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Is this my Graphics Card Dying?

dMajor

dMajor

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 17, 2016
72
49
Melbourne, Australia
Hi guys,

I'm looking for some expert opinion before replacing my graphics card.
I'm running a 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 with the stock NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT. Recently decided to finally update OS to Lion 10.7.5. After that it started having some kind of graphical nervous breakdown...

Symptoms: Screen artefacts. Screen Freezes. All graphics have some kind ghostly streak horizontal shadow thing. Animated features in lion (eg. opening launchpad etc.) freezing/ going very slow. Black screen after sleep. Whole system running very slow. Freeze after Login. Freeze at Login. etc.
It does these things on the back up copy of my Snow Leopard System I made too. So I'm assuming it's not Lion.

Here are some pics:

IMG_0134.jpg
IMG_0132.jpg
IMG_0138.jpg


There are some more pics and some videos here:
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0C5oqs3qijLfx

Here is an error report I got after one of many restarts:

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 15384 sec
Panics Since Last Report: 1
Anonymous UUID: BD2BE45B-42C5-45B9-850A-9575A12834F3
Wed Aug 17 15:46:01 2016
panic(cpu 3 caller 0xbb13f1): NVRM[0/8:0:0]: Read Error 0x004007d8: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0xf1000000 0x810d5000 0x04b300a2, D0, P0/1

Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)

0x8054a6e8 : 0x2203de (0x6b08cc 0x8054a708 0x229fb0 0x0)

0x8054a718 : 0xbb13f1 (0xdba0e0 0xe10ef0 0xdcdaf0 0x0)

0x8054a798 : 0xcb2e0e (0xb7c1404 0xad3d004 0x4007d8 0x0)

0x8054a7d8 : 0x153e257 (0xad3d004 0x4007d8 0x0 0x0)

0x8054a808 : 0xcb6c56 (0xad3d004 0xc301804 0x8054a820 0x0)

0x8054a8b8 : 0xd27c8a (0xad3d004 0xc301804 0xc747814 0xff)

0x8054a948 : 0xd2933e (0xad3d004 0xb7b9804 0x0 0x0)

0x8054a9a8 : 0x1540bc2 (0xad3d004 0xb7b9804 0xd 0x1)

0x8054aa98 : 0x154a653 (0xad3d004 0xc301804 0x0 0x0)

0x8054ab28 : 0xcd2dee (0xad3d004 0xbd47004 0x0 0x0)

0x8054ab58 : 0xbbb7a6 (0xad3d004 0xbd47004 0x0 0x0)

0x8054abe8 : 0xbb6dcc (0x0 0x9 0x0 0x0)


Unsuccessful things I have done to try and fix:
SMC and PRAM resets (multiple). Disk Erase and Clean re-install. Disk Permissions Verify and Repair from Recovery Disk. Disk verify and repair. Apple Hardware test from original OSX boot disc. Diagnostic Led tests as per Service Manual. Air clean and re-seating of GPU and both RAM BOARDS.

All checks and tests reported that hardware is fine. Both fans are working. I'm learning a lot, but the computer is still behaving very badly. My next step is going to be replacing the graphics card...but before that I wanted to ask the learned folk here:

AM I MISSING SOMETHING? Am I right thinking the graphics card is the culprit? If it turns out to be the logic board - how hard is it to replace that? I see logic boards are available in eBay, and the instructions to install make it look do-able, but any experienced opinions would be welcome.

They only other problem I've had in ten years is: one of the front USB ports dying. If I can get this graphics problem fixed I plan to do a serious upgrade - SDD/CPU's/more ram etc.

Help me get the old girl going again,
Thanks for reading,
Dan.
:)



Here are is my Model Info:

Model: MacPro1,1, BootROM MP11.005C.B08, 4 processors, Dual-Core Intel Xeon, 2 GHz, 6 GB, SMC 1.7f10
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, PCIe, 256 MB
Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 1, 512 MB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 2, 512 MB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 1, 512 MB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Memory Module: DIMM Riser B/DIMM 2, 512 MB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x80AD, 0x48594D5035363441373242503844322D5935
Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 3, 2 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x0000, 0x000000463732353642363145353636374600
Memory Module: DIMM Riser A/DIMM 4, 2 GB, DDR2 FB-DIMM, 667 MHz, 0x0000, 0x000000463732353642363145353636374600
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x87), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.36.15)
Bluetooth: Version 4.0.8f17, 2 service, 18 devices, 0 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en2
PCI Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, sppci_displaycontroller, Slot-1
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD2500JS-41SGB0, 250.06 GB
Serial ATA Device: ST3750330AS, 750.16 GB
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD5000AAKS-00H2B0, 500.11 GB
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD10EZRX-00L4HB0, 1 TB
Parallel ATA Device: SONY DVD RW DW-D150A
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x8206, 0x5d200000 / 3
USB Device: Hub in Apple Extended USB Keyboard, apple_vendor_id, 0x1003, 0x5d100000 / 2
USB Device: Microsoft 5-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM), 0x045e (Microsoft Corporation), 0x0047, 0x5d110000 / 5
USB Device: Apple Extended USB Keyboard, apple_vendor_id, 0x020b, 0x5d130000 / 4
FireWire Device: built-in_hub, 800mbit_speed
 

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99.9% it's the GPU, so a new graphics card after 10 years of service is normal :)
[doublepost=1471559310][/doublepost]Also, do a test at the cable. Some times a bad connection or connector of the cable is the reason for this kind of artifacts.
0.01% to be this but I think we're 100% covered now.
 
Looks like the video card to me. You could always try baking it first, since you are planning to replace it anyway.
 
it may be worth cleaning your GPU in case it's a heat thing.
there's a bunch of pc cards that will work well and are cheep, your on osx10.7 which might be a problem but i think a gt640 or gtx650/660 will work https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...out-nvidia-pc-non-efi-graphics-cards.1440150/
there all cheep and will work without any pain (i think)

there is no need to flash a card and if you dont need power then you may even be able to get a passive cooled card.

ps do keep the old card just in case
 
think about getting an ATI HD 4870 and flashing it with a mac rom great improvement on video and still cheap and you can run the hacked newer OS X installs
 
If you want to fiddle a bit you can try the following:

Remove heat sink
remove thermal paste
remove thermal pads from the rams and put it back to the heat sink
apply heat with a heat gun for about 10 seconds per chip
I control the heat with a laser thermometer, not to exceed 180 celsius on the chips
let it cool down
give new paste (I use mx4) to the GPU and a small film of paste to the rams to optimize contact to the old thermal pads

and while you use your gpu again think about your next one as it won't last very long

I just reactivated two 8800 I had stored by this method, now stress testing with the heaven benchmark for hours.
 
A few years ago, I tried out Skyrim on an 8800 GT and it was completely unplayable. It was worse than a slide show. Then, I tried with a GT 640 (GDDR5 version) and, while it wasn't fast, it was very playable.
 
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orph said:
i relay do not think a 8800 GT is a good card it's old hot and slow you can pick up a gtx 5xx/6xx card super cheep.
why not get a nvidia Gt 630/640? there super cheep on ebay + they will run just on the pci slot power.
you can even get pasive cooled GT 640's ie no fan :D
like this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ZOTAC-GeF...505320?hash=item2ef1940528:g:fv8AAOSwzLlXg~Tf

found a post about some one using a gt 630 on osx10.7.4 http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=4375.0 he seems happy with it
Click to expand...

Yes, a GT 630 is at least as fast as an old 8800 GT, but uses much less energy.

Note: Only Fermi GT 630 will work on 10.7.x. Most new GT 630 today are Kepler, need Mountain Lion 10.8.3 or better. There are four different GT630: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_600_series
 
Last edited:
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Hi guys,
Thank you all very much for your replies/advice!
I feel pretty confident now that it is a GPU problem, and am going to replace it. Probably go with a 5770 or something similar. There seem to be a fair few used ones on eBay for around $130 AUD. I want to upgrade to El Capitan sometime soon and have read that I'll need at least 512mb card to do that. I'll probably "bake" the old one too and keep it for a back up.
Thanks Again,
Viva MacRumours!
 
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the gt 640's have 1-2GBvram and are much cheaper or there's newer ati cards that will work too
 
One step forward and one back I think…
So I finally got around to getting a new card - picked up this 6850 on ebay for $45:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/222315201304?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

IMG_0213.JPG


It's an ugly mother with enormous cooling fins, but the price was right, and the guy was local and offering 60 days warranty.
Worked straight out of the box. Yay!
The elaborate fins do prevent it from fitting in the first PCIE slot. Which of course I have only just discovered is the only 16 lane slot. I got a pop up warning from the card utility manager thingy telling me to reconfigure which i did so slot 2 now has 8 lanes.
Would I notice much difference if I had it in the 16 lane slot? The guy has other cards and I'm wondering if I should exchange this beast for a slimmer model that will fit in slot "1".
Any advice appreciated. :)
 
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