theposco
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: How compatible is the EVGA Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card?

Hi.  I'm told I could get a Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card for my Mac Pro (Mid 2010 - with Yosemitie 10.10.2) but.....

 

* If I install drivers for the new card (whilst my old card is in place), can I just pop it in and away I go?

* Is everything required (apart from drivers) included in the box or do I need to buy extra cables?

* If I have to buy extra cables, where do they go, will I find instructions for this in the box?

* What is the likelihood that with a future OS update this card will no longer work?

* Is it completely safe to use with the regular power supply in my Mac, or is there any risk at all?

 

Sorry if these obvious questions, I am just aware that most people on here are more technical than myself and I want to avoid problems I won't understand how to fix.

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 24GB Ram

Posted on Jun 7, 2015 6:22 AM

by Johnb-one,Solvedanswer
Johnb-one Johnb-one
Level 4 (1,874 points)
Desktops
A:

okay, theposco, maybe I can help you out.

1. yes-probably. Support for the card is built into the OS more than likely

2. yes-everything required should be in the box, and you shouldn't need to buy extra cables (ask the card's seller to make sure)

3. You may.may not not find instructions for this in the box, but the power connectors are easy to find. they are at one end of the logic board closest to the front of yor Mac Pro, about halfway up. 2 8-pin connectors.  Bit tricky to get 'em on, but once you do, you're good to go

4. The likelyhood is almost none. I think Apple even support the X2600 and the 8800GT for crying out loud, maybe even the GT120

5.Yes, it's totally safe. Most graphics cards require a power connection of some kind, but that's about it. No addon power supply needed.

 

Trust me-here there are no obvious or "dumb" questions. We all have to learn somwhere and sometime, and the only way to do that is to find out, get info, and ask questions.

 

About the only thing I should tell  you, theposco, is that with the 2010 Mac Pro, to install a video card, there's this little bar in place. I guess it was put there to stabilize the video card. I couldn't figure out how to get the bar back, to get it to go down and out of the way so I could install a newer video card. Very Annoying. Then I asked a question here, and  I found out that there is a button by the fan shroud. If you push that button, then the bar goes back, goes down and out of the way. I wouldn't have known that before.  Oh one last thing-if the card has been flashed, or it's a Mac version, you will get a boot screen

but if it's a PC one, it'll work, but you won't see anything until the graphics drivers have been loaded. I think there's a 4 gig version out there, but you have to get it flashed...evga and PNY work fine.

good luck

 

John B

Posted on Jun 7, 2015 6:55 AM

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theposco

Q: How compatible is the EVGA Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card?

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  • by Johnb-one,Solvedanswer

    Johnb-one Johnb-one Jun 7, 2015 6:55 AM in response to theposco
    Level 4 (1,874 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 7, 2015 6:55 AM in response to theposco

    okay, theposco, maybe I can help you out.

    1. yes-probably. Support for the card is built into the OS more than likely

    2. yes-everything required should be in the box, and you shouldn't need to buy extra cables (ask the card's seller to make sure)

    3. You may.may not not find instructions for this in the box, but the power connectors are easy to find. they are at one end of the logic board closest to the front of yor Mac Pro, about halfway up. 2 8-pin connectors.  Bit tricky to get 'em on, but once you do, you're good to go

    4. The likelyhood is almost none. I think Apple even support the X2600 and the 8800GT for crying out loud, maybe even the GT120

    5.Yes, it's totally safe. Most graphics cards require a power connection of some kind, but that's about it. No addon power supply needed.

     

    Trust me-here there are no obvious or "dumb" questions. We all have to learn somwhere and sometime, and the only way to do that is to find out, get info, and ask questions.

     

    About the only thing I should tell  you, theposco, is that with the 2010 Mac Pro, to install a video card, there's this little bar in place. I guess it was put there to stabilize the video card. I couldn't figure out how to get the bar back, to get it to go down and out of the way so I could install a newer video card. Very Annoying. Then I asked a question here, and  I found out that there is a button by the fan shroud. If you push that button, then the bar goes back, goes down and out of the way. I wouldn't have known that before.  Oh one last thing-if the card has been flashed, or it's a Mac version, you will get a boot screen

    but if it's a PC one, it'll work, but you won't see anything until the graphics drivers have been loaded. I think there's a 4 gig version out there, but you have to get it flashed...evga and PNY work fine.

    good luck

     

    John B

  • by theposco,

    theposco theposco Jun 7, 2015 7:21 AM in response to Johnb-one
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jun 7, 2015 7:21 AM in response to Johnb-one

    Excellent, thanks for such a straightforward answer.  Just one last thing, I have heard about getting cards flashed, but didn't know what that meant.  I have just Googled it and now I see, kind of like tricking the card into thinking it is originally for Mac.  I live in the UK and at the moment, don't know of anywhere that provides a flashing service of graphics cards.  I understand that if I don't get it flashed it will still work, but I will lose my boot screen which I could need at some point in the future if I encounter a problem with my system.

     

    If anyone has a link to a place in the UK that flashed Graphics cards that would be useful, thanks.

  • by theposco,

    theposco theposco Jun 7, 2015 10:17 AM in response to The hatter
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jun 7, 2015 10:17 AM in response to The hatter

    The hatter wrote:

     

    This FAQ http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/frequently-asked-questions-about-nvidia-pc-n on-efi-graphics-cards.1440150/

     

    http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/introducing-the-mac-edition-gtx-980-ti.18888 87/

    Ok so it looks like I am fine to buy the 970, but wouldn't it be better to have the boot screen?

     

    Could I put the 970 in, but also leave my original graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB card in so I get the boot screen or would that not work?

     

    In my Mac Pro there are two 16x and two 4x PCI slots, but I don't know what those numbers mean.  I already have a Sonnet Tempo card in one of the slots with my boot drive SSD.  Could I use three slots (two GPUs and the Sonnet) fine or would one of the slots not work properly as it is rated differently?

     

    Thanks.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 7, 2015 10:24 AM in response to theposco
    Level 10 (187,619 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 7, 2015 10:24 AM in response to theposco

    I have a 2009 Mac Pro and have both the GT 120 and a PC 9770 graphics card (no boot screen) installed

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Jun 7, 2015 10:29 AM in response to theposco
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Jun 7, 2015 10:29 AM in response to theposco

    or have Macvidcards  flash or sell one or DIY.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Jun 8, 2015 3:27 AM in response to theposco
    Level 6 (9,205 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Jun 8, 2015 3:27 AM in response to theposco

    With regards to drivers you would want to download and install Nvidia's latest drivers and latest CUDA software. These will work better than the built-in Apple drivers.

     

    Note: For this model I believe you need to run Yosemite and the drivers are not compatible with Mavericks.

     

    The PCI power cables need to be special Mac ones. They are available on Amazon and eBay. The Mac logic board end is a mini connector smaller than the equivalent PC connector. For example http://www.amazon.co.uk/Apple-video-power-cable-922-7128/dp/B0095SUCUQ

     

    Flashing a card means it will show up during booting, and this means you can see the options to do things like holding down the Option key to select a different boot drive. Without being flashed you can still use the card and still boot but would have to use the Startup Disk control panel to switch boot drives. You would also not be able to use things like booting into single-user mode, Internet recovery mode, hardware diagnostics mode, etc.

     

    For the GTX 970, or GTX 980 only one person so far seems to offer a service for flashing these cards. Unfortunately they are located in the USA and this means shipping the card to him, paying a fee, and then paying to get it shipped back with the possibility of getting stung by customs again.

     

    See http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p45/Nvidia_GTX_970_4_GB_Mac_Edition.html

     

    The GTX 680 which obviously is a lesser card is possible to flash ones-self.

     

    For non-official video cards Apple do not enable audio via their HDMI or Displayport connectors, fortunately there is a free third-party kext called HDMIAudio1.1 which fixes this and so far works fine with Yosemite.

  • by theposco,

    theposco theposco Jun 8, 2015 3:39 PM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jun 8, 2015 3:39 PM in response to John Lockwood

    Thanks John, very informative.  I have ordered two of them.  At least after asking all these questions I know better what I am getting myself into and if I run into problems down the line I will better know what the issues are.

     

    Many thanks.

  • by gols92,

    gols92 gols92 Aug 4, 2015 8:04 AM in response to theposco
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 8:04 AM in response to theposco

    I have had a problem with the EVGA GTX 970 Superclocked edition with my Mac Pro mid 2010 5,1. I bought it yesterday and when I was about to place it inside my mac and turn it on, I got a black screen. The card is not compatible OTB and I do understand that Imust have the web drivers enebled for it to work.

     

    I have connected my HDD to my mac book and booted from it and managed to install the drivers. Once I place it back into my mac pro, the screen is still black, even though the web drivers are selected to run as default.

     

    What can I do about this?

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Aug 4, 2015 8:11 AM in response to gols92
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 8:11 AM in response to gols92

    PC cards - lack EFI firmware - hence, no early video iut, no "boot screen" - hose drivrs are not loaded until the system has loaded and loaded 3rd part driver extensions.... go back and read FAQ and Grant's tip article.

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Aug 4, 2015 8:46 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 8:46 AM in response to John Lockwood

    The Mac does not have or support 8-pin cards. typo?


    8-pin connectors.

     

    And only has two 6-pin aux power feeds, so always look for and use cards without the need for an 8-pin unless willing to get into additional PSU or jerry-rigging how to get enough power.

  • by Johnb-one,

    Johnb-one Johnb-one Aug 4, 2015 3:00 PM in response to The hatter
    Level 4 (1,874 points)
    Desktops
    Aug 4, 2015 3:00 PM in response to The hatter

    I don't suppose it's helpful to mention that you can get 6 to 8 Mac pro video card cables on Amazon, and that some video cards have a 6 pin and an 8 pin socket on 'em, both of which have to be connected for the card to work, at least electrically.. According to nVidia, the GTX  970 has 2 6 pin sockets and needs 500W or greater available.  Of course, it probably may not be 100% compatible unless you flash it

     

    So, it's a moot point I guess.....

     

    JB

  • by theposco,

    theposco theposco Nov 29, 2015 8:40 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 29, 2015 8:40 AM in response to John Lockwood

    I have had this graphics card up and running for a while now, but the other day I reset the PRAM due to another unrelated issue and now it isn't working.  I posted about it on here under a different title but no one has responded.  here is what I wrote:

     

     

    theposco Nov 27, 2015 2:22 AM   

     

    Nvidia EVGA GEForce GTX 970 graphics card not recognised after PRAM reset

    As the title says, my Graphics card is not being recognised on boot up, all I get is the black screen.  I had installed a USB3 card into my 2010 Mac Pro and it wasn't working, so the manufacturer suggested I try a PRAM reset.  That's when the problems started.  I haven't been able to get the 970 working again since.

     

    At the moment I have my NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB installed.

     

    I have tried a few things already.

     

    • I tried downloading this driver again: 10.10.5 has 346.02.03f01 (14F27) which I found here: http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/frequently-asked-questions-about-nvidia-pc-n on-efi-graphics-cards.1440150/ (I checked, it is the right one for my installed version of Yosemite).

     

    • I also tried to use TimeMachine, but the problem is that my TimeMachine is a RAID configuration in a separate box connected by a SATA cable and so there didn't seem to be that option available when I tried to find it in the Utilities menu drop down, when installing a copy of Yosemite from a USB.

     

    I thought maybe there was a file somewhere that just needs to be reset back again so it will all work as before, but I don't know what I would need to change.  I have a TimeMachine backup I could use for that so if you know how I could make the most of it that would be great!

     

    Any ideas why this has happened and if it is fixable?

     

    Thanks

    Ross

  • by theposco,

    theposco theposco Nov 29, 2015 9:47 AM in response to theposco
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 29, 2015 9:47 AM in response to theposco

    Fixed it.

     

    I think one of two things happened. Either when I tried disk repair, it fixed a permission or it could be that when I looked inside, the graphics card power plug looked very very slightly at an angle (at the logic board end). It might not have been seated properly perhaps.

     

    I did notice last time that the graphics card fans were not spinning, and this time they were, so maybe it was a power issue.  Not sure which, just glad it works again!

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