Mac Pro

[cakesson]

No version of osX natively supports these cards. Personally, i only intend to use the card for Octane Render on the Windows 7 64 bit side (Boot camp). There are Mac Edition versions that you have to buy to have it supported on the osX side (usually at a much higher price). Has to do with EFI (+ bios) on the osX side and bios only on windows.....

/Christian

[bepeg4d]

what version of OSX supports the new fermi cards from a driver point of view ?

Radiance

10.6.4 i think, read this:
http://www.macrumors.com/2010/07/04/ati ... c-updates/

[thomasbosley]

Sorry, didn't mean to misrepresent. I meant it works fine for hardware. OSX doesn't support the card, I am using it with windows 7. That one guy on the mac rumors forums has the 480 working under OSX, but I think that's a bit over my head, and I don't think it works for everything (no open CL or something, I don't remember but its in the thread.)

[cakesson]

Yea, I read that thread as well. Just google "gtx 480 mac pro"... I don't want to go there either and if avoidable, I don't want to deal with an external or modular PSU added on.

I bought and got Octane Render activated today!
I am only running a single 8800GT at the moment so I am going to order the Palit 2GB gtx460 to use in Windows 7 with Octane Render.

thomasbosley - Would really appreciate it if you could describe to me what I need to do to add this card in on a macPro, and how to go about it? I have search high and low on what steps are necessary on adding an additional windows GPU (2x 6 pin connectors) to a macPro (2008). I will definitely add instructions online for this when I've figured it out and made the add on myself.

Thanks,

[themacguy]

It sounds like we (Mac users) have all been "Steve'd" yet again...

I've just placed an order for one of the new MacPro (Aug.2010) B.T.O. single 6-core Westmere chip @ 3.33gHz.

I'm ASTOUNDED that the Apple site has only TWO options which are
NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 which lists for $149.xx USA which is NOT compatible
with anything newer than the "early 2009" version MacPro ;-(

and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 for Mac which lists for $1,800.xx USA!!! ;-((((

Even worse, on the NVIDIA website, there is a list of "CUDA" equipped GPU cards:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_gpus.html
---in which, currently there seems to be only TWO cards available
(and presumably compatible with the Aug.2010 Westmere MacPro's?) which are
GeForce GTX 285 for Mac, which lists for around $540.xx USA @ NCIX.... or the
Quadro FX 4800 for Mac, which lists for around $1475.xx USA @ NCIX,
or the previously mentioned $1,800.xx from Apple! (Greedy, aren't they???

The "stock" card in the new MacPro's is the ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB, which lists for $250.00
if purchased from Apple, or $180.xx @ NCIX (rather cheap for a supposedly "high-end" {says Apple...} graphics card?)

Begs the question of WHY there is not an NVIDIA card with a GB of VRAM listed, at a "similar" price-point ~~ $250.xx...

---Hands up all you Mac people reading this, who are on a TIGHT BUDGET!!!
It's gonna take me a LONG time to scrape up an additional $700.xx or so, Cdn.,
[plus 12% HST/VAT, plus shipping... Uggh.....]

Anybody have any AFFORDABLE bright ideas on this, that won't void the warranty on my arriving "real soon now" Mac Pro???
T.I.A. for any feedback on this!

[themacguy]

A small, but SIGNIFICANT addenda to my post....

Just had another "digging" session on the Apple website, and came up with this spec.
for the new (Aug.2010) Mac Pro:

PCI Express expansion
Three open full-length PCI Express expansion slots
One PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot
Two PCI Express 2.0 x4 slots
All slots provide mechanical support for 16-lane cards
300W combined maximum for all PCI Express slots

Just how badly does 300 Watts "suck", eh?...
What is the workaround for high-energy Graphics cards, (or a pair, or a trio...) that would overrun this limit???
----"Steve'd" yet again!... It's ALMOST enough to say F....It, and switch to a PC, (running Linux of some flavour)...

[cakesson]

I feel your pain when it comes to this. Boot camp is probably the way to roll, that way you can insert any card you like and save big $ as far as the purchase of that/those cards. If you are planning on going nuts on cards, I would recommend getting a modular power supply:
Like This

I have also read about routing power from the optical drive bay and/or Serial Ata drive slot (with a serial ATA to molex adapter). I've been extremely happy with my macPro, but the lack of video card expansion and the prices for existing video card expansions are ridiculous.

There is also external power supplies that people have added....

I was actually on the phone with Apple today and said that I wanted to add a GTX 285 (just to make sure it was "Apple Approved") and how to handle the 2 x 6 pin connection to the mother board when there is only one available. Eventually I was transfered to a "senior technical assist dude" who just coldly said that this was an outside of Apple add on and refused to give me any opinion on the matter

The more I read up on "Hackintosh", the more I am thinking that it may be the way to go for running both OS'es. Lots of manual labor to get there though

ANyways, I am about to add in a regular graphics card to my system if I can figure it out.....

[radiance]

Hi guys,

Why not just get a PC, even if it's ugly, hide it somewhere under your desk
you can get a nice machine with a GTX480 for half the price of a mac pro,
and add whatever you like after.

Radiance

[cakesson]

I already own the Mac pro. Dual booting it with Win 7 64 bit works great. Buying a new pc would not be cheaper for me
I added in a gtx 460 (2 gb) in it today. Awaiting a Mac pcie power cable and then I can give it a test run.

I built my own pc's for 10 years, and the gpu rendering revolution had to come now

[cakesson]

Here is an update from me:
Installed a GTX 460 in my macPro(2008-3.1)
I already have an 8800GT so here are the steps that I took to do this:
1. Buy Molex y splitter, molex to 6 pin adapter, pci express power extension cable(2), mac pci express power cable, and...the graphics card
2. Update snow leopard software and boot into osx. Shut down and let the machine cool off.
3. Refer to this guide and remove:
- Slide out all hard drives
- Pop off heat sink cover
- Remove fan assembly
- Remove current GPU
- Remove Optical drive cage
4. At the optical drive, you will see a singe molex power cable available - connect the y splitter cable.
5. Connect the molex to pcie power cable to the end of the Y splitter cable.
6. Guide the connected cables down to the fan assembly area.
7. Connect the pcie power extension cables.
8. Snap back the optical drive cage.
9. Put the fan assembly back [Note: it is important that the pcie power extension cable goes under the fan assembly and not above it or the cable will be in the way of one of your hard drive slots.
10. Pop back the heat sink cover.
11. Put in the original GPU.
12. Put in the new GPU in the slot above the original GPU.
13. Connect the newly inserted pcie power extension cable to the new GPU's second pcie power connector
14. Connect the mac pcie power cable to the new GPU's first pcie power connector and connect the other end at the last available motherboard pcie power connector.
15. Slide the hard drives back.
16. Put the cover back on and enjoy the added render power in Octane Render (in Windows 7 64). The whole point for me was to not pay $500 for a GTX 285 Mac edition, when I can get a 2GB GTX 460 for $250 - less money & more power

Note: The reason I say to update osX before adding the card is that everything was working for me UNTIL I updated OSX after the install. Upon reboot OSX would hang on log in (blue screen). As I type this in OSX, I removed the card and logged in. I will report back if there was in fact something in the update that screwed up the ability to have a non Apple supported card in or if it was just during OSX update and reboot that the card could not be present (I am really hoping for the latter).