480 Miles Mac OS


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AMD RX 480 under macOS Sierra versus other GPUs for Mac Pro

Posted October 7th, 2016 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist

Here is our shootout between the AMD Radeon RX 480 and other high-end GPUs running under macOS Sierra. There are no Sierra drivers (yet) for the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080 but we extrapolated* them into the mix. For a baseline, we included the 'Mac Editions' of the GTX 680 and HD 7950 -- the 'late great' Mac Pro tower GPUs officially supported by Apple.

GPU GRAPH LEGEND
GeForce GTX 1080* = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition (extrapolated*)
GeForce GTX 980 Ti = eVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (macOS Sierra)
GeForce GTX 1070* = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition (extrapolated*)
Radeon R9 Fury = Sapphire Nitro Radeon R9 Fury (macOS Sierra)
Radeon RX 480 = ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 480 (macOS Sierra)
Radeon HD 7950 = Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition (macOS Sierra)
GeForce GTX 680 = eVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition (macOS Sierra)

* Using the performance delta of the GTX 980 Ti under Windows versus macOS, we were able to extrapolate the expected performance of the GTX 1070 and 1080 under macOS Sierra. Of course, once NVIDIA macOS Sierra drivers are available for the 1070 and 1080, we will re-run the tests and post measured performance.

All GPUs were installed in the x16 slot #1 of a 2010 Mac Pro tower and connected to a Dell UltraSharp 27 Ultra HD 5K (UP2715K) display running at 3940x2160.

GPU INTENSIVE GAME BENCHMARKSInfinite (itch) (atlas) mac os.

Tomb Raider
We ran the built-in benchmark set to 3840x2160 and 'HIGH' preset. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

Diablo III
Our character in the Shattered Crown campaign searches for the Chancellor's Alther beneath the Cemetery of the Forsaken. Settings were 3840x2160, Quality: HIGH, V-Sync OFF, Anti-Aliasing OFF. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

Left 4 Dead 2 (Steam)
Settings were 3840x2160, Fullscreen, no AA, Anisotropic 8X, Vsync Disabled, Shader Detail Very High, Effect Detail and Model/Texture Detail both High, Multicore Rendering Enabled. TimeDemo console command was used to playback a game session. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

OTHER GPU INTENSIVE BENCHMARKS

PixMark Volplosion (OpenGL)
Included in the GpuTest suite, this is an OpenGL 2.1/3.2 heavy pixel shader test based on a GLSL Sandbox shader by Simon Green. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

Unigine Valley OpenGL Benchmark
This is a non-synthetic benchmark that does a flyover of a forest covered valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks using advanced graphics technologies like dynamic sky, volumetric clouds, sun shafts, and ambient occlusion. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

DaVinci Resolve (CUDA and OpenCL)
Noise Reduction is very GPU intensive. We used the often used Candle project '1NR' preset to measure the average framerate of playback while applying Noise Reduction on the fly. It lets you select either OpenCL or CUDA for rendering. Though NVIDIA GPUs support both, they run faster with CUDA selected in preferences. (HIGHEST average frames per second = FASTEST)

ANALYSIS
The AMD Radeon RX 480 is designed to provide more performance per watt than the competition. In other words, it may not be the fastest but it is supposed to be more efficient. Like the GTX 1070 and 1080, it only requires one power feed. However, when we computed FPS per WATT for the RX 480 versus the power greedy GTX 980, the RX 480 wasn't always more efficient:

Valley: RX 480 = 3.27 Watts/FPS; GTX 980 = 4.08 Watts/FPS
Tomb Raider: RX 480 = 2.07 Watts/FPS; GTX 980 = 2.10 Watts/FPS
Volplosion: RX 480 = 3.66 Watts/FPS; GTX 980 = 3.52 Watts/FPS

In pure performance, the RX 480 compared well with the more power hungry R9 Fury. However, it could not compete with the wattage sipping GTX 1070 and 1080. (Now if we could just get some Sierra drivers for those two!)

NOTE: The RX 480 and R9 Fury are not plug and play. You must add their device ID to the Baffin device list in the Info.plist of AMDRadeonX4100.kext driver in Sierra/System/Extensions. You will also need to boot into the Recovery Partition and use Terminal app to turn off System Integrity Protection before you try to insert the modified driver into System Extensions folder using Kext Drop or similar utility.

The RX 480 beat the 'Apple blessed' Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition and GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition but sometimes only barely. At least it requires less power. BTW, those two 'Mac Edition' GPUs are no longer in production. That's why we Mac Pro tower owners have to take GPU matters in our own hands (with some help from our 'friends.')

Until Sierra drivers to appear for the 'Pascal' class GTX 1070 and 1080, we will continue to enjoy the muscle of the GTX 980 Ti. (NOTE: The GTX 980 Ti and other 'Maxwell' class GPUs require the download, installation, and activation of the driver for the Quadro K5000 for Mac. Be sure to click 'Show all Operating Systems' on the NVIDIA driver download page to find the driver compatible with your version of Mac OS X or macOS. The web driver must be installed and activated BEFORE you install the GTX 980 Ti or other non-standard Maxwell class NVIDIA GPU.)

Comments? Suggestions? Feel free to email me,
Follow me on Twitter @barefeats

Our NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti came from MacVidCards. Check out the services they offer.

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OTHER SOURCES FOR MACS

  • PowerMax not only sells new and used Macs, but will give you a generous trade-in offer on your old Mac.
  • Other World Computing has a Used Mac Store.

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copyright 2016 Rob Art Morgan
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Mac OS X & macOS names. As you can see from the list above, with the exception of the first OS X beta, all versions of the Mac operating system from 2001 to 2012 were all named after big cats. ZDNet's technology experts deliver the best tech news and analysis on the latest issues and events in IT for business technology professionals, IT managers and tech-savvy business people. ThinkPad T480 Hackintosh OpenCore EFI. Contribute to delei/thinkpad-T480-hackintosh development by creating an account on GitHub. https://golf-download.mystrikingly.com/blog/space-broccoli-mac-os. Do you know that you can change the ownership and permissions for a file or folder on your Mac® system? If you want to change permissions for files and folde. Convert 480 Centimeters to Miles. To calculate 480 Centimeters to the corresponding value in Miles, multiply the quantity in Centimeters by 6.733E-6 (conversion factor). In this case we should multiply 480 Centimeters by 6.733E-6 to get the equivalent result in Miles: 480 Centimeters x 6.733E-6 = 0.227392.

480 miles mac os catalina
Price
Value

Pros

Speeds up every aspect of using your computer. Very noticeable improvement when going through large photo libraries in Lightroom, when working in Photoshop, and even while surfing the web.

Cons

The price is steep for the largest 480 GB model (not as bad for smaller capacity). Having to install it yourself.

Overall

The best investment I've made in computing (besides buying my Macbook Air)

I’m completely obsessed with my Macbook Air 11″. It is a thing of beauty – a machine to kick every other laptop’s ass – by a longshot. I remember hauling my first laptop – a Dell, and how big and bulky that thing was. I feel in love with my Macbook Air 11″ during my nomadic years and wouldn’t trade it for any other laptop. It’s the baddest ass combination of ULTRA-portability, power, lightness, and beauty. One of its greatest features is its SSD drive. I can close the lid (it goes to sleep in 1 second), throw it into my bag (which is already super light), and run off to the coffee shop to get juiced up on espresso. I open it back up and it fires up in record time.

480 Miles Mac Os Download

Mac Mini Suckage

A week ago I decided to get a “home computer” (now that I have a home base). I got a 27″ LED monitor and connected it to a brand new Mac Mini. I used it for a few days but something seemed off. It was slow. I couldn’t understand it – I mean, hey, it’s a brand new Mac! what gives? It took me a little while to realize this, but after going between the Macbook Air and the mini – it dawned on me:

This thing has a slow ass HDD. The Mac Mini has a 5400 rpm “spinning on a disk like an old man cranking a record player” hard drive

I never would have imagined that hard drive speed could make such a big difference. So I started looking into it a bit more. And then I decided to take the Mac Mini back to Best Buy and use my Macbook Air as my home and on-the-go machine (plus this meshed well with my minimalism philosophy). I kept the 27″ Samsung LED to connect to the Mini for when I’m at home (which is awesome, btw). I was pleased with my choice, but I was still curious. If the drive made such a remarkable difference, what else was possible?

Enter the OWC 6G (*Cue Angel Music)

After researching the differences between SSD and HDD hard drives, I came upon the holy grail of Macbook Air mods – a 480 GB solid state drive made by OWC for the Macbook Air. I promptly ordered it. https://xsdatgood.weebly.com/microsoft-kind-software.html. Santa The UPS man delivered my 480 GB Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD yesterday afternoon and after dinner and a few IPA’s I sat at my table and performed some Macbook Air surgery.

480 Miles Mac Os Catalina

Afterwards I used Disk Utility to partition the drive, & installed OS X via Lion Internet Restore on the new OWC SSD. It took about an hour or so (Ashley and I watched some Arrested Development while my little Frankenstein monster was getting Lion’d up).

So Do I Love it?

Let’s just say it’s something like this…

a dramatization of what happened next

I f**king love this thing! Holy shnikeys! I never in a million years thought that it would make such a huge difference. I always thought it was about processor speed and RAM – but damn, having an SSD drive, especially such a fast one – makes a HUGE difference. It takes Photoshop CS6 something like 2 seconds to fire up. Shutdown and startup speeds are blazing fast. Even surfing the internet (and definitely opening up Chrome, Firefox) is much, much faster now. Reportedly there’s a small hit in battery life, but having this fast of a drive way more than makes up for it to me. This is pretty much how I feel…

480 Miles Mac Os X

480 Miles Mac OS

If you have an extra grand to drop and want the smallest, fastest, lightest, and most badassest laptop in the world, stick a OWC SSD drive in your 11″ Macbook Air. happy squealing child photo courtesy of: adwriter via photopincc