nVidia GeForce 8800 GT Dying

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

So I think my Original Apple Mac Pro nVidia GeForce 8800 GT 512MB DVI PCIe Video Graphics Card is dying on me. It won't wake from sleep anymore, and so I have to hard power down. I was able to boot back up a few times, swapping the DVI port on the card, but now neither port will give me a display when powering back on, it did for a few days, but now nothing.

So I think I need to replace this card. I'm seeing a seller on eBay who has the Original card, which the photo looks exactly like what I just pulled out of my Mac Pro, then they are selling a 2nd Gen version as well. It looks about twice as thick however. I think I have the space in side the case to fit the bigger 2nd gen one.

The question is would you replace the card with the same exact thing or do the 2nd gen, what did they come out with a 2nd gen one for, I'm assuming they probably made some improvements?

For what I do this card has been fine, photo editing and some light video editing and basic other computer tasks, so no need for me to buy a $$$$$ card. Maybe there is a newer gen card and other brand that might be just as good and cost the same or not too much more I should consider?

My Mac Pro is a 2008, I don't know all the exact specifics and can't get it up to display to grab any of that information from the System Info to share, sorry.

I'm going to try to clean the dust of this GPUs fan and see if that helps and gets me back up temporarily so I can gather up all that info. Anything else that I should be checking, or does this sound like typical GPU failure?

Thanks.

DanielCoffey · Jul 22, 2013

Have a quick Google of "bake 8800GT" - you may find that you can get a little longer out of it if you carefully follow the baking instructions. It will give you an opportunity to clean the card too since the heatsink has to come off.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

I'd rather not do any "baking" and just get something newer or a working replacement. That just seems like a lot of hassle to fix this more like a band-aid.

Macsonic · Jul 22, 2013

ChrisMc73 said:
I'd rather not do any "baking" and just get something newer or a working replacement. That just seems like a lot of hassle to fix this more like a band-aid.

You can try getting a Nvidia GTX570 or if budget is tight, a Nivdia GTX285 or 470 as replacements.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

Macsonic said:
You can try getting a Nvidia GTX570 or if budget is tight, a Nivdia GTX285 or 470 as replacements.

Thanks Macsonic. The 570 isn't a bad price, I can stomach that. So this one is a good Mac Pro replacement for that card I have that has gone bad? Apple approved etc?

Macsonic · Jul 22, 2013

ChrisMc73 said:
Thanks Macsonic. The 570 isn't a bad price, I can stomach that. So this one is a good Mac Pro replacement for that card I have that has gone bad? Apple approved etc?

Hi ChrisMc73. The 570 is being sold as flashed for Mac Pros so you would get the grey boot screen with Apple logo at start up. This model is one of the popular used by Mac Pro users.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

Macsonic said:
You can try getting a Nvidia GTX570 or if budget is tight, a Nivdia GTX285 or 470 as replacements.

Ok perfect that's exactly what I want! I didn't realize that the gray boot screen was a flash ROM on the GPU. Guess I will be getting one of these.

Is it a step down from what I'm replacing (gen 1 or 2)? Or a better quality card?

Macsonic · Jul 22, 2013

ChrisMc73 said:
Ok perfect that's exactly what I want! I didn't realize that the gray boot screen was a flash ROM on the GPU. Guess I will be getting one of these.

Is it a step down from what I'm replacing (gen 1 or 2)? Or a better quality card?

The 570, or 470 and 285 are a step up compared to your 8800GT. The 285 there is a Mac Edition by EVGA but there is also a flashed PC version which works fine. I think the 570 vram can be more than 1 gig if I recall. Could be around 2 gig ( not sure of exact figure )

666sheep · Jul 22, 2013

OP, if 8800GT was enough for you, get yourself Radeon 5770. GTX 570 is an overkill for your kind of usage. Especially its power draw and heat emission. You simply don't need such power.

Tesselator · Jul 22, 2013

666sheep said:
OP, if 8800GT was enough for you, get yourself Radeon 5770. GTX 570 is an overkill for your kind of usage. Especially its power draw and heat emission. You simply don't need such power.

Yup! Your heat will go up inside the case, by 7 to 10c on average under typical use. My GTX 570 card has 3-fans and I'm using smcFanControl so that's not a residual build-up either.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the advice. I took the card out today and cleaned it with an can of air, put it back in and it booted up fine.

I did get that scree that is like the gray Apple screen that said my computer shut down due to an error, press a key or wait to continue.

I think maybe that is a hardware related error screen? I'll see how this card acts now that its cleaned out, if it will wake from sleep etc...so far its been acting pretty good. But now that i know of some good alternative cards, I'll be set if it does die, thanks again all.

Macsonic · Jul 22, 2013

ChrisMc73 said:
Thanks everyone, I appreciate the advice. I took the card out today and cleaned it with an can of air, put it back in and it booted up fine.

I did get that scree that is like the gray Apple screen that said my computer shut down due to an error, press a key or wait to continue.

I think maybe that is a hardware related error screen? I'll see how this card acts now that its cleaned out, if it will wake from sleep etc...so far its been acting pretty good. But now that i know of some good alternative cards, I'll be set if it does die, thanks again all.

Good to know your card is doing fine. I have the same Nvidia 8800GTX as yours on my 2008 Mac Pro and working fine for 3 years with no problems ( knock on wood )

I regularly air blow the card and interior of the Mac Pro to keep dust away. I also have extra back up videocards, the Nvidia 285GTX Mac edition and Radeon 5770HD. Though my personal preference is Nvidia cards. I use these cards alternately with the 8800GTX so each cards are sort of "rested" and hope to prolong their life. Thanks

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Tesselator said:
Yup! Your heat will go up inside the case, by 7 to 10c on average under typical use. My GTX 570 card has 3-fans and I'm using smcFanControl so that's not a residual build-up either.

May I know what is the Vram of your Nvidia 570GTX? Is it 2.5Gig? Does this mean all 570GTX cards give out heat a lot?

Tesselator · Jul 22, 2013

Macsonic said:
May I know what is the Vram of your Nvidia 570GTX? Is it 2.5Gig? Does this mean all 570GTX cards give out heat a lot?

I guess it's like that for all GTX 570 variants.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 22, 2013

I spoke too soon, it had been doing fine since I posted last, screen saver and all, my wife was just on the computer actually, and then like 20 mins later I came into the office and the screen was all garbled up.

So guess I'll be shopping soon for a new card.

MacVidCards · Jul 23, 2013

Or fire up the oven. In my experience cards that at least boot to garbled mess have at least 50% odds of making full recovery.

You must remove 12 screws from back and be CERTAIN to leave the metal bracket on end of card hanging over edge of desk on removal and especially on reassembley.

Issue is with tiny balls of solder under main GPU chip. Flexing / bending card adds to trouble so never stress it that way. If card is unusable, you have 0 to lose by trying.

If you buy new card be sure to get one for your model Mac Pro.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 26, 2013

666sheep said:
OP, if 8800GT was enough for you, get yourself Radeon 5770. GTX 570 is an overkill for your kind of usage. Especially its power draw and heat emission. You simply don't need such power.

So I saw this Radeon 5770 at the Apple Store:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...-(mid-2010)?afid=p219|GOUS&cid=AOS-US-KWG-PLA

But it only has the one input, my other card had dual inputs, if I ever wanted to add a 2nd monitor. Does this model have that option?

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ChrisMc73 said:
So I saw this Radeon 5770 at the Apple Store:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/M...-(mid-2010)?afid=p219|GOUS&cid=AOS-US-KWG-PLA

But it only has the one input, my other card had dual inputs, if I ever wanted to add a 2nd monitor. Does this model have that option?

Nevermind, I see where it has the 3 ports, just one DVI the others are mini...duh. That would run a two monitor system fine.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 27, 2013

Next question about this repair/replacement job would be, what if I need two DVI inputs, I have one 30" ACD right now and I'm currently looking for a deal on another one, so I'd have two 30" ACD, my guess is they are both going to need a DVI input on the graphics card like my dead one has.

Are there adapters that will let me use the 5770 still? Or should I consider another card? I don't want to lose any of the specs I have with this dead card, so a newer upgraded one or the same one is what I want.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 27, 2013

Whats the difference in these cards? Some show 2 cards in the image, some show one, etc...I just want one card I guess that will power my 30" display.

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Apple-ATI-R...AM-PCI-Express-x16-Graphics-adapter-/86102219

666sheep · Jul 27, 2013

It's just stock picture. Shorter card on 2 card pic is 5770, longer one is 5870. To drive 2 30" DVI displays off of Apple 5770 you'd need one active mDP->DVI adapter.
Another option is to buy PC AMD 5770 (used only ATM) and flash it with Mac ROM. In case of using 2 DVI displays with such card, you don't need any adapter but you'll lose the bootscreen. Flashed 5xxx cards will display bootscreen only via DVI->VGA adapter.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 27, 2013

I found a "Used - Very Good Condition" of my original NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT on Amazon for $129, with 2 day free shipping from Amazon Prime, will be here Monday, July 29th.

OR

I can buy the ATI Radeon HD 5770 from Apple Store, have it August 1st.

Is there that big a difference in these cards?

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666sheep said:
It's just stock picture. Shorter card on 2 card pic is 5770, longer one is 5870. To drive 2 30" DVI displays off of Apple 5770 you'd need one active mDP->DVI adapter.
Another option is to buy PC AMD 5770 (used only ATM) and flash it with Mac ROM. In case of using 2 DVI displays with such card, you don't need any adapter but you'll lose the bootscreen. Flashed 5xxx cards will display bootscreen only via DVI->VGA adapter.

Ok, thanks. I think I've changed my mind however and I'm not going to get two 30" screens, I'm just going to continue with this one for now. So to get me back up and running, I can get the 5770 for $250 or a used great condition 8800GT, for $129 and have it by Monday.

What would you do? I want one that is going to boot with the Mac Rom, don't want to flash anything myself etc, just out of box work.

666sheep · Jul 27, 2013

I had many bad experiences with 8800 GTs so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. If you don't want to go flashing route and you'd want to have full warranty and reliable, hassle free card - get an Apple 5770.

ChrisMc73 · Jul 27, 2013

666sheep said:
I had many bad experiences with 8800 GTs so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. If you don't want to go flashing route and you'd want to have full warranty and reliable, hassle free card - get an Apple 5770.

Ok so buy it from the Apple Store? I can do that. Thanks for your advice.

666sheep · Jul 27, 2013

If you prefer new one with warranty, get it form Apple store or any reseller (maybe you'll bet a better price, gotta check). If you'd want to lower the costs, you can grab used one from ebay: http://www.ebay.com/ctg/Apple-ATI-R...Graphics-adapter-/86102219#req_6_all_qqq_null for about $100 less than new one from Apple store.

Macsonic · Jul 27, 2013

ChrisMc73 said:
Next question about this repair/replacement job would be, what if I need two DVI inputs, I have one 30" ACD right now and I'm currently looking for a deal on another one, so I'd have two 30" ACD, my guess is they are both going to need a DVI input on the graphics card like my dead one has.

Are there adapters that will let me use the 5770 still? Or should I consider another card? I don't want to lose any of the specs I have with this dead card, so a newer upgraded one or the same one is what I want.

Hi ChrisMc73 If you plan to use 2 ACDs to a Radeon 5770 or other cards with mini display port , you will need to use this active adaptor: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A/mini-displayport-to-dual-link-dvi-adapter?fnode=53

This is because with mini display port the maximum resolution you will get is only 1280 x 800 : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3571
It's a hardware limitation with mini-display port on certain videocards.

seveej · Jul 27, 2013

666sheep said:
I had many bad experiences with 8800 GTs so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Even when you have a problem-free sample (like I had - now it's in a nice box on the shelf), that's one noisy bugger. After I took my 8800 out and replaced it with a 5770, I'm in seventh heaven.

RGDS,

nVidia GeForce 8800 GT Dying

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