Frequently Asked Questions About NVIDIA PC (non-EFI) Graphics Cards

[Anderton]

Hello.
On a Mac Pro 1.1 (maybe i try the ML way someday, but not know. Darn you Apple!)

Ah. I will try that one.
Thanks for the help!

Originally Posted by Asgorath

Have you tried 10.8.2 and 304.00.05f02?

----------

Updated OP with link to 10.7.5 driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/macosx-...02-driver.html

[GermanyChris]

So my MSI 560Ti works just fine on my 1,1 flashed to 2,1.

It is noisy though so I'll be putting a new cooler on it..

**edit** My 560Ti is a MSI 550ti 448 which from what I gather via reviews is 95% of a 570..Its still loud and a passive cooler is in order (Prolimatech MK-26)

[Xeocon]

EVGA 660 Ti user reporting in. I'm running a 2009 2.66ghz Mac Pro 4.1.

First up, thanks for all the helpful info from the forum!

Just picked up my card yesterday. Installed it using 2 6-pin cables purchased from Amazon. Updated 10.8.2 drivers to the nVidia web drivers, installed CUDA and added the card to the supported card lists for the Adobe apps. Working stable and great.

Only problems so far is some random pausing during Youtube clips. During playback it would pause after a few seconds, then after I clicked play it would play again for a few seconds then stop. I restarted the computer and the problem went away.

Also, the display would not wake from sleep when using the DVI-D slot. I then tried putting the 23" Cinema Display DVI cable into the DVI-I slot and all is working well. I haven't got a second display to throw into the mix, but maybe a heads up for somebody who needs two displays and was considering this card? I'm hoping a future driver update remedies the issue.

Bootcamp also runs with no issues. Will keep playing around and report back with any issues I encounter. I have an Apple 5770 waiting to be sold off if this card holds up Cheers!

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by Xeocon

I have an Apple 5770 waiting to be sold off if this card holds up Cheers!

TBH I'd probably hang onto a card with an EFI, just in case something goes wrong. I just installed an SSD in my Mac Pro, which required swapping back to an EFI GPU so I could run the Disk Utility from the recovery partition.

YMMV, it's one thing to run with a non-EFI card in general, but not having a backup plan is taking a pretty big risk.

[Xeocon]

Hey Asgorath, thanks for the heads up. Definitely, I have the computer's original GT120 on standby just incase it all goes wonky.

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by Xeocon

Hey Asgorath, thanks for the heads up. Definitely, I have the computer's original GT120 on standby just incase it all goes wonky.

Ahh, perfect then. That's what I have as well.

[Anderton]

Installed the new drivers. But no luck.
Here is my findings.

Games (as testing) works, but only in the native resolution (1920x1200). If a game want to change the res, or if you trying to change the resolution, the computer gets a blue or black screen and you are forced to do a hard reboot. They work in Windowed mode with no problem.

In the logs, you will find this:

”NVDA(DMA): Channel exception! exception type = 0x1f = Fifo: MMU Error
Oct 16 22:53:14 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000069
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: NVDA(DMA): Channel timeout!
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: IOVendorGLContext::ReportGPURestart
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 0000006e
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00200000 00009197 00000000 00000000
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00002490 00000030 0000000e
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 00000000
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: IOVendorGLContext::ReportGPURestart
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 0000006e
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00200000 00009197 00000000 00000000
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00001b0c 1000f010 0000000a
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 00000021
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000
Oct 16 22:53:34 Deluxive-State-Pro kernel[0]: NVDA(DMA): Channel exception! exception type = 0x1f = Fifo: MMU Error
”

i searched, and i found this threads: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/top...ng-resolution/ (same problem, but on ML)

and http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-l...ze-thread.html (also for Mountain Lion).


Seems that there is no solution for this problem on Lion (ML seems not be an option as i'm on a ”non”-upgradable Mac Pro 1.1).

Or is there something else i can do?

System recap: Mac Pro 1.1, 8 GB Ram, 10.7.5, NVIDIA DRIVER RELEASE 295.00.0. GPU: Asus GT 520 SILENT 1GB installed in SLOT 1.

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by Anderton

Seems that there is no solution for this problem on Lion (ML seems not be an option as i'm on a ”non”-upgradable Mac Pro 1.1).

Or is there something else i can do?

System recap: Mac Pro 1.1, 8 GB Ram, 10.7.5, NVIDIA DRIVER RELEASE 295.00.0. GPU: Asus GT 520 SILENT 1GB installed in SLOT 1.

Yeah I was seeing this on my GTS 450, but it's fixed with the latest Mountain Lion drivers from NVIDIA, as discussed in those threads.

[Anderton]

Originally Posted by Asgorath

Yeah I was seeing this on my GTS 450, but it's fixed with the latest Mountain Lion drivers from NVIDIA, as discussed in those threads.

The problem is that i have a Mac Pro 1.1 (not ML compatible).

[El Awesome]

There is a workaround for MP1.1s to install ML. They say it's rather easy.
Maybe that could solve your problem.

[Anderton]

Originally Posted by El Awesome

There is a workaround for MP1.1s to install ML. They say it's rather easy.
Maybe that could solve your problem.

It's quite easy, but time consuming. However, it's quite buggy. So, 10.7.5 is a no go for GT 520. Seems that i'm forced to buy a expensive Apple Radeon card.

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by Anderton

It's quite easy, but time consuming. However, it's quite buggy. So, 10.7.5 is a no go for GT 520. Seems that i'm forced to buy a expensive Apple Radeon card.

Or just don't let your monitor go to sleep? That's how I worked around the issue until it was fixed, I would just manually turn off my monitor. Given the fact that it's been fixed in Mountain Lion, hopefully we'll see a driver released for 10.7.5 that includes the fix.

I believe this issue is specific to certain Fermi GPUs (namely GF106 and GF108), so you could always try something like a GTX 560 Ti or GTX 570.

In any case, I'll add some comments about this to the OP.

[Anderton]

Originally Posted by Asgorath

Or just don't let your monitor go to sleep? That's how I worked around the issue until it was fixed, I would just manually turn off my monitor. Given the fact that it's been fixed in Mountain Lion, hopefully we'll see a driver released for 10.7.5 that includes the fix.

I believe this issue is specific to certain Fermi GPUs (namely GF106 and GF108), so you could always try something like a GTX 560 Ti or GTX 570.

In any case, I'll add some comments about this to the OP.

Hm. Maybe i wait for a new driver. I don't game, and yes, i don't let the computer go to sleep anyway (actually, when the monitor goes to sleep, there is no problems) Edit: KPs after 2 hrs with monitor sleep. Anyway the card was cheap, so i'll wait and see.

Maybe i pick up a GTX 560 Ti or GTX 570 later on this month.

Thanks for the help.

[slughead]

I'm glad this is a sticky now! I hope NVidia finds a huge market selling these cards to mac users and we can continue to get this great support--maybe even EFI!

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by slughead

I'm glad this is a sticky now! I hope NVidia finds a huge market selling these cards to mac users and we can continue to get this great support--maybe even EFI!

While I completely agree with you, I don't know how anyone would know how many people are actually using these cards. I guess there's the Steam hardware survey, but many people probably aren't actually playing Steam games.

[MDangerous]

Found this video while on YouTube. This is not my video so I take no credit. I think it may be helpful to the folks here. It shows you how to install the GTX 570 with 2.5 GB into the MP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6pEmIiN4Co

[dukk]

Thanks for all the work done here, just to add my experiences and a question.

I bought an asus 2gb 680gtx, it wouldn't boot with 10.7.5, neither default or with the updated nvidia driver, just black screen.

I updated to ML 10.8.2 and I could boot, however, performance was "bad" (around 50% of the ATI5870 (Apple)).

I updated drivers to the latest nvidia drivers, performance is still bad, now it's around 66% of the ATI5870 open gl performance.

Any good ideas on why it's so slow?

Kind regards,

dukk

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by dukk

Thanks for all the work done here, just to add my experiences and a question.

I bought an asus 2gb 680gtx, it wouldn't boot with 10.7.5, neither default or with the updated nvidia driver, just black screen.

I updated to ML 10.8.2 and I could boot, however, performance was "bad" (around 50% of the ATI5870 (Apple)).

I updated drivers to the latest nvidia drivers, performance is still bad, now it's around 66% of the ATI5870 open gl performance.

Any good ideas on why it's so slow?

Kind regards,

dukk

Yes, the GTX 680 is not supported by 10.7.5, I need to make this more clear in the OP. Only the Fermi generation GPUs seem to work in Lion, the Kepler GPUs appear to require Mountain Lion in general.

What app(s) are you testing with?

[dukk]

Originally Posted by Asgorath

Yes, the GTX 680 is not supported by 10.7.5, I need to make this more clear in the OP. Only the Fermi generation GPUs seem to work in Lion, the Kepler GPUs appear to require Mountain Lion in general.

What app(s) are you testing with?

I used (for lack of anything better)

XBench and World of Warcraft

xbench open gl test gives around 180fps with the gtx680, and 300fps (score 240) with the ati 5870 card

for a given random view in warcraft (just logging out, shut down, swap cards, boot up and log back in) the difference was similar, 30-35fps with the gtx680, 45-50fps with the ati5870

any tips would be greatly appreciated, I can return the gtx, but I'd prefer the upgrade it should be instead :)

Thanks!

[El Awesome]

Originally Posted by dukk

I used (for lack of anything better)

XBench and World of Warcraft

xbench open gl test gives around 180fps with the gtx680, and 300fps (score 240) with the ati 5870 card

for a given random view in warcraft (just logging out, shut down, swap cards, boot up and log back in) the difference was similar, 30-35fps with the gtx680, 45-50fps with the ati5870

any tips would be greatly appreciated, I can return the gtx, but I'd prefer the upgrade it should be instead

Thanks!

Download CUDA-Z and take a look at the given data.
At this Thread you will find other people with GTX680s, you can compare with them.

LuxMark is also a good app for benchmarks.

[Asgorath]

Originally Posted by dukk

I used (for lack of anything better)

XBench and World of Warcraft

xbench open gl test gives around 180fps with the gtx680, and 300fps (score 240) with the ati 5870 card

for a given random view in warcraft (just logging out, shut down, swap cards, boot up and log back in) the difference was similar, 30-35fps with the gtx680, 45-50fps with the ati5870

any tips would be greatly appreciated, I can return the gtx, but I'd prefer the upgrade it should be instead

Thanks!

I'm getting 60+ FPS in WoW on a 30" monitor with my GTX 680, not sure why you're getting half that. Never heard of XBench though.

TBH I'd wait for more driver updates. The cards are still relatively new in terms of Mac support, so I'd expect the benchmark scores will only go up from here.

Edit: I just looked at the XBench site, and "spinning squares" does not seem like that relevant of a benchmark for modern GPUs. YMMV.

[dukk]

Originally Posted by El Awesome

Download CUDA-Z and take a look at the given data.
At this Thread you will find other people with GTX680s, you can compare with them.

LuxMark is also a good app for benchmarks.

I got hold of cuda-z, the numbers there are perfectly on par with what others report in that thread, looking like pcie 1 memory numbers.

Originally Posted by Asgorath

I'm getting 60+ FPS in WoW on a 30" monitor with my GTX 680, not sure why you're getting half that. Never heard of XBench though.

TBH I'd wait for more driver updates. The cards are still relatively new in terms of Mac support, so I'd expect the benchmark scores will only go up from here.

Edit: I just looked at the XBench site, and "spinning squares" does not seem like that relevant of a benchmark for modern GPUs. YMMV.

wow is bad as a "benchmark" because so much else goes on, and there's so many settings, but it's valid enough when you have the exact same view and settings and only change the graphics card, and the 5870 for me performs 25-50% better :I

spinning squares correlates nicely with wow performance, that's why I've been using it, it's very quick :)

I ran the unigine benchmark, score of 860 (but no stutter) for the 5870, the 680 scored 1098 (but stuttered visibly every now and then), both in 2560x1600 resolution.

My experience closely matches what kreipendl reports here http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1401044

Thanks a lot regardless! I think I'll hang onto the card a bit longer, and then return it if I don't find any magic bullet, if things magically improve with new drivers later, I will have to rebuy it :)

[GermanyChris]

The new 10.7.5 drivers do not work on 1,1/2,1

[MDangerous]

I'm still trying to figure out why FCP X completely crashes my whole system when I'm using my GTX 470. The crash usually happens while I'm skimming titles. I really don't understand it. What is even weirder is that FCP X does not crash when I use the original ATI 2600. The 2600 isn't a FCP X compatible card and doesn't have OpenCL yet it runs FCP X more reliably.

Any thoughts?

[Anderton]

Originally Posted by GermanyChris

The new 10.7.5 drivers do not work on 1,1/2,1

How do mean? I running 10.7.5 on a Mac Pro 1.1 and the webdrivers for 10.7.5 works (except my issues earlier described).