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Please help. I could buy a GTX 680 Mac Edition for cheap, but I have misgivings

Marhowl

Marhowl

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 12, 2013
58
25
Prague
Hi

One guy on a local website claims, that he has GTX 680 Mac Edition for about USD 200 (Converted from 5000 CZK but take about 20% off since stuff like this is more expensive in Europe)

However, I don't think it's a GTX 680 Mac Edition at all, since it looks nothing like it. Or perhaps it's a flashed one.

y0747YI.jpg


---

What do you guys think? It doesn't look genuine to me, but the guy says, that he got it second-hand already and probably doesn't know a thing about it. He says he ran it fine in his windows computer

Even if it was unflashed GTX 680, I'd say for this price it could serve as a good stop gap GPU before Pascal comes out. I currently use HD 4870. This would be a nice upgrade

Need some help here please. I'd have a chance to pick it up in about 15 hours.
 
Flashed.

Mac Edition says "Mac Edition" right on the front of the card. It'll probably work fine, but I dunno what that says about the seller. You could probably get a better flashed card from someone here on the forum or buy a PC Card and do it yourself.

-SC
 
^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^

So it's atleast a 3rd hand card. I would buy from someone who isn't playing dumb and trying to pass off this card as a Mac Edition.
 
crjackson2134 said:
^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^

So it's atleast a 3rd hand card. I would buy from someone who isn't playing dumb and trying to pass off this card as a Mac Edition.
Click to expand...

Well, he appears very helpful in his ad, even stating that he would prefer personal pick-up and would like to demonstrate it's working properly. Which is exactly what we would do tomorrow I hope.

But then again, I know there's a whole psychology behind fraud and there are tricks to gain people's trust.

I'll see if the seller is really open to test it out properly before selling it to me and then I'll probably take it
 
My original mac edition card had a problem after a year and EVGA replaced it with a card that did NOT look the same...I think it looks like your picture.
 
ssls6 said:
My original mac edition card had a problem after a year and EVGA replaced it with a card that did NOT look the same...I think it looks like your picture.
Click to expand...

Well, that's at least some good news. You don't happen to have a picture of your card, do you?
 
If the card looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, is it not a duck? What's the difference if the card is a quality flashed card like the ones that MVC does or a Mac Edition supplied by EVGA? Both have been modified the same way for Macintosh use.

Try the card like you suggested, if it works and you get a boot screen, get the darn thing.

My last two cards were flashed by MVC, and worked just great in my 3,1 then 5,1 Mac Pros. My current MVC flashed GTX780 is doing just fine!

Lou
 
Marhowl said:
Well, that's at least some good news. You don't happen to have a picture of your card, do you?
Click to expand...

Here it is....I bought this directly from EVGA, full receipts and RMA notice. The replacement did NOT look like my original.

IMG_2409
 
Don't worry. At $200. It's a good buy.
No matter if flashed or it's an original mac edition. As someone pointed out. EVGA did the same thing ( programmed the ROM, since the card is identical except the skin outside). It should work for you both on pc and mac that will with boot screen.
 
Assuming $200 is a good competitive price where you live for a pc GTX-680, it sounds like a good deal.

I have both the HD 4870 and a DIY flashed 680.

The GTX-680 was a massive step up in gaming perfornance. Just make sure the card, whatever it is, has actually been flashed.
 
TruckdriverSean said:
Assuming $200 is a good competitive price where you live for a pc GTX-680, it sounds like a good deal.

I have both the HD 4870 and a DIY flashed 680.

The GTX-680 was a massive step up in gaming perfornance. Just make sure the card, whatever it is, has actually been flashed.
Click to expand...

Alright, I got the card for the 5000 CZK (Which is about 200 USD these days, sigh...)

However, there is something really strange about this card. It boots fine into the system on both Nvidia Web Drivers and Default OS X driver, but I don't get a bootscreen in both cases.

I took the card anyway, because I have checked the performance against the new GTX 960 and it was about the same but the GTX 680 was for about 75% of the 960's price .That's prices here in Czech republic and Europe in general, so it has to be taken into account I wish I could buy this stuff for US prices

Here are the two pictures. Unfortunately I don't understand them:

Under Invidia Web drivers

q2oXWt1.jpg



Under OS X Default driver.

31BevQe.jpg
 
^^^^Then it's not a Mac Edition or a Flashed Card, it's just a regular PC GTX 680.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
^^^^Then it's not a Mac Edition or a Flashed Card, it's just a regular PC GTX 680.

Lou
Click to expand...

Well, I'm still glad I got the card :)

Also, I've just read somewhere around here that it's quite easy to flash and so I've looked around the internet for a guide on how to do so. Would be actually cool and would increase it's worth as well, but if I'm not careful I could brick it
 
I strongly suggest flashing it. You will get boot screens, proper reporting, and full speed PCIe 2.0 support. It is also quite easy if you have Windows.

You probably shouldn't be happy with the deal, unless $200 is a good price for a typical PC GTX680 in your country, because that's all you got.
 
Marhowl said:
Well, I'm still glad I got the card :)

Also, I've just read somewhere around here that it's quite easy to flash and so I've looked around the internet for a guide on how to do so. Would be actually cool and would increase it's worth as well, but if I'm not careful I could brick it
Click to expand...

Flashing isn't terribly difficult using a Windows utility. Just take your time. Read & research first. Plan on waiting at least a week so you can get it right the first time. You'll need both the flashing utility and the correct ROM for your card. (Different ROM for 2GB & 4GB models)

Take your time.
 
ActionableMango said:
I strongly suggest flashing it. You will get boot screens, proper reporting, and full speed PCIe 2.0 support. It is also quite easy if you have Windows.
Click to expand...

Question, can the nVidia cards be flashed on the Mac itself with Windows installed or does it need to be done in an actual PC? I have always heard different things from different people.
 
iamMacPerson said:
Question, can the nVidia cards be flashed on the Mac itself with Windows installed or does it need to be done in an actual PC? I have always heard different things from different people.
Click to expand...

I flashed mine on my Mac, as have many others.

Each family and brand may have different software, which may then mean different requirements, but specifically the Nvidia GTX680 can definitely be flashed on a Mac through Windows.
 
Marhowl said:
Under nVidia Web drivers
Click to expand...

Just for information: The Mac Edition (or the flashed version with the official Mac EFI) should result in such an output:

Code: 
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680:

  Chipsatz-Modell:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
  Typ:	GPU
  Bus:	PCIe
  Steckplatz:	Slot-1
  PCIe-Lane-Breite:	x16
  VRAM (gesamt):	2048 MB
  Hersteller:	NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Geräte-ID:	0x1180
  Versions-ID:	0x00a2
  ROM-Version:	3731

Sorry for the german text, please focus in the ROM-Version entry. Your card definitely still has the PC BIOS and not the Mac EFI in it's ROM. The VBIOS string in your screenshots shows that the nVidia driver has replaced the PC BIOS with a "software EFI" for the runtime.

I'd advise simply to flash the 680GTX yourself with the official Mac EFI. You should be able to find it here in the forums. I did the same to my EVGA 680GTX and it's no challenge at all. (I would have bought the real Mac Edition, but I bought the PC 680GTX before EVGA announced the Mac Edition.)
 
Marhowl said:
Also, I've just read somewhere around here that it's quite easy to flash and so I've looked around the internet for a guide on how to do so. Would be actually cool and would increase it's worth as well, but if I'm not careful I could brick it
Click to expand...

Wait a minute, I just realized your picture of the card shows a PC and not a Mac Pro. If you are running a Hackintosh, there is no benefit to flashing.
 
^^^^The pict the OP showed was from the seller. That should have been a tip off right there.

Lou
 
tomvos said:
Just for information: The Mac Edition (or the flashed version with the official Mac EFI) should result in such an output:

Code: 
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680:

  Chipsatz-Modell:	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
  Typ:	GPU
  Bus:	PCIe
  Steckplatz:	Slot-1
  PCIe-Lane-Breite:	x16
  VRAM (gesamt):	2048 MB
  Hersteller:	NVIDIA (0x10de)
  Geräte-ID:	0x1180
  Versions-ID:	0x00a2
  ROM-Version:	3731

Sorry for the german text, please focus in the ROM-Version entry. Your card definitely still has the PC BIOS and not the Mac EFI in it's ROM. The VBIOS string in your screenshots shows that the nVidia driver has replaced the PC BIOS with a "software EFI" for the runtime.

I'd advise simply to flash the 680GTX yourself with the official Mac EFI. You should be able to find it here in the forums. I did the same to my EVGA 680GTX and it's no challenge at all. (I would have bought the real Mac Edition, but I bought the PC 680GTX before EVGA announced the Mac Edition.)
Click to expand...

I actually did it about 4 days ago and it was childs play in the end, although I was quite nervous before I attempted it.

It doesn't run much better under OS X regarding gaming, although I have received expected score in Unigine Heaven benchmark

I'm going to try under Windows soon and I hope to get some impressive results


ActionableMango said:
Wait a minute, I just realized your picture of the card shows a PC and not a Mac Pro. If you are running a Hackintosh, there is no benefit to flashing.
Click to expand...

As Flowrider says, the picture was from a seller. Now it sits nice in my Mac Pro =)

RLQTtEr.jpg
 
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