Mac GTX 680 5,1 Half of Games Half Performance

[Tucom]

So I had a Radeon HD 5770 before, and on 10.10.3 it performed nearly twice as fast using Steam's In-Game FPS counter vs. my newly arrived GTX 680 Mac Edition under 10.10.4.

Seemingly the only game that's benefiting from the GTX 680 properly is Robo Disco Dodgeball, which runs on the Unity Engine. However, games such as Borderlands Pre Sequel and all the Call of Duties are running really slow vs. the ancient 5770. BioShock Infinite also seems to be running better in some ways, but worse than the 5770 in others.

Super frustrating...



Is this a driver thing? I tripled check to make sure the GPU was seated correctly in the proper slot. I'll let you know how the 10.10.4 Web Drivers affect this.



Anyone else have any insight about this? Also anyone know the ETA of Nvidia's Web Drivers?

 

[Tucom]

Welp, the Beta 10.10.4 drivers didn't do diddly, and performance was worse than the 5770. I'm back on Mavericks now and, besides it being a faster OS overall, hopefully the 680 will perform up to par.

 

[Tucom]

Same crappy performance on Mavericks. This is super disappointing. Literally my 5770 pulled twice the frames that this 680 is. Back on Yosemite, and hopefully things just needed to be updated with the games themselves, but I'm half temped to return this paperweight.

EDIT - I found this thread - http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=8688.0

Basically my exact issue - yet it's performing worse than even my old 5770.

 

[RoastingPig]

game in windows...osx has always been crappy performance in all games. i get almost double performance with my 980ti in windows 8 compared to yosemite. same goes for my 780 and 680 that came before.

 

[Tucom]

game in windows...osx has always been crappy performance in all games. i get almost double performance with my 980ti in windows 8 compared to yosemite. same goes for my 780 and 680 that came before.

I'm half tempted to install Windows 8.1 right now, but I was super satisfied with the performance of my 5770, hence why the 680 would have been WAY more than enough for gaming in OS X - but it's literally worse than the 5770.

Can you check out the link I posted a post up? Same scenario as mine. Mavericks didn't help squat, either.

 

[RoastingPig]

bioshock must have been optimized for official apple gpu ex. 5770 5870 650m 680mx

Unigine ValleyR5870: 29.5GTX680: 40.8 √Borderlands 2R5870: 30GTX680: 16Deus Ex: HRR5870: 58GTX680: 66 √Dirt 2R5870: 44GTX680: 37Tomb RaiderR5870: 50GTX680: 64 √L4D2R5870: 119GTX680: 150 √Unity 4 demo1R5870: 230GTX680: 160Unity 5 demo2R5870: 459GTX680: 319

apple games are just afternoon quick ports with no followup updates for performance

 

[crjackson2134]

I'm half temped to return this paperweight.

Which paperweight are you talking about? The GTX 680? If you were fairly happy with the 5770, perhaps you'd be happier with an HD 7970. Mine suites me just fine.

I'm half tempted to install Windows 8.1 right now.

Wow... Maybe that's what you need to do until everything settles. Gaming performance means nothing to me, but I'd probably go with windows if that were my primary usage.

 

[Asgorath]

Same crappy performance on Mavericks. This is super disappointing. Literally my 5770 pulled twice the frames that this 680 is. Back on Yosemite, and hopefully things just needed to be updated with the games themselves, but I'm half temped to return this paperweight.

EDIT - I found this thread - http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=8688.0

Basically my exact issue - yet it's performing worse than even my old 5770.

Can you give specific numbers on what framerates you're getting with each of the cards? What resolutions and settings are you using?

 

[Tucom]

Can you give specific numbers on what framerates you're getting with each of the cards? What resolutions and settings are you using?

Standard 1680 by 1050

With 5770 all settings maxed in Modern Warfare 2 for example, 91 solid.

With 680 40 to 50. It's pitiful.

Same difference applies to every other game EXCEPT any Unity engine game, or well, one I've tried so far, Robo Roller Disco Derby Dodgeball. Big increase in FPS there.

Also Source Engine games are slower with the 680 than the 5770, from what I remember. This whol day has been me jumping back and forth between Mavericks and Yosemite, trying to figure this out.

 

[Tucom]

So bit of an update -

I can undoubtedly say that performance jumped 3-5 times in the Unity Engine game Robo Disco Dodgeball - it's buttery smooth and the FPS is insane at max settings - far higher than the 5770 could ever do, even with the settings dialed down.

So somethings going on with the other titles. The fan ramps up loudly so it's not a faulty GTX 680 that's stuck in low power mode or whatever.

 

[Tucom]

bioshock must have been optimized for official apple gpu ex. 5770 5870 650m 680mx

Unigine ValleyR5870: 29.5GTX680: 40.8 √Borderlands 2R5870: 30GTX680: 16Deus Ex: HRR5870: 58GTX680: 66 √Dirt 2R5870: 44GTX680: 37Tomb RaiderR5870: 50GTX680: 64 √L4D2R5870: 119GTX680: 150 √Unity 4 demo1R5870: 230GTX680: 160Unity 5 demo2R5870: 459GTX680: 319

apple games are just afternoon quick ports with no followup updates for performance

That's just not true - as you hopefully read; all those numbers you posted are from a FAULTY scenario, a total outlier.

Most games on Mac run beautifully, and are only about 20% behind their Windows counterparts. Quality ports and especially games running on native cross platform engines scream on OS X.

See the image below to see that this GTX 680 runs beautifully after testing it with the Valley benchmark - it's just these other titles that are giving really weird performance.

UPDATE - Tested the Valley benchmark, I'm right in line with Barefeats bench with the same GTX 680. Faith is mostly restored, and now it's just a matter of figuring out why and how to fix the issues the other games - Borderlands 2, BioShock Infinite, MW2 and MW3 (and CS GO) are having.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Would be really interesting to see benchmarks from other people with the GTX 680 to exclude problems on your side.

My assumption is that the Nvidia drivers are just crap, which shows more or less depending on the game/benchmark you are running. I know from a friend of mine that CS:GO runs like crap on his GTX 680m iMac while it ran quite good on my old HD 5770 and perfectly with the HD 5870 or my new R9 280.
If I were you'd I'd return the card and flash a PC HD 7950/7970 or R9 280/280X. From my experience OS X drivers for AMD cards tend to be better than the Nvidia drivers (Metro: Redux anyone? )

EDIT: If you want, I could do some benchmarks in MW1/2/3 or CS:GO when I come home (2010 Hackintosh with i5-750 and R9 280)

 

[Inutopia]

You're wasting your time gaming in OS X. Drivers are rubbish, Open GL is rubbish (and so is apples implementation of it), the ports are lazy and slow. Once you get past those issues you'll run into a lot of mouse weirdness in games too.

Just install windows and enjoy your time, instead of trying to unravel why OS X is such a poor platform for 3D gaming.

 

[Fl0r!an]

I wouldn't say that. Every single of my steam games has received a Mac Port over the years, and every single one runs just perfectly fine under OS X on my machine (e.g. Metro Redux, Tomb Raider, Hitman, CoD, Tropico 5, CS:GO).

Sure, if you want to play every latest and greatest game then you can't avoid Windows or a console, but if you just want to play a AAA game every now and then (like me) then you can live without Windows.

 

[Inutopia]

I didn't mean to come across as harsh, sorry if I did.

Out of my steam list, only 50% have mac versions available and every time I've played them, including many Valve games who are one of the best in terms of Mac support, the performance is worse, and the mouse acceleration issues are a pain in the bum too. I used to play TF2 competitively, and although the FPS seemed fine (it's a really old game now) there was micro-stutter everywhere and no matter what I did I couldn't get the mouse to respond properly.

The only Hitman that is available on my list is Absolution, ie the worst one

I agree with your statement about more casual gaming, but that doesn't sound like the OP given the nature of this thread.

This is the only situation you'll hear me say this for - install Windows, job done

 

[avkdm]

I remember that Hitman Absolution ran like crap on my 680, but serious Sam Sam BFE was fantastic.BL2 and Tomb Raider was just acceptable, I wish I had done more testing gaming wise before I sold it. Having said that my experience with Hitman Absolution and a better overall gaming experience in Windows was enough to make me give up gaming on the Mac. Stick with Windows as others have suggested, you will probably never get to the bottom of it.

 

[Tucom]

Thanks all for the replies - I have a feeling returning and getting the obscenely overpriced 7950 Mac Edition may be the way to go. I need the boot screen, and I like having a decent warranty.

Then again, if it's guaranteed a flashed 7950 won't overdraw the power from the Mac Pro, maybe I'll chance it.

EDIT - Just tried another Unity Engine game - it's performance was also abysmal. What ran at 100 FPS on the 5770, ran at 30FPS with the GTX 680. I'm going to double check the connections; make sure it's getting enough power, but I think it's time to either RMA for a replacement, or just stick with AMD.

Thanks all for the replies.

 

[Asgorath]

Thanks all for the replies - I have a feeling returning and getting the obscenely overpriced 7950 Mac Edition may be the way to go. I need the boot screen, and I like having a decent warranty.

Then again, if it's guaranteed a flashed 7950 won't overdraw the power from the Mac Pro, maybe I'll chance it.

EDIT - Just tried another Unity Engine game - it's performance was also abysmal. What ran at 100 FPS on the 5770, ran at 30FPS with the GTX 680. I'm going to double check the connections; make sure it's getting enough power, but I think it's time to either RMA for a replacement, or just stick with AMD.

Thanks all for the replies.

Where did you get your card? It really sounds like you're just getting stuck in a low power state, which might happen if you're using a third-party EFI on a standard PC card. There's no way the 680 is 3 times slower than a 5770, so something is going fundamentally wrong on your system.

 

[Tucom]

Where did you get your card? It really sounds like you're just getting stuck in a low power state, which might happen if you're using a third-party EFI on a standard PC card. There's no way the 680 is 3 times slower than a 5770, so something is going fundamentally wrong on your system.

Right something just isn't right at all - the Mac Pro itself was purchased from a very clean and well kept owner who used it nothing but for music production professionally at his work and home. It's immaculate - so it isn't the machine.


Card was purchased directly from EVGA during the Father's Day sale - it was refurbished from them, but included a 1 year warranty. There was another user on here that got the same card during the sale, and he mentioned he was "impressed with the performance in gaming over his 5870" - so definitely something up here.


I just popped in the 5770 again, and wouldn't you know, frame rates are back up (still yet to re-try all the games, installing them now).


I think I may just RMA and exchange it. I checked all the power connections, and they were fine. This is super maddening as I waited over a week for this GPU to arrive due to weather here in Ohio and UPS, and now I have to wait another two weeks I guess.

 

[Fl0r!an]

Then again, if it's guaranteed a flashed 7950 won't overdraw the power from the Mac Pro, maybe I'll chance it.

It's the same card as the Mac Edition which both use 2x6 Pin connector. This is what the MacPro can supply, so there won't be any problem. Just be sure to get one with the same port layout (2x mDP, 1x HDMI, 1xDVI) and you'll be fine.

 

[ActionableMango]

Would be really interesting to see benchmarks from other people with the GTX 680 to exclude problems on your side.

My assumption is that the Nvidia drivers are just crap, which shows more or less depending on the game/benchmark you are running.

I think your assumption is incorrect. Barefeats did a ton of GTX 680 Mac Edition testing in a wide assortment of games and pro applications in OS X. The GTX 680 was comprehensively faster than the 5770--usually at least twice as fast or more.

Games:
http://barefeats.com/gpu680v.html

Pro Apps:
http://barefeats.com/gpu680v2.html

Tucom, your own results are staggeringly different than Barefeats, and different from what I would expect. I believe there's something wrong with your specific card or system. Some of your results are so bad it also seems like you've dropped down to a software rendering mode.

Do you get the same results on a clean install of OS X? That would eliminate any custom software/settings issues.

Do you have a PC to try the card to see how well it performs in Windows? It would be interesting to see if the card also benchmarked poorly in Windows. It's entirely possible someone returned a bad card and it made its way back to you through the refurb process.

No matter what, if you can't resolve this by the end of the return window, I'd get it RMA'd and try another card. But I don't think this is just "Nvidia drivers are crap" or Bearfeats results would show that, not to mention thousands of others using Nvidia cards in OS X would be up in arms with sub-5770 performance.

 

[Tucom]

A bit of an update with more specific numbers -

The Unity based game Robo Dodgeball (fun game btw) - runs at 20 FPS on the 5770,

I think your assumption is incorrect. Barefeats did a ton of GTX 680 Mac Edition testing in a wide assortment of games and pro applications in OS X. The GTX 680 was comprehensively faster than the 5770--usually at least twice as fast or more.

Games:
http://barefeats.com/gpu680v.html

Pro Apps:
http://barefeats.com/gpu680v2.html

Tucom, your own results are staggeringly different than Barefeats, and different from what I would expect. I believe there's something wrong with your specific card or system. Some of your results are so bad it also seems like you've dropped down to a software rendering mode.

Do you get the same results on a clean install of OS X? That would eliminate any custom software/settings issues.

Do you have a PC to try the card to see how well it performs in Windows? It would be interesting to see if the card also benchmarked poorly in Windows. It's entirely possible someone returned a bad card and it made its way back to you through the refurb process.

No matter what, if you can't resolve this by the end of the return window, I'd get it RMA'd and try another card. But I don't think this is just "Nvidia drivers are crap" or Bearfeats results would show that, not to mention thousands of others using Nvidia cards in OS X would be up in arms with sub-5770 performance.

Many thanks for the reply -

I actually fresh installed Mavericks from Yosemite then back to Yosemite from Mavericks - All USB clean installs.

HOWEVER - I see what's going on! I downloaded iStat Menu (amazing bit of kit) and when running Borderlands or MW2 for example, the GPU processor usage hovers around 30% - when running Robo Dodgeball that's built in the Unity Engine, it goes full bore to 98% and I get 5-6 times the performance of the 5770 (just tried this now) -

With the 5770 I'm getting 20 FPS 30 TOPS in the game, with the GTX 680 I'm getting over 110 constant/minimum, sometimes 200FPS.

So the issue is indubitably the GPU being stuck on kind of low power state when running any game other than Robo Roller Derby Disco Dodgeball.


It's going to drive me absolutely insane if I have to RMA this card and wait another two weeks, but if it has to be done..


Below are attached photos of exactly what's going on and what I'm talking about -

 

[Tucom]

Borderlands 2 Low FPS ~30 percent GPU usage.

 

[Tucom]

Note the FPS in the bottom right in both screen caps.

 

[ActionableMango]

The attachments don't show anything for me. I just get the "missing image" indicator.