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

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funkahdafi said:
Yes. Same issue. You can solve it by going into display preferences. You will find that it is set to the wrong resolution. Just change it and you are back to normal.
Click to expand...

It is not once I get into OSX, only at the login menu. Hence changing settings in Display Preferences makes no difference. Here it is set for "Best for display", and I am using an ACD27".
 
FYI, there's some issues with the CUDA driver and Adobe apps crashing/not opening after the latest NVIDIA update. Looks to be happening with 10.9.2 and 10.8.5 - personally had issue on 10.8.5 and had to restore from a clone made prior to update...
 
Killerbob said:
Has anyone noticed if their login screen in OSX is completely screwed up after 10.9.2, even after upgrading to the NVIDIA webdrivers (or am I the only one)?

It is as if it is displayed in VGA...

Running GTX680 (flashed) on MP3,1.
Click to expand...

the same in my system, ( I have gtx 570, unflashed)
 
funkahdafi said:
Yes. Same issue. You can solve it by going into display preferences. You will find that it is set to the wrong resolution. Just change it and you are back to normal.

Although it took me a couple of reboots and switching back and force between nVidia and Apple drivers before it survived reboots.

Really strange. By the way, the newest nVidia driver disables my secondary display. The second Monitor only works with the Apple driver. GTX680.

10.9.2 certainly ****ed things up.
Click to expand...

Me too, I have a GTX 570
 
Hmm heck..

My MP with unflashed EVGA 680 won't boot after restarting when prompted by the new drivers. I'm sure this happens to someone on every upgrade but I wanted to mention it.

Edit: Ok, I've rebooted with my old ATI card. How do I tell the NV panel to use the Mavericks driver and not the web driver when I swap cards again? All the NV stuff is gray in the panel.

Disregard, I'm just stupid. It's locked (duh) and has nothing to do with the fact I'm on the ATI card.
 
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brentsg said:
Hmm heck..

My MP with unflashed EVGA 680 won't boot after restarting when prompted by the new drivers. I'm sure this happens to someone on every upgrade but I wanted to mention it.

Edit: Ok, I've rebooted with my old ATI card. How do I tell the NV panel to use the Mavericks driver and not the web driver when I swap cards again? All the NV stuff is gray in the panel.

Disregard, I'm just stupid. It's locked (duh) and has nothing to do with the fact I'm on the ATI card.
Click to expand...

The same with my MacPro 3,1 with an unflashed MSI N660Ti PE 2GD5/OC. The computer obviously starts up, but no video. I'm gonna have to dig out my ATI 2400HD.
 
I went ahead and flashed my EVGA 680 with the Mac BIOS and all is well after I recovered.

Now I have considerably higher expansion fan RPM so I need to figure that out. It used to occasionally hit 1100 RPM with the non-flashed 680, but now it's hovering around 1800 and considerably more audible.
 
Nvidia drivers for Mavericks have been just terrible. So many problems for so many people.

I'd like to upgrade from ML, but even now at 4-5 months in, there are still too many problems.
 
ActionableMango said:
Nvidia drivers for Mavericks have been just terrible. So many problems for so many people.

I'd like to upgrade from ML, but even now at 4-5 months in, there are still too many problems.
Click to expand...

just use the default drivers provided in Mavericks. I'm using an EVGA GTX 680 with MAC EFI, and using the default\built in Mavericks graphics drivers, I haven't had a single issue.
 
Hello. I'm looking for opinions from other mac pro owners. I did skim this entire thread. Most posts were not about my model.

I have two Mac Pros. One is my brother's. He's moved away and now has a laptop.

They are each 1,1 running 10.6.8. Each mac has the original 2x512MB sticks installed. Mine has an additional 2x2GB (5 total). I have another 2x2GB kit that I uninstalled recently because it appears to have gone bad and was preventing boot. It's from OWC so I should be able to get a replacement.

Each has had a Radeon 3870 installed for years. The upgrades were made due to a WoW patch that took us from frames-per-second to seconds-per-frame. Both 3870s appear to be failing. One is ghost imaging. The other often fails to start up with the computer. Reseating the card and rebooting eventually fixes it. I suppose it's possible that neither of these problems is actually the cards' faults.

My computer use consists of WoW, Diablo 3 under OSX, frequently running in the background while web-browsing and/or iTunes. I Bootcamp Vista for Mass Effect. I'm intending to play Skyrim sometime, on PS3 if necessary.

Solutions:
Option 1) Do everything necessary to get an Nvidia card running in OSX on one or both macs. It seems every card specifically mentioned or recommended for 1,1 in this thread is expensive, sold out, or both.

Option 2) Install original video card in one mac. Bootcamp the other mac exclusively with a PC only video card. This seems the least hassle and least expense.

Option 3a) Build modern gaming rig to run alongside one mac to maintain iTunes and safer browsing. This option is prohibitively expensive.

Option 3b) Build Hackintosh. Just as prohibitively expensive with the potential for problems and more work.

Is there an alternative I'm missing?
If Option 2, what are the maximum video card specs that the rest of the hardware could utilize under Vista or windows 7?

Thanks all.
 
Harm said:
Hello. I'm looking for opinions from other mac pro owners. I did skim this entire thread. Most posts were not about my model.

I have two Mac Pros. One is my brother's. He's moved away and now has a laptop.

They are each 1,1 running 10.6.8. Each mac has the original 2x512MB sticks installed. Mine has an additional 2x2GB (5 total). I have another 2x2GB kit that I uninstalled recently because it appears to have gone bad and was preventing boot. It's from OWC so I should be able to get a replacement.

Each has had a Radeon 3870 installed for years. The upgrades were made due to a WoW patch that took us from frames-per-second to seconds-per-frame. Both 3870s appear to be failing. One is ghost imaging. The other often fails to start up with the computer. Reseating the card and rebooting eventually fixes it. I suppose it's possible that neither of these problems is actually the cards' faults.

My computer use consists of WoW, Diablo 3 under OSX, frequently running in the background while web-browsing and/or iTunes. I Bootcamp Vista for Mass Effect. I'm intending to play Skyrim sometime, on PS3 if necessary.

Solutions:
Option 1) Do everything necessary to get an Nvidia card running in OSX on one or both macs. It seems every card specifically mentioned or recommended for 1,1 in this thread is expensive, sold out, or both.

Option 2) Install original video card in one mac. Bootcamp the other mac exclusively with a PC only video card. This seems the least hassle and least expense.

Option 3a) Build modern gaming rig to run alongside one mac to maintain iTunes and safer browsing. This option is prohibitively expensive.

Option 3b) Build Hackintosh. Just as prohibitively expensive with the potential for problems and more work.

Is there an alternative I'm missing?
If Option 2, what are the maximum video card specs that the rest of the hardware could utilize under Vista or windows 7?

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Well, for starters, from the front page:

If you are stuck with a MacPro1,1 or MacPro2,1 then your options are slightly different, since the Kepler cards don't work in Lion.
If you have an unlimited budget, get a GTX 570.
Otherwise, get a GTX 560 or GTX 560 Ti.

That being said, your "official" maximum OS is 10.7.5. There are hacks to get 10.8 or Maybe even 10.9 running; If that's the case, you might be able to then install a better GPU like a 650 or 660, since the Kepler cards are only supported above 10.8. Some of the smarter guys around here could probably give you solid advice.
 
Harm said:
Is there an alternative I'm missing?
Click to expand...

If you can't make good use of two MPs at the same time, I'd sell them both and buy a 2009.

If you don't want to do that, then the GTX 570 is the best you can do under Lion, which is the last OS for the MP1,1.

Alternatively you can use Tiamo's boot EFI to run newer operating systems and then any card that those support. A GTX 680, GTX 770, AMD 7950, and AMD 7970 seem to be popular.

But at some point the rest of the system is the bottleneck, which is why I think you should sell the two older MPs and get a newer one. You'll have a faster CPU, faster memory, and faster PCIe. You'll be able to run Mavericks without a hack, and have a wide range of video cards to choose from. You'll be able to upgrade to a 3.4Ghz hexacore some day, if you want.
 
Video card Upgrade Please Help?

Hello, I currently use my computer video card you want to get.
I think ''Msi / Asus Gtx 760'' and'' Sapphire Radeon 7950 . Which one should i get? Which is healthier work?

My system is 10.9.1. Please help :confused:

My video card is Gt 120


Mac Pro 4.1 Early 2009
8 Core 2.26 Ghz Nehalem
8 Gb 1066 Mhz
120 Gb SSD
 
Thank you for those suggestions. I did read the first post thoroughly, including the 570/560 listing. I see those as only available used, honestly out of stock, or suspiciously stocked at retailers I'm unfamiliar with. Unless they've been rebadged with a new number I'm unaware of they're all more risk than I want to deal with.

The 10.9 route is appealing but I may have a new problem.

As mentioned earlier, I have two mac pros. Between them I have 2 3870s I thought were failing and one 7300 GT known to work. By swapping the cards around in macs and slots I believe the cards are ok.
The 3870 in my brother's mac would severely ghost image using the DVI-VGA dongle connecting to VGA port on monitor. Took it out and cleaned it. It was very dusty. Hooked up with DVI and then with VGA and it seems fine.
The 3870 in my mac intermittently fails to start up with the computer. Adding the 7300GT to slot 2, 3, or 4 confirms that startup does complete.

Now the problem: Both 3870s and the 7300 have all failed the same way in PCI Lane 1 of my mac. For example, using the 7300 in lane 4, a 3870 was unseen by both osx and vista. It seems the only slot capable of 16x in this unit is unreliable. The locking clip on this lane is broken. Is it possible that is the root of the problem?

I won't surf the internet on Windows as the sites I visit are notoriously virused. This mac would still do what I need it to outside of gaming. If the slot is indeed bad, I see no point in throwing more money into this unit. I've been unable to find diagnostic tools for the slots. Do they exist?
 
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Just a word of caution before updating... Make your backups!

My mac is in a professional environment, so I wait before updating the OS. I updated to 10.9.2 (Hexcore Mac 5.1) approx. two weeks ago, downloaded the Nvidia drivers for 10.9.2, with its respective Cuda update - and my stock GTX570 would not drive a second monitor or not even boot at all. I tried rebooting with only one monitor via all the 570's connections, startup was hit and miss - never could get a second monitor to work regardless of monitor connections.

Had to reload my backup with 10.8.5, 313.01.04f01, Cuda 5.5.28, and all was immediately back to playing nicely.

Lonnie
 
mamasboy said:
Just a word of caution before updating... Make your backups!

My mac is in a professional environment, so I wait before updating the OS. I updated to 10.9.2 (Hexcore Mac 5.1) approx. two weeks ago, downloaded the Nvidia drivers for 10.9.2, with its respective Cuda update - and my stock GTX570 would not drive a second monitor or not even boot at all. I tried rebooting with only one monitor via all the 570's connections, startup was hit and miss - never could get a second monitor to work regardless of monitor connections.

Had to reload my backup with 10.8.5, 313.01.04f01, Cuda 5.5.28, and all was immediately back to playing nicely.

Lonnie
Click to expand...

You can always just reset your PRAM to force the default OS X driver to be used (i.e. the one from Apple). You could also just boot in safe mode by holding down the Shift key to get an unaccelerated desktop, and select the default OS X driver from System Preferences. No need to wipe your entire OS installation if the web driver doesn't work for you, that's kind of the whole point of having the web driver not overwrite the stock Apple drivers.
 
I am still having issues with the NVIDIA Web Driver (331.01.01f01) and the OS X Default Graphics Driver in 10.9.2.

Every time I reboot it starts in VGA, and it stays VGA until I get into OSX. Even when I log in. Of course it is a minor issues, I just wonder if anyone has had this issue with a GTX680 (flashed) card in an MP3,1, and have sorted it out somehow???
 
Alert: NVIDIA Web Driver (331.01.01f02) was released last night. Working fine for me so far! MP 3,1 - GTX650tiSC
 
MacGamver said:
Alert: NVIDIA Web Driver (331.01.01f02) was released last night. Working fine for me so far! MP 3,1 - GTX650tiSC
Click to expand...

You meant 313.01.04f01? As they are the latest web drivers available from Nvida.

CUDA Driver Version: 5.5.47
GPU Driver Version: 8.17.76 (313.01.04f01)

Working like a charm on MP 3.1 - OS X 10.8.5 - GTX670FTW

GL & Cheers

----------

Anyone lucky with these on the windows side of their MP? A lot of users report bugs, stutters and lags. Would like to update to higher version release for using ShadowPlay and 3D Vision Discover.

Version: 335.23 WHQL
Release Date: 2014.3.10
Operating System: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 8 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit
Language: English (US)
File Size: 232.00 MB

335.23 WHQL x64

Cheers
 
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