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BFG 8800GTX NOT working for me in my mac pro.

wsgroves said:
Guys I got it. You were right. Take out the 7300gt and run the 8800 by itself and its working just perfect IN WINDOWS. No point trying OSX so im not worried about that for now but it IS working in windows running off the internal powersupply off the cdrom cables.

Update:
Just tested fear since the time of the last post, mabe 45mins. Running it at 2560x1600 max detail and it never skips a beat and is perfectly stable.
Click to expand...

So does it work with MacOS X or not? No point if it just work on Windows only.
 
Neonguy said:
So does it work with MacOS X or not? No point if it just work on Windows only.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, people who want to game in Windows don't need a dual platform card.

Until Apple sells an 8800 (and sombeody dumps, hacks and then uploads the ROM for it) it won't work on the Mac.
 
looks like 225W is enough to power up the 8800 gtx
however i'm curious ppl have been saying the 8800 gtx tops out around 180W
so is that 180w going through the 2 6 pin power input? or does that include the power it grabs from the pci express slot?

wsgroves - are you using the 2 6pin power from the power supply??
or routing power from the spare 4 pin molex fomr the cd drive althought theres only 1 spare doens't the 8800 GTX need 4 of the 4 pin power??
so no need for an external power supply?

also is it possible maybe that the power supply isn't enough if you had to take out the other vid card??

thats awesome thought to hear it works!
so what if you want to log back into OSX? you have to take out vid cards when you switch?
 
Awsome. Could I ask for details on how you got it to work? I'd like to do that with my mac pro also. Will I need any special tools, cables, etc.?

Thanks!


wsgroves said:
Guys I got it. You were right. Take out the 7300gt and run the 8800 by itself and its working just perfect IN WINDOWS. No point trying OSX so im not worried about that for now but it IS working in windows running off the internal powersupply off the cdrom cables.

Update:
Just tested fear since the time of the last post, mabe 45mins. Running it at 2560x1600 max detail and it never skips a beat and is perfectly stable.
Click to expand...
 
Just to tell you guys, the Geforce 8800 will only work in the top most PCi-e Slot on the mac pro, the Geforce 8800 will only operate in a 16x PCi-e slot the top most PCi-e slot is the only 16X slot in the Macpro, the others are 8X and the bottom one is 4X. This is also why anyone wanting to run it in SLi has to buy a new motherboard because the early SLi motherboards were 8X only, the newer ones are 16X but some on the cheeper chipsets are still 8X only.
 
babyjenniferLB said:
Just to tell you guys, the Geforce 8800 will only work in the top most PCi-e Slot on the mac pro, the Geforce 8800 will only operate in a 16x PCi-e slot the top most PCi-e slot is the only 16X slot in the Macpro, the others are 8X and the bottom one is 4X. This is also why anyone wanting to run it in SLi has to buy a new motherboard because the early SLi motherboards were 8X only, the newer ones are 16X but some on the cheeper chipsets are still 8X only.
Click to expand...


?? The bottom slot nearest the memory is 16X ??
 
zeiut said:
Awsome. Could I ask for details on how you got it to work? I'd like to do that with my mac pro also. Will I need any special tools, cables, etc.?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Er...yeah, I have the exact same question as him.
I havent got my Mac Pro yet, but I would like to do this once I do.

Will I need anything to hook up a 8800GTX and for it to function normally ?

Oh, and im only getting one 750GB HDD with my Mac Pro-
will I be able to choose whether I want to boot into Windows or OSX easily with just one HDD ? (Even if I insert something other than the X1900, like the 8800GTX ?)
Or will I need two to perform this trick, so when I insert my 8800, I just insert the Hard drive with Windows ?
If you could answer this, it would be of the utmost help.
 
you won't be able to boot into OSX with the 8800 for now until someone figures it out you will need to use the vid card that is supported in OSX.. or you can use titan that would work as well but it's not fuly functional just yet

and yes you should be able to boot either windows or OSX no problem
bootcamp will partiton your hdd into 2 pieces and at start up you hold down the alt key or option key and you choose

however not sure yet waiting for wgrooves to answer but he had to take out the 7300 to run the 8800 so doing thing your stuck running windows only.. unless someone can find a way around it to leave the 7300 in there

casue i too want to know what is need to do to make this work =)
and yea isn't the 16X slot at the bottom not the top?
 
I have not tried it with OSX yet as I would say there is almost no chance of it working, but I will try it.

Im using the molex from the cd rom drive to power it. thats probably not the ideal way but its working and the power supply isnt heating up or anything and I run 4 drives so hopefully it will be fine.

As for OSX, that looks to be the kicker. Im going to have to take the card out and install the 7300 it looks like every time i want to boot into X.

zeiut, I didnt do anything special. I just unplugged the 2 vid card i had previously installed and installed the 8800 in the bottom slot. Make sure its set to 16x in osx before you install it. Then I bought 2 power extender cables from bestbuy and ran them from the cdrom power cables. If I can ever pickup the cables that grab power from the mb behind the vid card I will do that.

And YES MRU, you were right. The only reason I can think of for that happening is, too much memory usage and maybe a conflict with the efi resources?

No, the 8800 does not need to be in the top spot. It is actually impossible to run it in the top spot unless you chance the cooler on the card, its a double wide. + that would be a big no no as the hard drives sit right above and I would never run that card so close to the drives.

Grenadier, I dont think this card will work in osx so im not sure what to tell you. I will test it when I get a chance.
 
thanks for the answers wgrooves

were all pretty excited to try this well not sure for the others but i sure am! hehe
kind sucky though with the OSX to have to swap the card everytime but scarifices have to be made for the best hahaha or until someone figures out how to run it or maybe apple will update the firmware to make it work

but yea are you using both the molex?? or jsut one? if both how are you powering up the cd drive??

do you mind taking a pic of how your rig is setup with the 8800 that would be sweet

thanks!
 
Yes the cd rom works fine. I havent had any problems yet with anything since I got it working correctly.
 
sweet!

can you still close the case? from the pic it looks like it's still possible?
also how loud is the card?
 
wsgroves said:
Guys I got it. You were right. Take out the 7300gt and run the 8800 by itself and its working just perfect IN WINDOWS. No point trying OSX so im not worried about that for now but it IS working in windows running off the internal powersupply off the cdrom cables.

Update:
Just tested fear since the time of the last post, mabe 45mins. Running it at 2560x1600 max detail and it never skips a beat and is perfectly stable.
Click to expand...

You can put the 7300 back in once you've booted windows and everything's kosher.

You really should try the card in OS X using the titan drivers mentioned on the previous page of this thread.

Also, I'd recommend using the power off the motherboard plug and NOT the optical drive bay due to power issues I experienced.
 
slughead said:
You can put the 7300 back in once you've booted windows and everything's kosher.

You really should try the card in OS X using the titan drivers mentioned on the previous page of this thread.

Also, I'd recommend using the power off the motherboard plug and NOT the optical drive bay due to power issues I experienced.
Click to expand...

Yes, Macs have always tended to have a problem near max power -- trying to draw that much power from the optical drives could cause problems elsewhere.

Especially when Apple is providing dual 75W aux power taps on the board.
 
where can i grab that booster cable from? anyone know?
i saw that one site but it's freaken $30 a cable and we need of them
 
Yea I will pick up the mb cables for the power. Where can I get them from as Im not exactly sure what to buy. I'll pay the 30 bux a cable just to get rid of the cable clutter. =)
 
MacRumorUser said:
?? The bottom slot nearest the memory is 16X ??
Click to expand...

bottom on the computer yes. i got it the wrong way around. Only one PCi-e slot in the mac pro = only one possible Geforce 8800 working inside it. The card requires PCi-e 16X. Lol i bet the 9800 will need a 32X PCi-e slot only avaliable to Nvidia chipsets.
 
Thank you for you time, and answering my questions.
Although, you seem to have gotten the 'wrong end of the stick' ;)

Even though it would be nice if you could test it in OSX, without sounding rude, that isnt what I meant.

What I meant was, if you insert the 8800, will it automatically boot into Windows, or will you still have a choice what OS to boot ? (Even though itll crash if you boot OSX)

Could someone also tell me what 'molex' is ?
Will I need that to install the 8800 ?
(I apologise for my lack of knowledge)

And just to clarify, apart from setting the slot to x16, I need nothing, right ?
No cables, no connectors, no fuss ?

If you could answer that, I would be a happy man :)
 
it seems like you don't get a choice with the 8800 you have to first set your computer to default boot into Windows in order to get the 8800 to work to begin with..

molex is the power connector in a computer.. to power up the cd drive.. hardrives etc etc.. in the mac pro theres only 2 4pin molex connectors.. one of it is what the cd drive is using and the other is free just in case you want to add another cd drive..

what were all trying to figure out is the best place to buy a 6pin pci express booster cable... wgrooves has it so he grabs power from both 4 pin molex from the cd drive.. you can do it that way refer to the pic he posted a few post up...
or
apple designed thiered motherboard there dedicated power source jsut for you video cards.. theres 2 of them on the motherboard there 6pin pci express power sockets.. idealy we should be using that
unfortunetly that cable cost about $30 each =|

slughead said that using the power from the cd drive to power up the vid cards might casue some power issues...

as for me either i buy the booster cables which would be ideal but i have no idea if it will fit the vid card casue then i know it will fit the apple motherboard casue it's smaller but wil it be too small to fit the nvidia card??
or
buy a powersupply and make it external with a mod so i dont' need a motherbaord to use it and jsut route it from the outside..
 
aiongiant said:
as for me either i buy the booster cables which would be ideal but i have no idea if it will fit the vid card casue then i know it will fit the apple motherboard casue it's smaller but wil it be too small to fit the nvidia card??
Click to expand...

Punctuation is your friend.
 
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