Question Re: eVGA GTX 570 2.5 gb on MacPro 3,1

[fuzzypickle]

Hi everyone,

I've been doing a bunch of reading here and over on netkas regarding an upgraded video card setup. I'm planning on purchasing an eVGA GTX 570 w/ 2.5 GB vRAM, but I wanted to make sure that I'm clear on the implications - if I understand correctly, the 1.25 gb models are basically plug and play in OSX 10.8 (and presumably above), but the 2.5 gb models require a small amount of hex editing (http://netkas.org/?p=1161) to enable OpenCL, due to Apple being a bunch of crafty SOB's trying to make lesser cards look better than they are.

Is this essentially correct? I know that I won't see a bootscreen etc, I just want to make sure that once the OS has loaded and I've made the necessary hex adjustment the card will be running as it should be.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply, oh knowledgeable ones

 

[deppest]

I am on the same path and have just ordered the same card for a MP 4,1. I have done a lot of reading mainly in this forum and from what I can tell your understanding is correct. In addition to what you have listed you may need the latest CUDA driver from the NVIDIA website if you intend to use the card for CUDA computing such as GPU renderering which is what I have bought the card for. The link to the drivers is provided on macvidcards' ebay site.

 

[fuzzypickle]

Right on. Let me know how your install goes!!!

 

[deppest]

OK, the card has arrived, installation was a breeze. I used the two power cables that were already installed for the ATI4870 which came out. The power cables shipped with the EVGA GTX 570 2.5GB are for PC only.

I've run a few tests and everything seems to be running smoothly. Boot screen has gone as expected but that is not much of an issue. Since this is a >2GB card OpenCL wasn't working initially and I had to apply the OPENCL patch as explained on the netkas site. Big thanks to these guys! CUDA is also working, I am planning to post a few benchmarks soon.

Noisewise it's about the same as the ATI4870 maybe a bit less. If stressed it picks up, of course.

 

[rubefink]

How's things?

I'm about to buy the same EVGA card. Just curious is it still running stable?

 

[deppest]

yes, still running fine. I've been putting it through its paces with CUDA and OPENCL rendering and even some light gaming. No complaints other than when the vents rev up you can hear them. Not too bad but noticeable.

 

[Cuyahoga]

yes, still running fine. I've been putting it through its paces with CUDA and OPENCL rendering and even some light gaming. No complaints other than when the vents rev up you can hear them. Not too bad but noticeable.

Hi deppest--have you gotten a chance to run the Unigine OpenGL benchmark at default/1920x1200 settings? There's been quite a few posts for hackintosh users in this netkas thread, but not too many on older Mac Pro's. I'd definitely be interested to see what kind of effect the older MP's have on the overall performance. Thanks!

 

[fuzzypickle]

Mine should be arriving in a few days, I'll post benchmark results when I can as well.

 

[deppest]

Here are some benchmarks for the EVGA GTX 570 2.5GB as promised:
Luxmark Sala: 1158
OpenGL Cinebench: 24.3
not a very good but score. But NVIDIAs are known to perform badly in this particular test and CB OpenGL is also quite CPU dependent I think)

Unigine, standard settings, and Cuda-Z

 

[Cuyahoga]

Awesome, thanks, deppest! The unigine score seems about right to me. A lot of the 1500-2000 scores I've found for the GTX570 were done on i7 hackintoshes.

I get around 1260 on my quad 2.8Ghz xeon (MP 3,1) w/ a GTX570 1280MB. Same settings.