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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

No kidding... Must be on the bleeding edge of what a Mac Pro's internal power can provide.

Wonder if Pascal will be as kind to us.
 
ActionableMango said:
I hate to ask a dumb question, but are you certain the Nvidia web driver is the one loading? If you reset the NVRAM, OS X returns back to using the default driver, regardless of which driver you selected.

When you look at the Nvidia Driver Manager, you should see "Nvidia Web Driver" selected. Also, 2-3 different people here have discovered that the actual driver loaded is not necessarily the one displayed in Nvidia Driver Manager! So to double check, also go to System Information and check to see which actual KEXT has loaded.

P.S. Maxwell driver updates and driver switching is WAY easier if you get the card flashed. It saves you from needing to swap to a backup card to do things.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
Of course the Nvidia Driver Manager is on Nvidia Web Driver (3456.02.03f01). But I'm not sure how to check which actual KEXT has loaded, as you mentioned. On system information, if I check PCI, it says "an error occurred" so I cannot see anything (works well when I use my GTX 480, but not sure either how to check the KEXT)

I also used an app called System Info which is mostly used in the Hackintosh world, here the 980Ti seems to be not recognized, displayed as Unknown Device

I have also a GT120 which of course helps a lot for drivers updates / switching...
 
chouki said:
But I'm not sure how to check which actual KEXT has loaded, as you mentioned.
Click to expand...

I'm not in front of my Mac so I cannot recall the exact steps, but basically you run System Information, go to "more info" or "detailed info" or something like that, expand the "Software" section, and click on "Extensions" or maybe "Kernel Extensions".

In there will be a list of all of the drivers on your computer, whether or not each one is currently loaded, and I think the source of the KEXT (Apple or third party). If you can find the GPU kext you should be able to see whether it is the Apple-sourced KEXT or the Nvidia-sourced KEXT.

If I remember I can look at this tonight.
 
ActionableMango said:
I'm not in front of my Mac so I cannot recall the exact steps, but basically you run System Information, go to "more info" or "detailed info" or something like that, expand the "Software" section, and click on "Extensions" or maybe "Kernel Extensions".

In there will be a list of all of the drivers on your computer, whether or not each one is currently loaded, and I think the source of the KEXT (Apple or third party). If you can find the GPU kext you should be able to see whether it is the Apple-sourced KEXT or the Nvidia-sourced KEXT.

If I remember I can look at this tonight.
Click to expand...

Problem solved !
As I suspected, it was a power issue. I'm now powering the card with an external PSU and everything seems to work fine. The card is properly recognized by the system, and DVI + Displayport are displaying finally. Just need to check now if everything is OK regarding CUDA, and if everything goes well in time.
Thanks guys for all the info I got here.
 
How is OpenCL acceleration with the 980ti? Specifically with regards to Final Cut Pro X.

I have seen conflicting reports of results from these cards.

I currently have a flashed R9 280X and would like something that was even faster at OpenCL and even OpenGL.
 
I’m replacing a ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB with a Nvidia GTX 980ti 6GB in my Mac Pro (Mid 2010)

I’m not too bothered about it being Flashed

There seems to be a lot of options on Amazon (UK), any ideas what I should/should not be looking for?

Thanks
 
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..crashes quite a bit using fcpx.. (the card is recognised as a 980ti by my 2009 mac (yosemite 10.10.4)
no power issues.. (and the old gtx 120 card is still in there..) got the latest web driver its pretty quick now..
all the crashes seem related to opencl.. not sure what else to try..
 
Would an overclocked 980 Ti run into power issues on a cMP? As I understand it that card and the Titan X run right up to the very edge of what a cMP can provide via internal power.
 
My 5 cents;

My cMP 5.1 failed shortly after installation of 980 TI ( I had 980 in for about 6 month happened); Failure happened during BF4 match; Failed component appears to be MB;

It is entirely possible that 980 TI had nothing to do with it of course;

GPU was Gigabyte 980 TI gaming, overclocked;

I use nMP for work, so I gave up on trying to revive cMP and built water-cooled PC instead using same GPU (+ added SLI)
 
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xactoman said:
So here is what I found out. It all appears to be heat related. That would explain why it works for a bit and then flakes out after a few minutes. Did some searching and good answer turned up over at the World of Warcraft forum:http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/15699631352

It appears that the 9XX series has an openCL bug that when the card is called it goes to full clock speed and doesn't slow down until a reboot. This wouldn't be a problem if you just used it for gaming, but now that Creative Cloud 2015 has GPU acceleration, it calls on openCL quite often. I installed iStat monitor and when the ambient temperature rises to 95º it starts getting video artifacts and jerky mouse. I turned on a custom fan control and once it cooled down it came back to normal. I installed Mac Fan Control and set a custom fan setting to kick in when the ambient temp rises above 88. I also moved the video card to slot 2 and my SSD to slot one to create more air flow around it. Probably not necessary, but every bit helps. With this setup it has been very useable. Hopefully Nvidia addresses this bug as they continue to develop drivers.
Click to expand...

Is it resolved or the bug still exists?
 
Purchased a new EVGA 980ti SC today and waiting for it to arrive, I'm currently running a GTX Titan original (with optical bay mounted PSU), I'm going to run it off of the additional PSU and I am hoping it will only get better with time and NVidia drivers (please keep producing them NVidia!!!) the 2013 Titan was a great card but massively power hungry and by today's standards the 980ti gets close to the Titan X (in benchmarks anyway) hoping it will give me CUDA and OpenGL boosts without the large power draw.
 
I'm thinking of plugging in a Dell UP2715Q (2 x DP) a 4K monitor (mDP) and Oculus Rift (HDMI) to a 980Ti from MacVidCards. Anybody know if there are limits etc. stopping this from working?
 
Hi,

looking at my scenario, MacPro 4.1 system with firmware updated to 5,1 and upgraded 2xCPU X5690 3.41Ghz , 12 GB RAM, 240 GB SSD/MSATA Kingston PCI, USB 3.0 PCI, and only two hard disk days connected. Now with a GT-120 GPU just to consider overall power.

So for now only have 2 x sata connectors, from the free hard disks bays, available to power the GTX 980 TI.

My main idea, is to buy the most simple & powerless GTX 980 TI reference card from ZOTAC or EVGA and PC model, since where I live (Brazil) its quite impossible due the costs+taxes(60%!) to buy from www.macvidcards.com ... unfortunately!! :(

Even don't want to buy the overclocked models, and also not considering to overclock the reference card itself, specially to avoid more power needed and risks associated with Mac Pro power supply limitations and without using any external supply.

My question is related with the most missing part about the GTX 980 TI with MacPro 4.1/5.1 and not using external power supply.

What is the best way to plug the 6 and 8 PIN cables?

There are many posts everywhere, affirming that there is no need to have a external power supply or by the other side from other posts advising for sure you need a external power supply if you don't want to damage the motherboard.

So the GTX 980 TI reference card is compatible or not without any external power supply?

Considering if 6 PIN expect 75 Watts and 8 PIN expect 150 Watts in the GPU plugs.

And since MacPro has 2 x 6 PIN in motherboard, each can drive 75 Watts, so this could be enough to power to 8 PIN in GPU?

If only remaining 2 x Sata plugs available, will this be enough to feed the power in the 6 PIN plug in GPU?

Or should be considered to used all 4 x Sata to feed one single 6 PIN plug in GPU to minimize risks from the motherboard being damaged?

How MacVidCard guys recommend the GTX 980 TI connection without external power supply?

Any other risks related with if not using MacVideo firmware custom cards modifications?

Thanks!
 
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Cassio_Frasson said:
How MacVidCard guys use the GTX 980 TI without external power supply?
Click to expand...
By shorting the extra pins on the 8 pin power. I use a 6-pin to 8-pin cable to achieve that on mine. While the TDP of the GTX 980 Ti (250 w) exceeds the rated power available through the Mac Pro (225 w), in practice the power draw stays reliably within the limits of the Mac Pro. I'm comfortable running mine on internal power, but not everyone is.
 
josakax said:
..crashes quite a bit using fcpx.. (the card is recognised as a 980ti by my 2009 mac (yosemite 10.10.4)
no power issues.. (and the old gtx 120 card is still in there..) got the latest web driver its pretty quick now..
all the crashes seem related to opencl.. not sure what else to try..
Click to expand...

Hello - is the card still crashing in Final Cut Pro? That is not good :/
Could you please post Luxmark benchmark if possible?
 
Cassio_Frasson said:
How MacVidCard guys recommend the GTX 980 TI connection without external power supply?
Click to expand...

OK... if you use a (2x) mini 6pin -> 8pin from the (2x) mother board PCI ports, you have your 1st 150W power to the GPU 8pin socket.

This is an elegant and easily removable solution I have for feeding the remaining GPU 6pin socket.

DSCN2534.JPG


This includes the following...

(2x) Newertech AdaptaDrive 2.5" HDD/SSD tray adapters for the Mac Pro internal drive bay slots ($13/each)
(2x) male 15pin SATA -> male 4pin molex power cables ($2 each)
(1x) (2x) female 4pin molex -> male 6pin power cable. ($2)

The AdaptaDrive adapters mate up perfectly with the Mac Pro internal drive sleds. Simply tie wrap the SATA -> Molex cables to the tray adapter to prevent them from accidentally unplugging. These trays can be removed at any time simply by removing the internal drive bay sled.

This gets you another 110W (55w x 2)

Total of 260W power.

As others have said, 6-6 and 6-8 cables seem to power the 980 Ti just fine, but if you're unsure this is an elegant solution.

BTW... no reason the cabling on this solution could not be used to take power from the (2x) Optical Bay SATA power ports if you're not using an internal optical drive.
 
Last edited:
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And what you guys think about the GTX 980 TI HYBRID model?

Since this card really push hard from the power supply, even if connected directly as show in this other discussion
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pixlas-4-1-mac-pro-mod.1859652/

Do you think when directly connected to the power supply with GTX 980 TI HYBRID could be used from the stock OC or even push further from the overclocked possibilities in Mac Pro 4.1/5.1 with two X5690 3.41 CPU?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
Bytehoven said:
OK... if you use a (2x) mini 6pin -> 8pin from the (2x) mother board PCI ports, you have your 1st 150W power to the GPU 8pin socket.

This is an elegant and easily removable solution I have for feeding the remaining GPU 6pin socket.

DSCN2534.JPG


This includes the following...

(2x) Newertech AdaptaDrive 2.5" HDD/SSD tray adapters for the Mac Pro internal drive bay slots ($13/each)
(2x) male 15pin SATA -> male 4pin molex power cables ($2 each)
(1x) (2x) female 4pin molex -> male 6pin power cable. ($2)

The AdaptaDrive adapters mate up perfectly with the Mac Pro internal drive sleds. Simply tie wrap the SATA -> Molex cables to the tray adapter to prevent them from accidentally unplugging. These trays can be removed at any time simply by removing the internal drive bay sled.

This gets you another 110W (55w x 2)

Total of 260W power.

As others have said, 6-6 and 6-8 cables seem to power the 980 Ti just fine, but if you're unsure this is an elegant solution.

BTW... no reason the cabling on this solution could not be used to take power from the (2x) Optical Bay SATA power ports if you're not using an internal optical drive.
Click to expand...

AFAIK one SATA port provides 50 Watt, not 75 Watt. So the setup above gives only 100 Watt, not 150 Watt.
 
Synchro3 said:
AFAIK one SATA port provides 50 Watt, not 75 Watt. So the setup above gives only 100 Watt, not 150 Watt.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that he mean

1) 2x mini 6pin from the mobo to power the 8 pin (150W -> 150W)
2) 2x SATA port to power the 6pin (100W -> 75W according to your number)

So, this should be technically safe.
 
75W + 75W + 55W + 55W = 260W

There are many ways to skin this power cat, but this was an easy way if you don't want to do excessive wiring or tapping into other cMP power lines.
 
josakax said:
..crashes quite a bit using fcpx.. (the card is recognised as a 980ti by my 2009 mac (yosemite 10.10.4)
no power issues.. (and the old gtx 120 card is still in there..) got the latest web driver its pretty quick now..
all the crashes seem related to opencl.. not sure what else to try..
Click to expand...

I've had the exact same error with my 980, even after trying a upgrade to El Capitan it's causing the same crash.
 
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