Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

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

Status
The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Status
Not open for further replies.
emmab2006 said:
Thanks the only issue is if its running at 5.0Gt/s ... and if it works 100% in X Plane , thats my only worry , if i buy it and my x plane settings are awful with a pc card ive lost money you see... so i'm still confused as what to do ...
Click to expand...

Well, you will get full PCIe speeds under Mac OSX, but not Windoze. It's been suggested that the EFI firmware is responsible for that—however you won't notice a real drag in performance. I run Skyrim on ultra settings under Win7 in bootcamp on my 3,1 with zero performance hit. I can;t see X-Plane being more demanding than that.
 
Hi all,

I just ordered the EVGA GTX 760 SC 2GB for my Mac Pro 2008.
The box contains a dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin cable.
I have a mini 6 pin to 6pin cable and a 6 pin to 8 pin adapter.

Here are my thoughts on powering it.

The card asks for 170W, so it will use the 75W from the PCI-e connection and i am planning on connecting a mini 6 pin to 6 pin and then to the 6 pin to 8 pin cable adapter for the 8 pin connection on the card. This should give the additional 75W to the card. Until now I have the 150W. So, I m thinking on using the second drive 4 pin molex to provide these extra 20W. Can I split a single 4 pin drive molex with a Y splitter and then connect the dual 4 pin molex to 6 pin cable to give the additional 20W to my card through the 6 pin socket?

I am thinking of something wrong?

ps. I would like to leave the second mini 6 pin socket of the motherboard free

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
MacGamver said:
This is just a wild guess, but if your frame rates are choppy with an 8800, that 760 probably will not perform too well.
Click to expand...
After swapping the 8800 GT for the GTX 760, no problems. It's even quieter then the former. OpenGL 4 support at last.

I found out why my frame rates were so choppy, even at full speed. It turns out that when I change my refresh rate to 75hz instead of 60, the screen tears like crazy, even with vsync on. So I switched back to 60hz, no problems. Either way, I fail to see any visual difference between 60hz and 75hz on my LCD TV.
 
issues with 660 Ti and Mavericks 10.9.2

have been using a 660 Ti for about a year in an early 2008 era Mac Pro. It is in slot one, my stock ATi 8800GT is in slot 2 and this worked fine until... 10.9.2 update it seems.

Since then I've been bogged down with crashes left and right. 15-20 restarts in a row until I remove the card. Left it sit there with no power to the card, out of the slot for 3 days. The machine starts up, but won't see the 660 Ti no matter what I do; zapped PRAM, ran Disk Utility, updated to WebDriver-331.01.01b07, CUDA version 5.5.

As I'm doing a bunch of Davinci Resolve work, I need a working GPU to get anything done.. if anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 
flowrider said:
That is available here:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/74402/en-us

Lou
Click to expand...

I appreciate the help. Problem seemed be stemming from the physical placement of my existing GeForce 8800 GT card. [Apple OEM from 2008, which I've had to bake in the oven a few times over the years] > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NGODs_waoI

I pulled everything out, then started with the 660 TI in slot 1. Got an Apple startup screen with the 331.01.01 webdriver. After that I tried putting the 8800GT in slot 2, which made the machine just reboot over and over. Moved it to Slot 4, got a happy mac, checked to see if both cards were present, then put the BlackMagic Decklink and finally my eSata card.

So far, so good. *fingers crossed*
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2014-04-05 at 7.21.10 PM.png
    Screen Shot 2014-04-05 at 7.21.10 PM.png
    212.7 KB · Views: 231
Hello! I am very new to the world of replacing graphics card so I am running into a persistent problem. When my ZOTAC GTX760 4gb is all plugged up and such my MacPro 3.1 running 10.8.5 won't even start up! I have the correct drivers and CUDA installed, and the mini-6-pin to 6-pin converters, so I'm curious as to what my problem is.


I think it might have something to do with the PSU, but I don't know exactly because I'm such a noob to this kind of stuff... Anyways here is a link to the card I have:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500312


If anyone could shed some light, it'd be much appreciated!
 
New GeForce 337.50 Beta drivers

New in GeForce 337.50 Beta drivers

Performance - Introduces key DirectX optimizations which result in reduced game-loading times and significant performance increases across a wide variety of games.Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration. Here are some examples of measured gains versus the previous 335.23 WHQL driver:

Geforce 337.50 BETA

GeForce GTX 700 Series (Single GPU):
Up to 64% in Total War: Rome II
Up to 25% in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Up to 23% in Sleeping Dogs
Up to 21% in Star Swarm
Up to 15% in Batman: Arkham Origins
Up to 10% in Metro: Last Light
Up to 8% in Hitman Absolution
Up to 7% in Sniper Elite V2
Up to 6% in Tomb Raider
Up to 6% in F1 2013


GeForce GTX 700 Series (SLI):
Up to 71% in Total War: Rome II
Up to 53% in Sniper Elite V2
Up to 45% in Aliens vs. Predator
Up to 31% in Sleeping Dogs
Up to 20% in CoD: Black Ops 2
Up to 10% in Hitman Absolution
Up to 9% in F1 2013
Up to 7% in Far Cry 3
Up to 6% in Metro: Last Light
Up to 6% in Batman: Arkham Origins

SLI Technology
Total War: Rome II – added profile
War Thunder – added profile
Watch Dogs – updated profile
Diablo III – updated profile

Gaming Technology
Supports GeForce ShadowPlay™ technology
Supports GeForce ShadowPlay™ Twitch Streaming

SHIELD
Supports NVIDIA GameStream™ technology

3D Vision
Supports new “3D Compatibility Mode” for 3D Vision that enables us to improve the 3D experience for many key DirectX 10 and 11 games.

3D Vision Profiles
Path of Exile – rated “Good”
KickBeat – rating now “Excellent”

3D Compatiblity Mode Profiles
Assassin’s Creed Liberation – previously “Not Recommended”, now rated as “Excellent”
Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army – previously “Good”, now rated as “Excellent”
Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2 – previously “Good”, now rated as “Excellent
Strike Suit Zero – previously “Not Recommended”, now rated as “Good”
Watchdogs – rated as “Good”
 
If I want to install windows and run some games via bootcamp, do I insert my original GT 120, install windows, install all drivers (including the GT120) from Apple's driver setup, then uninstall the driver, put in the new card and install Nvidia drivers for my 660 GTX?
 
^^^^It takes two six pin power cables. No adapters necessary.

Lou
 

Attachments

  • pict.jpg
    pict.jpg
    39.9 KB · Views: 132
Power Supplies

I'm nearly ready to pull the plug on a new card and would be grateful for your thoughts. I've been set against using an external power supply but I'm not sure why; maybe because I don't understand it enough.

Are there any power supplies out there that will fit on top of a Mac Pro tower really nicely, that will turn on/off when the Mac Pro does, and that would power a 780ti or Titan Black ?

Cable-wise I'd be grateful to know what you recommend. I could invest as high as a Titan Black; however I think that it would probably be overkill. The 780 is nice b/c no external power is needed, but now that the TI is available I can't determine whether it's worth the extra expense/effort of a power supply for that extra power.

What I really need is someone who has these systems to share your opinions; I'd be very grateful for your thoughts re: whether you have a power supply that works perfectly with your tower, whether you think the extra for the TI or Titan/Black is worth it etc.

Everyone's needs are different but I sense that I will only do this once for this system and want to make the best decision for Adobe CS6/FCPX/Lightroom5/Scoring Video/Gaming with 2X27" Cinema Display Maxed full resolution. I'm very grateful for your help!
Mac Pro 2010 3.33 6core 48gb 960 accelsior 3tbX4
 
Hi, I was wondering if anyone here could help with the problem I'm having with my GTX 780 SC.

I just got it back from EVGA's RMA department yesterday because my original card seemed to prevent my Mac Pro from booting after it shut off while running a performance test in NovaBench (among other things, such as also shutting off when trying to run Bioshock Infinite and freezing within a few minutes of starting Skyrim in Wine), but this one looks like it's having the same problem. Both cards have been powered externally by a LEPA N500 PSU and I'm using the latest Web Driver (I did try booting up in the OS X driver, but got identical results). My original card had been installed in slot 1, but this one does nothing in either slot 1 or 2 with either driver. The power supply isn't at fault here - if it was, the 780's fans would be spinning at maximum if it were, and they don't. The computer behaves just fine when I put my GT 120 back in.

While I was trying to diagnose the startup issue, I connected via Screen Sharing from my Power Mac G5, and noticed that the system claimed it was "shut down due to an issue" on every reboot. I copied the full error report here: http://pastebin.com/45BYJ149. I'm not sure what exactly most of it means, but I do see plenty of references to graphics drivers and NVIDIA. On both drivers, the graphics card doesn't appear at all: http://imgur.com/ePUMcft. Similarly, the "PCI Cards" tab of System Report showed no cards installed.

The only other thing of note is the fans: they spun up to what seems like their maximum almost immediately with the 780 installed, but the machine is perfectly silent right now with the 120 in it.
 
energy23 said:
I bought an Asus Nvidia 660 GTX OC but it didn't come with the 6pin PCIE to 6pin Mini cable.

Does anyone know if a 6pin to two 4pin molex cable will work such as this one:

Image

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812887001

I dont use optical drives so both the molex cables are free to use. I'm on a 2008 Mac Pro.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

No clue, but my guess is likely and you will need a long one to fish it all the way from the drive bay power.

I did find a mini 6pin on the internet, to go with the 6pin to 6pin I had already bought, but just waiting for the 6pin mini to arrive, so I can finally hook it up (two weeks waiting for cables).

So a reminder to everyone who is thinking of putting a new card in a Mac Pro 3,1, the readily available power is from a mini 6pin PCIe, and you will likely need somewhere from a twelve to 18 inch cable to run the power from the outlet to the card.
 
LorenK said:
No clue, but my guess is likely and you will need a long one to fish it all the way from the drive bay power.

I did find a mini 6pin on the internet, to go with the 6pin to 6pin I had already bought, but just waiting for the 6pin mini to arrive, so I can finally hook it up (two weeks waiting for cables).

So a reminder to everyone who is thinking of putting a new card in a Mac Pro 3,1, the readily available power is from a mini 6pin PCIe, and you will likely need somewhere from a twelve to 18 inch cable to run the power from the outlet to the card.
Click to expand...

Actually the 6pin to 2 molex cable doesn't need to be overly long. The molex cables from the PSU extend quite far and the GPU is very long itself so the plug on the card itself isn't very far from the molex connectors on the PSU.

However, I cannot LOCK the case, the cables get in the way. I can close the case, but not lock it. The other problem is, that my Cinebench GPU score is at around 33fps with a GTX 660 OC while my friends GTX 650 Ti is 120FPS. I think the 6pin to two molex cables is underpowered. I should be receiving my 6pin cable something in the next fews days, hopefully it will fix the laggy performance.

However, I should mention that when I first installed the card using 6pin to two molex, I did experience a sudden shutdown of the system, I thin the cable from the card to the molex cables got slightly cut and touched the metal interior of the Mac Pros case. Some of the wire is now exposed. I hope I didn't screw up the cards power draw.... it still runs though, just underpowered. Is it possible I fudged something?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back