'The Deal' on Mac Pro Video Cards
I've decided to start a new thread because some exciting stuff is going on (some fresh news in here for people who don't know, read on!):
EFI, Apple firmware, and ROMs.. how does it all fit together?
From what I've found out, most modern video cards are EFI as well as BIOS compatible. (1)
There are drivers out to run many PC NVidia cards on a mac. They are located IN OS X. You simply need to unlock them using this KEXT:
http://omni.starchaser.org/
To flash an X1900 XT 512MB from PC to mac, use the following procedure.
http://www.tenthousandpercent.com/?s...her&article=76
Why PC Video Cards don't work (or do they?)
Actually, PC video cards work FINE in a Mac Pro (2), it's OS X that doesn't work.
OS X needs a driver to run these cards, which demonstrated by the fact that at least two PC 7800 GTs have been reported to work out of box. (2)
It's also demonstrated by the aforementioned titan drivers enabling NVidia cards.
But the PC x1900's don't work with mac, and they have a driver!
They have a driver, but not one that interacts with Apple's special BIOS in the card. That's why the BIOS must be flashed first.
Fun Facts
- The Mac Pro has a 1KW PSU.
From barefeats:
-Can you use Windows PC PCIe graphics cards in a Mac Pro? No. The Mac Pro requires special firmware.
-Can you use G5 PCIe graphics cards in a Mac Pro? No. They have different firmware.
-Can you take a Mac Pro PCIe graphics card and run it in a Windows PC? YES! You may say, "Why would you want to?" But this points to the fact that a company like XFX or ATI could, if they want to, release a "PC and Mac Pro" version of their graphics cards.
-SLI DOES WORK in the Mac Pro, though it should be noted that there can only be ONE 16x slot, so there may be no point. Here are the possible PCIe configurations (configurable by software):
. . . . . . . Slot 1 . . . Slot 2 . . Slot 3 . . Slot 4
Option 1 . . 8-lanes . . 8-lanes . . 1-lane . . 8-lanes
Option 2 . . 8-lanes . . 8-lanes . . 4-lanes . . 4-lanes
Option 3 . . 16-lanes . . 1-lane . . 1-lane . . 8-lanes
So that's the news as I see it, here are the sources:
1: http://strangedogs.proboards40.com/i...rd=experiments
2: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=230505
3: http://discussions.apple.com/message...916283#2916283
4: http://forums.macnn.com/65/power-mac...-card-working/
EFI, Apple firmware, and ROMs.. how does it all fit together?
From what I've found out, most modern video cards are EFI as well as BIOS compatible. (1)
There are drivers out to run many PC NVidia cards on a mac. They are located IN OS X. You simply need to unlock them using this KEXT:
http://omni.starchaser.org/
To flash an X1900 XT 512MB from PC to mac, use the following procedure.
http://www.tenthousandpercent.com/?s...her&article=76
Why PC Video Cards don't work (or do they?)
Actually, PC video cards work FINE in a Mac Pro (2), it's OS X that doesn't work.
OS X needs a driver to run these cards, which demonstrated by the fact that at least two PC 7800 GTs have been reported to work out of box. (2)
It's also demonstrated by the aforementioned titan drivers enabling NVidia cards.
But the PC x1900's don't work with mac, and they have a driver!
They have a driver, but not one that interacts with Apple's special BIOS in the card. That's why the BIOS must be flashed first.
Fun Facts
- The Mac Pro has a 1KW PSU.
From barefeats:
-Can you use Windows PC PCIe graphics cards in a Mac Pro? No. The Mac Pro requires special firmware.
-Can you use G5 PCIe graphics cards in a Mac Pro? No. They have different firmware.
-Can you take a Mac Pro PCIe graphics card and run it in a Windows PC? YES! You may say, "Why would you want to?" But this points to the fact that a company like XFX or ATI could, if they want to, release a "PC and Mac Pro" version of their graphics cards.
-SLI DOES WORK in the Mac Pro, though it should be noted that there can only be ONE 16x slot, so there may be no point. Here are the possible PCIe configurations (configurable by software):
Code:
. . . . . . . Slot 1 . . . Slot 2 . . Slot 3 . . Slot 4
Option 1 . . 8-lanes . . 8-lanes . . 1-lane . . 8-lanes
Option 2 . . 8-lanes . . 8-lanes . . 4-lanes . . 4-lanes
Option 3 . . 16-lanes . . 1-lane . . 1-lane . . 8-lanes
So that's the news as I see it, here are the sources:
1: http://strangedogs.proboards40.com/i...rd=experiments
2: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=230505
3: http://discussions.apple.com/message...916283#2916283
4: http://forums.macnn.com/65/power-mac...-card-working/
Comments
Correct Answer (the one I want to hear): Fine.
How does Boot Camp work with the "Start-Up Disk" system preferences Pane?
Correct Answer (the one I want to hear): Fine.
Fine. (tested it yesterday)
I've decided to start a new thread because some exciting stuff is going on (some fresh news in here for people who don't know, read on!)
Excellent research slughead.
SLI DOES WORK in the Mac Pro, though it should be noted that there can only be ONE 16x slot, so there may be no point. Here are the possible PCIe configurations (configurable by software)...
Remember when SLI first came out? They worked fine with PCIe x8 x8 - improvements with x16 x16 are not that fantastic. I have no source but the improvement with x16 x16 over x8 x8 is maybe 20% max. SLI in Mac Pro with the two lanes at x8 x8 should be quite alright.
Excellence with the 7800GT. Fu*king excellence. 7600GT in Mac Pro should fly too damnit it's in the iMac..!!
So far, people who have tried the 7600 GT's in the mac pro have reported bad results.
But again, the testing procedure is wacky.
Remember when SLI first came out? They worked fine with PCIe x8 x8 - improvements with x16 x16 are not that fantastic. I have no source but the improvement with x16 x16 over x8 x8 is maybe 20% max. SLI in Mac Pro with the two lanes at x8 x8 should be quite alright.
gotta say - I'm more interested in Crossfire working, in this case because I already own the x1900xt.
gotta say - I'm more interested in Crossfire working, in this case because I already own the x1900xt.
SLI is working in Mac Pro Bootcamp Windows because apparently they found/ there is the nVidia drivers that allow SLI on any board - negating the need for a SLI chipset motherboard.
I wonder if is there something similar for ATI drivers that allow Crossfire on a non-Crossfire chipset motherboard?
nVidia RULZ ...!!!11!1!!one!!1111 muah ah haah ha ha h ha ha ha ha ha
nVidia RULZ ...!!!11!1!!one!!1111 muah ah haah ha ha h ha ha ha ha ha
!!!one indeed, my friend.
This thing needs to be revised, I'm waiting on some more info from 3 other forums though
Remember when SLI first came out? They worked fine with PCIe x8 x8 - improvements with x16 x16 are not that fantastic. I have no source but the improvement with x16 x16 over x8 x8 is maybe 20% max. SLI in Mac Pro with the two lanes at x8 x8 should be quite alright.
I haven't seen anything on SLI x8 x8, but in terms of x8 vs x16 on a single video card, the difference is apparently slight, this article is apparently a couple weeks old:
http://barefeats.com/quad14.html
Verdict: The difference between x8 and x16 is a few percent at best for the x1900. I had suspicions that people like joe_the_dragon were blowing smoke with respect to needing full x16 lane signalling to get adequate speed, and now there's a verdict, at least for Macs. The way some people were saying it, they made it sould like the results for using 8x slots were going to be a lot worse than the actual results for 4x.
If this article has been posted in this forum, I apologize, but I hadn't seen it until yesterday.
I haven't seen anything on SLI x8 x8, but in terms of x8 vs x16 on a single video card, the difference is apparently slight, this article is apparently a couple weeks old:
http://barefeats.com/quad14.html
Verdict: The difference between x8 and x16 is a few percent at best for the x1900. I had suspicions that people like joe_the_dragon were blowing smoke with respect to needing full x16 lane signalling to get adequate speed, and now there's a verdict, at least for Macs. The way some people were saying it, they made it sould like the results for using 8x slots were going to be a lot worse than the actual results for 4x.
If this article has been posted in this forum, I apologize, but I hadn't seen it until yesterday.
I hadn't seen it.
Regardless, with the NVidia 8800 out now, the difference between 8x and 16x should be more apparent.
Also, I updated this post.