'Titan' - full support for PC nvidia cards in OSX!

[jdwl]

A .kext that emulates / replaces EFI for bios based nvidia cards.

http://omni.starchaser.org/

quote "For some time np_ and I have suspected that this EFI business is all a smoke-screen and really serves no real purpose except as yet another way to prevent running OS X on PCs, through use of proprietary hardware.

You can't blame Apple for doing that, they need to protect their product and market share, but at the same time they have severely limited their users on what can be plugged into the computers.

Pre-compiled binary
This is my version of the solution, called Titan, distributed as a binary only. Please note that this was only tested in OS X 10.4.8. Put the kext in your /System/Library/Extensions/ folder, correct the premissions (chown/chmod), remove the cached and packed extensions and reboot. If all goes well your computer will still be in one piece after the system boots back up."

 

[aiongiant]

sweet!
if i read correctly this will let us use normal pc vid card like the nvidia 7950 GX2 under OS X??

so no longer need to switch vid cables and such?

if so this is awesome!!!
wonder if this will work for the new nvidia 8800 coming out in a week or so? =)

 

[jdwl]

exactly - and has been tested by various people - works perfect.

 

[aiongiant]

curious on speed difference? since it is emulating? is it closer than if it was in windows? or if it was fully supported by osx?

 

[jdwl]

only the efi is 'emulated' - and only to allow the driver to start. Once the driver is initialised the card runs at full speed (very very fast from the prelim xbenches I have seen).

Also - it appears the apple drivers support many many nvidia cards, success reports are coming in with 6600, 6800, various 7000's.

Download, follow the install instructions and enjoy!

 

[MRU]

So a pci express 6800 GT should in theory work ?

 

[dmw007]

Wow, that is pretty amazing!


Imagine being able to use almost any PC video card in a PCI-E based Mac!

 

[slughead]

Also - it appears the apple drivers support many many nvidia cards, success reports are coming in with 6600, 6800, various 7000's.

Where did you read that?

The Website you linked to says that there's a lot of falsehoods about his software being thrown around.

I'd like an official list of supported hardware.

 

[jer2eydevil88]

I thought this was so cool I had to post it on Digg, thanks for all the hard work now when I get my Mac Pro I can use an affordable GFX card in it.

 

[maxp]

Very exciting news.
If this works it will open up mac pros as machines feasable to gamers and those wishing to upgrade outside of Apples own video card constraints.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

This is excellent news! While I don't think I'll be switching from my 7300GT SLI set up for a while I'll probably want to switch when the second generation DX10 cards come out. Maybe an 8900 or whatever it'll be called by which point the drivers in OS X and any methods of getting PC graphics cards working in OS X will have matured a bit more.

 

[MRU]

This is excellent news! While I don't think I'll be switching from my 7300GT SLI set up for a while I'll probably want to switch when the second generation DX10 cards come out. Maybe an 8900 or whatever it'll be called by which point the drivers in OS X and any methods of getting PC graphics cards working in OS X will have matured a bit more.

What SLI setup. No mac supports SLI

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

What SLI setup. No mac supports SLI

Mine does in Windows. 2x7300GTs Overclocked in SLI = just under 5k in 3DMark'06.

 

[MRU]

Mine does in Windows. 2x7300GTs Overclocked in SLI = just under 5k in 3DMark'06.

Really? is that a mac pro? so it supports SLI in windows ?

That would make the card performance alright in games (until DX10 comes out) at the moment then yes ?

If that's true I may have to reconsider sending back the X1900 upgrade kit coming and hold off till a true DX 10 card comes along...

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Really? is that a mac pro? so it supports SLI in windows ?

That would make the card performance alright in games (until DX10 comes out) at the moment then yes ?

If that's true I may have to reconsider sending back the X1900 upgrade kit coming and hold off till a true DX 10 card comes along...

You have to download some modified drivers available from here.

I can't remember quite what I run the clocks at but its pretty stable. I play HL2, Doom 3, the Sims 2, all at 2560x1600 with satisfactory performance using low AA settings. To be honest playing at 2560x1600 I played for a while in Doom 3 with various settings of AA but didn't notice any worse quality without AA - 2560x1600 is such a high resolution.
If you'd like me to run some benchmarks in 3DMark'03, '05, '06, HL2, Doom 3, Quake 4, Farcry, WoW or the Sims 2 (all in Windows) at any settings you want then PM me the details of the setting you'd like me to try, the resolutions and how to actually run the benchmarks and I'll give them a run.

 

[Deerhunter04]

So a pci express 6800 GT should in theory work ?

I tried a 6800 (not sure if it was GT or not) in my Mac Pro and the computer wouldn't even post. All it did was loop the startup sound over and over. I wonder if the 6xxx series are too old to work on the Mac Pro. I've seen a lot of people have success with the 7xxx series of video cards.

 

[MRU]

I can't remember quite what I run the clocks at but its pretty stable. I play HL2, Doom 3, the Sims 2, all at 2560x1600 with satisfactory performance using low AA settings.

No need, your running at much higher res than I would run mine 1680x1050 max so I'm sure things like HalfLife 2 will be great..

€137 for another 7300GT compared to €377 for a X1900.... You saved me €240 I can save that for when a true DX 10 card comes out


---

I just hope apple wont have a problem RMA'ing the X1900 Upgrade kit when it arrives.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

No need, your running at much higher res than I would run mine 1680x1050 max so I'm sure things like HalfLife 2 will be great..

€137 for another 7300GT compared to €377 for a X1900.... You saved me €240 I can save that for when a true DX 10 card comes out

Keep an eye on the marketplace for 7300GTs. Several people got the X1900 upgrade and so are trying to get rid of their 7300s. I picked up my second one for $100 shipped from the US to the UK so that's about €80.

I didn't feel like a X1900 XT card was a step up enough from my old SLI 6800GT set up to warrant the money so figured I'd go with the 7300s instead and save the money for a future DX10 card. Plus I'm a bit of an nVidia fanboy!

 

[jdwl]

Where did you read that?

The Website you linked to says that there's a lot of falsehoods about his software being thrown around.

I'd like an official list of supported hardware.

on insanelymac - from guys who already have it running. (also note omni's own screenshot - which is from a 6800).

 

[coolbits]

I tried a 6800 (not sure if it was GT or not) in my Mac Pro and the computer wouldn't even post. All it did was loop the startup sound over and over. I wonder if the 6xxx series are too old to work on the Mac Pro. I've seen a lot of people have success with the 7xxx series of video cards.

Did you connect the power cable to the card?

 

[Deerhunter04]

Did you connect the power cable to the card?

The card does not have a power connector. It's a Winfast PX6800TDH.

 

[teitoku]

Does the Titan hack work on PPC macs?

 

[MRU]

Does the Titan hack work on PPC macs?

NO. It only works when booted into Windows. You cant boot windows on your PPC mac.

 

[grabberslasher]

NO. It only works when booted into Windows. You cant boot windows on your PPC mac.

No the Titan hack is not for Windows, it's for Mac OS X - to allow Mac OS X to be able to run any pc nvidia card (that goes for hacked OS X on beige boxes too).

(But you're correct in saying it's only for Intel Macs)

 

[MRU]

No the Titan hack is not for Windows, it's for Mac OS X - to allow Mac OS X to be able to run any pc nvidia card (that goes for hacked OS X on beige boxes too).

(But you're correct in saying it's only for Intel Macs)

Doh! I got myself lost halfway through when Spanky & Myself were talking about the SLI drivers for Windows

Typical Kerryman