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

[vel0city]

Thank you Synchro3, I've just ordered it from Amazon.

Sorry for the noob questions.

My GPU is connected to the Mac Pro with 8 pin and 6 pin connectors, where your instructions state that I need to connect the 6 pin to 6 pin cables to the Powerlink. Here's a pic:



Can I connect those 6 and 8 pin connectors to the Powerlink? Or do you think I have to replace the cable with 6 pin and 6 pin connectors?

Thanks a lot for your help, truly appreciated.

 

[Speedstar]

People, just pop in Radeon - no drivers to install, no web drivers and no need for boot scripts - don't torture yourselves it is not even funny

please do not bother, we do use mac not for adobe and web browsing only, we like cuda rendering on high sierra, some of us seriously dislike AMD.
3d, or video encoding is crap with AMD and, nvidia is very well supported on mac and windows, no one of DCC ARTISTS uses AMD excepct people who love chewing gum MOJAVE this new comic marvel edition of openstep,BSD from devil company apple led by headless profit vultures since jobs left us with those. I am not using apple hardware to run open source AMD linux...
I WANT ALL POSSIBILITIES OF DCC ON OS X, macOS platform.in worst case better on bootcamp,
instead of AMD with vray.... no option ....

 

[09872738]

The lack of drivers actually really IS annoying.

Developing CUDA applications I got no choice other than use nVidia cards. In case there are no nVidia drivers once the next CUDA version is released I guess there is no other option but to leave the Apple ecosystem.

I'd hate it, but that is what I'd have to do.

On second thought - if Apple sticks to its absolutely outrageous price policy I'd say good bye anyway

 

[-BigMac-]

The lack of drivers actually really IS annoying.

Developing CUDA applications I got no choice other than use nVidia cards. In case there are no nVidia drivers once the next CUDA version is released I guess there is no other option but to leave the Apple ecosystem.

I'd hate it, but that is what I'd have to do.

On second thought - if Apple sticks to its absolutely outrageous price policy I'd say good bye anyway

Actually, numerous times, it has been shown by PC enthusiasts that the Mac Pro and iMac Pro pricing on release was actually even, if not under, what it costs to produce the PC equivalent.
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New web driver also available via control panel:
View attachment 809375

Support for RTX cards?

 

[Synchro3]

Thank you Synchro3, I've just ordered it from Amazon.

Sorry for the noob questions.

My GPU is connected to the Mac Pro with 8 pin and 6 pin connectors, where your instructions state that I need to connect the 6 pin to 6 pin cables to the Powerlink. Here's a pic:

View attachment 812736

Can I connect those 6 and 8 pin connectors to the Powerlink? Or do you think I have to replace the cable with 6 pin and 6 pin connectors?

Thanks a lot for your help, truly appreciated.

Yes, you can also use the existing 6 to 8 pin cable to the PowerLink. The PowerLink has external 8 pin connectors that can be used with 6 pin and 8 pin cables.

Support for RTX cards?

No. Support as before for all cards up to Pascal.

 

[09872738]

Actually, numerous times, it has been shown by PC enthusiasts that the Mac Pro and iMac Pro pricing on release was actually even, if not under, what it costs to produce the PC equivalent.

Well, in the past, this actually may have been true.

That said, not any more. As a number of media have confirmed, Apple's increased prices for almost all of its products dramatically. And as anyone interested in Mac mini, Macbook Air, Macbook Pro - you name it - can confirm.

1000 bucks just for the upgrade from 500 to 1 TB SSD is simply preposterous. You can't even buy a halfway descent Mac mini for less than 1500 any more. Hate to say it, but I cannot recommend Macs with good conscience any more. Good products (minus non-upgradeability of RAM & SSD), but way overpriced

 

[Reindeer_Games]

The PowerLink has two 8 pin connectors factory-installed, replace one 8 pin with the enclosed 6 pin connector (marked in red, pic 1). Than just connect the normal 6 pin to 6 pin cables to the PowerLink (pic 2):

View attachment 812728 View attachment 812730

I've heard these balance the power load as well-for cards that draw unevenly? Or just a better way to split the power than the 8+6 cords?

 

[Synchro3]

I've heard these balance the power load as well-for cards that draw unevenly? Or just a better way to split the power than the 8+6 cords?

It balances the load because the load is on one rail which is just a 12V+GND. Prince134 disassembled it: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ower-question-on-mp5-1.2053492/#post-24740425

 

[Reindeer_Games]

It balances the load because the load is on one rail which is just a 12V+GND. Prince134 disassembled it: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ower-question-on-mp5-1.2053492/#post-24740425

Very cool-thanks for the link!

 

[vel0city]

Yes, you can also use the existing 6 to 8 pin cable to the PowerLink. The PowerLink has external 8 pin connectors that can be used with 6 pin and 8 pin cables.

View attachment 812771

Thank you again so much. The Powerlink should arrive Saturday, can't wait to get it installed and report back.

I really appreciate everyone's help and input, thank you all.

 

[Speedstar]

can i use the evga bridge to run gtx680 with one mini-pice cable to 2x6pin ,and where can i get second 6pin connector for this bridge ?

 

[Synchro3]

can i use the evga bridge to run gtx680 with one mini-pice cable to 2x6pin ,and where can i get second 6pin connector for this bridge ?

One 6 pin connector is enclosed with the EVGA PowerLink. If you need an additional 6 pin connector here you go: https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=J002-0D-000122

But if your GTX 680 has two 6 pin connectors it makes no sense to use the EVGA PowerLink. If your GTX 680 has one 6 pin and one 8 pin the PowerLink makes sense, but you don't need an additional 6 pin connector, it's enclosed.

However, if I understood your question correctly: You should always use two cables from the motherboard to the PowerLink, using both 6 pin connectors on the motherboard, never use only one!

One 6 pin connector on the Mac Pro MoBo provides up to 125 Watt, the GTX 680 can easily draw up to 180 Watt.

 

[BlackScorpion]

Hey guys a quick question, been going thru all the threads regarding a compatible graphic card for my Mac Pro 4,1 to 5,1.
I seen a lots of nvidia cards being thrown around and i got to the the point, where it all got too confusing for me.

What nvidia card can i install on here, straight out the box? Will i need new cables for the cards and so forth.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Speedstar]

One 6 pin connector is enclosed with the EVGA PowerLink. If you need an additional 6 pin connector here you go: https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=J002-0D-000122

But if your GTX 680 has two 6 pin connectors it makes no sense to use the EVGA PowerLink. If your GTX 680 has one 6 pin and one 8 pin the PowerLink makes sense, but you don't need an additional 6 pin connector, it's enclosed.

However, if I understood your question correctly: You should always use two cables from the motherboard to the PowerLink, using both 6 pin connectors on the motherboard, never use only one!

One 6 pin connector on the Mac Pro MoBo provides up to 125 Watt, the GTX 680 can easily draw up to 180 Watt.

I want to connect EVGA gtx680MAC 2x6 pin AND PNYquadroK5000pc 1x6
without PSU MOD or 2xsataTO6pin converter which kills dvd.

I want to use 3x6pin from 2mini6pin and take more from each mini-PCIe cable but below 100watt,i hope bridge could help because k5000 takes only 56watt from PCI-bus...
K5000 NEEDS ONLY 122 Watt
---< together I need 250 from cables and 52watt from PCI-bus for both cards.

i would connect 1mini6 pin and splitter to evga bridge on 2x6PIN gtx680 and
second miniPCIe directly to k5000

Or first miniPCIe TO EVGA BRIDGE on 680 and second mini-PCIe y splitter to evga bridge and k5000.

with other words :

1ST FROM MINI 6PIN TO -----DIRECTLY-------- 1x6 PINinto EVGA bridge then to GTX680,
2ND FROM MINI6 PIN split Y --------- A -------- -Other one 6PIN to bridge 2nd6pin at GTX680
..................................... Y --------- B -------- -and only one 6PIN to k5000

h9826790 what do you think, could it be useful for me?

 

[Speedstar]

Hey guys a quick question, been going thru all the threads regarding a compatible graphic card for my Mac Pro 4,1 to 5,1.
I seen a lots of nvidia cards being thrown around and i got to the the point, where it all got too confusing for me.

What nvidia card can i install on here, straight out the box? Will i need new cables for the cards and so forth.

Thanks in advance.

if you need nvidia badly for cuda and do not plan to use macos10.14 mojave then grab 1080sth...FE
but You will never have a boot screen nor FileVault and security update webdriver trouble WITH HIGHSIERRA.
if you insist go to Which GTX 1080 TI FE and Power question on MP5,1 for power question.
IN ALL OTHER CASES GRAB RADEON suggested by Apple for MOJAVE

• MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 (128 Bit, 4 GB GDDR5-Arbeitsspeicher)
• SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 (8 GB GDDR5-Arbeitsspeicher)
• SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition

Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010 ... - Apple Supporthttps://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

no one recommends nvidia here now ,except fanatics like me who stay on sierra to use vray , octane etc. or need cuda and use bootcamp.

For FCPX and ADOBE stuff or DAVINCI RESOLVE stay with AMD only...
You will avoid driver nightmares.

or you choose vintage 2x PNY nvidia k5000 quadro for mac, not worth the money I CAN TELL but nice

if you want to join nvidia fanboys ON MOJAVE decide between 6Gb or 3Gb

GeForce GTX 780 GeForce GTX 780 Ti
FE of course with EVGA-bridge.​

 

[Reindeer_Games]

Hey guys a quick question, been going thru all the threads regarding a compatible graphic card for my Mac Pro 4,1 to 5,1.
I seen a lots of nvidia cards being thrown around and i got to the the point, where it all got too confusing for me.

What nvidia card can i install on here, straight out the box? Will i need new cables for the cards and so forth.

Thanks in advance.

Kepler's (6XX/7XX) have native OS drivers, but no acceleration beyond High Sierra yet. I would recommend at least a 750Ti since it's running with no acceleration, 770 does...ok at 2560x1440 in Mojave but HS is far more buttery.

Like Speedstar said, Mojave has been a brick wall outside Kepler-however, I run FCPX fine-but I'm no pro and working with only with standard 8-bit ("normal") color depth. I find myself booting in HS though and reaching in my Mojave drive to run everything I need acceleration with though. Annoying due to the web driver enabling restart, but we gotta keep the data moving right? LOL FCPX works just fine on CPU's alone so I believe the issue is CPU/GPU load-sharing. I mean an MBA can run FCPX right?

Has Adobe shied away from CUDA? I thought all their acceleration was based on it?

 

[Speedstar]

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Kepler's (6XX/7XX) have native OS drivers, but no acceleration beyond High Sierra yet.

means no CUDA ACCELERATION,
metal 1v3 is accelerated on HighSierra
metal 1v4 on Mojave BUT NOT Metal GPU Family 2v1 -------only new RADEON
OPENCL1.2, OPENGL4.1 ALWAYS ACCELERATED ....
no clue about machine-learning at mojave ....

Has Adobe shied away from CUDA? I thought all their acceleration was based on it?

ADOBE CC2019 OPENCL, METAL ON HIGH SIERRA WITH NV X.X.X108 no cuda accelerate AE,PS
nv x.x.113 not tested yet .... PR may still have cuda transmit

at cc2018 AE 3D NOT cineware3d needs maxwell,pascal
workaround from OPTIX SDK3.9 for OS-X BASED ON CUDA7 NOT 8 NOT 9
VOLTA OPTIX 4 SDK for macOS DOES NOT WORK WITH ADOBE ON MACOS

 

[Reindeer_Games]

[doublepost=1546048929][/doublepost]

means no CUDA ACCELERATION,
metal 1v3 is accelerated on HighSierra
metal 1v4 on Mojave BUT NOT Metal GPU Family 2v1 -------only new RADEON
OPENCL1.2, OPENGL4.1 ALWAYS ACCELERATED ....
no clue about machine-learning at mojave ....



ADOBE CC2019 OPENCL, METAL ON HIGH SIERRA WITH NV X.X.X108 no cuda accelerate AE,PS
nv x.x.113 not tested yet .... PR may still have cuda transmit

at cc2018 AE 3D NOT cineware3d needs maxwell,pascal
workaround from OPTIX SDK3.9 BASED ON CUDA7 NOT 8 NOT 9
VOLTA OPTIX 4 SDK DOES NOT WORK WITH ADOBE ON MACOS

My friend, an OS does not make Adobe-we both know most people that require CUDA had to roll back to High Sierra, catching us all off-guard. I did not realize Adobe had made adjustments already since I'm not using CC2018 or CC2019. That is why I asked-and Liked your comment after you posted. You're unnecessary capitalization seems to indicate yelling-I think my post made it clear I have to boot in HS to get CUDA ACCELERATION.

Again, thank you for the information. Best luck on your build.

 

[Speedstar]

My friend, an OS does not make Adobe-we both know most people that require CUDA had to roll back to High Sierra, catching us all off-guard. I did not realize Adobe had made adjustments already since I'm not using CC2018 or CC2019. That is why I asked-and Liked your comment after you posted.

sorry for mis-interpretation or misunderstanding of the word acceleration with conjunction of macOS-driver.
My interest was to explain the cases of system using gpu-hardware based on different API, or Framework.
we both know in Sierra 10.12 native os-x drivers for Kepler supports CUDA after installing CUDA addOn.
In High SIERRA native macOS Kepler driver is not recognized by Nvidia's CUDA anymore.
In High SIERRA Kepler cards need web-driver as well as maxwell ,pascal-cards to use CUDA's acceleration.

in mojave cuda acceleration is dead in any case ...
other acceleration might be limited ...even on Apple's native Mojave macOS Kepler driver.
other nvidia hardware is limited to frame buffer only without GUI-acceleration with DOSDUDE.
without DOSDUDE no pixel on mojave with Nvidias' maxwell or pascal..
LOL yes RTX series have native 22Mb frame buffer on mojave...


further reading about acceleration with metal-api with 10.14
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=13879.0

Reindeer_Gamesd , i did not mean to correct, I meant to expand, did I try better now?

 

[Reindeer_Games]

sorry for mis-interpretation or misunderstanding of the word acceleration with conjunction of macOS-driver.

LOL yes RTX series have native 22Mb frame buffer on mojave...


Reindeer_Games , i did not mean to correct, I meant to expand, did I try better now?

Thank you and yes-above and beyond. Am I reading that right you've tested a RTX in cMP? Functional in Windows EFI? Or just relaying reported info?

No worries on my end, we're all here to help each other best as we can. I'd personally hold off on any Nvidia purchases and see if Mojave drivers arrive unless someone has dire need of CUDA, currently limited to 10.13.6 current web drivers. I would-if I wasn't already using one but mine has seen it fair share of use, LOL. Lack of native drivers is one of the reasons I held off on Maxwell and Pascal. Re-reading I see how you meant it as expansion info.

It's good to know Adobe has been exploring avenues of acceleration if I kick over to AMD and get a CC account. The Mac Edition 5870 was OK, but the acceleration in CS5/6 was lacking at the time IMO. My CS5 suite broke on Mojave install, but is still operating in my MBP...go figure.

 

[Speedstar]

Thank you and yes-above and beyond. Am I reading that right you've tested a RTX in cMP? Functional in Windows EFI? Or just relaying reported info?

not me personally, we have rtx threads in forum
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/rtx-series-cards-have-native-bootscreen-support.2148023/

 

[Reindeer_Games]

not me personally, we have rtx threads in forum
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/rtx-series-cards-have-native-bootscreen-support.2148023/

I'm there-just haven't got anyone to talk to me in the original reporting group or anyone confirming use beyond booting Win10 EFI yet it's exciting for sure. Hoped you might have been one of them, LOL-thank you though.

 

[vel0city]

Powerlink installed and successfully booted!

In iStat Menus, which is the readout that displays the power balance of the card please? Just want to check that it's doing its thing. Thanks again!

 

[Synchro3]

Powerlink installed and successfully booted!

In iStat Menus, which is the readout that displays the power balance of the card please? Just want to check that it's doing its thing. Thanks again!

There is only one rail in the PowerLink, so it must do it's thing.

Afaik only PCIe Slot 1 is indicated in iStat, Volt x Ampere = Watt

 

[vel0city]

Thank you, Synchro3, here's my iStat readout - does this read okay please? Never used this app or read any of these stats before so it's all a bit over my head. All this for a GPU renderer!