Confirmed and Possible Flashable GTX 680 Models

[WildBB]

I bought the ref card just to get rid of the 10 sec delay at startup. A pram reset would have solved that with the Asus card too (if I had know that then).

I powered the Asus card with a 6 to 8 pin adapter + 6 to 6 pin cord. No problems with flashing that card.

I have a 5.1 FW updated 2009 Mac Pro.

Thanks drifter7508 for the good news. How long did you run this card? I noticed you said it crashed when playing a few games. Can you tell me more about this?

Have some issues.

Playable games:
BF Bad Company 2 : many hours on maxed out settings.

Crashing:
BF3
BF4
COD MW2

The settings do not seem to matter if I max them out or not. Freezes and sometimes black screen. Getting 2 kind of errors signs.
Some DirectX error and some that the gf driver stopped working.

Do your ref. 680's play BF3 and BF4 without "issues"?

Will try with a sep. PSU today. Is it just to connect it to the card and then power on, then start the Mac Pro?

Has anyone monitored a flashed GTX680 6+8pin model for power (watts) under load on the 8pin connector? I am just hoping its not too much over the 75 watts if I use a 6 to 8 pin adaptor.

 

[WildBB]

Actual measured power draw in a Mac Pro on the three 75W sources, running Furmark to stress the card to its maximum, on a GTX680:
68.52W
69.00W
63.12W

The GTX680 has a TDP of 195W. Your card, with a TDP of 170W, has even less power draw. And running normal software, even very demanding software, will use less power than Furmark.

I hope this puts your mind at ease.

But like I said earlier, if you want to know with absolute certainty, you can always get Hardware Monitor and check for yourself. In fact, it would contribute to the knowledge on these forums.

I found this on a related thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18458111#post18458111

ActionableMango, are you saying that these reading are what should be expected on any gtx680 after its flashed with the mac 680 rom? How was this measured?

Thanks for your assistance!

 

[ActionableMango]

I found this on a related thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=18458111#post18458111

ActionableMango, are you saying that these reading are what should be expected on any gtx680 after its flashed with the mac 680 rom? How was this measured?

Thanks for your assistance!

What I am saying is those numbers are from actual readings on a GTX680 running Furmark in a Mac Pro. Pastrychef measured it with Hardware Monitor.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18120249/

 

[WildBB]

ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 Confirmed

What I am saying is those numbers are from actual readings on a GTX680 running Furmark in a Mac Pro. Pastrychef measured it with Hardware Monitor.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/18120249/

Well, I want to confirm that the ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 flashed just fine on a Mac 3,1. I had no problems getting it up and running once the card sensed power on both of the 6 and 8 port molex connections. This card blows my old ATI 2600XT out of the water.

I also ran Furmark in OSX using the same settings that pastrychief used and pulled a score over 2500. One thing I am going to look into is the power draw from each of the ports. Running iStat, I noticed that the power draw appeared to be uneven across the PCIe slot and the two PCIe BoostA and BoostB connections. I did use two SATA power ports to convert to one 6pin Molex, but unfortunately I was not able to see the power draw off those connection points.

I am going to pick up a 6 to 8 pin Molex adaptor tomorrow and see if the power draw from the 8pin connector stays within the 75W range as I would like to reinstall my hard drives back into the macpro.

Update:
Below is a quote from MacVidCards I found on the same thread that discusses this power issue on 680s that have 6+8 plug configurations:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1652569/

Reality is, even though the card will connect and work with 2 @ 6 pins, the one that plugs into the 8 will draw 110 watts if stressed with Furmark. I have seen this using Hardware Monitor. I do not believe this is anything to worry about, Furmark being a Worst of the worst case scenario.

A GTX285 will do the same and there are no threads about them blowing anything up. GTX 570 will pull 110 watts from both connectors and those have never blown anything up either.

If either of the mentioned cards caused problems, I would know about it.

I found that running a CS6 AE Ray Tracing render used substantially less power than Furmark. Cards all stayed near spec during this. In Windows NVIDIA drivers were changed to detect Furmark and throttle cards down, I believe some 580s self immolated before this was done. They probably didn't bother writing this into Mac drivers since the gear head "wonder what she can do" mentality is rare in OSX. (And getting further snuffed out)

Also, Macs will just shut down when a 580 writes a check that the PSU can't cash. I haven't been able to get a 680 to do this.

 

[ActionableMango]

Well, I want to confirm that the ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 flashed just fine on a Mac 3,1. I had no problems getting it up and running once the card sensed power on both of the 6 and 8 port molex connections. This card blows my old ATI 2600XT out of the water.

That's great news, I'm glad it all worked out for you.

I did use two SATA power ports to convert to one 6pin Molex, but unfortunately I was not able to see the power draw off those connection points.

Interesting. There was a thread a while back where someone asked if he could safely do that, and I think the response was that nobody knew for sure. You went right ahead and did it, using Furmark too. If I could find that other thread, I'd point them here.

 

[Robert Davies]

I agree with ActionableMango regarding going ahead doing the reflash. Before you did it no-one really knew if it was possible to get a functioning card with that particular ASUS model and the Mac flash, now we do. Thanks for posting your experiences, and if anything untoward should happen (pretty unlikely) let us know - we can hardly say 'We told you so!' because nobody owned up to knowing beforehand!

Thanks for opening up the options for the oMP community!

I'll just be off to checkout that ASUS card btw…

 

[drifter7508]

The Asus card was def. running more quiet than my new ref EVGA card.

To be clear how I powered the card:
- One 6 to 6 pin cord from the MB connector to a 6 to 8 pin adapter and to the 8 pin connector on the gfx card.
- One 6 to 6 pin cord from the second MB connector to the GFX cards 6 pin connector.

I also tried and runned it with an external PSU and that made no difference in my experience.

 

[WildBB]

ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 Tests

So, I decided to run a few tests just out of curiosity using Furmark. I thought I would share my findings with you for reference. This test is using an ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 flashed with the EVGA GTX680 Mac rom image.

Test 1: (2x) SATA power to 6-pin molex to 6-pin card connection. Both 6-pin molex of the motherboard powered the 8-pin connection using an adaptor.

This test showed a total power draw of 52.80+52.12 = 104.92W under load on the 8 pin connection. The one thing that I noticed was that this configuration pulled power extremely even across both PCIe Slot Boost ports as you can see from the attached power readings (I also ran the Unigine Heaven benchmark in this configuration on extreme and it followed this theory as well - ~42.44+41.97=84.41W).

Total power draw minus the SATA power was 133.73W. I would estimate the power drawn from the two SATA power connections was ~ a combined 50W.

Test 2: 6-pin molex to 6-pin molex card and 6-pin molex to 8-pin molex using the adaptor.

This test showed a total power draw of 101.75W from the 8-pin connection. This is ~136% of max designed power draw from this connection. Total power consumption for the card was ~183W.

Final Thoughts:
I have not decided on my final configuration, but I am leaning toward not using the 6-pin to 8-pin adaptor with this card.

 

[WildBB]

The Asus card was def. running more quiet than my new ref EVGA card.

Yes, the ASUS GTX680-DC2O-2GD5 is very quiet. It was designed to run much cooler than the reference models. The copper heat pipes, the massive heat sink, and the dual fans take up a lot of space but keep it running cool and quiet. That advantage comes at a price... it is a 3 bay card that blocks the other 16X PCIe port on the MB.

 

[ActionableMango]

This test showed a total power draw of 101.75W from the 8-pin connection. This is ~136% of max designed power draw from this connection. Total power consumption for the card was ~183W.

Keep in mind that Furmark uses the gfx card in unrealistic ways. No actual real world application has been found to use anywhere near as much power, not even the most demanding applications.

Furmark is a stress test. It's like testing a compressed air bottle rated for 300PSI at 1200PSI. If it doesn't blow at 1200PSI, you know 300PSI (normal maximum pressure) is safe.

You have power monitoring software, so you can see what your card is actually pulling for any demanding applications that you actually use. Maybe it will confirm what you are worried about, or maybe it will put your mind at ease.

I do think your results are really interesting, and it conflicts with how I understand DC power works. I admit I'm confused.

 

[WildBB]

Keep in mind that Furmark uses the gfx card in unrealistic ways. No actual real world application has been found to use anywhere near as much power, not even the most demanding applications.

Furmark is a stress test. It's like testing a compressed air bottle rated for 300PSI at 1200PSI. If it doesn't blow at 1200PSI, you know 300PSI (normal maximum pressure) is safe.

I agree, the highest readings I was seeing outside furmark was ~85W using the Unigine Heaven benchmark on extreme settings.

I do think your results are really interesting, and it conflicts with how I understand DC power works. I admit I'm confused.

Please explain your thoughts a little further. I would like to follow your understanding of this. Thanks ActionableMango!

 

[Robert Davies]

Good news:

KFA/Galaxy GTX 680 68NPH6DV5ZNX is flashable and works with a display plugged into both DVI ports afterwards just as well as it did preflashing — No other tests carried out, then again it's just a stickered up reference card so I was expecting it to work.

Bad News:

I only have a 1,1 -> 2,1 so I've no idea if bootscreens function, but I have no reason to believe they do not.

Good News if you're in the UK:

This card is on ebay currently for 189ukp (+ dely)

 

[666sheep]

Bad News:
I only have a 1,1 -> 2,1 so I've no idea if bootscreens function, but I have no reason to believe they do not.

Another bad news: EFI64 doesn't work with 1,1/2,1 - card is initialized only by self-init function of Nvidia drivers. This EFI is transparent for your MP. Flashing any card with EFI64 ROM to stick it in 1,1/2,1 is pointless.
It's much better for you to flash the card back to factory BIOS than use it now with EVGA one (even if it works OK).

 

[Robert Davies]

Another bad news: EFI64 doesn't work with 1,1/2,1 - card is initialized only by self-init function of Nvidia drivers. This EFI is transparent for your MP. Flashing any card with EFI64 ROM to stick it in 1,1/2,1 is pointless.
It's much better for you to flash the card back to factory BIOS than use it now with EVGA one (even if it works OK).

Just as well I made a backup first then! I've reflashed it back to stock firmware now.

It was an interesting experience flashing the NVidia card, if only for how unbelievably easy I found it. I used a FreeDos live CD and also a small DOS FAT partition to hold the flashing tools and roms - Truth be told, the setup was left over from doing a couple of ATI 5870s at the tail end of last year.

 

[tarafran]

EV3A NVIDIA GT680 freeze my Mac Pro

Hi i bought this card "new"on Ebay .It has EFI and @GB,single slot and I gid not see any power connector on it
My Mac Pro 5.1 (upgraded from 2009 4.1 )has trouble booting from my main Maverick partition
I was able to reboot with an older MT Lion partition and from there reboot on Maverick
After 20 mn or less the graphics start showing sign of corruption
then the mac freezes.
The geek benchmark of my compare (around 31900)with the stock Gt1200 went down with the Gt 680
The card is in slot 1,I did load the new drivers from Nvidia
Any suggestions
Thanks

 

[TzunamiOSX]

I font an important information

GPU Power from the SATA power connector with your adapter is a bad idea.

Maximum current per circuit: 1.5 amps

Perhaps your adaper is using only one circuit per connector, so you overload the circuits.

To save your lanes ond cables from the 6,25 amps you need an adapter with 5 circuits from 2 or 3 connectors.

http://www.allpinouts.org/index.php/Serial_ATA_(SATA,_Serial_Advanced_Technology_Attachment)

EDIT: I have tested an adapter and all 3 circuits of the 2 connectors are in use, i hope your adapter also use the 6 circuits.

 

[grue]

Just installed an Inno3D GTX 680 and reflashed.

It "worked" in slot 1 but very poorly and wouldn't reflash (same as my 570), but after reflashing via slot 2 I moved it back to Slot 1 and it was fine.

mac Pro 4,1

 

[coredump4]

Successfully flashed an MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC for a friend's MP 3,1. I flashed it in a Windows 7 PC. Couple of notes from my experience:

* I had to use NVflash for Windows v5.206.0.1. This was *just* released days ago, evidently. For some reason, 5.190.0.1 could not even read the flash on this MSI card.
* The "-5" parameter for NVflash no longer exists.
* Just to be safe, I uninstalled the GTX 680 from Windows using the Device Manager prior to flashing it. One of the NVflash prompts suggests this, and there wasn't any reason not to. (The display was hooked to the IGP, so it wasn't a problem uninstalling the 680.)
* Immediately after flashing, I verified the flash (NVflash's "-k" option I think... don't have it in front of me.)

The card works like a champ in the MP! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

 

[avkdm]

I can confirm Galaxy GTX680 2gb version successfully flashed with EVGA Mac Rom on Mac Pro 5,1 Full boot screens, gamings great too!
http://www.galaxytech.com/__EN_GB__...isStop=0&isPack=False&isPow=False&isSSD=False
After a few dramas with 4gb non-reference Galaxy card this was a relief, but not without hiccups.
Card would only show up in slot 2 for some reason.
Saved rom with Nvflash successfully.
Successfully flashed with new rom in Bootcamp and rebooted.
All good.
Returned to Slot 1 and is now working there,weird?
Thanks to all contributors.
Quick question - should I use OSX driver or NVIDIA Web Driver or doesn't it matter, seems to work ok with both drivers?

 

[rholzer]

To flash or not to flash...

I just scored an EVGA GeForce GTX680 SuperClocked 2048MB card 02G-P4-2682-KR and will put it in a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1.

This machine is used mainly for video work and no gaming. I understand this card should work out of the box with OSX 10.9.5. It has 2 six-pin power connectors which are already on the MB from the previous card.

Other than seeing the boot screen, are there any other additional benefits to flashing this board?

I dont mind not seeing the boot screen and will retain the original card as needed for upgrades which require it.

Thanks for any help.

 

[MentalVizion]

I just scored an EVGA GeForce GTX680 SuperClocked 2048MB card 02G-P4-2682-KR and will put it in a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1.

This machine is used mainly for video work and no gaming. I understand this card should work out of the box with OSX 10.9.5. It has 2 six-pin power connectors which are already on the MB from the previous card.

Other than seeing the boot screen, are there any other additional benefits to flashing this board?

I dont mind not seeing the boot screen and will retain the original card as needed for upgrades which require it.

Thanks for any help.

As far as I know, flashing only enables the bootscreen and 5.0GT/s PCIe speeds when using windows. OS X should already be able to use this speed without the need of flashing the card.

So if you are using bootcamp, it would be wise to flash it I guess.

 

[rholzer]

As far as I know, flashing only enables the bootscreen and 5.0GT/s PCIe speeds when using windows. OS X should already be able to use this speed without the need of flashing the card.

So if you are using bootcamp, it would be wise to flash it I guess.

Thanks for the reply!
Currently only using windows 7/64 through parallels so ill check it out. Not afraid to flash it, just need it to work from the install.

 

[avkdm]

Thanks for the reply!
Currently only using windows 7/64 through parallels so ill check it out. Not afraid to flash it, just need it to work from the install.

Advantages of flashing the GTX680 with the EVGA Mac rom is that the card will always be supported in OSX using native OSX drivers or Nvidia Web Drivers and you will always have a boot screen.
That is what happened with my card after flashing, and I have had NONE of the issues a lot are having with the last 3 apple security updates as outlined here
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1853748/

So my advice is if you like stuffing around swapping cards in and out or applying/waiting for new Nvidia drivers every time there is an update and hope your system boots go ahead and leave it stock!
Just my take on it.

 

[ActionableMango]

I have had NONE of the issues a lot are having with the last 3 apple security updates as outlined here
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1853748/

So my advice is if you like stuffing around swapping cards in and out or applying/waiting for new Nvidia drivers every time there is an update and hope your system boots go ahead and leave it stock!

The 680 isn't affected by that problem at all. Apple provides native drivers for 680 which work whether the card is flashed or not.

The problem is occurring only for cards like the 9xx series and others that do not have Apple-supplied drivers. With no support from Apple, people have to use Nvidia-supplied drivers. For whatever reason, Nvidia ties driver compatibility to OS version, so they break every time there is an update.

There are some solid advantages to flashing, but this isn't one of them.

 

[avkdm]

The 680 isn't affected by that problem at all. Apple provides native drivers for 680 which work whether the card is flashed or not.

The problem is occurring only for cards like the 9xx series and others that do not have Apple-supplied drivers. With no support from Apple, people have to use Nvidia-supplied drivers. For whatever reason, Nvidia ties driver compatibility to OS version, so they break every time there is an update.

There are some solid advantages to flashing, but this isn't one of them.

Thanks for pointing this out - so my next question is why flash the 680 at all if it will always work in OSX as you say.
Just for the boot screen and/or to select a boot disk - is this correct?