GTX680 4GB - ROM Image - Full Boot Screens, Full Clock Rates & PCI-E 2.0 - 5GT/s

[fpbvrfhp]

I noticed all the voltages and pretty much every value is different on my current bios and the bios uploaded by the OP of this thread. I wonder if I should just stick to changing clock speeds only or match every single settings with the old bios...

 

[Fl0r!an]

Hey guys,

I know I'm late to the party, I'm getting used to it...

I've attached a modified ROM which will enable all ports in OS X. My approach is quite different from what MVC hinted here, the result should be similar though (anyone who can make an IOReg dump will see what I did to the EFI).
Only drawback is that you'll lose the PCI section in system profiler (which isn't bad since it makes the ROM less attractive for those eBay douchebags ). Still full boot screens and OS X on all 4 ports, 5.0GT/s should work, too.

I didn't touch the VBIOS portion of the ROM, so any card that can run the ROM in the first post of this thread won't get bricked by mine either.

Thanks @Rankel for testing it!

 

[richgoga]

Deleted

 

[MacZoltan]

After scouring the web I located a modded rom file for the 4GB version of the card. It’s obviously the rom from the 2GB Mac card, same one that’s been posted here on Mac Rumors. Version number and date are identical. However it’s been modified to work with the 4GB card. So I flashed my cards, one at a time to be safe, and low and behold I have my beautiful EFI boot screens back. Didn’t really know how much I missed them but so glad to have them back.

At this point there’s only one issue. My stock speeds of 1085MHz GPU & 1150MHz Boost have now dropped to 1006MHz GPU & 1059MHz Boost. These are the stock 2GB reference card values. Boooo….

I spent several hours combing through the hex of the rom in an attempt to locate the errant bits. Although familiar with hacking hex it’s a process that is tedious and can make your head hurt and eyes cross after a few hours. So I took a break and turned to scouring the web again for Nvidia Rom Hacking information. I found on a German web site a wonderful win utility with GUI for editing the clock speeds and several other parameters of the BIOS imbedded in the rom. Kepler BIOS Tweaker v1.25.exe

Here’s what I didn’t know. Will both the BIOS section and EFI section of the rom need edits to restore my clock speeds? I figure probably yes. This was a Windows utility to edit the BIOS so I thought at best I’d have my clock speeds restored in Windows but still have the slower clocks when in OS X.

I did the edit to both cards restoring my clocks to 1085MHz & 1150MHz and wrote the roms back to the cards. Rebooting to windows showed my clocks back to normal. Now booting to OS X was the surprise. The clocks are now back to the higher speeds in OS X as well! So the EFI needs no edit only the BIOS.

These cards are working awesome, full boot screens, full clock speeds & PCI-E 2.0. Just as if you walked in an Apple Store and pulled them off the shelf. (If you could…)

Good Stuff..... Enjoy ! ROM and utilities attached below for the adventurous.

The rom is just as I found it with reference card speeds. But you can tweak it with the included utilities.

Hi,

You mentioned the referred card is WTF GTX 680 but whenever I flash a card like that (EVGA 04g-p4-3687-kr) it behaves strange.
On the factory rom it runs smooth in Heaven bench while on the mac rom we have here in this thread the card randomly slows down for 3 sec then back to the original clock rates then back down so on...
First picture with normal rom second with the mac rom

 

[ActionableMango]

On the factory rom it runs smooth in Heaven bench while on the mac rom we have here in this thread the card randomly slows down for 3 sec then back to the original clock rates then back down so on...
First picture with normal rom second with the mac rom

The FTW edition card has a factory overclock in its original ROM. Once you flash the 4GB ROM found here onto your card, you've reduced the clocks back to reference levels. I don't know if that's the cause of the problem, but it does mean that your card is running slightly slower once you flash in the ROM provided here.

What you can do, and I what I did, is make a note of the clock numbers in the original FTW ROM, flash in the Mac EFI ROM from here, then modify the clock numbers from reference back to FTW levels. That way you'll have the Mac EFI and your factory overclock too. Anyway, here are the clocks:

Reference GTX 680
Base: 1006
Boost: 1058
Memory: 3004

eVGA FTW
Base: 1058
Boost: 1113
Memory: 3104​

Just for kicks I also tried changing the clocks to "SC" levels (eVGA's superclocked card). Although there were no stability problems, all the benchmarks I tried actually saw reduced performance compared to the FTW clocks.

You mentioned the referred card is WTF GTX 680

Hehe

 

[MacVidCards]

There are 4G 680s that do this exact thing when using public 4G rom.

Need custom one.

 

[MacZoltan]

There are 4G 680s that do this exact thing when using public 4G rom.

Need custom one.

Well If I send you the rom itself can you customize it to run stable, I can pay for it but seems so random I am thinking about the card has some issue? Sending a GTX 680 to the USA would be kinda expensive...

Did some extra testing under windows and it seems it does the FPS dropping under the original rom too, just less frequently. Under Mac Pro it does more frequently. And I tried with normal EVGA 4GB card before and the mac rom works fine, just the WTF card I have doing this. Also sometimes even this WTF runs ok without issue after a new OSX install for example, then it gets wrong again??... confusing
[doublepost=1463597986][/doublepost]

The FTW edition card has a factory overclock in its original ROM. Once you flash the 4GB ROM found here onto your card, you've reduced the clocks back to reference levels. I don't know if that's the cause of the problem, but it does mean that your card is running slightly slower once you flash in the ROM provided here.

What you can do, and I what I did, is make a note of the clock numbers in the original FTW ROM, flash in the Mac EFI ROM from here, then modify the clock numbers from reference back to FTW levels. That way you'll have the Mac EFI and your factory overclock too. Anyway, here are the clocks:

Reference GTX 680
Base: 1006
Boost: 1058
Memory: 3004

eVGA FTW
Base: 1058
Boost: 1113
Memory: 3104​

Just for kicks I also tried changing the clocks to "SC" levels (eVGA's superclocked card). Although there were no stability problems, all the benchmarks I tried actually saw reduced performance compared to the FTW clocks.



Hehe

I trid to downclock it for a test under Windows it actually helped but under OSX it did not.
Also If I run the Heaven on the lowest settings the FPS dropping still exists so it is not the stress on the card but something else...

 

[MacZoltan]

There are 4G 680s that do this exact thing when using public 4G rom.

Need custom one.

also on your site I could not find any option for flashing already owned card and how would that work anyway?
I should send a card to you and hope to receive it back?

 

[ActionableMango]

also on your site I could not find any option for flashing already owned card

MacZoltan, I think you need some glasses.

 

[MacZoltan]

MacZoltan, I think you need some glasses.

View attachment 631950

Thanks, still would you tell me how exactly this would work? You can understand that this is a forum and you showing a site where I suppose to order a service and send my card or cards to What are my insurances it will work and if i will get my card back?
[doublepost=1463637269][/doublepost]

MacZoltan, I think you need some glasses.

View attachment 631950

I see I can do a checkout and 90$ would be fine by me but the 175$ or 60$ postage makes it "funny".
Anyway first i order an other EVGA WTF 4GB card and see if this card is faulty or not.

BTW
Just to clarify the FPS drop is not a little one it goes from 30 to 7 for a second or two then goes back to normal and repeats it randomly, mostly around the castle scene in Heaven. In 3D mark there is no issue... Start to hate this card

 

[h9826790]

BTW
Just to clarify the FPS drop is not a little one it goes from 30 to 7 for a second or two then goes back to normal and repeats it randomly, mostly around the castle scene in Heaven. In 3D mark there is no issue... Start to hate this card

Sounds like you better flash the original ROM back in until you find the solution.

It's hard to tell if a non fully compatible ROM can damage the card or not, especially you keep running benchmark on it (long time high demands operation).

Unless you really need the boot screen daily, I will consider keep using the card non flashed. And only flash it again for boot screen when I need it. Of course, this is far from ideal, because sometime you want to boot screen simply because the Mac Pro doesn't boot properly, and you want to know what's happening. However, boot screen should not be required in normal daily use.

 

[MacZoltan]

Sounds like you better flash the original ROM back in until you find the solution.

It's hard to tell if a non fully compatible ROM can damage the card or not, especially you keep running benchmark on it (long time high demands operation).

Unless you really need the boot screen daily, I will consider keep using the card non flashed. And only flash it again for boot screen when I need it. Of course, this is far from ideal, because sometime you want to boot screen simply because the Mac Pro doesn't boot properly, and you want to know what's happening. However, boot screen should not be required in normal daily use.

will flash back the original rom and see how it works. my guess is the card was heavily used and some parts maybe burnt inside, maybe voltage regulator or thermal sensor... the 324MHz is a profile speed my guess it is a safe profile in case the card gets hit hard and cant take it ,
I bought them online and arrived more dustier then anything I saw before...

 

[h9826790]

will flash back the original rom and see how it works. my guess is the card was heavily used and some parts maybe burnt inside, maybe voltage regulator or thermal sensor... the 324MHz is a profile speed my guess it is a safe profile in case the card gets hit hard and cant take it ,
I bought them online and arrived more dustier then anything I saw before...

If it's a poor condition used card. Then I think re-flash the original ROM is almost a must do step now to verify if the fault is EFI / incompatible ROM related.

 

[MacZoltan]

Hi,

You mentioned the referred card is WTF GTX 680 but whenever I flash a card like that (EVGA 04g-p4-3687-kr) it behaves strange.
On the factory rom it runs smooth in Heaven bench while on the mac rom we have here in this thread the card randomly slows down for 3 sec then back to the original clock rates then back down so on...
First picture with normal rom second with the mac rom

Some news,
With the original ROM the card does this slowdown so it is clear I got a faulty card...
Sorry for the time wasting.

Any chance that a successful ROM flashing in nvflash can repair or damage a working card?

 

[h9826790]

Some news,
With the original ROM the card does this slowdown so it is clear I got a faulty card...
Sorry for the time wasting.

Any chance that a successful ROM flashing in nvflash can repair or damage a working card?

I don't think nvflash (software) can fix any hardware failure.

 

[MacZoltan]

I don't think nvflash (software) can fix any hardware failure.

and can it damage the card if it says successful?

 

[h9826790]

I don't think nvflash (software) can fix any hardware failure.

Not sure, but my understanding is that the worst thing it can do is to flash a corrupted ROM on to the chip, so the card is not bootable, and may need some special skill the clear the ROM and flash it again. However, it's still a kind of software issue, the chip itself (hardware) is not damaged, but just can't operate properly because lack of proper ROM (software).

 

[MacZoltan]

Hi,

You mentioned the referred card is WTF GTX 680 but whenever I flash a card like that (EVGA 04g-p4-3687-kr) it behaves strange.
On the factory rom it runs smooth in Heaven bench while on the mac rom we have here in this thread the card randomly slows down for 3 sec then back to the original clock rates then back down so on...
First picture with normal rom second with the mac rom

Last update, I can confirm the WTF card I had in question indeed was faulty, just bought an other WTF unit and flashed and works no problem at all.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Last update, I can confirm the WTF card I had in question indeed was faulty, just bought an other WTF unit and flashed and works no problem at all.

Your other can may still be perfectly fine, maybe it's just incompatbile with the Mac Edition ROM. Since it ran fine with the stock VBIOS on it this is actually quite likely.

 

[MacZoltan]

Your other can may still be perfectly fine, maybe it's just incompatbile with the Mac Edition ROM. Since it ran fine with the stock VBIOS on it this is actually quite likely.

Even with the original and the downclocked rom it had the FPS drop to 5 ish from 25 randomly on PC so in my book it is faulty

Anyway it was good to play around and already upgraded 2 WTF card without any issue

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Anyway it was good to play around and already upgraded 2 WTF card without any issue

WTF is it so difficult for you to type "FTW" (For The Win) when asking questions about this card?

BTW When you're questioning MVC's flash service, please do your homework here on MR before acusing, this really p*sses me off even more!!!

Cheers

 

[MacZoltan]

WTF is it so difficult for you to type "FTW" (For The Win) when asking questions about this card?

BTW When you're questioning MVC's flash service, please do your homework here on MR before acusing, this really p*sses me off even more!!!

Cheers

good for you

 

[rGiskard]

Hey guys,

I know I'm late to the party, I'm getting used to it...

I've attached a modified ROM which will enable all ports in OS X. My approach is quite different from what MVC hinted here, the result should be similar though (anyone who can make an IOReg dump will see what I did to the EFI).
Only drawback is that you'll lose the PCI section in system profiler (which isn't bad since it makes the ROM less attractive for those eBay douchebags ). Still full boot screens and OS X on all 4 ports, 5.0GT/s should work, too.

I didn't touch the VBIOS portion of the ROM, so any card that can run the ROM in the first post of this thread won't get bricked by mine either.

Thanks @Rankel for testing it!

Thanks Fl0r!an, I have a 4GB EVGA on the way (a "WTF" version, lol) to try this one out. Even later to the party than you!

You say there is no PCI section in system info? Do you mean it doesn't report 5.0GT/s or is there just nothing at all? Doesn't really matter, just curious. I seem to remember Rominator mentioned somewhere that on the Nvidia ROMs the cosmetic PCI link speed is harder to figure out than the functional link speed.

 

[Fl0r!an]

You say there is no PCI section in system info? Do you mean it doesn't report 5.0GT/s or is there just nothing at all? Doesn't really matter, just curious. I seem to remember Rominator mentioned somewhere that on the Nvidia ROMs the cosmetic PCI link speed is harder to figure out than the functional link speed.

It doesn't report anything in the PCI section ("Error retrieving data"). It's just a cosmetic issue, still does 5.0GT/s.

 

[rGiskard]

It doesn't report anything in the PCI section ("Error retrieving data"). It's just a cosmetic issue, still does 5.0GT/s.

Cool. Couldn't I compare it to the 4GB rom with proper cosmetics to fix? Sounds like a good learning opportunity...or maybe I'll end up with a brick.