Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB Confirmed Working in 10.8.2

[Sawtooth811]

Greetings. Just want to inform the MacRumors community that I have an EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB (non-Ti model) running well in Mac OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion on a Mac Pro (my model is a 4,1 as the signature indicates), and I'm more than certain it'll work in any Mac Pro 3,1 and newer; However, this didn't happen without pulling teeth.

I've searched all over Google, as well as Mac & Hackintosh forums to see if anyone got this working in the Mac Pro 3,1 and higher, but to no avail. I only ran into one article about the 660 Ti working, but that didn't help at all.

Later, I accidentally found out that Apple recently released an exclusive 10.8.2 update for the new 2012 MacBook Pros and iMacs with GeForce GT/GTX 600 series GPU chipsets (Perhaps Apple will include such .kext files in the 10.8.3 update?)

So I figured out how to extract the .kext files written for those chipsets, tested them after restart, and voila; The GTX 660 runs well in OS X, and is even recognized as such in the System Profiler! I tested this card with Batman Arkham Asylum on maximum settings, as well as X11, and they run very well. DVD player works, too.



There are two known major drawbacks, though:

• The Mac Pro doesn't wake up from Sleep

• The Mac Pro may not shut down or restart properly

Perhaps someone needs to write an efi.rom?

If you don't want to wait for the (more than likely) 10.8.3 update, which should include the drivers, I am currently creating an installation package, and I will post it very soon. Also, I may post more updates before releasing the installation package. Even with the probable 10.8.3 update, it may give the same results unless Apple actually updates those drivers.

[DanielCoffey]

Do you still get the odd startup issues with the card in the other x16 PCIe slot?

[OrangeSVTguy]

My 670s don't want to wake up from sleep either. Also my screens sometimes gets swapped at startup as I have one screen hooked up to each 670.

I haven't really researched this yet.

[MacVidCards]

Did you ever just try with the Nvidia 10.8.2 drivers linked in top sticky?

I don't believe kext gymnastics were required.

The ROM Revision field should indicate PC BIOS id if you did.

[Einz]

I have been running the GTX660 in my 3.1 for over a month. I have no issue with sleep nor shutdown.

[Sawtooth811]

Originally Posted by DanielCoffey

Do you still get the odd startup issues with the card in the other x16 PCIe slot?

I don't recall trying the other slot with this card because I was shuffling between two other ones at the same time. I might give it a shot later on.

Originally Posted by MacVidCards

Did you ever just try with the Nvidia 10.8.2 drivers linked in top sticky?

I don't believe kext gymnastics were required.

The ROM Revision field should indicate PC BIOS id if you did.

Actually, I tried the Quadro & GeForce 304.00.05 drivers because it was under this GTX 660 Ti blogspot page, and I figured it would've been for the entire GeForce GTX series---well, at least the GTX 600 series, seeing that the 660 Ti is pretty much a faster, more power-consuming 660 with larger memory options, if I'm not mistaken.

However, they didn't work, of course, and the drivers in the sticky told me I have supported drivers already, and it didn't continue. I will get rid of the .kexts I'm using, and reinstall them from the Nvidia package.

Originally Posted by Einz

I have been running the GTX660 in my 3.1 for over a month. I have no issue with sleep nor shutdown.

What did you do (or didn't do)?


UPDATE: The driver posted in the sticky does not work, even after trying to delete the .kext files. It continues to give me the same message.

[Einz]

I downloaded and installed the driver from the link in the sticky guide. The card has been running fine since. The connection is display port. I don't know if that makes any difference?

[PowerPCMacMan]

Hi!

Given the 2008 Mac Pro is an EFI64 based machine, any EFI64 based video card will work. Its the 2006-2007 that are EFI32 and nvidia's cards have a history of not working at all in those Mac Pros as the firmware is locked at 64-bit EFI, which is not present on those Mac Pros.

So, to make a long story short, if the EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 is locked at 64-BIT EFI, it will work on the 2008 Mac Pro. Unless, EVGA has a firmware restriction on earlier model Mac Pros starting with the 2008 model, but this is highly unlikely.

ATI or AMD's cards use a special firmware which allow compatibility of their hardware with older Mac Pros going all the way down the line to the 2006 Mac Pro. This is NOT the case with Nvidia.

Originally Posted by Sawtooth811

Greetings. Just want to inform the MacRumors community that I have an EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 2GB (non-Ti model) running well in Mac OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion on a Mac Pro (my model is a 4,1 as the signature indicates), and I'm more than certain it'll work in any Mac Pro 3,1 and newer; However, this didn't happen without pulling teeth.

I've searched all over Google, as well as Mac & Hackintosh forums to see if anyone got this working in the Mac Pro 3,1 and higher, but to no avail. I only ran into one article about the 660 Ti working, but that didn't help at all.

Later, I accidentally found out that Apple recently released an exclusive 10.8.2 update for the new 2012 MacBook Pros and iMacs with GeForce GT/GTX 600 series GPU chipsets (Perhaps Apple will include such .kext files in the 10.8.3 update?)

So I figured out how to extract the .kext files written for those chipsets, tested them after restart, and voila; The GTX 660 runs well in OS X, and is even recognized as such in the System Profiler! I tested this card with Batman Arkham Asylum on maximum settings, as well as X11, and they run very well. DVD player works, too.

Image

There are two known major drawbacks, though:

• The Mac Pro doesn't wake up from Sleep

• The Mac Pro may not shut down or restart properly

Perhaps someone needs to write an efi.rom?

If you don't want to wait for the (more than likely) 10.8.3 update, which should include the drivers, I am currently creating an installation package, and I will post it very soon. Also, I may post more updates before releasing the installation package. Even with the probable 10.8.3 update, it may give the same results unless Apple actually updates those drivers.

[MacVidCards]

Originally Posted by Sawtooth811

UPDATE: The driver posted in the sticky does not work, even after trying to delete the .kext files. It continues to give me the same message.

Sounds like you just need to right click it.

When dealing with computers, being EXACT is very important.

Saying "driver doesn't work" is a different thing from "driver won't install"

It sounds like you are unable to install the driver, which is a very different thing from "does not work"

Right click on installer to get into it deeper.

Originally Posted by PowerPCMacMan

Hi!

Given the 2008 Mac Pro is an EFI64 based machine, any EFI64 based video card will work. Its the 2006-2007 that are EFI32 and nvidia's cards have a history of not working at all in those Mac Pros as the firmware is locked at 64-bit EFI, which is not present on those Mac Pros.

So, to make a long story short, if the EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 is locked at 64-BIT EFI, it will work on the 2008 Mac Pro. Unless, EVGA has a firmware restriction on earlier model Mac Pros starting with the 2008 model, but this is highly unlikely.

ATI or AMD's cards use a special firmware which allow compatibility of their hardware with older Mac Pros going all the way down the line to the 2006 Mac Pro. This is NOT the case with Nvidia.

I think you are confusing some things.

None of the GTX6xx cards have EFI, 64 bit or otherwise, that is why no boot screens.

If people have trouble getting GTX6xx cards running in 1,1 or 2,1 machines it is entirely because ML won't run on them and ML has the solid drivers for them.

EFI has nothing to do with it. Trust me.

[Concorde Rules]

Originally Posted by Sawtooth811

There are two known major drawbacks, though:

• The Mac Pro doesn't wake up from Sleep

• The Mac Pro may not shut down or restart properly

Is it just me or are these MASSIVE, show stopping issues with this?

This isn't the kind of upgrade people should do if they want the machine that usually just works to continue to work properly .

I don't know about everyone else but having a machine running 24/7 drawing 100W+ at idle isn't my idea of a good thing...

I think I'll wait until either the 7870 or 6xx series work properly before jumping from my 6870

[All Taken]

Originally Posted by Concorde Rules

Is it just me or are these MASSIVE, show stopping issues with this?

This isn't the kind of upgrade people should do if they want the machine that usually just works to continue to work properly .

I don't know about everyone else but having a machine running 24/7 drawing 100W+ at idle isn't my idea of a good thing...

I think I'll wait until either the 7870 or 6xx series work properly before jumping from my 6870

They work perfectly if you have a low power helper card or even a 5870. I run a GTX 680 along with the original Apple flavour 5770 and have no ramp up of fans, no sleep issues and certainly no shut down issues.

MacVidCards how goes the EFI for the 6XX series? Any more movement since the release of the 680MX on the iMac?

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by Concorde Rules

Is it just me or are these MASSIVE, show stopping issues with this?

This isn't the kind of upgrade people should do if they want the machine that usually just works to continue to work properly .

I don't know about everyone else but having a machine running 24/7 drawing 100W+ at idle isn't my idea of a good thing...

I think I'll wait until either the 7870 or 6xx series work properly before jumping from my 6870

Well, I'd like to hear what happens once the OP correctly installs the latest NVIDIA driver before jumping to conclusions like this. I'm running an EVGA GTX 680 with the latest NVIDIA driver on 10.8.2 and have had zero problems with sleep/wake.

To force the driver to be installed (and note that this works on non-Mac Pro systems as well):

1) Right click, show package contents.
2) Click on "Contents" then "Packages".
3) Double click the .pkg file in that folder to install the driver.

Obviously you need to make sure that you have the correct installer for your OS version, since this will bypass all the usual safety checks.

[Sawtooth811]

Originally Posted by MacVidCards

Sounds like you just need to right click it.

When dealing with computers, being EXACT is very important.

Saying "driver doesn't work" is a different thing from "driver won't install"

It sounds like you are unable to install the driver, which is a very different thing from "does not work"

Right click on installer to get into it deeper.

I know, and that's exactly what I did, afterwards; I was already two steps ahead.

I tried extracting the kext files, and it gives me a warning saying "System Extensions cannot be used...." etc. Tried repairing permissions before and after modifications and such, still no luck. And what I meant in the last post was it refuses to install, but either way, it didn't even matter what I said, or how I said it because it does not work or install.. I'll try working with it a little more.

Originally Posted by Concorde Rules

Is it just me or are these MASSIVE, show stopping issues with this?

This isn't the kind of upgrade people should do if they want the machine that usually just works to continue to work properly .

I don't know about everyone else but having a machine running 24/7 drawing 100W+ at idle isn't my idea of a good thing...

I think I'll wait until either the 7870 or 6xx series work properly before jumping from my 6870

I've been through two 6870s, and they were just overall subpar cards from my experience (no, they weren't bricked or broken, but they were overpowered, unable to increase voltage, and are hardly overclockable while keeping stability, unlike the 660), and even with the issues I'm currently having with the GTX 660, I find it a much better, faster, and less power-consuming card.

And seeing that Nvidia actually cares a little and creates official drivers for these particular cards, this was the better investment. Originally, waiting for a 7xxx was the plan, but I grew so tired of the 6870s too soon. Plus, keeping the official GT120 or purchasing a 5770/5870 was out of the question.

Update: Gave it another round after deleting all the new .kexts and repairing permissions. It finally decided to install properly, but I didn't test it just yet; I had to leave, but I'll be back home later in the evening to post another update. Hopefully, it solves the sleep issue because it was performing very well and 100% stable outside of the issues.

Update 2: Now the card isn't working at all. Nothing is showing up on the screen, and it is not available for networking/screen sharing unless I unplug the monitor.

[MacVidCards]

Sounds iike you buggered up the drivers.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...&postcount=288

He tried 3 different GTX660s, all worked just fine with Apple 10.8.2 followed by Nvidia web driver.

He did note the sleep issue but if 3 different 660s all worked for him, it stands to reason that 10.8.2 + web driver is best answer.

[Sawtooth811]

Originally Posted by MacVidCards

Sounds iike you buggered up the drivers.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost...&postcount=288

He tried 3 different GTX660s, all worked just fine with Apple 10.8.2 followed by Nvidia web driver.

He did note the sleep issue but if 3 different 660s all worked for him, it stands to reason that 10.8.2 + web driver is best answer.

Forgot to mention earlier that those were the EXACT drivers I tried before anything else. The first time I tried those drivers, everything seemed unaltered, but I just tried those same drivers again, and it's doing the same thing as it did earlier: No screen, and no network/screen sharing visibility.

What would I do if I did not have a MacBook Pro in a situation like this?!? I wouldn't even have a working 6870, either!

I'll just keep working on this, and keep you posted. Thanks a whole lot for everything.

Update: Got it working again, and now, it will shut down/restart properly, but sleep is still not working right. That's the only problem left.

[OrangeSVTguy]

I installed the latest drivers and cuda drivers(I think the links were in another thread) last night and that solved the sleep issues for my 670s. I have booted to bootcamp and switched back to see if that fixes my monitors from swapping around yet.

I'll try tonight if I get time and try and find that post with links from another thread?

[Sawtooth811]

Originally Posted by OrangeSVTguy

I installed the latest drivers and cuda drivers(I think the links were in another thread) last night and that solved the sleep issues for my 670s. I have booted to bootcamp and switched back to see if that fixes my monitors from swapping around yet.

I'll try tonight if I get time and try and find that post with links from another thread?

I might have an extra .kext causing the sleep issues, or something. I should probably reinstall Mountain Lion and reinstall the drivers after updating to 10.8.2, but I'll still work in the sleep issue before jumping to any conclusions (and jumping to conclusions is something I don't do).

UPDATE: I restored all original system extensions, and then retried the original Nvidia drivers provided in the sticky, and it works perfectly! It sleeps and wakes up, which was the last feature I was trying to get working. Perhaps there was a third-party extension/driver preventing this from operating properly, but problem solved.

[eslublin]

Originally Posted by All Taken

They work perfectly if you have a low power helper card or even a 5870. I run a GTX 680 along with the original Apple flavour 5770 and have no ramp up of fans, no sleep issues and certainly no shut down issues.

MacVidCards how goes the EFI for the 6XX series? Any more movement since the release of the 680MX on the iMac?

Hi mate ! My case is almost the same and I was looking for such one, finally found it Please let me know, is it possible to run theese two cards (I want to buy 660) together in MacPro ? Can Radeon be set to use only bootscreen and the second one to run system from loging? If not, what do you use 5770 for? Thanks in advance