Seems that the professional content creators who use Mac in their productions (and post) have got between the hammer and the anvil. Since the dawn of time, there is a combat between Apple and NVIDIA. Mac users who upgraded to the latest OS, surprisedly discovered that their NVIDIA GPU is not supported anymore. Why it might be connected to the new AMD Radeon VII? Read below.
Apple just doesn’t allow modern Nvidia GPUs on macOS Mojave any more. Filmmakers, editors and content creators who use NVIDIA on a Mac, suddenly realized that their machine was slowed down due to nonfunctioning GPU.
Developers using Macs with NVIDIA graphics cards are reporting that after upgrading from 10.13 to 10.14 (Mojave) they are experiencing rendering regressions and slow performance.
As being stated by NVIDIA in their developers’ site: “Developers using Macs with NVIDIA graphics cards are reporting that after upgrading from 10.13 to 10.14 (Mojave) they are experiencing rendering regressions and slow performance. Apple fully controls drivers for Mac OS. Unfortunately, NVIDIA currently cannot release a driver unless it is approved by Apple. Our hardware works on OS 10.13 which supports up to (and including) Pascal”
In simple words, Apple deactivated, or more accurate to say, eliminated NVIDIA GPUs running in their new OS.
Apple’s strategic decision
There are a few speculations regarding the logic behind this decision. One could be the complex and long patent war between Apple and NVIDIA, as stated by AppleInsider, “There’s a long history between the two companies. And, some bad blood.” In order to dive deeper into that history, read AppleInsider’s article.
To make a long story short, It’s probably that the decision to eliminate NVIDIA support in Mojave is more than R&D related. It might be connected to a strategic decision that came from Apple’s senior executives.
AMD and Apple
Furthermore, the article implies the possibility of not having NVIDIA modern GPUs in the upcoming Mac Pro. However, it appears that Apple has a rabbit in the hat: The AMD new Radeon VII.
The big question here, if the AMD Radeon VII is good enough to take over the GPU place of the modern state of the art NVIDIA GPUs? There are some debates on the capabilities of the Radeon VII to overcome complex workflow tasks like 8K editing, which NVIDIA can no-brainer handle. Furthermore, AMD (that is the second-biggest name in the world of personal computing and serving as Intel’s singular rival in the CPU space) is known for its CPU market share rather than GPU, which is the specialty of NVIDIA. On the other hand, AMD has a much more friendly history with Apple than NVIDIA. Sometimes the business relationship constitutes a crucial factor in implementing third-party technologies in a product.
Radeon VII
As stated by AMD:” AMD Radeon VII graphics card provides 2X more memory, 2.1X more memory bandwidth, up to 29 percent higher gaming performance on average, and up to 36 percent higher performance on average in demanding content creation applications compared to Radeon RX Vega 64 GPU”
AMD Radeon VII graphics card provides 2X more memory, 2.1X more memory bandwidth, up to 29 percent higher gaming performance on average, and up to 36 percent higher performance on average in demanding content creation applications compared to Radeon RX Vega 64 GPU
The Radeon VII is being glorified by tech enthusiastic that claim it’s the best GPU made by AMD ever, which could give a contrary competition to NVIDIA most advanced cards.
As explained, AMD is competing in the CPU space and get market share on that, but it needs the same thing on graphics. It will be welcomed to see some competition in the GPU ecosystem as well. The Radeon VII is a good start. Generally speaking, NVIDIA had a “superior” architecture for performance per watt on the desktop parts but was over-consumed (regarding watts) in laptops.
Radeon VII and Mac Pro
There is a chance that Apple will release supported drivers for NVIDIA, make filmmakers and editors happy of now, till the next OS update. Or, there is another possibility that Apple will terminate its relationships with NVIDIA to start a new one with AMD’s new GPUs, like the Radeon VII which could be implemented into iMac Pro, and/or upcoming Mac Pro.
Time will tell if the Radeon VII will allow filmmakers the privilege of 8K editing
Final thoughts
Time will tell if the Radeon VII will allow filmmakers the privilege of 8K editing. Personally, I think that the Radeon VII implemented into Mac Pro will elevate dramatically workflow capabilities for the pro market. Furthermore, the new Mac Pro supposed to let users add their favorite cards and GPUs (It’s not a “Pro” device unless you can pick/replace your video card).
What are your insights regarding AMD’s new GPUs combined with the Mac Pro instead of NVIDIA? Let’s know your thoughts.
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