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Would this work?

J

Jayson A

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 16, 2014
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If I buy a GPU that's not fully supported in macOS but I want to use it for gaming in Windows only... could I technically do the following?

Buy an unsupported PC GPU
Install it in the fastest PCIe slot
Install my current Apple GPU in a slower slot (since I won't need heavy graphics in macOS)
Connect both cards to different inputs on my monitor
Use monitor to switch between the 2 cards depending on which OS I want to use.

Say I'm in Windows and want to use the powerful PC card, I'll just switch my monitor to that input and when I want to use macOS without glitches, I can just use the Apple video card by switching to that port instead, all with the monitor input switching controls.

Also, I know in Windows, you can disable one of the video cards, but is there a way to disable a card in macOS?
 
It should work. But may have some limitation. i.e.

1) “completely unsupported” (virtually transparent to the OS) GPU is better than “not fully supported” (partly supported). A partly supported device may cause KP etc (system instability)

2) didn’t know a way to disable a PCIe card in MacOS. There is a software for the MacBook Pro to disable the dGPU, not sure if there is anything similar but can work for PCIe graphic card.

3) there must be no conflict between the GPU on the Windows side (e.g. install Nvidia and AMD together may cause issue)

4) you know how to power both GPU accordingly
 
In theory, yes. In practice, will probably not work the way you want unless you're willing to swap cards. On the Mac side, there are reports of machines with GT120 Mac cards and another card vendor having issues at the same time so would be cautious.

A PCIe expander with an A/B style switch may be an easier solution for what you're looking to do. YEARS ago there was a product like that for Mac Pro's using bootcamp that I saw at a trade show event that was designed for switching between PCIe linked storage units. Doubt it's still being made or supported and was a rather specific use product. If I can find the info will post.

Would you consider finding a single dual EFI GPU that you can basically A/B switch instead?
 
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bsbeamer said:
In theory, yes. In practice, will probably not work the way you want unless you're willing to swap cards. On the Mac side, there are reports of machines with GT120 Mac cards and another card vendor having issues at the same time so would be cautious.

A PCIe expander with an A/B style switch may be an easier solution for what you're looking to do. YEARS ago there was a product like that for Mac Pro's using bootcamp that I saw at a trade show event that was designed for switching between PCIe linked storage units. Doubt it's still being made or supported and was a rather specific use product. If I can find the info will post.

Would you consider finding a single dual EFI GPU that you can basically A/B switch instead?
Click to expand...

I don't really know anything about any of that. I'm just trying to keep my Mac the way it is, but use a different card in Windows only. I'm thinking about getting the GTX 1050 ti ... I have no idea what brand to get and which cards will be the most compatible with macOS, that's why I came up with the idea of having both cards installed and simply switching between them.
[doublepost=1523637352][/doublepost]Would a single GTX 1050 ti work in my Mac Pro 5,1 without issues?
 
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