8800gt EFI64 ROM

[millisecond]

Did you FLASH your Card in your MAC PRO(2008) or Native PC ?

Native PC using essentially the instructions earlier in this thread for a bootable USB and then the nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.com also posted in the thread.

do you have another CARD Installed in SLOT 2 ?

No.

Does your PNY CARD runs the GPU @ 600Mhz or and the RAM @1800Mhz ?

How do I tell this?

The card DOES boot XP32, goes to my native 1920x1200 res, and runs Half-Life 2 beautifully. I used the downloadable drivers from NVidia and all went well, not sure about bootcamp drivers as my superdrive is unplugged atm...

-C

 

[smgfreak]

Native PC using essentially the instructions earlier in this thread for a bootable USB and then the nvflash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.com also posted in the thread.

No.

How do I tell this?

The card DOES boot XP32, goes to my native 1920x1200 res, and runs Half-Life 2 beautifully. I used the downloadable drivers from NVidia and all went well, not sure about bootcamp drivers as my superdrive is unplugged atm...

-C

download this Little Prg here
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z

just run it in XP and makea Screen Shot or write the Infos Down.

The MAC PRO 2008 has a Real Output power Supply ,so you dont need to connect Both of the superdrive 4PIN molex connector. just one will do fine !

 

[aLoC]

The card DOES boot XP32, goes to my native 1920x1200 res, and runs Half-Life 2 beautifully.

Cool, thanks for the info. I will install Windows later today.

 

[slackpacker]

download this Little Prg here
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z

just run it in XP and makea Screen Shot or write the Infos Down.

The MAC PRO 2008 has a Real Output power Supply ,so you dont need to connect Both of the superdrive 4PIN molex connector. just one will do fine !

Just one stupid question please.... Lets say I was happy with the 2600xt in my Mac Pro right now and I ordered a PC 8800GT. Could I still leave the 2600XT in the same slot its in now and Add the 8800GT to another (Which one) and just use that in Windows XP on the Bootcamp Side of things?? So I would have 2 Graphics cards in my system. When I boot into the mac until I flash the card will not be seen right? Will this work? There is really nothing on the Mac I want the 8800GT for so I would be happy with just running it under XP for Crysis.

 

[millisecond]

download this Little Prg here
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z

just run it in XP and makea Screen Shot or write the Infos Down.

The MAC PRO 2008 has a Real Output power Supply ,so you dont need to connect Both of the superdrive 4PIN molex connector. just one will do fine !

Thanks for the tip on the power supply. You can run the cable up and over and still close the case. Tight but it works, had to separate the wires to get them to lay flat over the HDD bays.

Attached is the screen of the tool you posted. Not having run this before flashing the BIOS, is this what you'd expect?

 

[millisecond]

Ah, they have a cool little submission link. Here are the numbers in a better format:

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/avpzu/

 

[SuperGrobi]

GT8800 ready to flash - but no PC at hand!

Hello everybody,

any chance to flash the card in the Mac Pro? I don't have a PC at hand :-(

 

[OZMP]

Has anyone tried using this card in an 06/07 MP?
If not, Is it possible to flash it with another cards EFI so as to be used?

Cheers.

 

[tugger]

Emancipation!

any chance to flash the card in the Mac Pro? I don't have a PC at hand :-(

Buy one! I smell a business opportunity here.

Seriously. If this procedure results in a stable, reliable card in OS X and XP, lots of folks are gonna be so happy about saving $100+ on the card that they won't mind spending $25 or so to get it flashed.

Finally, emancipation from the Apple marketeers.

 

[aLoC]

any chance to flash the card in the Mac Pro? I don't have a PC at hand :-(

I don't think the Mac Pro can boot off a USB key. My Mac Pro will not boot off the same key I used to do the flash on the PC.

Edit: I have heard of a special Linux cd-rom you can download where you boot off it and it transfers boot control to a usb key. This may be what you need.

 

[millisecond]

Seriously. If this procedure results in a stable, reliable card in OS X and XP, [snip]

Been using it for an hour in XP (some games, some surfing), followed by an hour in warcraft under OSX and it has run flawlessly, will post back if I experience any troubles.

With the Mac Pro a few feet to my right, the dell laptop behind me is the loudest thing in the room by far. With the case open it was almost unbearable though. Great sound muffling on the case I guess.

-C

 

[pipomolo42]

Hello,

could someone who successfully flashed a PC 8800GT run nvflash --check and tell us what kind of flash chip the program reports ?

 

[sweedigel]

All that are very good news. I'm very tempted to pull the "send my ca$h" button now
But before I have to know :
- If I can flash it on the Mac Pro (don't have a pc) and under which OS (freedos?)
- What is the problem with the power connector and how to resolve it
- In the case of the card could not be flashed, if I still can use the 8800GT with the Ati 2600 and desactivate one of the cards in OSX (the nvidia) and Windows (the ati).
- If and how I can restore the old vbios if the flash procedure goes wrong

 

[slackpacker]

All that are very good news. I'm very tempted to pull the "send my ca$h" button now
But before I have to know :
- If I can flash it on the Mac Pro (don't have a pc) and under which OS (freedos?)
- What is the problem with the power connector and how to resolve it
- In the case of the card could not be flashed, if I still can use the 8800GT with the Ati 2600 and desactivate one of the cards in OSX (the nvidia) and Windows (the ati).
- If and how I can restore the old vbios if the flash procedure goes wrong

Back me up here - I have been thinking about this for a while since my card will be here (PC8800) tomm

I from multiple posts have found out the card will run under windows fine. But when booting into OS X it will not be seen. But the real prob is going to be when booting into Windows with Both my ATI 2600XT(MAC) and the 8800GT(PC) at the same time. WIndows is going to see both cards and try to install ATI drivers every time. I fear until I flash it I'm going to have to keep shutting down and pulling pulling the ATI card when booting into windows and installing the 8800 for the time being....Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[Pressure]

That is awesome! Someone please try an 8800 GTX! FYI I just read that 8800 Ultra is an over clocked 8800GTX. THis could lead to something good.

They are two different chips, so it will not work. The G80 chip as the Geforce 8800 GTX/Ultra uses is not the same as the G92 chip as the Geforce 8800 GT uses.

can someone explain why this doesn't work on the 2007 MacPro's? is it a hardware or software limitation?

The 2007 Mac Pro EFI is only 32-bit and the early 2008 Mac Pro uses 64-bit EFI.

 

[sweedigel]

Back me up here - I have been thinking about this for a while since my card will be here (PC8800) tomm

I from multiple posts have found out the card will run under windows fine. But when booting into OS X it will not be seen. But the real prob is going to be when booting into Windows with Both my ATI 2600XT(MAC) and the 8800GT(PC) at the same time. WIndows is going to see both cards and try to install ATI drivers every time. I fear until I flash it I'm going to have to keep shutting down and pulling pulling the ATI card when booting into windows and installing the 8800 for the time being....Anyone else have any ideas?

What I am wondering is more about the power consumption. 95% of the time i'm under mac os. I installed windows only for games. Will the 8800 GT consume about 100-150 more watts for nothing or.. hmm

 

[slackpacker]

What I am wondering is more about the power consumption. 95% of the time i'm under mac os. I installed windows only for games. Will the 8800 GT consume about 100-150 more watts for nothing or.. hmm

It probably will unless you unplug it. My 8800 order was put on hold with NewEgg so I canceled it.. Stupid frigin idiots at NewEgg ... They delay stuff any chance they get. So I will pick one up locally. Hope some more answers come soon.

 

[pipomolo42]

All that are very good news. I'm very tempted to pull the "send my ca$h" button now
But before I have to know :
- If I can flash it on the Mac Pro (don't have a pc) and under which OS (freedos?)

I successfully flashed my 7300GT and 7900GT on the Mac Pro using freedos, or the windows version of nvflash (but this one is a bit older, not sure it supports Geforce8)

- What is the problem with the power connector and how to resolve it

It's a Apple specific cable, you can buy it for 30$, or build your own: http://www.welovemacs.com/9227128.html (I am using one of those in a 1st gen Mac Pro)

- In the case of the card could not be flashed, if I still can use the 8800GT with the Ati 2600 and desactivate one of the cards in OSX (the nvidia) and Windows (the ati).

If the card cannot be flashed, it will just not be seen by MacOSX, but will be visible to XP/Vista (provided your monitor is plugged into it when you boot youe Mac Pro)

- If and how I can restore the old vbios if the flash procedure goes wrong

What can happen if the flash goes wrong, is that the Mac Pro does not boot, because of the Nvidia EFI driver. In this case, just plug your card in a normal PC, which will ignore the EFI part, and reflash from here.

 

[sweedigel]

Thnks

It's a Apple specific cable, you can buy it for 30$, or build your own: http://www.welovemacs.com/9227128.html (I am using one of those in a 1st gen Mac Pro)

Do you know how to build my own ? . So, in my wait for the power cable, could the 8800 run without it ?

 

[pipomolo42]

Thnks

Do you know how to build my own ? . So, in my wait for the power cable, could the 8800 run without it ?

tenthousandpercent has a nice howto : http://www.tenthousandpercent.com/?section=other&article=96

 

[thagomizer]

PNY CARD... and CABLES... CHEAP!

Nice work millisecond and everyone else!

Amazon has that PNY card for $249, in stock, free shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-XLR8-8800GT-512MB-Graphics/dp/B000XD1JJK/


And... I've located a source for those outrageous $30 Apple power cables: for $13!!!

ATI has them on clearance, even with shipping it's cheaper than anywhere else I could find.

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

This is probably a safer bet than trying to make your own, and these SHOULD plug directly into the Mac Pro motherboard. (I have it on order and will let you know... but I'm pretty sure this is the right cable).

 

[diamond.g]

Doesn't it strike anyone else as odd that you would have to plug a power connector into the motherboard versus plugging it directly into the power supply? Most PC systems will let you use four GTX's if you have the power supply for it. Maybe that is why Apple actually puts a real PCIe power rating on the site.
Why would Apple, with it's 1100W PSU, not allow you to plug 4 high end PCIe cards into it?

 

[slackpacker]

Well I bought a PNY 8800GT card today. Even if it does not work in the Mac Side of things I don't care. I just cant see why Apple cant supply cards to the limited few Mac Customers. Come-on a Mar 31st shipping date.... ha

 

[thagomizer]

Doesn't it strike anyone else as odd that you would have to plug a power connector into the motherboard versus plugging it directly into the power supply? Most PC systems will let you use four GTX's if you have the power supply for it. Maybe that is why Apple actually puts a real PCIe power rating on the site.
Why would Apple, with it's 1100W PSU, not allow you to plug 4 high end PCIe cards into it?

Newer PCs do use a motherboard connector to supply the auxiliary power for these power-hungry graphics cards. Unfortunately it's a slightly different connector than the one Apple uses. You could still use the regular CD-ROM power supply as others have done. Either way, all the power is going to come from the same power supply. It's just less of a cable mess to use the specialized connector, since it's right there next to the graphics card(s).

 

[SuperGrobi]

Okay, tried to flash a XFX GT8800 XXX alphadog edition (overclocked) some minutes ago. Rom from the card was about 55k ... got an error message during flashing (256 mismatch error something). The chip on the card seems to be 64k only so no way to get this card working without soldering - I am not good enough at that to give it a try. I might get the PNY card and try it with this one ... or I wait for Steve's card to make it to shipping and be on the safe side ... well, was too good to be that easy ...