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BFG 8800GTX NOT working for me in my mac pro.

Just a quick reality check -

The 8800 just became available - it is totally unsupported by Apple, and putting one in a Mac forces you to give up OSX as long as the card is there. The card manufacturers like BFG don't support this card in the Mac. There are no official or unofficial drivers for OS X. The Windows drivers are early versions that will doubtless see much revision to iron out bugs and performance deficiencies. It also needs two power cables which, as you can see from this thread, means either a jury rig or a few extra parts from newegg, plus noticably higher electric bills and brownouts every time you boot up your computer.;) :rolleyes:

The "Titan" drivers may or may not provide a solution of sorts but bear in mind that these are not optimized for any card in particular and therefore will not necessarily provide good performance. A lot of development is still needed and it won't happen over night.

If you have a Mac Pro and

- want the 8800 for bragging rights

- want to tinker with the "Titan" drivers and the 8800 series

- don't mind giving up OS X and running Windows all the time or

- don't mind constantly swapping video cards whenever booting into a different OS

Then go ahead and get the most powerful video card in existence at the moment. Otherwise an OEM Apple X1900XT will give you most of the performance you could desire and will work in either OS X or Windows.

I hope people keep tinkering with this, but keep in mind this is well beyond the state-of-the-Mac...it will probably be several months before we get new video cards (and thus, Apple ROM files to hack). Don't expect an elegant solution to show up anythime soon.

Still, it's nice to know that Mac owners these days at least have the option of putting the latest high-end gaming cards in their Mac Pro...even if it isn't officially sanctioned.
 
You are right Lord. I agree with everything you say.
It is a pain to switch vid cards for OSX indeed. I still have not tested it for compatability with this card and I dont have such high hopes.

The only reason I did it is because I game alot and use the mac pro as a high end workstation for Poser and Vue 6 Inf, and I also play alot of games.
The prob is, using the 30" apple display that I use, if you want to game at the high rez of the monitor, you need the horsepower of the latest and greatest cards.
Yes its a pain to switch and im not too inclined to try that hack to let you use it in OSX and i'll probably kill the OS in trying, but its nice to have a machine that is capable of doing the best of both words.
 
just like wgrooves i too play alot of games.. the hassel of switching graphics cards everytime is a pain but if ti means having the best vid card so i can finally play the games i want it's all good to me hehe =)

new firmware update out.. maybe fixes some issues?
 
Here is a worrying fact for all of you-
According to Anandtech, the BFG 8800GTX consumes 281W under load.

And you state the Mac Pro provides 235W to the GPU.

Hmm...I have no idea how wsgroves got it to work, but I would then recommend you get one of those booster cables for $30
(All it does is provide an extra supply of power to the GPU, right ? (How much more ?))
 
My understanding is that Titan enables drivers that are already there rather than being the driver itself so if, an it's a huge if, there were/are/will be 8800 drivers in osx, it'll run fast.
 
Grenadier said:
Here is a worrying fact for all of you-
According to Anandtech, the BFG 8800GTX consumes 281W under load.

And you state the Mac Pro provides 235W to the GPU.

Hmm...I have no idea how wsgroves got it to work, but I would then recommend you get one of those booster cables for $30
(All it does is provide an extra supply of power to the GPU, right ? (How much more ?))
Click to expand...

if it's 281W the booster cables can only output 225W
althought wgrooves got his to work so i'm not sure...
i did see this thermaltake 250W powersupply it's all internal fits in a 5.25" bay made just especially for pci express vid cards has 2 6pin output..again problem is able to route the cords down to the vid card from the cd drive bays..
 
Grenadier said:
I found a possible answer-
you wont like it,
at all probably, but atleast there is a solution.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19028&vpn=FSP300-1E01&manufacture=FSP GROUP USA

*Squints eyes*
I know...it aint cheap, but hell, its better than nothing.
Click to expand...

yea thats pretty pricey.. but good find!
yea the thermaltake one i was looking at was this same kind of thing
do you know if that 5.25" bay would fit the mac pro's bay loader thing
casue for drive you had to take out the face plates to fit right?

i was even jsut thinking buying a powersupply and modding it to work without a motherboard and routing the power externally to the vid card through the rear pci holes
 
I can't believe you guys who have this setup are actually swapping hardware in and out. The wear and tear of doing this is not how expansion boards were meant to be used. I know you know - but be careful! ;)
 
Grenadier said:
Here is a worrying fact for all of you-
According to Anandtech, the BFG 8800GTX consumes 281W under load.

And you state the Mac Pro provides 235W to the GPU.

Hmm...I have no idea how wsgroves got it to work, but I would then recommend you get one of those booster cables for $30
(All it does is provide an extra supply of power to the GPU, right ? (How much more ?))
Click to expand...

It can provide that amount of power through the PCI-Express lanes. The rest it gets from external power connectors, like the one going to the hard drives and your SuperDrive.
 
so what kind of problems can happen routing the power from the cd drives to use on the 8800?
 
aiongiant said:
so what kind of problems can happen routing the power from the cd drives to use on the 8800?
Click to expand...

Could cause brownouts in your neighborhood... and maybe a small spontaneous reaction as the power supply becomes one with the computer.

:D

Actually, I would say it depends on how far over the rated power draw you are.
 
I notice no issues running it this way. I have played fear for an hour and put my hand over the PS fan and it doesnt seem any more hot then normal, although that is not the be all end all test. =)
Im sure the way I am running it is not the best but we will see. Im going to pickup the mb power cables one of these days.
 
aiongiant said:
so what kind of problems can happen routing the power from the cd drives to use on the 8800?
Click to expand...

Your computer will probably not even start.

I hooked my x1900 and a 10kRPM HD up to the optical line and the computer refused to turn on--the power light would turn on and immediately turn off.

The 8800 takes way more power, so it probably wouldn't even work with the whole power-line dedicated to it.

Use the PCIe power from the mobo--it's just a $30 cable and it'll save you a huge headache.

I'm using an external PSU for my vid card at present, I'll be buying a cable as soon as they come down in price.
 
some guy in the apple forums said this driver might do the trick for the 8800 in osx

http://macvidia.starchaser.org/

i'll be buying the cables and the vid card in the coming week or so..
yea might as well buy the cable and lessen the hassel

i hope it'll be enough hehe =)
 
slughead said:
Your computer will probably not even start.

I hooked my x1900 and a 10kRPM HD up to the optical line and the computer refused to turn on--the power light would turn on and immediately turn off.

The 8800 takes way more power, so it probably wouldn't even work with the whole power-line dedicated to it.

Use the PCIe power from the mobo--it's just a $30 cable and it'll save you a huge headache.

I'm using an external PSU for my vid card at present, I'll be buying a cable as soon as they come down in price.
Click to expand...

But you sure if thats enough power ? Aiongiant states that it is only capable of outputting 225W, and the 8800GTX will need atleast 290W.
 
thats actually whole system power requirements that anandtech tested..

what the card itself takes out according to nvidia is max 180W
so "should" be enough =)
 
I doubt that driver will work. The 8x series requires its own seperate driver. The xp driver for the 8x series now has its own seperate forceware driver so I would be highly suprised if it did although I will try it when it officially supports 8x series cards.

UPDATE
I posted over on that forum so we'll see.
 
Alright, I have a few questions.

Firstoff, what does the X1900 XT draw from when it's installed in a Mac Pro? Why can't the 8800GTX draw from this designated-for-GPU-use power supply instead of some jury-rigged setup?

Secondly, what does Nvidia mean when it requires two PCI-Express connectors? Does the Mac Pro have these? What about the two power connectors?

I'll probably end up buying an 8800GTX eventually so I'm curious about these things.
 
Latisha said:
Alright, I have a few questions.

Firstoff, what does the X1900 XT draw from when it's installed in a Mac Pro? Why can't the 8800GTX draw from this designated-for-GPU-use power supply instead of some jury-rigged setup?

Secondly, what does Nvidia mean when it requires two PCI-Express connectors? Does the Mac Pro have these? What about the two power connectors?

I'll probably end up buying an 8800GTX eventually so I'm curious about these things.
Click to expand...

first - it grabs it's power source from the motherboard.. there are 6 pin pci express power sockets on the motherboard.. so the x1900 connects thiere for power unfortunetly it's not standard connector it's been modified by apple so it's smaller than normal.. when you buy the x1900 from apple they provide you with that "booster cable"

second - the x1900 uses a single 6pin pci express power source althought the 8800 GTX requires much more power so it will need 2 of them.. required max of 180W of power.. and yes the Mac Pro does have 2 sockets on the motherboard for 6 pin connectors.. both connectors can outpiut max of 225W so should be enough

althought i myself have yet to buy the 8800 whihc i'm planning to soon.. gonna by the 6 pin power connectors too you can buy it from ...
http://www.welovemacs.com/9227128.html
at $30 a piece

i'll keep you guys posted when i get it
 
aiongiant said:
second - the x1900 uses a single 6pin pci express power source althought the 8800 GTX requires much more power so it will need 2 of them.
Click to expand...

During the 8800 GTX launch, NVidia was implying that x1950XTX uses only 5W (or 7W) less than the 8800 GTX. The 8800 GTS draws less than the x1950XTX. The Mac x1900XT, underclocked as it is, probably doesn't draw a lot less than the x1950XTX. They're all in the same ballpark with regards to power consumption.
 
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