GeForce GTX 580 for Windows Only?

Flashing is only necessary to use a card under OS X. If you're booting into Windows, it doesn't matter what GPU you use - the Mac Pro is more or less a PC anyway.

It's as simple as installing the card and drivers, really.

Mackilroy said:

Flashing is only necessary to use a card under OS X. If you're booting into Windows, it doesn't matter what GPU you use - the Mac Pro is more or less a PC anyway.

It's as simple as installing the card and drivers, really.

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I've tried putting the 580 in the Mac Pro. Can't boot into Windows. Black screen even after getting to desktop. Does it absolutely need an external PSU to power?

TJunkers said:

I have the 580 working great on windows only... Heres what I did. I used the two mini 6 PCIe and the wire they gave you to hook up to the 8 port. as for the 6 port PCIe on the video card. they give you a cord that goes from the 6 port to 2 of the older non-mac power cords... I bought this on amazon and hooked it up to one of my unused hard drive connectors.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LBROAA

you do have to but off part of it just so it plugs in, but dont worry it hooks up perfect!

Oh, you may need two of these if you don't have them already: http://www.amazon.com/PCIe-Power-Cable-nVidia-Video/dp/B002UR1654

they hook up to the mini 6 PCIe on the motherboard just below the PCI express slots.

Hope that makes sense!

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Alright! Finally some good news after a day of tinkering and frustration.

So just curious, have you tried powering the card without the hard drive connectors first? I kind of want some reassurance that it IS a power supply problem. But anyway, I will try this right away. Thanks!

TJunkers said:

Yes I did and it was all black. freaked me out at first!

But now its been perfect and runs at a very normal temperature. I played black ops all fully loaded on it and the card was running at max 80 degrees Celsius which I was told is more than normal. In fact the card will automatically power itself down if it gets too hot so dont worry about that!

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Tried your suggestion and it worked brilliantly. Thanks!

Now if only I can get this card to work with OS X—ah, more tinkering!

TJunkers said:

I do a lot of 3D work, and could really use something like the GTX 580.

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Careful, most good 3D renderers don't actually use the GPU... The GPU is good for producing images quickly, but not necessarily accurate or good (relatively) images. Preview can often use the GPU, but rendering frequently does not.

TJunkers said:

I've been using VRay RT for a lot of previews and its been running incredibly well using the GPU. When I do my final renders I have a dedicated computer for that.

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Awesome. Ray tracing on GPUs is pretty new fangled.

I wanted to ask if you had other cards in the mac, and if there are problems of power supply.
I have a GT 120 that I use with OSX.

I have a GTX 580 Zotac Amp in my 08 Pro and it is now working fine under Windows-7-64, though I have not sorted out CUDA 4.0 yet - 3.2 is fine for now.

The 580 is powered externally from Toughpower 6&8pin supplies

OS X is not behaving yet. I have netkas injector and 10.6.7 and the latest 10.6.7 driver, I hope, and when the machine boots it hangs just before log in.

Right now I do not know where the problem is - views welcome. (netkas, Rominator, anyone?)

I am booting from an 8800GT. Previously I had no problems with a 480 running of a Mac ed 285 as boot card, so am not sure why the 580 is not playing nicely.

The 580 goes like stink on bootcamp side!

10THzMac said:

The 580 is powered externally from Toughpower 6&8pin supplies

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awesome! what exact external power supply are you using? how do you have everything connected? how do you get the external power supply to turn on and power the card?

i thought these external power supplies needed to be connected to the internal mac pro power supply to turn on and off.

Do you have to switch the graphic cards when booting OS X and Win?
Or can you have the Mac Pro standard card in slot 1 for OS X and a GTX 580 in another slot and Windows can boot directly from the GTX 580?

I badly want to get a GTX card for rendering with Octane, and i hope future Mac Pro's will make it easier to put in normal nVidia cards.

I am using the Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 1000W PSU, which is total overkill for one GTX 580 (I thought later to have several higher powered cards). It sits on top of the Mac and I switch it on with its own switch when booting into Windows. I have a paper clip stuffed into two of the holes in the motherboard connector which goes nowhere, and this fools the thing into working without being connected. Info is on web here and there about how to trick ATX PSU to work without actually being connected.

Both Win and Mac boot off the old 8800GT, though in the past I have used 285 as boot card. If you look up the older threads on getting 200-series and 400 series up there is a lot on this forum.

I'm still not understanding , can you boot OS X from your 8800 or 285 while having a GTX 580 in another slot (not being used), then reboot into Windows from your 580 card without having to switch card/slots (and the 8800/285 not being used by win)?

Jmx said:

I'm still not understanding , can you boot OS X from your 8800 or 285 while having a GTX 580 in another slot (not being used), then reboot into Windows from your 580 card without having to switch card/slots (and the 8800/285 not being used by win)?

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I did not make myself clear. I have an 08 Mac booting both partitions off an 8800GT and on the Windows side the 580 works. I used to have ANOTHER 08 Mac running a 285 as boot and injecting a 480, working in both OS X and Windows.

At no time did I have 3 cards up, though I thought I might build a hackintosh one day with lots in (hence the OTT PSU!).

My problem remains getting the 580 alive under 10.6.7.

10THzMac said:

I am using the Thermaltake Toughpower Cable Management 1000W PSU, which is total overkill for one GTX 580 (I thought later to have several higher powered cards). It sits on top of the Mac and I switch it on with its own switch when booting into Windows. I have a paper clip stuffed into two of the holes in the motherboard connector which goes nowhere, and this fools the thing into working without being connected. Info is on web here and there about how to trick ATX PSU to work without actually being connected.

Click to expand...

this a great idea. i was at Micro Center the other day, and the sales person suggested the exact same solution. i'm thinking about doing the same thing.

where did you get info on exactly what holes to stick the pins into on the motherboard connector?

bluesteel said:

where did you get info on exactly what holes to stick the pins into on the motherboard connector?

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Just Google "ATX" and "paper clip" - there's lots on this one. I think my PSU documentation had something about this for testing before installing.

yeah, i found tons of posts and videos. i guess its the green wire and black wire....

GTX 580 in Mac Pro

Hi there,

I would like to upgrade to a GTX 580 for use in Bootcamp only but before I buy a GTX 580, I have some questions.

If I understood your post, I need to use the 2 x 6 pin motherboard connectors to power the 8 pin on the GTX 580 using 2 x 6 pin cables but I need to cut off 4 pins so that it fits? Can I use a 4 + 2 pin cable instead?

Then to power the other 6 pin slot, I need to get the SATA > PCI molex cable you mentioned and fit it to a spare hard drive port and then attach the 6 pin cable from the GTX 580 to the two molex connectors? Is this right?

I guess the GTX 580 won't get enough power if I only use the 2 x 6 pin connectors from the motherboard right?

Because the GTX 580 won't work in OS X, can I use my GT120 in slot 3 and use that for OS X?
Does OS X boot automatically from the GT120 if it can't boot from the GTX 580 in slot 1?

If I understood, I should set it up like in the sketch below?

Thanks for your help,

Toby

TJunkers said:

I have the 580 working great on windows only... Heres what I did.
I used two of these cords to go from the motherboard ports (right below the PCI express slots) and hooked them up to the included cord (2 6 pin to one 8 pin)
http://www.amazon.com/PCIe-Power-Cable-nVidia-Video/dp/B002UR1654
I then bought this on amazon and hooked it up to one of my unused hard drive connectors which then connects to their included cord for the last 6 pin PCIe port.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002LBROAA
you do have to cut off part of it just so it plugs in, but dont worry it hooks up perfect and easily cuts with scissors.
Hope that makes sense!

Click to expand...

toby23 said:

Image

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With some 4890 with that connector setup, it has worked to just ignore the 2-port that your 2nd Motherboard connector is connected to in that image.
And use the 2nd motherboard connector for the second GTX 580 connector.

toby23 said:

Because the GTX 580 won't work in OS X, can I use my GT120 in slot 3 and use that for OS X?
Does OS X boot automatically from the GT120 if it can't boot from the GTX 580 in slot 1?

Click to expand...

Yes, but if you are unlucky, the Nvidia drivers might crash cause it can't connect to the 580, causing kernel panic, making only way to boot OSX is to remove the card from the machine.

Hey Cindori,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you know if 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 6 > 8 pin converter would work on a GTX 580?
I guess that wouldn't provide enough power right?

I want to avoid having to swap cards so if I put the GT120 in slot 1 and the GTX 580 in slot 2, would that work?

Thanks for your help,

Toby

toby23 said:

Hey Cindori,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you know if 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 6 > 8 pin converter would work on a GTX 580?
I guess that wouldn't provide enough power right?

I want to avoid having to swap cards so if I put the GT120 in slot 1 and the GTX 580 in slot 2, would that work?

Thanks for your help,

Toby

Click to expand...

I don't know what power the mac pro outputs on its motherboard PCI-E power cables. I'd say it would run.

Slot placement doesnt matter, if the Nvidia drivers tries to attach to card, you will kernel panic and that's it. I had to run my 8800GTX with switching cards on every reboot back in the days. You'll just have to try and see.
Another scenario is that the 580GTX fans will go 100%, because of the drivers failsafing when unable to detect thermal monitors.

I'd look into initializing 580GTX with GT120 as helper card. Can't help you bout that. Check netkas forum.

Best scenario, OSX will just ignore the 580GTX.
You will of course have to switch DVI cable between the cards when rebooting though.