Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti in Mac Pro 4,1->5,1?

[XrDarius]

Hi guys. Read this entire thread. General question I could not determine an answer on. I do see High Sierra now supports Pascal cards via the drivers. I have seen on MacVidCards.com that it says NVIDIA cards will operate at PCIe 1.0 speeds without a proper flash of the bios on the card. Is this still true while operating in High Sierra with the current driver? I do not wish to cripple my card w/ 1.0 speeds, but I don't want to flash this if it is unnecessary (I might want to use this card in a PC at a later date).

Q. Will my 1080 TI Founders Edition operate on my Mac Pro 4.1 on High Sierra at PCIe 2.0 speeds without a BIOS flash?

Thanks for your help!

 

[h9826790]

Hi guys. Read this entire thread. General question I could not determine an answer on. I do see High Sierra now supports Pascal cards via the drivers. I have seen on MacVidCards.com that it says NVIDIA cards will operate at PCIe 1.0 speeds without a proper flash of the bios on the card. Is this still true while operating in High Sierra with the current driver? I do not wish to cripple my card w/ 1.0 speeds, but I don't want to flash this if it is unnecessary (I might want to use this card in a PC at a later date).

Q. Will my 1080 TI Founders Edition operate on my Mac Pro 4.1 on High Sierra at PCIe 2.0 speeds without a BIOS flash?

Thanks for your help!

PCIe 1.0 speeds limitation only exist in Windows for non flashed card. In MacOS, Nvidia web driver will automatically release the card's PCIe 2.0 ability.

This is the screen capture from my own non flashed 1080Ti. (Original VBIOS, and bandwidth transfer speed is at the 5GB/s range)

 

[XrDarius]

PCIe 1.0 speeds limitation on exist in Windows for non flashed card. In MacOS, Nvidia web driver will automatically release the card's PCIe 2.0 ability.

H9 awesome thank you for your response. So to clarify / reiterate, I only really need to flash the card if I would like the gray boot screen and to operate at 2.0 speeds on Windows via Bootcamp. Otherwise, I will have 2.0 speeds on the Mac side with the appropriate drivers unflashed correct? Sounds awesome if thats the case
[doublepost=1514930396][/doublepost]

PCIe 1.0 speeds limitation on exist in Windows for non flashed card. In MacOS, Nvidia web driver will automatically release the card's PCIe 2.0 ability.

This is the screen capture from my own non flashed 1080Ti. (Original VBIOS, and bandwidth transfer speed is at the 5GB/s range)
View attachment 744933

H9 awesome! HAH we have the same monitor How does it work for you, do you find the card to power it nicely?

 

[h9826790]

H9 awesome thank you for your response. So to clarify / reiterate, I only really need to flash the card if I would like the gray boot screen and to operate at 2.0 speeds on Windows via Bootcamp. Otherwise, I will have 2.0 speeds on the Mac side with the appropriate drivers unflashed correct? Sounds awesome if thats the case

Yes, you will have 2.0 speed on the MacOS side regardless if the card is flashed or not.

However, for flashed card. It's a bit more than that. e.g.

1) FileVault need a flashed card to work
2) Recovery partition need flashed card to work (it's there, but you can't see it. On the other hand, single user recovery partition is available, and can be used blindly)
3) Firmware upgrade need flashed card
4) Boot manager also need flashed card to work (it's particularly important if anyone prefer to keep SIP ON, and using APFS in HS, and install Windows on the same machine. Or install other OS like Linux)
[doublepost=1514931368][/doublepost]

H9 awesome! HAH we have the same monitor How does it work for you, do you find the card to power it nicely?

The 1080Ti can easily drive the CHG90 at native resolution @144Hz. In fact, even HiDPI work (rendering at 7680x2160, still 144Hz). Of course, the screen is still 3840x1080, but you can have much better zoom image / screen capture if using HiDPI rendering.

Also, the font actually looks a bit smoother if rendering at HiDPI.

However, the animation of entering / exiting Mission Control won't be as smooth as "low resolution" when using HiDPI. Also, the VRAM usage (just desktop with few browsers on) will jump from 1-3GB to 5-8GB. Luckily the 1080Ti has 11GB VRAM, therefore, it won't slow anything down because running out of VRAM.

 

[XrDarius]

Yes, you will have 2.0 speed on the MacOS side regardless if the card is flashed or not.

However, for flashed card. It's a bit more than that. e.g.

1) FileVault need a flashed card to work
2) Recovery partition need flashed card to work (it's there, but you can't see it. On the other hand, single user recovery partition is available, and can be used blindly)
3) Firmware upgrade need flashed card
4) Boot manager also need flashed card to work (it's particularly important if anyone prefer to keep SIP ON, and using APFS in HS, and install Windows on the same machine. Or install other OS like Linux)
[doublepost=1514931368][/doublepost]

The 1080Ti can easily drive the CHG90 at native resolution @144Hz. In fact, even HiDPI work (rendering at 7680x2160, still 144Hz). Of course, the screen is still 3840x1080, but you can have much better zoom image / screen capture if using HiDPI rendering.

Also, the font actually looks a bit smoother if rendering at HiDPI.

However, the animation of entering / exiting Mission Control won't be as smooth as "low resolution" when using HiDPI. Also, the VRAM usage (just desktop with few browsers on) will jump from 1-3GB to 5-8GB. Luckily the 1080Ti has 11GB VRAM, therefore, it won't slow anything down because running out of VRAM.

H9, This is a deeper conversation but I am now coming to the realization that I cannot upgrade to HS 10.13 w/o upgrading my 4.1 firmware to 5.1. I am reading the thread here http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.0.html
but do I need to upgrade the firmware and be on HS to enable my pascal card (1080 TI). If I need to, can you point me in the best direction of upgrading the firmware? That thread is quite old, is it still relevant. Thanks!

I should also note I am on Nvidia Web Driver: 346.03.15f11 (current version for 10.11.6)
The obvious upgrades to HS enable me to use NVMe M.2, TRIM auto enabling. Just curious if pascal is supported in my current firmware / OS (should I bother if the 1080 TI will work in my current status)

 

[h9826790]

H9, This is a deeper conversation but I am now coming to the realization that I cannot upgrade to HS 10.13 w/o upgrading my 4.1 firmware to 5.1. I am reading the thread here http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.0.html
but do I need to upgrade the firmware and be on HS to enable my pascal card (1080 TI). If I need to, can you point me in the best direction of upgrading the firmware? That thread is quite old, is it still relevant. Thanks!

I should also note I am on Nvidia Web Driver: 346.03.15f11 (current version for 10.11.6)
The obvious upgrades to HS enable me to use NVMe M.2, TRIM auto enabling. Just curious if pascal is supported in my current firmware / OS (should I bother if the 1080 TI will work in my current status)

You need 10.12.4 or later, but preferable to have the latest HS. The latest web driver usually work better.

Either Sierra or HS are supported natively after your flash to 5,1. IMO, it’s the best way to make your Mac able to run the latest MacOS.

That thread still valid, however, you need a Mac EFI card to complete the firmware upgrade. If you have that, you better do the firmware upgrade and HS upgrade BEFORE you install the 1080Ti (there is another firmware upgrade required for HS APFS booting when you run the HS installer, which also require Mac EFI GPU to complete).

 

[XrDarius]

H9, This is a deeper conversation but I am now coming to the realization that I cannot upgrade to HS 10.13 w/o upgrading my 4.1 firmware to 5.1. I am reading the thread here http://forum.netkas.org/index.php/topic,852.0.html
but do I need to upgrade the firmware and be on HS to enable my pascal card (1080 TI). If I need to, can you point me in the best direction of upgrading the firmware? That thread is quite old, is it still relevant. Thanks!

I should note

You need 10.12.4 or later, but preferable to have the latest HS. The latest web driver usually work better.

Either Sierra or HS are supported natively after your flash to 5,1. IMO, it’s the best way to make your Mac able to run the latest MacOS.

That thread still valid, however, you need a Mac EFI card to complete the firmware upgrade. If you have that, you better do the firmware upgrade and HS upgrade BEFORE you install the 1080Ti (there is another firmware upgrade required for HS APFS booting when you run the HS installer, which also require Mac EFI GPU to complete).

H9 you're awesome! So I actually am seeing some of the process while I dig. I do have my original card I can install, but I also have a Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 with the OS X option. Let me know if I need to swap this back to my OEM card the tower came with.

The only thing I cannot seem a direct download link to is the "MacProEFIUpdate.dmg"

I am on El Capitan and seeing a process where a guy is also upgrading from El Capitan and does the following
1.) runs command in boot: csrutil disable
2.) restart
3.) Opens MacProEFIUpdate.dmg & mounts
4.) Run the firmware tool 2009 - 2010
5.) Shutdown
6.) Hold button till flash & beeps
7.) Load firmware and boots
8.) Install HS

Let me know if this sounds about right.

 

[h9826790]

I should note


H9 you're awesome! So I actually am seeing some of the process while I dig. I do have my original card I can install, but I also have a Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 with the OS X option. Let me know if I need to swap this back to my OEM card the tower came with.

The only thing I cannot seem a direct download link to is the "MacProEFIUpdate.dmg"

I am on El Capitan and seeing a process where a guy is also upgrading from El Capitan and does the following
1.) runs command in boot: csrutil disable
2.) restart
3.) Opens MacProEFIUpdate.dmg & mounts
4.) Run the firmware tool 2009 - 2010
5.) Shutdown
6.) Hold button till flash & beeps
7.) Load firmware and boots
8.) Install HS

Let me know if this sounds about right.

That looks correct to me. (Assume step 1 you mean run that command in Recovery Partition)

And the Sapphire HD7950 Mac Edition card can do the job.

 

[XrDarius]

That looks correct to me. (Assume step 1 you mean run that command in Recovery Partition)

And the Sapphire HD7950 Mac Edition card can do the job.

Worked like a charm thanks for all your help! Now to find power solutions to order. Did I see you recommend the EVA rerouter? Do I need additional cabling aside from the EVA module and my two stock 6 pin connectors inside my "5,1" . Hah newb questions

 

[h9826790]

Worked like a charm thanks for all your help! Now to find power solutions to order. Did I see you recommend the EVA rerouter? Do I need additional cabling aside from the EVA module and my two stock 6 pin connectors inside my "5,1" . Hah newb questions

It really depends on which 1080Ti you are going to use. I picked the PNY XLR8 (link in my signature) because it follow the reference design (less chance of having compatibility issue), but with a much better cooler.

Beause it stick to the reference TDP as well, I can simply use the dual mini 6pin to power the 6+8pin for any real world usage. My cable combination is dual mini 6 -> single 6 (as the bridge) -> dual 6+8). Furmark and OCCT also stable, however, if running CUDA-Z heavy test, the Mac will shutdown. But since my daily usage won’t even touch CUDA-Z, so I am happy to keep my current config.

But if you pick a higher TDP factory OC 1080Ti. You better go though the Pixlas mod. Or use another 2x SATA port to share some loading. Or install an extra PSU etc.

 

[Sur]

Hi people... Please help. I connected gtx1050ti to my 4.1-5.1 Mac with HighSierra without any problems.
I have no Apple loading lable, but MacOS work well.
But I cannot enter to Win 10 that was installed earlier with standart Mac video card.
Is it any ways to solve this problem?
Or I will only need to install Win 8 via Bootcamp?
I would prefer to install Win 10 throгпр bootcamp, but it's impossible to install on my system as I understand?
Thanks for any help.

 

[h9826790]

Hi people... Please help. I connected gtx1050ti to my 4.1-5.1 Mac with HighSierra without any problems.
I have no Apple loading lable, but MacOS work well.
But I cannot enter to Win 10 that was installed earlier with standart Mac video card.
Is it any ways to solve this problem?
Or I will only need to install Win 8 via Bootcamp?
I would prefer to install Win 10 throгпр bootcamp, but it's impossible to install on my system as I understand?
Thanks for any help.

What do you mean?

Select Windows in system preference -> boot disk, and your Mac still boot back to macOS?

 

[Sur]

What do you mean?

Select Windows in system preference -> boot disk, and your Mac still boot back to macOS?

No. Does not work. If I select boot Windows via the MAC OS, then the computer does not find the boot disk on reboot.
I think it is because I installed Windows 10 NOT via Bootcamp. (My system 5.1 NOT suppord Win 10 on Bootcamp. Only Win 7, 8)...
When I used Win 8.1 via Bootcamp I had no problems rebooting EVEN when there was no apple lable in the welcome screen.
But with Win 10 it does not work.
When I use MAC Video adapter - no problem. I'm just booting through OPTION.
But Win 10 with NO origin video card does not load in any way.
Sorry for my English.

 

[h9826790]

No. Does not work. If I select boot Windows via the MAC OS, then the computer does not find the boot disk on reboot.
I think it is because I installed Windows 10 NOT via Bootcamp. (My system 5.1 NOT suppord Win 10 on Bootcamp. Only Win 7, 8)...
When I used Win 8.1 via Bootcamp I had no problems rebooting EVEN when there was no apple lable in the welcome screen.
But with Win 10 it does not work.
When I use MAC Video adapter - no problem. I'm just booting through OPTION.
But Win 10 with NO origin video card does not load in any way.
Sorry for my English.

I am 100% sure that's nothing about Bootcamp. I did my Windows 10 installation without Bootcamp on my 5,1 but still able to select that in system preference with my 1080Ti. The only requirement is that must be installed in legacy mode. Did you install that in legacy or EFI mode?

Anyway, if you open terminal and enter

diskutil list

what will you see?

 

[Sur]

I am 100% sure that's nothing about Bootcamp. I did my Windows 10 installation without Bootcamp on my 5,1 but still able to select that in system preference with my 1080Ti. The only requirement is that must be installed in legacy mode. Did you install that in legacy or EFI mode?

Anyway, if you open terminal and enter

diskutil list

what will you see?

gm... I install via efi as I remember. I use Samsung m.2 Achi disk with PCIe adapter for Windows. I not shure that I can install to this hard via legacy option...?? I will see Terminal later (now I not use Mac Pro) and will back to response.
AlsoI don't know HOW can I re-install Windows, if I cannot get boot menu with GTX 1050ti. I only can load Mac OS. Or will I need insert old Mac Video card again for installation??
Thank you for your advices.

 

[h9826790]

gm... I install via efi as I remember. I use Samsung m.2 Achi disk with PCIe adapter for Windows. I not shure that I can install to this hard via legacy option...?? I will see Terminal later (now I not use Mac Pro) and will back to response.
AlsoI don't know HOW can I re-install Windows, if I cannot get boot menu with GTX 1050ti. I only can load Mac OS. Or will I need insert old Mac Video card again for installation??
Thank you for your advices.

1) Burn a Windows 10 installation disc
2) hold C during boot
3) install Windows

That's it! This is how I did it with my unflashed 1080Ti. The GPU will be correctly initialised by the Windows 10 installation disc.

HOWEVER, it may not work for PCIe SSD, which is considered external on the cMP.

I installed Windows on a dedicated SATA SSD that connected to the optical bay native SATA port. This should be the most painless option.

 

[themacnovice9086]

I don't have the 1080Ti. However, you can browse through the first few pages of this forum, then you will have some idea about how the Pascal card doing on cMP now (mainly how the web driver perform). e.g.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-glitchy-after-wake-up.2044750/#post-24559221

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/color-shift-in-google-chrome-w-gtx-1080.2044879/#post-24562357

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ring-after-4-days-good.2043717/#post-24555097

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/webdriver-for-gtx-1080-1070.1979778/page-16

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pascal-opencl-performance-issues.2042745/#post-24518036

And I leave you to decide if that's good performance. If require, you may ask some 1080Ti user here to perform some standard test. And then compare the result to your dual RX480. They are usually very helpful. However, you have to clearly state what and how exact the test to carry out. Otherwise, the result can be quite meaningless.

For power management. There is a little device call EVGA PowerLink. With this little device, your Mac should able to power the 1080Ti without any issue. It is possible to power the card by just using the mini 6 -> 8pin cable. However, that not necessary always work. A bridge in between to make sure the mini 6pins can share the load is a much much better way to do it. Of course, you can also tailor made a cable that can share the load. Or simply use a single 8pin in the middle as the bridge. Or even go through the Pixlas mod. There are lots of method to power the 1080Ti. But I must emphasis that, NONE of the method is guarantee. ALL of them are some kind of mod, or allow the card to draw more than the mini 6pin's official limit. But in real world experience, it's not a problem at all (if you do it correctly).

And NO, you don't need to flash he card. flash card can provide boot screen, but not a requirement to make it work on cMP.

YES, you can use the latest web driver (that means you need the latest MacOS as well). In fact, you MUST use the latest web driver. Without the driver, the card is just a piece of brick inside the cMP. Since you know how to make the RX480 work, so I assume install and active the Nvidia web driver is a simple job for you.

I know this is an old post but where do i find the driver for this graphics card? the 1080ti?

 

[h9826790]

I know this is an old post but where do i find the driver for this graphics card? the 1080ti?

In this sticky thread

FAQ - Nvidia Web Drivers

The old FAQ thread has been closed, though keeping a link here in case anyone still needs the information: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/frequently-asked-questions-about-nvidia-pc-non-efi-graphics-cards.1440150/ New FAQs will be added here. --- NVIDIA Web Drivers The officially...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[flowrider]

^^^^That thread hasn't been updated for awhile. Look here:

NVIDIA Drivers

www.tonymacx86.com

Lou

 

[h9826790]

^^^^That thread hasn't been updated for awhile. Look here:

NVIDIA Drivers

www.tonymacx86.com

Lou

The "never break" driver link still in post #1. Which is always a good option of web driver in High Sierra. I am still using that one in latest High Sierra.

 

[Sr.Steffypoo]

Contact MVC and see how they are running theirs.

I am running a Gigabyte GTX 1080 Gaming G1 so I don't have that issue. One 8 pint connector is all I need.

And no, you don't need a flashed card, but there are things we do during boot that we would lose without a boot screen.

Lou

I have the same setup…but don’t know what to do for the boot up screen. Can you help me and explain what you did to yours?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^I wrote that six+ years ago. At that time my GTX1080 was flashed by MVC (Mac Video Cards) to show a boot screen.

MACVIDCARDS.COM

The #1 place for Mac Pro graphics cards. GPU upgrades from AMD and Nvidia.

www.macvidcards.com

Lou

 

[h9826790]

I have the same setup…but don’t know what to do for the boot up screen. Can you help me and explain what you did to yours?

For cMP, you can now flash it with EnableGOP, the your GTX1080 will able to show boot screen natively. No need to flash the card anymore.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pre-opencore-gop-support-for-efi-era-imacs-and-mac-pros.2378942/page-17?post=32137842#post-32137842