Failing gfx already?!

[Kingsly]

See attached pictures...

Last time I saw this stuff the logic board in my ol' MBP was failing. Is my nMP already due to be replaced?!

Comes and goes at random. The other day a huge artifact took over a good portion of my screen.

 

[Cindori]

Yeah that's typical symptom for failing GPU.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Yep, send that in ASAP. For sure a GPU issue there.

 

[Kingsly]

Dangit! This machine is going to be mission critical for at least another week too.

Hopefully she holds until then...

 

[ActionableMango]

In the nMP aren't some of the output ports mapped to the first GPU and the others mapped to the second GPU?

If so, you could theoretically just switch to a port that's mapped to the other GPU and you wouldn't have the graphics corruption any more.

This assumes that the problem is a hardware issue of course.

 

[Kingsly]

In the nMP aren't some of the output ports mapped to the first GPU and the others mapped to the second GPU?

If so, you could theoretically just switch to a port that's mapped to the other GPU and you wouldn't have the graphics corruption any more.

This assumes that the problem is a hardware issue of course.

Good thinking, I just tried every TB port with system profiler open, no matter which port I was plugged into it always showed the 2nd D300 as the display processor. Maybe it only lights up the first GPU when more than a few displays are attached?

I don't have an HDMI - DVI adaptor to test.

 

[MacVidCards]

Good thinking, I just tried every TB port with system profiler open, no matter which port I was plugged into it always showed the 2nd D300 as the display processor. Maybe it only lights up the first GPU when more than a few displays are attached?

I don't have an HDMI - DVI adaptor to test.

Did you refresh each time?

Apple R

 

[Kingsly]

Did you refresh each time?

Apple R

Yeah, just tried again - no dice.

Side note: MacVidCards, do you know if a Titan would fit in an external TB chassis? Down the line I'd like to add one for CUDA support in NukeX.

 

[ActionableMango]

Good thinking, I just tried every TB port with system profiler open, no matter which port I was plugged into it always showed the 2nd D300 as the display processor. Maybe it only lights up the first GPU when more than a few displays are attached?

I don't have an HDMI - DVI adaptor to test.

Never mind the switching ports idea, I just read on Anandtech that both GPUs access all Thunderbolt ports.

My next suggestion would be to disable the video card in OS X, but I don't know how to do that.

 

[Kingsly]

I know this isn't the case but i'm starting to feel like AMD and Mac just do not get along. My 3,1 had really bad graphics issues and inconsistencies with a radeon card and when I switched back to the old (MUCH slower) 8800GT it was like getting a new computer.

Heck, graphics causing issues and being generally unstable is why I upgraded to nMP in the first place.

 

[ActionableMango]

If only you could manually select a GPU in OS X, then the MP's dual GPUs could work as a redundant pair. If one fails, just switch to the other. That could be a feature for pros such as yourself with a critical work path. Apple should implement this.

As it stands now, it seems the cMP is actually better because you could just run to the local computer store, pick up any number of cheap GPUs, and pop it into a PCIe slot. Sure you wouldn't have boot screens, but you could get your work done.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Have you tried an Apple hardware test?