Mac Pro 3.1 (early 2008) New Graphics Card, What are the options?

What about the PC motherboards that have EFI? How do they cope with the graphics cards? Do you know? Maybe they use a combo of BIOS and EFI. I dunno…

All nVidia GTX works perfect. No need special edition, all works in 10.8.2

I have the GTX 770 running in my Mac Pro 2008. In OSX and Windows (bootcamp)

My GTX 650Ti Boost did not work in 10.8.2. I had to go to 10.8.4.

I can't get my GTX 780 to work in my Mac Pro 3.1 2008.. The mac restarts a couple of times, then turn off.. Should it work? Is there something i have to install? I dont know what this EFI thing is...

It should work as far as I know. Sounds like a power issue - or maybe you don't have latest OS updates? That's a new card - perhaps you need 10.9 for 7xx cards? Not sure...

also check this:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1588653

I have ordered the FSP BOOSTER X5 to power the card, will see if that works tomorrow.. It says that the gtx card need a minimum 600W power supply, and i dont know what power supply a mac pro 3.1 contains..

I made a post here, and a guy says it is impossible... http://www.liftgammagain.com/forum/index.php?threads/about-gtx-780-in-mac-pro-an d-about-usb-3-0-vs-esata.1783/#post-10774😟

Hmm... I didn't read that whole thread but the stuff about needing a 2009 is BS - at least when it comes to the 6xx cards (I've personally installed a 670 and a 680 both with 4GB ram on a 2008 AND a 2009 mac pro - but not a 7xx).

I'd check out netkas to see what you can find - by far the best resource for this... http://forum.netkas.org/

I know that the 780s are now available flashed to EFI so they should work out of the box, too, just without boot screen suport. EFI is the newer version of BIOS - which is basically the set of instructions the computer runs when it is first started. PCs used to (and many still do) use BIOS - which is when you see all the text on the screen initializing expansion cards, checking ram, etc. EFI is the new hotness when it comes to BIOS. Often, EFI will "hand off" to BIOS - to load legacy drivers etc. On a mac, which uses EFI, you don't get text, you get a grey screen with an apple on it, or maybe a boot disc selection screen if you hold option on boot. With a gpu that doesn't have EFI, you won't see this boot screen - because the card isn't compatible with the EFI sequence. Once the hand off occurs, you get picture. On a mac, you go right to desktop. When loading windows, I actually get a few BIOS messages before my windows logo. Point it, you SHOULD be able to use a BIOS-only (aka a "PC") GPU, you just won't get boot screens, which can be bad if you rely on that disc selection screen when you hold option. The other thing you can do is pay to have the card flashed with a mac compatible EFI - and then you'd get boot screens, but the card itself would function the same otherwise.

I hope this didn't confuse you more - for more info on EFI read this (it helps if you have a basic undertanding of BIOS though): http://www.extremetech.com/computing/96985-demystifying-uefi-the-long-overdue-bi os-replacement

or:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface

I am not positive as I never got an official answer but I was told the mac pro 2008 has a 900 watt power supply -- definitely more than 600w. BUT, it may not provide enough to the card itself, though not likely really (I'm assuming you connected the extra power connectors to the MB, yes?)

Thanks a lot for your reply. is MB motherboard? I plugged the 2 and only 6-pin powercables into the gtx780.. I will try with external power tomorrow.. Could it be because i need to remove or to install old and new driver?

Yeah you got it. You should have enough power so I'd look into drivers. Join up and read on Netkas. It may be frustrating at first but there's some crazy smarts people over there, including the guy who will flash your card if you want. Post your problem there (after you look around a bit in case someone else already posted it).

It took some effort, but the info on that site fixed all my problems when i first installed my 670 (mainly OpenCL related to having 4GB).

I followed your post in http://www.liftgammagain.com/forum/index.php?threads/about-gtx-780-in-mac-pro-an d-about-usb-3-0-vs-esata.1783/page-3

where you state that you managed to get a EVGA GTX 780 (standard edition, not overclocked) working in a Mac Pro 4.1, Mac OS X 10.8.4

Have you tried the same graphics card in your Mac Pro 3.1 (2008-model). I'm hoping to upgrade my 2008-model with the same type of card (fingers crossed). Also, do you have a direct link to the graphics card, since there are many different version around...

Thx

Theisonfilm wrote:

I can't get my GTX 780 to work in my Mac Pro 3.1 2008.. The mac restarts a couple of times, then turn off.. Should it work? Is there something i have to install? I dont know what this EFI thing is...

You tried resetting the PRAM (or whatever it is when you hold cmd+option+p+r), right? I had to do that to make mine work the first time. If you plugged in the 6-pin power cables, you should have everything, if I remember correctly.

So d00dbro, did/do you have any issues with running the GTX 780 in the Mac Pro 3,1? Is it a standard PC-version of the GTX 780, like this:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2781-KR

Or a flashed version, like MacVidCards supply..? Details please 🙂

I read posts here and there of the standard PC-version might work but that it reverts to PCI 1.0 in either MacOS or Window since the computer can't recognize the card properly.

I can always buy the GTX 680 Mac edition, worst case scenario, but it seems like such a bummer since it's more expensive and obviously not as fast as the 780... Also the 780 draws 250W compared to the 680's 195W. Wondering if that's an issue also..?

Thanks!

wZpr, I realize that I was very unclear in my past reply. I was referring to my aforementioned EVGA GTX 650Ti Boost 1GB, which is not an Apple-branded GPU and is not flashed for Mac. It works fine in 10.8.4 and later (but with no boot screen). I don't have a GTX 780. Your card is going to require more than one extra power input if it will work at all.

I have a 2008 3.1 and I put a Sapphire HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 Mac Edition in it and it works like a dream. Just drop it in and fire it up with no hassles, latest OS X has the drivers pre-installed. I run dual operating systems (OS X Mavericks & Windows 7) with no conflict what so ever. Cost is about $450-$500 last I saw.

Hi Scottie, is there a way to send you a private message or contact you? I wanted to ask you 2 questions that aren't really related to this post, thats why I ask this...
I still have one question for this forum: do you think the GTX 280 is better than the AMD 7950?