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OSX GPU limits

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:36 pm
by georgesemmanuelarnaud
I am wondering how many GPU , card, OSX van andle, thinking about going on Windows of it can handle more....


Oxs mtlion |2 Geforce GTX780ti | i7 3770 | 32GB

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:11 pm
by asher
is going to be more likely the hardware of apple, just like pc motherboards, not the os as much

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2014 3:58 am
by georgesemmanuelarnaud
As i am running an Hackintosh (OSX with PC parts) there is no limits?

Any feedback on OSX platform running more than 3 gtx?

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 6:27 am
by santer
from osx 10.9.2 there is 2 nvidia gnu limit till then its 4 on yosemite its still 2 nvidia but you can use one ati for monitor
apple is afraid of 2009, 2010 and 2012 mac pros with pci expansion box to overrule new 2013 models of mac pro
I'm running 2009 mac pro flashed on 2010 with pair x5680 Quadro k5000 and two titans and I'm much cheaper and faster then top 2013 configuration

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 11:58 am
by pegot
from osx 10.9.2 there is 2 nvidia gnu limit
I don't think that's correct. I'm on a Hackintosh running 10.9.5 and I recently tested three NVIDIA's GPU's in my box (two 780's and one 770). Except for temps, everything worked fine and I was able to run OctaneBench.

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:56 pm
by Fake Pilot
I'm thinking of buying a Mac Pro from http://create.pro

This is the setup:

Mac Pro 5,1
3.46Ghz 12 Core Xeon X5675
GT120 Display GPU - for plugging in display, leaving all 12GB of Titan X to Octane
Nvidia Titan X 12GB GPU
32GB DDR3 ECC (2x16) - Upgrade with 16GB RAM’s later
500GB SSD BOOT - Upgrade with more disk space later too, just buying a disc and plug in
USB 3.0 PCIe
1 Year RTB Warranty

€3713.00 (EX VAT and free delivery)

Then, later, when I get more cash, I can buy and connect a – Cubix Elite PCIe Expander (4 x 4x PCIe lanes double width)
Adding Titan X's when I can afford the upgrade. What they said, max is x4.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sETAw0auTWI

Please comment if you think this would be a bad choice or not. :-) I'm not very PC/Hackintosh savvy.

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:02 pm
by 3dworks
georgesemmanuelarnaud wrote:As i am running an Hackintosh (OSX with PC parts) there is no limits?

Any feedback on OSX platform running more than 3 gtx?
as far as i know, from 10.9.1 upwards the 2 + 1 GPU limitation was never removed. 10.9.1 and lower enable more than 2 extra GPU's - but unfortunately these older compatible nvidia web drivers and 10-9-1 or 10.8.5 native OSX drivers are not supporting latest nvidia cards.

correct me if i'm wrong, this is an OSX software issue, not related to the hardware on which OSX is running - no difference if hackintosh or macintosh.

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:06 pm
by 3dworks
Fake Pilot wrote:I'm thinking of buying a Mac Pro from http://create.pro

This is the setup:

Mac Pro 5,1
3.46Ghz 12 Core Xeon X5675
GT120 Display GPU - for plugging in display, leaving all 12GB of Titan X to Octane
Nvidia Titan X 12GB GPU
32GB DDR3 ECC (2x16) - Upgrade with 16GB RAM’s later
500GB SSD BOOT - Upgrade with more disk space later too, just buying a disc and plug in
USB 3.0 PCIe
1 Year RTB Warranty

€3713.00 (EX VAT and free delivery)

Then, later, when I get more cash, I can buy and connect a – Cubix Elite PCIe Expander (4 x 4x PCIe lanes double width)
Adding Titan X's when I can afford the upgrade. What they said, max is x4.

Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sETAw0auTWI

Please comment if you think this would be a bad choice or not. :-) I'm not very PC/Hackintosh savvy.
very good choice, better than a hackintosh if you need a stable and easy to update/upgrade system. you should expect the same rock-stable operation as with any 'regular' mac pro. i did upgrade myself CPU, GPU and added SSD's to 2 of my mac pro's with nearly same specs, and they are running very well!

the only thing i'm wondering is if the GT120 card is strong enough as a display card for handling 3d apps like modo, lightwave or cinema 4d. but probably creato pro people will tell you how to switch from the GT120 to the titan x for display/ opengl purposes when modeling, for example.

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 1:16 pm
by Fake Pilot
3dworks wrote: as far as i know, from 10.9.1 upwards the 2 + 1 GPU limitation was never removed. 10.9.1 and lower enable more than 2 extra GPU's - but unfortunately these older compatible nvidia web drivers and 10-9-1 or 10.8.5 native OSX drivers are not supporting latest nvidia cards.

correct me if i'm wrong, this is an OSX software issue, not related to the hardware on which OSX is running - no difference if hackintosh or macintosh.
This video shows Create.Pro running 5 Nvidia cards on a Mac Pro with CUBIX Xpander Elite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPww2rEc1jQ

Not sure how that can be done, if there is a limit on 3 GPU?

Re: OSX GPU limits

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:19 pm
by pegot
I’m no expert but my Hackintosh has been rock solid stable going on almost two years. My main decision at the time of build was due to the GPU restrictions of the new Mac Pro trash cans.

That said, I do have other Mac’s I can rely / fall back on if there were a serious issue as well as my Hackintosh being a dual boot Mac / Windows box. So I’m pretty well covered for work spaces.

Also before building my Hackintosh I tried to work with my existing 2008 Mac Pro and with a supplemental power supply successfully ran three GPU’s (one was an old Radon used for boot screen). Only one card was double slot though (had a GTX 570 and an even older single slot Nivida 800 or something).

I think the time, money, and effort spent trying to get a Mac Pro maxed out for Octane use is a losing proposition, especially if you need more than two cards. Even if I could afford it, I would never spend $5,674 on old technology and only have a single GPU (albeit a Titian X) to show for it.

If possible, I would at least wait till Octane 3 is released this summer to see how that will work with AMD cards. Then you can get a new Mac Pro trash can with the money you save not having to purchase an expander box or a separate $1000 GPU.

I love Mac’s but the new build I’ll be making this summer as a dedicated render box will probably be Windows based to allow possibility for 4 GPU’s at a cheaper cost than it would be to try and configure such arrangement on a Mac (I decided not to run a Hackintosh on the new build I'm planning but that is for reasons other than stability).