Sapphire Pulse Vega 56 8GB

[alexjibcam]

@thesamesons,

Vega GPU's are currently the most powerful Supported GPU's in MacOS ... Either Vega 56 or Vega 64 are a fine choice.

However not all Vega's are made equal especially when it comes to the VBIOS, best to stick with one that is based on the AMD reference design as some of the Gaming O/C variants can be problematic.

If in any doubt get a Sapphire one as they always follow the AMD Reference design.

If the Fans are a issue then use the VGTab utility see this guide for more info :-

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...vega-power-and-fan-control-properties.267519/




@Wolax,

I have Vega 64 running in my i7 4790K Video Editing system (HD 4600 IGPU configured as headless) main use of system is FCPX and it runs great on the Vega, BruceX Test comes it at around 18 seconds, previously I had Nvidia 980 Ti which gave a BruceX Test time of around 41 seconds.

I edit all my videos on the system and have never had any issues with FCPX.

I think the key to making FCPX run well on a Hack is to ensure that the IGPU is enabled and configured as headless as FCPX load balances across the IGPU and dGPU.

Cheers
Jay

Hi Jay,

So i'm having slower than expected speed issues since installing my Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse. I purchased this in the hope of improving my fcpx performance. I wonder if it has something to do with my Haswell CPU and utilizing the iGPU h.264 over the VEGAs render engine?

Originally i had dual 270X which would get me a bruce x score of 30sec with a LuxMark speed of 15000 approx.

I then purchased a RX580 and didn't see substantial gains (BruceX - 22Sec, Luxmark still around 15000).

With my Vega 56 I am getting a great Luxmark score of 27000 but Bruce X is down to 35 Sec. Kinda wish i'd stuck with the RX580 as this is solely for FCPX use.

I have iGPU enabled but have heard people getting BruceX scores of less than 15sec with the VEGAs such as yourself. What are your thoughts?

I have followed the full guide using Hackintool on Luli and WG and have updated platform ID's and am running now running system definitions 18,3. If i use the correct 15,3 to match my CPU i get the problem of FCPX crashing and no H.264 exports. iGPU appears to be fully working for h.264 & HEVC now via Hardware info. Do i need to run the shiki boot flag shikigva=32 or is this irrelevant?

Would love to get better speeds on my VEGA 56? Could it be something to do with my older Haswell CPU?

Many Thanks,

Alex

 

[jaymonkey]

I have followed the full guide using Hackintool on Luli and WG and have updated platform ID's and am running now running system definitions 18,3. If i use the correct 15,3 to match my CPU i get the problem of FCPX crashing and no H.264 exports. iGPU appears to be fully working for h.264 & HEVC now via Hardware info. Do i need to run the shiki boot flag shikigva=32 or is this irrelevant?

@alexjibcam,

FCPX will use both IGPU and dGPU which is why it's important to use IGPU in headless mode and to use correct SMBIOS.
For Haswell CPU you should use iMac15,1 not iMac15,3 as you have written above. Using iMac18,3 is not recommended as MacOs will attempt to use Kaby Lake CPU features and instructions that your Haswell CPU does not have.

Device Properties in you config.plist look ok and are the same I use although i don't use any additional frame buffer patches (you have framebuffer-unifiedmem = 00000080 ) since IGPU is running in headless there should be no need for any additional patches ... suggest you remove framebuffer-patch-enable and framebuffer-unifiedmem and use iMac15,1 SMBIOS.

Other observations.

Enable: Kext-Dev-Mode=1 in Config.plist / Boot options

You don't have any SSDT hot patches and no ACPI fixes or renames enabled in Clover, so i would think you've got quite a few ACPI related issues which will almost certainly not be helping. I would say that this is the area you most need to concentrate on ..

For me I had a BruceX score of around 41 seconds with GTX 980Ti, once I replaced the Nvidia card with Vega 64 this came down to around 18 seconds ... i did not do anything else other than to resolve the Vega Fan/Temp issue using the method i detailed in this guide :-

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...vega-power-and-fan-control-properties.267519/

WhatEverGreen now deals with the shiki patch automatically so there should be no need for any additional boot flags.

Cheers
Jay

 

[alexjibcam]

@alexjibcam,
You don't have any SSDT hot patches and no ACPI fixes or renames enabled in Clover, so i would think you've got quite a few ACPI related issues which will almost certainly not be helping. I would say that this is the area you most need to concentrate on ..

Thanks for your reply Jay, I followed your steps there with no joy in generating faster speeds. One of the things that I was wondering is- in my BIOS the iGPU is set to 64MB. Would it be beneficial to raise this?

I also was wondering if you could advise more on my SSDT hot patches and ACPI fixes or point me to posts on where to start investigating this further?

Many thanks,

Alex

 

[jaymonkey]

I followed your steps there with no joy in generating faster speeds. One of the things that I was wondering is- in my BIOS the iGPU is set to 64MB. Would it be beneficial to raise this?

@alexjibcam,

Since your using the IGPU in headless mode increasing the DVMT pre allocation will not have any effect.

I also was wondering if you could advise more on my SSDT hot patches and ACPI fixes or point me to posts on where to start investigating this further?

SSDT hot patches and Clover ACPI fixes are an alternate and preferred method of patching your systems DSDT, in the past we had to statically patch the DSDT but this can be problematic and needs to be re-done every time you change something in the BIOS. By using SSDT Hot patches and Clover ACPI fixes the DSDT can be patched dynamically at boot time.

Rehabman has some good guides on DSDT patching but some of them are old and relate to static patching but the methods are still valid, if you look in his GitHub Repo you can find most of the common DSDT patches as SSDT Hot patches :-

https://github.com/RehabMan/OS-X-Clover-Laptop-Config/tree/master/hotpatch

It's quit an involved and long process but essential in order to get MacOS fully working and stable.

Unfortunately every motherboard and BIOS combo is different so what works for my ASRock Z87 Motherboard will not necessary be needed or work on you Gigabyte Z87. You could try searching the forums for a guide using Gigabyte Z87MX-D3H .. if one exists and it's a good guide it should list or include the DSDT/ACPi patches needed.

Failing that, if i where you I would start a new thread called "Need Help patching Gigabyte Z87MX-D3H DSDT" be sure to include the correct PR debug files as it will be the first thing someone will ask for:-

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/tool-generate-proper-problem-reporting-files.235953/

Hopefully some users with the same motherboard will chime in and give you some advice, you might even get the attention of RehabMan himself who will be able to point you in the right direction as his understanding of DSDT and ACPI code is far greater than mine.

Cheers
Jay

 

[alexjibcam]

Great Thanks @jaymonkey. My knowledge doesn't run that deep but I will look into this and get back to you if I have any further results.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[mcljot]

Hi Jay,

So i'm having slower than expected speed issues since installing my Sapphire Vega 56 Pulse.

Hi Alex, did you manage to get the fans on your Sapphire Pulse to work properly, and not just default to ~2400rpm at all times?

 

[alexjibcam]

Hi Alex, did you manage to get the fans on your Sapphire Pulse to work properly, and not just default to ~2400rpm at all times?

Mine worked with full Fan control OOB. No kexts or anything. You can try the following if you are having trouble. Takes a little bit of customisation but may help you from blouses build Blouse HACK PRO:

Prepare VegaTab_64.kext for AMD Vega GPU fan speed fix
2a. Download and extract VGTab_en.zip from @pastrychef's build thread
2b. Open VGTab-en app
2c. Select Vega 64 (if this page comes up blank try reloading the app)
2d. Target Speed : 4900
2e. Target Temperator : 55
* You can adjust all of these settings to your liking later, but this is what pastrychef recommended and it's what I use.
2f. Select Generate Control Information (this will output VegaTab_64.kext to your desktop)

Insert the generated Kext into Library/Extensions restart.

In your case you would select vega56. I found Blouses speeds too fast and noisy so you may need to find what suits the pulse with a little trail and error.

Cheers,

Alex

 

[mcljot]

Mine worked with full Fan control OOB. No kexts or anything. You can try the following if you are having trouble. Takes a little bit of customisation but may help you from blouses build Blouse HACK PRO:

Prepare VegaTab_64.kext for AMD Vega GPU fan speed fix
2a. Download and extract VGTab_en.zip from @pastrychef's build thread
2b. Open VGTab-en app
2c. Select Vega 64 (if this page comes up blank try reloading the app)
2d. Target Speed : 4900
2e. Target Temperator : 55
* You can adjust all of these settings to your liking later, but this is what pastrychef recommended and it's what I use.
2f. Select Generate Control Information (this will output VegaTab_64.kext to your desktop)

Insert the generated Kext into Library/Extensions restart.

In your case you would select vega56. I found Blouses speeds too fast and noisy so you may need to find what suits the pulse with a little trail and error.

Cheers,

Alex

Thanks Alex - what version of Mac OS are you on? Yep, I have tried:

• Tried configuring a bunch of different settings in VGTab and putting the VegaTab_56.kext in Clover/kexts/Other.
• Tried using VGTabMerge tool to extract info from the VegaTab_56.kext and insert it into the config.plist (This method gave me a whole lot more entries in Clover/Devices/Properties)
• Tried using RadeonVegaLowFanSpeed.kext

I'm glad to hear it worked OOB for you - hopefully I can get there eventually!

 

[d.vander.wurf]

i’m considering the RADEON RX VEGA 56 PULSE 8GB HBM2 also for use on Mojave. Can you confirm this works OOB? Or do I have to tweak some things for the fan issue?
I see mixed results in this thread. Some say it works OOB others say it does not, so that gives me some doubt about if this is the best gpu to get.

 

[JoelTheSuperior]

i’m considering the RADEON RX VEGA 56 PULSE 8GB HBM2 also for use on Mojave. Can you confirm this works OOB? Or do I have to tweak some things for the fan issue?
I see mixed results in this thread. Some say it works OOB others say it does not, so that gives me some doubt about if this is the best gpu to get.

I've got this GPU. OOB it works but the fan will eventually get really high and stay there. If I use VGTab the fan speeds are kept under control but it crashes regularly for no particular reason, even with virtually no load at all.

Unfortunately it seems to be a rather common issue with this GPU, with no actual fix that I can find. I'm on the fence between returning it or just giving up and buying a real Mac.