How compatible is the EVGA Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card?

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

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/

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

or have Macvidcards flash or sell one or DIY.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

Put the card in PCIe slot #3 - For those of you reading the boards to find out why a nvidia gtx 970 doesn't work in a mac pro 4.1: I finally solved the problem, after loading the nvidia drivers, by moving the card to the 3rd slot - it would not work in slot 1. The screen remained black, and the computer went into a loop of constant restarting, the only exit from which was holding down the power button until it turned off. I read that in the Mac Pro 2008 the cards didn't work in slot #1, but nothing else had solved my problem, so I moved my card anyway and it booted right up with the Nvidia web drivers. Install the card in PCIe slot #3.