MSI GTX 960 and Mac Pro 3.33GHz

[giodelgado]

Hey I just came back from Fry's and got the MSI GTX 960, it has one 8pin connector but used the included 6pin to 8pin cable to connect it to my Mac Pro.

So far it works great, really impressed with the performance, I think the 960 series is supposed to consume less power. I don't know much about GPU's.

The fans stop when the computer is under normal load! I saw them spinning while running the benchmark and stopping after it finished.

Should I be worried it doesn't detect the GPU model?

Attached Benchmark.

 

[DougTheImpaler]

No, nothing to be worried about. Right now that's how the 960 is identified by the web drivers. Your performance looks pretty good - it's a little better than my 760 at the same settings, which I think is basically how the 960 has tested out in reviews..

 

[Inutopia]

I've got a 6870 in my Mac Pro at the moment, would a 960 be a decent upgrade over this?

Although I do a lot of video and photography for work the 6870 is plenty for those, I'm more interested in the upgrade for gaming

 

[DougTheImpaler]

For gaming, absolutely. I've personally been avoiding Maxwell cards because of the driver issue (see the thread about the security update as an example), but once Maxwell drivers make it into the general release and I don't have to rely on web drivers, I'll be there.

Keep in mind that the 960 is actually a little faster than the 760 and then check this out. Windows tests, but relative performance on OS X should be pretty much the same. Your 6870 is getting pretty old.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/780?vs=854

 

[Inutopia]

For gaming, absolutely. I've personally been avoiding Maxwell cards because of the driver issue (see the thread about the security update as an example), but once Maxwell drivers make it into the general release and I don't have to rely on web drivers, I'll be there.

Keep in mind that the 960 is actually a little faster than the 760 and then check this out. Windows tests, but relative performance on OS X should be pretty much the same. Your 6870 is getting pretty old.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/780?vs=854

Hey, thanks for the reply man, that link was really helpful! I was trying to find a tool just like that but kept running into those "gpuboss" type comparison sites which seem useless. Might have to bookmark that one

I guess the 6870 is getting a bit long in the tooth (like my 2008 Mac Pro!), but it still does pretty well with most modern games, especially at 1080p in my setup. It's nice that we're past the bad old days of tech when your hardware was obsolete in a year!

I guess I wasn't sure how a midrange card of today would compare to what used to be a pretty high end card. I've got my answer!

 

[DougTheImpaler]

You're welcome! Anandtech is very helpful in that regard.

Well that's true for sure, we're definitely past the "it's a year old, time to replace it" phase. I'm quite thankful that running an older Mac doesn't mean running low-end hardware. I'm a little ahead of you with a 4,1 but it's just as fast as the current crop of Macs once it's fully upgraded. I'd originally looked for a Mac Pro identical to yours but the weird FBDIMM memory made me decide to pay a little more for a slightly newer box.

 

[Surrat]

I just scored a genuine evga gtx 680 mac edition, and it really shows how much cards have improved when the new 960 gets basically the same score with half the power draw.

 

[Inutopia]

You're welcome! Anandtech is very helpful in that regard.

Well that's true for sure, we're definitely past the "it's a year old, time to replace it" phase. I'm quite thankful that running an older Mac doesn't mean running low-end hardware. I'm a little ahead of you with a 4,1 but it's just as fast as the current crop of Macs once it's fully upgraded. I'd originally looked for a Mac Pro identical to yours but the weird FBDIMM memory made me decide to pay a little more for a slightly newer box.

I'd definitely go the same way if I was buying again, although I've had this machine since it was new in 2008! The FB memory for this machine has always been really expensive. It's gotten a bit better now, but still way more than regular ram sticks.

If I upgrade the gpu again this will be the 5th that has been in it!

 

[giodelgado]

Thanks for replying yall

I didn't want to wait much longer since my GTX 760 was under RMA repair and got the 960, I think I'm keeping it and selling the 760.

I'm going to do a benchmark as well for comparison but the 960 is quiet and it doesn't even use the fans under normal browsing or even gaming with my favorite game Heroes of Newerth in High settings.

The 760 I have is a Gigabyte 2GB with three fans so I can only imagine the extra power consumption and noise...

Oh and it looks amazing...

 

[neomorpheus]

Efi flash?

Hi,

Are any of these cards user flashable?

I want to replace my gt120 with something that I can flash myself.

 

[Inutopia]

Hi,

Are any of these cards user flashable?

I want to replace my gt120 with something that I can flash myself.

I was wondering this too.

I've sort of lost track of flashing since I did my 6870. If it was as easy as that I'd definitely do it again. I've heard chat about soldering etc, that would be too much for me.

 

[Surrat]

I'm curious to see two SLI 960 in win81 on mac pro compare to two 680 mac edition also in SLI.. lol

 

[giodelgado]

Just received back the Gigabyte GTX 760 and here's the benchmark, fans haven't stopped spinning and there's more noise obviously, I don't know why there's higher max FPS and higher min FPS and still get a lower score, I'll keep trying it for a day.