MP 1,1-5,1 Premature Purchase of GTX 680 for CMP 2012 Running Catalina

[danallen]

I should have done more research before buying this card. It has not arrived yet. But I see lots of problems people have had putting GTX 280 on a CMP running Catalina. Dang. When I try the installation, i will post what happens.

 

[danallen]

Encouraging information at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250537474?sortBy=best

If you get the genuine Mac version of the GTX 680, it works perfectly. There are lots of PC versions out there that have been flashed by the user, but don't always work as expected. Mainly, you don't get an image until your Mac gets to the desktop, and you can't do an Option key startup (because there's no image to see what you're doing).

I had one in the same model Mac. It worked as expected. You don't need to install any drivers. The OS supports the true Mac version directly.

 

[benmuetsch]

What exact GTX 680 model did you buy?

I personally wouldn't worry, it'll work.

For bootscreen you have different options nowerdays (GTX 680 Mac ROM flash or better - update GTX 680 GOP and flash EnableGOP to your Mac Pro).

I've used a lowley GTX 650 with macOS Catalina for years in my 5,1 doing music production.

 

[danallen]

What exact GTX 680 model did you buy?

I personally wouldn't worry, it'll work.

For bootscreen you have different options nowerdays (GTX 680 Mac ROM flash or better - update GTX 680 GOP and flash EnableGOP to your Mac Pro).

I've used a lowley GTX 650 with macOS Catalina for years in my 5,1 doing music production.

Condition Used Seller Notes “Excellent working condition. Apple EFI Boot Screen, 4K output, Metal macOS 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 ... Read moreabout the seller notes Brand EVGA Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA Chipset/GPU Model GeForce GTX 680 Memory Size 2GB Memory Type GDDR5 Features Apple EFI Boot Screen, Metal Support, 4K Output, macOS 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.15 Catalina, macOS 11 Big Sur, macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 13 Ventura, macOS 14 Sonoma, Mac Pro 2008 3,1, Mac Pro 2009 4,1, Mac Pro 2010 5,1, Mac Pro 2012 5,1, NVIDIA Kepler, GT 630, GTX 680, GTX 780, GTX Titan, MacVidCards MVC Compatible Connectors 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 2x DVI Compatible Slot PCI Express 2.0 x16 (Mac Pro) MPN 02G-P4-2683-KR Power Cable Requirement 6-Pin + 8-Pin PCI-E APIs Apple Metal, CUDA, OpenCL, OpenGL Cooling Component Included Fan with Heatsink Country/Region of Manufacture China Item Height 4.376 in - 111.15 mm Item Length 10.5 in - 266.7 mm Item Width Dual Slot ​

 

[benmuetsch]

You probably paid too much for this but should work.

 

[Macschrauber]

View attachment 2388845 View attachment 2388846 View attachment 2388847 View attachment 2388848

Condition Used Seller Notes “Excellent working condition. Apple EFI Boot Screen, 4K output, Metal macOS 10.14 Mojave, 10.15 ... Read moreabout the seller notes Brand EVGA Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA Chipset/GPU Model GeForce GTX 680 Memory Size 2GB Memory Type GDDR5 Features Apple EFI Boot Screen, Metal Support, 4K Output, macOS 10.14 Mojave, macOS 10.15 Catalina, macOS 11 Big Sur, macOS 12 Monterey, macOS 13 Ventura, macOS 14 Sonoma, Mac Pro 2008 3,1, Mac Pro 2009 4,1, Mac Pro 2010 5,1, Mac Pro 2012 5,1, NVIDIA Kepler, GT 630, GTX 680, GTX 780, GTX Titan, MacVidCards MVC Compatible Connectors 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort, 2x DVI Compatible Slot PCI Express 2.0 x16 (Mac Pro) MPN 02G-P4-2683-KR Power Cable Requirement 6-Pin + 8-Pin PCI-E APIs Apple Metal, CUDA, OpenCL, OpenGL Cooling Component Included Fan with Heatsink Country/Region of Manufacture China Item Height 4.376 in - 111.15 mm Item Length 10.5 in - 266.7 mm Item Width Dual Slot ​

This card was long years the "standard GPU" for a Mac Pro. It works with patches up to Sonoma.
Kepler cards run the most OS, from 10.8 to Sonoma. Since Monterey there are some glitches, but at general they work.

Nothing to worry.

 

[joevt]

The Mac version of the GTX 680 will work down to Mac OS X 10.4, but without acceleration and you need to remove the NVDAResman.kext extension from 10.4 and 10.5.