8800gt EFI64 ROM

[diamond.g]

I have the Mac Pro Model 1.1 2ghz.

What sort of options do I have for a custom flashed card? I'm quite interested in the ZOTAC GeForce 8800GT AMP Edition.

Would I need to flash the card with a EFI32 image?

You need an EFI32 ROM and some way of actually editing that ROM so the card retains its BIOS clocks. When running in OS X you will only get the default clocks.

[Brianna]

I have the Mac Pro Model 1.1 2ghz.

What sort of options do I have for a custom flashed card? I'm quite interested in the ZOTAC GeForce 8800GT AMP Edition.

Would I need to flash the card with a EFI32 image?

You need to check card you have now first.

The utility you need is nvflash 5.57 (http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/819/NVFlash_5.57.html)

You will also need DOS to use it. You can Create a DOS bootCD with FreeDOS.iso (http://www.freedos.org/) that you can download here.

To see your ROM ID using the Nvflash tool the command is: nvflash --check

That should return information about your GPU, and your ROM ID.


But I think you have no chance of getting that card to work in that Mac. We are using cards that have the same GPU as the ROM from from our Mac's. It's just a ROM swap. Getting yours to work is a much more involved process, and I don't think it will work regardless of what you do.

[Cindori]

if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.

[Whitesnake]

I was under the impression the 8800GT would be released for the 1.1 Mac Pro in the future?

[Brianna]

I was under the impression the 8800GT would be released for the 1.1 Mac Pro in the future?

I'm not sure I know what Mac Pro the 1.1 is. You said 2GHz so it sounds old.

I did give you instructions on how to find out your ROM ID. Post your ROM ID, and we'll tell you what we think. :)

Wait what card do you have now?

[Cindori]

if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.
if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.
if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.

[Tallest Skil]

As of yet.
As of yet.
As of yet.

[thagomizer]

Thanks, it work :).

Last thing, what's the image you all used ? This one (http://a.mondit.free.fr/mp2008/) ?

That's the image everyone has been using; however I haven't been able to load it yet. My PNY card had a 64k flash so I sent it back immediately. I have an eVGA on order, and I'll report back on Wednesday if it works:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y16TXM/

I saw a bunch of these at Frys but they wanted $280+tax. They have green PCBs... for what that's worth. :rolleyes:

[thagomizer]

Inno3D has also been all 128k, but that's from a sample size of 1 :)

In post #17 you said 64k, was that not Inno3D?

These cards seem hard to find in the US. Are you in the UK?

[Brianna]

if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.
if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.
if you have a 1.1 mac you have a pre 08 mac and will not be able to run 8800.

I'm not sure that statement is the absolute truth to his question. What evidence makes you think that no Mac but an early 2008 is going to run a 8800?
There are hackintosh users using other solutions like nvinject to get non supported cards to run in x86 machines. He wont be able to use our method, but that doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a way to do it. THey have been using unsupported cards in their Hack Pro's for a while.

[knome]

Read through this.. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=410804

All the hackintosh's that have been able to run other cards have been modifying firmware from similar cards. The pre 08 mac pro's are running a older revision of efi that is no longer supported. So far apple hasn't made any signs that they are going to upgrade the efi firmware for the older ones to the 2.01 standard release efi. The 8800's are efi 2.01 standard release and will not work in the previous revision of efi that the older ones are using. How ever it is possible if a card was produced using the older efi type that i can be run in the new efi type. What remains to be seen is if it is possible to take the so called 64efi and turn it into a 32efi so that the older computers can run it.

[Brianna]

Read through this.. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=410804

All the hackintosh's that have been able to run other cards have been modifying firmware from similar cards. The pre 08 mac pro's are running a older revision of efi that is no longer supported. So far apple hasn't made any signs that they are going to upgrade the efi firmware for the older ones to the 2.01 standard release efi. The 8800's are efi 2.01 standard release and will not work in the previous revision of efi that the older ones are using. How ever it is possible if a card was produced using the older efi type that i can be run in the new efi type. What remains to be seen is if it is possible to take the so called 64efi and turn it into a 32efi so that the older computers can run it.

Your pointing me towards a rumor thread, but Apple and Nvidia both said they are working to get the 8800 upgrade to the earlier than 2008 Mac pro. Apple didn't have any idea the 8800 upgrade kit wasn't going to work in the pre 2008 model when the listed it on their site. That's actually sad in a way, but funny in... well the same way. :)

[knome]

I never said that they were not working on the problem. But what i got from what you said is that the current 8800's could work, which they do not. The thread also has the actual reason why the cards do not work.

[Brianna]

I never said that they were not working on the problem. But what i got from what you said is that the current 8800's could work, which they do not. The thread also has the actual reason why the cards do not work.

I didn't mean could work right out of the box now if that's what you thought I meant.

[hadleydb]

Here is a Youtube video of me playing Unreal Tournament 3 on the Windows side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjaCGuIhOGw

[Infrared]

Here is a Youtube video of me playing Unreal Tournament 3 on the Windows side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjaCGuIhOGw

Is the framerate shown top right? Or is that some other number?

Thanks.

[hadleydb]

Is the framerate shown top right? Or is that some other number?

Thanks.

The program I used to record it was supposed to show the framrate and didn't. The top right is just the score. It was a constant 60 fps. That program can only record 60 fps.

[joedirt04]

Tried flashing a ZOTAC AMP! edition card but couldn't boot into OSX all the way.

Traded cards with my bro (he has a XFX PVT88PYDD4 w/ Black PCB) and it works great!

[Gokhan]

right well i have decided i will go with an evga 8800 or xfx alpha dog edition just waiting to hear back form overclockers.co.uk regarding my request to know rom size and returns policy.

So hopefully once i move in to my new house in a month or so ill have a dual graphics card mac pro yay

thanks for all your efforts guys

seems silly to pay apple :apple: £130 to take away the ati card when i can put that money towards a 8800 and have the ati :D as well

[uzul]

Hi all,

I just tried to flash a JETWAY 8800 GT and i am stucked.

After creating a FAT32 partion on which i copied the nvflash files ("_" + "cwsdpmi.exe") i plugged the 8800 card on my 2008 macPro with power plugged to the second DVD plug.

After reboot on a FreeDOS CD and typing "1" then "2" i typed in C: nvflash --check. I got this message "bad command or invalid filename".
I tried renaiming the "_" file to nvflash : didn't work.
So at this point i can't even check my card's EPROM size to see if i can flash.

Does anyone have a solution for this. Thank's

[thagomizer]

Try typing "1" then "3"

When you get the A:> prompt, just type

c:


Assuming you already have nvflash on your hard disk's FAT32 DOS partition, and that partition is mounted at c:, this should put you at:

C:>

You should then be able to type, after the C:> prompt,

nvflash --check


Or, just type c:\nvflash --check

[thagomizer]

Hi all,

After creating a FAT32 partion on which i copied the nvflash files ("_" + "cwsdpmi.exe") i plugged the 8800 card on my 2008 macPro with power plugged to the second DVD plug.

I just reread this part of your message. There's no "_" file in the nvflash 5.57 archive. Make sure you copy over the file NVFLASH.EXE. Maybe you need to download the zip file again?

[macz1]

I heard of two successful flashes with Jetway 8800 cards. They correspond to the reference design and look like Apples card (and have a green PCB)
But this brand doesn't seem very popular...

[uzul]

Thank's thagomizer for your help.

I confirm, i finaly managed to flash the JETWAY with green PCB and it works like a charm. My difficulties came from the fact that i had aunzipped the nvflash folder with stuffit and it messed up the names, that is why nvflash.exe had become "_" :eek::eek:

I bought this card yesterday in a shop in Paris and another guy managed to flash the same model bought in the same place. In fact the JETWAY was used by Lionel from "macbidouille.com" for his online flashing tutorial.

Notice that i have used the second power plug in the optical drive with a "Y" molex cable. I have plugged only one of the plugs. It works but it obliges me to keep the side panel open... I have to find a way to fix this.

:)

[nizzerbean]

I just reread this part of your message. There's no "_" file in the nvflash 5.57 archive. Make sure you copy over the file NVFLASH.EXE. Maybe you need to download the zip file again?

thagomizer: Was the cable you got from ATI the correct one? Thanks.

[hadleydb]

thagomizer: Was the cable you got from ATI the correct one? Thanks.

I'm wondering the same thing. I already ordered one, but just wondering.

[thagomizer]

thagomizer: Was the cable you got from ATI the correct one? Thanks.

My ATI cables arrived a day after I sent my PNY card back, so I haven't used it yet. (I poweed the PNY card from the spare CDROM connector). My EVGA card should arrive today, so I will let you all know soon.

This is what it looks like. The last letter on the label is F.

http://imgplace.com/image/view/d6f2fccadd3b7fecac6f983091ac9774

[thagomizer]

SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB. :-) It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.

And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.

Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.

By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.

My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.

[Tallest Skil]

I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI.

Can the 2008 Mac Pro use SLI in Windows? I was very much under the impression that it couldn't.

[diamond.g]

Can the 2008 Mac Pro use SLI in Windows? I was very much under the impression that it couldn't.

Your impression is correct. GF8 SLi won't work.

[nizzerbean]

SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB. :-) It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.


Cool. Thanks for posting the update. Just for clarificational purposes, was this the card that you ordered? http://www.amazon.com/e-GeForce-Superclocked-PCI-Express-Graphics-512-P3-N802-AR/dp/B000Y16TXM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204146349&sr=8-1

[thagomizer]

Can the 2008 Mac Pro use SLI in Windows? I was very much under the impression that it couldn't.

It worked on the 2006 Mac Pro with 7xxx series cards and hacked drivers. I've heard that SLI with 8xxx cards requires an NVidia motherboard chipset, which no Mac Pro has.

[Tallest Skil]

Your impression is correct. GF8 SLi won't work.

Tanj in torment... I'm still getting two. :cool:

Eventually the drivers will be hacked. Eventually I'll have SLI. I don't really care about it, but it'd be neat.

[thagomizer]

Cool. Thanks for posting the update. Just for clarificational purposes, was this the card that you ordered? http://www.amazon.com/e-GeForce-Superclocked-PCI-Express-Graphics-512-P3-N802-AR/dp/B000Y16TXM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1204146349&sr=8-1

Yes.

[hadleydb]

SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB. :-) It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.

And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.

Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.

By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.

My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.

Thank your for the info! I just got my ATI cable, so I will be able to install it tonight. Now I can close my case better. I didn't like running the power the other way.

[cmturner2]

With the 8800GT only being a +$180 upcharge when ordering the MP (looking at edu pricing, YMMV), what's the point of going through all of this work to get an aftermarket card working (aside from the technical challenge)?

Are there any benchmark comparisons to show that one of the Inno, XFX, BFG, etc. performs significantly better than the stock 8800GT?

Or is this only for those that made the mistake of not getting the 8800GT when they placed their order earlier this month?

[thagomizer]

I should add that while OS X recognized and used the 8800GT immediately, Windows XP was a pain in the ***. This was probably because I left the ATI card in, so it booted up with both cards. On bootup, XP showed the blocky Windows splash screen ok, but as soon as it got to the point where the desktop was supposed to load, it went black. If I switched the monitor to the ATI card, the desktop appeared, but reset itself to 640 x 480 each time. After moving cables around several times and reinstalling the Boot Camp drivers, I ended up with three monitor definitions, two of which were inactive at any time.

I'm not sure how I finally got it working, but I was finally able to get it to boot with the 8800GT connected to the monitor and have it stick. I still have my ATI card in the machine... I'm afraid to take it out in case it confuses Windows any further.

[thagomizer]

With the 8800GT only being a +$180 upcharge when ordering the MP (looking at edu pricing, YMMV), what's the point of going through all of this work to get an aftermarket card working (aside from the technical challenge)?


1. For non-Edu people, Amazon and other retailers have much better prices on the stock Mac Pro configurations than what we'd get dealing directly with Apple when you include rebates. MacConnection does CTO, so I suppose we could get a machine w/ 8800GT through them, but then the price ends up being nearly the same as Apple.

2. You don't have to pay sales tax with Amazon, etc. for most states. (I don't want to debate ridiculous "use tax").

3. 8800GT was adding a 5-7 week wait to Mac Pro orders, although this is getting better now.

4. Tired of having to buy special Apple-blessed stuff for a supposedly expandable top-of-the line computer! We really SHOULD be able to use any video card vendor we want...

I did find one great deal directly through Apple... if you're a member of AAAS (http://aaasmember.sciencemag.org/), you can get about a 10% discount on most Apple products. I was originally going to order a 4-core with 8800GT for $2299! But again, it had a 1 month lead time, I'd have to pay sales tax, and Amazon had the 8-core in stock for free delivery with no tax and a $150 rebate...

[thagomizer]

Are there any benchmark comparisons to show that one of the Inno, XFX, BFG, etc. performs significantly better than the stock 8800GT?

Some of these cards come pre-overclocked in their BIOS (when running Windows) up to 700MHz, and any of them, including Apple's, can be overclocked after the fact in Windows using various tools; I've heard of some going up to 740MHz. But most of these cards are identical in design to what Apple ships. Some have upgraded coolers. I considered buying one of these but I didn't want to find out the hard way whether it has a 128k flash:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329

Under OS X, they will all run at 600MHz, assuming you are using the EFI firmware posted at the beginning of this thread.

[almostinsane]

I have an evga 8800GT with 1024rom but when I run "nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom" I get the error below:

Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...

Adapter: BR04 (05B1h)

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

Adapter: G92-270

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

No Matches Found.



Anyone know why? There's only 1 card in the system.

[mrcandy]

Some of these cards come pre-overclocked in their BIOS (when running Windows) up to 700MHz, and any of them, including Apple's, can be overclocked after the fact in Windows using various tools; I've heard of some going up to 740MHz. But most of these cards are identical in design to what Apple ships. Some have upgraded coolers. I considered buying one of these but I didn't want to find out the hard way whether it has a 128k flash:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127329

Under OS X, they will all run at 600MHz, assuming you are using the EFI firmware posted at the beginning of this thread.

You're correct that all cards once flashed will be at stock (600MHz) clock rates. However, editing the ROM to overclcock the card is possible, even for cards that were not originally overclocked. See this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=441162) for details. I'm getting a 15% boost in frame rate at 700 MHz in Crysis. The other advantage of editing the ROM means that the overclock sticks in OSX.

[thagomizer]

You're correct that all cards once flashed will be at stock (600MHz) clock rates. However, editing the ROM to overclcock the card is possible, even for cards that were not originally overclocked. See this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=441162) for details. I'm getting a 15% boost in frame rate at 700 MHz in Crysis. The other advantage of editing the ROM means that the overclock sticks in OSX.

Cool, I will try it!

[thagomizer]

I have an evga 8800GT with 1024rom but when I run "nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom" I get the error below:

Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...

Adapter: BR04 (05B1h)

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

Adapter: G92-270

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

No Matches Found.



Anyone know why? There's only 1 card in the system.

Are you using nvflash v5.57?

[almostinsane]

yup. Tried it in two different PC's. Same result.

[HansG]

I have an evga 8800GT with 1024rom but when I run "nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom" I get the error below:

Checking for matches between display adapter(s) and image(s)...

Adapter: BR04 (05B1h)

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

Adapter: G92-270

Overriding PCI subsystem ID mismatch

No Matches Found.



Anyone know why? There's only 1 card in the system.

Hi,
Ive had the same problem. For flashing I used there options:

nvflash --index=0 -4 -5 -6 somerom.rom
(or nvflash somerom.rom --index=0 -4 -5 -6 dont know anymore)

It complains alot but always answer yes and nvflash will overwrite the rom. The option index=0 is needed when the PCI Devids dont match. This option can kill your card :) But i made a backup of my rom in case of something goes wrong with:

nvflash --index=0 oldrom.rom

Hope this helps ...

[Infrared]

Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available.

If you haven't already done so, you could try this. Open a
console (ctrl-opt-~ if memory serves) and type these lines:

set r_mode -1
set r_customWidth 2560
set r_customHeight 1600
vid_restart

[thagomizer]

If you haven't already done so, you could try this. Open a
console (ctrl-opt-~ if memory serves) and type these lines:

set r_mode -1
set r_customWidth 2560
set r_customHeight 1600
vid_restart

Thanks, I found that hint as well, and tried it. But when I exited the console, it reset itself to the lowest resolution possible. Not a big deal I suppose, it looks nice at 1920 x 1200. :-)

[diamond.g]

Thanks, I found that hint as well, and tried it. But when I exited the console, it reset itself to the lowest resolution possible. Not a big deal I suppose, it looks nice at 1920 x 1200. :-)

there should be a .cfg file in the quake folder (I want to say autoexec.cfg) where I am pretty sure you can add those custom parameters and the game will use them on every launch.

[smgfreak]

Here it is,

650 GPU
1625 SHADER
900 MEMORY

so you dont have to Edit all the Time you boot up Windows and it is 100% Stable .

let´s say you buy a Card with 690 / 1625 Shader / 1900 MEMORY you can Edit it before the Flash.

[Tallest Skil]

I'm getting a 15% boost in frame rate at 700 MHz in Crysis. The other advantage of editing the ROM means that the overclock sticks in OSX.

So you'd say (from what I skimmed in the other thread) that 700Mhz is the safe limit for overclocking a PC 8800 GT. How do I go about actually doing this so that it sticks in OS X?

Does this work with the Apple standard card, too? That would be amazing and I don't see why it wouldn't.

Two 8800 GT... 700Mhz each...In OS X. :cool:

[mrcandy]

So you'd say (from what I skimmed in the other thread) that 700Mhz is the safe limit for overclocking a PC 8800 GT. How do I go about actually doing this so that it sticks in OS X?

Someone else posted saying that any 8800 ever made was capable of running at 700MHz, but no reference for that claim was provided. However, the card I'm using is marketed as a 'stock' 600 MHz 8800, and it is certainly capable of running at 700, so their claim is certainly true for me. There's a couple of other people now reporting success with OC'ing and nobody is at less than 700.

You need to flash the changes into the ROM to make them work in OSX. Check this thread in post #35 for the ROM image, #44 for the flashing instructions, and #109 for how to flash using the MP. To edit the ROM image you'll need to download NiBiTor.

Does this work with the Apple standard card, too? That would be amazing and I don't see why it wouldn't.

Two 8800 GT... 700Mhz each...In OS X. :cool:

I don't see why it wouldn't work just as well with an Apple card. The only consideration might be a backup plan in case you flash the card with too high an OC. It's easily fixed by flashing it back, but to do so you would need to either i) flash blind, ii) flash in MP while using a different video card, or iii) have access to another PC in which to flash the card

[cmturner2]

I guess another question is 'has anyone tried the overclock with the Apple 8800GT'?

I'd be surprised if it didn't work.

[thagomizer]

There's a couple of other people now reporting success with OC'ing and nobody is at less than 700.


mrcandy: thanks for finding and posting the relevant tools. Just another data point, my card is now at 700/1620/1000, and stable. It was originally factory set to 650/1620/950.

[antsh]

Hey guys its me again, and with all this talk of overclocking I had to chime in. Even though I am using my XFX 8800GT with a PC at the moment, I can explain to you guys how to get it to stick using the bios of the card.

What you will need is access to windows somehow, be it through bootcamp or a VM. You then need to get a program called Nibitor 3.7a. It can be easily found using google. You then open up the rom file for the 8800GT bios using the program. I recommend opening the rom file and not trying to read it from the card, as this will avoid more possible issues. The first tab that you will see will be the clockrates tab. It should have a set of clocks for 2D and a set for Extra. Change the values in the Extra field to whatever you desire (read: that you know to be safe and working). Save the file, and use nvflash again to flash the new bios back to your card. The card should now run at your new speed.

Now, for the more adventurous people out there, you can also raise the voltage of the card very slightly using this program. This will give you a very small boost in overclocking. What you need to do is go to the voltages tab, go to the exact tab and select 1.1V (default for these cards is 1.05V. Save and flash as above.

Regarding how far these cards will overclock, it is really up to luck. Most cards online seem to do fine up until 700 core and 1000 (2000 DDR) memory. I was lucky and at stock voltage my card does 730/1728/1000. At 1.1V it does 750/1836/1000. I never tried to push the memory since it has a very small effect on performance and the chips these cards use are 1.0ns.

If you guys have any further questions, post them up and I'll do my best to answer them, or PM me if you want.

Oh, and one more thing, I will be looking to sell my card in a week or two, so if you guys are interested, let me know and I will preflash it with the Mac bios and the clockspeeds you want before I ship it off.

[Ikyo]

I tried running mine at 700:1600:1000 and the card ran great for a little bit. After about 4 or 5 hours, it caused crashes in Mac OSX. I moved the speed down and haven't seen an issue since.

[sweedigel]

Hi,

I just received my Jetway 8800GT this morning. I put it in the SLOT1 and my original RadeonHD in the SLOT2.
I powered on the Macpro, and there was a loud strident noise, so I quickly stopped it.
Maybe it happened because I didn't use any additionnal power cable on the GeForce ? I thought it was possible to use the card without it as long as it's not running a 3D app.
And If I use the two molex connectors on the optical bay, I'll not be able to use my optical drive as well. :(

[aLoC]

Yup, the high-pitched squeal is from not connecting the extra power. It happened to me but no permanent damage.

If you get a molex splitter (which nearly any computer shop will have) you can split the lower optical drive molex in to two connectors.

[GotPro]

Ok... I've read almost all the posts in this thread... and I'm still a bit confused.

I'm sorry up front for the idiocy...

I have the 2.8 Quad and 8800GT...

If I edit the bios with the tool in windows, increase the clock rate, boot off the CD, flash the new firmware...

AND WILL THE HIGHER CLOCK RATES BE RETAINED IN OS X???

Thanks in advance...!!!

[Pressure]

Ok... I've read almost all the posts in this thread... and I'm still a bit confused.

I'm sorry up front for the idiocy...

I have the 2.8 Quad and 8800GT...

If I edit the bios with the tool in windows, increase the clock rate, boot off the CD, flash the new firmware...

AND WILL THE HIGHER CLOCK RATES BE RETAINED IN OS X???

Thanks in advance...!!!

Indeed but you will also void your AppleCare in the process.

[antsh]

If you edit the clocks in the bios, they should be retained regardless of OS being used. Both OSX and Windows will use the clocks that the bios of the card reports. Please post if you experience something otherwise.

[sweedigel]

Yup, the high-pitched squeal is from not connecting the extra power. It happened to me but no permanent damage.

If you get a molex splitter (which nearly any computer shop will have) you can split the lower optical drive molex in to two connectors.Yeah a molex splitter of course, sorry for the stupid question:D
I have also read in page 3 of this thread that using only one molex on the 6pins connector would deliver enough power for the card. Anyone tried ?

[mrcandy]

Yeah a molex splitter of course, sorry for the stupid question:D
I have also read in page 3 of this thread that using only one molex on the 6pins connector would deliver enough power for the card. Anyone tried ?

Using only one of the two molex connectors worked fine for me. If you use a splitter the power is coming from the same place anyway and two molex would only solve a problem if the wires/pins could't handle the current.

[smgfreak]

Hey can you get your friend to send me his ROM? What card was it that he flashed exactly?

Hi there, ok i got the Originl ZOTAC ROM for you !

[sweedigel]

Using the optical bay's molex is a bit tricky. Is there a place who ship in europe where I can buy an 6pin to small 6-pin adapter (like this http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/lovemacs_1991_297597737) for cheaper than 30$ ?

[almostinsane]

Hi,
Ive had the same problem. For flashing I used there options:

nvflash --index=0 -4 -5 -6 somerom.rom
(or nvflash somerom.rom --index=0 -4 -5 -6 dont know anymore)

It complains alot but always answer yes and nvflash will overwrite the rom. The option index=0 is needed when the PCI Devids dont match. This option can kill your card :) But i made a backup of my rom in case of something goes wrong with:

nvflash --index=0 oldrom.rom

Hope this helps ...

Hey Thanks! That was the solution or close. It actually had to be:

nvflash --index=1 -4 -5 -6 somerom.rom

But the flash worked and I have an 8800Gt for 1/2 the price that Apple wanted!

This is with an EVGA 8800GT Superclocked card.

[mac2beach]

EVGA 8800GTS 512 Working Great in Leopward with my new MAC PRO!

[macz1]

EVGA 8800GTS 512 Working Great in Leopward with my new MAC PRO!


Do you really mean GTS and not GT?
Did you use the unaltered GT Mac ROM? Perhaps the supplementary stream processors of the GTS (128 instead of 112) are now disabled because of the ROM... Benchmarks?

[mac2beach]

thats right I did it with a EVGA 8800GTS the bios doesnt affect the shaders thats in the chip..

Since I had 2 of them from my SLI Vista Box I desided to try and see if it works. Glad I did


Anyone need a EVGA 8800GTS With the MAc Bios on it? since I dont need the 2nd one ?

[Pressure]

Do you really mean GTS and not GT?
Did you use the unaltered GT Mac ROM? Perhaps the supplementary stream processors of the GTS (128 instead of 112) are now disabled because of the ROM... Benchmarks?

The amount of stream processors are hardwired and has nothing to do with the firmware.

[mac2beach]

Exactly.. so now I have a GTS in my Mac Superclocked !

[SuperGrobi]

If you edit the clocks in the bios, they should be retained regardless of OS being used. Both OSX and Windows will use the clocks that the bios of the card reports. Please post if you experience something otherwise.

I "overclocked" my XFX 8800GT XXX back to the factory settings (670/1650/975) again. I used NBitor 3.8 and the card still works flawless with the higher clock in both Mac OS and Win XP. I checked the higher clockspeed in Win - is there a way to confirm the settings in Mac OS?

[SuperGrobi]

Is there a chance that the 9800 GX2 will run with the 8800GT ROM (if this card ever makes it into shops)? I think it uses the G92 GPU as well, right? But, would Mac OS be able to handle this "2 internal GPU in SLI" card?

[macz1]

The amount of stream processors are hardwired and has nothing to do with the firmware.

Yes, you are right, but there were some cards in which you could activate supplementar units by a ROM flash (Radeon 9500 -> 9700 IIRC). Sometimes these units were faulty but not always. A cheap method to sell more /partially faulty GPUs.
You could also "downgrade" a card flashing the ROM of the slower one. Obviously this is not the case with the 8800 series.

[Tallest Skil]

Is there a chance that the 9800 GX2 will run with the 8800GT ROM (if this card ever makes it into shops)?

You're kidding, right? You'd have better luck flashing it with the Hackintosh 9800 GX2 ROM than trying to tell it that it's one 8800 GT.

[antsh]

I "overclocked" my XFX 8800GT XXX back to the factory settings (670/1650/975) again. I used NBitor 3.8 and the card still works flawless with the higher clock in both Mac OS and Win XP. I checked the higher clockspeed in Win - is there a way to confirm the settings in Mac OS?

I can't actually help you with that SuperGrobi as I only had a windows computer. If windows is showing the higher clocks, however, there is a good chance that OSX is recognizing these as the "standard" clocks as well. A crude way of checking this could be to run xbench or a similar program and compare the results with a similar system that is using a stock clocked 8800GT.

[diamond.g]

Is there a chance that the 9800 GX2 will run with the 8800GT ROM (if this card ever makes it into shops)? I think it uses the G92 GPU as well, right? But, would Mac OS be able to handle this "2 internal GPU in SLI" card?It depends if it shows up as one GPU to the system or 2. The 3870x2 shows up as one GPU. Whereas the 7950GX2 showed up as 2. The chance of it working is much greater if it shows up as one GPU.

[Cindori]

afaik the 9800gx2 is two 8800GTX'es and then we can not get it to work in OSX.

[Tallest Skil]

afaik the 9800gx2 is two 8800GTX'es and then we can not get it to work in OSX.

I believe it's two 8800 GT. If it's seen as such, it would probably be next to impossible to flash the ROM for one onto it.

[thagomizer]

Using the optical bay's molex is a bit tricky. Is there a place who ship in europe where I can buy an 6pin to small 6-pin adapter (like this http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/lovemacs_1991_297597737) for cheaper than 30$ ?

I got mine from here and it works fine.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

[thagomizer]

EVGA 8800GTS 512 Working Great in Leopward with my new MAC PRO!

That's great that this works. But it's not clear what you're saying -- in practice, does the card show up with (and use) 128 shaders like a GTS, or 112 shaders like a GT? Can you show a screenshot of nTune in Windows? Thanks for trying this..

[diamond.g]

I believe it's two 8800 GT. If it's seen as such, it would probably be next to impossible to flash the ROM for one onto it.

afaik the 9800gx2 is two 8800GTX'es and then we can not get it to work in OSX.

It should have the same specs as two 8800GTS's (128 SPs, higher clocked, ect). Again, it will depend on if nVidia does what ATI did. nVidia's last dual GPU didn't so only time will tell.

[mrcandy]

I "overclocked" my XFX 8800GT XXX back to the factory settings (670/1650/975) again. I used NBitor 3.8 and the card still works flawless with the higher clock in both Mac OS and Win XP. I checked the higher clockspeed in Win - is there a way to confirm the settings in Mac OS?

There's no program I was able to find that shows you the clocks directly under OSX. However, I did run a benchmark on UT2004 in OSX both before and after flashing with OC. There is most definitely a change in frame rate between the two. See this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=441162), first post for the benchmark results.

[Brianna]

I wouldn't recommend using NBitor 3.8 on your stock Apple 8800GT though. I reset the ROM's clock and it just took me about about 3 hours of messing around to get it back. I had to borrow a card from a windows machine to boot it into windows, and have the BOOT CAMP control panel chose to have it boot up with the FreeDOS CD because apparently holding down the "C" key doesn't work under leopard, or didn't work with the new OC'd ROM. I thought I was a goner. :cool:

[mac2beach]

I am setting up bootcamp right now.. I get you the screenshots u asked for

[erteclas]

are this ok to flsh it?


VGA PCI-EX NVIDIA NX8800GT 512MB GIGABYTE DDR3 TV DVI NX88T512HP

[Pressure]

are this ok to flsh it?


VGA PCI-EX NVIDIA NX8800GT 512MB GIGABYTE DDR3 TV DVI NX88T512HP

You will have to find out the size of the EEPROM on the card. It has to be 128k in size before you can flash it with the Mac compatible firmware.

[Brianna]

You will have to find out the size of the EEPROM on the card. It has to be 128k in size before you can flash it with the Mac compatible firmware.

It's more than just the 128K / 1024x1S. It has to have an MX at the beginning of the EEPROM ID. The PMC code versions do not work even if it has 128K.

[Brianna]

ALso If your planing on buying and spending anything extra on an OC'd version of any card I would be prepared to run it at normal speeds. All those OC'd settings are in the ROM, so the second you put the Mac ROM in the card you end up with a regular 600MHz card. I've already tried OC'ing the Mac ROM to match an OC'd card and it didn't work. Couldn't boot up or anything. Wouldn't even boot into windows.

[SuperGrobi]

ALso If your planing on buying and spending anything extra on an OC'd version of any card I would be prepared to run it at normal speeds. All those OC'd settings are in the ROM, so the second you put the Mac ROM in the card you end up with a regular 600MHz card. I've already tried OC'ing the Mac ROM to match an OC'd card and it didn't work. Couldn't boot up or anything. Wouldn't even boot into windows.

What software did you use?
I had no problems overclocking my card from the Mac ROM settings back to the "overclocked" factory settings. Are you sure you did ONLY change the correct values?

Sorry, just read your earlier post. Humh, strange, I used NBitor 3.8 as well.

[gmontag]

Thanks for the info posted. I was able to get a evga superclock from Tigerdirect flashed and have 8800gt goodness added to my mac pro without a 5-7 week or a $350 cost.

Just some notes. I was able to do everything from my mac. I used the EBCD.
http://www.ebcd.pcministry.com/
and put the files on the root of the bootcamp partition for windows.

[blakespot]

SUCCESS with EVGA e-GeForce 8800GT 512-P3-N802-AR. It has a 1024k x 1S flash chip. I got this from Amazon.com. Green PCB. :-) It looks like the NVIDIA reference design. This is a factory overclocked 650MHz card, but of course you lose the overclock (even in Windows) when you flash it with the Apple firmware. So it's running at 600MHz. I might try overclocking in software using RivaTuner once I'm sure the card is stable at stock speeds.

And the power cable I mentioned earlier works.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

Ran the Crysis demo for about 10 minutes at 2560x1600, everything set to high except for shaders and shadows set to medium. No AA. It looks great and plays beautifully. Unless this game slows down A LOT later in the game, I have no idea why anyone would fork out another $250 to run SLI. It has no lag at max resolution using one card. This is with the standard Apple bootcamp drivers. And the fan is barely audible. I do notice more heat coming out the back of the case.

Switched over to OS X and ran Quake 4 v1.4.2, everything maxed out... although for some reason 1920 x 1200 is the highest resolution available. Again, it's liquid smooth.

By the way, this card requires my HP monitor's DVI cable to be screwed down very tightly in order to get a picture. I thought the card was DOA at first, because I wasn't seeing anything even though it flashed ok and the fan spun up. The stock ATI card works even if the cable is loosely attached.

My system is a 2.8 dual quad, 10GB ram, 750GB WD RE2 hard disk.
Will this work in an "older" Mac Pro that can't run the GF 8800GT offered by Apple (due to EFI issues)? Tnx.



blakespot

[thagomizer]

Will this work in an "older" Mac Pro that can't run the GF 8800GT offered by Apple (due to EFI issues)? Tnx.



blakespot

Sorry, it won't. Not until an EFI32 firmware image is available for these cards. Apple is supposedly working on it, though.

[Brianna]

What software did you use?
I had no problems overclocking my card from the Mac ROM settings back to the "overclocked" factory settings. Are you sure you did ONLY change the correct values?

Sorry, just read your earlier post. Humh, strange, I used NBitor 3.8 as well.

What card did you use? How OC'd is it? 700MHz?

[antsh]

Hey guys, I'm looking to sell off my 8800GT card, and thought I'd give you guys a chance to buy it before I post it on PC forums. It is an XFX 8800GT XXX edition that I'd flash the Mac BIOS to before shipping it off. If you look at my earlier posts in this thread you'll see what its capable of. I'd flash it to any speeds you want that I know to be working (again look at my previous posts). I am asking $210 plus any shipping you want. This card has a double life time warranty so you will be getting a full lifetime warranty with the card. It comes with all the original accessories and packaging.

So, to sum it up, I have an XFX 8800GT that I'd flash for you guys to the Mac BIOS with any overclock you want. I felt like it would be nice to offer it here before the PC world because I know how much of a commodity it is here. Let me know by PM.

**Please move or delete this post if it is inappropriate.**

[arcsbite]

Hey guys, I'm looking to sell off my 8800GT card, and thought I'd give you guys a chance to buy it before I post it on PC forums. It is an XFX 8800GT XXX edition that I'd flash the Mac BIOS to before shipping it off. If you look at my earlier posts in this thread you'll see what its capable of. I'd flash it to any speeds you want that I know to be working (again look at my previous posts). I am asking $210 plus any shipping you want. This card has a double life time warranty so you will be getting a full lifetime warranty with the card. It comes with all the original accessories and packaging.

So, to sum it up, I have an XFX 8800GT that I'd flash for you guys to the Mac BIOS with any overclock you want. I felt like it would be nice to offer it here before the PC world because I know how much of a commodity it is here. Let me know by PM.

**Please move or delete this post if it is inappropriate.**

I'd like first refusal if you can ship to the UK, PMing you for more details

[antsh]

I'd like first refusal if you can ship to the UK, PMing you for more details

Card is sold to arcsbite. He is a great customer, btw, in case anyone finds themselves dealing with him later. I completely vouch for him.

[Tallest Skil]

Fie! I wanted it! I need to be quicker in asking my mom about these things! :p

[arcsbite]

Fie! I wanted it! I need to be quicker in asking my mom about these things! :p

sorry mate :)
been trying to get one for my Pro for a few weeks now.

[Tallest Skil]

sorry mate :)
been trying to get one for my Pro for a few weeks now.

That's fine. Who am I to complain about a missed 8800 GT? I'm getting two regardless!

[arcsbite]

That's fine. Who am I to complain about a missed 8800 GT? I'm getting two regardless!

seems like overkill for an iMac ;)

[Tallest Skil]

seems like overkill for an iMac ;)

NO WAI! SLI FTW!one :p:D

Great, now we'll get people posting below me, "How you put 800gt in IMAC?!"

[phantompower]

To this board and particularly this thread...I owe a LOT! I successfully flashed an EVGA 8800GT (non superclocked) today and it went without a hitch! Gotta love saving nearly $130 on the non Apple standard.

Thank you all!

Add me to the list for the same exact card as mrcandy. And I bought the card today at Microcenter. $229 with a $30 rebate making it $199 AR.

[Ikyo]

I just installed my Akimbo cooler for my EVGA 8800GT SC. It was extremely easy to put, but there is one drawback. You must place the card in slot two not 1. It will not work in 1 because there is an additional cooler piece on the bottom of the card (part b).

http://www.evga.com/products/images/products/202-F2-EV03-A1.jpg

[statikcat]

I have read through most of this thread but am not quite sure on one thing..

Will flashing this 8800GT work on the first gen Mac Pro (2.66) or only on the new Mac Pro? Is there a similar card that can be flashed (other than the old ATI) for first gen MP? Thanks!

[Tallest Skil]

I have read through most of this thread but am not quite sure on one thing..

Will flashing this 8800GT work on the first gen Mac Pro (2.66) or only on the new Mac Pro? Is there a similar card that can be flashed (other than the old ATI) for first gen MP? Thanks!

No. They're flashing with the Apple ROM from the current Apple 8800 GT. It's EFI64 ROM, so it won't work in the last Mac Pro.

[Ikyo]

It will only work on the 08 Mac Pro's. They do not currently have a ROM version for the older ones.

[statikcat]

Didn't Apple promise a new Nvidia card for first gen Mac Pros soon?

[Executor]

Didn't Apple promise a new Nvidia card for first gen Mac Pros soon?

Yeah, multiple sites reported that nvidia would release a card compatible with the older Mac Pro and that Apple would sell it. That was over 7 weeks ago, nothing new since then.

[statikcat]

Awesome thanks for the info I have been lagged behind on these forums lately hah. Hope that one gets a flash too ;)

[barefeats]

And... I've located a source for those outrageous $30 Apple power cables: for $13!!!

ATI has them on clearance, even with shipping it's cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778



I ordered this and it arrived a few days ago. Though ATI says it's for the G5 Power Mac with PCIe slots, it is identical to the cable that Apple ships with the GeForce 8800 GT on the 2008 Mac Pro (or any other Mac Pro card requiring power feed). I'm using it to power both Mac and PC cards in our Mac Pro 2008.

[waha]

Anyone know if it's possible to check what flash chip is being used from Windows? Is nvflash.exe unable to even do the --check thing under Windows?

[Brianna]

Yeah, multiple sites reported that nvidia would release a card compatible with the older Mac Pro and that Apple would sell it. That was over 7 weeks ago, nothing new since then.

That's not exactly accurate because Nvidia doesn't make video cards, but the general sentiment is correct.

[Brianna]

Anyone know if it's possible to check what flash chip is being used from Windows? Is nvflash.exe unable to even do the --check thing under Windows?

It's a DOS only app so I think you can do it in a windows 98 DOS prompt, but not in XP or higher. There is no true DOS in XP.

[sirris101]

Anyone know if it's possible to check what flash chip is being used from Windows? Is nvflash.exe unable to even do the --check thing under Windows?

Unfortunately not. I tried yesterday.

[mac2beach]

Just Flashed EVGA 8800GT Superclock works Great

[waha]

Just ordered an EVGA 8800GT Superclocked myself, managed to get the seller to check the flash for me after much work.

Ended up creating a bootable CD image with nvflash/etc on it, available at http://www.hantsuki.net/nvflash.zip incase anyone needs it.

Now to decide if I should hack the bios to run at the SC speeds or simply go default... decisions decisions.

[mcnearcj]

Success!

XFX 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition - PV-T88P-YDD4 - Green PCB

For what it's worth mine has Warranty 11/07 on the box

[sirris101]

EVGA is the way to go. There has yet to be a report of an EVGA 8800 GT that can't be flashed.

Did mine just three days ago and overclocked to 700mhz. Everything is running smoothly.

[MacNoobie]

Ended up getting a new Octocore 2.8 Penryn based macpro with a 2600 HD, Forgot that Apple uses EFI for their booting and bought a BFG 8800 GT OC card. Come to find out that its a 64x8s according to nvflash. I'm wondering a few things...

1. Is it worth bothering i've tried flashing 128k roms namely the mp8800gt.rom *yeah I know they dont work 128k vs 64k obviously it wont fit*

2. If there IS a 64k rom that DOES work in OSX can someone post it.. I dont care about the windows side of bootcamp.. if the card works in both great if not then no biggy.

3. Apples web store has been down for quite a long time and yeah its stupid to spend the $350 to get a card I should of for $200 but I couldn't wait past my birthday to get this beast.

[MacNoobie]

Ok I've given up on trying to get a BFG 8800 GT to work so I've got a couple choices I could try and find a 8800 GTS or so in the City when I go to return this card or try an EVGA 8800 GT card and pray it works in an 08 MP or I can just wait out a 1-2 week wait on an official 8800 GT upgrade by Apple.


I really do need a guarantied working card that works in 10.5.2 and on a Penryn based Mac Pro... any suggestions?

[diamond.g]

Ok I've given up on trying to get a BFG 8800 GT to work so I've got a couple choices I could try and find a 8800 GTS or so in the City when I go to return this card or try an EVGA 8800 GT card and pray it works in an 08 MP or I can just wait out a 1-2 week wait on an official 8800 GT upgrade by Apple.


I really do need a guarantied working card that works in 10.5.2 and on a Penryn based Mac Pro... any suggestions?
I am pretty sure someone lists what cards work and what don't earlier in this thread (or maybe it was another on?). You also have to make sure you get a card with the same EEPROM as the one the Apple uses, as there was someone who got a 128 ROM size but when flashed it didn't work.

[MacNoobie]

I am pretty sure someone lists what cards work and what don't earlier in this thread (or maybe it was another on?). You also have to make sure you get a card with the same EEPROM as the one the Apple uses, as there was someone who got a 128 ROM size but when flashed it didn't work.

How in the world am I going to find that out before I get home, I have to drive maybe an hour to bestbuy from here just to return the card I have, then go to circuit city to buy a EVGA one.. I might research the eeproms see if I can find any patterns

[aLoC]

If you want a guarantee by the Apple one. Everything on this thread is a hack at your own risk.

[ringworm]

Success!

eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked Edition from Amazon
512-P3-N802-AR

Bought this card on the advice of this thread, flashed on the Mac via mrcandy's freedos.iso instructions (also in this thread). Backed up my original bios as well, everything worked out great. Was it worth it? Oh, it was sooo worth it. Mac side and bootcamp both working great.

ringworm

[diamond.g]

How in the world am I going to find that out before I get home, I have to drive maybe an hour to bestbuy from here just to return the card I have, then go to circuit city to buy a EVGA one.. I might research the eeproms see if I can find any patterns

Sorry for the late reply, um I am not sure... But it sounds like the eVGA Superclock version is a safe bet!

[tugger]

Success!

eVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT Superclocked Edition from Amazon
512-P3-N802-AR
Best deal I found on this card with identical model number is at Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/evga-e-geforce-8800gt-superclocked-512mb-256-bit-ddr3-pci-e-2-0-sli/q/loc/101/206225576.html) for $204.99 with free shipping after $30 eVGA rebate (good thru 31 March).

Edit: I ordered this on 11 March at 1:00 AM, and it arrived today (12 March) at 6:00 PM with standard shipping. Unbelievable. Still waiting for the power cable from ATI.

[MacNoobie]

So what IS the exact success rate of the EVGA cards? I'm going down to the city in a few days and noticed that Circuit City's there sell EVGA's there.. none of em carry the 512-P3-N802-AR designation so I might just buy it on amazon.

I noticed they have one carrying a DX designation (instead of the AR) and I think I recall someone mentioning you need the MX designation for it to work.

I'd love to see a list of what specs or what I'm suppose to look at for a chance at success I'd rather buy the card in the city.

[tugger]

Hey Thanks! That was the solution or close. It actually had to be:
nvflash --index=1 -4 -5 -6 somerom.rom
Does the index designator refer to the slot the card is in? If so, what slot was your card in when you flashed it?

[mcnearcj]

@MacNoobie

I've read the whole thread and I don't recall any EVGA failing. Worst case is you return it for a full refund if you buy it at Circuit City.

[jhuss]

Hi,

I also managed to flash known EVGA card (e-GeForce8800GT, 512MB Superclocked, P/N 512-P3-E802-AR, green board, from amazon.de) successfully.

But: In OS X, after some more or less minutes I get quite weird graphical errors, then a black screen and complete OS freeze. Everything works fine in Windows Vista, though. Had a 2600XT installed previously.

Looks like some software issues, maybe there's something left from Ati that causes that? Any suggestions?

[diamond.g]

Hi,

I also managed to flash known EVGA card (e-GeForce8800GT, 512MB Superclocked, P/N 512-P3-E802-AR, green board, from amazon.de) successfully.

But: In OS X, after some more or less minutes I get quite weird graphical errors, then a black screen and complete OS freeze. Everything works fine in Windows Vista, though. Had a 2600XT installed previously.

Looks like some software issues, maybe there's something left from Ati that causes that? Any suggestions?

Sounds like errors from clocking. Usually driver problems wouldn't take time to appear. What clock is your card set at?

[nizzerbean]

Count another EVGA 8800GT flashed and functioning on the 2008 Mac Pro. I made a bootable USB key and flashed with a PC. I didn't try it with the Mac. I bought the stock one (not superclocked) from Newegg.

[jhuss]

Sounds like errors from clocking. Usually driver problems wouldn't take time to appear. What clock is your card set at?

Clock speeds are stored in the ROM, right? Since I flashed it today and did no changes, I assume that my card is running with standard clock. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Crysis demo and other GPU-intensive games worked without problems for several hours - but on Windows.. :(

[diamond.g]

Clock speeds are stored in the ROM, right? Since I flashed it today and did no changes, I assume that my card is running with standard clock. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Crysis demo and other GPU-intensive games worked without problems for several hours - but on Windows.. :(

Hmm, that is odd. Yes the stock clocks should be easeily handled by a card that came overclocked. I am not sure why OS X is hosing up. Does anyone think an Archive+Reinstall would help? Maybe boot from the Install DVD and see if the corruption happens there as well. If it doesn't then maybe the reinstall would be useful. I am just not sure how a ktext that isn't being used (the ati one) is causing issues.

[jhuss]

Hmm, that is odd. Yes the stock clocks should be easeily handled by a card that came overclocked. I am not sure why OS X is hosing up. Does anyone think an Archive+Reinstall would help? Maybe boot from the Install DVD and see if the corruption happens there as well. If it doesn't then maybe the reinstall would be useful. I am just not sure how a ktext that isn't being used (the ati one) is causing issues.

Ok, I will try to reinstall. Thanks for now..

[ringworm]

Hi,

I also managed to flash known EVGA card (e-GeForce8800GT, 512MB Superclocked, P/N 512-P3-E802-AR, green board, from amazon.de) successfully.

But: In OS X, after some more or less minutes I get quite weird graphical errors, then a black screen and complete OS freeze. Everything works fine in Windows Vista, though. Had a 2600XT installed previously.

Looks like some software issues, maybe there's something left from Ati that causes that? Any suggestions?

Hmm, haven't had any issues on the Mac side of things, but I did re-apply the 10.5.2 combo update after I booted back up. Maybe give that a shot before attempting more drastic measures. Hope this helps, let us know!

ringworm

[jhuss]

Hmm, haven't had any issues on the Mac side of things, but I did re-apply the 10.5.2 combo update after I booted back up. Maybe give that a shot before attempting more drastic measures. Hope this helps, let us know!

Too late... But it looks like a clean OS installation solved that issue. :)

[JollyRogers]

Coming from the Hackintosh world, I would think that removing the /System/Library/Extensions.mkext may have helped. It will force an update of cached kext's that are used with the system.

I so wanna try this. Circuit City is right up the road, but I also noticed the difference in the part # for the eVGA 8800GT they sold is 512-P3-N802-DX vice 512-P3-N802-AR and have no idea what the difference is. I looked at eVGA's website also and the p/n that is sold at newegg, amazon etc is listed, but not the one CC carries... will have to check on CC's REFUND policy.

[jhuss]

Too late... But it looks like a clean OS installation solved that issue. :)

Oh no! As I said, I did a fresh OS X installation, installation itself worked very well. But after half an hour playing around and reconfiguring the system, the same error occured again. I did nothing or installed anything which could possibly cause this error. Weird. :confused:

For now, I'm using an old ATX PC power supply to fire up that 8800 until my local Apple source delivers the power adapter for connecting the card to the Mac Pros mobo. Maybe that's the problem? But why is it working with Windows then? To calm down, I played Crysis for some hours, which worked without any problems. ;)

Delivery of that cable could take some days, to avoid that problem is caused by my external power supply, I will grab some Molex Y-Adapters today and connect the card to DVD power supply. Let's hope the best.

[jhuss]

Got my power adapter earlier than expected, it's on original apple spare part.

But still no luck. Crashes just some minutes after system start up.
Rechecked rom file and nvflash version (5.57).

Any help is appreciated. :(

[waha]

Got my power adapter earlier than expected, it's on original apple spare part.

But still no luck. Crashes just some minutes after system start up.
Rechecked rom file and nvflash version (5.57).

Any help is appreciated. :(

It definitely sounds like a typical 'Ooops, overclocked too much' error. But since it's the stock bios/EFI from Apple that can't really be it.

Your EVGA card has the right 128kb flash chip too I take it?

[jhuss]

Your EVGA card has the right 128kb flash chip too I take it?

Yep. It said 1024something. There were some errors while flashing, but I read in other posts that they were normal.

[waha]

I so wanna try this. Circuit City is right up the road, but I also noticed the difference in the part # for the eVGA 8800GT they sold is 512-P3-N802-DX vice 512-P3-N802-AR and have no idea what the difference is. I looked at eVGA's website also and the p/n that is sold at newegg, amazon etc is listed, but not the one CC carries... will have to check on CC's REFUND policy.
My EVGA card is 512-P3-E806-AR, and it has the correct flash chip. I've yet to flash it though as I'm still waiting on the actual Mac Pro to arrive.

[jhuss]

It definitely sounds like a typical 'Ooops, overclocked too much' error. But since it's the stock bios/EFI from Apple that can't really be it.

I checked clock speeds with nTune in Windows, they are the stock ones. Since my card is eVGAs overclock edition, it should be easily capable of even more speed.

[waha]

I checked clock speeds with nTune in Windows, they are the stock ones. Since my card is eVGAs overclock edition, it should be easily capable of even more speed.

Mmm, thing is, when it's booted in OS X it uses whatever's in the EFI part of the firmware. But I doubt Apple's own EFI firmware would be overclocked. :/

You should probably do another check with nvflash to see what exact chip it is, since there are 128kb chips that don't work.

This all is making me a bit worried since I got an eVGA superclock edition too.

[thagomizer]

Got my power adapter earlier than expected, it's on original apple spare part.

But still no luck. Crashes just some minutes after system start up.
Rechecked rom file and nvflash version (5.57).

Any help is appreciated. :(

Do you have another PC that you can test the card in? Your crash could be a Windows or driver problem in your bootcamp install. But if it happens on another PC, you know there's something wrong with the card. Some cards are just bad from the factory, even with eVGA.

By the way, your card is slightly different from mine. I have a 512-P3-N802-AR, which is also listed as e-Geforce 8800GT Superclocked Edition. I also got mine from amazon.

[diamond.g]

Mmm, thing is, when it's booted in OS X it uses whatever's in the EFI part of the firmware. But I doubt Apple's own EFI firmware would be overclocked. :/

You should probably do another check with nvflash to see what exact chip it is, since there are 128kb chips that don't work.

This all is making me a bit worried since I got an eVGA superclock edition too.OS X honors the PC overclock.

Do you have another PC that you can test the card in? Your crash could be a Windows or driver problem in your bootcamp install. But if it happens on another PC, you know there's something wrong with the card. Some cards are just bad from the factory, even with eVGA.

By the way, your card is slightly different from mine. I have a 512-P3-N802-AR, which is also listed as e-Geforce 8800GT Superclocked Edition. I also got mine from amazon.

OP is having the problem with OS X not Windows. So there is something wrong with the EFI code, but I am unsure what it is.

[jhuss]

OP is having the problem with OS X not Windows. So there is something wrong with the EFI code, but I am unsure what it is.

Argh, first freeze in Windows, same weird graphic errors. I think there is something wrong with the card's hardware. I will send it back and try to get a new one. Hope that the cracked one was not the last 128K they had.

Thanks for your help (for now...)! :)

[jhuss]

Damn, I forgot do make a backup of the original ROM of my eVGA card (superclocked, 512-P3-E802-AR). Argh, what should I do now? I don't think amazon is amused when they get a flashed card back.

Can someone provide me a original ROM of that card? That would be very nice. :)

[diamond.g]

Argh, first freeze in Windows, same weird graphic errors. I think there is something wrong with the card's hardware. I will send it back and try to get a new one. Hope that the cracked one was not the last 128K they had.

Thanks for your help (for now...)! :)

Ah, stand corrected!

[waha]

Damn, I forgot do make a backup of the original ROM of my eVGA card (superclocked, 512-P3-E802-AR). Argh, what should I do now? I don't think amazon is amused when they get a flashed card back.

Can someone provide me a original ROM of that card? That would be very nice. :)

Wish I could help, but I don't have a single PC with PCI-Express. It seems you might be in luck though, http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=NVIDIA&manufacturer=EVGA&model=8800+GT&interface=PCI-E&memSize=512 has a whole bunch of EVGA bioses. I believe the 650/950 ones would be correct for the SC edition.

[thagomizer]

Can someone provide me a original ROM of that card? That would be very nice. :)

You can get all of the original firmware files directly from evga.com. Just navigate to Support, then Download Drivers, then Graphics Cards, GeForce 8 series, then BIOS Updates.

All the 8800GT firmware files for their various models are there, including the "SC". I see one for N802, but not for E802. I'm guessing it will still work, though. N802 is the card I have.

[jhuss]

You can get all of the original firmware files directly from evga.com. Just navigate to Support, then Download Drivers, then Graphics Cards, GeForce 8 series, then BIOS Updates.

Shame to me that I didn't even think to look there. Thanks a lot! :)

[3drteest]

Add to the best price at Buy.com this 5% off coupon and the total is $193.24 after rebate, including free shipping!

http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=84773074



Best deal I found on this card with identical model number is at Buy.com (http://www.buy.com/prod/evga-e-geforce-8800gt-superclocked-512mb-256-bit-ddr3-pci-e-2-0-sli/q/loc/101/206225576.html) for $204.99 with free shipping after $30 eVGA rebate (good thru 31 March).

Edit: I ordered this on 11 March at 1:00 AM, and it arrived today (12 March) at 6:00 PM with standard shipping. Unbelievable. Still waiting for the power cable from ATI.

[WardC]

OK, I am not going to spend 45 minutes and go through the 402 some-odd posts in this thread, but I have a couple quick questions:

Will the 8800 card (with this firmware update) work in a Woodcrest model Mac Pro (one with PCIe 1.0)???

Has nVidia released the long-awaited update or kit for the 8800 card for the last-gen Mac Pros? Or is a Harpertown model still required to use the 8800?

I have a refurb Quad-Core 3.0GHz on the way, as well as 16GB of RAM...it would be nice to be able to try out this card and get a peek at what this Crysis phenomenon is all about.

Thanks!
-Ward

[thagomizer]

Will the 8800 card (with this firmware update) work in a Woodcrest model Mac Pro (one with PCIe 1.0)???

Has nVidia released the long-awaited update or kit for the 8800 card for the last-gen Mac Pros?

Sorry, no. Not yet anyway.

[Ikyo]

Any idea why the video output in Windows would flicker and not in OSX?

[jhuss]

Argh, first freeze in Windows, same weird graphic errors. I think there is something wrong with the card's hardware. I will send it back and try to get a new one. Hope that the cracked one was not the last 128K they had.

The new card I got today seems to work fine. It's the same model. :)

Thanks for your help!

[tugger]

The new card I got today seems to work fine. It's the same model. :)
Great news, dude. I thought it was probably an issue with that specific card because your model number is so close to the eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR which works fine. Congrats for pursuing this to a successful conclusion. So now we know the

512-P3-N802-AR
and
512-P3-E802-AR

both work. I wonder if the "E" digit means "Europe"?

BTW, my power cable from ATI arrives on Monday. Can't wait to flash this beauty.

[waha]

BTW, my power cable from ATI arrives on Monday. Can't wait to flash this beauty.

How long did it take for them to ship it out?

[tugger]

How long did it take for them to ship it out?
It shipped the day after I ordered it, but they send it Fedex Express Saver Pack .... so, 2-3 days from Addison, TX to south Florida.

[waha]

It shipped the day after I ordered it, but they send it Fedex Express Saver Pack .... so, 2-3 days from Addison, TX to south Florida.

Weird... I ordered one 6 days ago, and I'm still waiting for it to be shipped.

[MacNoobie]

W00T W00T I just successfully modded a eVGA 8800 GT and it works perfectly in OSX 10.5 its got the same part # as the AR version except this one says DX on it.. 1024x1S and I used the mp8800gt.rom.

w00t

[Brianna]

Ah, stand corrected!

If it's a "bad card" that doesn't mean it's not compatible. It would be incompatible with anything. ;)

[tugger]

eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR flashed successfully. No problems at all with OS X. Booted normally, ran it for an hour doing different stuff including heavy graphics apps, X-Plane with settings maxed-out, and everything runs great. GPU fan barely audible, and no noticeable differences in internal temps.

In XP Pro (32) w/Boot Camp I got to the first boot screen, then nothing. (I should mention that I didn't remove the ATI 2600 -- it was still in slot 1, so this might have confused XP.) I pulled the ATI card, rebooted in Safe mode and installed the eVGA drivers from the packaged CD when the New Hardware wizard requested them. Windows then booted fine. However, the Boot Camp CP wasn't working anymore, so I reinstalled the Boot Camp drivers, and now everything is fine.

UT3 at 1680x1050 is awesome ... smooth as silk.

Thanks a million to the pathfinders and others who contributed their knowledge and experiences to this thread. You made it easy for the rest of us.

Now where's that $30.00 eVGA rebate form? :D

[diamond.g]

If it's a "bad card" that doesn't mean it's not compatible. It would be incompatible with anything. ;)

True, I was telling another poster that the OP's problem was OS X only, but then the OP chimed in and said they were having a problem in Windows as well. Once the problem surfaced in Windows the best I could come up with was a bad flash or bad hardware.

[Benix]

...My NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GT GRAPHICS CARD-INT just shipped, 2 weeks before it was supposed 2...

...Can wait to test that beast...! Good luck with the flashing stuff...!

Ben

[waha]

My Mac Pro arrived earlier today and the first thing I did was to flash my 8800GT. Works perfectly.

EVGA 8800GT Superclocked Crysis Edition, 512-P3-E806-AR

Didn't bother editing the firmware to get the superclocked speeds, as I prefer less power usage/heat :)

[Cyberjenks]

EVGA 8800GT P/N 512-P3-N802-AR All systems a go!!!! Thanks all for your posts...I ran into a little issue...but I just read through this Thread and BAM!!!! Once again thanks all.:)

[Guiyon]

Just got in my EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR from MicroCenter and it had a 1024kx1S ROM and took the flash with no problems! I haven't yet tested it in my Mac Pro yet (waiting for the cable from ATI to arrive) but it booted up in Windows on my secondary PC with no problems what-so-ever (correction, it actually crashes, hard).

Update:
It looks like the card is not bad but sometime in the Mac Pro 8800GT ROM is causing the card to flip out after a couple of minutes of runtime. Using the original BIOS works fine. If it helps, here are a few entries from my flash logs (going from the MP back to the original):

Current - Version:62.92.20.00.00 ID:10DE:0611:10DE:054F
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (Normal Board)
Replace with - Version:62.92.24.00.01 ID:10DE:0611:3842:C801
G92 Board - 03930004 (Normal Board)

EEPROM ID (C2,10) : MX 25L1005 2.7-3.6V 1024Kx1S, page

If anyone wants copies of the log files, let me know (I have the Original -> MP and MP -> Original flash logs).

On a completely random note, does anyone happen to have a BIOS only dump from an Apple 8800GT? I want to try something brilliant/incredibly stupid.

Update 2:
I got ahold of the 64K dump and ripped out the older bios present in the EFI ROM, dropped in the newer EVGA BIOS and then flashed the card. It seemed to stop the Windows crashes but I haven't had a chance to try this in my Mac Pro yet so I'll report back with any success.

Gave it a shot and had no luck; only a black screen this time (I didn't think I'd get anything else).

[3drteest]

eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR worked great! Thanks everyone! :D

[Guiyon]

Just swapped the N801-AR for an N802-AR over at Micro Center and the card is now working beautifully in both MacOS X and Windows. I think there might be something a bit off with some of the N801-AR cards that is causing them to fail so miserably with the flash.

[pastrychef]

Add me to list of successful eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR flashers. I have mine running at 650 core, 1620 shader, and 950 memory. Those are the stock settings that eVGA had them set at.

[JollyRogers]

...And add me also as another success story... eVGA 512-P3-N801-AR worked flawlessy. Haven't done any testing other then use OSX and Vista Home 32 bit with the latest NVidia drivers.

Thanks all for this, saved me 150 bucks and applied it towards memory upgrade for the MAC PRO!:D

[pastrychef]

I'm an idiot and unwittingly delete the original firmware from my eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR 8800GT. Does anyone still have it? Do you think you can forward it to me? I want to check something out on it. Thanks. Much appreciated.

[thagomizer]

I'm an idiot and unwittingly delete the original firmware from my eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR 8800GT. Does anyone still have it? Do you think you can forward it to me? I want to check something out on it. Thanks. Much appreciated.

See post #402

[pastrychef]

I'm an idiot and unwittingly delete the original firmware from my eVGA 512-P3-N802-AR 8800GT. Does anyone still have it? Do you think you can forward it to me? I want to check something out on it. Thanks. Much appreciated.

Got it from guiyon. Thanks!

[knome]

It's a Apple specific cable, you can buy it for 30$, or build your own: http://www.welovemacs.com/9227128.html (I am using one of those in a 1st gen Mac Pro)



Yea that cable doesn't work....

[lenster]

Well, I'm making the plunge and getting an EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR from newegg. They are selling it for $179 AR with promotional code VGA32520.

I think they have an EVGA 8800GTS also on sale with a promotional code but I hadn't seen the overwhelming successful posts that I've seen with the 8800GT and I can always get the 8800GTS later if more folks have success flashing it.

[Tbarr]

I've got the NewEgg 'version' of the EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR. Everything seems to be fine, but, I've noticed a problem with OpenGL Extensions Viewer 3.01. When the test gets to the OGL 2.1 part, the image is corrupt. My ATI 2600 doesn't have a problem, and when you run the Apple Software Renderer on the 8800 screen it looks fine too. Must be the Drivers...Right?

OpenGL Extensions Viewer 3.01
http://www.realtech-vr.com/glview/download.html

[Guiyon]

It's a bug in the 3.0.1 version. I just tested 3.0.0 and the last test runs fine. It should be showing a Mandelbrot zooming in and out on each face of each cube.

[Tbarr]

Yep, it must be an OpenGL Viewer 3.01 bug. I found a copy of 2.29 on my old PowerMac and the OGL 2.1 test works fine with it too. Now I just have to rationalize why the 8800 gets it's butt kicked by the 2600 in GioFX OpenMark 1.6 :eek: and barely manages a tie in CINEBENCH R10. The 8800 does fare well in the OpenGL Extensions Viewer scores though ;)

[Techmaster]

Add another success story to the list.

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR

Bought it on Newegg yesterday for 194.99 + 7.26 s&h, plus there's a $30 mail-in rebate. So $172.25 for a Geforce 8800GT in my Mac Pro. NOT BAD!


Also, I used the cable thagomizer found, for $13.
http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778
Works PERFECT, no modifications needed. Definitely use this one, guys.

[Brianna]

Has the Mac Pro EFI firmware update had any effect on 8800GT's that were not supplied by Apple?

[Techmaster]

Has the Mac Pro EFI firmware update had any effect on 8800GT's that were not supplied by Apple?

Doesn't seem to. I ran the EFI update after I installed my 8800 tonight, and no problems.

[Brianna]

Doesn't seem to. I ran the EFI update after I installed my 8800 tonight, and no problems.

And this is not an OEM 8800GT from Apple?

[macwire]

evga 512-P3-N801-AR from newegg working here! Thanks guys!

[Techmaster]

And this is not an OEM 8800GT from Apple?

No, it is the eVGA 512-P3-N801-AR

[Brianna]

No, it is the eVGA 512-P3-N801-AR

Good to know. Thanks! :p

[cscturulo]

OK, I am not going to spend 45 minutes and go through the 402 some-odd posts in this thread, but I have a couple quick questions:

Will the 8800 card (with this firmware update) work in a Woodcrest model Mac Pro (one with PCIe 1.0)???

Has nVidia released the long-awaited update or kit for the 8800 card for the last-gen Mac Pros? Or is a Harpertown model still required to use the 8800?

I have a refurb Quad-Core 3.0GHz on the way, as well as 16GB of RAM...it would be nice to be able to try out this card and get a peek at what this Crysis phenomenon is all about.

Thanks!
-Ward

Did you get an answer to this? I have a first generation Quad-Core Mac Pro 3.0 GHZ machine. I contacted Apple, and asked them if the Nvidia Card they sell on their website would work in this machine, they said it would. Just for the record, I asked three different Apple representatives, and they all agreed that it would work. So I bought the EVGA Card from NewEgg.com as recommended in this thread, and I have not been able to get it to work. It flashes just fine, but when I boot up in OS X, I get nothing.

Is there a newer ROM file I should be using? Can someone post the newest ROM file we should be using for to flash this card? I would so appreciate it! Do I need to update Mac OS X? Apple said this card would work in this Mac Pro, so I am a bit confused. Let me know if anybody else has answers to this question.

[WardC]

Did you get an answer to this? I have a first generation Quad-Core Mac Pro 3.0 GHZ machine. I contacted Apple, and asked them if the Nvidia Card they sell on their website would work in this machine, they said it would. Just for the record, I asked three different Apple representatives, and they all agreed that it would work. So I bought the EVGA Card from NewEgg.com as recommended in this thread, and I have not been able to get it to work. It flashes just fine, but when I boot up in OS X, I get nothing. Is there a newer ROM file I should be using? Do I need to update Mac OS X? Apple said this card would work in this Mac Pro, so I am a bit confused. Let me know if anybody else has answers to this question.

Well, I have my Mac Pro now. I am just using the ATI x1900 card it came with, it's not a bad card, and I haven't had any problems with it.

I think the issue on the 8800 card is that the card is only compatible with PCIe 2.0 compatible boards, with that slot. The older Mac Pros have only PCIe 1.0, and can't drive the nVidia 8800 properly. The newer 2008 Harpertown Mac Pros are the only Mac Pros to have the new PCIe 2.0 slot, so those seem to be the only ones compatible with the card. Most of this thread has been about people wanting to get a "cheaper" card by buying a PC version of the 8800 from newegg or somewhere "on the cheap" and flashing it with a Mac ROM, thus enabling it to work in a 2008-model Mac Pro...people have been able to get this to work well, and are excited about saving a hundred bucks or more.

For us though, I am afraid, no luck as of now on the 8800
-Ward

[lenster]

Can someone post the MD5 hash for the working ROM that was posted earlier? I want to confirm that I have the right file.

[jhuss]

Can someone post the MD5 hash for the working ROM that was posted earlier? I want to confirm that I have the right file.

MD5 (mp8800gt.rom) = 666f111bccb37a4222858f3795348f55

[Pressure]

Did you get an answer to this? I have a first generation Quad-Core Mac Pro 3.0 GHZ machine. I contacted Apple, and asked them if the Nvidia Card they sell on their website would work in this machine, they said it would. Just for the record, I asked three different Apple representatives, and they all agreed that it would work. So I bought the EVGA Card from NewEgg.com as recommended in this thread, and I have not been able to get it to work. It flashes just fine, but when I boot up in OS X, I get nothing.

Is there a newer ROM file I should be using? Can someone post the newest ROM file we should be using for to flash this card? I would so appreciate it! Do I need to update Mac OS X? Apple said this card would work in this Mac Pro, so I am a bit confused. Let me know if anybody else has answers to this question.

Well, I have my Mac Pro now. I am just using the ATI x1900 card it came with, it's not a bad card, and I haven't had any problems with it.

I think the issue on the 8800 card is that the card is only compatible with PCIe 2.0 compatible boards, with that slot. The older Mac Pros have only PCIe 1.0, and can't drive the nVidia 8800 properly. The newer 2008 Harpertown Mac Pros are the only Mac Pros to have the new PCIe 2.0 slot, so those seem to be the only ones compatible with the card. Most of this thread has been about people wanting to get a "cheaper" card by buying a PC version of the 8800 from newegg or somewhere "on the cheap" and flashing it with a Mac ROM, thus enabling it to work in a 2008-model Mac Pro...people have been able to get this to work well, and are excited about saving a hundred bucks or more.

For us though, I am afraid, no luck as of now on the 8800
-Ward

Correct, no Geforce 8800 GT for 2006 Mac Pro's.

The Radeon X1900 is faster in professional applications anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[lenster]

MD5 (mp8800gt.rom) = 666f111bccb37a4222858f3795348f55

Success!

Thanks a bunch. I confirmed the md5 and flashed my EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR with no problems. I will say that the warnings for mismatched PCI ids and such from nvflash always make my heart jump even if I know it should work!

[Pressure]

Considering the Geforce 9800GTX is based on the G92 chip we could be in for some fun ;)

Who is first to try? :D

[siorai]

Since I'm kinda paranoid about screwing something up, I just wanted to verify the steps needed to do this on the Mac Pro as I don't have access to a PC:

-create small FAT32 partition using BootCamp Assistant
-copy nvflash.exe and mp8800gt.rom to that partition
-remove ATI card and only have 8800GT in Mac Pro
-boot using fdfullcd.iso from freedos.org
-run nvflash.exe from partition
-run nvflash --check to verify size
-run nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom to flash ROM to card
-game away with silky smooth framerates

Anything I'm missing or doing wrong?

[pastrychef]

siorai:

Sounds like you got it.

[aLoC]

Anything I'm missing or doing wrong?

You might want to use nvflash.exe to backup the existing rom before flashing, just in case you one day want to put the card back in a PC.

[pastrychef]

You might want to use nvflash.exe to backup the existing rom before flashing, just in case you one day want to put the card back in a PC.

I'm not possitive, but I think it will still work in a PC with the Mac firmware.

[aLoC]

I'm not possitive, but I think it will still work in a PC with the Mac firmware.

My 8800GT no longer worked in my PC (home built PC with Intel motherboard and BIOS), but YMMV.

[pastrychef]

My 8800GT no longer worked in my PC (home built PC with Intel motherboard and BIOS), but YMMV.

Interesting. Thanks for the info. I don't have a PC so I won't be able to test this myself...

[siorai]

You might want to use nvflash.exe to backup the existing rom before flashing, just in case you one day want to put the card back in a PC.

Ahhh yes. That would probably be a good idea to add in there. Thanks.

[Guiyon]

My 8800GT no longer worked in my PC (home built PC with Intel motherboard and BIOS), but YMMV.

I had no problems here after I had flashed it; that was actually how I stress-tested the card a bit. This was using an MCS G33T-M2 using Windows XP. If it's not working in standard PC then there is a problem with the flash/card because Windows (and most Linux installs, for that matter) do not even know the EFI driver exists; they just use the BIOS routines.

[pastrychef]

I had no problems here after I had flashed it; that was actually how I stress-tested the card a bit. This was using an MCS G33T-M2 using Windows XP. If it's not working in standard PC then there is a problem with the flash/card because Windows (and most Linux installs, for that matter) do not even know the EFI driver exists; they just use the BIOS routines.

That's what I thought... But I guess it's still safer to keep a copy of the original firmware around.

[siorai]

Woot! Everything went fine once I used a late enough version of nvflash (5.57).

I flashed an eVGA 8800GT (512-P3-N801-AR) on my Mac Pro using the freedos image and putting nvflash and the mp8800gt.rom posted earlier onto a BootCamp Assistant made partition.

[Chilz0r]

For anybody still interested I have a Leadtek PX8800GTS 512mb working perfectly in OS X with the mac 8800gt rom. However I have not had any success in bootcamp.

[lenster]

Has anyone had any bootcamp success since flashing to the mac pro 8800gt rom?

[Guiyon]

Has anyone had any bootcamp success since flashing to the mac pro 8800gt rom?

Yep, my card works fine in both my standard PC and my Mac Pro in both XP and Vista.

[tugger]

Has anyone had any bootcamp success since flashing to the mac pro 8800gt rom?
When I first booted into XP via BootCamp after installing the eVGA 8800GT I got nothing but a black screen. I can't remember exactly what I had to do to get XP to recognize the new card -- I think I had to boot XP in Safe Mode and manually tell XP to use the new video adapter.

Anyway, maybe someone else who is more proficient in Windows can help you out with this. It's a simple fix and the card will work fine once you have it set-up correctly.

[JollyRogers]

If you had the 2600 installed, boot into windows with the original card installed and uninstall the drivers for the 2600. Now put the 8800gt back in (take the 2600 out) and boot into windows again... the 8800 will be recognized and then just install the nvidia drivers (it will ask to reboot again). Then it should work just fine, at least mine did. Windows has an issue running both the nvidia card and the ati card side by side I believe.

[pastrychef]

Has anyone had any bootcamp success since flashing to the mac pro 8800gt rom?

Yes. It worked fine for me right from the beginning (well, right after I did the flash).

[Tbarr]

Not a single hiccup here. I received the EVGA card before the Mac. I had already repartitioned my SATA drives and a couple ATAs to GUID while waiting on Fed-Ex. I ran the MacPro for about six hours to make sure all was well, then installed three more SATA drives and the EVGA 8800GT. The flash was over in a flash and an hour later I had XP Pro 32 bit running on drive three and using all three displays. Another hour and Fusion was running in Unity mode.

I have two displays connected to the ATI 2600 and the main connected to the 8800. I did let Auto Update install the latest nVidia drivers in XP. I haven't had a problem spanning three displays with the 8800 and 2600 in XP Pro. Unfortunately, Fusion only supports one display, they need to work on that... along with allowing the VM to access Mac drives.

Look at the Leadtek card that has the problem, it's an 8800GTS, not an 8800gt. Probably wouldn't have a problem if it was a GT. From my flashing experience, if you are interested in flashing a PC 8800GT for your Mac, I suggest you do it quickly. The card manufacturers will undoubtedly change their design before long and the flash probably won't work with the newer cards. Just look at the PC nVidia 7800GS, they went with a different core and those newer cards can't be used in a Mac. It's getting very difficult to find an 'older' PC 7800 that can be flashed for the Mac. Same thing will probably happen with the 8800.
Cheers.

[siorai]

Has anyone had any bootcamp success since flashing to the mac pro 8800gt rom?

I just installed Bootcamp this weekend. The flashed eVGA 8800GT works flawlessly. The games I've installed so far (Halflife 2 Orange Box, STALKER, Far Cry, AvP2, Doom 3, FEAR, FEAR Extraction Point) all work great and all with maxed out settings at 1920x1200. I'll be installing Bioshock, Crysis, and Call of Duty 4 in a bit as well.

[rgkgraphix]

Greetings everyone,

Has anybody posted the roms for the 8800gt for the 2006 MacPro's yet? Does the same process hold true for this version? Thanks

****Edit****
Nevermind I found the other posts talking about this...sorry!

[tvbi]

THanks, I followed your instruction to to put all files onto the CD using UltraISO worked perfectly.. I tried to use PowerISO since I got that installed but the iso it made created checksum error.


[QUOTE=slackpacker;5012044]

I think by using UltraISO something happens to the CD and corrupts it somehow. I did the following: Boot by CD by pressing Enter when getting to the first FreeDOS screen. Then on the next screen choose to install FreeDOS to a hard drive. Once you get to what I believe is the language screen press ESC and it will take you to another menu with options. Now select the Boot to CD and go to command prompt option. It should take you to a command prompt with the drive letter being X:\ now you should be able to do the dir command and see all your files. This worked for me on accident and helped another forum member out as well. You may not be able to find another drive to save your current rom to however. So hopefully the graphics card company has firmware roms on their sites if something goes wrong.

As far as the directory. I just put everything in the main directory on the CD. I didn't use any folders etc. Then used the: X:\Nvflash --check to see if I had the 128 or 64 k, and then proceeded once I knew I had the 1024k X 1S to do the following command: X:\Nvflash -4 -5 -6 romname.rom

Mine happened to be named mp8800gt.rom which I downloaded from post #23 in this thread. You will get warnings that the card is not compatible with the firmware, but I just kept hitting the "Y" key with my fingers crossed and everything worked.

[poirot]

Thanks for all the info. But I wonder, is there any reason this wouldn't work on a GTX? I mean 512 is great, but why not 768 :eek:? Just wondering.

Poirot
...waiting on his stimulus rebate to get his monster-mac... :p

[Pressure]

Thanks for all the info. But I wonder, is there any reason this wouldn't work on a GTX? I mean 512 is great, but why not 768 :eek:? Just wondering.

Poirot
...waiting on his stimulus rebate to get his monster-mac... :p

If you did a bit research you would know that the Geforce 8800 GTX is based off a different chip and thus cannot use the ROM for the Geforce 8800 GT.

[tobyg]

If you did a bit research you would know that the Geforce 8800 GTX is based off a different chip and thus cannot use the ROM for the Geforce 8800 GT.

Not quite. The newer 8800 GTX's (512mb variants) use the same G92 chip in the 8800 GT. It's the older 8800 GTX's (768mb) that use the G80 chip.

[Pressure]

Not quite. The newer 8800 GTX's (512mb variants) use the same G92 chip in the 8800 GT. It's the older 8800 GTX's (768mb) that use the G80 chip.

I'm sorry, you must mean the Geforce 9800 GTX or are confusing the Geforce 8800 GTS 512MB with an GTX.

The only desktop parts using the G92 chip is the Geforce 8800 GT and Geforce 8800 GTS 512MB.

[tobyg]

I'm sorry, you must mean the Geforce 9800 GTX or are confusing the Geforce 8800 GTS 512MB with an GTX.

The only desktop parts using the G92 chip is the Geforce 8800 GT and Geforce 8800 GTS 512MB.

Oops, yes you're right. 8800 GTX is still G80 I believe. Too many damn cards.

I think I was doing a little of both, confusing the GTS and the 9800 GTX.

[poirot]

Ok, a no go. Thanks.

Poirot

[Blazn5]

going to Best buy today to pick-up P/N BFGR88512GTOCE. Hoping for a black PCB. Ill let you guys know what I find.

[ChewyPixels]

Has anyone had any success with this card? --> GV-NX88T512HP

I've never flashed a card before and I'm a bit nervous about doing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

[ChewyPixels]

Has anyone had any success with this card? --> GV-NX88T512HP

I've never flashed a card before and I'm a bit nervous about doing this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

Well, I just answered my question. This card WILL NOT work as it has EEPROM size of 64k. Luckily I did not spend any money on it as it was given to me by a friend. Time to return it as I can't use it anyway. :mad:

[Reorx76]

Hi,

I plan to buy a 2008 MacPro 8 cores. I have a ASUSTEK GF8800GTS 640Mb PCI-E video card in my PC and I wonder if it's possible to put this card in my future MacPro via a flash ? It's could help me to save few euros when buying my MacPro.

I precise that I want the GF8800 GTS to work well on macOS X. I don't plan to install windows on my macPro.

Bye

Ps : sorry french guys don't speak english very well :)

[waremaster]

Hi,

I plan to buy a 2008 MacPro 8 cores. I have a ASUSTEK GF8800GTS 640Mb PCI-E video card in my PC and I wonder if it's possible to put this card in my future MacPro via a flash ? It's could help me to save few euros when buying my MacPro.

I precise that I want the GF8800 GTS to work well on macOS X. I don't plan to install windows on my macPro.

Bye

Ps : sorry french guys don't speak english very well :)

The answer is no the GTS that you have will not work in OSX. The core GPU is different (G80) vs (G92) of the GT. However you could use a flashed 8800GTS (G92) in the system typically those GTS cards have 512 meg of ram.

[Reorx76]

Hi,

thank you for your answer. If I really have to change my video card I prefer to buy the GF 8 inside te macPro.

Bye

[purplxd]

I notice there is a 8800GT upgrade for older Mac Pros (2006), has anyone got a flash working for a PC version yet?


Cheers
A

[Tallest Skil]

I notice there is a 8800GT upgrade for older Mac Pros (2006), has anyone got a flash working for a PC version yet?


What would possess you to bring up a three month old thread before searching. YES. We have a huge thread on that one here, too.

[purplxd]

Oops, I got here from searching :)

Have a link?

A

[Tallest Skil]

8800 GT EFI32 ROM is what it's called... I'm pretty sure. It's the exact same format as this one.

[DickVanPaiton]

Hi there,
i use a modified evga 8800 gts and it works flawless with a modified 8800 gt rom (same clocks as normal gts and naturally all shaders) but i have no success in vista64. I dont know what driver i can use. The newest nvidia doesnt work.

[deanburchell]

I don't do this kind of stuff often and made an error by attempting to flash the 64K version of the PNY 8800GT. The attempt failed and now I am betting that the card is messed.

I did step through the backup process but something isn't right as I cannot find the .rom file that should have been created. I was working with the software from a c: drive (a FAT32 formatted internal drive) so I expected the backup ROM to be saved there.

The NVFlash utility reported the error and aborted the flash but after a restart the card isn't driving my monitor. Is this card unsalvageable — regardless of whether I find a ROM file?

Thanks. Any help is appreciated.

it is 100% the Same Model N# , and it does not work ! in fact it is a 64k size eeprom see ( PMC Pm25LV512 2.7.-3.6V 64Kx8s ,page )

Type = nvflash --check you will see ! but you can send it back for refund so not harm done, only waste of time.

[carbonatd]

Hi. I've been trying to find a flashable 8800GT, as I understand there are some versions which will work, and some which won't. I've scanned the thread, and the newegg links all reference deactivated products. Can somebody please kindly point me towards a URL for a card that is flashable? I tried searching Newegg, but I can't seem to tell which cards have a 64k rom and which have a 128k.

Any help would be much appreciated

My other question is, is this card fully compatible will Mac OS X and parallels/bootcamp? I can't afford to buy this card through Apple.

[siorai]

NewEgg won't tell you what size the ROM is. Your best bet is an eVGA card. Not only do they have the best track record in this thread as far as I remember, but eVGA has a lifetime warranty which includes pretty much anything that doesn't involve you physically damaging the card.

My flashed eVGA 8800GT works perfectly in OSX and XP Pro via BootCamp. I've never bothered with Parallels/Fusion because for the performance hit and headaches involved trying to get something to work in a virtualized OS, you might as well just use BootCamp, take less than a minute to reboot, and get full performance with no headaches.

[deanburchell]

Hi. I've been trying to find a flashable 8800GT, as I understand there are some versions which will work, and some which won't. I've scanned the thread, and the newegg links all reference deactivated products. Can somebody please kindly point me towards a URL for a card that is flashable? I tried searching Newegg, but I can't seem to tell which cards have a 64k rom and which have a 128k.

Any help would be much appreciated

My other question is, is this card fully compatible will Mac OS X and parallels/bootcamp? I can't afford to buy this card through Apple.

Carbonatd. I purchased . It Flashed fine. One concern I do have is that I might be noticing some mild issues with the card under certain video situations. I can't seem to get the "Effects" in iChat during a video chat to preview. The video preview appears white. One of my 3D applications also seems to have an issue. Embarassingly, I cannot remember the specifics at the moment. I have not used the card under Bootcamp only VMware Fusion and Windows XP.

[digiegg]

Sorry to bring this situation back up again guys but I have a question about this...
i've had: EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130071)

For awhile now. This was the card that first few testers bought for the Mac Pro.
I was wondering if this card will work out if I just try to install Leopard on my mac pro.
I have the First gen Mac Pro 8 core 3.0GHz, Windows XP 64bit only.
I deleted mac osx because it wouldn't work with this card.

First question: Can I install Leopard on my Mac Pro without "flashing" my graphics card?

Second question: Is this card "flash"able?

Third question: Could you link me to the "flashing" direction? I've never done it before and I'd like to get a clear direction. I've been digging on the pages but I can't seem to find "THE ONE".


Thanks guys!

[pnyc]

First I'd like to say Thank You to the people who provided the ROM image, the flashing instructions and the information about which cards work and which don't.

I'm happy to say that I was able to successfully flash the EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT Graphics Card P/N 512-P3-N801-AR with the ROM provided in this thread and the card works great in both OSX and Win.
I did the flashing via Command Prompt under Windows XP, the whole process took only a couple of minutes and there was no need to make a boot disc, boot from a cd or a flash drive.
I simply installed the 8800 in the PCIE slot #2 and kept my 2600 in the slot #1 with the display connected to the 2600 I booted into Win XP and flashed the card after flashing I shut down the system removed the 2600 and put the 8800 in the slot #1.

[logicdisaster]

Alrighty, I have had a silent voice here until this evening so I hope this helps alot of folks. I would also like to thank all the other fellas who have posted in the section to get the bios and get the know on cards.

I have the EFI64 ROM loaded and working on OSX, and up until this evening with no boot camp the black screen everyone has.

The solution:

Used a simple hex editor with copy / paste function to copy the x86 portion of the rom out of the EFI32 to the EFI64.

You will notice this when running nvflash --pciblocks
Adapter: GeForce 8800 GT (10DE,0602,10DE,057C) H:NRM B:01,PCI,D:00,F:00

The display may go *BLANK* on and off for up to 10 seconds during access to the
EEPROM depending on your display adapter and output device.

Identifying EEPROM...
EEPROM ID (C2,10) : MX 25L1005 2.7-3.6V 1024Kx1S, page
Reading adapter firmware image...
Location Size Type
000000:00E5FF 58880 x86
00E600:01EDFF 67584 EFI


If found out that the EFI bios started at: 0x0000E5F0 by reading my old original into a hex editor, this prompted me to do the swap. Orginally I was hexing stuff out of the 8800 GTS bios but whooped my card until I had a PC to flash it in again.

I will post this BIOS for users to use with apples default power and clock settings, and I will also post a new bios which restores your updated clocks to GTS speeds but using 8800GT firmware etc.

** Note if you would like to do a clean mod to your ROM you can paste out everything from 0x0000E5F0 to the top into a new file. NiBiTor will read this with 100% integrity.

Thoughts about why the original ROM didn't work, I think nvidia did something new to their G92 8800GT's that we don't know about for the new MP's. That being said the original 8800GTS I have was released sometime in Dec 07, the x86 portion of code for ROM on older Mac Pro's must be more suitable for the card. You will also notice that device ID's are 100% match the card now shows up as 8800 GT in Windows XP.

** Note this doesn't change a thing for G80 chipsets.

EFI64_8800GT_FACTORY is apple clock and memory speeds
EFI64_8800GT_CLOCK is original 8800 GTS clock and memory speeds.

[JollyRogers]

I have been running my flashed evga 8800GT since back in april I think with 100% success until recent. Well around mid september it started a slow death, locking up in OSX and also BSOD in windows. I know it's the card 100% since I tried the 2600HD back in the system with Zero lockups. I pulled the heatsink and used artic silver to ensure good contact etc just today and it locked up fairly quick. Funny thing is no video ram test (tech tool in OSX or others in Windows) finds a problem. Only locks random in both OS's and don't have to be playing games.

So I am on the fence. Finding another 8800GT to flash has not gone well. I thought of switching to an ATI3870... Well I have managed to locate at Tiger Direct the 8800GTS (G92) and thought of giving that a go. But again on the fence because I just know Apple will come out with a new card after Jan with new MP's!

OK done venting!:D

Update: Went with another 8800GT from Ebay and it was a refurb P/N 512-P3-N801-RX and it flashed no problem. Uptime now = 15:58 up 7 days, 8:13

[varnikov]

Successfully updated my GeForce 8800 GTS with "mp8800gt.rom". Nothing happened!

Still have black screen in Mac OS. Work fine on windows side, recognized as 8800 GT.

As well no result with logicdisaster's roms in #490 post.

First gen Mac Pro. Dunno exact manufacturer of video card but looks like this one (http://www.hothardware.com/articleimages/Item1070/8800_gts_512_hi_res.png).

Any suggestions?

[JollyRogers]

You need "The Rominator's" rom listed in another thread. Ask and he will send it to you. Also, I think you need 32bit EFI, as you have a 1st gen MP.

Edit: umm I see you found that thread.

[varnikov]

You need "The Rominator's" rom listed in another thread. Ask and he will send it to you. Also, I think you need 32bit EFI, as you have a 1st gen MP.

Edit: umm I see you found that thread.

Thanks a lot. I also found this thread with working rom:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=471227&page=3

[Chilz0r]

Hey logicdisaster,

Thanks for the tip on getting the 8800GTS 512 working in bootcamp. As soon as I'm off from holidays I'll give this a try on my 08MP. I currently have the same problem with the 8800GTS working in OS X but not bootcamp.

[smchan]

I successfully flashed my eVGA 8800 GT 512-P3-N801-AR for my early '08 MP. And the card has been working fine under OS X. Unfortunately, when I dual boot to Vista 64 bit, the machine will freeze after a few minutes of operation with slightly corrupted video - as if maybe 5-10% of the pixels changed colors.

I switched back to using the ATI video card and Vista appears to be happy now. Any thoughts on how to go about debugging the issue with the flashed 8800GT under Vista?

Thanks,
Sam

[logicdisaster]

Hey smchan,

Have you used the ROM that I have provided above? Or is it from somewhere else. Also, have you tried in safe mode uninstalling the 8800graphics driver from vista and reinstalling latest Nvidia drivers from web?

One other solution I heard from the EFI32 forum was use bleeding edge beta drivers under v64.

I am curious of this issue also, and I may load V64 just to find out more.

Cheers,

JT

[smchan]

Hey smchan,

Have you used the ROM that I have provided above? Or is it from somewhere else. Also, have you tried in safe mode uninstalling the 8800graphics driver from vista and reinstalling latest Nvidia drivers from web?


No, I used the mp8800gt rom that was posted earlier in this thread - around page 4 or 5. I'm happy to try the ROM you posted above and will also try a driver update.

Sam

[The Rominator]

There are a couple guys at Apple.com who are stating that their 8800GT for EFI64 has a dev id of 602.

Would be nice to get a copy of that.

FYI....using that one would fix the issues with 8800GTS 512 that necessitated the extreme measures someone went too to create a ROM that worked in Windows.

[The Rominator]

even if the 128k Rom ist Present, you just can´t use 1024MB Based 8800GT cards with the FLASH.

only 512MB possible.

for 1024MB Cards you have to write a complete New BIOS for the card.

OK, this is a bunch of Hooey...I have a 9800GT from BFG with 1 Gig of RAM running just fine with Mac 88GT ROM.

HOWEVER...it shows up as 512 Megs.

I have moved the straps and device id from PC ROM....is there a place where this RAM amount is an entry in ROM?