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Break through the gloom! Kepler comes to Mac Pro...GTX680!

silvercircle said:
Just saw that the drivers for 10.8.2 are out, I didn't install them because I have to backup first.
I wonder if it is back to PCI-2.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-304.00.05f02-driver.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for the hint about the update. CUDA-z shows host to device copy speeds in the range of 5800 MiB/s, so it looks like PCIe 2.0 speed.

For those of you who install the update 304.00.05f02, keep in mind that you should update your CUDA driver, too. Usually, the cuda panel of the system preferences should pop-up after the reboot and inform you about the required update. If this does not happen, just install the CUDA 5.0.36 driver manually.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/mac-driver-archive.html
 
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Hey folks,

I just got one of these:


Mac Pro 5,1
OS X 10.8.2

I cannot get the computer to recognize it. Probably because I don't know what I'm doing. I really hoped this would work out of the box.

All I've done:
installed drivers 304.00.05f02
put the card in place (PCIe slot 1, moved Radeon 5770 to slot 2 while I troubleshoot)
moved the 6-pin power from the 5770 to the new 650
connect DVI monitor to 650, power up machine


There doesn't seem to be any output from the 650. If I move the 6-pin power back to the 5770 and power up, things work correctly (using this computer now, in fact).

Any help or troubleshooting ideas would be greatly appreciated! It may be that I simply need to get a GPU that's confirmed to work with my setup. If so, recommendations in the sub-$200 range?

Thanks in advance.
 
Don't leave the 5770 in the system if you aren't providing enough power to it. This could prevent the system from booting up.
 
Asgorath said:
Don't leave the 5770 in the system if you aren't providing enough power to it. This could prevent the system from booting up.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks!

I tested without the 5770 in place and got the same result: no apparent output from the 650. I hear the loading chime but see nothing.
 
tomvos said:
Thanks for the hint about the update. CUDA-z shows host to device copy speeds in the range of 5800 MiB/s, so it looks like PCIe 2.0 speed.

For those of you who install the update 304.00.05f02, keep in mind that you should update your CUDA driver, too. Usually, the cuda panel of the system preferences should pop-up after the reboot and inform you about the required update. If this does not happen, just install the CUDA 5.0.36 driver manually.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/mac-driver-archive.html
Click to expand...

Installed on MP 3,1 with a 670 but still PCIe 1 speeds :(
 
10.8.2 drivers give me back my PCI-2 for my GTX 680 SC!
XP for me is performing very good now in OSX, no need to switch to Bootcamp for it!!!!!!
 
Dr. Stealth - how are you getting those screens? What program is that? I don't know how to test what speed/driver effects I've got working with my 680GTX SC on my MP 3.1 at this point.
 
Hey guys, read mixed stuff about this but I'm thinking of getting myself the GTX 680 SC.. cool right? I have a MacPro 4,1 8 Core with the ATI HD 5870. Now I split my stuff between OS X and Windows (Bootcamp) and I heard that I'll only get get PCI 1.0 speeds on windows? :( Can anyone shed a little bit of light? Got all excited when i saw that 10.8.2 brings PCI 2.0 speeds for OS X which made me :D but then read and heard mixed info about the windows performance of it and made me :(
 
dannyzx said:
Hey guys, read mixed stuff about this but I'm thinking of getting myself the GTX 680 SC.. cool right? I have a MacPro 4,1 8 Core with the ATI HD 5870. Now I split my stuff between OS X and Windows (Bootcamp) and I heard that I'll only get get PCI 1.0 speeds on windows? :( Can anyone shed a little bit of light? Got all excited when i saw that 10.8.2 brings PCI 2.0 speeds for OS X which made me :D but then read and heard mixed info about the windows performance of it and made me :(
Click to expand...

For games, you'll likely see low-single-digit percentage increases from PCIe 1.0 to PCIe 2.0. Basically, games download their assets to the memory on the graphics card, and then reference everything locally. I certainly wouldn't let the fact that it runs at PCIe 1.0 under Windows stop you from upgrading, because the GTX 680 is just so much better than a 5870.
 
Guys would I be correct in saying that when running a non flashed PC Card there are issues when doing OS X updates?
 
Asgorath said:
For games, you'll likely see low-single-digit percentage increases from PCIe 1.0 to PCIe 2.0. [...]
Click to expand...
This is true. The only time I noticed a difference between PCI-1 and 2 is when I ran Unigine-Heaven.
The min fps went from 16 PCI-1 to 32 PCI-2 (new drivers NVIDIA).
And that is just at one time in the test where you can see the image shaking. I guess that is a spot where data is being read to or from the card. For the rest I do not see any difference. Maybe here and there a little pause also in plane.

----------
flyman said:
Guys would I be correct in saying that when running a non flashed PC Card there are issues when doing OS X updates?
Click to expand...
Yes, you have to wait a few days for the updated drivers from NVIDIA, not a reason not to get a new nice card... And this gives you time to see if the apple update is good :p
 
silvercircle said:
This is true. The only time I noticed a difference between PCI-1 and 2 is when I ran Unigine-Heaven.
The min fps went from 16 PCI-1 to 32 PCI-2 (new drivers NVIDIA).
And that is just at one time in the test where you can see the image shaking. I guess that is a spot where data is being read to or from the card. For the rest I do not see any difference. Maybe here and there a little pause also in plane.
Click to expand...

Well, comparing the stock drivers in 10.8.2 versus the NVIDIA driver doesn't mean the improvement came solely from PCIe 2.0. There are probably other changes in that driver as well.

silvercircle said:
Yes, you have to wait a few days for the updated drivers from NVIDIA, not a reason not to get a new nice card... And this gives you time to see if the apple update is good :p
Click to expand...

This is technically no longer the case, now that the base OS (10.7.5 and 10.8.2) allows the PC cards to work. There might be a regression in functionality or performance going back to the stock Apple driver, but it'll still allow your system to boot up. Either way, I've been waiting for the new NVIDIA driver to be released before updating.
 
... boiling it down ...

I've read all these related threads until my head is spinning a bit.

I do no gaming whatsoever, but heavy OpenCL computation. I've got a 5870 but want more performance.

Having narrowed it down to 570/580 or 670/680, here are some points I've gathered:

. Between 570/580, the 580 always (or almost so) requires external power, but the 570 is available in dual 6-pin.

. Between 670/680, the 680 is more powerful all-around (and available in dual 6-pin).

. The 570 *MAY* be more powerful at OpenCL than the 680 (even OC), as the 670/680 have been somewhat crippled in GPGPU performance.

. Get the 2GB or less version of these cards so as to not have to mess with Apple binary files (I don't need more than 1GB).

. The PC versions of these cards work out-of-the-box in 10.7.5 or 10.8.2 (except for boot screen). [This being true does not necessarily mean that I would not buy from MVC anyway.]

So!

1) Are those points above correct as far as they go?

2) The biggie ... which card will be best for OpenCL performance? Presumably narrowed down to 570 vs 680 (correct me if wrong). I know most of you don't code OpenCL, but I would imagine that its performance would be similar to that of CUDA rather than gaming/pure-oGL performance.

x) Additional info: I'm moving less than 400MB/second to/from the card, so I don't think I'd be affected by PCI-1 speeds....
 
Photovore said:
[...]

. The PC versions of these cards work out-of-the-box in 10.7.5 or 10.8.2 (except for boot screen). [This being true does not necessarily mean that I would not buy from MVC anyway.]
[..]
Click to expand...
GTX 680 does not work out-of-the-box in 10.7.5, it does in 10.8.x
I was unable to make my GTX 680 work in 10.7.x
 
@photovore
2) The biggie ... which card will be best for OpenCL performance? Presumably narrowed down to 570 vs 680 (correct me if wrong). I know most of you don't code OpenCL, but I would imagine that its performance would be similar to that of CUDA rather than gaming/pure-oGL performance.
Click to expand...

I cannot comment on the 680's performance but I use the EVGA GTX570 2.5GB with Indigorender which can run both CUDA and OPENCL. The performance of the card is identical between the two. Compared to running the render via CPU on my 8x3.33 core system the GTX 570 performs about twice as fast. These figures are based on one test scene only, though.
 
So which GTX670 would you choose?

Ok so I've now come to the conclusion that the time is now right to go ahead and replace my ailing GT8800 in my 3,1 Mac Pro.

I dont know too much about graphic cards etc but from what I've read sites I've narrowed the choice down to the following 2GB cards:

EVGA FTW
ASUS DC11 TOP
MSI TWIN FROZR IV
GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X OC

Ideally I'd prefer a card with 2 x 6 pin power so I think that would rule out the Gigabyte card.

Also, I think I read in the last day or two that MSI have been found to be doing dodgy overclocking on their cards which could mean a succession of failures!?

With Evga, everyone keeps saying how good their customer service and RMA are but as I'm in the UK I'm not sure it applies?

Finally the Asus Top card gets very favourable reviews but I believe they've had some problems too!

So with all these factors I'm at a bit of a loss as to which one of these to choose. :confused:

Any advice here would be most welcome...thanks in advance!
 
evga 670

flyman I just got the 2gb evga 670 FTW today, plugging it in and messing with it asap, I'll let you know how I'm liking it. I also have a 2008 macpro 3,1, and my 8800 gt started going bonkers a couple weeks ago so figured it was time to upgrade. Will holler back

Dave
 
fergusonbk said:
flyman I just got the 2gb evga 670 FTW today, plugging it in and messing with it asap, I'll let you know how I'm liking it. I also have a 2008 macpro 3,1, and my 8800 gt started going bonkers a couple weeks ago so figured it was time to upgrade. Will holler back

Dave
Click to expand...

Thank you I'd really appreciate your feedback.
As a matter of interest what made you decide on that particular card?

Cheers
Flyman (aka Dave!)
 
flyman said:
Thank you I'd really appreciate your feedback.
As a matter of interest what made you decide on that particular card?

Cheers
Flyman (aka Dave!)
Click to expand...

2 6pin cables, good customer service, and the FTW card seems like a great price/performance card. I did tons of research, the Asus sounds good and there are a bunch of good ones, in the end I rolled with this one from newegg. Just got it and the box looks awesome lol. Upgrading my comp from snow leopard to mountain lion, and gona install away. Gotta go to work soon till tonight, will let ya know whats good.
 
Dr. Stealth said:
I recently upgraded my 5,1 with the GTX 680 with 4GB and have had NO problems at all running with 10.8.2. All 4GB of memory seems to be recognized without any issues. I run in Bootcamp about half the time using various cadd and rendering programs. Solidworks, Bunkspeed Shot, Adobe everything, etc... The 1536 CUDA cores are a huge boost to the programs that utilize them.

Anyway it's the most awesome card I've ever owned and to have it running in my Mac Pro is very sweet. :D

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ 4GB w/Backplate
Part Number: 04G-P4-3687-KR
• 4096MB GDDR5 Memory
• PCI-E 3.0 16x
• 1084Mhz GPU Clock Speed
• 6008Mhz Memory Clock Speed
• NVIDIA SLI ready
Click to expand...

How do you power that card if you don't mind me asking? Are you using a 6 to 8 pin adaptor off the motherboard or some 'safer' way?


Cheers,


C
 
Power to the 680

Catch said:
How do you power that card if you don't mind me asking? Are you using a 6 to 8 pin adaptor off the motherboard or some 'safer' way?
C
Click to expand...

My 680 has one 6 pin and one 8 pin connector. Yes, at this point I'm using a 6 to 8 pin adapter from the motherboard for the 8 pin plus the standard 6 pin cable. I have two years of Apple care so I figured it would be a good time for a burn-in test. ;) (Burn-Out Test ???) ;)

I've run many day long renders with the card maxed and pouring out heat without any issue. I'm considering adding another 4GB 680 in which case I'll run both cards off an external PSU.

Dave #3
 
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Dr. Stealth said:
My 680 has one 6 pin and one 8 pin connector. Yes, at this point I'm using a 6 to 8 pin adapter from the motherboard for the 8 pin plus the standard 6 pin cable. I have two years of Apple care so I figured it would be a good time for a burn-in test. ;)
Dave #3
Click to expand...

Haha yeah lets hope it passes your test :) I am sitting here looking at an EVGA GTX 680 Classified and two 6 to 8 pin adapters wondering if I should return the card and get a dual 6 pin version instead; or just be brave and go for it! As much as I want a new MacPro I think I would rather get a bit more out of this old one and wait for the revision next year... hmmmm...

C
 
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