5,1 2010 + eVGA GTX 980 Ti MacVidCards EFI sluggishness

[Squuiid]

Avoid 3rd party utilities and just use Apple’s native command and you won’t have a problem.

Erase USB flash drive and leave it named Untitled

Download macOS and leave it in your Applications folder.

Then run this:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled

 

[favoretti]

Avoid 3rd party utilities and just use Apple’s native command and you won’t have a problem.

Erase USB flash drive and leave it named Untitled

Download macOS and leave it in your Applications folder.

Then run this:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled

That’s what I did indeed. I blame sticks. They are eons old will get new ones today. Thanks a lot for all your (and others!) help so far - much appreciated. Awesome to see that there are tech communities that are so welcoming to new members.

 

[favoretti]

Have you considered an RX 580 instead? A very good option these days, if you can find one at a reasonable price.

It seems they are available at about 60% of the price I paid for this GTX980Ti.. But you're saying there are ways around not seeing boot screen. Which ways? And will RX580 work on stock power supply, or do I need an extra one?

 

[Squuiid]

It seems they are available at about 60% of the price I paid for this GTX980Ti.. But you're saying there are ways around not seeing boot screen. Which ways? And will RX580 work on stock power supply, or do I need an extra one?

Press cmd+r and use boot selector there.

Yes, stock power supply powers it with ease. The best card to get is the Sapphire RX 580 8GB PULSE (not Nitro+) as that is the card used in Apple’s own eGPU dev kit.

Drivers are native in the OS, no need for web driver or such.

The RX 580 is the best all round card for a cMP right now assuming you don’t have any special requirement for CUDA.

 

[favoretti]

Press cmd+r and use boot selector there.

Huh? But if boot screen isn't visible, what would you see upon cmr+r? Or is the only thing that's not visible is the initial apple logo?

 

[favoretti]

Also, I reckon these are not the numbers I should be expecting from GTX980Ti, right?

And here are geekbench results: https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/compute/1993230

 

[h9826790]

Also, I reckon these are not the numbers I should be expecting from GTX980Ti, right?

And here are geekbench results: https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/compute/1993230

All number looks correct to me.

 

[favoretti]

All number looks correct to me.

36FPS? Really, that's all it can do?

 

[Squuiid]

36FPS? Really, that's all it can do?

Your CPUs are pretty slow and likely the bottleneck. I’d upgrade them to a pair of X5677 or X5690 if I were you and then revisit.
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Huh? But if boot screen isn't visible, what would you see upon cmr+r? Or is the only thing that's not visible is the initial apple logo?

You’d be missing the boot selector when holding down the option key at post and the Apple logo. The main thing you lose of any real value IMO is FileVault.

Because the drivers are inbuilt in the OS recovery mode can use them just fine. (unlike unflashed NVIDIA cards)

 

[favoretti]

Your CPUs are pretty slow and likely the bottleneck. I’d upgrade them to a pair of X5677 or X5690 if I were you and then revisit.

Is UI rendering mainly CPU-backed then, rather than GPU-backed?

 

[Mac Hammer Fan]

Favoretti, Cinebench results on my Mac Pro 6 core 3,33 Ghz are 61 FPS with a Geforce 980 (not TI). Luxmark 3,1 is 12996. The low Cinebench score is related to your processor (8c 2,4 Ghz).

 

[h9826790]

Is UI rendering mainly CPU-backed then, rather than GPU-backed?

The Cinebench OpenGL test is very CPU single core speed limiting. That score is completely meaningless for a 980Ti.

Mac Hammer Fan’s 980 has 61FPS because his 3.33 GHz CPU is significantlay faster than your 2.4GHz CPU. That’s it. Not because his GPU is normal, but yours is faulty. Even he upgrade to 980Ti, or even a TitanX, he will still get ~61FPS as long as he use the identical setup to test the new GPU.

 

[lowendlinux]

Also, I reckon these are not the numbers I should be expecting from GTX980Ti, right?

This is obviously with a 480 and a 3.46 I'd imagine the 580 is 10%-20% faster than my card.

 

[Dr. Stealth]

off topic

 

[MacManu77]

The RX 580 is the best all round card for a cMP right now assuming you don’t have any special requirement for CUDA.

No. But why does one really need it? The OS has native drivers for the RX 580, even in recovery mode.
Sure, you lose the boot selection menu but there are ways around that.
Instead you get a high performing and very compatible card in macOS.

Thank you

the GPU in high sierra has the link speed to 2.5 or 5 as the 5770?

 

[Squuiid]

Thank you

the GPU in high sierra has the link speed to 2.5 or 5 as the 5770?

2.5 but it makes little to no difference. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Asgorath]

Cinebench is discussed in the FAQ thread that is pinned at the top of the forum.

 

[favoretti]

Ok, thought I'd update the thread. Scored myself 2x x5690 and it's indeed making a ton of a difference!
Thanks all very much for bearing with me

 

[parisinvest]

Please don't kill me on the spot. I know I'm number 23084203948 with this thread. I have read a LOT of them.

I've installed eVGA GTX 980 Ti into my mid2010 5,1 mac pro. Both power sockets are connected. 32G RAM, 2x quad-core xeons. With 2x 4k displays working in 2k mode (2560x1440) desktop rendering speed (chrome, slack, basic apps, whatnot) is very sluggish. Games work well, just that the desktop lag is horrific. Even when scrolling in a single long page in chrome I can see pieces of the page render with my bare eye.

My MBP mid-2015 with stock video card performs better.

Latest web driver is installed, so is CUDA.

What am I missing?

dont use chrome, i've the same problem on chrome too, when i change back wit safari, everything is fine, btw i've the same configuration with yours, mvd version 980 ti is just fine for mac pro, you will have the same problem with chrome on imac macbook pro etc, at least not problem of the video card, but you can try to install flash player and java though. good luck.