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

[Einz]

Einz, I had the same problem with a 660 in my 3,1. Make sure you have the card in the SECOND PCI slot... I guess certain cards in that machine in the first slot cause the fans not to fire and the card to fry. I went through two and am on my third and it's working great.

The card was bad. My replacement ran fine for over a year until I sold my Mac few weeks ago.

 

[Angelus]

Phew! Have just finished reading through all 50 pages so feel my questions valid.

I've recently acquired a Mac Pro 4,1 2.66GHZ SP. It's currently in the process of being upgraded. So far it has a DIY fusion drive, clean Mavericks install, has been flashed to 5,1 firmware and there's a w3580 3.33GHZ CPU in the mail. The card it came with is the HD 4870. I want to upgrade the GPU and my uses will be OS X gaming and Aperture. I'm not a professional so don't need all the CUDA stuff. My main desire is a graphics card within 350-400 NZ dollars with decent performance for the above purposes to last me a few years and I don't want to fiddle with an external PSU.

So far I've narrowed it down to a GTX 660:
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=VGAEVG2667&name=EVGA-GeForce-GTX-660-SC-version--2GB-192bit-GDDR5-

Or

760: http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=VGAEVG2762&name=EVGA-GeForce-GTX760-2G-SC-version-PCI-E-Video-Card

Regarding the 760 it states that it's TDP is 170W but it uses 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 pin. From previous posts earlier in this thread, it seems that the use of 8 pin is a grey area.
It seems like I have three options:
1. I just plug 6 pins into both given that the TDP is within spec
2. Use PCIE slot (75W), 1 x 6 pin plug (75w), 1 x 6 pin plug plus a SATA to six pin from optical bay and a dual 6 pin to single 8 pin adapter to get me (75w plus 10-15W)

3. Just use a GTX 660 card and keep it simple

Anyone's thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

 

[Asgorath]

P1. I just plug 6 pins into both given that the TDP is within spec

This is actually a case where just plugging in a 6-pin cable to the 8-pin slot, or getting a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter, seems fine. The TDP of the card is well under the limit available from 2 6-pin cables. It seems like card manufacturers sometimes reuse board designs, and in this case they might've used the same board layout as a SKU with say a 250W TDP. I think you'd be fine to just use the 2 6-pin cables, that'd be the simplest option by far.

 

[knowhate]

.

 

[ActionableMango]

I am trying to do a GPU upgrade finally - is it better to get, in terms of driver stability, a GTX 780/770 or GTX 680 for a 4,1 mac flashed to 5,1? I know the official GPU is the GTX 680 but The 770 is essentially a 680 with more memory bandwidth, as it still uses the GK104 GPU. Also, for flashing the GTX 780 I read that soldering is required is this true?

I don't think anyone can speak to future driver stability. I've been following this a long time and have seen some PC cards that had the most reliable drivers suddenly lose support. I've also seen old mediocre cards that were never really supported suddenly get support for no obvious reason.

That being said, I'd bet a 680 or a 7950 will be golden for no other reason than there are official mac versions. Anything in the same family should use the same drivers, but we've seen instances where only distinct cards are supported, which can usually be resolved by adding your card's value to the drivers every time you update them. Admittedly I avoid this scenario so I don't know much about it.

AFAIK, the 680 is the only modern Nvidia card with a ROM size large enough to accommodate both EFI and BIOS, so yes, the 780 and all other Nvidia cards would need to have the ROM physically replaced. I don't know much about this either, and if I wanted one of those cards I'd just pay MacVidCards to do it for me.

In the end I just got a 680. I know it will be supported, it is simple to flash, the MP can power it without help, and you can overclock it.

 

[riggles]

Here's a weird thing I just noticed..

Just installed a second graphics card, a GTX 770 Classified 4GB, and CUDA-Z just labels it as "GK104". No name, no nothing. My other card is labeled as "GeForce GTX 670". Same thing in Octane Render. I wonder why?

 

[Asgorath]

Here's a weird thing I just noticed..

Just installed a second graphics card, a GTX 770 Classified 4GB, and CUDA-Z just labels it as "GK104". No name, no nothing. My other card is labeled as "GeForce GTX 670". Same thing in Octane Render. I wonder why?

Cards that aren't fully supported by the driver often don't report the correct name. The GTX 770 is newer than your driver, so it doesn't know what the actual product name is, just that it's a GK104-based card.

 

[riggles]

Cards that aren't fully supported by the driver often don't report the correct name. The GTX 770 is newer than your driver, so it doesn't know what the actual product name is, just that it's a GK104-based card.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks~

You'd think that 10.8.5 would recognize a GTX 770, but I guess not? I should boot into my Mavericks test partition and see if that changes anything.

 

[Asgorath]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks~

You'd think that 10.8.5 would recognize a GTX 770, but I guess not? I should boot into my Mavericks test partition and see if that changes anything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_700_Series

Looks like the 770 was released at the end of May 2013. The 304- and 310-based drivers that Apple ships might've been cut before those newer cards were released.

 

[riggles]

Looks like the 770 was released at the end of May 2013. The 304- and 310-based drivers that Apple ships might've been cut before those newer cards were released.

Yup, probably what happened. When I boot into Mavericks, CUDA-Z shows its full name. So I downloaded the latest web driver from NVIDIA for 10.8.5, and it includes the 770 card specifically. Excellent and thank you.

 

[energyboy]

How do you install windows after you've installed a non-EFI GPU if you dont get the bootscreen to show up and select the install DVD?

Would I need to install Windows 7 first using an old GT 120 and THEN install drivers provided by Apple? If so, wouldn't that install the incorrect drivers for the GPU? I'd prefer to have the latest drivers installed straight from Nvidia.

 

[saint322]

Okay, I'm looking at few EVGA GeForce GTX 760 cards and most have a 6-pin and 8-pin connector.

Reference: EVGA GeForce GTX 760

Some of these cards show a connector (SATA?, I don't know the actually name but it is the type that connect to a CD/DVD drive) on one end that ends up 6/8-pin on the other and also one that has two 6-pin connectors on one end with a single 8-pin on the other.

Is it necessary to supply both the 2 6-pin to 8-pin (off the motherboard) and the SATA? to 6-pin to the card or is it a one or another situation? For my questions assume a TDP of less than 195W.

If it requires both, can I divert the power of the SATA plug that is normally plugged into one of my CD/DVD drives and connect it to the card to boost the power?

If yes, how much power does it (an SATA plug) supply?

I understand each 6-pin = 75W as does the PCI-e slot =75W for total of 225W. Reviewing your intro again I now see that the Boosterx5 is much cleaner solution. However, could one avoid the booster if they were willing to sacrifice a drive but didn't need enough power to justify the cost of the booster?

Edited for my ignorance: The 760 I've looked at are all below 200 TDP which could be powered using the 2 6-pin to 1 8-pin cable and the 75W from the PCI-e slot. Correct? If yes, then running this cable from the 2 motherboard 6-pins to the one 8-pin card slot would be sufficient (225W) and the 6-pin port would go empty?

I apologize in advance for my sheer ignorance on such things!

Thanks,
-Saint
+++++
Mac Pro 2,1 / 2x3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon / 10 GB 667 MHz DDR2 RAM / OS 10.7.5 / 7300 GT (8800 GT just died) & OS 10.9.1 / EVGA GeForce GTX 560 1024 GDDR5

 

[saint322]

Einz...just as he said above. Also read the entirety of the first page...many things are answered there if you take the time to read it in full and follow the many associated links.

Many people have reported issues with the PC cards not working well in PCIe slot 1, that is, the slot closest to the CPUs. There's an image on AnandTech that shows the slot numbers, for reference. As such, you should probably install the card in the other 16-lane slot. For the 2009 and newer models, that means slot 2.

NOTE: MacVidCards has narrowed this down to only the MacPro3,1 (2008) model, for more information check his post here .

 

[ActionableMango]

I apologize in advance for my sheer ignorance on such things!

You are really overthinking this. Don't do any of the y-cable or cross connection things you mentioned. The easiest thing to do is simply get a GTX760 with two 6-pin connectors, as you noted some are available in this configuration.

If for some reason you can't do that, like they are all discontinued or something, the 6+8 pin models are fine too.

In either case, you need two of these cables. They typically do not come with PC video cards. If you have an existing card in your Mac Pro with power cables, you can reuse those.

The 8-pin socket is specifically designed to accept a 6-pin cable as well, and it has a sense pin so that the card knows if you have a 6-pin or 8-pin cable attached. The 760 does not need 8-pin power, so it should start up fine and operate with the 2x6-pin power cables. My 680 does exactly this. If it does not, then you need to add a 6-pin to 8-pin adapter. The power consumption on this card is well within MP limits.

 

[saint322]

A M,

I sincerely appreciate the response and, yes, I've read so many post and pages and websites and all that nonsense but still am quite clueless as to video cards because macs aren't gaming rigs and have never been very accepting of 3rd party card options. I was stoked to find this site/page and breathe new life in my my 2006 2,1 MP Tower.

One question, the speed increase from a 2GB vs 4GB card comes into play where? And, what would be the real-world impact of 2GB vs 4GB? I just want a tower that function on some steam games. No fancy photoshop or video rendering. Some steam games and HandBrake is the extent of my card's intended use.

Many thanks!

-Saint

 

[ActionableMango]

A M,

I sincerely appreciate the response and, yes, I've read so many post and pages and websites and all that nonsense but still am quite clueless as to video cards because macs aren't gaming rigs and have never been very accepting of 3rd party card options. I was stoked to find this site/page and breathe new life in my my 2006 2,1 MP Tower.

One question, the speed increase from a 2GB vs 4GB card comes into play where? And, what would be the real-world impact of 2GB vs 4GB? I just want a tower that function on some steam games. No fancy photoshop or video rendering. Some steam games and HandBrake is the extent of my card's intended use.

Many thanks!

-Saint

I don't think the GTX 680 would work in a 2006 due to lack of drivers in supported operating systems. This is in the FAQ. Or are you running the hack that gets you Mountain Lion?

For your purposes there is no real-world speed difference 2GB vs 4GB. I only got a 4GB myself because I found a great deal on a used one, and for the same price as a 2GB, why not?

That being said, if one of your games is X-Plane, I've heard that game can use as much of everything as you can give it, including video memory. I don't know much about that though.

 

[freiheit]

GTX760 with 2x6 pin power

Regarding the 760 it states that it's TDP is 170W but it uses 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 pin. From previous posts earlier in this thread, it seems that the use of 8 pin is a grey area.

For what it's worth I recently bought a PNY branded GTX760 at NewEgg which has 2x6 pin power connectors. Right now they actually have 2 models which appear to use 2x6 pin -- the one I got is the lower-clocked with only 1 fan. The other (which I don't remember seeing listed when I bought mine a week ago) has 2 fans and higher clocks.

Anyway, I removed my MP2010's stock Radeon 5770 and, with an additional Mac Pro compatible 6-in PCIe power cable, installed the GTX 760 with no problems. I'm running Mavericks 10.9.1 and it works right out of the box. No, there is no EFI boot screen--the first thing I see is when it gets to the login screen--but I almost never boot into Single User Mode and I only use one boot drive so that's not important to me. I kept my 5770 as a backup just in case I ever need it.

 

[Vov]

750 Ti

Anybody going to try the 750 Ti just released by nvidia? It looks like no pin power is required and is able to run most games at medium 1080p. Only $150.

I am still running the gt120 on my 2009 Mac Pro and have been waiting for something simple like this card. What do you think the chances are of a Mac edition being released? Now that the nMP is out I think zero chance.

 

[Ricky Smith]

Being that there's already a topic for this I figure I'll come over here and post in it so it can all be in one place,

So this is a part from my previous thread, I have a EVGA 770 I have the two Apple 6pin cables off the motherboard connected to the card: Mac Pro Mid 2010

Model: 04G-P4-3773-BR

One thing I've noticed is it does chime, but after a minute or so my speakers which are just connected to USB just click repetitively as if the computers restarting or still starting up. I also cannot see the mac pro via remote desktop.

I've confirmed via ping that it's in a reboot loop, it comes online to ping for a few seconds then the speakers click and ping stops responding. I've bare boned it (removed all but my system drive) to make sure that it's not too much power on the PSU with my other drives.

If I remove the NVidia card the system starts up headless just fine (no video card or with the previous video card starts up). But with the new NVidia card installed it just goes into an infinite loop

 

[teameurox]

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

I just put in a flashed 8800GT for boot screens and legacy and then a GTX 760 in for ML and Mavericks. My question is now it won't let me boot into Lion at all anymore keeps producing a panic and then stating a problem has occurred and must restart.



I was under the impression that the 760 Kepler wouldn't be functional in Lion but the helper card 8800GT would allow me to utilize Lion to replace boot.efi etc.



Anytime that I have to boot into lion will I have to remove the 760 or is there another work around that will enable to boot Lion but not having to remove the 760.



Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[xcodeSyn]

I just put in a flashed 8800GT for boot screens and legacy and then a GTX 760 in for ML and Mavericks. My question is now it won't let me boot into Lion at all anymore keeps producing a panic and then stating a problem has occurred and must restart.

I am curious how these two video cards are connected with the auxiliary power connectors? I know the 8800GT has one 6-pin connector and the GTX 760 has two 6-pin (or 8-pin + 6-pin) connectors. Are you saying that your setup works fine in Mavericks but not in Lion or something else? Please clariy.

 

[teameurox]

I am curious how these two video cards are connected with the auxiliary power connectors? I know the 8800GT has one 6-pin connector and the GTX 760 has two 6-pin (or 8-pin + 6-pin) connectors. Are you saying that your setup works fine in Mavericks but not in Lion or something else? Please clariy.

Everything works fine in mavericks and mountain lion---- go to boot back into lion and it panics forcing a hard restart.

Currently its being powered in the following manner as I was waiting for extension for my epower 450 graphics power supply.

Two 6 pins from motherboard going to the 760

Pulled power from second opti bay for the 6 pin on the 8800gt

 

[xcodeSyn]

Pulled power from second opti bay for the 6 pin on the 8800gt

Whether this works for you in Mavericks or not, it is a very dangerous connection because it may damage the power supply and the graphics card. Apparently when in Lion, you are actually using the 8800GT and there is definitely not enough power provided and that's why KP appeared. Please disconnect from the ODD bay if you want to avoid any potential risks. I bet if you connect the monitor to the 8800GT in Mavericks and ML, you'll get the same KP. It's a bad idea to use IDE/SATA power outlet on GPU power connectors.

Actually your two cards have a total TDP less than 300W (105W+170W), so an external power supply is not necessary. You just need a split 6-pin cable like this one. One end to 8800GT, and the other to GTX 760, then another single end 6-pin cable to GTX760 as well.

 

[teameurox]

Whether this works for you in Mavericks or not, it is a very dangerous connection because it may damage the power supply and the graphics card. Apparently when in Lion, you are actually using the 8800GT and there is definitely not enough power provided and that's why KP appeared. Please disconnect from the ODD bay if you want to avoid any potential risks. I bet if you connect the monitor to the 8800GT in Mavericks and ML, you'll get the same KP. It's a bad idea to use IDE/SATA power outlet on GPU power connectors.

Actually your two cards have a total TDP less than 300W (105W+170W), so an external power supply is not necessary. You just need a split 6-pin cable like this one. One end to 8800GT, and the other to GTX 760, then another single end 6-pin cable to GTX760 as well.

I went ahead and did the epower psu because I already had one sitting. With the 8800gt powered off of one of the 6pins on the mother board and then the gtx 760 powered with an 8pin and a 6pin from the epower psu still panics on boot into lion. With that said if I pull the 760 out of the machine all is well and can boot into Lion. Power never played a role in causing the kernel panic with Lion. I'm running a 3 monitor set up 2 on the 8800gt and then a 24" in on the 760.

So obviously the issue that is occurring is with the 760 and Lion----- I just made a Clone of my Mountain Lion Partition so if need be I can USB boot run the terminal commands for the boot.efi after updated and all is well. I just wished there was a way to get lion to work without having to physically remove the 760 each time

 

[ActionableMango]

So obviously the issue that is occurring is with the 760 and Lion----- I just made a Clone of my Mountain Lion Partition so if need be I can USB boot run the terminal commands for the boot.efi after updated and all is well. I just wished there was a way to get lion to work without having to physically remove the 760 each time

Maybe I'm missing something in the thread, but isn't this expected? From the 1st post of the FAQ:

Note that the Fermi generation cards work with Lion, but in almost all cases the Kepler cards require Mountain Lion.

GTX 760 is Kepler isn't it? If so, it's not supposed to work in Lion.