What's the best 6-pin powered GPU I can use on a 4,1?

[juliancs]

Hi folks,

Running a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro. A few years ago I bought a 670 and flashed it with the help of this forum. It's been great but yesterday I started getting blue artefacts on the screen while playing games, which quickly descended into freezes and system hangs. Tried un/reinstalling drivers, no luck. Eventually I couldn't even boot into OSX (only game in win 7/bootcamp). Sounds like my card is dead!

I'm looking to replace it, but I'm wondering if I could upgrade even further. The FAQ about cards stickied here cautions against using cards with 8-pin connectors, and it seems the top end cards now have that sort of power connection. Could anyone recommend the best card without having to change from the 2 6-pin connectors I currently use for my GPU?

Many thanks!

 

[William_si]

A 6 to 8pin adapter works fine on one or both though the limit is around 10A/120W each (reset fuse, shuts down the Mac hard).

With 75W from the slot you can power a GPU up to ~300W safely, which fits about anything available right now except the Radeon Pro Duo (~350W), R9 295X (~500W) and R9 390X2 (a weird dual 390X card from PowerColor with 500W TDP and seemingly a PLX switch).

A Pro Duo or other up to ~450W cards can be powered by splitting the 2 DVD bay SATA (~100W each max., more likely around 75W) - Not tested, card too expensive at the moment.

A R9 290X (~290W TDP) runs fine in my 4.1, as did a R9 280X and a R9 270X (combined ~400W) with SATA bay power + SATA drive power (HDD slot 4, fuse A unknown).

 

[juliancs]

A 6 to 8pin adapter works fine on one or both though the limit is around 10A/120W each (reset fuse, shuts down the Mac hard).

With 75W from the slot you can power a GPU up to ~300W safely, which fits about anything available right now except the Radeon Pro Duo (~350W), R9 295X (~500W) and R9 390X2 (a weird dual 390X card from PowerColor with 500W TDP and seemingly a PLX switch).

A Pro Duo or other up to ~450W cards can be powered by splitting the 2 DVD bay SATA (~100W each max., more likely around 75W) - Not tested, card too expensive at the moment.

A R9 290X (~290W TDP) runs fine in my 4.1, as did a R9 280X and a R9 270X (combined ~400W) with SATA bay power + SATA drive power (HDD slot 4, fuse A unknown).

Thanks for your reply. I should have specified I'm only really looking at Nvidia cards. In addition, I meant my post to mean that I'm not interested in taking power from HD bays or the DVD bays. Certainly not going to risk and fuse resets. Looking for the best card I can swap out and plug in the 2 6-pins in my 670 and go.

 

[leon771]

At the moment I would suspect the 980 as being the best 2x6 pin card.

The 980Ti takes an 8 and a 6 pin.

If drivers ever appear then the 1080 would be the best. 2x6 pin to 1x8 pin adapter required.

 

[Demigod Mac]

Maxwell Titan X is the "best" if you don't mind the high price.

 

[flehman]

2nd vote for the GTX 980 if you want to use only 6-pin connectors. Most GTX 980s are 2x6 pin. I am using a EVGA reference-clocked 980 with the ACX 2.0 cooling and it has been fantastic - very fast and quiet.

Edit: The card I got from Newegg is here but they are now only selling refurbished models:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...4487230&cm_re=EVGA_980-_-14-487-230-_-Product

It looks like 980s are thinning out - mostly refurbished cards available at this point as everything shifts to the 1070 and 1080.

 

[cheezeit]

I'll be doing the same thing, searching for a gpu for my 4,1 (flashed to 5,1). Will this run fine without flashing the card? Or is it best to flash the card?

 

[flehman]

A 980 will run unflashed as long as you have nVidia web drivers installed. The wiki/sticky thread about nVidia, EFI, etc. at the top of the Mac Pro forum lays out all the relevant info.

 

[William_si]

Unflashed prevents usage of Filevault on the boot disk though.

The GTX 980 Ti uses 8+6 pin, however it *is* safe to split a 6pin into a 6+2 pin connector and with 250W TDP (which is more reality like in the 280-300W area being Nvidia, can't measure our 980Ti in the gaming PC) it will not reset or cause issues (110+110+70 (90% of rated capacity) = 290W) .

 

[Synchro3]

At the moment I would suspect the 980 as being the best 2x6 pin card.

The 980Ti takes an 8 and a 6 pin.

If drivers ever appear then the 1080 would be the best. 2x6 pin to 1x8 pin adapter required.

2 * 6 pin to 8 pin adapter is included with the GTX 1080.