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

[MDangerous]

Hello Folks, I've been silent lately because I'm still waiting for 10.8.3 to see if it solves my Final Cut Pro X freezing problems with my GTX 470. I was wondering though, has anyone with access to 10.8.3 tried using FCP X or the FCP X trial to see if they are having freezing issues like me?

Thanks!

 

[BrioBriss]

Just a question about the PCIe thing. Is the new drivers allow to use the full potential through Windows 7 (bootcamp) or it's still stick to 1.0?

Also, I'm pretty noob about these specs, so what's the deal here about the PCIe 1.0? What does it affect exactly?

I'm looking to work in Maya (3D software) and some Adobe Premiere/After Effects and Photoshop, so I'd like to know if it'll really slow my work under BootCamp. Also I use a 30" Dell screen, would it affect the graphic power etc? Sorry if it can sound like a dumb question, I just want to be sure before buying.

 

[MacVidCards]

Nvidea Mac Drivers can do MIRACLES in OSX.

Can't affect Windows.

Our cards offer PCIE 2 in Windows.

Biggest enefit is if you do CUDA/OpenCl or SLI.

 

[BrioBriss]

Nvidea Mac Drivers can do MIRACLES in OSX.

Can't affect Windows.

Our cards offer PCIE 2 in Windows.

Biggest enefit is if you do CUDA/OpenCl or SLI.

Yea, I was actually looking at your cards after I made the post here but I couldn't find one with similar power to a GTX 670 or 680. Let me know if it's possible to get one from you, or correct me if I'm wrong, but from the models I saw on your Ebay account, I didn't found it.

Would be glad to get one with similar specs though!

 

[xcodeSyn]

Yea, I was actually looking at your cards after I made the post here but I couldn't find one with similar power to a GTX 670 or 680. Let me know if it's possible to get one from you, or correct me if I'm wrong, but from the models I saw on your Ebay account, I didn't found it.

There are no EFI versions of the GTX 6xx GPU, not until the Quadro K5000 for Mac is released, and the GTX 670/680 are optimized for gaming not CUDA/OpenCL. You need to read topic 21 of the first page in this thread, which was added recently by the OP since many people assumed the greater number of CUDA cores in GTX 670/680 as better performance.

 

[xcodeSyn]

I'm looking to work in Maya (3D software) and some Adobe Premiere/After Effects and Photoshop, so I'd like to know if it'll really slow my work under BootCamp.

Why are you wasting your time and resources trying to run those windows applications under BootCamp where you at best could only get PCIe 2.0 performance but you can get PCIe 3.0 and other latest technologies in a PC? If you can't leave OS X alone then build yourself a Hackintosh for the best of both platforms. If you spend 80% time working on Windows software as you mentioned before, why do you even need Mac-specific hardware to get less than optimized performance from your software?

 

[bjar]

Ok so I tried to put my original 2600xt in my mac pro because I would like to attempt to sell it. It says it is a generic display and "No Kext Loaded" in system profiler. If I put it in alone with out my gtx-660 it does not come on at all, not even a boot screen. Is it completely dead? It worked before I installed the 660.

 

[Asgorath]

Ok so I tried to put my original 2600xt in my mac pro because I would like to attempt to sell it. It says it is a generic display and "No Kext Loaded" in system profiler. If I put it in alone with out my gtx-660 it does not come on at all, not even a boot screen. Is it completely dead? It worked before I installed the 660.

We need a lot more information. What model Mac Pro are you using? What version of the OS are you running? Did you install any NVIDIA drivers on top of your OS?

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Ok so I tried to put my original 2600xt in my mac pro because I would like to attempt to sell it. It says it is a generic display and "No Kext Loaded" in system profiler. If I put it in alone with out my gtx-660 it does not come on at all, not even a boot screen. Is it completely dead? It worked before I installed the 660.

Is it the Mac Pro ATI Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB PCIe Video Card?

My bro and I tweaked his MP 3.1 with this card & EVGA GTX FTW-670 FTW 2GB!
When juiced (GTX) properly it works like a charme!!!!
The ATI 2600XT MAC-edition does not have to be powered with power-cable from mobo-PCIe, the GTX DOES!

See my post about my tweak (2x Nvidia) MP 3.1, with the ATI 2600XT MAC-edition it works the same!

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16745377#post16745377

Goodluck!

 

[bjar]

We need a lot more information. What model Mac Pro are you using? What version of the OS are you running? Did you install any NVIDIA drivers on top of your OS?

It's a 2008 2.8 x2. 10.8.2. Yes I installed the nvidia drivers and the cuda update but I don't even get a boot screen with the 2600 so I'm thinking that's not the problem. I did pram reset and unplugged computer for a bit. I just put it in to test it so I can sell it. When I have both the 660 and the 2600 installed I can see that it says no kext loaded. The fan on it spins up and the monitor light comes on (20 in Cinema Display) but that's all. I even hit the reset button on the mother board for what it's worth. And by "by worked before I installed the 660" I mean a few months before. I had replaced it with a 5770 but it worked fine before that and it was stored in an anti-static bag.

 

[MacVidCards]

Sounds dead now. Try with any other start disk, if it doesn't work with another, chuck it.

 

[Asgorath]

Sounds dead now. Try with any other start disk, if it doesn't work with another, chuck it.

Pretty much this, yeah. If the AMD card doesn't work even when the NVIDIA card is removed from the system, sounds like the card is dead.

 

[bjar]

Pretty much this, yeah. If the AMD card doesn't work even when the NVIDIA card is removed from the system, sounds like the card is dead.

Awesome thanks guys

 

[scottrichardson]

Picked up a gtx 660ti 2tb today!

Got it installed 10 mins ago - only powering 1 of my 2 cinema displays for now until my adapter arrives.

However, installed in slot 1 and working perfectly. 2 x 6 pin power cables plugged in, no worries.

Will run some benchmarks to compare to my old 4870... which has to go back into the machine tomorrow so I can actually do my work (need both screens). So will run some benches on that too.

EDIT - Wake from display-sleep works, but NOT wake from full system-sleep. The screen won't power back on. Noted that I am using D-DVI into Atlona DIV>MDP box to go to 24" Cinema Display. When my DP>MDP adapter cable arrives, I will test other screen to see if sleep problem persists.

EDIT 2 - In terms of performance, Unigine Heaven score on a custom setting was 612, versus the top-of-the-line iMac 27" with 680MX which was a score of 646 on same settings. In all, very happy I am super close to the top end iMac.

Scottie

 

[funkahdafi]

Hi,

what is the experience with the GTX690 so far? I remember seeing a thread here by someone who used an external power supply (in the optical drive bay) to get the power in there, but I can't find that thread (yea, I know).

Any pointers?

Thanks

 

[GermanyChris]

That'd be a dual GPU card..

no OSX support for dual GPUs..

 

[funkahdafi]

That'd be a dual GPU card..

no OSX support for dual GPUs..

Well I know for a fact that the GTX690 is in fact running fine in OSX. It's just a question about getting enough power to the card. Hence my search for that thread I mentioned.

 

[MacVidCards]

It is "running fine" if you consider it being 50% functional as good enough.

Only using CUDA can you access the power of 2nd core. No use for other things.

And this is definitely a card that using a splitter on is NOT a good idea.

 

[funkahdafi]

It is "running fine" if you consider it being 50% functional as good enough.

Only using CUDA can you access the power of 2nd core. No use for other things.

And this is definitely a card that using a splitter on is NOT a good idea.

My use case is not CUDA or other applications on OSX. My use case is Bootcamp -> Windows -> Games.

And I am not talking splitters. I am talking a separate, dedicated external power supply for the card.

Anyways. Can someone point me to that thread? I must be blind, I can't find it.

 

[etc]

Hi,

what is the experience with the GTX690 so far? I remember seeing a thread here by someone who used an external power supply (in the optical drive bay) to get the power in there, but I can't find that thread (yea, I know).

Any pointers?

Thanks

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1520765/

 

[funkahdafi]

thanks!

 

[Killerbob]

After having received a dud, I finally have a EVGA GTX680 SC card in my possession, and now I need to get it installed correctly.

I am on OSX 10.8.2, so it should work out of the box. I also am running Windows 7 in Bootcamp, which currently is optimised for the ATI 5870HD.

Hence I believe I need to do the following;

1) Uninstall the Catalyst driver in Windows,
2) Replace graphics cards,
3) Boot into OSX, and install the current NVidea driver and CUDA driver,
4) Boot into Windows and run install for the latest NVIdea GTX driver.

Is that about right, and what are the latest drivers versions?

 

[Asgorath]

Is that about right, and what are the latest drivers versions?

Mac driver versions are listed right here in the first post of this thread. We don't track Windows versions, but I'm sure if you go directly to http://www.nvidia.com and click through to the driver download page, you'll get access to the latest one. They even have software that will auto-detect your GPU and pick the correct driver for you.

 

[Killerbob]

I know there are several references to the NVidea drivers, but there are some 500 posts, and amongst these several references to several versions of drivers. I just wanted to check if there were newer drivers...

 

[Asgorath]

I know there are several references to the NVidea drivers, but there are some 500 posts, and amongst these several references to several versions of drivers. I just wanted to check if there were newer drivers...

That's why I keep the first post updated It has direct links for the NVIDIA drivers for every OS release from 10.7.3 to 10.8.2.