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

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m4v3r1ck said:
MVC needs to get a deal with a EU partner ASAP, so more of us can profit from his works! ;-)

Cheers
Click to expand...

Still talking to people.

Just trying to avoid those with mental disorders and convicted felons.

Besides, hasn't the the Euro/Dollar thing gone a way that makes stuff from the US a bargain?
 
I am running:
2008 Mac pro
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750Ti graphics card
My OS is 10.10.2 (14C109)
NVIDIA web driver 343.02.02f02

I would like to update to OS X 10.10.3, I am currently downloading the 10.10.3 update as well as the 10.10.3 supplemental update from apple's support site (not through the app store)

I am wondering, does NVIDIA have a web driver that works with 10.10.3 and does it work with the supplemental update as well?

Thanks for the help.
 
flowrider said:
Really? My score with my MVC Modified Gigabyte GTX780 on my 5.1.

You're problem is the hardware (Mac Pro 2,1) not the Mac OS.

Lou
Click to expand...

Yes and No. As you can clearly see in my example the only thing I have changed is the operating system. So then it's the operating system (or the drivers it uses) that's at fault not the computer or the card. If it wasn't I should be getting the same (or similar) results under both OS's, and I'm not. A 15-30fps difference is huge for gaming. So there is a sizeable performance hit the PC cards are having under OS X.

Yes I know you're getting better results, but you're specs are completely different to mine, better computer / way better card too. I'm sure if you did the same test (OpenGL & DirectX) under boot camp you'll see a boost in yours too. You should be getting 60-70fps with your setup and maxing well over 100fps. (There are some guys who can average 80fps out of a 780 with newest pcs).

The simple answer is as I see it, if you want the best performance on any mac computer, run games under bootcamp with directX.
 
MacVidCards said:
Besides, hasn't the the Euro/Dollar thing gone a way that makes stuff from the US a bargain?
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Well, it was some time ago. At the moment the euro is really weak. Not much difference to the dollar anymore. So it's pretty much vice versa - sh't's expensive! :D

You partnering up with some EU dude(s) would be awesome.
Because with all these import fees and customs etc. it just makes no sense.
 
MacVidCards said:
This is a very good question and may hold the answer for many folks.

When NVIDIA puts the first driver out for 10.10.4 it will be trying to match Build "14E" of OSX.

This is because they won't know in advance what the future builds will be. When they release the final version for the first 10.10.4 it will match the final build number of "14E396" (I have no idea what it will actually be, just a placeholder)

Point being the Beta has a wild card match, anything starting with "14E" while each security update and iWatch compatibilty update will get some number assigned in future that will break the one matched to "14E396" but still work fine with "14E", all else being equal.

So in theory you could ride out all of the frivolous updates running the Beta, though you may suffer decreased performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks again MVC!

So the 14D beta is essentially universal to the range of 10.3.x builds; I can install this right over top of the installed one, update to 10.10.3 supplemental, then update to current 10.10.3 webdriver. This will save a ton of hassle, rebooting and reinstalling GPUs.

So why then, can't NVidia make all the drivers compatible like the beta ones, or is that Apple at fault?
 
im running Yosemite 10.10.3 on Mac Pro (2009) with latest Nvidia Web Driver, had the GTX 680 installed and everything worked out like a charm. Today i switched to EVGA GTX980 SC, no driver uninstall or anything, just switched cards and boot screen stays black, can't access Yosemite.

Any ideas? :(
 
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KLWN said:
im running Yosemite 10.10.3 with latest Nvidia Web Driver, had the GTX 680 installed and everything worked out like a charm. Today i switched to EVGA GTX980 SC, no driver uninstall or anything, just switched cards and boot screen stays black, can't access Yosemite.

Any ideas? :(
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Just to be sure, is this an eGPU?

Also, did you have a boot screen with the GTX 680?

I'm not sure how to solve your problem, but I am curious. Though, I guess the problem could be the power supply. How much power does your Power Supply Unit supply?
 
No good way to have eGPU in a 2009 MP.

In situations where non-EFI card stats black best to enable screen sharing then log in from another machine and see what is going on.
 
its not an external card. Here is the link to the product. Total Power Draw is 165 Watts. Booting into Windows 7 works fine btw.

Before the 980 I ran 2x 680GTX without any issues.
 
Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards

KLWN said:
its not an external card. Here is the link to the product. Total Power Draw is 165 Watts. Booting into Windows 7 works fine btw.

Before the 980 I ran 2x 680GTX without any issues.
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Oh, okay.



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KLWN said:
its not an external card. Here is the link to the product. Total Power Draw is 165 Watts. Booting into Windows 7 works fine btw.

Before the 980 I ran 2x 680GTX without any issues.
Click to expand...


Which version of OS X are you running?

That card is a pretty recent one. I don't know if the drivers are in Mavericks.
 
Melvin Frohike said:
Hi,

i have a Mac Pro 2008 with 12GB of RAM and a Geforce GTX 970 graphics card. I am running Yosemite with the latest NVidia web drivers.
I would think that i should get great performance playing games like Team Fortress 2 or Insurgency.
However, even with all graphics settings set to low, i still have very low fps. When the view distance is large, i consistently have less than 20 fps. I previously used a GTX 650; that had only slightly worse performance than the 970.

Does anyone have an idea how to improve performance of these games? Or is my CPU or RAM too much of a bottleneck?
Click to expand...

I tried the game Insurgency in Windows to compare the performance to Mac. I could set every option to high (very high if available), activate 2x MSAA and FXAA, and still get good FPS. Only on extremely high view distances, i get slightly less than 30 FPS. On the Mac, with every graphics option set to low and without AA, i get around 14 FPS at the same spot.

This is an extreme difference. I will try the Uniengine benchmark next to see, if the FPS difference is mainly due to OS X itself, or if perhaps Insurgency (a Source engine game), is poorly optimized for Mac.
 
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro (3,1). For a couple of years I've been running with a flashed Radeon 5870 so I'm familiar with logging in without a boot screen.

I recently upgraded to 10.10.3 with the supplemental update (14D136) and I just purchased an EVGA GTX 750 TI FTW to replace the 5870. I still have my original 8800GT (that came with the mac pro) that I used for setting up the 750TI.

The short of it: if I boot the system with just the 750 TI, it does not boot; I hear the chime but I'm not able to login using the expected login key sequence. If I boot the system with both the 750 TI and the 8800GT with the DVI cable plugged into the 750TI, I'm able to boot the machine albeit logging in with the black screen. I'm trying to figure out why the system works with both cards, but not with just the 750TI. In both cases the DVI cable for my monitor is plugged into the 750TI.

This was my setup procedure:

* With just the 8800GT installed, I downloaded and installed the 343.02.02f02 Nvidia Graphics Driver.

* I ensured the nvidia driver manager was set to "Nvidia Web Driver" and not the OSX default graphics driver.

* I rebooted the box and ensured that when it came back up it was still set to the Nvidia Web Driver.

* I confirmed with 'nvram -p' that nvda_drv=1 is included in the boot args.

* I powered the box down, removed the 8800GT, and installed the 750 TI in slot 1.

* I tried many attempts to login to the machine without success. I heard the chime, waited 20 seconds just to be sure, then tried the usual key sequence (down, up, <enter>, pause 5 seconds, <password>, enter). I knew when this worked with my 5870 because the LED on my mouse would flash and the hard drive would briefly click when it started to login. I didn't get either of those feedback events with just the 750 TI.

* I installed the 8800GT in slot 3 and left the 750 TI in slot 1. I booted the machine, heard the chime, waited 20 seconds, entered the login key sequence, and about 20-30 seconds later I was at an OSX desktop. The Nvidia driver config utility confirms that the system has both a 750 TI and an 8800GT and that the display is happening through the 750 TI.

* For just the 750TI, I've tried booting the machine in both PCI slot 1 and PCI slot 3, I get the same non-functional behavior in both slots.

* For using both the 8800GT and the 750TI, I get the same functional behavior with 8800GT in slot 3 and 750TI in slot 1, and vice versa.

As it is now, my machine is usable.. I have the 750TI in slot 1 with the DVI cable plugged into that, the 8800GT sits in slot 3 with no monitor connected. The machine boots fine, I login at the black screen. However, ideally I'd like to be able to run the system without the 8800GT installed since it's just wasting power to be plugged in and not doing anything.

I've tried to do my homework; I've read these forums, read the FAQ, read the blog at macvidcards.. at this point I'm stumped and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
Not that it's any help, but I just purchased a GTX 750ti in my 2009 Mac Pro and it's booting and running perfectly with the latest nvidia drivers and OS updates. I'm running from the display port of the card into the mini dp port on the dell monitor using the dell cable that came with the 4k 27" monitor. Any chance that it's a cable issue?
 
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mugwump said:
Not that it's any help, but I just purchased a GTX 750ti in my 2009 Mac Pro and it's booting and running perfectly with the latest nvidia drivers and OS updates. I'm running from the display port of the card into the mini dp port on the dell monitor using the dell cable that came with the 4k 27" monitor. Any chance that it's a cable issue?
Click to expand...


Thanks for your post. It allayed the concerns brought on by ThisMock's post. I was getting concerned because I'm planning on using a GT 740 in the 120 watt Vidock since it doesn't have a 6-pin power connector and the GT 640 is a bus-powered card.
 
mugwump said:
Not that it's any help, but I just purchased a GTX 750ti in my 2009 Mac Pro and it's booting and running perfectly with the latest nvidia drivers and OS updates. I'm running from the display port of the card into the mini dp port on the dell monitor using the dell cable that came with the 4k 27" monitor. Any chance that it's a cable issue?
Click to expand...


Are you getting a boot screen from your GTX 750 Ti? I ask because it seems like graphics card manufacturers might have transitioned from BIOS to uEFI, which should allow it to show a boot screen on a Mac.
 
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guin said:
Try using Nvidia drivers 346.01.02f02. Here is the link:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84213
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure this is the driver that I'm running; I will doublecheck when I get home this evening.

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mugwump said:
Not that it's any help, but I just purchased a GTX 750ti in my 2009 Mac Pro and it's booting and running perfectly with the latest nvidia drivers and OS updates. I'm running from the display port of the card into the mini dp port on the dell monitor using the dell cable that came with the 4k 27" monitor. Any chance that it's a cable issue?
Click to expand...

It is very helpful to know that someone has a very similar configuration running, thank you for contributing.

I doubt it makes a difference, but what brand of 750ti are you using?

Thanks!
 
I'm starting to think we need to keep a log of GPUs that work OOTB on the stock 10.10.3 driver, since now "any old NVidia card" isn't 90% sure to work off the shelf.
 
I'm using the EVGA GTX 750ti from Newegg. There's no boot screen, but otherwise it's performing very well, 4K at 60hz on the Dell P2715Q.
 
Agreed

MacGamver said:
I'm starting to think we need to keep a log of GPUs that work OOTB on the stock 10.10.3 driver, since now "any old NVidia card" isn't 90% sure to work off the shelf.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree. We really should keep a log of cards that are OS X-Compatible out-of-the-box.

I wonder what changed caused some graphics cards to be incompatible with OS X.
 

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