[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

[JimSalabim]

@scottkendall iPad Air 2 is not compatible with Sidecar. 3rd generation is compatible (see Apple website).

 

[pastrychef]

@pastrychef HEVC support with iGPU disabled is given with iMacPro1,1 but NOT in Final Cut Pro and Compressor. In Final Cut Pro and Compressor it only works with iGPU enabled (even though the iGPU isn’t even doing anything). See my above post.

What versions of macOS and FCPX are you on?

 

[JimSalabim]

Final Cut 10.4.7. Tried it in Mojave 10.14.6 and Catalina 10.15.1

 

[CaseySJ]

@digumo I am running iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS with a Vega 64. Only with iGPU enabled in Bios HEVC 8 Bit export works as fast as it should in Final Cut Pro and Compressor. It is extremely slow when iGPU is disabled in Bios. HEVC 8 Bit export with QuickTime Player works just as fast as it should, no matter wether iGPU is enabled or disabled. So QuickTime Player shows the correct behavior for iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS: The iGPU is not used, no matter if it’s enabled or not.
With iGPU enabled only the Vega 64 is used for exporting HEVC (which is fine and just like it’s supposed to be). The iGPU doesn’t do anything at all here, because this is iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS.
But HEVC export should behave just the same with iGPU disabled. But it doesn’t. There must be some bug in Final Cut and Compressor which slows down the export and puts all the pressure on the CPU instead when iGPU is disabled. Other software (QuickTime Player, Adobe Premiere Pro) behaves correctly and exports at full speed with iGPU disabled.

Let me reorganize this information:

• SMBIOS iMacPro1,1
  • iGPU enabled (which is theoretically contrary to iMacPro1,1)
    • HEVC export seems to go through Discrete GPU and works as fast as expected in:
      • Final Cut Pro
      • Compressor
      • QuickTime Player
    • HEVC playback seems to go through Discrete GPu in:
      • QuickTime Player
  • iGPU disabled (which is the "correct" setting for iMacPro1,1)
    • HEVC export seems to go through Intel CPU instead of Discrete GPU; hence it is slow in:
      • Final Cut Pro
      • Compressor
    • HEVC playback export seems to go though Discrete GPU, hence it is fast in:
      • QuickTime Player

Therefore it seems Final Cut Pro and Compressor have a problem in that they don't switch to Discrete GPU for HEVC Export when iGPU is disabled.

 

[pastrychef]

Let me reorganize this information:

• SMBIOS iMacPro1,1
  • iGPU enabled(which is theoretically contrary to iMacPro1,1)
    • HEVC export seems to go through iGPUand works as fast as expected in:
      • Final Cut Pro
      • Compressor
    • HEVC playback seems to go through Discrete GPU(even if iGPU is enabled) in:
      • QuickTime Player
  • iGPU disabled(which is the "correct" setting for iMacPro1,1)
    • HEVC export seems to go through Intel CPUinstead of Discrete GPU; hence it is slow in:
      • Final Cut Pro
      • Compressor
    • HEVC playback seems to go though Discrete GPU, hence it is fast in:
      • QuickTime Player

Therefore it seems Final Cut Pro and Compressor have a problem in that they don't switch to Discrete GPU for HEVC Export when iGPU is disabled.

He said it works with QuickTime so it might just be a bug in FCPX and Compressor.

 

[JimSalabim]

@CaseySJ With iGPU enabled HEVC export goes through dGPU, not iGPU. The rest is correct.

So at the moment it’s like this: If you don’t use FCPX and Compressor you can disable iGPU with iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS and everything works great. But if you use FCPX and Compressor you need to enable iGPU in order to get the dGPU to work correctly there. :-D

Still trying to find out if this happens only on certain hardware combinations.

 

[digumo]

If you want HEVC support with IGPU disabled, use iMacPro1,1 system definition.

The down side is that I don't know of anyone who has gotten sidecar to work on iMacPro1,1.

@pastrychef this is exactly my conclusion. Given that I plan to to use Sidecar with my iPad Pro once I move to Catalina. My testing was to see what type of editing performance I could achieve with iGPU on (and off) within 19,1. I had chosen 19,1 from the Going the Extra Mile part of this guide because I "assumed" I wanted to take advantage of all of my hardware. Therefore, I made my post for anyone who might pursue the same path and make the same assumption I made.

My next step to take for my personal setup is to follow what @JimSalabim suggests and try iMacPro1,1 with the iGPU enabled.

Can I just switch the SMBIOS using the same serials or should I change those? They won't match what is identified in my Apple account.

Of course, for testing things out I could just yank the ethernet cable right?

 

[CaseySJ]

@CaseySJ With iGPU enabled HEVC export goes through dGPU, not iGPU. The rest is correct.

Fixed.

 

[CaseySJ]

...
So at the moment it’s like this: If you don’t use FCPX and Compressor you can disable iGPU with iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS and everything works great. But if you use FCPX and Compressor you need to enable iGPU in order to get the dGPU to work correctly there. :-D
...

I wonder if any application that encodes HEVC suffers from this problem on iMacPro1,1. QuickTime Player decodes HEVC and therefore falls into a slightly different category?

 

[JimSalabim]

@digumo I don’t have an iPad which is new enough to work with Sidecar, so I can’t try it out. But as far as I have heard Sidecar doesn’t work with any T2 SMBIOS, no matter if iGPU is enabled or disabled.
So you always have to decide: Sidecar or fully working DRM? On my machine DRM is only fully working with iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS. The shiki boot arguments in iMac19,1 don’t solve the DRM problem fully. Netflix playback in Safari only works with iMacPro1,1 SMBIOS for example – at least on my machine.