I am a professional user of the 2019 Mac Pro (7,1) with dual AMD Radeon Pro W6900X MPX modules (32GB VRAM each). This hardware is designed for high-performance compute, but it is currently crippled for modern local LLM/AI workloads under Linux due to Apple's EFI/PCIe routing restrictions.
Core Issue:
rocminforeports "No HIP GPUs available" when attempting to use ROCm/amdgpu on Linux- Apple's custom EFI firmware blocks full initialization of professional GPU compute assets
- The dual W6900X GPUs have 64GB combined VRAM and high-bandwidth Infinity Fabric Link, but cannot be fully utilized for local AI inference/training
My Specific Request:
Apple should provide an official, one-click deployable application that enables full utilization of dual W6900X GPUs for local large language model (LLM) inference and training under Linux.
This application must:
- Fully initialize both W6900X GPUs via HIP/ROCm, establishing valid compute contexts
- Bypass artificial EFI/PCIe routing restrictions that block access to professional GPU resources
- Provide a stable, user-friendly one-click deployment experience (similar to NVIDIA's AI Enterprise or AMD's ROCm Hub)
Why This Matters:
The 2019 Mac Pro is Apple's flagship professional workstation, marketed for compute-intensive workloads. Its high-cost W6900X GPUs should not be locked down for modern AI/LLM use cases. An official one-click deployment solution would demonstrate Apple's commitment to professional AI and unlock significant value for professional users.
I look forward to Apple's response and a clear roadmap for enabling this critical capability.
#MacPro #Linux #ROCm #LocalLLM #W6900X #CoreML