Mac Pro 5,1 GPU Upgrade Suggestion

[Mayahi]

Hey all,

I'm currently working on a Mac Pro 5,1 running OSX 10.9.5 with a Quadro 4000. As you can imagine this card is pretty slow when it comes to Octane and CUDA. I was looking at some Macvidcards for an upgrade that would still be able to use the internal PSU. Due to the nature of my company, I can't mod or have parts flowing out of the case. Cleanest and simplest will be best. I was curious to know which out of the following cards everyone would recommend. I understand more CUDA is better as well as having a good amount of vram, but I'm unsure about the clock speeds.

The contenders:

1. Nvidia GTX 980 4 GB - http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p42/PR ... ition.html

- $835
-CUDA Cores: 2048
-Base Clock: 1126 MHz
-Boost Clock: 1216 MHz
-Texture Fill Rate: 144 GT/s
-Bus: PCIe 2.0

2. Nvidia GTX 780 6GB - http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p1/Nvi ... _6_GB.html

- $760
- CUDA Cores: 2304
- Base Clock: 863 MHz
- Boost Clock: 902 MHz
- Texture Fill Rate: 160.5 GT/s
- Bus: PCIe 2.0

3. Nvidia GTX 680 4 GB Classified - http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p8/Nvi ... ified.html

- $535
- CUDA Cores: 1536
- Base Clock: 1006 MHz
- Boost Clock: 1058 MHz
- Texture Fill Rate: 128.8 GT/s
- Bus: PCIe 2.0

I'm planning to build some PC render slaves in the future so I'm thinking 4GB vram should last me awhile. If I can get Yosemite on my computer then the 980 is the fastest, but the 780 seems like it may be better, having more CUDA. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[glimpse]

hi,

if You're going to put the card inside the mac I'd highly recommend reference design cooler (like those coming on Titan). 780 6GB should give the best deal, as it's not only as fast 980, but also has 50% more of vRam, but the problem that there's no ref-design cooler for those (probably nVidia forbid to release that so it wouldn't compete with TitanBlack). if 980 is enough, go for it, just take a look before if everything works on it (haven't kept an eye on that, but after recent updates it seems all Kernels are working, just double check that =)

What the fuzz with reference vs non reference coolers? Unlike typical shroud like cooler with blower design..non reference cards (with dual or triple axial fans) will circulate heat inside the case, & unless You have very good airflow in Your case that will likely throttle down Your cards making them run slower & putting whole system under "thermal pressure" that might cause You hangups of at least other fans are going to start spinning higher RPMs at the same time producing more noise than otherwise required =)

So, it's not about choice of "best" card, but more likely choosing the best card that fits Your needs.


if You planing some builds & would like to find some good info - head up to tomGlimps - I'll add some good content, featuring some nice builds (like this) & cover other important aspects (SingleSlot cards =) that migh help You out.

[Mayahi]

hi,

if You're going to put the card inside the mac I'd highly recommend reference design cooler (like those coming on Titan). 780 6GB should give the best deal, as it's not only as fast 980, but also has 50% more of vRam, but the problem that there's no ref-design cooler for those (probably nVidia forbid to release that so it wouldn't compete with TitanBlack). if 980 is enough, go for it, just take a look before if everything works on it (haven't kept an eye on that, but after recent updates it seems all Kernels are working, just double check that =)

What the fuzz with reference vs non reference coolers? Unlike typical shroud like cooler with blower design..non reference cards (with dual or triple axial fans) will circulate heat inside the case, & unless You have very good airflow in Your case that will likely throttle down Your cards making them run slower & putting whole system under "thermal pressure" that might cause You hangups of at least other fans are going to start spinning higher RPMs at the same time producing more noise than otherwise required =)

So, it's not about choice of "best" card, but more likely choosing the best card that fits Your needs.


if You planing some builds & would like to find some good info - head up to tomGlimps - I'll add some good content, featuring some nice builds (like this) & cover other important aspects (SingleSlot cards =) that migh help You out.

Thanks for the reply, Glimpse! I didn't even realize the difference between reference vs non-reference. Thanks for that information. I'll be sure to keep that in mind.