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gaming using PC video card

M

mil098

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 9, 2010
14
7
Hi Guys,

I've done quite a bit of reading, but most times I come away a little confused.
I apologise in advance if this has been answered before.

I'm looking at getting a Macpro 5,1 quad 2.8 it will come standard with the 5770 video card.

Question can I drop in a faster PC video card e.g. GTX 570 or AMD equivalent (without flashing it and without patching the OS) and run both card 5770 and PC video card concurrently?

I do not plan to bootcamp so, can I game (diablo 3) using the pc video card as opposed to using the 5770?

I understand Lion has driver support now for some nvidia and AMD cards so am I correct in "hoping" that a un-flashed pc video card can work in OSX Lion without any patching. Going back to my example of playing diablo 3, can OSX make use of the pc video card for diablo?

I hope the above make sense??

Just to cover some other things off.
I don't not plan on getting a PC for gaming
I do not plan on boot camping for gaming, OSX covers all I need perfectly
yes I am aware there may be a new macro, and yes I am aware that I could just buy the Apple 5870, but I want to know about using a PC video card.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers
Anthony.
 
As covered in detail in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1330964/

in order to get the NVIDIA cards to work with 10.7.4 you'll need to install the driver from NVIDIA's website, which is linked in that thread (or just search for 270.00.00f06 on Google). After you've installed that driver, a card like the GTX 570 will self-init and work just fine. You won't get any kind of boot screen (i.e. the screen will stay black during boot), but once you're up to the desktop it'll be fully accelerated.

Hopefully this PC card support will eventually be offered in the stock Apple drivers, but for now you'll have to get the driver from NVIDIA's site in order to make these cards work. Note that a new driver for 10.7.4 was released within a day of that OS update going live, so I think it's fair to say that if 10.7.5 doesn't have the necessary support in the Apple driver there will be one available from NVIDIA.

While folks like MacVidCards do offer versions of these cards that have been flashed with an EFI, it's not strictly necessary and a stock PC card should work just fine. For example, I'm running a 2010 Mac Pro with an unmodified GTX 560 Ti, and it's been rock solid from day one for me.

I don't use AMD cards so I'm not sure what the support for them is like. I believe the stock Apple drivers contain support for PC cards from AMD, though I'm not certain of this.

Question can I drop in a faster PC video card e.g. GTX 570 or AMD equivalent (without flashing it and without patching the OS) and run both card 5770 and PC video card concurrently?
Click to expand...

I think the 5770 uses 1 PCIe power cable, and the GTX 570 for example requires 2. You can basically only use a card that requires no external power if you want to use a modern PC card, since they basically all need 2 PCIe power cables.
 
Yeah I'm thinking of replacing the GT120 in my 2009 MP with a stock 560Ti, so that I can run D3 a lot better. :)

Does anyone know what extra power cable(s) I'll need, if any to get it to run?
 
Asgorath said:
As covered in detail in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1330964/

in order to get the NVIDIA cards to work with 10.7.4 you'll need to install the driver from NVIDIA's website, which is linked in that thread (or just search for 270.00.00f06 on Google). After you've installed that driver, a card like the GTX 570 will self-init and work just fine. You won't get any kind of boot screen (i.e. the screen will stay black during boot), but once you're up to the desktop it'll be fully accelerated.

Hopefully this PC card support will eventually be offered in the stock Apple drivers, but for now you'll have to get the driver from NVIDIA's site in order to make these cards work. Note that a new driver for 10.7.4 was released within a day of that OS update going live, so I think it's fair to say that if 10.7.5 doesn't have the necessary support in the Apple driver there will be one available from NVIDIA.

While folks like MacVidCards do offer versions of these cards that have been flashed with an EFI, it's not strictly necessary and a stock PC card should work just fine. For example, I'm running a 2010 Mac Pro with an unmodified GTX 560 Ti, and it's been rock solid from day one for me.

I don't use AMD cards so I'm not sure what the support for them is like. I believe the stock Apple drivers contain support for PC cards from AMD, though I'm not certain of this.



I think the 5770 uses 1 PCIe power cable, and the GTX 570 for example requires 2. You can basically only use a card that requires no external power if you want to use a modern PC card, since they basically all need 2 PCIe power cables.
Click to expand...

great summary of the state of things at the moment--thanks for the good description:)
 
Justinf79 said:
Yeah I'm thinking of replacing the GT120 in my 2009 MP with a stock 560Ti, so that I can run D3 a lot better. :)

Does anyone know what extra power cable(s) I'll need, if any to get it to run?
Click to expand...


If you have slots free you can just place the GT120 in an upper slot and it can provide boot screens when needed.
 
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