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gpzjock

macrumors 6502a
May 4, 2009
798
33
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)




Nice work MVC, keep up the good stuff, you are a great asset to the community. Now make it work in Snow Leopard too please. :D
 

Gomff

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2009
802
1
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)

So are you saying that it's possible to use a GTX570 on a Mac Pro 3,1 With EFI boot screens?

I already have a GTX570 which I've put in my 3,1 machine and which works with the Nvidia drivers .....I'd love to get it 100% working by having EFI boot screens as well. Is it a simple Flashing procedure? If so, could you point me in the direction of a tutorial or some more info?
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
So are you saying that it's possible to use a GTX570 on a Mac Pro 3,1 With EFI boot screens?

I already have a GTX570 which I've put in my 3,1 machine and which works with the Nvidia drivers .....I'd love to get it 100% working by having EFI boot screens as well. Is it a simple Flashing procedure? If so, could you point me in the direction of a tutorial or some more info?

You missed it:
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.

Guessing he's de-soldering the EEPROMs (perhaps 128K?), removing them, and then soldering in larger ones as replacements (perhaps 256K?), and then finally flashing them with one of the versions on netkas. Check out this discussion on getting the GTX5xx cards working in particular. No great tutorials, but everything you'd ever want to know is on the netkas.org forums but it's not laid out all in one place as a lot of the folks there are experimenting and learning so it's more a techie forum to collaborate when you discover something new.
 
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Gomff

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2009
802
1
You missed it:


Guessing he's de-soldering the EEPROMs (perhaps 128K?), removing them, and then soldering in larger ones as replacements (perhaps 256K?), and then finally flashing them with one of the versions on netkas. Check out this discussion on getting the GTX5xx cards working in particular. No great tutorials, but everything you'd ever want to know is on the netkas.org forums but it's not laid out all in one place as a lot of the folks there are experimenting and learning so it's more a techie forum to collaborate when you discover something new.


Ahh, many thanks for pointing that out.

Lots of variables / pros and cons here I think. It seems there's still no guarantee that the Nvidia 4XX & 5XX cards will remain usable or supported in future updates, but I suspect they most likely will.

If you use QuickBoot, the EFI boot screen issue is minimized quite a bit, it's just a hassle when you want to reinstall OS X...At which point you'll need to have a Mac / EFI card to hand I think.
 

MacVidCards

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Nov 17, 2008
6,096
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Hollywood, CA
The EFI buys you the ability to see the "PCI Cards" section of System Profiler.

If you COULD see it with the PC BIOS cards you would notice that they run at PCIE 1.0 speed....2.5 GT/s. This is true even when you boot into Windows. The GTX570 and GTX580 only use half of the bandwidth available due to this.

Our EFI cards enable full 2.0 running at 5.0 GT/s.

Will be on Ebay today or tomorrow, then on our website when we find someone to finish it.
 

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
Its great to see all this hard work going on in the community, thank you on behalf of everyone who will take advantage of the breakthroughs you and NETKAS are making.

I am in the market just now for an Nvidia card for my 5,1 Mac Pro to speed up my After Effects work as well as properly use the new Ray Tracing Engine present in AE CS6.

I have checked the After Effects system requirements and they only list 4 Nvidia cards, the GTX 285, the CX the FX4800 and the 4000 as being compatible cards on the mac side. Ids this due to your cards not being Official Mac compatible cards, or does it stand true that the GTX 470/480/570/580 that you are modding will not be suitable for After Effects CS6?
 

jasonvp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2007
604
0
Northern VA
I have checked the After Effects system requirements and they only list 4 Nvidia cards, the GTX 285, the CX the FX4800 and the 4000 as being compatible cards on the mac side. Ids this due to your cards not being Official Mac compatible cards, or does it stand true that the GTX 470/480/570/580 that you are modding will not be suitable for After Effects CS6?

I use Premiere Pro, but haven't ever looked at After Effects. My guess is that they both use a similar text file list of supported GPUs. CS6 adds in the GTX570s and 580s on Windows, and that means it should work on the Mac as well. Assuming they have the same text file, the software doesn't care whether it's running under Windows or Mac OS. All it does is: check the video card, and reference it against that text file. If there's a match, it enables CUDA GPU processing.

A common hack folks have done on Windows with CS5 and 5.5 is to edit that text file to list GPUs Adobe hasn't previously tested. The later 500-series GPUs from nVidia, for example, were never officially supported with 5 and 5.5. But all it took was adding the right lines into that text file, and voila: they worked.

jas
 

wonderspark

macrumors 68040
Feb 4, 2010
3,048
102
Oregon
I might buy one of these cards as well. Yesterday, I ordered the 5.5 upgrade for my current CS5 for $399, which includes a free upgrade to CS6 when it's finally released. I also reinstalled my GTX 285 for Mac GPU so that it takes advantage of the improvements, but I'm curious about how it works for SpeedGrade, which is the main reason I'm updating to CS6.

If the GTX 285 handles it well, I'll be all set, but if it chokes on it, then I'll be looking for a GTX 470/480/570/580, or perhaps even biting the bullet and getting the Quadro 4000 if I have to... whatever the best bang-for-buck factor yields.
 

MacVidCards

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Nov 17, 2008
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GTX560/570/580 Mod Service in Hollywood

If the GTX 285 handles it well, I'll be all set, but if it chokes on it, then I'll be looking for a GTX 470/480/570/580, or perhaps even biting the bullet and getting the Quadro 4000 if I have to... whatever the best bang-for-buck factor yields.


The Quadro 4000 is a GTX480 core...cut in HALF.

The one and only place these cards shine is with Double Precision Float math. I don't know of ANY Mac apps that use Double Precision so currently you pay $800 for a $200 GTX460. A rather extreme example of "Mac Tax"

The GTX570 is the new "Sweet Spot" in that it offers the performance e of the GTX480, while using power that is available in Mac Pro. The 580 variants offer another step up into "Holy Christ" GPU power but require some additional power from outside the Mac to pull this off.

We will start selling these soon but it is taking time to get some inventory in and processed. We only have 3 or 4 cards now and quite a lot of demand.

If anyone in LA would like to find out for themselves, we will offer a drop off GTX 560/570/580 modding service. You drop off your card along with $ and we will :

1. Remove 14-17 screws to remove HSF
2. Read EEPROM and replace with larger chip
3. Reapply Thermal paste, replace 14-17 screws
4. Custom write an EFI ROM for your card and test in a 4,1/5,1.
5. Card will be available for pickup in 12-36 hours.

Obviously if it is a card we have already done, this will go faster.

Keep in mind that Dual DVI & HDMI cards will be Dual DVI afterward. The GTX560/570 "HD" cards with 4 outputs will be DVI and Displayport afterward. (Will be tested for full EFI boot screen function on an Apple 27")

Keep in mind that :

1. You must be running 10.7.3 or 10.8 to use these cards well. (Can be made to work in 10.7.0 onwards but easier in 10.7.3 and later)

2. These cards will KP if you boot into 10.6. Same holds true of trying to use ATY_Init with PC BIOS version. They aren't in the drivers and trying to add them leads to trouble. NOT USEABLE IN 10.6 !!! (or 10.5 or 10.4, etc)

3. In 10.7.3 you will need to remove AGPM kext, just like you have to do anyway with non-efi versions. 10.8 seems OK.

4. For local post production offices, a "loaner" GTX470 will be available whilst we work on your card, if you need it.

5. You must have a Mac Pro 3,1 or later to benefit from EFI ROM. Using these on a 1,1 or 2,1 or a Hackintosh is like speaking Elvish to the barrista when placing your order at Starbucks. Nice touch, but Completely Useless.

We are in Hollywood, near Runyon Canyon & Kodak Theatre. (The Oscars place, whatever it is called now)

Anyone and everyone with a Mac Pro can use these cards without EFI just by using the "Magic Drivers" that I posted about in another thread. The cards will be functional and run at PCIE 1.0 speeds and show video once computer boots to desktop. For those who want additional functionality, we offer this service.
 

wonderspark

macrumors 68040
Feb 4, 2010
3,048
102
Oregon
The Quadro 4000 is a GTX480 core...cut in HALF.

The one and only place these cards shine is with Double Precision Float math. I don't know of ANY Mac apps that use Double Precision so currently you pay $800 for a $200 GTX460. A rather extreme example of "Mac Tax"

The GTX570 is the new "Sweet Spot" in that it offers the performance e of the GTX480, while using power that is available in Mac Pro. The 580 variants offer another step up into "Holy Christ" GPU power but require some additional power from outside the Mac to pull this off.

We will start selling these soon but it is taking time to get some inventory in and processed. We only have 3 or 4 cards now and quite a lot of demand.
~~~
Keep in mind that :

1. You must be running 10.7.3 or 10.8 to use these cards well. (Can be made to work in 10.7.0 onwards but easier in 10.7.3 and later)

2. These cards will KP if you boot into 10.6. Same holds true of trying to use ATY_Init with PC BIOS version. They aren't in the drivers and trying to add them leads to trouble. NOT USEABLE IN 10.6 !!! (or 10.5 or 10.4, etc)

3. In 10.7.3 you will need to remove AGPM kext, just like you have to do anyway with non-efi versions. 10.8 seems OK.

4. For local post production offices, a "loaner" GTX470 will be available whilst we work on your card, if you need it.

5. You must have a Mac Pro 3,1 or later to benefit from EFI ROM. Using these on a 1,1 or 2,1 or a Hackintosh is like speaking Elvish to the barrista when placing your order at Starbucks. Nice touch, but Completely Useless.

We are in Hollywood, near Runyon Canyon & Kodak Theatre. (The Oscars place, whatever it is called now)
Sweet, 'round the corner from The Hollywood Bowl. Been a while since I've lived in the area.

That's excellent news... thank you! I've been holding out with Snow Leopard, because it's worked so well this far. However, if things don't work out with what I have, well then I won't have much choice but to either stay stuck in CS5 and build a PC for CS6, or switch to 10.7 or 10.8, get your modded GTX 470 and extend the life of the Mac, which I think would make more sense. It's been a great machine so far, and after all the additions I've made so far, it would be a waste to just sell it off.
 

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
Forgive my complete noob question, but am I correct in saying i can use an un-modded GTX 570 in my 5,1 Mac Pro with 10.7.3, no extra power, no hacks and all i will miss is the boot screen (first sign of life being the desktop after startup/reboot)???

The GTX570s that you are offering are modded to show the boot screen and that is all? Or have you added extra RAM etc to the card?

Am I correct in thinking that i would only really need the boot screen in the event of using bootcamp to boot into windows (holding alt on startup) or in the event that i need to reinstall mac os x? If i keep my stock GPU then i can swap it in to view the boot screen if needs be?

http://www.dabs.com/products/evga-geforce-gtx-570-732mhz-2560mb-pci-e-hdmi-7P63.html

I have been thinking about buying one of these for the past couple of weeks... would this work for me?

Any info greatly appreciated.

----------

I use Premiere Pro, but haven't ever looked at After Effects. My guess is that they both use a similar text file list of supported GPUs. CS6 adds in the GTX570s and 580s on Windows, and that means it should work on the Mac as well. Assuming they have the same text file, the software doesn't care whether it's running under Windows or Mac OS. All it does is: check the video card, and reference it against that text file. If there's a match, it enables CUDA GPU processing.

A common hack folks have done on Windows with CS5 and 5.5 is to edit that text file to list GPUs Adobe hasn't previously tested. The later 500-series GPUs from nVidia, for example, were never officially supported with 5 and 5.5. But all it took was adding the right lines into that text file, and voila: they worked.

jas

Awesome so failing AE seeing the card and utilising its CUDA cores from scratch all it would take is a slight mod to the text file to kick AE up the bum!?
 
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jasonvp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2007
604
0
Northern VA
Awesome so failing AE seeing the card and utilising its CUDA cores from scratch all it would take is a slight mod to the text file to kick AE up the bum!?

As far as I understand: yes. Again, I haven't used AE, so I don't know for sure whether it uses that same ASCII text file that Premiere Pro does. I assume it does, though...

jas
 

MacVidCards

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Forgive my complete noob question, but am I correct in saying i can use an un-modded GTX 570 in my 5,1 Mac Pro with 10.7.3, no extra power, no hacks and all i will miss is the boot screen (first sign of life being the desktop after startup/reboot)???

The GTX570s that you are offering are modded to show the boot screen and that is all? Or have you added extra RAM etc to the card?

Am I correct in thinking that i would only really need the boot screen in the event of using bootcamp to boot into windows (holding alt on startup) or in the event that i need to reinstall mac os x? If i keep my stock GPU then i can swap it in to view the boot screen if needs be?

Our mods to these cards enable the boot screens and PCIE 2.0 functionality. When using the "magic" 10.7.3 drivers (or in Bootcamp) stock BIOS 570s will stay at PCIE 1.0 speed and NEVER go into 2.0 mode. This means they run at max speed of 2.5 GT/s on the bus. Like all of our other cards, our GTX5xx cards all run at PCIE 2.0 spec at 5.0 GT/s.

All of the other people selling flashed cards are CLUELESS about this PCIE problem. They sell 5870 and 6870s by the dozens, all stuck in laggy old PCIE 1.0 speed.

This also includes the cards that Apple/Nvidia/AMD have decided to allow to work once desktop is reached, they run at PCIE 1.0. No loss if you are on a 1,1 or 2,1 but for those with a 3,1 or later, no reason to stay stuck in 2006.

You can verify this using lspci or GPU-Z in Bootcamp.

Another plus to our cards is that the "PCI Cards" section shows up in system profiler. Using the "Magic" drivers with no EFI results in this reading out "There was an error while gathering PCI info" or something to that effect. When you are troubleshooting other machine issues, not being able to see this section of system profiler is a problem.

So, our cards are faster and better than using the "works at desktop" method. And you get to see a grey screen the second after you hit the power button instead of waiting and wondering.
 

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
Our mods to these cards enable the boot screens and PCIE 2.0 functionality. When using the "magic" 10.7.3 drivers (or in Bootcamp) stock BIOS 570s will stay at PCIE 1.0 speed and NEVER go into 2.0 mode. This means they run at max speed of 2.5 GT/s on the bus. Like all of our other cards, our GTX5xx cards all run at PCIE 2.0 spec at 5.0 GT/s.

All of the other people selling flashed cards are CLUELESS about this PCIE problem. They sell 5870 and 6870s by the dozens, all stuck in laggy old PCIE 1.0 speed.

This also includes the cards that Apple/Nvidia/AMD have decided to allow to work once desktop is reached, they run at PCIE 1.0. No loss if you are on a 1,1 or 2,1 but for those with a 3,1 or later, no reason to stay stuck in 2006.

You can verify this using lspci or GPU-Z in Bootcamp.

Another plus to our cards is that the "PCI Cards" section shows up in system profiler. Using the "Magic" drivers with no EFI results in this reading out "There was an error while gathering PCI info" or something to that effect. When you are troubleshooting other machine issues, not being able to see this section of system profiler is a problem.

So, our cards are faster and better than using the "works at desktop" method. And you get to see a grey screen the second after you hit the power button instead of waiting and wondering.

I'm almost sold.

I am looking for the least hassle to install a GTX570, how long before you will be offering these on your site or ebay shop? Do you bundle adapter power cables with the cards?

I take it if I buy one of your cards its just a case of installing the physical card in my machine? What drivers do i require (I'm on a 5,1 Mac Pro and running 10.7.3).
 

jasonvp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 29, 2007
604
0
Northern VA
I am looking for the least hassle to install a GTX570, how long before you will be offering these on your site or ebay shop? Do you bundle adapter power cables with the cards?

Do what I'm doing: contact your favorite retailer (I use NewEgg) and buy a new GTX570. Have it sent to Mr. MacVidCards directly instead of to you. Once he gets it and some cash from you (PayPal), he can begin the surgery. And yes, he does include power cables at extra cost, if you need them.

I take it if I buy one of your cards its just a case of installing the physical card in my machine? What drivers do i require (I'm on a 5,1 Mac Pro and running 10.7.3).

From nVidia's site, you'll need to grab the latest CUDA driver package, and that should be it. I've already got it installed given I'm running an older Quadro 4K.

jas
 

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
Do what I'm doing: contact your favorite retailer (I use NewEgg) and buy a new GTX570. Have it sent to Mr. MacVidCards directly instead of to you. Once he gets it and some cash from you (PayPal), he can begin the surgery. And yes, he does include power cables at extra cost, if you need them.

Hi jasonvp

I have sent you a private message with some extra Qs about your suggestion.

Thanks for the advice.
 

Ve3tro

macrumors member
Apr 12, 2012
43
0
Whats the advantages of running at 5.0 GT/s instead of 2.5 GT/s? I currently have a GTX 580 3GB installed.

Because its running at 2.5 GT/s does it mean that only 50% of the CUDA cores are being used?
 

MacVidCards

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Whats the advantages of running at 5.0 GT/s instead of 2.5 GT/s? I currently have a GTX 580 3GB installed.

Because its running at 2.5 GT/s does it mean that only 50% of the CUDA cores are being used?

No, it just means that the interface between card and the PCIE bus is running at 1/2 of it's potential.

What that means to whatever apps you are running I can not predict. But I have a hard time imagining a situation where running something at half speed is a good thing. If you aren't in a hurry though.......

Run any app you like in either OSX or Windows, it will bear out what I am saying. On a Mac Pro, running a standard PC BIOS card will give you PCIE 1.0.

In a 3,1 or later to get 5.0 speed requires our EFI cards. Google "lspci for OSX" there is a version that doesn't require compiling. Run that in terminal and it will bear out our claims.

I just realized that the reason the 1.2 GB 570 is so fast is that I got a "Superclocked" one. EVGA has them for $5 more than a regular one. Nearly 580 performance on a budget. (and doesn't need outside power)

TO run an Apple LED with one of the HD cards, you need this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200691

And as regards Mercury Engine and GTX570, a guy at Creative Cow just posted this:

"I was amazed when the system I built with a 570GTX natively enabled the MPE when I opened Premiere for the first time with no modifications at all, running Lion OS 10.7.3"
 
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anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
To MacVidCards,

Are there any real world examples you (or anyone) can site to show the performance difference between:-

1. A card running at 2.5 GT/s and 5.0 GT/s

and

2. The performance difference between one of your GTX 480 (with the lower clock speeds and voltage to run without extra external power) and one of your GTX 570 cards.

Thanks again
 

MacVidCards

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To MacVidCards,

Are there any real world examples you (or anyone) can site to show the performance difference between:-

1. A card running at 2.5 GT/s and 5.0 GT/s

and

2. The performance difference between one of your GTX 480 (with the lower clock speeds and voltage to run without extra external power) and one of your GTX 570 cards.

Thanks again

There must be some reason they came up with PCIE 2. In the next Mac Pro, quite likely we will have PCIE 3. If you are fine with PCIE 1, just get a PC 570 and be done with it. Nobody is forcing you to use the newer standard. Lots of people are just fine at PCIE 1.0.

Our "slowed down" 480 does 1100 Gflops in Single Precision CUDA. An EVGA 570 Superclocked does 1500 on the same power. Technology is amazing.....
 

anim8or

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2006
1,362
9
Scotland, UK
There must be some reason they came up with PCIE 2. In the next Mac Pro, quite likely we will have PCIE 3. If you are fine with PCIE 1, just get a PC 570 and be done with it. Nobody is forcing you to use the newer standard. Lots of people are just fine at PCIE 1.0.

Our "slowed down" 480 does 1100 Gflops in Single Precision CUDA. An EVGA 570 Superclocked does 1500 on the same power. Technology is amazing.....

I wish i knew what that meant in terms of render times and performance in After Effects. :D

I really want to get the best bang for my buck sop to speak, and if I am honest the money is burning a hole in my pocket :eek: I would rather hold out for a modded 570 over the slower stock 570.

MacVidCards - I have sent you a private message with a few questions so not to hijack the thread from everyone else.

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain all this to me, and to the many followers of this thread by proxy, you are a credit to the community.
 

AmbitiousPixels

macrumors newbie
Apr 25, 2012
2
0
Modded GTX570

Hi MacVidCards,

I'm interested in buying a modded GTX570 for my mid 2010 Mac Pro running OSX 7.3.3. Let me know how we would work this.

Thanks,
 

degl

macrumors member
Jun 12, 2010
49
1
Caracas
Hi MacVidCards;

What external PSU do you recommend? what will be the price of the GTX 580 and the 570 with EFI modification that you are offering? i´m really interested.

Cheers
 

MacVidCards

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The PSU is only needed for GTX580

The one I WAS using was the FSP Booster X5 but Newegg doesn't seem to carry it anymore so will need to source a new one.

The GTX570s are perfect for inside a Mac Pro.

Will have them on Ebay store tomorrow, still trying to find an LA based web person to finish my site.

Anyone interested should PM me as this isn't "Marketplace" section and Intended this as announcement area only. (sorry to mods)

The GTX570 SuperCLock from EVGA is SUPER fast. Not sure if it comes in 2.5 GB version, that would be perfect.
 
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