Mac Pro SLI support

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 Russo Author

Level 1

15 points

Mac Pro SLI support

Does the 2008 Mac Pro support SLI? I know crossfire is supported.

Mac Pro Rev.B, Mac OS X (10.5.6), 2 x 2.8Ghz Xeons, 6GB FB-Dimm, 8800GT, 2 x 500GB Sata, 1TB ext

Posted on Apr 29, 2009 6:06 PM

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Answer 1

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marokero

Level 1

135 points

Apr 29, 2009 6:21 PM in response to  Russo

AFAIK, not in OS X, but in Windows it should work. In Vista 64 I can enable/disable multiple GPUs with my GTX 295 (driver 182.50).

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Answer 2

noice_T

Level 3

545 points

Apr 29, 2009 6:26 PM in response to  Russo

Keep in mind, even if windows supports it, you still need to power the graphics cards. Whichever gpus you want to use, make sure there is enough power connectors to support it.

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Answer 3

 Russo Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 29, 2009 7:16 PM in response to marokero

the 295 is all on a single card, I am concerned more as to whether 2 seperate cards will work. The reason is that the GTX 285 is coming to the mac pro, I would prefer 2 run two of these instead of 2 ATI 4870's. Power is no issue as I have a second booster PSU with to 6 pin PCI-E.

If I can get confirmation that two Nvidia cards work in SLI on a 2008 Mac Pro that will be my question answered.

I guess if someone has 2 8800GT's running in sli that would answer the question. The 5400 chipset is supported as well.

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Answer 4

marokero

Level 1

135 points

Apr 30, 2009 12:35 AM in response to  Russo

Well, unfortunately tonight I'm not running SLI, not even an Nvidia GPU. My GTX 295 apparently kicked the bucket, and all I'm getting is a blank screen 😟 I had to put in the original ATI 2600HD for the mean time. My 8800GT is in my pc at work, so I will now contact EVGA about a possible replacement. With the announcement of the GTX 285 Mac Edition, the future seems a little brighter for the 295 in the mac (well, I need to get mine fixed/replaced first).

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Answer 5

 Russo Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 30, 2009 2:57 AM in response to marokero

Thats a bummer!

I think I found the answer I was after. I was getting confused that the 5400 chipset itself could support SLI ie. the skulltrail motherboard which actually has 2 nforce chipsets on there as well. The 5400 chipset does NOT support SLI. The X58 is the only intel made chipset other than nforce that supports SLI.

So in short, no the mac pro cannot support SLI with 2 separate cards. As it seems though you had a GTX 295 working which is a single card.

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