Leave gt120 inside with gtx680? Mac Pro 2009 and 27in Cinema Display

[chirpie]

Hey all, thought I'd hit up the gpu experts with my scenario and see what you all had to offer for advice.

I just ordered up a gtx 680 mac edition from evga for my 2009 Mac Pro.

There's a feeble gt120 on there already. I was thinking about selling it until I realized I only get 2,560 x 1,600 over dual link divi out of that new card.

I have a 27 inch Cinema Display that uses the mini display port on the gt120.

Would it be ok if I just keep the gt120 in there or am I gonna need to pick up a couple extra cables or power supply?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[goMac]

The GT 120 doesn't require any extra power cables, only the power from the slot, so I don't see why not.

Obviously any apps that are outputting to that Cinema Display won't be able to use the GTX 680. Only displays plugged into the GTX 680 will take advantage of it's speed.

 

[chirpie]

The GT 120 doesn't require any extra power cables, only the power from the slot, so I don't see why not.

Obviously any apps that are outputting to that Cinema Display won't be able to use the GTX 680. Only displays plugged into the GTX 680 will take advantage of it's speed.

Appreciate the reply back. That actually brings up another question I'm now wondering about.

Say you have one monitor plugged into the 680 and another plugged into the GT120 and you have an application open. What decides which card is taking care of the graphic output? For instance, I have Final Cut Pro X open split up on two different monitors, one having my timeline, and the other displaying the media items and output video preview. Or, I have Cinema 4D open and I have multiple viewports on multiple monitors. My intuition says the answer is different for each program, yes?

In the end, if I primarily use the 27" display, should I just be biting the bullet and buy that Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter? (Ouch!)
Apologies for the newbie questions.

 

[xcodeSyn]

I have a 27 inch Cinema Display that uses the mini display port on the gt120.

Would it be ok if I just keep the gt120 in there or am I gonna need to pick up a couple extra cables or power supply?

No need to keep your GT120 inside just for the mDP output, you can use a DP (DisplayPort is also capable of 2560x1600) to mDP adapter like this one for your GTX 680 DP output as long as you use only one monitor. Read the reviews and you'll notice many are using it with Apple monitors.

 

[chirpie]

No need to keep your GT120 inside just for the mDP output, you can use a DP (DisplayPort is also capable of 2560x1600) to mDP adapter like this one for your GTX 680 DP output as long as you use only one monitor. Read the reviews and you'll notice many are using it with Apple monitors.

Awesome. Thanks for heads up. I was actually assuming that's what I could do when I bought it and then read documentation that said only the dual link dvi would support it and thought that was odd. Good to know!

 

[goMac]

Appreciate the reply back. That actually brings up another question I'm now wondering about.

Say you have one monitor plugged into the 680 and another plugged into the GT120 and you have an application open. What decides which card is taking care of the graphic output? For instance, I have Final Cut Pro X open split up on two different monitors, one having my timeline, and the other displaying the media items and output video preview. Or, I have Cinema 4D open and I have multiple viewports on multiple monitors. My intuition says the answer is different for each program, yes?

In the end, if I primarily use the 27" display, should I just be biting the bullet and buy that Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter? (Ouch!)
Apologies for the newbie questions.

The one with the output preview will use the card attached to it.

 

[kamcma]

I have the same situation and question, but more for the purposes of wondering if there are OpenCL benefits to leaving the GT 120 in the Mac Pro. No monitor would be attached to it.

 

[chirpie]

I have the same situation and question, but more for the purposes of wondering if there are OpenCL benefits to leaving the GT 120 in the Mac Pro. No monitor would be attached to it.

If no one else ever chimes in, I'd be happy to run a couple requested tests when my card comes in. (Provided I have the software.)

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The one with the output preview will use the card attached to it.

Cool, thanks.!

 

[xcodeSyn]

I have the same situation and question, but more for the purposes of wondering if there are OpenCL benefits to leaving the GT 120 in the Mac Pro. No monitor would be attached to it.

The GT120 has very poor compute performance. People usually use the GT120 for display and its boot screen while pairing with the GTX 570 or others for compute intensive work. You can download LuxMark to find out how poor its OpenCL performance is.

The main reason to keep the GT120 is when you use more than one 27" Apple monitor and don't want to buy an active DVI to mDP adapter or for the convenience of boot screen.

 

[kamcma]

The GT120 has very poor compute performance. People usually use the GT120 for display and its boot screen while pairing with the GTX 570 or others for compute intensive work. You can download LuxMark to find out how poor its OpenCL performance is.

I understand its OpenCL contribution is probably tiny, but if those slots in my MP are empty anyway, and the card would otherwise just be sitting in my drawer anyway, I'm curious to know if there's theoretically a tiny benefit to leaving it in the computer.

 

[xcodeSyn]

I'm curious to know if there's theoretically a tiny benefit to leaving it in the computer.

Sure it'll definitely add some positive points to the LuxMark benchmark if that's important to you, but I can't remember how many since it was so tiny and negligible. I removed mine simply because I didn't need the extra heat and electricity consumption. Even when idle, the GTX120 probably consumes at least 15-20W per hour. If that doesn't bother you, then leave it inside by all means. Besides, an active DVI to mDP adapter probably costs more than the resale value of the GTX 120.

 

[chirpie]

No need to keep your GT120 inside just for the mDP output, you can use a DP (DisplayPort is also capable of 2560x1600) to mDP adapter like this one for your GTX 680 DP output as long as you use only one monitor. Read the reviews and you'll notice many are using it with Apple monitors.

So I'm puzzled. I did exactly this and it doesn't work. Just a black screen staring at me.

Bought the GTX 680 Mac edition, installed it, powered it up and nothing doing. Latest NVIDIA drivers installed and restarted. Tried it with and without the GT120 installed.

This is the cable I bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200691

I tried hooking the computer up to a TV via HDMI, and yup, works fine, the computer sees it, recognizes the 680, it's all good. 1080p over HDMI is A-OK.

Not sure I would've forked over this much money for this card if I knew it wouldn't work with the Apple 27 inch Cinema Display, because now it might be another $99 to get the dual port dvi to minidisplay port adapter. Barf! ^_^

Any ideas on why I'm not seeing the success others have? Any and all efforts are appreciated!

 

[chirpie]

Would something like this get the job done? (In theory?)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AT-DP400-DUAL-LINK-DVI-TO-MINI-DISPLAYPORT-CONVERTER-by-Atlona-/200778582351

 

[chirpie]

So here's the feedback from EVGA...

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MY QUESTION:

I ordered a GTX 680 Mac edition graphics card.

I was told on some online forums that with a simple cable I would be able to connect my 27 inch Apple Cinema display to the card through the display port.

This was the cable I used:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82 E16812200691

While it had worked for others, it didn't work for me. I tried hooking the computer up to a TV via HDMI, and yup, works fine, the computer sees it, recognizes the 680, it's all good. 1080p over HDMI is A-OK. But that's not a workable solution for me.

Is this an indication something is wrong with the card or do I need to now shell out another $100 for an adapter like AT-DP400 DUAL LINK DVI TO MINI DISPLAYPORT CONVERTER by Atlona?

Are there any other cards that work with mini-display port out of the gate? (boot up screen won't be needed since I'll hold onto my older GT120.)

Thanks for any and all thoughts! And good luck with your Monday.
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THEIR ANSWER:

Hi Ryan

Have you tried a new cable of the same type and or tried on another system.Could be a possible bad adapter try replacing it or a bad display port on the card if the adapter works on another system. Please let us know how testing goes we are available 24\7.

Regards
EVGA Support.
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Is there an Apple product that even has a regular display port out on them I could test the cable on? We have quite a few Macs at work, but display port is such a rare port that I can't think of a Mac product that would have it to test with. Am I wrong in thinking that?

EDIT ADD-ON:

OK, found a PC dock station for our laptops that has a display port. I'll try that with the adapter next to see if it's the cable or not.

 

[chirpie]

The cable is good and EVGA is processing my RMA to return the card.

Darn!