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Dual GTX 680 4GB make my 2010 12-core Fly!

Dr. Stealth

Dr. Stealth

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 14, 2004
814
740
SoCal-Surf City USA
Two EVGA GTX 680 FTW+: Total 8GB & 3,072 Cuda Cores

FSP Group Booster X5 450W PSU - Newegg

I don't game, this is for cadd & rendering. I've given it a 20 hour render to test and all works awesome. Just need to find a little time to stuff it all in the box.

680-1.jpg


680-2.jpg
 
Great, looks awesome!

The FSP Booster should in theory have anough space inside the second optical bay, shouldn't it?
 
Please don't poke any holes in the back of the Mac Pro, that's all I ask! Have some mercy!! :(
 
SDAVE said:
Please don't poke any holes in the back of the Mac Pro, that's all I ask! Have some mercy!! :(
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I did with mine. So what?

Looks good btw. These cards with their aluminum on them makes them look right at home in the Mac Pros. :D

I do wonder how that PSU compares with the EPower one? I think the Epower has 3 small fans in it so it is a little audible. Looks to be nicer too?
 
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Lil' Lady

All Taken said:
Nice rig, the floor in front of the PCI Fan could do with a clean.
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I'll get the lil' lady right on it....

Of course first I'll make her put on the French Maid outfit.... :D

(If she knew I said that, she'd slap me around the room like a Russian weight lifter....)
 
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Any heat issues while running with the side panel off? I thought that was required for proper airflow to the rest of the machine?

B

Dr. Stealth said:
Two EVGA GTX 680 FTW+: Total 8GB & 3,072 Cuda Cores

FSP Group Booster X5 450W PSU - Newegg

I don't game, this is for cadd & rendering. I've given it a 20 hour render to test and all works awesome. Just need to find a little time to stuff it all in the box.

Image

Image
Click to expand...
 
Dr. Stealth said:
I'll get the lil' lady right on it....

Of course first I'll make her put on the French Maid outfit.... :D
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Could you do me a favour? In the interest of research could you plug one 6 pin connector from the Mac into each card and one 6 pin from external PSU into the cards? So each card is powered half by the Mac and half by the external supply. The reason I'm asking is to see if the slight delay in power either from the Mac side or external PSU side causes the Mac to crash or GPU to not start. Nobody has actually done this and posted the results so you'd be the first.

The theory goes that either the power management on the GPU is clever enough to compensate for a delay in power from either 6 pin, or it is totally dependant on both 6 pin connections being live concurrently. Catch my drift?

My only advice would be to definitely have the lady in the french maid outfit dusting around the office whilst you do this.

EDIT: What's your PCI fan speed running at now? What was it before? (If you still have a EFI card to hand)
 
Singin' 680's

OrangeSVTguy said:
I did with mine. So what?

Looks good btw. These cards with their aluminum on them makes them look right at home in the Mac Pros. :D

I do wonder how that PSU compares with the EPower one? I think the Epower has 3 small fans in it so it is a little audible. Looks to be nicer too?
Click to expand...

I looked for the one you had and newegg said "This item is currently out of stock and it may or may not be restocked."

So I just picked another that had good reviews. It seems really well built but... When I first plugged it in one fan sounded like it was hitting something. Like a card in your BMX spokes. So I opened it up and found the screws that held the two fans in had never been tightened all the way. All eight needed like one more full turn to seat. Been working perfect ever since. I can hear the fans but I haven't buttoned up the box yet. Plus it's nothing like the sound of the 680s during a render. They sing pretty good but it doesn't bother me. But then, I like going to the drags too.

But, my hearing has never been the same since an indoor Led Zeppelin concert in '72 or '73... That's fact. :eek:

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bernuli said:
Any heat issues while running with the side panel off? I thought that was required for proper airflow to the rest of the machine?

B
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No problem... There's enough fans in this thing to keep everything moving. Plus I'm one block from the beach so it's always pretty cool here.
 
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All Taken said:
Could you do me a favour? In the interest of research could you plug one 6 pin connector from the Mac into each card and one 6 pin from external PSU into the cards? So each card is powered half by the Mac and half by the external supply. The reason I'm asking is to see if the slight delay in power either from the Mac side or external PSU side causes the Mac to crash or GPU to not start. Nobody has actually done this and posted the results so you'd be the first.

The theory goes that either the power management on the GPU is clever enough to compensate for a delay in power from either 6 pin, or it is totally dependant on both 6 pin connections being live concurrently. Catch my drift?
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Don't do this.

I did it with a GTX580 3GB and it never worked again.

This is sort of like "I wonder what happens if I put my finger in a coffee grinder?" You don't really need the answer and the risk isn't worth it.
 
MacVidCards said:
Don't do this.

I did it with a GTX580 3GB and it never worked again.

This is sort of like "I wonder what happens if I put my finger in a coffee grinder?" You don't really need the answer and the risk isn't worth it.
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Yea.... At this point I have so much invested in this rig and it's running so good I'm just looking forward to buttoning it all up. I'm good to go for 5 more years.
 
MacVidCards said:
Don't do this.

I did it with a GTX580 3GB and it never worked again.

This is sort of like "I wonder what happens if I put my finger in a coffee grinder?" You don't really need the answer and the risk isn't worth it.
Click to expand...

This is how I powered my 570 for a few weeks till I tidied up my setup. I ran the 2 mobo power connectors to a custom 8 pin and a 6 pin off the aux PSU and never had any issues.

Funny how the 12v and grounds were upside down on the PSU connector side and originally wired it up wrong and the Mac wouldn't start. Just a swap of the pins and it worked. I was relieved :p
 
JavaTheHut said:
The 1 PSU 450W seems under Wattage - no headroom?
Power consumption for GTX 680 = System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 307 W
so x 2 cards 614W?
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_680_review,9.html

Just curious.
Click to expand...

He's only supplying the 6-pin power connections, or 150W each per card. So, rated max is 300W out of 450W, leaving plenty of headroom on the PSU.

FWIW "system wattage" most likely includes everything in the entire system, including CPUs, hard drives and so on.
 
Plenty of Overhead....

JavaTheHut said:
The 1 PSU 450W seems under Wattage - no headroom?
Power consumption for GTX 680 = System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 307 W
so x 2 cards 614W?
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_680_review,9.html

Just curious.
Click to expand...

What a lot of people on this forum don't understand is that there is overhead built into every component in your system.

I have an air compressor tank stamped and rated at 200 PSI. I had to take it in (state requirement) to have it Hydro tested. To pass the test they fill it with water stick it in a hole in the ground and pressure tested it to 800 PSI ! That means it can be certified to operate at 200 PSI.

Okay back to the Mac... I run GPU-Z in windows and it indicates that when my cards are MAXED out at 100% on a heavy render they only draw from 50 to 70% thermal design power (TDP). Plenty of headroom. :D

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Asgorath said:
He's only supplying the 6-pin power connections, or 150W each per card. So, rated max is 300W out of 450W, leaving plenty of headroom on the PSU.

FWIW "system wattage" most likely includes everything in the entire system, including CPUs, hard drives and so on.
Click to expand...

These cards require a 6-pin and an 8-pin connection each. See the pic, different colored cables.
 
Servers

MacMilligan said:
That's pretty neat. Two PSUs used to be a big no-no, but that thing seems to be purpose built.
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Servers run 2, 4 or even more PSUs all the time. Always have.

Actually my MP is the server version whatever that means. Besides the OS, the only difference I could see was there was no keyboard or mouse in the box. :)
 
OrangeSVTguy said:
This is how I powered my 570 for a few weeks till I tidied up my setup. I ran the 2 mobo power connectors to a custom 8 pin and a 6 pin off the aux PSU and never had any issues.

Funny how the 12v and grounds were upside down on the PSU connector side and originally wired it up wrong and the Mac wouldn't start. Just a swap of the pins and it worked. I was relieved :p
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This is simpler way to deal with 8+6 pins.:D

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1514609/
 
I also liked how there was a plug in the black pic bracket. That's how I originally thought mine was but it was just a passthrouh. One solid cable from plug to plug which is why I had to cut mine and resolver the connections.

How is the back of your PSU wired? Is there just one large connector and all the wires come of of one plug?
 
Dr. Stealth said:
Servers run 2, 4 or even more PSUs all the time. Always have.

Actually my MP is the server version whatever that means. Besides the OS, the only difference I could see was there was no keyboard or mouse in the box. :)
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Redundant power is purpose built as well. I cringe thinking of running two 30 dollar PSUs together :eek:
 
Psu

MacMilligan said:
Redundant power is purpose built as well. I cringe thinking of running two 30 dollar PSUs together :eek:
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I've never owned a $30 PSU in my life...... :eek:

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OrangeSVTguy said:
I also liked how there was a plug in the black pic bracket. That's how I originally thought mine was but it was just a passthrouh. One solid cable from plug to plug which is why I had to cut mine and resolver the connections.

How is the back of your PSU wired? Is there just one large connector and all the wires come of of one plug?
Click to expand...

Yes.... All wires merge into one plug in the back of the PSU.
 
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