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Fastest Mac GPUs with full EFI boot screens, etc, GTX570 & GTX580
- Thread starter MacVidCards
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Gtx680 ?
Any experiences using the GTX680 in a MP? Is there a flashed version in the works? I'm looking for a CUDA card for my mid 2010 Mac Pro, and deciding between GTX570 and GTX680. First buyers are reporting the card to be very quiet, so this would be an additional benefit. Should also work with 10.7.3 and the latest NVIDIA drivers, right?
Any experiences using the GTX680 in a MP? Is there a flashed version in the works? I'm looking for a CUDA card for my mid 2010 Mac Pro, and deciding between GTX570 and GTX680. First buyers are reporting the card to be very quiet, so this would be an additional benefit. Should also work with 10.7.3 and the latest NVIDIA drivers, right?
Looking at netkas forum posts, it looks like the 680 is a no go in Lion and Mountain Lion preview for the moment.
There is 0 (ZERO) support in the drivers right now. When Fermi came out in March of 2010, the OSX drivers didn't appear until November, and even then they were shaky at best. So don't hold your breath. The 2012 Mac Pro may yet contain one, but I doubt it.
The 680 EFI will be no fun. All sorts of new goblety gook in there, including a certification certificate or some such malarkey. And the 680 already is 2/3 filling a 256 K chip. So adding Mac EFI will require a 512K EEPROM, and I haven't found a good SOIC-8 one. I ordered some from Mouser but they are too big. Without Nvidia releasing a card in the family, I may not be able to make it happen.
So 680 may hit Mac Pro later this year, but hard to say when. Really up to Apple and Nvidia. And since it isn't an "iToy", there is no rush in Cupertino.
We got GF100 when GF110 was releasing. Our GF110 drivers matured when 680 came out. We got 4870 and 5870 right before their replacements showed up for Windows. We ALWAYS get cards when they are EOL.
Will a Mac Pro 5,1 be able to run 4 displays using a MacVidCards configured GTX570 + GT120? I understand that the 570 will run fine with boot screen in 10.7.3....has anyone tried to add a GT120 to add two more displays?
I'm guessing it should work since the 120 does not require power.
I'm guessing it should work since the 120 does not require power.
So these cards are great for CUDA, but what about OpenCL ? Does the extra power benefit apps using OpenCL (which supports some Nvidia cards like the GTX 285), or is it limited to CUDA ?
They alright in OpenCL. AMD dominates in OpenCL.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/13/bitcoin_mining_gpu_performance_comparison/2
Not correct in OSX.
Apple, being bad sports, don't have OpenCl turned on for Fermi cards. They flip a couple bytes to turn it off and help keep the 5870 looking good. If you can't win a fair race, CHEAT !!!
But by going here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?p6w1xeh9et3m8e5
You can download the "fixed" driver kext.
And then the mid-range 570 is equal to the "top'o'the'line" 5870. And it can run CUDA which is Greek to the 5870. But OpenCl looks to be about dead even. Pretty sure a GTX580 would seal the deal on the 5870.
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Cool, thanks for the answer 
Was afraid that maybe OpenCL would take a performance hit.
I have read (unable to find the link now) that nowadays OpenCL and CUDA are neck and neck in terms of performance except for a couple of things in favor of CUDA (better FFT implementation for the latter). It just happens to be that CUDA had better development tools faster, and that's why it's used more than OpenCL... just wish they'd decide which one to go for once and for all !
Was afraid that maybe OpenCL would take a performance hit. I have read (unable to find the link now) that nowadays OpenCL and CUDA are neck and neck in terms of performance except for a couple of things in favor of CUDA (better FFT implementation for the latter). It just happens to be that CUDA had better development tools faster, and that's why it's used more than OpenCL... just wish they'd decide which one to go for once and for all !
A question, for anybody...
I don't need hardcore graphics in OS X, I use an "official" 5770 for my MP and it works fine. But I do game, on a "PC", and could do with less computers.
Is the GTX 570 a good option for dual-boot gaming in Windows? Does it still need modding for full performance?
I don't need hardcore graphics in OS X, I use an "official" 5770 for my MP and it works fine. But I do game, on a "PC", and could do with less computers.
Is the GTX 570 a good option for dual-boot gaming in Windows? Does it still need modding for full performance?
But by going here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?p6w1xeh9et3m8e5
You can download the "fixed" driver kext.
That means you need to replaced the kext with every OSX update, right?
http://www.mediafire.com/?p6w1xeh9et3m8e5
You can download the "fixed" driver kext.
That means you need to replaced the kext with every OSX update, right?
Apple doesn't have to cheat. It is the same results in Windows as I posted.
Test were in Windows 7 SP1 (no supposed favoritism to AMD). So Windows cheats too then? How do you figure Apple cheats when both Win 7 and OS X show AMD destroying Nvidia by default? They all want to beat up on lil' green? Cool that Apple "fixed" their drivers but what about Windows gap? It is still there no? Wouldn't the apparent gap in both mean that that is the normal not the cheat? The 5870 is old as hell. I don't expect it to win much these days but the disparity shows something wrong with Nvidia. I wouldn't think Apple cares enough about any of this to alter results to favor their old-ass tech but you are closer to these things.
A question, for anybody...
I don't need hardcore graphics in OS X, I use an "official" 5770 for my MP and it works fine. But I do game, on a "PC", and could do with less computers.
Is the GTX 570 a good option for dual-boot gaming in Windows? Does it still need modding for full performance?
I've been using an unmodified GTX 560 Ti for both Mac and Windows gaming basically since the drivers were released on NVIDIA's site. No complaints at all about performance, in my experience everything has been rock solid and surprisingly fast. The card worked perfectly under Windows. Looking back I probably should've gotten a 570 instead, but in any case, it's running way better than the GTX 285 I was using before that.
In order to get PCIe Gen 2 (i.e. 5.0 GT/s) the card will need to be modified, hopefully this will get fixed in the future so that the cards run at full PCIe speeds even without an EFI. How much of an impact this will have on performance really depends on the workload/application. In my experience, the card has been great for things like WoW, SC2, Skyrim, BioShock 2, DE:HR etc.
You might try Google every now and then.
The OpenCl for ALL Fermi cards is TURNED OFF by default.
Standard Apple tactics to have something turned off and then turn it ON as a "feature" added later.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3709763?start=0&tstart=0
And this follow up from the guy who wrote the Ars Technica review of Quadro 4000:
http://polygonspixelsandpaint.tumblr.com/post/21851644276
Sometimes it's just better to say "I don't actually know what I'm talking about, sorry"
Aren't you the guy who told a Mac Pro 1,1 owner just yesterday that a an EVGA GTX285 would be a good choice for him and would have boot screens on his Mac? No advice is better than bad advice in most cases.
This is standard Apple behavior. We all know it is true.
The Ars Tech guy basically says that this OpenCl support will be added in ML as a new feature. Yay !!
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Questions Regarding the XFX 6870
I have an XFX 6870 in my 5,1 Mac Pro, and I am almost certain that I am not getting the full potential out of the card... Can anyone help me out? I have looked around the forums for an answer and haven't been able to find one... If I'm in the wrong thread, can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
I had installed kext files that I had found for the 6870, and both Steam and DVD player work, however under system profiler my card shows up as ATI Radeon 6800 Series 1024MB (Its a 6870 2GB Card), and Final Cut Pro X is very sluggish. Could this be because I am running 3 monitors off of the card? I have iStat menus installed, and my vram is not maxed when I experience lag...
I have an XFX 6870 in my 5,1 Mac Pro, and I am almost certain that I am not getting the full potential out of the card... Can anyone help me out? I have looked around the forums for an answer and haven't been able to find one... If I'm in the wrong thread, can someone please point me in the right direction? Thanks!
I had installed kext files that I had found for the 6870, and both Steam and DVD player work, however under system profiler my card shows up as ATI Radeon 6800 Series 1024MB (Its a 6870 2GB Card), and Final Cut Pro X is very sluggish. Could this be because I am running 3 monitors off of the card? I have iStat menus installed, and my vram is not maxed when I experience lag...
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Are the results seen between AMD and Nvidia in Windows 7 accurate? That was my question. In Windows is it a level playing field?
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You dodged the question about PCIE 1.0 vs PCIE 2.0 several times. The reason is that a PCI 1.0 x16 lane provides more than adequate bandwidth for a GTX 570.
The difference between one of his video cards and a normal GTX 570 is the EFI loading screen. That's it.
MacVidCards,
So now the 10.7.4 update has come to Software Update. However, I installed the update and now, the Nvidia drivers no longer work anymore with the GTX 570 I just bought from you. The acceleration is gone (used to work swell under 10.7.3)
Any clues?
So now the 10.7.4 update has come to Software Update. However, I installed the update and now, the Nvidia drivers no longer work anymore with the GTX 570 I just bought from you. The acceleration is gone (used to work swell under 10.7.3)
Any clues?
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Nvidia will likely have a new update in next few days.
I will upload a fixed kext here in a little while until they do.
It may even be possible to run the Nvidia 10.7.3 driver ON TOP of 10.7.4, it worked with the betas.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-270.00.00f06-driver.html
This appears to be the driver for 10.7.4 for what it's worth.
This appears to be the driver for 10.7.4 for what it's worth.
Excellent news, I will try this shortly.
No need to use my messy little fix it seems.
Please note, our cards with EFI can be used normally after Apple's 10.7.4, they just won't have acceleration until you apply Nvidia's fix. They will also likely be limited to one screen until you run this update but boot screens will work, and you will land on the desktop and able to download and run Nvidia's fix. But for MacVidCards EFI GTX570 and GTX580, you can do this in correct order and without worry.
1. Download and run 10.7.4.
2. Reboot into 10.7.4, desktop will seem kind of laggy due to Apple killing the 3D acceleration, but card will function as 2D frame buffer and you will be able to download and install this fix from Nvidia. Do so and run it. For those with cards that need AGPM removed, you can remove it now. (note: if your card has an "A" on the back, no need to remove AGPM)
3. Reboot into "patched" 10.7.4, all should be back to normal.
The self initing cards (i.e., PC ones from Newegg, et al) will be black and not very helpful until you install this. Asgorath has posted instructions in the other thread for doing this remotely. I would recomend that people with 2 Macs just leave screen sharing enabled on the Mac Pro for when this happens again.This is why I would recomend an EFI card be kept handy until Apple decides that new cards are a GOOD thing and allows Nvidia to include full drivers in the OS.
Any input on this? I'm assuming that since this is actually being sold on the MacVidCards ebay store it will work...