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GPU for quad displays

Arriving tomorrow... here goes nothing!

If you hear the sounds of sobbing and smashing, then I suspect things didn't quite go according to plan...
 
Aaaaand it's finally here. Now to try and find out which drivers I need to install for Lion....
 
Hmm. The lights are on but nobody's home.... :mad:

I have installed the drivers (and rebooted thereafter), I have bought and plugged in two 6-pin power cables... and I have connected my monitors... but nothing. I get the startup chime and then it just sits there, none of the screens power up.

Any idea?

It's an EVGA GTX670 2Gb.
 
mseth said:
The 670 works out of the box in Mountain Lion ... It also works in lion once you install the nvidia drivers. That is the same card I have, works just fine with 4 displays. Most models will work, just be sure to get one that is reference design or one that uses 2x 6 pin power...
Click to expand...

So it does or doesn't or doesn't or does work under Lion?

I'm losing the will to live here.
 
Octogibbon said:
So it does or doesn't or doesn't or does work under Lion?

I'm losing the will to live here.
Click to expand...

I admit I haven't read all 30 pages of the FAQ thread, but I believe MSETH is wrong.

I'd either PM MSETH to ask where he got that information from, or reply to the Nvidia FAQ with your problem and see what people say. Some very Nvidia-knowledgeable people are following that thread and might not pay any attention to your post here.

Actually, what I would really do is upgrade to ML, because Lion is a POS anyway.
 
Kepler support is spotty in Lion.

I know that the 680 cards I am working on show up as "GK104 Nvidia Card" or something like that in 10.7.5.

If 680 is barely supported it would make sense the other cards either aren't at all or only partially.
 
Thank you. One Aye and two Naes.

So, if that is truly the case then I have bought a pup. Thusly, it would appear I have two options:

- Upgrade to Mountain thing, with all the grief that entails.
- Bin the card and buy something else... but *what*?!

----------

Oh and if that is indeed the case, perhaps the FAQ should be updated to be a little clearer on the matter? It starts off saying the cards won't work in Lion and then appears to go on to say actually they will.
 
Octogibbon said:
Thank you. One Aye and two Naes.

So, if that is truly the case then I have bought a pup. Thusly, it would appear I have two options:

- Upgrade to Mountain thing, with all the grief that entails.
- Bin the card and buy something else... but *what*?!

----------

Oh and if that is indeed the case, perhaps the FAQ should be updated to be a little clearer on the matter? It starts off saying the cards won't work in Lion and then appears to go on to say actually they will.
Click to expand...

I guess you missed the first question in the FAQ?

1) What OS versions will work?

In order to boot with an NVIDIA PC card, you need to have:
10.7.4 with the 270.00.00f06 driver installed
10.7.5
10.8 through 10.8.2
That is, both 10.7.5 and 10.8.* will work with NVIDIA PC cards out-of-the-box.

Note that the Fermi generation cards work with Lion, but in almost all cases the Kepler cards require Mountain Lion. You may find a GK107-based card that boots in 10.7.5, but it is highly recommended that you use Mountain Lion since there appears to be much better driver support in that OS in general.
Click to expand...

Emphasis added to relevant section.
 
Not so much missed as glossed over to the list of "cards which will work".

The fault is entirely mine own, and I am deeply grateful for the FAQ believe me, I was just thinking perhaps the list itself was worth editing a little to make it utterly clear what will and won't work?


So I'm doomed to an ML upgrade if I want a single quad head card working?
 
MacVidCards said:
He tries to keep first post updated. Do you have access to a 2600 or gt120 to "see" from? Or another Mac you can use screen sharing?
Click to expand...

Neither currently, though I could rip out all the other non-GPU cards and put the Radeon back in alongside the GTX?
 
I get that you missed it. People gloss over things all the time and disregarding user manuals is a favorite past time of all humanity.

However, I don't understand what the doom and gloom is about upgrading to ML. It really is much better than Lion in every conceivable way, and the upgrade process is painless except for a reasonable expense and making a backup just in case. (But you should be making backups anyway. Stuff fails.)

I'm a big fan of SL and I'm largely happy with ML, but Lion was just a steaming pile of you-know-what. Seriously, I'd get off that ASAP. The fact you that you listed binning the card as an option just to stay on Lion is mind-boggling to me. :confused:

But hey, to each his own! If you prefer to switch to older GPU hardware just to stay on the worst version of OS X ever, that's your prerogative. :D
 
ActionableMango said:
However, I don't understand what the doom and gloom is about upgrading to ML. It really is much better than Lion in every conceivable way, and the upgrade process is painless except for a reasonable expense and making a backup just in case. (But you should be making backups anyway. Stuff fails.)

>-<

But hey, to each his own! If you prefer to switch to older GPU hardware just to stay on the worst version of OS X ever, that's your prerogative. :D
Click to expand...

The cost doesn't bother me. Caution more than anything - this isn't a toy, it's my studio computer, and without it I cannot work. I'm already begrudging the time I've spent shouting at it today (and frustrated at my own mistakes leading to this point). Lion isn't terribly exciting, but at the moment everything works... so I'm cautious about moving upwards for fear of software that could decide not to work... no work = no pay.
 
An excellent point.

Well, whatever you end up doing, good luck!

And if you go to ML, don't forget to make a back up first.
 
Mountain Lion is superior to Lion in every way. I sort of understand folks sticking with Snow Leopard since it was the last one to support Rosetta etc, but if you've already upgraded to Lion there's very little reason to stick with it over Mountain Lion at this point.
 
Asgorath said:
Mountain Lion is superior to Lion in every way. I sort of understand folks sticking with Snow Leopard since it was the last one to support Rosetta etc, but if you've already upgraded to Lion there's very little reason to stick with it over Mountain Lion at this point.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm on Lion as that's what the machine came with, I actually tried to downgrade to SL but was told I wasn't allowed! ;)


Right, I feel a time machine backup coming on..... :eek:
 
One curious thing, since swapping the Radeon back in so I can boot up and run time machine and download the OS, the CPU fans are running flat out. How strange.
 
BTW, a Radeon 6870 can run 4 displays all the way back to 10.6.6. 2 of them must be displayport for this to work (or adapted via active adapter to legacy port) but they deserve credit for offering this ability a couple years before Nvidia did.

I still prefer Nvidia cards and this comment was for people who find this thread via a search for "4 displays on one card" more so than OP.
 
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