Video Card - Mac Pro High Sierra & Native

[LDS]

What exactly are the power specifics of the 5,1 Mac Pro and HDX card? It seems there is differing information about whether or not the 6 pin connectors in the Mac Pro are 75w each or 150w each... and I can't find any mention of what the HDX draws in the slightest.

[the.engineer]

Originally Posted by LDS

What exactly are the power specifics of the 5,1 Mac Pro and HDX card? It seems there is differing information about whether or not the 6 pin connectors in the Mac Pro are 75w each or 150w each... and I can't find any mention of what the HDX draws in the slightest.

I have no hard evidence, only more forums of more people getting confused about wattage draw. I'm going on what Mike Thorntorn of Pro Tools expert did with advice from Create Pro (here in the UK) and right now it is working a charm.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by the.engineer

I have no hard evidence, only more forums of more people getting confused about wattage draw. I'm going on what Mike Thorntorn of Pro Tools expert did with advice from Create Pro (here in the UK) and right now it is working a charm.

Yeah, it seems like a bit of a minefield out there in this regard. Just to clarify, when you say you spliced into the PCIe AUX power for your HDX card, would using a simple 6-pin mini-PCIe Aux 'Y' cable achieve the same thing? I have a Mac Edition GTX 680 sitting here that uses 60w less power than your 280x, so the same solution should work fine.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by LDS

What exactly are the power specifics of the 5,1 Mac Pro and HDX card? It seems there is differing information about whether or not the 6 pin connectors in the Mac Pro are 75w each or 150w each... and I can't find any mention of what the HDX draws in the slightest.

I'm running the power for my HDX card off of one of the unused SATA ports on my 2010 Mac Pro.

See this post for details:

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=2491563&postcount=34

[LDS]

Originally Posted by off the wall

I'm running the power for my HDX card off of of the unused SATA ports on my 2010 Mac Pro.

See this post for details:

http://duc.avid.com/showpost.php?p=2491563&postcount=34

Interesting. I am currently using all 4 hard drive slots, but is there any reason why I couldn't use the 5.25" bay sata connectors to do this?

[BScout]

Originally Posted by LDS

Interesting. I am currently using all 4 hard drive slots, but is there any reason why I couldn't use the 5.25" bay sata connectors to do this?

I use the Optical drive bay sata power to power the HDX cards since the immediate on-board power is used for the Graphics card.
You just have to have the right adapter cables and squeeze the wiring through the case to get to the top section.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by LDS

Interesting. I am currently using all 4 hard drive slots, but is there any reason why I couldn't use the 5.25" bay sata connectors to do this?

Definitely can use the optical bay power for the HDX card. I’ve since discovered that if you temporarily slide the power supply out, its very easy to get the power cable out of the optical bay to the HDX card. I may redo my setup the next tome I have the Mac Pro out of the rack and apart.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by BScout

I use the Optical drive bay sata power to power the HDX cards since the immediate on-board power is used for the Graphics card.
You just have to have the right adapter cables and squeeze the wiring through the case to get to the top section.

Great! That leads to the next question - my HDX card only came with the 6-pin mini PCIe Aux power cable that fits the Mac Pro. How did you all get from the standard 6pin connector shown by off the wall to the HDX card?

I assume Avid make a standard 6-pin to HDX harness that I should get my hands on rather than reinventing the wheel?

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by LDS

Great! That leads to the next question - my HDX card only came with the 6-pin mini PCIe Aux power cable that fits the Mac Pro. How did you all get from the standard 6pin connector shown by off the wall to the HDX card?

I assume Avid make a standard 6-pin to HDX harness that I should get my hands on rather than reinventing the wheel?

My HDX card came with a bunch of different power cables.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by off the wall

My HDX card came with a bunch of different power cables.

Mine didn't, but it was a reverb purchase. Good to know the appropriate cables exist out there. Thanks everyone.