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Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 on 5.1

gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
I tried to do a search for this, but there are so many threads that maybe someone could point me to the most relevant one?

Im have average computer skills, im not into clocking or programming, i just want to know if Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 can be installed in my 5.1 in a more or less plyg&play way, or, if its allot of hassle?

Also, what is the pros & cons with this card in my 5.1, are there several versions of this card also?

Buying new, or used, what you recommend?

My current setup:

Skjermbilde 2017-01-22 kl. 16.18.18.png


Thanks for any help!
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
But is the install of the webdrivers a complicated task?
Will the drivers support OSX 10.11.6?
 
carpsafari

carpsafari

Suspended
Sep 13, 2015
277
57
the Netherlands
I think $655 is twice the money its worth!

Learn how to install the webdriver, and buy a non flashed one, as h9826790 already stated, the Nvidia driver runs this card.
Easy to live without a bootscreen.
 
gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
Thanks guys!

Is there big performance differences between the 4GB and the 6GB vers?
 
F

Fl0r!an

macrumors 6502a
Aug 14, 2007
909
530
Running an unflashed Maxwell GPU in a Mac Pro is very painful IMHO, as you will see nothing without installing the drivers. Note that the drivers break after every minor (system / security) update and require you to reinstall them.

If you want to get a flashed one, I'd suggest to get it form MacVidCards. It's not more expensive than this eBay "chingching" guy, who has (most likely) just copy&pasted MVC's work.

Btw: GTX 980 is 4GB only, GTX 980 Ti is 6GB only. Both share a similar name but are entirely different GPUs, the Ti is a lot faster.
 
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gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
Fl0r!an said:
Running an unflashed Maxwell GPU in a Mac Pro is very painful IMHO, as you will see nothing without installing the drivers. Note that the drivers break after every minor (system / security) update and require you to reinstall them.

If you want to get a flashed one, I'd suggest to get it form MacVidCards. It's not more expensive than this eBay "chingching" guy, who has (most likely) just copy&pasted MVC's work.

Btw: GTX 980 is 4GB only, GTX 980 Ti is 6GB only. Both share a similar name but are entirely different GPUs, the Ti is a lot faster.
Click to expand...
Thx for the headsup
[doublepost=1485116064][/doublepost]A couple of last questions, do these cards draw more power than the regular supply can handle, or is that not any issue?
Also when visiting the macvidcards now, i saw this one
NVIDIA GTX TITAN X 12 GB

Is it worth the extra bucks? :D
[doublepost=1485116142][/doublepost]Btw, my primarily use is, video rendering with FCP up to 4k, and some flightsim use.
 
Synchro3

Synchro3

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2014
1,987
850
gr8pics said:
Thx for the headsup
[doublepost=1485116064][/doublepost]A couple of last questions, do these cards draw more power than the regular supply can handle, or is that not any issue?
Also when visiting the macvidcards now, i saw this one
NVIDIA GTX TITAN X 12 GB

Is it worth the extra bucks? :D
[doublepost=1485116142][/doublepost]Btw, my primarily use is, video rendering with FCP up to 4k, and some flightsim use.
Click to expand...

The Mac Pro PSU can handle the GTX Titan X, no problem. But you have to install one 6 to 8 pin cable (included when you buy the card from MacVidCards).

However, I cannot see available cards in the MacVidCards-Store, so you have to buy the card yourself and send to MacVidCards for flashing: http://www.macvidcards.com/store/c14/Mail-in_Flashing_Services.html
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
gr8pics said:
Is it worth the extra bucks? :D
Click to expand...

It depends, but I don't think it worth in your case. FCPX is so optimised for AMD card. For the same cost, you can easily setup a AMD system that beat the TitanX. e.g. my dual 7950 setup (as per my signature) can do better in FCPX than a single TitanX. Of course, we are talk about dual GPU vs single GPU, and it will cost you extra PCIe slot(s). But in terms cost to performance ratio, dual AMD card is a much better choice. And everything has native Apple support.

For Flight Sim, if you mean X-plane, then cMP is CPU single core performance limiting, no matter how strong the GPU, it won't make any difference.

However, is the flashed TitanX a good card? Definitely yes.

Is it strong? Also a big yes. And it should be the strongest.

In terms of power management, strange enough that TitanX rarely cost any problem. The 980Ti has less VRAM but may shut down the cMP because it draw too much from the 8pin.

If you really interest in these flashed cards. Please only consider MVC, he is the person that develop the Mac EFI for Maxwell card. Please don't pay for the others to encourage them to steal his effort.
 
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gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
h9826790 said:
It depends, but I don't think it worth in your case. FCPX is so optimised for AMD card. For the same cost, you can easily setup a AMD system that beat the TitanX. e.g. my dual 7950 setup (as per my signature) can do better in FCPX than a single TitanX. Of course, we are talk about dual GPU vs single GPU, and it will cost you extra PCIe slot(s). But in terms cost to performance ratio, dual AMD card is a much better choice. And everything has native Apple support.

For Flight Sim, if you mean X-plane, then cMP is CPU single core performance limiting, no matter how strong the GPU, it won't make any difference.

However, is the flashed TitanX a good card? Definitely yes.

Is it strong? Also a big yes. And it should be the strongest.

In terms of power management, strange enough that TitanX rarely cost any problem. The 980Ti has less VRAM but may shut down the cMP because it draw too much from the 8pin.

If you really interest in these flashed cards. Please only consider MVC, he is the person that develop the Mac EFI for Maxwell card. Please don't pay for the others to encourage them to steal his effort.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, for the extended information.

You seem to know a thing or two about these cards and my needs.

I currently have this one installed
http://wccftech.com/sapphire-unleashes-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-monster-28nm-dx11-graphics-card/

Its suppose to be a good card, but if we divide my needs in two, video editing, and xplane.
Im thinking i could have two separate cards, and install them for different needs, in periods.

For video rendering in FCPX, you think a dual setup of the 7970 cards would be a good choice here?
Will it handle 4k files better?
How about the setup, is it pretty straight forward? Do i normally have enough PCIe slots for this on my machine?
How about PSU, need to upgrade that one for dual?
Tried to take a couple of snapshots this morning.
Or would you suggest another setup for this purpose, like the ones you have?

Regarding the sim, would you go for the the Titan 12, or the 980Ti, disregarding the price?

I wouldnt hesitate to buy from MVC, if he had them in stock, but the shipping cost back and forth to US/Norway is just ridiculous :/

IMG_0250.JPG
IMG_0252.JPG
IMG_0253.JPG
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
gr8pics said:
Thanks man, for the extended information.

You seem to know a thing or two about these cards and my needs.

I currently have this one installed
http://wccftech.com/sapphire-unleashes-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-monster-28nm-dx11-graphics-card/

Its suppose to be a good card, but if we divide my needs in two, video editing, and xplane.
Im thinking i could have two separate cards, and install them for different needs, in periods.

For video rendering in FCPX, you think a dual setup of the 7970 cards would be a good choice here?
Will it handle 4k files better?
How about the setup, is it pretty straight forward? Do i normally have enough PCIe slots for this on my machine?
How about PSU, need to upgrade that one for dual?
Tried to take a couple of snapshots this morning.
Or would you suggest another setup for this purpose, like the ones you have?

Regarding the sim, would you go for the the Titan 12, or the 980Ti, disregarding the price?

I wouldnt hesitate to buy from MVC, if he had them in stock, but the shipping cost back and forth to US/Norway is just ridiculous :/

View attachment 685044 View attachment 685045 View attachment 685046
Click to expand...

Your slots are basically empty, so dual 7970 is not a problem at all. However, you have to think about how to power both cards at the same time. The PSU is fine, just how to deliver the power. Here is the thread that about dual 7970 setup.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ake-it-your-king-of-mac-with-2-d700s.1732849/

Or you can go though this Pixlas mod. So that basically you cMP can run any supported GPU.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pixlas-4-1-mac-pro-mod.1859652/

If money is not an issue. I will go for the TitanX.

Dual 7970 in FCPX should out perform single TitanX easily in most task.

Even my dual 7950 can handle 4K very well. Dual 7970 should only do better (unless the workflow hit the VRAM limit).

The advantage of my setup is that I don't need any mod, with little tweak to the GPUs (keep the same stock frequency, but down volt them to the minimum stable voltage). I can drive both card with just the mini 6pins. In term of performance, of course dual 7970 is better (in all case). Since you already has a 7970, it make a lot of sense that just buy another one to make this a cost effective upgrade.

X-plane is not that VRAM demanding, 3GB is enough (by considering we are basically CPU limiting). And it won't utilise the 2nd GPU. So, go for dual GPU won't make any difference. However, if you go for some extreme graphics (e.g. 4K with max AA), then sure the TitanX can make a lots of difference.
 
E

Ethosik

Contributor
Oct 21, 2009
8,142
7,120
Do you have a Mac laptop or another Mac system around? If so then it is actually very easy. NOTE: You basically need to use the GTX 680 drivers. The GTX 980 is not "officially" supported. I have only encountered a few issues with it. No ground-breaking issues.

Get a GTX 980
Before you install it, make sure you enable Screen Sharing
Install the 980 and start your mac
Give it a few minutes to start up, then go to another mac and use Screen Sharing to control the Mac Pro with 980.
Download the GTX 680 drivers for the macOS version you are running.
Restart
It should work now.

You WILL lose the ability to access the boot menu. I keep my old Radeon card around in case I need to use it.

So just keep in mind that
  1. The 980 is not officially supported. You are using drivers for a different card. A future OS X update might cause this to completely fail.
  2. You will be losing the boot menu. You will not get anything on the display until you can log in.
 
gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
Thanks a million guys!

Looks like i will try a dual setup with my 7970 for video, and a 980 for sim.

But in terms of flashing, is it just the same as installing the drivers?
Or does flashing a card give you more advantages like keeping the boot menu?
 
h9826790

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
gr8pics said:
Thanks a million guys!

Looks like i will try a dual setup with my 7970 for video, and a 980 for sim.

But in terms of flashing, is it just the same as installing the drivers?
Or does flashing a card give you more advantages like keeping the boot menu?
Click to expand...

Flashing means "write something to the card's chip (the firmware", it didn't involve any hardware mod, but can cause permanent change to the card. And if you do it wrong, you can brick your card. So, no, it's not like installing driver.

However, I rarely heard anyone can really kill a 7970 by a single flash. Almost all 7970 come with dual ROM design, which is flash fail proof. As long as you keep one of the ROM in stock setting. You should always able to recover the other ROM, and keep flashing the card.
 
gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
h9826790 said:
Your slots are basically empty, so dual 7970 is not a problem at all. However, you have to think about how to power both cards at the same time. The PSU is fine, just how to deliver the power. Here is the thread that about dual 7970 setup.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ake-it-your-king-of-mac-with-2-d700s.1732849/

Or you can go though this Pixlas mod. So that basically you cMP can run any supported GPU.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pixlas-4-1-mac-pro-mod.1859652/

If money is not an issue. I will go for the TitanX.

Dual 7970 in FCPX should out perform single TitanX easily in most task.

Even my dual 7950 can handle 4K very well. Dual 7970 should only do better (unless the workflow hit the VRAM limit).

The advantage of my setup is that I don't need any mod, with little tweak to the GPUs (keep the same stock frequency, but down volt them to the minimum stable voltage). I can drive both card with just the mini 6pins. In term of performance, of course dual 7970 is better (in all case). Since you already has a 7970, it make a lot of sense that just buy another one to make this a cost effective upgrade.

X-plane is not that VRAM demanding, 3GB is enough (by considering we are basically CPU limiting). And it won't utilise the 2nd GPU. So, go for dual GPU won't make any difference. However, if you go for some extreme graphics (e.g. 4K with max AA), then sure the TitanX can make a lots of difference.
Click to expand...

I tried to read up on the two links you provided regarding powering.
The first one looks great, but all my drive sockets are occupied, so i guess its not possible then?

The Pixlas mod seems to be a little over my head for what i dare to do inside these machines :O

Are there any ready made solutions you can buy in shops?
 
gr8pics

gr8pics

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
173
4
A question about dual setup and cooling, wouldnt stacking those cards blow hot air from the one below right into the one above?
 
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