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

[ramrod77]

Duly noted.

So my mac specialist guy, said that he was able to get a display from his mac card, and he basically got the spinning ball of death. This is where he would have to the PRAM reset, correct?

Also, told him to boot TDM from his mac to try to turn on screen sharing on my mac pro.

Hope something works out!

 

[nigelbb]

If you use your MacBook Pro to boot from the Mac Pro's drive, you can enable screen sharing. Then reboot the Mac Pro and MacBook Pro normally. Then use the MacBook Pro to connect to the Mac Pro via screen sharing to install the latest Nvidia web drivers.

Btw, reinstalling Yosemite won't help your situation.

Why the extra steps? Why not just boot MBP from MP drive in target mode & install Nvidia web drivers on that disk? Then boot

 

[ramrod77]

It wasn't working for some reason. I see that TDM boot doesn't allow to install web drives. I wonder if it has to do with me having two boot up disk?

I use a fusion boot up using two ssd , but i dont think that matters..

 

[pastrychef]

Why the extra steps? Why not just boot MBP from MP drive in target mode & install Nvidia web drivers on that disk? Then boot

That'll work as long as nvda_drv=1 is set.
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It wasn't working for some reason. I see that TDM boot doesn't allow to install web drives. I wonder if it has to do with me having two boot up disk?

I use a fusion boot up using two ssd , but i dont think that matters..

If you can boot from it, you should be able to install to it. I don't know if a fusion drive will cause any problems with booting via target disk mode. I've never tried that.

 

[ActionableMango]

It wasn't working for some reason. I see that TDM boot doesn't allow to install web drives.

This is very vague. What was the exact error message or problem?

 

[ramrod77]

Will explain what i did.

I went through the Target disk display process. . turned on the mbpr and depressed opt key and then booted the mac pro and depressed T key.

When the mac pro drivers appeared up on my mbpr i selected one of the disk and then I installed the new web driver software and and then after it rebooted my mbpr i shut down both macs normally and when i booted the mac pro it didn't work.

i tried it two more times . but differently i made sure to update the drives on both startup disk and still wasn't able to do it.

I am able to boot from the suds using tdm

 

[pastrychef]

Connect to the Mac Pro via screen sharing and make sure the Nvidia web drivers are enabled.

 

[flehman]

This news item may be of interest to those of you who purchased a GTX 970. It appears that nVidia is in the process of negotiating to settle the lawsuits alleging that the company misled consumers in its marketing of the card's specifications (i.e. Memorygate). If the settlement goes through, consumers who purchased a GTX 970 could obtain a $30.00 refund.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/28/12315238/nvidia-gtx-970-lawsuit-settlement

 

[orph]

hay im hunting for a gtx 680 on ebay (just missed a EVGA card ) and want to ask if the palit jetstream cards will work like this one https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GeForce_GTX_680_Jet_Stream/
I dont want to flash it if that helps, still hurts me that the GTX 770's are cheaper.
ps the blower cards fit the airflow better but how much nose do they make over the open cards like that plait one?

 

[Earl Urley]

Very interesting LinkedIn URL here..

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/155161110

Maybe it's for macOS Sierra support and nVidia hardware appearing in new machines going forward? I doubt they'd hire someone just to do web drivers..

 

[koyoot]

It is the same job offer that is going on from Nvidia for past... 8 months or so.

 

[Earl Urley]

It is the same job offer that is going on from Nvidia for past... 8 months or so.

I'd agree with the handwave but 1) posted 7 days ago (maybe its a refresh?) 2) it states OpenCL and Metal specifically, so at least we're going to get drivers, and I doubt it's only to continue the little-known tradition of providing web drivers, and it's not to support the niche market of owners of discontinued Macs. Maybe we'll see the return of BTO nVidia options.. someday..

 

[theunderseaclub]

Hi guys,

I flashed my 2009 MP from 4.1 to 5.1 a couple years ago (also putting in a 6-core 3.33ghz CPU), running Mavericks.

I'm been using the same PC gtx 670 for the last few years (no boot screen of course), running the Nividia mac drivers with the cuda drivers.

I plan on updating to Yosemite after I get some new SSDs for my boot and home drive.

When I install Yosemite on the new SSD and boot from it, when I get a display screen from my 670? Or will my screens be blank until I install the Nividia drivers? I still have the Apple Radeon 4870, I'm hoping it still works..

I've done quite a bit of searching, but don't have a clear answer yet. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

 

[pastrychef]

You don't have to worry, the GTX 670 works with the built-in Apple drivers.

 

[orph]

hay do you think this palit gtx 770 4GB jetstream is a good GPU http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...0-gtx770-and-gtx780-super-jetstream-review/4/
not seen any reports of that model in a macpro.
(or is the 680 still recommended over the 770, im hoping to grab a 4gb card and the 680 4GB cards seem rare/overpriced)

 

[theunderseaclub]

You don't have to worry, the GTX 670 works with the built-in Apple drivers.

Very grateful for your answer! I can upgrade in peace now! Thanks.

May I also ask, if I want to put in a freshly installed El Capitan SSD in my Mac Pro, with my pc GTX 670, will it work? Or do I have to plug in my apple 4870 and install the Nvidia drivers first before I plug in the 670?

Sorry for asking, I'm trying to search, but I'm not certain if the apple drivers will work for the 670 on all OS X versions.

Thanks

 

[Earl Urley]

Very grateful for your answer! I can upgrade in peace now! Thanks

GTX 660's are supported from OS X 10.8.2 and up, because the Late 2012 27" iMac had the option to include GTX 660M, 675M, or 680M as GPUs.

 

[theunderseaclub]

GTX 660's are supported from OS X 10.8.2 and up, because the Late 2012 27" iMac had the option to include GTX 660M, 675M, or 680M as GPUs.

Ah, understood, thank you for the explanation!

 

[pastrychef]

May I also ask, if I want to put in a freshly installed El Capitan SSD in my Mac Pro, with my pc GTX 670, will it work?

Yes, it will work.

Or do I have to plug in my apple 4870 and install the Nvidia drivers first before I plug in the 670?

Not necessary. But always nice to keep the 4870 around for "just in case" scenarios.
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hay do you think this palit gtx 770 4GB jetstream is a good GPU http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...0-gtx770-and-gtx780-super-jetstream-review/4/
not seen any reports of that model in a macpro.
(or is the 680 still recommended over the 770, im hoping to grab a 4gb card and the 680 4GB cards seem rare/overpriced)

I don't have any experience with the 7-series Nvidia cards, but I've been told that it can be hit or miss with the built-in drivers even though the GTX 770 is Kepler based and, technically, just a slightly higher clocked GTX 680. They should work fine with the Nvidia web drivers though.

The safest bets are still the 6-series cards.

 

[yurc]

hay do you think this palit gtx 770 4GB jetstream is a good GPU http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...0-gtx770-and-gtx780-super-jetstream-review/4/
not seen any reports of that model in a macpro.
(or is the 680 still recommended over the 770, im hoping to grab a 4gb card and the 680 4GB cards seem rare/overpriced)

GTX 770 will okay. 760,770, and 780 3gb work with built-in apple nvidia drivers.

Exception for 780 6gb version which required web driver like maxwell. Not recommended anyway since it pull too much watt from backplane pcie auxiliary power

 

[flowrider]

^^^^It's my understanding the Apple Drivers only work for GTX 780 and Titan cards with the GK110a Kepler chip. Those with the GK110b will not and need the Nvidia Web Drivers. Has something changed?

IIRC The GTX 770 and below have the GK104 and will run just fine with either Apple or Nvidia Web Drivers.

Lou

 

[yurc]

Sorry my information was incomplete. GTX 780 3gb is ASUS reference model while 6gb being test actually is ASUS Strix OC 6GB version.

That's why i'm confusing back then in early 2015. The reference 3 gb work OOB in yosemite. Pop up 780 6GB works but without acceleration but solved with web driver....i dunno why?

I wonder how the owner that 6GB card right now, is he still doing waiting web driver each OS update or not~ but as he doesn't complaint i assume everything was okay~

 

[MacGamver]

Since the TDP of the newer generation cards are significantly lower, how would a GTX1070/1080 work in a cMP as far as cables go? The cMP uses 6-pin connectors to the motherboard, so what about the ones that use 1 or 2 8 pin connectors, even though the TDP is ~215w?

 

[orph]

well there are no osx drivers yet for them so they will only work in windows, if you can stick to the dual 6 pin ones

 

[Synchro3]

IIRC The GTX 770 and below have the GK104 and will run just fine with either Apple or Nvidia Web Drivers.

I can confirm this. Using a MVC GTX 770 4 GB now nearly two years. No problems with OS X drivers and web drivers. It's a 6 Pin & 8 pin version connected with two 6 pin cables.