify the "X" version (R280x?) if you would be so kind.

Thanks in advance

J
 
The brand doesn't matter very much, just stay away from XFX, some people had problems with those.
You might want to get a card with reference port layout (2xmDP, 1xHDMI, 1xDVI), since those (well, most of them) have a matching framebuffer in OS X. Otherwise you'd have to do a framebuffer patch in case you want to use InjectAti=True.

Generally I'd get a card with a good cooling system. Those AMD cards use a lot of power compared to current Nvidia cards, so a good cooling will be more silent and extend the life of the card (AMDs reference cooling is crap). E.g. Gigabyte Windforce 3x, Asus DirectCU II, MSI TwinFrozr and Sapphire DualX are good choices.

BUT: As pointed out in the Radeon sticky thread, sleep/wake is currently broken for almost all Radeon cards in El Capitan. If you want to use El Capitan and need sleep, Nvidia is a better choice atm.
 
The brand doesn't matter very much, just stay away from XFX, some people had problems with those.
You might want to get a card with reference port layout (2xmDP, 1xHDMI, 1xDVI), since those (well, most of them) have a matching framebuffer in OS X. Otherwise you'd have to do a framebuffer patch in case you want to use InjectAti=True.

Generally I'd get a card with a good cooling system. Those AMD cards use a lot of power compared to current Nvidia cards, so a good cooling will be more silent and extend the life of the card (AMDs reference cooling is crap). E.g. Gigabyte Windforce 3x, Asus DirectCU II, MSI TwinFrozr and Sapphire DualX are good choices.

BUT: As pointed out in the Radeon sticky thread, sleep/wake is currently broken for almost all Radeon cards in El Capitan. If you want to use El Capitan and need sleep, Nvidia is a better choice atm.

Just thought I'd add: I have an XFX 280X that I got for the two mini-displayports. I did have initial issues but it worked perfectly once I rolled back the firmware using my Windows boot drive. If you don't want to deal with that, definitely go with another brand. However, if you get a good deal then it's not a bad choice. Lifetime warranty, too.
 
Thanks to both of you for you responses. I have been reading A LOT about OpenCL and CUDA and it seems that OpenCL is better handled by FCPX (please correct me if you know otherwise)
Having said that, and knowing that AMD use OpenCL, this article (under the heading Some of my applications are CUDA based & some just have OpenCL support, what should I do?

about a page and a half down, states that the Nvidia cards, specifically the GTX780 and 980 would be a solid choice.

http://create.pro/blog/open-cl-vs-c...upport-gpgpugpu-acceleration-real-world-face/

As the 980 is available from the Tony Mac "Store" link, are these OOB?
Remember, I am running Yosemite.

Thanks again.
J
 
AMD GPUs are usually better at OpenCL but don't support CUDA at all. Nvidia supports both.

As mentioned in the buyers guide, the GTX 980 needs the Nvidia WebDrivers to work, the stock OS X drivers will crash with a Maxwell card installed. GTX 780 will work OOB.
 
Thanks Fl0rian,
I think the GTX 780 is the way to go. Now.........which version?
The quest continues

J
 
Thanks Fl0rian,
I think the GTX 780 is the way to go. Now.........which version?
The quest continues

J

Both these threads will help. If you are serious about FCPX then nVidia cards are not the best cards. A pair of six years old AMD 5770s will easily thrash most nVidia cards for FCPX use.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/161933-final-cut-pro-x-graphics-card.html

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...dware-software-z97x-motherboard-i7-4790k.html

The latter goes down to SKU's on which cards work. Whilst you may get XFX cards to work with a BIOS rebuild, it seems like a lot of effort when the Sapphire cards work well without it.

Rob
 
Both these threads will help. If you are serious about FCPX then nVidia cards are not the best cards. A pair of six years old AMD 5770s will easily thrash most nVidia cards for FCPX use.

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-advice/161933-final-cut-pro-x-graphics-card.html

http://www.tonymacx86.com/buying-ad...dware-software-z97x-motherboard-i7-4790k.html

The latter goes down to SKU's on which cards work. Whilst you may get XFX cards to work with a BIOS rebuild, it seems like a lot of effort when the Sapphire cards work well without it.

Rob


Thanks Rob,
You mentioned in one of your posts that "I would look for any specials on a 280X if you can. Be careful that you get the X version and not the non-X"
Would you get a pair of these over a pair of 5770?

J
 
Thanks Rob,
You mentioned in one of your posts that "I would look for any specials on a 280X if you can. Be careful that you get the X version and not the non-X"
Would you get a pair of these over a pair of 5770?

J

As I say in the posts I linked, a pair of 5770's is about the same speed as a single 280X, so yes, I'd get a pair of 280X cars over a pair of 5770 cards. I have a pair of Sapphire 280X cards which work very well.

There is a significant cost difference though between a pair of 5770s and a single Sapphire 280X card.

Rob
 
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