Bo Atkinson Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Has anyone found an especially good video card, for formZ needs only, for use in 5,1 Mac Pro? My main interest is for Shaded Displays (and not likely to use fancy rendering anymore). I couldn't find the post on video cards using search button here. Currently have ATI Radeon HD 5870 and would hope to find something considerably better for a few hundred Max. Thanx in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Hi Bo, I replaced the card in one of my old Mac Pro's with this card I got on eBay (the original card died). That was about 18 months ago and up to now no issues. Seems solid as a rock.. http://www.ebay.com/bhp/nvidia-quadro-fx-5600 I see there are better ones available now, but at least there's a choice for you. Maybe consider cuda compatible Nvidia cards now that Maxwell 4 for Mac is out on early release? Des Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMclean Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I've been using an Nvidia 980Ti with a Mac Flashed BIOS from MacVidCards.com. Only thing with the Nvidia cards is that you have to be careful with MacOSX updates as they tend to "break" the Nvidia Web Drivers needed for the card. It only takes a day or so for Nvidia to get new drivers posted on their site, but the card is "crippled" while it is using the stock Apple drivers. I have just disabled automatic updates, and usually wait a day or two after my Mac lets me know and update is available. By then Nvidia has the fixed drivers so there's really not much of a problem, just do the update then load the new drivers and away you go. I went from having dual HD5770's to using this card and noticed a considerable improvement in OpenGL performance, plus the added bonus that with a GPU render engine (I use Thea) it is nice to have the speed increase on renders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMclean Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I've been using an Nvidia 980Ti with a Mac Flashed BIOS from MacVidCards.com. Only thing with the Nvidia cards is that you have to be careful with MacOSX updates as they tend to "break" the Nvidia Web Drivers needed for the card. It only takes a day or so for Nvidia to get new drivers posted on their site, but the card is "crippled" while it is using the stock Apple drivers. I have just disabled automatic updates, and usually wait a day or two after my Mac lets me know and update is available. By then Nvidia has the fixed drivers so there's really not much of a problem, just do the update then load the new drivers and away you go. I went from having dual HD5770's to using this card and noticed a considerable improvement in OpenGL performance, plus the added bonus that with a GPU render engine (I use Thea) it is nice to have the speed increase on renders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
¢hris £und Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I've been using an Nvidia 980Ti with a Mac Flashed BIOS from MacVidCards.com. Kind of makes me hope my video card dies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Montoya Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 GTX 680 Mac edition (or flashed to be so) is the best bet for ease of installation and updates since it has native support. The GTX 900 series (960,970,980,980ti) are all great options if you are will to pay the substantial flashing fee cost from MacVideoCards. That said, it would appear that Apple died with Steve Jobs. They have let it's professional users and brand champions down, over and over again. I have little hope for a future with Apple products so I'm jumping over to Windows 10 and the Google Pixel (Project Fi), which to my surprise is much better than Windows of years ago. Honestly, while I would still push novice users and other technology challenged users toward the simplicity of an Apple ecosystem, working as a professional, this really no longer makes any sense. For a company with as much money as Apple, they should have no problem keeping it's professional users happy with updated machines and software. In my honest opinion, the Classic Mac Pro tower will stand as the best product Apple has ever made, and abandoned for no justifiable reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew West Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Hi Bo, I replaced the card in one of my old Mac Pro's with this card I got on eBay (the original card died). That was about 18 months ago and up to now no issues. Seems solid as a rock.. http://www.ebay.com/bhp/nvidia-quadro-fx-5600 I see there are better ones available now, but at least there's a choice for you. Maybe consider cuda compatible Nvidia cards now that Maxwell 4 for Mac is out on early release? Des Bo I would not bother to buy a more expensive card just to run Maxwell. As of today the GPU render engine in Maxwell has severe limitations on the resolution. It is my understanding that it will not render anything larger than about 1000 pixels wide. I bought the new Maxwell 4 and then updated my card to an 8 GB 1080 GTX but could never get the GPU render to work. Next Limit is working on increasing the resolution restriction but until then save your money. AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMclean Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Justin, Sad to say I think you're right. I used Windows for many years but switched over to the Mac finally (thanks to the gateway drugs of iPhone and iPad) just in time to catch the final versions of the Mac Pro Tower. Was very sad to see its replacement, and Apples lack of options and upgradability, especially on the video end of things. I do love the Apple ecosystem, but as I push further and further into 3D, the lack of direct support for Nvidia cards really hurts. My next system will likely have to be Windows based. Unless of course Apple makes a turnaround... Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 I have been testing a few GTX cards (to try with Thearender). The former generation cards also work well (and out of box w/o additional Nvidia drivers): GT640/740, GTX760 (and 770/780 if CUDA is of interest - a bit more expensive) I´ve used a standard "anybrand-PC" GTX760 for some time, its affordable (around 70$ on ebay ) and works very well with full shaded mode. (Also a good start for testing CUDA/GPU-rendering) (If your "Macpro" is made by Apple you will not see the Apple on boot (Thus the "flashing"-business)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisA Posted February 25, 2017 Share Posted February 25, 2017 Bo... one thing to consider on a Mac Pro is how many processors to use? In 5.1 eight processors may work better then 12 or 24-you should do a test on your computer. I have the same ATI Radeon HD 5870 1024 MB on my Mac Pro. I render most of my renderings in render zone without a problem. I haven't used fmz 5.8 for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Actually my 5,1 is working very nicely with ATI (having 1024 MB), on 30 inch screen, (2560 X 1600)… (3.33GHz 6-core … 32GB RAM) Recently i clean installed Sierra which makes it run much better, than it did with Yosemite. (Mostly thanks to the effort needed to clean install it… always with misses and hits here and there). I'm only using the formZ renderers with very little call for architectural rendering.I really appreciate hearing of other user's experience. I wondered if a better card would help me with modeling heavier and heavier geometry, all in shaded mode. Some bigger models were slow navigating. I'm just on the lookout for signs of better shaded mode rendering/ navigating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 I ultimately discovered that a used, generally top end, 12GB card, can be bought on eBay for 600-700 $. After much reading and thinking I went ahead and bought an un-flashed Titan X 12GB (Maxwell) card, (for my Mac Pro 5,1). It took a while for me to find a matching driver for Nvidia & Sierra. (Just in time publication). Other than that it did install easily, providing one has a pre-existing card, in order to assign the TitanX, in OS Prefs.. (I am mystified that MacVids seems to be the only source of these Mac drivers, yet in one of his blogs, he mentions himself obtaining updated releases from Apple(?) Here was my favorite tutorial link, with a Youtube, which inspired me to upgrade the most: http://www.i0sen.ch/?p=22 This Youtube is about the 6Gb card, but that seems close enough. It did not show the newer 8 pin GPU power connectors… I had more to research here… It seems that the 5.1 connector with 6 pins can be used, by simply adding two additional grounding wires… I have come to expect that it is best to ground each of these extra pins to a separate grounding spot on the chassis, to help isolate the “temperature sense” function on the Titan. (Sharing a ”sense wire” with intermittent high amperage wires might confuse the sense function). Nvidia recommends not using the connector types which simply use short jumper wires on the plug- Yet generic vendors offer this short-jumper connector. The connectors to borrow power from the unused SATA sockets, are apparently shorter than Macs SATA sockets. (Simply cut off a clip). …. I’m going to have to lengthen these wires and better solve this for a firmer attachment. Upgrading for better cooling, is one further step, for later…I have some good aluminim heat sinks which might paste on easily with a micro, quite fan. The hydro stuff does not seem much better to me. I don’t get the apple logo at start up but it boots up and works well. I tried some Flashing commands in Terminal which seemed to result in an error, but i am only interested in rendering performance. So I might ignore this drawback. I might rather find a faster way to switch between my two video cards, instead of using the Titan exclusively. I still need to learn about CUDa options and possibly getting Mawell Render, since I do more product type modeling. More details of upgrading…. I tried disconnecting the power connectors to my original, smaller GPU, after setting up OS prefs- Doing this to reduce heating up of my prime card. Finally after 20+ years of modeling, I can try out better render settings, without endless waits. Even the Shaded-Full dialogs give much quicker results, to test multiple-combinations. Some shader options and especially the advanced, Render Zone Material options crash formZ outright…. Something wrong here, but nothing too vital. In any event, the fastest GPUs are dropping in prices, with 6GB cards also priced so much lower! I’m perplexed by what is safe, but with an old Mac, becoming abandoned by Apple, I have become emboldened to try this and am pleased with the outcome. I am using a handheld IR thermometer to double check the temperature rise of the Titan X. (I will try the software panel for this soon). It does go up near to 70-80C, (the limit is listed at 90-91 C). Idling does let the card cool slightly, but it stays hot to touch for most computer uses, even small things. Therefore I am resolved to find faster ways to switch GPUs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted April 6, 2017 Author Share Posted April 6, 2017 Just now saw one advertised for $500 USD. (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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