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Fastest Mac GPUs with full EFI boot screens, etc, GTX570 & GTX580

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MacVidCards

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Nov 17, 2008
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Now that OS 10.7.3 finally supports GTX5xx GPUs we sunk some extra effort into these cards. Got a few tips and hints from Netkas that got us moving.

I present the fastest Mac Native GPU EVER.

GTX580 3GB running in 10.7.3.

Card shows EFI boot screens on either DVI port.

Also have GTX560 going. Will announce GTX570 separately.

Requires external PSU, but this GTX580 kicks AMD/ATI 5870 to curb, leaves for dead, and never looks back.
 

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I

Inconsequential

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2007
1,978
1
Nice!!!

Everything works as per the 5870 too?

Shame I just bought a 6870 :( but given this needs an external PSU perhaps the 570 is actually the better bet?
 
M

MacVidCards

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A flashed 5870 only has boot screen on one (1) VGA adapted DVI port.

These GTX5xx cards have boot screens on either port connected however you like.

OSX has had support since 10.7 for GTX5xx cards but requires some minor hacks.

The EFI screens will work all the way back to a 2008 3,1 but will require 10.7 or later for 3D.
 
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Inconsequential

macrumors 68000
Sep 12, 2007
1,978
1
MacVidCards said:
A flashed 5870 only has boot screen on one (1) VGA adapted DVI port.

These GTX5xx cards have boot screens on either port connected however you like.

OSX has had support since 10.7 for GTX5xx cards but requires some minor hacks.

The EFI screens will work all the way back to a 2008 3,1 but will require 10.7 or later for 3D.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant that when in OS X, everything works. So Steam, DVD player, etc. (I.e. it wouldn't crash on me :p.)

I'm extremely happy with the 6870 working properly, no issues as of yet and I'm confident enough in it for me to sell the 4870!
 
E

ekwipt

macrumors 65816
Jan 14, 2008
1,053
353
Give us a run through on how you do it? Think i'll get a one these cards now
 
Pressure

Pressure

macrumors 603
May 30, 2006
5,041
1,381
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Holding on for the new Mac Pro (sigh, if they ever are updated) to see what graphic card options they will have.

Just a shame we have to resort to all these gorilla methods for getting a reasonable powerful graphic card for our workstation class machines.

But yeah, I'm sure both AMD and nVIDIA could release their own cards with EFI and drivers if they bothered, like ATI did once for the Radeon 3870.
 
kylepro88

kylepro88

macrumors regular
Jul 30, 2006
247
102
Nashville
I would love to get an Nvidia card, but I work with FCPX a little and probably will in the future so that's out of the question. It's built to take advantage of OpenCL exclusively so ATI is my only chance. However that means I miss out on CUDA acceleration in Adobe Premiere which I also use. OpenCL support for 2011 MBP's is being added to Adobe CS6, but that's the extent of the support for now. I trust Adobe to create more cross compatibility over Apple.

Don't expect anything other then ATI cards in Macs for the long haul. No way they would write FCPX from the ground up to take advantage of all any Mac can offer and then create hardware that can't use it anymore LOL. At least I would hope not haha.
 
G

goMac

Contributor
Apr 15, 2004
7,662
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kylepro88 said:
It's built to take advantage of OpenCL exclusively so ATI is my only chance. However that means I miss out on CUDA acceleration in Adobe Premiere which I also use. OpenCL support for 2011 MBP's is being added to Adobe CS6, but that's the extent of the support for now. I trust Adobe to create more cross compatibility over Apple.
Click to expand...

Huh? OpenCL also works on NVidia cards. It's an open standard, not ATI specific.

Not ALL NVidia cards, as there is an incomplete driver set. But it worked fine on my old GeForce 8800 GT.

So I guess that means a good question is if OpenCL is working on these cards. :)
 
D

dagomike

macrumors 65816
Jun 22, 2007
1,451
1
I'm hopeful Mac Pros will suport the HD7970. OpenCL scores are off the charts.

Tempted though to get the GTX580 in the mean time.
 
Loa

Loa

macrumors 68000
May 5, 2003
1,723
75
Québec
Hello,

Question for all you guys who know a lot about GPUs. I was planning on buying a 6870 (for the diablo III releaase) for my 2009 MP.

Is there an nVidia card that has roughly the same price/performance ratio *and* that has at least one mini display ports?

Thanks

Loa
 
BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2007
1,454
540
San Francisco
What about fan noises from the 570 or 580? Same as 5770 or 5870? I wish Nvidia had MDP because I don't really want to shell out another 200 bucks for the adaptors. :(
 
derbothaus

derbothaus

macrumors 601
Jul 17, 2010
4,093
30
BigJohno said:
What about fan noises from the 570 or 580? Same as 5770 or 5870? I wish Nvidia had MDP because I don't really want to shell out another 200 bucks for the adaptors. :(
Click to expand...

Then buy better display's. Apple's display's are the definition of walled garden.
 
M

MacVidCards

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One of the reasons I am excited about GTX5xx series cards is that they are far more likely to have DisplayPort. Displayport to MiniDisplayport is just a $20-30 pin-for-pin dongle. In fact, if you buy a Quadro 4000 for Mac it has Displayport and comes with the adapter I mention here.

We have a GTX470 with Displayport but those were very rare. The use of Displayport is far more prevalent in the 5xx series.

I have a couple cards sitting at Newegg Will Call right now, will have updates on a Mac EFI Native GTX570 with 2.5 GB and Displayport. (pretty sure that is what I ordered). Also getting a smaller EVGA GTX580 3GB. (the Classified Ultra that posted the above scores is quite large) Will probably make a modded version that can run in Mac Pro with no outside power. Turn down clocks and voltages a notch and BINGO...will be fastest INTERNALLY POWERED Mac GPU.

The cards we are making require soldering and a rewritten BIOS and EFI. There is nothing from stopping Mac users at large from plugging a PC GTX5xx card in, as I have posted in other threads, the current drivers for OSX that Nvidia has on their site are capable of making these cards work in ANY MAC PRO. You just won't have boot screens. (and some versions of Beta updates don't work) All we have added in the last 24 hrs is working EFI for boot screen support.
 
BigJohno

BigJohno

macrumors 65816
Jan 1, 2007
1,454
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I had a quadro and I remember the adaptor But what about my first question. The noise those cards put out compared to the current offering by Apple.
 
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ekwipt

macrumors 65816
Jan 14, 2008
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353
Oh I didn't realise macvideocards sold them on eBay.

Not to be presumptuous but didn't this come from Netkas blog, who gives away the info for free?
 
M

MacVidCards

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yeah, we post lots of free info for people to do stuff themselves.

some people like to do it themselves, some would rather get something that works with little bother

the people who buy stuff help fund all of the free info too, works for everyone
 
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ekwipt

macrumors 65816
Jan 14, 2008
1,053
353
MacVidCards said:
yeah, we post lots of free info for people to do stuff themselves.

some people like to do it themselves, some would rather get something that works with little bother

the people who buy stuff help fund all of the free info too, works for everyone
Click to expand...

It's great you share some info around:)
 
M

MacVidCards

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GTX570 EFI up and running !!!

Still have to iron out the DisplayPort but shouldn't be a problem. I got it working on a GTX470, this is quite similar.

2.5 GB of GDDR5.

Nice little card.

I have added some 5870 benches

EDIT: Good news !!! Got GTX570 to run with Displayport and DVI as outputs. No need for external power, full boot screens on either display. This includes an Apple MDP display like 27" !!!

2.5 GB of DDR5 and it only needs 2 @ 6 pins...so no special adapters needed. Super sweet card if you use CUDA. Will also be adding more Dual DVI cards. Running at full PCIE 2.0 5.0 GT/s speed. (most flashed cards run at 2.5 GT/s, the speed of a 1,1 Mac Pro...but the Ebay vendors don't mention this since they have no clue how to make it work right)
 

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jasonvp

jasonvp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2007
604
0
Northern VA
MacVidCards said:
Will probably make a modded version that can run in Mac Pro with no outside power. Turn down clocks and voltages a notch and BINGO...will be fastest INTERNALLY POWERED Mac GPU.
Click to expand...

Let me know when something like this is available and I'll probably sign up for one. I'm always interesting in throwing more CUDA cores at Premiere Pro...

jas
 
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