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

djwalter said:
Hi Dr. Stealth,

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?
Click to expand...

Actually the cables on the X5 Booster are fairly short. They aren't long enough to turn the X5 around the other way. The choice was, turn the PSU around backwards or cut and splice the cables to lengthen them. The cables were so nicely made I didn't want to hack them up. =)

See here:

4.jpeg
 
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I recommend buying your own cables than using the thick/short/hard to bend stock cables. You can order them longer so you don't won't have to reverse any fans and install it the traditional way.
 
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.
Click to expand...

I've been looking for GPU info like this from someone who uses pro apps. Most everything I find is posted by gamers. So here's my question: What led you to choose the 680 over the 570/80 or the 770 nividia cards? I'm looking to get out of this hell I'm in with my 5770. I use Lightwave and Vue and the latter can easily overwhelm my graphics card when setting up a scene. I'm looking at the GTX 570 from Macvidcards, but I'm open to suggestions in terms of the 680 or the 770.
 
jpine said:
I'm looking at the GTX 570 from Macvidcards, but I'm open to suggestions in terms of the 680 or the 770.
Click to expand...

I've got a Gigabyte GTX570 modified by MVC for sale in the MarketPlace section of this forum.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
I've got a Gigabyte GTX570 modified by MVC for sale in the MarketPlace section of this forum.

Lou
Click to expand...

Hi Lou!

I'm 6 post short of 250 on this forum. Arn has it set up so that 250 is the minimum requirement to access that MarketPlace. I think that's a good idea, BTW. So, could you let me know:

1 Your price?

2 Are cables included?

3. Do you run pro apps or are you primarily a gamer?

In the meantime, I'll share my ignorance 6 more times today on the forum and qualify for the market place. :D
 
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Dual GTX 680 4GB, 2010 12-core

Dr. Stealth
Its been a while since you posted about your Dual GTX 680 4GB.
I've got a similar MacPro and looking at CUDA-hungry Octane Render.

Can you post an update on how this has worked for a rendering system?
(I've got the items in my shopping cart and ready to buy and wondering if you are running OS 10.8 or 10.9. No driver problems?)


MacPro5,1, 6-Core Intel Xeon, 3.33 GHz
 
mristau said:
Dr. Stealth
Its been a while since you posted about your Dual GTX 680 4GB.
I've got a similar MacPro and looking at CUDA-hungry Octane Render.

Can you post an update on how this has worked for a rendering system?
(I've got the items in my shopping cart and ready to buy and wondering if you are running OS 10.8 or 10.9. No driver problems?)


MacPro5,1, 6-Core Intel Xeon, 3.33 GHz
Click to expand...


Still very happy with the setup, I'd do it again tomorrow. It's a powerful workhorse of a machine. I'm running 10.9 on the Mac side and Win 7 Ultimate in Bootcamp without any issues. My work keeps me on the Windows side using Solidworks and Bunkspeed Shot about 50% of the time. Shot utilizes both CPU & GPU simultaneously so the dual 680s and 24 processor threads are a very powerful rendering combination.

http://DG-Digital.com
 
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Damn how'd you get those cables in there :^T

Dr.Stealth, I saw your post and couldn't help but notice that you said you cut a piece of aluminum to snake your cables. Exactly WHAT piece do you have to snip off? I'm bummed here. I have 2 Mac Pros and the first one I tried and tried, then just cut a piece of aluminum from the I brace dividing the CD-ROM and the PSU from the rest of the Mac. then I filed it to smooth out the edges... It looks OK, but I fear I might have lowered the structural integrity of the case. So what do you need to do for the cables? Please help.

P.S. Your power tap guide really helped out! didn't have to snake the power cable through the PCIe slots! ;)
 
Two GTX 680's in Mac Pro 5,1 not working for me.

I tried this setup but haven't been able to get it to work. Dang.
As far as I can tell, same connection to cards . . . reds top and bottom, blues middle two 6-pin connectors. + same open Mac with supply sitting beside.
Startup seemed OK with Mac but after 5 minutes screen never displayed nuthin.
Any suggestions before I send all this stuff back?
:confused:
 
mristau said:
I tried this setup but haven't been able to get it to work. Dang.
As far as I can tell, same connection to cards . . . reds top and bottom, blues middle two 6-pin connectors. + same open Mac with supply sitting beside.
Startup seemed OK with Mac but after 5 minutes screen never displayed nuthin.
Any suggestions before I send all this stuff back?
:confused:
Click to expand...

Are you still using Lion? Doesn't sound like you have the right OS. Upgrade to Mavericks or latest Mountain Lion.
 
mristau said:
I tried this setup but haven't been able to get it to work. Dang.
As far as I can tell, same connection to cards . . . reds top and bottom, blues middle two 6-pin connectors. + same open Mac with supply sitting beside.
Startup seemed OK with Mac but after 5 minutes screen never displayed nuthin.
Any suggestions before I send all this stuff back?
:confused:
Click to expand...


Okay this may seem obvious but, if you're using the same X5 power supply it requires 12v input via a molex connector before it will output power to the main cable assembly. You knew this right ? =)
 
Dr. Stealth said:
Okay this may seem obvious but, if you're using the same X5 power supply it requires 12v input via a molex connector before it will output power to the main cable assembly. You knew this right ? =)
Click to expand...

Didn't know. That's good news. So, is the 12V molex custom built? Are the pin-outs Pin1+12v, Pin2 Ground, Pin3 Ground, Pin4+5v ? What amperage should the supply be?

Thanks!
 

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Anyone have any thoughts as to the following from Macvidcards? Most of the benchmarks I see for the below cards are for games. The OP obviously seems to be having great success with the 680, but I don't know if the below apps are used by him. I did read one blog that suggests PS runs better on the 570 and 580 than the 680, but that's just one source which I have not seen replicated. I need to move on this in a couple of weeks, so any input would be appreciated! :) My apps are, in order of importance:

PS CS6
Lighrwave
Vue

Cards under consideration are, in no particular order,

GTX 570 2.5 gig version

GTX 580 3 gig version with internal power

GTX 680 4 gig version

Jerry
 
^^^^Concerning your choice of cards. If you can lower your standards a bit, I have a MVC modified Gigabyte GTX570 in the Marketplace section of this forum. It's the 3 fan (Windforce3) model, is OC, and runs great, but it is the 1.25GB version. Send a PM if your interested.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
^^^^Concerning your choice of cards. If you can lower your standards a bit, I have a MVC modified Gigabyte GTX570 in the Marketplace section of this forum. It's the 3 fan (Windforce3) model, is OC, and runs great, but it is the 1.25GB version. Send a PM if your interested.

Lou
Click to expand...

Hi Lou! I gotta go with the higher VRAM models. ;) Thanks just the same!

Jerry
 
mristau said:
Didn't know. That's good news. So, is the 12V molex custom built? Are the pin-outs Pin1+12v, Pin2 Ground, Pin3 Ground, Pin4+5v ? What amperage should the supply be?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Only the 12v is required and it can be very low amp, the 5v is unnecessary. The only reason the PSU requires this is to sync it's power on/off to the main psu. So when you turn your Mac on the aux psu powers up and shuts off on power down.

If you look on page 2 of this thread you'll see I pulled both the 120v & 12v for the aux psu straight from the main mac psu.

In this pic from the 1st page of this thread you can see the small power brick (next to the x5) that provided my 12v molex for my initial testing.

680-2.jpg


Similar to this....

Molex_4_pin_Dual_Power_Supply_12V.jpg
 
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Dr. Stealth said:
Okay this may seem obvious but, if you're using the same X5 power supply it requires 12v input via a molex connector before it will output power to the main cable assembly. You knew this right ? =)
Click to expand...
OK I've got everything powered up and the 680's are live under Mac OS. Windows want come up under Bootcamp though. After selecting my Windows drive at startup, just sits there with a white screen.
Guess I'll go for a clean install of Windows and Rhino and Octane in the am.
 
mristau said:
OK I've got everything powered up and the 680's are live under Mac OS. Windows want come up under Bootcamp though. After selecting my Windows drive at startup, just sits there with a white screen.
Guess I'll go for a clean install of Windows and Rhino and Octane in the am.
Click to expand...

Before you do all of that....try different ports.

I have found that a 680 that shows boot screen on HDMI will do as you have described and sometimes need a connection via DVI to "find" itself.

This is a bootcamp issue has to do with EFI handing off to Windows drivers that then need to read PC BIOS. Not all values match and sometimes display gets sent to wrong output.

If you memorize your bootcamp log in procedure you can try doing it and listen for the windows sound effects. In windows 8, unplugging a display will give you a "boop bo da doop" if you hear this, Windows loaded but display is either on wrong port or outputting at wrong res.

I have found that my HDMI will frequently default to 1600x1200 in Windows, and that my Plasma doesn't care one bit for that res and displays nothing. Switching to a DVI port directly to display I am able to "find" it.

Good luck, I doubt you need a full WIndows install.
 
mristau said:
OK I've got everything powered up and the 680's are live under Mac OS. Windows want come up under Bootcamp though. After selecting my Windows drive at startup, just sits there with a white screen.
Guess I'll go for a clean install of Windows and Rhino and Octane in the am.
Click to expand...

Seems a bit rash....

Try putting your old card back in and boot into windows. Then install the latest Nvidia drivers. Shut down, put the 680's back in and try it again.

You'll get it and be very happy soon. =)
 
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