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

Hi all, late to the party here.. picked up a 2009 mac pro recently and keen to upgrade it (the Geforce120 gpu is pretty basic).. I came across this thread as i am looking at purchasing a 680GTX 2nd hand and was wondering if any brand 2gb/4gb 680GTX will work fine with Mango's instructions?

Is there a list somewhere of 680GTX brand/model that draws too much power or has issues?

Thanks all.
 
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cpc6128 said:
Hi all, late to the party here.. picked up a 2009 mac pro recently and keen to upgrade it (the Geforce120 gpu is pretty basic).. I came across this thread as i am looking at purchasing a 680GTX 2nd hand and was wondering if any brand 2gb/4gb 680GTX will work fine with Mango's instructions?

Is there a list somewhere of 680GTX brand/model that draws too much power or has issues?

Thanks all.
Click to expand...
Any GTX680 that looks like the Nvidia reference design will probably work. In the original 2GB GTX680 flashing thread there are plenty of specific model numbers quoted as working https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/confirmed-and-possible-flashable-gtx-680-models.1578255/
I don't think that you can go wrong if you choose a card from EVGA as they were the manufacturer who made the Mac Edition version of the GTX680.
 
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Ok.. this is the card I'm about to get..

EVGA SC SIgnature Edition OC GTX680 2Gb (02G-P4-2685-KR)

Do you think this one is ok?

I've noticed it has 6 pin and 8 pin.. can I plug a 6 pin into the 8 slot on the card?
 
cpc6128 said:
Ok.. this is the card I'm about to get..

EVGA SC SIgnature Edition OC GTX680 2Gb (02G-P4-2685-KR)

Do you think this one is ok?

I've noticed it has 6 pin and 8 pin.. can I plug a 6 pin into the 8 slot on the card?
Click to expand...

I guess it should work.

Quote MVC: When there is a 6 pin and an 8 pin, things get more complicated. On many GTX680 cards the 8 pin is "optional". This means you can plug in a 6 pin and the card works fine.
http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/previous/5
 
cpc6128 said:
EVGA SC SIgnature Edition OC GTX680 2Gb (02G-P4-2685-KR)
Click to expand...

The thing about the MAC EFI ROM is that it uses reference clock speeds for everything. Factory overclocked cards like the Signature use faster clocks. So once you flash the Mac EFI ROM onto the factory overclocked card, it loses the overclock and is running at the slower reference speed.

I have a couple of suggestions:
  • If you don't care (it's not much of a difference anyway), then don't go out of your way or pay any extra for a factory overclocked card because you'll lose the factory overclock anyway.
or​
  • If you do care, then use Kepler BIOS Tweaker to examine your card's clocks before you flash it. After you flash the card, use Kepler BIOS Tweaker again to set the card's clock speeds back to factory overclock. This way you will have the MAC EFI + the correct clock speeds for your card.
 
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ActionableMango said:
The thing about the MAC EFI ROM is that it uses reference clock speeds for everything. Factory overclocked cards like the Signature use faster clocks. So once you flash the Mac EFI ROM onto the factory overclocked card, it loses the overclock and is running at the slower reference speed.

There's just a couple of suggestions I have:
  • If you don't care (it's not much of a difference anyway), then don't go out of your way or pay any extra for a factory overclocked card because you'll lose the factory overclock anyway.
or​
  • If you do care, then use Kepler BIOS Tweaker to examine your card's clocked before you flash it. After you flash the card, use Kepler BIOS Tweaker again to set the card's clock speeds back to factory overclock. This way you will have the MAC EFI + the correct clock speeds for your card.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that info, the 680 card I'm picking up is cheap anyway and I just like something that is better than the stock 120 GPU so not too worried about lower speed (like you say it's not much diff)
Also keen to play elite dangerous so hopefully the 680gtx will do the job.
 
Hi all, I've successfully flashed the 680gtx and got all the boot screen and full speeds etc. Thanks Mango for the instructions! :) Everything appears correct under system profile etc.

Just one question though, my istat or other fan/temp control app isn't detecting the gpu fan or gpu temperatures. Does anyone have this same issue? would like to keep an eye on the GPU fan speed and temps so any advice on how to retrieve this information would be great.

Thanks in advance!
 
It's not possible in OS X, as the Mac Pro's SMC doesn't provide those readings.

You could install FakeSMC with GPUSensors package, but that would turn your genuine Mac essentially into a Hackintosh.
 
Thanks Fl0r!an


Fl0r!an said:
It's not possible in OS X, as the Mac Pro's SMC doesn't provide those readings.

You could install FakeSMC with GPUSensors package, but that would turn your genuine Mac essentially into a Hackintosh.
Click to expand...
 
Fl0r!an said:
It's not possible in OS X, as the Mac Pro's SMC doesn't provide those readings.

Hi Flor!an, I need to re-flash my old GTX680 4GB, as have lost 2nd display port with El Capitan update. Sorry im new to this can you please point to the correct rom and instructions for flashing. Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Why did you go for GTX 680 and not GTX960?

I am looking to upgrade and I am curious.

Thanks.
 
pastrychef said:
The biggest advantages of the GTX 680 are:
  • Can be flashed to give boot screens.
  • macOS has built-in driver support.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that!

Is there much in terms of performance difference also as I am wanting to run a 4K Display and Final Cut
 
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Ommid said:
Thanks for that!

Is there much in terms of performance difference also as I am wanting to run a 4K Display and Final Cut
Click to expand...

I don't know how the two GPUs compare to each other. I used my old GTX 680 with a 4K display and it worked fine but the boot screen was only available when using HDMI.
 
pastrychef said:
The biggest advantages of the GTX 680 are:
  • Can be flashed to give boot screens.
  • macOS has built-in driver support.
Click to expand...

Useful in the future: Biggest advantage of GTX 960 (and GTX 950) is h.265 hardware decoding acceleration.
 
I don't want anything that is going to be too powerful for the Mac Pro especially as I am now running 2x130w processors.

Regards.
 
2x R9 280X + 2x X5690 on a full GPU + CPU load don't exceed 630W total, with a few drives inside as well. The PSU has still some headroom left with such setup.
 
Hello everyone,

I just got a flashed Nvidia Geforce GTX 680 4 Go (Asus) to replace my disabled Radeon 5770 1 go. After having installed Nvidia Drivers (Cuda and Graphic Drivers from Macvidcards), it works fine on my Mac Pro 5.1 Quad-Core 2.8 GHz (Full EFI screen) but I noticed that it is much less efficient than the Radeon 5770. Indeed, the 680 4Go is scoring only 38 fps in Cinebench R15 against 53 fps for the 5770 even if I know Cinebench is based on CPU. Furthermore, my Render time on Cinema 4D and After Effects CS6 is twice slower than the 5770 ! To be clear, Cuda on After Effects is actived as well as Premiere Pro. How can I fix that ?

I removed internal and external Hard disks for seeing if that is what the problem is or not but it does not. I don't understand why it is different.

I am running Mavericks 10.9.5 and I have just a HEC 30-inch monitor (2560x1600). Do I need an external power supply to boost the performance ?

Here's some information about my 680.

Thank you in advance for your help.
 

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