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Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards

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Not sure why the sticky says "If you care more about compute (CUDA/OpenCL) and have an unlimited budget get a GTX 570" unless that it's difficult to find new stock of GTX570 cards at a reasonable price. I just bought a used MSI GTX570 Twin Frozr III on eBay for £150 ($225) & fitted it to my wife's Mac Pro. It's made a fantastic difference to using Premiere Pro which is now much smoother & renders out much faster. I tested the GTX285 before I removed it & CUDA performance is 2X better with the new card while OpenCL is 3X faster. The Mac Pro is running 10.8.2 with the Nvidia drivers. There is a GT120 as the system is set up fro DaVinci Resolve so there is still a boot screen.

I was so impressed with the upgrade that I just bought the same card for my own Mac Pro.
 
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nabziF said:
295.10.20f01 v7.12.9 (built-in) is older
295.00.05f03 v7.33.0 (Nvidia download) is newer
Click to expand...

Er never mind the 7.12.9, I was looking at an old 10.7.2 Extensions folder.

Just to clear up any confusion for future reference, here's the correct version comparison for 10.7.5 Nvidia drivers:

295.10.20f01 v7.32.12 (built-in, mod date June 24 2011)
295.00.05f03 v7.33.0 (Nvidia web download, mod date October 18 2012)

Still, it's weird that the xxx.xx.xx versioning looks like a regression at first glance...one would think 10 comes after 00, not before...:rolleyes:
 
nigelbb said:
Not sure why the sticky says "If you care more about compute (CUDA/OpenCL) and have an unlimited budget get a GTX 570" unless that it's difficult to find new stock of GTX570 cards at a reasonable price.
Click to expand...

I realize that if you can get a GTX 570 these days, they're going to be pretty cheap in comparison to a GTX 680 for example. The emphasis is more on the "care more about compute" part than the "unlimited budget" part.
 
initialsBB said:
You can add the GT 610 to the list of compatible cards, using this exact same fix as the GT610 is a GT520 rebrand. Only problem now is LuxMark won't run with both GPUs, it throws up a "RUNTIME ERROR: PathOCL kernel compilation error". This is strange considering nVidia list the GT6xx cards as being OpenCL compatible ?

[url=http://i.imgur.com/12QlR.png]Image[/URL]

I'm going to try the new nVidia driver for 10.8.2 now.

Update: installed new GeForce and CUDA drivers, boots fine and GT610 patch still active as NVDAGF100Hal.kext wasn't modified by the update. My subjective test - opening a 'heavy' late game save of Civilization 5 Mac - shows that performance is back :)

Update 2: regarding GT cards, it actually looks like the files were modified and there is no mention of any device IDs in NVDAGF100Hal.kext anymore ????
Click to expand...

Did you figure out how to get LuxMark working with 610? I have a 2GB and everything works okay after I did the device ID fix in NVDAGF100Hal.kext, but I can't run LuxMark or OceanWave. I heard of some guy who was thinking about hacking the BIOS in the 610 to be a 520. I don't know if that will work or not.

Thanks
 
Ever since I have the GTX680 with the nVidia drivers for 10.8.2 installed on my system, I notice that a lot of videos playing in my browser (Chrome) freeze the whole machine.

The UI becomes completely unresponsive (except for the mouse pointer, which ist still moving, but I can't click anything).

I am guessing it must have something to do with how Chrome uses GPU assisted video decoding, but that's just speculation. In any case, it's reproducible and it's always the same videos that do this. It's not happening on Youtube at all, but for example, it's happening on viddler.com.

Anyone having similar experience?
 
funkahdafi said:
Ever since I have the GTX680 with the nVidia drivers for 10.8.2 installed on my system, I notice that a lot of videos playing in my browser (Chrome) freeze the whole machine.

The UI becomes completely unresponsive (except for the mouse pointer, which ist still moving, but I can't click anything).

I am guessing it must have something to do with how Chrome uses GPU assisted video decoding, but that's just speculation. In any case, it's reproducible and it's always the same videos that do this. It's not happening on Youtube at all, but for example, it's happening on viddler.com.

Anyone having similar experience?
Click to expand...

I had a freeze when I accidentally clicked on a CNN video from chrome.
 
Mac Pro 1.1 /(2.1)& EVGA 8800GT

Hola,

Just wanted to post un update on my MP 1.1, with updated firmware to reflect as MP 2.1.

I stuck my EVGA 8800GT 512mb from my old gaming rig and it works like a charm.

I did the following:

1. Updated to Lion from Snow Leopard.
2. Ran the updates on the OS to 10.7.5
3. Installed the Nvidia's Driver 295.00.05f03
4. Rebooted.
5. Unplugged machine using static wrist band removed & installed 8800GT.
6. Reconnected rig and booted up.

It works like a charm, card was detected, no apple gray boot screen ( as expected) and bootcamp XP works fine. I can hear the fan running, but since i work with music not a big deal. I will update on some light gaming on boot camp. mostly play Fallout 3 and Command & Conquer. So the gaming application should not tax the GPU that much.

Cheers,
 
Which Graphics Card would you recommend with PS CS6

I am planning on getting a new Mac Pro in January.

Which graphics card would you recommend for a new Mac Pro running Mountain Lion to use with Photoshop CS 6?

I have read some good things about using the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB, would that give me the fastest performance? I know that PS doesn't use CUDA, but even so, I have read that the 680 delivers the fastest times.

Thanks for your help,

David
 
Hello all

Thanks for opening this "sticky" thread with all helpful guide,, it saves hours of research for me to upgrade my GPU,,

I like to use GTX 680 2GB in my Mac Pro 2009,,, as per my understanding I need to install the latest driver of NVIDIA, before installing the card. But, i am wondering, will I have any power issues even if I utilized the card to max?

Thanks for your support
 
davidsolow said:
I am planning on getting a new Mac Pro in January.

Which graphics card would you recommend for a new Mac Pro running Mountain Lion to use with Photoshop CS 6?

I have read some good things about using the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB, would that give me the fastest performance? I know that PS doesn't use CUDA, but even so, I have read that the 680 delivers the fastest times.

Thanks for your help,

David
Click to expand...

The 680 is a fine choice:

http://www.barefeats.com/imac12p2.html
 
iWolf00 said:
Hello all

Thanks for opening this "sticky" thread with all helpful guide,, it saves hours of research for me to upgrade my GPU,,

I like to use GTX 680 2GB in my Mac Pro 2009,,, as per my understanding I need to install the latest driver of NVIDIA, before installing the card. But, i am wondering, will I have any power issues even if I utilized the card to max?

Thanks for your support
Click to expand...

Hello,,,

anyone???? ,,,, Please Help!:confused:
 
iWolf00 said:
Hello,,,

anyone???? ,,,, Please Help!:confused:
Click to expand...

This has been covered in detail in the OP. If you get a GTX 680 that has 2 6-pin power connectors, it will work fine. The TDP of the card is in the 190W range, which is well below the 225W that the Mac Pro can provide.
 
Unfortunately, things are not as troublefree as I had hoped for. Besides the problem I previsouly reported about (machine completely freezing with certain videos playing in the browser), I now have a new problem:

Virtualization software like Parallels, Fusion and VirtualBox do not work anymore if you enable 3D accelleration in your virtual machines. Virtual machines crash, but not the OS inside the machine, but the hypervisor itself. Since this is reproducible across all three products, I am pinning this down to the graphic card (in my case, a GTX680).

Can anyone else confirm problems with Parallels, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox?

Thanks
 
What are you doing inside the VM? I have not seen this behavior with my 680 and Fusion or Parallels.
 
brentsg said:
What are you doing inside the VM? I have not seen this behavior with my 680 and Fusion or Parallels.
Click to expand...

Nothing special, really. In Ubuntu, the crash happens when logging in to the Desktop. In Windows 7 it happens when opening a huge Java application. In Windows 8 it happens when Metro shows up. It's always reproducible at the same spot.

As soon as I disable 3D acceleration, the crashes no longer appear.

This happens in Fusion 5 and Parallels 8, both at the latest version.

I think I can rule out my VMs. A fresh a shiny new Ubuntu installation does the same thing at the very same moment (log in to desktop).

So it's definitely related to 3D acceleration and the nVidia drivers.

Needless to say, this did not happen when I still had my original graphic card installed.
 
funkahdafi said:
Nothing special, really. In Ubuntu, the crash happens when logging in to the Desktop. In Windows 7 it happens when opening a huge Java application. In Windows 8 it happens when Metro shows up. It's always reproducible at the same spot.

As soon as I disable 3D acceleration, the crashes no longer appear.

This happens in Fusion 5 and Parallels 8, both at the latest version.

I think I can rule out my VMs. A fresh a shiny new Ubuntu installation does the same thing at the very same moment (log in to desktop).

So it's definitely related to 3D acceleration and the nVidia drivers.

Needless to say, this did not happen when I still had my original graphic card installed.
Click to expand...

Do you have a crash log or anything like that? I run Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion all the time with my 680, and have had no problems at all (though I mostly run things like the Office applications).
 
funkahdafi said:
Unfortunately, things are not as troublefree as I had hoped for. Besides the problem I previsouly reported about (machine completely freezing with certain videos playing in the browser), I now have a new problem:

Virtualization software like Parallels, Fusion and VirtualBox do not work anymore if you enable 3D accelleration in your virtual machines. Virtual machines crash, but not the OS inside the machine, but the hypervisor itself. Since this is reproducible across all three products, I am pinning this down to the graphic card (in my case, a GTX680).

Can anyone else confirm problems with Parallels, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Seeing this in Parallels since I put in the 670.

When the VM crashes it will open a window to send a crash report to Parallels. Do this, and generate a trouble ticket number. I am already going back and forth with Parallels about this (and some other things). Parallels really wants to improve their ability to run Windows games, so they're interested in your crash reports and other things.
 
Asgorath said:
Do you have a crash log or anything like that? I run Windows 7 via VMWare Fusion all the time with my 680, and have had no problems at all (though I mostly run things like the Office applications).
Click to expand...

Do you have 3D acceleration enabled for your Win7 virtual machine? And do you use the nVidia web drivers or those that shipped with OS X?

----------
dpny said:
Seeing this in Parallels since I put in the 670.

When the VM crashes it will open a window to send a crash report to Parallels. Do this, and generate a trouble ticket number. I am already going back and forth with Parallels about this (and some other things). Parallels really wants to improve their ability to run Windows games, so they're interested in your crash reports and other things.
Click to expand...

Thank God, I am not the only one :)))

I've sent crash reports to Parallels as well. I just hope they don't ditch the case once they hear I am using an "unsupported" graphic card.

The odd thing is that this does not only happen in Parallels. Same thing happens in VMware and VirtualBox. I opened a support case with VMware as well.
 
funkahdafi said:
Do you have 3D acceleration enabled for your Win7 virtual machine? And do you use the nVidia web drivers or those that shipped with OS X?
Click to expand...

3D enabled, web drivers.

The odd thing is that this does not only happen in Parallels. Same thing happens in VMware and VirtualBox. I opened a support case with VMware as well.
Click to expand...

I think it's interaction between nVidia's drivers and the VMs. It also produces issues in Crossover/Wine: artifacting and strange texture colors.

Pretty sure Parallels wants to fix this. I'm also working with them on the problems with running Origin games in a VM.
 
dpny said:
3D enabled, web drivers.



I think it's interaction between nVidia's drivers and the VMs. It also produces issues in Crossover/Wine: artifacting and strange texture colors.

Pretty sure Parallels wants to fix this. I'm also working with them on the problems with running Origin games in a VM.
Click to expand...

Well if it's nVidia's drivers, there is probably not much PRLS/VMware can do about it.

If anyone else is experiencing this, please open support cases with the vendor of your hypervisor.
 
Hi,

So i have a mac pro 2008 3,1 model. I just bought and installed my GTX660 in my slot 1. It has been working fine. But i have a couple of questions.

Occasionally it will freeze up, and i will have to reboot, while watching videos online, but overall it seems to be running fine. Is this normal, or is their something i should do. I have already installed the nvidia drivers.

My other question is that i want to have 2 cards installed, my new one and my original Mac Pro Nvidia 8800GT (incase i need to get to recovery). Is this possible, because so far i have had no luck. I can turn it on while they are both connect, but it wont load the log in screen.

Do they need to be put in certain slot (currently slot 1 is the GTX, and slot 2 is the 8800 GT), or does the mac not have enough juice to power both at the same time.

And if i do want two cards, should i just buy the GT120? i seen a lot of people have that as a backup used for recovery purposes.

Thanks
 
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