Nvidia on Its Lack of macOS Mojave Drivers for Newer Graphics Cards: 'It's Up to Apple to Approve Them'

[MacRumors]

Nearly six weeks after the release of macOS Mojave, web drivers for Nvidia graphics cards released in 2014 and later remain unavailable for the latest operating system, resulting in compatibility issues. This includes Nvidia graphics cards based on its Maxwell, Pascal, and Turing architecture.

While some customers have expressed frustration towards Nvidia, a spokesperson for the company informed MacRumors that "while we post the drivers, it's up to Apple to approve them," and suggested that we contact Apple. We followed that advice, but Apple has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.

As a result of the lack of web drivers, external GPUs with an Nvidia graphics card released in 2014 or later have compatibility issues with any Mac running macOS Mojave. Likewise, any Mid 2010 or Mid 2012 Mac Pro upgraded with 2014-or-newer Nvidia graphics is incompatible with the operating system.

Nvidia warns that affected customers who upgrade to macOS Mojave may experience degraded rendering and performance on that version, according to discussions on the Nvidia Developers Forums and MacRumors Forums.

macOS Mojave requires a graphics card that supports Apple's graphics framework Metal, but until updated web drivers are released, many newer Nvidia graphics cards such as the GeForce GTX 1080 are incompatible with the operating system. In the meantime, some users have downgraded back to macOS High Sierra.

Nvidia's Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX 680 are already Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave, according to an Apple support document.

macOS Mojave is compatible with any MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro released in 2012 or later, in addition to Mid 2010-Mid 2012 models of the Mac Pro with a Metal-capable graphics card.

Nvidia graphics cards based on Kepler architecture, which Apple offered in various Macs between 2012 and 2014, are fully compatible with macOS Mojave. Apple has since switched to AMD as its dedicated graphics card provider.

There is some debate as to whether Apple, Nvidia, or both companies are to blame for the lack of web drivers, which are usually released within a few days after a major macOS release. If we learn any new information, we'll share it.

Article Link: Nvidia on Its Lack of macOS Mojave Drivers for Newer Graphics Cards: 'It's Up to Apple to Approve Them'

 

[nerdAFK]

Typical Apple dick move.
We know what customers don’t even know they want.

 

[blizaine]

I’m really hoping Apple gets on this. I recently upgraded to an RTX 2080ti in my Win 10 machine. I’d love to put my older 1080ti in an eGPU for my MBP. From what I’ve read you have to hack it a bit to make it work, and even then, it’s really buggy.

 

[ilikewhey]

i think unless there is money involved, apple is gonna take its time to approve any nvidia drivers

 

[CJM]

Typical Apple not commenting until the very last minute. How hard is it to say something like “we’re working on it, it’ll be a little while” or whatever.

 

[bsbeamer]

Unfortunately, there are not even updated drivers available for 10.13.6 build 17G3025 for the newly released security update. NVIDIA has posted Sierra drivers for that 10.12.6 build 16G1618 update.

Holding on upgrading to Mojave is one thing, but holding on keeping older OS versions up to date is another entirely.

 

[Tapiture]

Nvidia cards are generally superior to AMD, I don't understand why Apple keeps using AMD GPUs and seems completely unsupportive of Nvidia.

 

[fokmik]

Since Apple is already in the eGPU territory, this is the last piece of the puzzle...i mean even the new 7.5W cpu Macbook air and the new mac mini along with an eGPu like Vega or Nvidia 1080 or so can be powerful devices

 

[tmpkn]

This is a huge problem. AMD GPUs are mostly useless when it comes to certain tasks like AI (keras/tensorflow/etc.). Many professional tools only work with CUDA & nvidia cards (for instance: vray). I remember being able to build and run pgstrom experiments on my mac with GTX cards 2 years ago.

I understand that Apple is pushing their own commercial APIs, but I doubt the scientific community will ever adopt them.

 

[bmot]

i think unless there is money involved, apple is gonna take its time to approve any nvidia drivers

Angry customers mean bad press and that’s always affecting „money“.

 

[Rudy69]

I really wish they would make up already, AMD has been behind for a while in the GPU department and it really sucks when buying a new Mac that we're stuck with their GPUs

 

[fokmik]

Nvidia cards are vastly superior to AMD, I don't understand why Apple keeps using AMD GPUs and seems completely unsupportive of Nvidia.

Nvidia is superior to amd in openGL not in openCL
Nvidia is superior to amd in Cuda not on RAW
Same on directX and not in Metal
So it all depends on what you want

 

[i_love_polt_havemybabies]

Literally dozens of Hackintoshers are also waiting with bated breath for these!

 

[LightBulbFun]

Nearly six weeks after the release of macOS Mojave, web drivers for Nvidia graphics cards released in 2014 and later remain unavailable for the latest operating system, resulting in compatibility issues. This includes Nvidia graphics cards based on its Maxwell, Pascal, and Turing architecture.

While some customers have expressed frustration towards Nvidia, a spokesperson for the company informed MacRumors that "while we post the drivers, it's up to Apple to approve them," and suggested that we contact Apple. We followed that advice, but Apple has yet to respond to multiple requests for comment.

As a result of the lack of web drivers, external GPUs with an Nvidia graphics card released in 2014 or later have compatibility issues with any Mac running macOS Mojave. Likewise, any Mid 2010 or Mid 2012 Mac Pro upgraded with 2014-or-newer Nvidia graphics is incompatible with the operating system.

Nvidia warns that affected customers who upgrade to macOS Mojave may experience degraded rendering and performance on that version, according to discussions on the Nvidia Developers Forums and MacRumors Forums.

macOS Mojave requires a graphics card that supports Apple's graphics framework Metal, but until updated web drivers are released, many newer Nvidia graphics cards such as the GeForce GTX 1080 are incompatible with the operating system. In the meantime, some users have downgraded back to macOS High Sierra.

Nvidia's Quadro K5000 and GeForce GTX 680 are already Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave, according to an Apple support document.

macOS Mojave is compatible with any MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro released in 2012 or later, in addition to Mid 2010-Mid 2012 models of the Mac Pro with a Metal-capable graphics card.

Nvidia graphics cards based on Kepler architecture, which Apple offered in various Macs between 2012 and 2014, are fully compatible with macOS Mojave. This includes the GeForce GTX 680, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce GT 120, GeForce 8800 GT, Quadro K5000 for Mac, Quadro K4000 for Mac, Quadro FX 4800, and Quadro FX 5600.

Apple has since switched from Nvidia to AMD as its dedicated graphics card provider in more recent Mac models.

There is some debate as to whether Apple, Nvidia, or both companies are to blame for the lack of web drivers, which are usually released within a few days after a major macOS release. If we learn any new information, we'll share it.

Article Link: Nvidia on Its Lack of macOS Mojave Drivers for Newer Graphics Cards: 'It's Up to Apple to Approve Them'

im pleasantly surprised to see Mac Rumors actually acknowledging the existence of the Classic Mac Pro community

however "Nvidia graphics cards based on Kepler architecture, which Apple offered in various Macs between 2012 and 2014, are fully compatible with macOS Mojave. This includes the GeForce GTX 680, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce GT 120, GeForce 8800 GT, Quadro K5000 for Mac, Quadro K4000 for Mac, Quadro FX 4800, and Quadro FX 5600." is quite miss leading and could confuse a lot of people

the GeForce GTX 680 and Quadro K5000 are the only kepler based video cards in that list, the rest of the cards listed are of old, Fermi and Tesla based chipsets which do not support metal in any way shape or form (theres also no such thing as a K4000 for Mac)

any chance to also mention the fact that the new RTX 2070 RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti provide Boot screens in Mac Pros? (its worth mentioning because previous PC NVIDIA cards do not provide boot screens, No PC AMD cards provide boot screens for that matter)

(Its also worth mentioning NVIDIA eGPUs are not supported in the slightest in MacOS, not even the web drivers enable them so im a bit confused as to why eGPUs are being mentioned? the main people suffering here are 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro users)

but I will say I am very happy and thankful that Apple still supports the MacPro5,1 at all

 

[northernmunky]

Yep, I've got a TitanXP sitting in an eGPU doing naff all and 20+ MacPro's with NVIDIA cards that cant be upgraded until Apple get a wiggle on!

 

[lilrush]

There is demand for Nvidia GPU, and there are already third party scripts that run them. So Apple is hurting no one but themselves but not officially supporting them.

 

[sbarton]

Why are you all surprised? This is the same company that now releases 3.6gb OS updates with absolutely no release notes. This is Apple post SJ and pretty much the same death spiral of QC, lack of innovation and customer focus that almost killed them in the mid 90's.

 

[scubachap]

Apple, if you really want to get out of the professional graphics market then just be honest and tell us.

 

[4jasontv]

No. Nope. Sorry, but no. Blaming another company for why your product isn’t compatible with their system is lazy and disrespectful to your customers. I spent $4000 on a gpu. You contact Apple and make sure it works for every - single - update.

Or stop claiming your hardware supports Macs.

 

[Tapiture]

Nvidia is superior to amd in openGL not in openCL
Nvidia is superior to amd in Cuda not on RAW
So it all depends on what you want

I think most would agree Nvidia are the go-to for premium, high-end, high-quality cards. AMD is great for mid-range and budget. You would think that Apple, a premium brand, would use or at least support the more high-end cards.

 

[csurfr]

No. Nope. Sorry, but no. Blaming another company for why your product isn’t compatible with their system is lazy and disrespectful to your customers. I spent $4000 on a gpu. You contact Apple and make sure it works for every - single - update.

Or stop claiming your hardware supports Macs.

Adobe did the exact same thing with the 2016/2017 intel graphics cards in the MacBook Pro. Magically in an update from Adobe that came 8 months later it was fixed. It had nothing to do with Apple.

It’s always easier to place the blame on another company to try and make yourself look good.

 

[redheeler]

Literally dozens of Hackintoshers are also waiting with bated breath for these!

Apple doesn't care about Hackintosh, and Hackintosh users should never expect continued compatibility with future versions of MacOS. But those of us with Mid 2010 or Mid 2012 Mac Pros with newer Nvidia GPUs installed following the deprecation of the original ATI Radeon HD 5770 need to see better treatment from Apple than this.

 

[McTaste]

No. Nope. Sorry, but no. Blaming another company for why your product isn’t compatible with their system is lazy and disrespectful to your customers. I spent $4000 on a gpu. You contact Apple and make sure it works for every - single - update.

Or stop claiming your hardware supports Macs.

Wrong. This is absolutely an Apple problem — and indeed a manufacturer problem in general — as anyone with a laptop knows. Getting stuck with old drivers seems to be just how it goes.

 

[fokmik]

I think most would agree Nvidia are the go-to for premium, high-end, high-quality cards. AMD is great for mid-range and budget. You would think that Apple, a premium brand, would use or at least support the more high-end cards.

yes of course, nvidia cant compete with amd in power per watt for laptops that needs to be slim and "charge" 35W
Nvidia could be used in mac pro or imac pro or maybe even the imac 27" as an dGPU aka 2070 or 2080 max-q

 

[4jasontv]

Adobe did the exact same thing with the 2016/2017 intel graphics cards in the MacBook Pro. Magically in an update from Adobe that came 8 months later it was fixed. It had nothing to do with Apple.

It’s always easier to place the blame on another company to try and make yourself look good.

Sadly I see this from all sorts of companies. I emailed Fitbit to ask when they would support Apple Health. Their reply was “our APIs” are available and Apple can choose to implement them. Their attitude made purchasing an Apple Watch so much easier.

Wrong. This is absolutely an Apple problem — and indeed a manufacturer problem in general — as anyone with a laptop knows. Getting stuck with old drivers seems to be just how it goes.

What are you talking about?