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

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On the Hex cores (W3690), use all 4 slots will result in decrease in performance (Geekbench). So, the "core number is a multiplier of 3" magic not working on the 6 cores Xeon. I am pretty sure it's the same on the 12 cores, but I can't test it by myself.
 
MrAverigeUser said:
I now rmember the argument why a 12-core MP would profit from 4of4-configuration:

The Xeons ar able to create a virtual 3rd core. To max that out, you need a sum of real hardre cores that you can divide by 3. if this is not the case, the 4th occupied slot will only brake instead of helping the system.

-----> could someone with a 12-core MBP help,us tomverify this?
Would be easy for him:

Just run a performance test with both configurations and report the result....
Imthinkmthis would be very interesting for a lot of people.

As for "as much RAM as possible" : i agree, having 32 GB of RaM since I purchased my MP with it (yes, I was really that naive and burned money because at that time this was horribly expensive...)
Click to expand...

This is not the right thread for this discussion.
 
So I have a problem I am stumped with and I hope someone with more expertise could give me a solution.

I have recently converted to Mac for my desktop. This desktop is a Mac Pro 2009 (4,1) 2.93 GHz machine. I moved my graphics card into this machine as well. The MSI NVIDIA 580 GTX 1.5 GB (Non-EFI).

I am running the latest MAC OSX El Capitan 10.11.3. I also run Bootcamp Windows 7. I always intended to use Windows to game and Mac OSX for productivity. The 580 GTX (Non-EFI) set up great on Mac OSX. In fact it does boot into OSX and start up the card (without a DVI swap from the GT 120). I keep the GT 120 installed as a troubleshooting backup for boot situations mainly. Stressing the system works out fine in OSX. No GTX power issues so far. I have both PCIe 6-pins connected. One IS converted to an 8-pin.

The problem is in Windows 7. I can boot into Windows 7 with the GT 120. I always see a display with the GT 120 but it is only full resolution with the GT 120 nvidia drivers installed (580 GTX nvidia drivers give a crappy resolution on the GT 120). With the GT 120 nvidia drivers installed, and windows booted already, I can just switch the DVI connector in back to the 580 GTX and the 580 GTX works! Fully functional for the most part (explained below). However, I cannot install the 580 GTX nvidia drivers in Windows 7. As I install, with the 580 GTX plugged in, the machine goes black. Then I have to restart with the GT 120 and roll back to the GT 120 drivers to use the system.... If I attempt to boot to windows 7 with the 580 GTX DVI connected I just get black screen and no output.

Odd thing is the GT 120 and 580 GTX BOTH show up in Windows device manager as properly installed. I tried rolling to an earlier version of the 580 drivers and had the same result in Windows 7. I am stumped.

To be clear, the 580 GTX does work in Windows 7 with GT 120 drivers as long as I boot in with the GT 120 DVI plugged in and switch after boot up. BUT the 580 GTX does not run optimally with those GT 120 drivers. It plays games but loads a bit slower than usual and textures sometimes do not show up at first. Pretty odd.

Graphics cards installed as follows:
PCIe Slot 1 = GTX 580 (both 6-pin and 8-pin connected)
PCIe Slot 2 = GT 120
 
howiest said:
KaisMan, your problem made me think of this post by SoyCapitan. Not sure if it'll help, but worth a read anyway.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. It does look like an option to try. The old GT 120 drivers preventing a working installation of the 580 GTX drivers.... That would make sense considering this is only a windows problem. I will give it a shot and let you know.
 
I finally got my Mac Pro 1,1 Working with El Capitan (such a silly name 😛). So I can remote into it and use it from VNC Viewer on my PC, but my graphics card (GTX 750ti EVGA SC 2GB) isnt working... I am able to do it hook it up to my monitor using my Mac GTS 7300 but that thing is SOOOOO Slooooooowwww. So is there any way i can get it hooked up. I am using the latest web drivers(Thanks BTW, this thread is awesome!) but in my "About This Mac" page my graphics card is showed as "<< Graphics >>" and my startup disk is "<< Startup Disk >>" and Serial Number is "<< Serial Number >>". Now all of this is correct when I load into it with the GTS 7300, so something is wrong (HA). I am curious if i have the right drivers (Mine are "346.03.04f02") and Web Drivers are Enabled in NVDIA Driver Manger. As well, I have the Boot Argument [sudo nvram boot-args="nvda_drv=1"] enabled. Soooo I was wondering if what was wrong, and what I could do to fix it. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tmonster 🙂

Edit: BTW when I go into System Report, and then Graphics/Displays it says "No Information Found." So it appears that my Graphics Card is not being Recognized. I will try some other slots, update soon!

Update: Apparently that slot is being a pain, so moved it to slot two, and now it runs at 8x, but its all good since it wont be limited.
 
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Okay so now I'm having issues with my 750ti. It is a non mac flashed card. It works properly when the slot is set to a 4x speed, and I can't get it running at 8x or 16x. Which is odd, but it works on 1x and 4x. I wouldn't mind bein able to run Windows 10, can I simply use boot camp or do I need to use a workaround?
 
howiest said:
KaisMan, your problem made me think of this post by SoyCapitan. Not sure if it'll help, but worth a read anyway.
Click to expand...


I tried that to no avail. Even doing all that I can to prevent a Windows driver install for the GT 120 and then installing the 580 GTX drivers first still gives me a black screen whenever I connect to the GTX 580. The GT 120 still has output. The best I can get is an old Nvidia Windows driver that supports both the GTX 580 and GT 120. Then I get output on both devices (only can boot with GT 120 plugged to monitor however). Plus I know that those drivers are not latest for my 580 GTX by any means.

The only time i get output from my 580 GTX is after booting with the GT 120 and then changing connections on the back. Both windows and mac recognize both devices by name so what the h?

I am coming to the conclusion that the 580 GTX may drain too much power or have some incompatibility with the Mac Pro. Even when I do game with it (using the older GT 120/ 580 GTX combo driver) I get odd slow downs or certain maps or textures seem to load slower for the first 5 min or so. EVEN though Heaven benchmark under stress still works fine with the 580 GTX.

I may have to just find a 680 gtx. I know that can be flashed or used as PC card . Plus it uses less power than the 580 GTX.

Thoughts?
 
KaisMan said:
I am coming to the conclusion that the 580 GTX may drain too much power or have some incompatibility with the Mac Pro. Even when I do game with it (using the older GT 120/ 580 GTX combo driver) I get odd slow downs or certain maps or textures seem to load slower for the first 5 min or so. EVEN though Heaven benchmark under stress still works fine with the 580 GTX.

I may have to just find a 680 gtx. I know that can be flashed or used as PC card . Plus it uses less power than the 580 GTX.
Click to expand...

The 580GTX is able to draw too much power they have an 8-pin & 6-pin power connector for a reason.

Buying a used GTX680 & flashing it seems like the best solution. You will then be able to drive a 4K monitor via the DisplayPort too. You can recoup some of the cost by selling the GT120 & GTX580.
 
nigelbb said:
The 580GTX is able to draw too much power they have an 8-pin & 6-pin power connector for a reason.

Buying a used GTX680 & flashing it seems like the best solution. You will then be able to drive a 4K monitor via the DisplayPort too. You can recoup some of the cost by selling the GT120 & GTX580.
Click to expand...

I will choose to keep the GT120 if I have one. That card not worth much, but may very handy to have if there is any future GPU works well in both OSX and Windows but can't be flashed.
 
So..... With Apple "obsoleting" The Mac Pro (2009) Is this going to signify the end of function for our Iron Giants in the next 2 years? Will 10.12 even be installable in them? (I have a 5,1 2012 btw)
 
MacGamver said:
So..... With Apple "obsoleting" The Mac Pro (2009) Is this going to signify the end of function for our Iron Giants in the next 2 years? Will 10.12 even be installable in them? (I have a 5,1 2012 btw)
Click to expand...

By considering the 4,1 can be flashed to 5,1, and Apple still selling the 5,1 back in 2013. There is no way that Apple stop supporting the 5,1 in the next 2 years (or on 10.12). So, even though Apple officially stop supporting 4,1, and artificially stop the 4,1 installing 10.12. I still have 99.99% confidence that we can simply flash the 4,1 to 5,1 and continue to enjoy the new OSX until 2020.
 
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I need you help,

I've got a Mac Pro 1.1 (2006) 2x2,66GHZ, 6Go RAM. In first time (4 years ago) I mount a graphic card : Sapphire 5770 1Go, I could play racing games (iRacing, Assetto Corsa, PCARS) in correct conditions but not fantastic (low graphism 60-30 Fps).

Recently I install a new graphic card : Sapphire R9 390 OC 8Go. I hope real better performances but I'm really disappointed… No better FPS, impossible to increase graphism in game.


I don't know for witch reason it does work better like that. Something limit performance ? CPU frequencies ? PCI ? Other ?


I need your help.
 
TomKlash said:
Recently I install a new graphic card : Sapphire R9 390 OC 8Go. I hope real better performances but I'm really disappointed… No better FPS, impossible to increase graphism in game.
Click to expand...

The last I checked, the 390 wasn't very well supported by drivers in OS X. Even if that's changed recently for the better, your MP 1,1 would be holding it back anyway. A 7950 or 5870 are probably better choices for your current computer.
 
TomKlash said:
I need you help,

I've got a Mac Pro 1.1 (2006) 2x2,66GHZ, 6Go RAM. In first time (4 years ago) I mount a graphic card : Sapphire 5770 1Go, I could play racing games (iRacing, Assetto Corsa, PCARS) in correct conditions but not fantastic (low graphism 60-30 Fps).

Recently I install a new graphic card : Sapphire R9 390 OC 8Go. I hope real better performances but I'm really disappointed… No better FPS, impossible to increase graphism in game.


I don't know for witch reason it does work better like that. Something limit performance ? CPU frequencies ? PCI ? Other ?


I need your help.
Click to expand...

I assume you are gaming in Windows, I think this card is not working properly (or not working at all) in OSX.

Your FPS may be limited by your CPU (2.66 on an old CPU is quite slow for gaming, dual CPU may even make situation worse), for R9 390, you should able to have much better graphics. If you can use higher setting (better texture, more AA etc) but still the same FPS, that basically means you are CPU limiting. Not much you can do except lower all CPU demanding settings (less moving object on the screen, e.g. people, grass, etc).

Anyway, this thread should be for Nvidia GPU. You better start another thread to discuss this issue.
 
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