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

[MacVidCards]

Got a refurb EVGA 580C on the way from EVGA(reasonably priced with a 1 year warrranty vs. buying USED on eBay with no warranty).

I went ahead and ordered the FSP booster from Newegg but was wondering whether I could run the booster externally(at this point I think I'd opt to leave the side cover off), without tapping into the main PSU?

First time dealing with a power supply, but I would assume that there would be no ON/OFF switch on the FSP booster, and that as long as it was plugged in, it would be providing power to the card.

I know the benefit to tapping into the main PSU is it would be slave to the main PSU whenever the MP is powered on and shut down. I've got a Pioneer BDR drive that unfortunately I still need in the upper bay, as well as a OCZ Vertex4 with my OS in the lower optical bay; At this point I'd rather not sacrifice a SATA connection and all four HD bays are full.

Currently all my PCIe slots are full as well:

4: Blackmagic Intensity
3: Matrox CompressHD
2: Highpoint Rocketcache 3240x8
1: EVGA 570 2.5

I'll probably swap out the 570 with the 580 because I can't move the Highpoint up to a x4 slot since it's a x8 card.

Again, just wanted clarification that it'd be all right to run the power supply outside the case without connecting to the main PSU(like Dr. Stealth has pictured in Post #1).

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Was also wondering whether the FSP Booster is safe to run with the 580 Classified Ultra. According to EVGA specs, it says a minimum 600 watt power supply.

Don't forget, they are counting on 75 W from the slot

A regular 580 won't give too much of a bump from a 570 2.5 but a Classified will.

 

[Kristoph]

I think the CD slot would work just fine for a temp setup. Others have run the power in through a PCI cover in the back.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1460429/

Hi,

What sort of fan noise are you getting with your set-up? Mine sounds like it's going to take off...

My fellow co-workers in my office aren't amused.

I cant work out which fans exactly are in use but Im pretty sure its the large stock MP fans.

Would be good to know if you're experiencing above average noise.

The fans are still going like the clappers without rendering or even when the machine has been stood for 10mins without anyone using it. This isnt normal surely?

Cheers

 

[KBS756]

Got my Titan and FSP Booster today and installed them (Used the Solder to 120V Method that Dr.Stealth depicted

Currently I have it booted with only the GTX Titan inside and i have powered it directly from the Booster, If i got it to boot can I assume I soldered and set up everything down that line correctly?

I haven't received my tool for extracting the pins yet could I use a tweezer to do this so I can route them in a way I can shut my case?

Thanks!

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Got my Titan and FSP Booster today and installed them (Used the Solder to 120V Method that Dr.Stealth depicted

Currently I have it booted with only the GTX Titan inside and i have powered it directly from the Booster, If i got it to boot can I assume I soldered and set up everything down that line correctly?

I haven't received my tool for extracting the pins yet could I use a tweezer to do this so I can route them in a way I can shut my case?

Thanks!

You can take a paper clip, flatted it with a hammer or pliers and use that as a makeshift tool to remove the pins from the connector.

 

[KBS756]

You can take a paper clip, flatted it with a hammer or pliers and use that as a makeshift tool to remove the pins from the connector.

Now I've been an idiot and lost track of which pin goes where ... the marker i thought was working scraped off after i pushed the wires through the holes .... anyway i can straighten this out again?

Thanks!

Also when sending wires under the 2 doors for the cd Drives I seem to have screwed something up as they are both lopsided now

Also does the X on the FSP booster glow red always?

Thanks

 

[KBS756]

Kind of Sad I thought soldering was going to be the hardest part had more issues and made more mistakes with the other stuff ....

This is what my DVD drives look like now I assume because of the fact I have the cords going under and they kind of are pressuring it ... may have done somewhat permanent damage to the part i fear looking at it ...

anyone know where i can get the part and replace it

Also I was able to correctly take apart and put together 1/2 of the cables (and I only need to power the titan so this should be enough) so that isn't as much an issue as how the CD drives covers are messed up ...

Also can I get a new cable from FSP in the future ... just the cable in case I need 2 cards and i still don't know how to fix the pins that don't go to the right places right now

This is the inside now ... will fix it up more later ... if anyone has suggestions greatly appreciated thx

Thanks

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Kind of Sad I thought soldering was going to be the hardest part had more issues and made more mistakes with the other stuff ....
Image

This is what my DVD drives look like now I assume because of the fact I have the cords going under and they kind of are pressuring it ... may have done somewhat permanent damage to the part i fear looking at it ...

anyone know where i can get the part and replace it

Also I was able to correctly take apart and put together 1/2 of the cables (and I only need to power the titan so this should be enough) so that isn't as much an issue as how the CD drives covers are messed up ...

Also can I get a new cable from FSP in the future ... just the cable in case I need 2 cards and i still don't know how to fix the pins that don't go to the right places right now

This is the inside now ... will fix it up more later ... if anyone has suggestions greatly appreciated thx

Image

Thanks

That Titan looks really sweet in there. Congrats ! I'd love to have two!

Your CD doors, more than likely are not damaged at all. They have just jumped a tooth or two. See the gear teeth in your picture? There is a gear on both sides that keeps the doors level and moving in sync. You may have to loosen the screw on the side nearest the open side of the case to readjust then level again.

 

[ActionableMango]

This is the inside now ... will fix it up more later ... if anyone has suggestions greatly appreciated thx

IIRC, the top two slots are not 16x lanes. You'll want to move the Titan down to slot 1 or slot 2 (the bottom most two slots) for maximum PCIe bandwidth.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Looks like, to me, that he has mounted it in slot two. Remember slot one is a double wide slot. Looks may be deceiving you!

Lou

 

[ActionableMango]

^^^^Looks like, to me, that he has mounted it in slot two. Remember slot one is a double wide slot. Looks may be deceiving you!

Oh yes, you are right of course.

 

[KBS756]

That Titan looks really sweet in there. Congrats ! I'd love to have two!

Your CD doors, more than likely are not damaged at all. They have just jumped a tooth or two. See the gear teeth in your picture? There is a gear on both sides that keeps the doors level and moving in sync. You may have to loosen the screw on the side nearest the open side of the case to readjust then level again.

Thanks I managed to get the CD Doors to function again but haven't as of yet been able to fit the CD Drive back into the case. Did you modify the AC Cord at all the plug that goes into the PSU seems to be quite stiff and jam up against the doors a bit. also makes it kind of a tight fit back in, scared of doing some damage.
Its been years since I used my DVD drives anyway so no real worry in leaving them out for now.

Thanks again for your guide it was very helpful

IIRC, the top two slots are not 16x lanes. You'll want to move the Titan down to slot 1 or slot 2 (the bottom most two slots) for maximum PCIe bandwidth.

As flow rider has mentioned I have mounted the Titan in slot 2

On a side note I have 10.9 Most recent Beta installed and I have an odd issue in that when I boot with both my monitors and the Cintiq all connected to the titan the HDMI the Cintiq is using is designated the primary screen and the computer never boots fully, but when I remove the Cintiq's HDMI everything works fine and quickly.

Thanks again everyone for all the help

 

[slughead]

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.

Multiply that by a few hours/days/weeks and you may be in for a surprise. That was always the problem with mobo tracers: people would brag that they ran 150watts through them for a few games here and there for a month, but that could have been destroying the tracers over time.

By the way, this is the way cannons were tested too before battle--they overloaded them (10x [??] the powder IIRC) and if they didn't burst, they're good to go.

 

[drac]

Great install Dr Stealth.

Can I clarify something.

Can you SLI these cards together for PC gaming under bootcamp and have no issues when you boot back into osX.
I am ok if the SLI does not work under osX. Along as 1 is working in osX.

(I now it's a crime that I'm a guy who wants to do regular stuff in osX and game in windows but who does not want to buy a gaming PC.)

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

Can I clarify something.

Can you SLI these cards together for PC gaming under bootcamp and have no issues when you boot back into osX.
I am ok if the SLI does not work under osX. Along as 1 is working in osX.

(I now it's a crime that I'm a guy who wants to do regular stuff in osX and game in windows but who does not want to buy a gaming PC.)

It would work fine in windows and OSX. You can SLI them with the cable and boot into Windows and everything will work like a PC. Boot back into windows and you'll just have 2 separate GPUs.

 

[StorageMountain]

Life-and-death PC question

I plan on using the soldering method that Dr. Stealth used for his Mac for a single GTX 780, and I want to know: What will happen if the mac pro receives a 220V input instead of a 110V input? I might take my mac to South Korea for purposes yet unknown, and I heard they use 220V. Will this strain my mac's power cable, and cause it to heat up and (possibly) cause a system-wide fireworks parade?

I sincerely hope not.

 

[slughead]

I plan on using the soldering method that Dr. Stealth used for his Mac for a single GTX 780, and I want to know: What will happen if the mac pro receives a 220V input instead of a 110V input? I might take my mac to South Korea for purposes yet unknown, and I heard they use 220V. Will this strain my mac's power cable, and cause it to heat up and (possibly) cause a system-wide fireworks parade?

I sincerely hope not.

Higher volts means fewer Amps--therefore it's probably safer. Just make sure you flip the 220v switch on the PSU. However, make sure your PSU for your GTX 780 is capable of running such a voltage.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

I don't think there's a switch from 110>220 on those auxiliary power supplies like their big brothers. At least I never remember seeing one on there.

 

[Sinx2oic]

Does this speed up your rendering time? I thought these would only speed up when you actually working in 3D, Thought rendering was all down to processing? just curious.

 

[StorageMountain]

I don't think there's a switch from 110>220 on those auxiliary power supplies like their big brothers. At least I never remember seeing one on there.

I agree with Orange. I'm pretty sure the Mac Pro and the Booster X5 don't have voltage switches as they both have active PFC (well at least the Booster X5 does, no idea for Mac Pro)

Btw my computer's a mac pro, in case anyone misunderstood.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Did you modify the AC Cord at all the plug that goes into the PSU seems to be quite stiff and jam up against the doors a bit.

No mod to the AC cord except I folded it over on itself pretty tight and put a small zip tie on it to keep it as compact as possible.

----------

Does this speed up your rendering time? I thought these would only speed up when you actually working in 3D, Thought rendering was all down to processing? just curious.

Depends on the rendering program you use. I use Bunkspeed Shot which utilizes CPUs & GPUs for rendering. So my rendering speeds increased dramatically. Dual cards cut my times in half.

 

[StorageMountain]

I specifically didn't show how I tapped into the psu as I didn't want others who maybe shouldn't be tinkering in there in the first place using this as a 'guide' which it is not. If this is 'Inspiration' to others then so be it. I myself am very comfortable with what I did and where I tapped both the 120v & 12v. The 120 came right off the main leads of the macs power cord, just inside the psu. The 12v will be very obvious to anyone who has any business in there. So the aux psu is not "drawing" anything from the main psu except the the 12v to trigger it on or off. Same as if it was plugged into a sata power connector as intended. =)

There is no relay work involved. The 12v from the psu triggers the aux psu to turn on or off. The circuitry is already in the aux psu for that.

The mod was really very simple and to me beats the heck out of snaking another 120v line through your mac and out the back and across the floor....

Plus I needed to get at the 12v anyway as I didn't want to lose my precious sata connections.

P.S. There's no prying or cutting to open the psu. half dozen phillips screws and it opens up like a clam.

Okay... Here's the 120v tap. Right off the main plug connection.

Image

If you do this, won't that put strain on the main PSU's plug and cause it to overheat? Just assuming. Not really an expert on electrical currents and all that. Need to know before welding the cables...

 

[Dr. Stealth]

If you do this, won't that put strain on the main PSU's plug and cause it to overheat? Just assuming. Not really an expert on electrical currents and all that. Need to know before welding the cables...

Sure there will be more current through the main plug & cable but it can easily handle it. My cord has never gotten even slightly warm.

 

[djwalter]

Hi Dr. Stealth,

I'm not trying to bump up and old thread but I can't pm you directly. I'm getting a 2008 mac pro today, price was great. I want to put a gtx 680 in, especially since we have the rom for it. I also have ordered the fsp booster like in your setup. Did you place in it your cage with the wires facing the cd rom door just because it was easier for you to wire it? I've read in this thread with a 2008 I have alittle more leeway to run the wires by hdd sled one, I think it was ETC that did it. Will the power supply not vent right if I don't place in the same way as in your build? Thank you for your time.

 

[pastrychef]

Did you place in it your cage with the wires facing the cd rom door just because it was easier for you to wire it? I've read in this thread with a 2008 I have alittle more leeway to run the wires by hdd sled one, I think it was ETC that did it. Will the power supply not vent right if I don't place in the same way as in your build?

From the looks of it, he did it just for the purpose of easier cable management.

If you install it the more traditional way, you don't need to reverse the fans on the auxiliary power supply.

 

[djwalter]

From the looks of it, he did it just for the purpose of easier cable management.

If you install it the more traditional way, you don't need to reverse the fans on the auxiliary power supply.

Thanks PastryChef, I'm going to see if I can do it that way. I can even forgo having a HDD in sled one if I have to. I'm only using 3 internally anyway.