My MVC Flashed GTX 1080

[William_si]

MVC: 650$ for a 1070, 60$ shipping to EU, 800-900$ with import tax

Single slot KFA2 Katana 1070 from West EU: 450$ and a few days waiting for clearance

Getting EFI from 3 different cards they flashed and minimal modifications for this 1070: around 8 hours work and some EUR towards the users for dumping - that was easier than patching basebands on first gen iPhones, damn! I thought this will be actual work!

Face of the MVC guy: priceless (well, sadly cannot see it, but i'll be in LA at one point so could happen still)


Now what? Will they sue me or do i first need to start selling cards?

As my company lawyer advised me (something MVC should have done at one point maybe) selling cards with it is questionable at least but releasing a patcher not containing Nvidia code is... not. Intention to release? Not yet, not pissed enough for it.

But what about MVC you might ask? Copyright? A good joke

Stacks of 1070s here now for my miners since 580s became rare and zcash went up (which is far better minable on NV), some different but most patchable just fine the same way as this one. Did not attempt 1080s yet but have some dumped as well. Their buyers are very willing to dump them for money, who would have thought!? Once 1070s get rare i switch to 1080/1080Ti for future miners and maybe find some hours to adapt the patcher.

Lawsuits can be addressed to my company, link in profile, you're welcome.

 

[William_si]

sure, i am educated and can also spell "Unauthorized modification and illegal profit on sales of copyrighted code" (and that in 4 languages!).

His behaviour in other forums did actually get me further interested than patching just my own card.

If the patcher is public i cannot prevent if others are selling cards with it, or flashing services, zero legal liability for my side - a gift to the community or a loss to them, depends on personal POV, i have zero reason to care and the few maybe hundred k top (at absolute most, i doubt more than 1000 cards could be sold) i could make from flashed cards are not really needed.

Now here, have a look at this damn sexy single slot 1070. So absolutely unavailable in US, probably the only flashed one worldwide at this time. In the most custom cMP you've ever seen, with hardware the general public does not even have access to. I present the 2017 FrankenMac.

http://imgur.com/a/KhX0f

 

[fendersrule]

sure, i am educated and can also spell "Unauthorized modification and illegal profit on sales of copyrighted code" (and that in 4 languages!).

His behaviour in other forums did actually get me further interested than patching just my own card.

If the patcher is public i cannot prevent if others are selling cards with it, or flashing services, zero legal liability for my side - a gift to the community or a loss to them, depends on personal POV, i have zero reason to care and the few maybe hundred k top (at absolute most, i doubt more than 1000 cards could be sold) i could make from flashed cards are not really needed.

Now here, have a look at this damn sexy single slot 1070. So absolutely unavailable in US, probably the only flashed one worldwide at this time. In the most custom cMP you've ever seen, with hardware the general public does not even have access to. I present the 2017 FrankenMac.

http://imgur.com/a/KhX0f

Looks like a graybeard to me.

To be honest, I agree, yet disagree with you both. The future is heading away from needing to pay someone to flash your stuff with where Apple's going with more native support. This is something that benefits everyone, so I really hope it's the case. Flashing is tactical, not strategical. It's like being in a post apocalypse world and trying to survive with no real guaranteed support.

The fact is that we have 2010 high-end machines AT BEST. Spending $300-600 on a GPU can still make sense from an economical perspective being that these cards can be reused in the "next machine". We've also seen that in higher resolutions, the 3.33/3.46s are not all that CPU bound as you may think. Still relevant for today.

But sending already overpriced GPUs in for an extra $300 expense on having a Mac EFI loaded on them (and a resister removed, MAYBE), seems kinda highway robbery at this time. That's where I find a few waves of agreement with William, despite the poor grammar.

Lou, I agree with you that MVC has a right to do what they do, and they make it possible to keep people interested in the Mac Pro. Plus, they're knowledgable as hell. But from all these threads that I pop into (15+) and read "My MVC XXX card is awesome", it leads me think you have some deep affiliation with them, or also that you're trying to justify a purchase that many really do have a right to complain about regarding their prices. Their prices are clearly out of the range of "helping the community and and making a few bucks to keep this hobby alive" and more-so into the "screw the community, I'm here to make profit" which is what makes me want to completely ignore them and just rely on Apple to do the right thing, which seems to be the current direction and it's paying off.

I'm ignorant about the legal factors. I don't care much about that perspective, nor know any background. Just a consumer point of view here.

Compounding this is the fact that the GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and GTX 1080 series cards are commonly still at MSRP levels after a year or more (and in many cases, same MSRP price USED) doesn't make that a very economical offer to boast about.

Carry on folks. Keep it civil. Leave MVC alone. But also let people complain about the current state of GPUs. They're overpriced. Let's not even get into the RX cards, which are non-existent. Let's hope the introduction of VEGA helps nudge this into a different conversation.

 

[William_si]

I'm very sorry for my grammar, it's not like we did learn english in school, but hey i know German, absolutely useless but still :')


Anyway, the cards you mention only sell at MSRP/higher now due to mining - 980/980 Ti are already WAY cheaper than MSRP and were already going down massively on the 10xx release.

You are by the way wrong on the price of recent GPUs - if you compare the MSRP of a 68xx/69xx card with a 480/580 and then compare the performance numbers you'll get very surprised - you pay far less now for far more computing power that also uses way less power overall.

RX cards are also not non-existent - there are lots of them mining ETH happily a few rooms away, if you mean hard to purchase currently - true, but this will settle once the mining hype is once again over and all including me dump most cards.

 

[h9826790]

I donn't remember anyone ever attack Netkas about releasing a tool for us to flash the 7950 / 7970 / 280 / 280X with the Sapphine 7950's Mac EFI.

I also never see anyone attack the others because they release the EVGA's 680 Mac EFI ROM.

Furthermore, no one attack another member here who modified the 680 2GB ROM to fit that on the 4GB card.

Then why we suddenly point a finger to a member that who has the ability to mod the others Mac EFI ROM, or even release a tool to flash the card?

He is actually doing more or less the same thing that MVC does.

MVC develop the Mac EFI for Nvidia card, but most likely also start from decoding the Mac EFI from other Nvidia card which was developed by Apple / Nvidia / EVGA… Why MVC can do that, even use that to make money. But if any other people decode / mod MVC verion's Mac EFI for self use suddenly become a thief?

If we agree that no one should mod any ROM from other source. Then MVC should not allow to do that either.

I don't think if MVC can develope the whole Mac EFI (every single bit) by himself, and never every decode any Mac EFI from other source.

This guy is just developing his own version's Mac EFI for the single slot 1070. May be MVC already did all the hard job, therefore, make his life much easier. But I suspect EVGA also make MVC's life much easier. If there is no Mac EFI graphic card ever released. I doubt if anyone can develope that on his own.

Don't get me wrong, I am not againsing MVC or anyone. And I know if anyone make MVC's effort become non profitable, we may never see any new Mac EFI Nvidia anymore. But I just want to voice out that we should treat everyone fairly, or use the same standard to measure the others action.

Only MVC is allowed to study / mod / develope Mac EFI? Why?

 

[Fl0r!an]

If there is no Mac EFI graphic card ever released. I doubt if anyone can develope that on his own.

Why not? Writing an EFI 1.1 driver on top of an existing legacy VBIOS or UEFI is no rocket science. Clover devs have done this in the past, and I don't have any doubt that netkas is able to do the same.
The EFI SDK as well as the EFI spec is publicly available.

You're right that dumping a MVC EFI and modifying it to work on a similar GPU isn't very different from doing the same to a genuine 680 / 7950 Mac Edition. Both doesn't require a lot, as can be seen on lots of ebay auctions.

But one has to be aware that MVC is currently the only one who's shipping fully polished Mac EFI GPUs. This doesn't only involve developing an EFI display driver, but also figuering out the correct IOReg injection values as well as the switch to enable 5.0GT/s (and extensive testing...).
So unless someone wants to take over this job, I'd strongly advise against destroying his business...

 

[h9826790]

Why not? Writing an EFI 1.1 driver on top of an existing legacy VBIOS or UEFI is no rocket science. Clover devs have done this in the past, and I don't have any doubt that netkas is able to do the same.
The EFI SDK as well as the EFI spec is publicly available.

You're right that dumping a MVC EFI and modifying it to work on a similar GPU isn't very different from doing the same to a genuine 680 / 7950 Mac Edition. Both doesn't require a lot, as can be seen on lots of ebay auctions.

But one has to be aware that MVC is currently the only one who's shipping fully polished Mac EFI GPUs. This doesn't only involve developing an EFI display driver, but also figuering out the correct IOReg injection values as well as the switch to enable 5.0GT/s (and extensive testing...).
So unless someone wants to take over this job, I'd strongly advise against destroying his business...

I am sure you know more about the Mac EFI and GPU. And I am sure you are right, that's not rocket science, however, also not something that as easy as anyone can do / willing to do. Otherwise, what are we waiting for? Why not setup a thread to learn, discuss, and develope the Mac EFI together? Also, my main point is that I doubt if anyone can "develope a Mac EFI ROM (which is non standard EFI) IF there is no Mac EFI GPU ever release". I guess those Cover developers may also start with decoding / studying the existing Mac GPU, but not start from absolutely zero.

Anyway, this is what exactly I want to point out. We help MVC stop the others take benefit from him because we want to protect our own Mac EFI Nvidia card source (which is MVC). We help him will also help ourselves, but nothing to do with justice or copyright etc. We pay him, hopefully this give him enough reason / resource to continue this project.

If we want someone to stop, please just speak out the truth. Ask the other to stop nicely, but not calling the others thief etc. We generally accept the "public" 7950 and 680 Mac EFI ROM. We are all thiefs, by what we blame the others are thiefs?

 

[MisterAndrew]

I noticed in System Profiler it says the link speed is 2.5GT/s so I thought maybe my MVC flashed card was running at PCIe 1.0 speed, but it's not. I ran CUDA-Z to confirm it is running at PCIe 2.0 speed. So here's the link to MVC's explanation in case anyone else has that question.

http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/why...y-25-in-the-system-profiler-shouldnt-it-be-50

 

[h9826790]

I noticed in System Profiler it says the link speed is 2.5GT/s so I thought maybe my MVC flashed card was running at PCIe 1.0 speed, but it's not. I ran CUDA-Z to confirm it is running at PCIe 2.0 speed. So here's the link to MVC's explanation in case anyone else has that question.

http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/why...y-25-in-the-system-profiler-shouldnt-it-be-50

I am quite sure all Nvidia card can run at PCIe 2.0 speed under MacOS now regardless flashed or not (with web driver). However, only flashed card can enjoy PCIe 2.0 speed under Windows.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I've verified my flashed card is operating at PCIe 2.0 under Windows 10. I had my monitor (Dell) hooked up using the DP to mini DP cable the monitor came with and I was experiencing an intermittent boot screen. I've switched it to an HDMI cable and the boot screen is coming up every time I've restarted it so far, so it looks like it was an issue with my cable or monitor.

[doublepost=1499729378][/doublepost]MVC responded very quickly to help me solve my issues. I'm very happy. I highly recommend them.

 

[pertusis1]

Lou, I agree with you that MVC has a right to do what they do, and they make it possible to keep people interested in the Mac Pro. Plus, they're knowledgable as hell. But from all these threads that I pop into (15+) and read "My MVC XXX card is awesome", it leads me think you have some deep affiliation with them, or also that you're trying to justify a purchase that many really do have a right to complain about regarding their prices. Their prices are clearly out of the range of "helping the community and and making a few bucks to keep this hobby alive" and more-so into the "screw the community, I'm here to make profit" which is what makes me want to completely ignore them and just rely on Apple to do the right thing, which seems to be the current direction and it's paying off.

Compounding this is the fact that the GTX 1060, GTX 1070, and GTX 1080 series cards are commonly still at MSRP levels after a year or more (and in many cases, same MSRP price USED) doesn't make that a very economical offer to boast about.

Carry on folks. Keep it civil. Leave MVC alone.

Much as I hate to beat a dead horse, I'm going to put my 2 cents into the ring, mostly in agreement with fendersrule.

Lou defends MVC because, like myself, he is very happy with the product he got from him. Furthermore, I don't think it's fair to continue to use MVC as a punching-bag in a forum from which he is banned. I bought a 7970 card from him a few years ago, which I have been thrilled with. I knowingly paid him $200 over the market price of the card to have him send me one that had a boot screen, correct cabling and installation instructions. I thought it was a great deal. I provided something of value to him, and in exchange, he provided something of value to me. Nobody forced me to buy his stuff. I could have flashed the card myself (though I may well have bricked it), but I was thankful to have the option of just buying one. Over the subsequent few years, it has saved me many hours on FCPX relative to my 5770. I feel like I got my money back several times over in time saved. Happy customers tend to just go about their lives, whereas aggrieved customers post in the forums. Some of us don't think it's fair that someone who has provided a great service gets repeatedly roasted.

In his absence, let's talk about the relative merits of the product he offers...

FWIW, it ticks me off that Acura wants so much money for an NSX (because I like it, but can't afford it), but it doesn't make them a bad company. For those of you who find the $$$ objectionable, vote with your wallets and buy something else.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I agree. I think MVC provides a great service and I think his prices are appropriate for his work. It is not okay for people to be attacking him here and I think the mods should delete the unfriendly comments people have made. I've noticed there are a few users on this forum who feel they need to partake on a self-fulfilling mission to belittle others.

 

[flehman]

Much as I hate to beat a dead horse, I'm going to put my 2 cents into the ring, mostly in agreement with fendersrule.

Lou defends MVC because, like myself, he is very happy with the product he got from him. Furthermore, I don't think it's fair to continue to use MVC as a punching-bag in a forum from which he is banned. I bought a 7970 card from him a few years ago, which I have been thrilled with. I knowingly paid him $200 over the market price of the card to have him send me one that had a boot screen, correct cabling and installation instructions. I thought it was a great deal. I provided something of value to him, and in exchange, he provided something of value to me. Nobody forced me to buy his stuff. I could have flashed the card myself (though I may well have bricked it), but I was thankful to have the option of just buying one. Over the subsequent few years, it has saved me many hours on FCPX relative to my 5770. I feel like I got my money back several times over in time saved. Happy customers tend to just go about their lives, whereas aggrieved customers post in the forums. Some of us don't think it's fair that someone who has provided a great service gets repeatedly roasted.

In his absence, let's talk about the relative merits of the product he offers...

FWIW, it ticks me off that Acura wants so much money for an NSX (because I like it, but can't afford it), but it doesn't make them a bad company. For those of you who find the $$$ objectionable, vote with your wallets and buy something else.

+1. I like my MVC-flashed 980. It works great and I appreciate the convenience of a boot screen. Internet strangers don't get to tell us whether we are happy with our purchases or not, or whether we got our money's worth, because in my personal opinion I got my money's worth and that is the only opinion about my purchase that matters. MVC offers an expert service that very few if any other people are capable of providing at that level, some people will choose to avail themselves of it, and others will not. It's getting to the point where we need to ban MVC-bashing threads around here if these debates are going to continue to take away from productive conversation.

 

[MisterAndrew]

I bought a new DisplayPort cable (BizLink E164571-KS) and it behaves like the old one (Amphenol E326508) with intermittent boot screen. Anyone else experiencing issues with DP? HDMI works great so I'll keep using that and use the DP cable if I want to connect a second display.

 

[Blackey Cole]

What power cable(s) are you using?

 

[Dr. Stealth]

Yes, I know this is an old dead thread....

I posted the GTX 680 4GB Mac EFI ROM a few years ago.... Many people have benefited from that post.

Now, I'm patiently waiting for someone to post a GTX 1080 TI EFI ROM dump. PM me and it will be our little secret.

 

[flowrider]

I posted the GTX 680 4GB Mac EFI ROM a few years ago.... Many people have benefited from that post.

That was a generally acknowledged and shared EFI.

Now, I'm patiently waiting for someone to post a GTX 1080 TI EFI ROM dump. PM me and it will be our little secret.

And now you are encouraging someone to share something with you that was developed by someone else?

Better Idea - DEVELOP IT ON YOUR OWN - Then share it

Lou

 

[DearthnVader]

When we consider that there has not been a retail Mac card from nVidia or their board partners since the 680, yet netkas and MVC have been able to make Apple EFI compatible cards for every nVidia chip they care to. I'd think twice about using their work product to under cut them.

Who will make an EFI Rom for the next generation of nVidia cards?

There are many places on the net that have nVidia/AMD copyrighted ROMs for download, and I don't think either has ever sent a cease and desist letter to any of them. Likely because these ROMs are only good for flashing to their respective cards, so with every flash, they pretty much know they made a hardware sale, at some point.

What MVC does, is really nothing more than Value Added Resale, and to those of you that have never reverse engineered a PC Card to work with a Mac, I will tell you, it is "Rocket Science".

If you don't think that it is, then you do it, post a simple howto for the rest of us, then watch as you try and explain it when smart people's eyes start to glaze over. Then everyone and their brother wants you to just make a ROM for them, and support it when it doesn't work right with this card or that, this OS or that, this App or that.

It's really easy to take someone else's work product and under cut them, when you don't have to worry about supporting it.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

And now you are encouraging someone to share something with you that was developed by someone else?

Lou

Well Lou... I wasn't actually trying to encourage someone to do wrong. I was merely making myself available if anyone felt so compelled to share the ROM. Of course, if anyone actually sent me the ROM I'd do the right thing and delete it immediately....

Truth is, MVC has no EFI ROM for my cards and can't flash them. I've checked. But, I still hope I come across one eventually. The 680 4GB ROM I posted came from an enthusiast site in Germany, it was free for the taking. They also wrote Kepler BIOS Tweaker and posted it, also for free, on their site so we could get our clocks back to the correct speeds. Which is why I also posted both for Free. To aid the cMP community. I also found a different version of the ROM from a site in Mexico posted by a guy named Diego. MVC is not the only one in the world hacking ROMs... So, I still have hope.

On a side note. I see MVC sells GTX 680 4GB cards on his site. He didn't do this until I posted the ROM. I'd bet dollars to donuts the ROM he is selling is the exact one, bit for bit I posted (Free) here on MR from the German site.

 

[ActionableMango]

On a side note. I see MVC sells GTX 680 4GB cards on his site. I'd bet dollars to donuts the ROM he is selling is the exact one I posted (Free) here on MR from the German site.

They probably all share origins from 2GB EVGA Mac Edition card, but MVC's isn't exactly the same bit-for-bit as other 4GB ROMs.

The German 4GB ROM doesn't have the upper DVI working past a certain MacOS version. Florian's 4GB ROM has all ports working but doesn't bother to show the correct card information, and Florian has another 4GB ROM just for Zotac cards. MVC's 4GB ROM has all ports working and shows the correct card information. Florian also said he fixed the upper DVI port in a different way than MVC did (if I recall correctly).

In any case, thanks for finding and sharing the German 4GB ROM. I put it to use in my MP and it was a nice upgrade from the HD5770.

 

[flowrider]

On a side note. I see MVC sells GTX 680 4GB cards on his site. He didn't do this until I posted the ROM. I'd bet dollars to donuts the ROM he is selling is the exact one, bit for bit I posted (Free) here on MR from the German site.

I'll take that bet! As outlined above, you lose.

Lou

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I've been on this site for 14 years and consider most of you my "Virtual Friends". If I come across anything I believe will help the MR community I post it. I love this place.

But, they really need to change the name to iPhone Rumors.

 

[Tharayman]

.

FWIW, it ticks me off that Acura wants so much money for an NSX (because I like it, but can't afford it), but it doesn't make them a bad company. For those of you who find the $$$ objectionable, vote with your wallets and buy something else.

I was not aware that there is anyone else out there?