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

[linuxcooldude]

It would make no sense if Nvidia produced drivers for all their cards that didn't work correctly. AFAIK driving multiple monitors does work on newer Nvidia cards like the GTX680. In fact newer cards will not work without the Nvidia web drivers.

I don't know what specific advantage the Nvidia web drivers would have for the GTX570 as when the older versions did work there was no noticeable difference in function or performance compared to the OS X native drivers. The GTX570 is still a very decently performing card especially for CUDA applications where it's similar performance to a GTX680. The downside is it chucks out more heat & needs noisier fans to cool it but it's great value used.

They don't all work correctly. The GTX 570 ( GTX 660 as well ) only one screen works with the Nvidia drivers. Dual screen works with the builtin Mac OS X drivers.

 

[L000M]

Fixed my own problem, thanks to the hackintosh community!

The problem is pretty simple, it seems that the device id for the GT 520 has been removed from the Nvidia driver plist in Moutain Lion.

FIX:

Open Terminal.app

sudo nano /System/Library/Extensions/NVDAGF100Hal.kext/Contents/Info.plist

Scroll down until you see a bunch of string such as 0x124010de&0xffc0ffff, create a new line just after the last one and add:

0x104010de&0xffc0ffff

Hit Ctrl+O then Enter to save and restart your system.

This should work with any other card supposedly not supported. Just get the device id from System Information, add "0x" to the beginning and "10de&0xffc0ffff" to the end and add it to Info.plist like the other one. I don't know what that last hex part means but it seems to be the same for most cards so I guess it's safe to try.

Hi Guys I have the same problem which solution was posted earlier in this thread, but my problem is in OS X 10.10.
Where exactly do I have to paste the line with the new code?

Here is a screenshot from the sudo nano task:
http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3979/gc8hozd7_png.htm

Thanks for your help!

 

[doobydoooby]

Correct method to update OS X with a non-EFI Nvidia graphics card?

Sorry if this has been asked but I have plugged through all the comments here and can't find a clear answer...

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 and a non-EFI Nvidia GTX660 although I'm sure my question could run to most Nvidia graphics cards these days. It works fine using either the stock Yosemite drivers or Nvidia drivers but I use the CUDA elements in photography work so I always use the Nvidia drivers; I'm assuming this is logical.... So like everyone my OS X update path has been extremely painful since 10.10.1 and I simply want to know if there is a less painful path to update OS these days and actually be able to log in afterwards? It's impossible to update the Nvidia driver in anticipation without the updated OS in place but the updated OS without the updated driver results in no log-in screen. I kinda hoped that selecting the Yosemite stock driver before updating might resolve the issue but it doesn't seem to, so now I'm stuck in fear of ever doing an OS update unless I have two hours afterwards to reinstall the OS when Black Death appears. So what is the correct or least difficult method to update OS these days? My original Mac Pro graphics card was fried long ago so I don't have that luxury available.

 

[nigelbb]

Sorry if this has been asked but I have plugged through all the comments here and can't find a clear answer...

I have a Mac Pro 3,1 and a non-EFI Nvidia GTX660 although I'm sure my question could run to most Nvidia graphics cards these days. It works fine using either the stock Yosemite drivers or Nvidia drivers but I use the CUDA elements in photography work so I always use the Nvidia drivers; I'm assuming this is logical.... So like everyone my OS X update path has been extremely painful since 10.10.1 and I simply want to know if there is a less painful path to update OS these days and actually be able to log in afterwards? It's impossible to update the Nvidia driver in anticipation without the updated OS in place but the updated OS without the updated driver results in no log-in screen. I kinda hoped that selecting the Yosemite stock driver before updating might resolve the issue but it doesn't seem to, so now I'm stuck in fear of ever doing an OS update unless I have two hours afterwards to reinstall the OS when Black Death appears. So what is the correct or least difficult method to update OS these days? My original Mac Pro graphics card was fried long ago so I don't have that luxury available.

If your card works with stock OS X native drivers then AFAICS there is no advantage whatsoever to using the Nvidia web drivers in fact quite the opposite as e.g. dual monitors work with native but not Nvidia on GTX570. You don't need Nvidia drivers to use CUDA.

If you are using Nvidia & get a black screen the provided your card works with Native OS X then a simple trick is to reset the PRAM by holding down COMMAND-OPTION-P-R while pressing the power on button (use an assistant or a toe). This will reset to Native OS X drivers.

 

[dwinnbrown]

GTX 570 - Outputs

Hi Guys,
I am considering buying a GTX 570 to use for editing in my Mac Pro however had a few questions. I am planning to just use the standard OS X drivers so that its working out of the box but wasn't sure whether or not the Displayport would work on this card. I would be using the 570 to drive my 24in Cinema Display and already have a display port to mini display port adapter. If anyone has any experience of using a setup similar to this I would love to hear back.
Thanks

 

[nigelbb]

Hi Guys,
I am considering buying a GTX 570 to use for editing in my Mac Pro however had a few questions. I am planning to just use the standard OS X drivers so that its working out of the box but wasn't sure whether or not the Displayport would work on this card. I would be using the 570 to drive my 24in Cinema Display and already have a display port to mini display port adapter. If anyone has any experience of using a setup similar to this I would love to hear back.
Thanks

Sorry, can't help. The MSI N570GTX TWIN FROZR II/OC in my Mac Pro & the N570GTX TWIN FROZR III POWER EDITION/OC in my wife's Mac both have 2 x DVI 1 x HDMI

BTW I assume that it's a cheap used GTX570 you are going to buy.

 

[dwinnbrown]

Yes I was planning to just pick up a used one cheaply on eBay to try and speed up FCPX performance. Do all the ports that you have in yours work and also did you bother installing the nvidia drivers or just use the standard stock ones?

Thanks

 

[nigelbb]

Yes I was planning to just pick up a used one cheaply on eBay to try and speed up FCPX performance. Do all the ports that you have in yours work and also did you bother installing the nvidia drivers or just use the standard stock ones?

Thanks

Using the Nvidia drivers only one port at a time works i.e. they all work but only one at a time. With the OS X Native drivers they all work at the same time.

 

[dwinnbrown]

Using the Nvidia drivers only one port at a time works i.e. they all work but only one at a time. With the OS X Native drivers they all work at the same time.

Ok that's great. Was planning on using the OSX drivers anyway.

 

[MacVidCards]

Using the Nvidia drivers only one port at a time works i.e. they all work but only one at a time. With the OS X Native drivers they all work at the same time.

There was a fundamental shift when Kepler cards came out.

Previous cards had 2 "heads", so whether there were 2 or 3 or 4 ports, there were only 2 separate images created. How these were sent to the ports was different in OS X and Windows. A little know fact is that finding this was the "secret" that suddenly allowed us to flash just about any Nvidia card. (Discovered this while working on GTX480 some years back)

When Kepler arrived we had a new situation. Kepler cards can run 4 "heads" so OS X no longer needs to be turning ports on and off to stay under 2. This has altered how the "self init" feature works. I makes sense that Nvidia is now focused on making Kepler and Maxwell cards attractive choices. Sadly this also means that GT200 and Fermi cards have fallen by the wayside to some extent.

But as noted, if Web Driver doesn't give you good results, a click and admin password followed by a reboot and you are back to OS X default. You get to decide what is best for you.

 

[TheStork]

Updated nVidia driver popped up for Yosemite > 346.01.02f03

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/84869/en-us

 

[LeFev3R]

Mac Pro, Boot Camp GTX 970 not working

Hi, I have a 4.1 2009 mac pro, I have previously had a Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 660 installed and all worked fine, I then decided to upgrade to a GTX 970, this however has not. I am running windows 7 professional 64 bit for windows and mac Yosemite, 10.10.3. The graphics card works perfectly within OS X, once i switch to windows however it does not. Has anyone had any similar issues? Is it fixable? Many thanks

 

[MacVidCards]

Put 660 back in and install latest drivers

 

[jblagden]

Did the 660 work in Windows?

 

[Washac]

I have an AMD Radeon HD6870 in my 2009 MacPro, suddenly got a strange screen recently, maybe it is starting to die, what would be the next best plug n play card to replace it with an EFI boot.?


Thanks.

 

[Cuyahoga]

For the GTX 570 (miniHDMI), should there be any difference between OS X & web drivers beyond the multi-display issue with the latter?

MSI told me that my Twin Frozr II should support 2560x1440@60Hz over HDMI. So should my Dell U2715H display. So should my High-Speed HDMI cable. Yet even 2560x1440@42Hz produces artifacts and SwitchResX won't allow 60Hz. Windows 7 is stable @48Hz (not 60Hz, though it'll allow it), so I'm wondering if it's partly an OS X driver limitation.

I'd hate to buy yet another video card for my aging 2008 MP, especially since I'm more than content with the 570.

 

[MacVidCards]

For the GTX 570 (miniHDMI), should there be any difference between OS X & web drivers beyond the multi-display issue with the latter?

MSI told me that my Twin Frozr II should support 2560x1440@60Hz over HDMI. So should my Dell U2715H display. So should my High-Speed HDMI cable. Yet even 2560x1440@42Hz produces artifacts and SwitchResX won't allow 60Hz. Windows 7 is stable @48Hz (not 60Hz, though it'll allow it), so I'm wondering if it's partly an OS X driver limitation.

I'd hate to buy yet another video card for my aging 2008 MP, especially since I'm more than content with the 570.

This is OS X driver issue.

I don't think you will get result you want with that card. There is a BIOS fix possible but complicated and not worth the bother.

DisplayPort 570s are plentiful and cheap, much easier then continuing to swim upstream with the one you have.

 

[cpch64]

I would just like to say thanks to all the people that post such useful information in this forum and for extending the life of my ageing Mac Pro 1,1.

I was able to upgrade from Lion to Yosemite using one of the other threads in this forum which enabled me to install a refurbished Evga GTX 680. This is the PC version not the mac version. I did not get a higher end card due to my concerns with exceeding the power limits of my mac. After installing the operating system and installing the 3 driver versions listed in this thread I installed the card. This card is also the 6/8 pin power version but I'm only supplying it with two 6 pin power cables.

I first installed the card into PCI Slot#2 (Both Monitors are hooked up on DVI).Booted the system up and had a black screen (5 Min). Shut the system down and moved the card to Slot#1. I booted the system up and Black Screen (5 Min). Scratched my head and said this does not look good :}. Then I unhooked both the DVI cables and ran a HDMI cable from the Samsung to the computer. I was then able to get a video feed but it looked like crap not matter what adjustments I made. Shut the system down again and hooked up the Samsung (1 Monitor Only) using the DVI cable and it worked with a great picture!!! So with this outcome while the computer was still running, I plugged in the Cinema display to the 2nd DVI and it worked!!! I’m still not sure why I have the problem with the quality on the HDMI.
Since everything is working on OSX, I installed Bootchamp and log into windows. Only 1 Monitor worked on boot but after I installed all the NVidia drivers both Screens lit up and looked great.

Thanks,

To All

 

[Washac]

I have an AMD Radeon HD6870 in my 2009 MacPro, suddenly got a strange screen recently, maybe it is starting to die, what would be the next best plug n play card to replace it with an EFI boot.?


Thanks.

So no recommendations on this, or did I post in the wrong area ?

 

[jblagden]

So no recommendations on this, or did I post in the wrong area ?

I don't know much about AMD cards since Nvidia cards tend to be a little more likely to work in OS X. If you want something which will perform equally, you could get a GTX 650. if you want something better, a GTX 670 is a good idea.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

@ MacVidCards: Flashing MSI Geforce GTX 760 Twin Frozr?

Hello,

using my MacPro 4,1 8-core 2,26 (OSX 10.8.5) with still-working GT-120 (and hopefully using my McPro for a long future, having upgraded to a SSD on a Tempo Sonnet Card and high-memory) for standard procedures and NOT for gaming,

I chose as a best-buy for me a

MSI Geforce GTX 760 Twin Frozr Gaming 2GB


for future additional more intense work with PS etc. using semi-Pro photo-equipment and video. It seems for me, the best choice in Price/performance, electric consumption and last but not least SILENT working.

You have the "normal" GTX 760 2Gb for sale.

I think, a lot of other people would also like to have this extremely silent MSI-version of the GTX 760 in their MacPro….

My Questions:
1) Why not purchasing this or other variants of super-silenced cards?
2) If I sent this MSI-Card to you buying your flashing-offer, would/could you flash this MSI-card for me? This would be awesome….

Thanks for your answer… (which I hope is "YES") ...

 

[Washac]

I don't know much about AMD cards since Nvidia cards tend to be a little more likely to work in OS X. If you want something which will perform equally, you could get a GTX 650. if you want something better, a GTX 670 is a good idea.

Thank you I will take a look.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Question for you all - I've noticed that some of the PC cards I own do not work in the bottom PCIe slot in my 1,1 Mac Pro. I've run several in it over this past year of ownership, including a GeForce 405, a Radeon 6450, a Radeon 4850, and as of today, a GeForce 460. The 6450 and the 460 only work (give me a display) when I have them inserted into the 2nd PCIe slot. This is no issue to me, but only the bottom slot on the 1,1s give me a 16x slot.

Any knowledge on this? More-so interested in "why" rather than a fix. The card isn't doing more than providing a display, no gaming, compute, etc.

Thanks.

-N

 

[MacVidCards]

I chose as a best-buy for me a

MSI Geforce GTX 760 Twin Frozr Gaming 2GB


My Questions:
1) Why not purchasing this or other variants of super-silenced cards?
2) If I sent this MSI-Card to you buying your flashing-offer, would/could you flash this MSI-card for me? This would be awesome….

Thanks for your answer… (which I hope is "YES") ...

Yes, please message us from our website for sales type stuff.

The reason we concentrated on the other MSI GTX760 is that it has Dual MDP.

So, it can run 2 @ Apple LED MDP displays, and now it can run 5K Dell at full res 60Hz. No other GTX7xx or even Kepler version of Titan or Titan Black can do that, makes it very unique. I actually have one of the cards you asked about here, haven't bothered writing an EFI for it but shouldn't be an issue.

Twin Frozr Gaming Series with 2GB. Looks like they may have planned a 4GB version as half RAM chips aren't on the board.

 

[flowrider]

Another new Web Driver build 346.01.02f04:

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/85588/en-us

Lou