Does your Mac support Metal (Apples new 3D API)?

Does your GPU support Metal?

  • No, it doesn't support Metal.

    Votes: 7 14.6%

  • Yes, it supports macOS GPUFamily1 v1

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, it supports macOS GPUFamily1 v2

    Votes: 1 2.1%

  • Yes, it supports macOS GPUFamily1 v3

    Votes: 3 6.3%

  • Yes, it supports macOS GPUFamily1 v4

    Votes: 11 22.9%

  • Yes, it supports macOS GPUFamily2 v1

    Votes: 26 54.2%
  • Total voters
    48
  • Poll closed .
Martin

Martin

0
Hi,
I'm curious how many of the Cheetah3D users have a Metal compatible GPU. Since Apple deprecated OpenGL some time ago the switch to Apples new 3D API Metal becomes more and more urgent.

If you don't know if your GPU supports Metal just open the "System Information.app" which comes with macOS and go to the "Graphics/Display" section. There you can find the information if your Mac supports Metal. If it supports Metal please also let me know which profile.

Kind regards
Martin

Screenshot 2019-12-31 at 11.25.42.png
 
artgolf said:
I have two Mac machines, another one supports macOS GPUFamily2 v1, but I can only vote for once.
Click to expand...

Same here. I have several Macs. My home MacPro5,1 has an Nvidia GTX 1080 FE in it. So I don't think it supports Metal at all. But it is an unusual set up that most people won't have. (My work 2015 5k iMac does support Metal though - 2v1.)
 
Swizl said:
Same here. I have several Macs. My home MacPro5,1 has an Nvidia GTX 1080 FE in it. So I don't think it supports Metal at all. But it is an unusual set up that most people won't have. (My work 2015 5k iMac does support Metal though - 2v1.)
Click to expand...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

The Mac Pro mid 2010 and 2012 (both 5.1 models) can support Metal if you fit them with a Metal capable GPU. I'm thinking of doing this with a used 2012 Mac Pro I purchased only last week.
 
Swizl said:
Same here. I have several Macs. My home MacPro5,1 has an Nvidia GTX 1080 FE in it. So I don't think it supports Metal at all. But it is an unusual set up that most people won't have. (My work 2015 5k iMac does support Metal though - 2v1.)
Click to expand...

Yes, I think Apple completely locked out Nvidia from the Mac with macOS Catalina. At least they don't sign their drivers anymore. So Nvidia on the Mac is finally history.
 
Paul P said:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

The Mac Pro mid 2010 and 2012 (both 5.1 models) can support Metal if you fit them with a Metal capable GPU. I'm thinking of doing this with a used 2012 Mac Pro I purchased only last week.
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Yes, I think those Mac Pros are well worth an upgrade. Especially since those Radeon 5xx graphics cards are nor expensive at all. And you can also upgrade the CPUs for very little money.
 
Thanks Paul P and Martin for the input. I bought the Nvidia card back when it was still supported by Web Drivers with no clue that Apple would drop support for it in future OS's. I wanted to use it for CUDA rendering (Redshift, Octane). So now I'm stuck on High Sierra at home. It is annoying that Apple dropped support for these, but I guess that's just Apple being Apple. I thought about swapping the card out for an RX580. So it's either I stick with the GTX 1080 or sell it and go AMD. But that would mean no Octane and no Redshift.

Redshift has said they are porting over their software to also work on AMD GPU's (which would include Metal capable cards) and in their forums they said they are pretty close to having it finished. They didn’t want to give an exact date, but they guessed sometime in the first quarter of 2020 is when it will be released. So if that becomes a reality, it will be a huge deal for Mac people that want to render using the GPU. At that point I could see letting go of the Nvidia card and getting an AMD card.

My boss also wants to get better hardware for me at work soon, so my renders will go faster. But right now I'm on the fence about what to get. He wants to ramp up the amount of animations we're doing and some video editing. IF Redshift does get this done within the next few months, that would allow me to jump up to an iMac Pro most likely. I hate to go to a Windows box, but it is something on the table as an option for now. But that would keep me from using C3d as my main app to set up my scenes (unless I went with a Hackintosh).
 
misoversaturated said:
Hi Martin, that was one and a half year ago, is a Cheetah3D metal version already in the works, maybe for v7.5 ?
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No, I just did a lot of preparational work to make the final transition easier. The purpose of the poll is to find out if the time is ripe for the actual transition which will take quite some time. So a Metal version is not around the corner yet.
 
Surprisingly, my 2015 MBP supports v4. My MacPro trashcan is probably v2.

For what it’s worth if you implemented real time rendering, I’d upgrade if I had to.

(The new 16” MBPs are mighty tempting)
 
You are correct. The trashcan is on mojave and supports 2v1.

However the documentation seems to be wrong. See attached image.

I wonder if it's because it also has an Intel Iris Pro and so it's a lowest-common denominator thing (or maybe 2v1 support causes the R9 to spin up).

Alternatively, it could be a bug in the System Report :)
 

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This is a question for Martin - I'm just curious to know what are the implications for you if you need / want to support all the mac OS GPU families listed at the start of the thread ? Does this mean a lot more coding for you ? Are you hoping to only support 1 or 2 GPU families etc. ?

Thanks
 
podperson said:
I wonder if it's because it also has an Intel Iris Pro and so it's a lowest-common denominator thing (or maybe 2v1 support causes the R9 to spin up).
Alternatively, it could be a bug in the System Report :)
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That's very strange. I have no explanation for that. It should support GPU2v1 according to Apples own documentation.
 
Paul P said:
I'm just curious to know what are the implications for you if you need / want to support all the mac OS GPU families listed at the start of the thread ? Does this mean a lot more coding for you ? Are you hoping to only support 1 or 2 GPU families etc. ?
Click to expand...

It's just a little bit more work. I just have to make sure that I haven't used any of the new functionality.
 
Martin said:
It's just a little bit more work. I just have to make sure that I haven't used any of the new functionality.
Click to expand...

Thanks Martin. On eBay you can find PC cards that have been flashed to work on Mac and are Metal capable. The screen shots on the auction pages show GPU family 1v4.
 
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