Does the 660ti 2GB use only one, and only the 3Gb card require a second 6-pin cable?
Another weird question, does this card's fan audibly spin up when waking from sleep?
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Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards
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Does the 660ti 2GB use only one, and only the 3Gb card require a second 6-pin cable?
Another weird question, does this card's fan audibly spin up when waking from sleep?
The card I have has the two cables although it comes with a splitter which may suffice for it's power needs but I don't know if one output on the MP board with deliver enough power other folk here maybe better informed and I have not noticed any spin up like you get with the 8800gt.
Yeah, I have an 8800gt now, and each time you wake it from sleep, the fan audibly spins up. The TDP on the 660ti is rated at 150W, but I'm not sure how much each wire delivers. By comparison, the 650ti from what I read runs on 1 6-pin cable.
I'm still running 10.6 and desperate to upgrade my GTX 285 for Bootcamp gaming. If I update to the latest OS, restart, shove a GTX680 in, is that all I have to do? Will the card work as intended and flawlessly in Windows 7? I'm a little concerned about if I need to buy an extra power cable for the new card or not.
Many thanks to anyone who answers this.
Many thanks to anyone who answers this.
OK, i thought so, I just like confirmation! You guys are so frickin' savvy with this stuff.
Thanks again!
Reuse your existing two cables. You don't need to buy more.
It will work. There will be no boot screens and in Windows the PCIe bandwidth will run at half speed.
Boot screens and PCIe bandwidth in Windows is fixed if you take the additional step of flashing the card, but if you don't mind those two things, you don't have to flash it.
It works: EVGA GTX 660Ti 3GB
I finally got a undamaged/dry/working GPU in the mail today.
Observations
Installation into slot 1 of my Early 2008 Mac Pro was a breeze. It booted up just fine into Mac and Windows, although without the boot screens (as expected).
About my system
Early 2008 Mac Pro, 2.8 GHz 8-core, 8GB DDR2 FB-DIMM (2GB OEM+6GB OWC-brand), 256GB Kingston Hyper-X SSD. Mac OS 10.8.4 (12E55), Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.
Drivers
Mac: 313.01.02f01 (Graphics), 5.5.25 (CUDA)
Windows: 320.49
About the card
EVGA PN: 03G-P4-3661-KR from Amazon
Before/After Quantitative Tests
Cinebench CPU (Mac): 6.56/6.55
Cinebench OpenGL (Mac): 24.57/26.68
Novabench Graphics 3D FPS (Mac): 273/1557
Novabench Graphics 3D FPS (Win): 601/57
3DMark 11 Overall: --/7410
3DMark 11 Graphics: --/8423
3DMark 11 Physics: --/5684
3DMark 11 Combined: --/5126
Other observations
I finally got a undamaged/dry/working GPU in the mail today.
Observations
Installation into slot 1 of my Early 2008 Mac Pro was a breeze. It booted up just fine into Mac and Windows, although without the boot screens (as expected).
About my system
Early 2008 Mac Pro, 2.8 GHz 8-core, 8GB DDR2 FB-DIMM (2GB OEM+6GB OWC-brand), 256GB Kingston Hyper-X SSD. Mac OS 10.8.4 (12E55), Windows 7 Pro 64-bit.
Drivers
Mac: 313.01.02f01 (Graphics), 5.5.25 (CUDA)
Windows: 320.49
About the card
EVGA PN: 03G-P4-3661-KR from Amazon
Before/After Quantitative Tests
Cinebench CPU (Mac): 6.56/6.55
Cinebench OpenGL (Mac): 24.57/26.68
Novabench Graphics 3D FPS (Mac): 273/1557
Novabench Graphics 3D FPS (Win): 601/57
3DMark 11 Overall: --/7410
3DMark 11 Graphics: --/8423
3DMark 11 Physics: --/5684
3DMark 11 Combined: --/5126
Other observations
- Barely noticable improvment in quality of 1080p videos
- New card runs much quieter
- New card will idle at low GPU clock (Windows), compared to full throttle in 8800GT
- New card runs much cooler: 36C vs. 65C (Windows)
- New card does not spool up on wake or boot
- No performance improvement in FSX, although the game itself is CPU
dependent - I'm guessing the poor performance of the 660ti on the Windows Novabench scores is due to the card working at PCIe 1.1 speeds.
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With a 560 ti on a mac pro 1.1 I can run most games at max settings like blade symphony, skyrim ect at 60fps max settings and 4x AA
Lowest it's ever been is 30fps on chivalry, and that's just because the code isn't optimized properly.
Haven't tried bf3 yet.
Forgot to mention it's a MP 3.1 Dual 2.8 (8 core)
And the slot for the 650ti SC will not matter?
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Pretty sure they operate at slightly different speeds, slot on the very bot is the fastest. Definatly use that one.
^^^^Close, but no cigar. In a 3,1 Mac Pro, the four slots are as follows:
Slot 1 - 16 Lane, PCIe Version 2.0
Slot 2 - 16 Lane, PCIe Version 2.0
Slot 3 - 4 Lane, PCIe Version 1.0
Slot 4 - 4 Lane, PCIe Version 1.0
So, the bottom slot (slot 1) is the best slot to use because it is the fastest slot, and because it's a double wide slot.
Slot 2, has the same specification as slot 1 (just as fast), but it is a single wide slot, and you'll lose the use of slot 3.
If you plan to use a PCIe SSD card in your 3,1 you'll need to mount it in one of the PCIe 2.0 slots (slots 1 or 2). So you're sort of limited in your choices.
Lou
Slot 1 - 16 Lane, PCIe Version 2.0
Slot 2 - 16 Lane, PCIe Version 2.0
Slot 3 - 4 Lane, PCIe Version 1.0
Slot 4 - 4 Lane, PCIe Version 1.0
So, the bottom slot (slot 1) is the best slot to use because it is the fastest slot, and because it's a double wide slot.
Slot 2, has the same specification as slot 1 (just as fast), but it is a single wide slot, and you'll lose the use of slot 3.
If you plan to use a PCIe SSD card in your 3,1 you'll need to mount it in one of the PCIe 2.0 slots (slots 1 or 2). So you're sort of limited in your choices.
Lou
Using a double-wide card in slot 2 will also reduce the clearance between the drives and the card, reducing airflow and cooling of those two parts.
Thanks Lou, I am not ceased to be amazed at the helpfulness and sheer knowledge you guys offer! I got an EVGA 650Ti SC and mounted it in slot 2 because it was easier than mounting it in slot one. :/ I am VERY pleased, and as of day 1, it is whisper quiet, and running Skyrim via BootCamp on Ultra settings (without FXAA toggled on) looks STUNNING! Not much visible improvement (Over the 8800GT) on Diablo3, but I didn't test that out very long. I will update as it progresses. Thank you, again for all your insight and guidance. Especially Flowrider, Asgorath and MacVidCards.
Edit: 10.8.5 just released! Hold off on it until NVidia updates the drivers?
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I bought a GTX 570 2.5GB and it shows up as a 570 but with 1279mb of vram. Using 3,1 using 10.8.4 and the latest Nvidia Web Driver,in slot 1. Is this card really just a 1.2GB version or is something wrong elsewhere?
(face looking up,) Noooooooooooooooooo. Thank you Lou. Well, still runs circles around my ATI 5770. If I could just get this thing flashed I would forget all the months, hours struggling with premier pro.
Hey,
been a long-time lurker and I have a couple questions: I think about buying a 2009 2,66 Ghz Quad-Core Mac Pro or a 2010 2,8 Ghz Quad-Core Mac Pro. Since I ocassionally like to game, I am intrigued by the possibility to swap in a Nvidia GTX 670. However, from what I read on the forums, there seem to be a couple problems still with the unflashed cards.
1.) I don't have a problem with not seeing the boot screen, I would probably use Bootchamp and for any maintenance procedures, I would keep an Original EFI-Card around. However, I read that an unflashed GTX 670 resorts to PCIe 1 speed in windows under bootcamp. Since this is mainly where I would really use the power of the 670, how severe is the performance hit going to be?
I found this chart: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/23.html
Is this about right for the PCIe 1.1 x16 speed - about a 5% performance hit? This would still be alright, but I am confused whether this is accurate? If the performance hit due to the PCIe 1 speed is actually bigger, is it preferable to choose a GTX 570 over the 670? It is quite a bit cheaper in used condition...
2.) From what I read around - http://junipermonkeys.com/follow-up-putting-an-nvidia-670-in-a-mac-pro - the Asus GTX 670 Direct CU seems to be a good fit, since it is very quiet and has two 6-pin power slots? Anybody got any first-hand experience with that card in a 2009-2010 Mac Pro - even with Bootcamp gaming experience?
3.) Final question (sorry guys...), will the processor of a 2009 2,66 Ghz Mac Pro or a 2,8 Ghz 2010 MAc Pro be enough to saturate the GTX 670? Or is it again better to take a GTX 570 for such a processor? Regarding Bootcamp gaming in 1080p on a 24-inch Cinema Display of course...
Any help is greatly appreciated
been a long-time lurker and I have a couple questions: I think about buying a 2009 2,66 Ghz Quad-Core Mac Pro or a 2010 2,8 Ghz Quad-Core Mac Pro. Since I ocassionally like to game, I am intrigued by the possibility to swap in a Nvidia GTX 670. However, from what I read on the forums, there seem to be a couple problems still with the unflashed cards.
1.) I don't have a problem with not seeing the boot screen, I would probably use Bootchamp and for any maintenance procedures, I would keep an Original EFI-Card around. However, I read that an unflashed GTX 670 resorts to PCIe 1 speed in windows under bootcamp. Since this is mainly where I would really use the power of the 670, how severe is the performance hit going to be?
I found this chart: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/23.html
Is this about right for the PCIe 1.1 x16 speed - about a 5% performance hit? This would still be alright, but I am confused whether this is accurate? If the performance hit due to the PCIe 1 speed is actually bigger, is it preferable to choose a GTX 570 over the 670? It is quite a bit cheaper in used condition...
2.) From what I read around - http://junipermonkeys.com/follow-up-putting-an-nvidia-670-in-a-mac-pro - the Asus GTX 670 Direct CU seems to be a good fit, since it is very quiet and has two 6-pin power slots? Anybody got any first-hand experience with that card in a 2009-2010 Mac Pro - even with Bootcamp gaming experience?
3.) Final question (sorry guys...), will the processor of a 2009 2,66 Ghz Mac Pro or a 2,8 Ghz 2010 MAc Pro be enough to saturate the GTX 670? Or is it again better to take a GTX 570 for such a processor? Regarding Bootcamp gaming in 1080p on a 24-inch Cinema Display of course...
Any help is greatly appreciated
It depends on how demanding the game is. I play Mass Effect 3 and X-Plane on my six-core Mac Pro 5,1, in Bootcamp, with a 4GB SC 670. ME3 runs flawlessly, so I would imagine any FPS with similar hardware requirements will work fine. X-Plane, however, is CPU-limited. The same GPU with an i5 would be much faster.
Back when I was struggling for OpenCL performance, I moved my 5870 from slot 1 into slot 2, and got a noticeable improvement. (I had read a hint somewhere about that.)
Replaced it with a 570 later on and it's about 9x as fast as the 5870 for my task. Haven't tried moving that back into slot 1 to see if the difference is still there.
Replaced it with a 570 later on and it's about 9x as fast as the 5870 for my task. Haven't tried moving that back into slot 1 to see if the difference is still there.
Just installed my GTX 660 3GB Superclocked + card.
Booted without issue, and I also ran Heaven4.0 at 1920x1080 on High settings for both cards. Nearly x10 faster, although I know that if OS X had better graphics support (OpenGL4.1?), and drivers things could be much better.
Booted without issue, and I also ran Heaven4.0 at 1920x1080 on High settings for both cards. Nearly x10 faster, although I know that if OS X had better graphics support (OpenGL4.1?), and drivers things could be much better.
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