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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

4k Graphics Cards for older Mac Pros

Will Keir

Will Keir

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What graphics card are available for legacy Mac Pros? 2009+

I currently have a GTX 680 Mac Edition and it works great but limited to 2800 pixels. 4k Panels like the LG 31" are here.

Who has an old Mac Pro running 4k?

Wonder if the RRX outputs will support 4k monitoring eventually?
 
The last couple OSX releases runs PC graphic cards natively now. I've only popped in a PC GT660 in the one I was using, but I'm going to assume any newer card will give you the 4K option.
 
Is CUDA and Open CL supported yet with Yosemite though?
Edit: appears Cuda is to some degree but may still be hindered? And from what I gather OpenCL is still in works? Looks like MVC is working on a PCIe 2.0 option for flashing...
 
Jason Osterday said:
Is CUDA and Open CL supported yet with Yosemite though?
Edit: appears Cuda is to some degree but may still be hindered? And from what I gather OpenCL is still in works? Looks like MVC is working on a PCIe 2.0 option for flashing...
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm not understanding what you're asking, but OpenCL is part of OS X and used by all Apple software, so it's definitely available unless the drivers for the GPU don't support it.
 
While I agree with Eric from the hardware point of view, Jarek brings up a valid point. And I have seen reports elsewhere that there is currently some glitches with both CUDA and OpenGL functions under OSX with the 900 series cards, but I no longer have any Mac towers to test such things with and the information is too spotty to know what's really going on. So as usual with non-specified hardware, especially when it comes to GPUs in a Mac, proceed with caution.
 
Titan Black works very well in the tower Mac Pros, as long as you're running OS X 10.9.x or higher and have loaded the Nvidia driver (you'll need to download it, the card is not supported natively by Apple). You'll also have to purchase or fabricate the second power connector, but once installed the cards work well, despite the belief of some here that they are problematic with regard to heat. We have them in at least 9 systems and have not had any heat issues, or any other issues for that matter.
 
Lots of great feedback and places to search / test...

I was hoping for someone actual hands on knowledge.
 
Is Titan Black faster than the GTX900 line?

M Most said:
Titan Black works very well in the tower Mac Pros, as long as you're running OS X 10.9.x or higher and have loaded the Nvidia driver (you'll need to download it, the card is not supported natively by Apple). You'll also have to purchase or fabricate the second power connector, but once installed the cards work well, despite the belief of some here that they are problematic with regard to heat. We have them in at least 9 systems and have not had any heat issues, or any other issues for that matter.
Click to expand...
 
The Titan is faster but uses more power and doesn't have HDMi 2.0. The 900 series Titan is coming so I would just get the 980GTX for now and get the new Titan later if you need it.
 
Just a side note, the HDMI 2.0 on the GTX900 cards is still limited to 10.2Gbps, so don't buy it thinking about future proofing. It will do 2160p at up to 60fps, but only in 8bit 4:2:0. And only to the select few displays that will support that input mode. For the most part, it's still limited to HDMI 1.4 functionality. There is also no support for HDCP 2.2. It does however support the new HDMI 2.x EDID extensions like mode preservation and locking.

We will see what happens when the next round of GPUs arrive with the 20nm die shrink. Hoping to see both full HDMI 2.0 support as well as DisplayPort 1.3.

Titan Black is a great GPU choice all around right now for any system, IMO. The GTX980 is pretty close in speed when it comes to CUDA performance though and is significantly cheaper. I would not recommend the older Titan GPUs, especially the SuperClocked editions, for the Mac Towers. They just draw a lot of power. I also have to concur with M Most's comments -- I've run Titans in the Mac towers and have never experienced heat issues. For cards like the Titan or GTX780, I've found it best to use a supplemental power supply unit like the ones that fit in a 5.25" drive bay. It can go in the lower optical bay nicely. A bit tricky to route your cables to the lower compartment with the cards, though. GTX780 on its own is borderline on power draw, it will run fine in most Mac towers based on a lot of the reports I've seen, but I have had it crash or cause the system to switch off when under heavy load. MacVidCards will corroborate that same finding with me. One of their primary mods to the GTX780 cards is to clamp power draw to within the acceptable limits of the Mac tower. They could do this to the Titan as well, but that could restrict the card too much -- best to pull additional power from elsewhere.

I've been asking around about GTX980 and CUDA/ OpenGL. So far, I have two people telling me they're running a GTX980 just fine in a 12 core Mac tower (with additional power pulled to it) and that Premiere CC works fine with the nVidia driver package under OSX 10.9.5. Don't know about Resolve or other CUDA apps. The nVidia driver package included in OSX 10.9.5 (and 10.10.0) is older and doesn't have proper support for the 900 series cards. Not sure what is included with 10.10.1, but I've always found it best to go straight to nVidia to get the driver package and you need to download and install CUDA anyway.
 
Eric Bowen said:
Jeff, where did you see the limitation for the HDMi 2.0 on the 900 series cards. Even according to Anandtech the HDMi 2.0 is fully supported at the hardware. If there is any limitation its at the driver.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/5
Click to expand...

Curious... Reading that, it should work then. But alas, it does not. I can't drive any HDMI 2.0 display system I have access to at 4K 60Hz > 8bit 4:2:0. I'm not the only one, lots of chatter about it in August thru September in nVidia development circles. nVidia dev support also confirmed it to me and several others that the 10.2Gbps limitation is there. But they were not forthcoming as to whether it was a hardware limitation or if it's something that can be addressed via drivers and firmware. Initially it took days of asking about it to even get a response and initial feedback from them was skeptical and weird, they were wanting to to know which HDMI 2.0 display hardware we were trying to drive and why would need it and all that. I had to patch the firmware on my Samsung F9000 to get it to take in 2160p from the 980 card since they didn't initially support 2160p 4:2:0 at 10Gbps -- it's not an official mode, it's a Sony thing that now LG and Samsung have also adopted along with a couple others. The Samsung update didn't come until mid-september.

I'm thinking the Anandtech article is over-reaching and making the assumption that HDMI 2.0 support is there in full. But like I said, it can't do HDCP 2.2 and that's not something they can just add via firmware or drivers. It won't send anything to my Sony projector or Samsung panels in excess of the 10.2Gbps ceiling... So for now, all evidence and experience points to the card not being able to do it. I can't pull any EDID from the card that shows anything like 2160p in full RGB or > 8bit.

I'm using the EVGA GTX980 SuperClocked 4GB card... Windows 8.1... Overclocked i7 6-core, X79 chipset...
 
Last edited:
Will Keir said:
Is Titan Black faster than the GTX900 line?
Click to expand...

The Titan Black has 6GB of memory, which was important for our work and aids performance in any application where large frame buffer sizes are required.
 
That's great new. Can I buy GTX 980 with the LG31 inch 4K monitor and expect 4K playback in all its glory
at last?
Eric Bowen said:
Here is a reference in the EVGA forum confirming as well that the 4K 60Frame 4:4:4 is working on the LG with the 970/980GTX.

http://forums.evga.com/GTX-970-not-HDMI-20-m2222429.aspx

The 980GTX has 4GB of vram which is enough for 4K even in Davinci which does use more vram for GPU acceleration than Adobe.
Click to expand...
 
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