GTX Nvidia Kernel crash, possible heat issue ?

[transonic]

I had a crash tonight while working on the timeline of Adobe Premiere CS6. I am on a MacPro 3.1 with a GTX 470 (from macvidcards) under 10.8.4 and its proper drivers. I was doing extensive scrubbing and I could hear the GTX's fan spinning loud. I thought these kernel crashes would dissapear with the latest nvidia drivers, in fact I haven't got a crash for over months until tonight where I was pushing the limit.

Then I opened GPUtest and did a stress test which crashed the screen and locked the system after only 3 minutes of heavy load and fan noise. Flickering dots and rectangles and color hue change. Forced restart.

I went on to purchase an Artic Cooling Acceleto Twin Turbo II graphics card cooler.

I am reasoning that this is a heat issue. Has anyone experienced similar, I still suspect the drivers but after the EVGA Mac Edition I don't know if it is fair to say so for Nvidia.

Finally, I had a forced shutdown so I don't know where to look for the panic log except for the console messages.

Thanks.

 

[pastrychef]

I second your guess that it may be heat related. Judging by the lack of widespread complaints, it would appear that the drivers have been pretty solid. Personally, I wouldn't stress the card too much until the new cooler is installed for fear of permanent damage to the card.

 

[transonic]

Could it be due to power consumption ?

I found this on the net but am not sure,
Here are the specs for the GTX 470:
GeForce GTX 470

System in IDLE = 205 Watts
System with GPU in FULL Stress = 419 Watts
Difference (GPU load) = 214Watt (TDP = 215W)

And I found this, talks about using aux plugs on the mac pro for routing consumption off the board http://old-macs.com/misc/MacProPCIePower.html

It says, "Apple indicates the PCIe Aux Power Plugs can deliver 75w each. These connections are what Molex calls the "Mini-Fit Jr." "

QUOTE
Experimenting with these two ROMs in a GTX 480 card and Mac Pros, showed that with 20AWG power cables the Full Speed rom would occasionally cause system hangs/freezes under load/stress, while the Full Speed rom and 18AWG cables did not (the "Low Power" version worked just fine with either type of cable).

Anyways ALL this seems to prove is that THERE IS more power available than the 225w total given by adding the 75 watts from BOTH of the Aux Plugs, and a number 1 or 2 slot. How much is really available and how much the traces to the Aux Power plugs can handle is Anyones Guess. I Take NO Responsibility for what happens if You use cards that exceed the ratings. I'm Just making cables available that will NOT start to run hot and ADD-To/Create power problems When/If you regularly-hit / occasionally-exceed the 225 watt Rating.
QUOTE

Do you know where the aux plugs are located ?

 

[N19h7m4r3]

I stopped using the NVIDIA Web drivers as I kept getting a kernel graphics crash
when using the Timeline in FCP X, and iMovie.

Since reverting to default OSX drivers I have had no issues at all.

My GTX 660, never had heat issues, and since only using OS X driver it's been smooth sailing.

Try the OS drivers for a while and see if you can recreate the crashing, if not try the NVIDIA drivers again and see if it happens then.

 

[transonic]

Thanks, i think i'll try the os drivers see how it goes and get a pair of these after all the research,

http://old-macs.com/pages/Cords_Cables/PCIePwr6P18G/

quote:

Typical Cables are 20AWG (Rated for a MAXIMUM of 75w) and 250mm (UNDER 10inches). These LONGER and THICKER Cables have a FULL 10 inches of wire BETWEEN the connectors (Over-All Length of 11-3/8 inches), and are made with 18AWG wire (rated for 110 watts). Although the Mac Pros PCIe Aux Power Plugs are RATED at 75w, Cables with Higher Power Handling Capabilities will Run Cooler, with LESS Resistance and Lower Voltage Drop; Delivering MORE Voltage (And ALL Available Power) to your Video Card(s).

 

[transonic]

I just stress tested the card with gputest for about 15 minutes without a panic using the OS X drivers as you said N19h7m4r3. I don't know if it is safe to do so longer. Prior to that it would crash after just a few minutes into the test.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Well so far so good then, let's hope you don't have another crash during your work.

 

[pastrychef]

Thanks for the info about web drivers and Final Cut Pro X and iMovie. Glad I've stayed with the built-in drivers.

 

[ActionableMango]

Thanks, i think i'll try the os drivers see how it goes and get a pair of these after all the research,

http://old-macs.com/pages/Cords_Cables/PCIePwr6P18G/

That was good reading, but the guy is a bit of a nutbar. Looking at his ordering information there are a few paragraphs of rants against PayPal, although he uses it anyway. He insists you have to order cables is lots of 10 due to a PayPal verification bug, but the logic there doesn't really make any sense.

And he refuses to sell to anyone in Washington. Guess where I live.