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10.12.1 gtx970 macpro 4,1 gpu glitches


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Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same issues as me.

 

I run a GTX970, stock ROM, on 2009 4,1 flashed to 5,1- 3x8gb 1333 + 2x2.66 6 core.

OSX 10.12.1 16B2657 with NVWD 367.15.10.15f03 + Cuda 8.0.53

I did have the same issues on 10.12.0 and 16b2555, with the appropriate nvidia driver versions.

 

OpenGLExtensionsViewer show glitches on all tests when set to core - compatible works fine, so that means issue is specific to OpenGL 3.1 or higher, I suppose.

It shows diagonal flickering distortions, and the top-left writing (gpu+display info) is cut off diagonally. The bottom right of the open GL info bar is also cut off.

I have the same result with a gtx560TI that I happen to have, so that's the card ruled out.

 

I've done a completely clean Sierra install on a blank drive with the same result, tried the card in slot1+slot2, and tried removing a pci-e->Sata card that I have.

Always the same result.

I can't really think of anything else to rule out other than the NV web drivers and the fact that I don't have the MacVidCards ROM,

but if the drivers had issues I guess MacVidCards would have announced it on their site.

 

Could the custom ROM make this kind of difference?

I'm not really bothered about boot screens so I'd hate to buy a card or send mine to be flashed just to find out.

Both of the tested cards are dual DVI though, and that's what I'm using - Might be worth mentioning.

I have tried single screen on each port. Same same.

 

I am seeing issues outside of OpenGLEV. Safari and other apps are very sluggish and I see glitches and crashes in game.

Rust, for example, has no fog which, admittedly, is a pretty cool advantage.  :P

Long Dark has glitchy indoor textures and crashes (the whole machine) after a period of play. Usually under half an hour.

 

Unfortunately I don't have an officially supported card to test with.

 

I apologise for double posting - I have this in the osx86 section but with no interest.

Any info at all is greatly appreciated.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'm having flashes (split of a second) with my R9 280X on 4,1 but that's due to the MSI BIOS and speedstepping, not anything else.

 

I really don't think that is due to the PC bios on your GFX, but more a Apple/nVidia thing and Apple's unwillingness to do anything about that.

If you have a PC or Bootcamp installed, try searching for updated BIOS for your card, if that is not the problem, i don't think that you could do anything about it.

 

BTW, did you have the same issues on El Capitan? Sierra is still new and all apps are still working great on 10.11, so you might consider going back for a while?

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Hi owbp,

Thank you for the reply.

No, I had no issues on El Capitan or any of the previous OSs. I was really reluctant to roll back just because of the amount of preferences and things I'd have to transfer but maybe that's the only way.

 

Thanks again for the info!

 

Edit. I do have a windows box here so I'll check for bios updates to rule it out.

If you hear nothing more, assume nothing changed.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You might want to boot to an older OS installed to a temp or external drive (or to a Windows install) and run something like furmark to confirm that you haven't had RAM go bad on that card.  That's 100% what it looks like to me...

 

It's also possible that you're having issues with temp control on the RAM chips (and VRAM), which is another known issue on 980 series cards but in most cases it wasn't severe enough to be an issue.  This really depends on the Cooling design of the card you have, in the case of EVGA ACX2.0/3.0 cards there's NO vrm/ram cooling at all and it was a small issue in the 980 cards and mostly affected overclockers doing benchmarkes.  This issue became bad enough with the 10x0 series cards however that they finally had to acknowledge it, and it's been found on cards from other manufacturers but to date I think only EVGA publicly acknowledged it:

http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/evga-gtx-10701080-cards-almost-all-of-them-have-overheating-issues.html

 

-----------------

 

Now for my question, I've got a GTX960 4GB (short form factor) in my Mac Pro 3,1, and have been getting tired of waiting on nvidia web driver updates after OS installs so I was going to have it swapped for a card that is supported by the stock apple driver AND get one that is EFI flashed so I don't have to swap cards to perform hardware/disk maintenance.  I understand that the web drivers will still be needed to get PCIe 2.0 speeds, but having a card that works stock would be nice.  So a few questions for anyone here that's informed enough:

 

What's the highest nvidia card series that has support by the Apple drivers?  (750ti-780?)

 

Flashing a card to support EFI wouldn't enable the Apple drivers where they don't otherwise work, correct? (ie, my gtx960 will still need web drivers to work at desktop, I will only gain boot screen support with the EFI flash...?)

 

I'm considering moving to 10.12.x via editing the repository for the Apple store (the known fix) and already have the MacVidCards BT4.0/Wifi card upgrade which was the main reason for the 3,1 not getting 10.12 support.  So I'd like to get a card that avoids the 2-5 day wait for Nvidia every time Apple issues a security update.. Thanks!

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Hi Scalar,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I can rule those things out but, like I say...Thanks for trying to help. :)

 

As far as I'm aware the most powerful card that is officially supported by Apple is the GTX680.

Your assertion is correct, to the best of my knowledge. Any card beyond that, whether flashed or not, will require the Nvidia web drivers.

 

Having said that,  you can just edit the NvdaStartup kext to reflect the new build number each time there's an update.

Sounds like a pain but the Nvidia driver updater app has auto patching built in.

 

Just type in the new build number, patch, then update the OS. (or just wait...?)

 

Of course nothing's guaranteed, but I've used it to bridge the gap across the last few .* updates.

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Well I know my GTX460 works fine without nvidia drivers, and it was never an official Apple supported card.  I know several people using flashed 750Ti's as well, and to my knowledge there was never a Mac version (officially).  And yea, I know about editing the kext's plist entry for the OS build number, but I am a one man operation with 8 computers here, 3 of which are Apple (2 are Mac Pro's) and I'm starting to get to the point where reducing maintenance time is a major concern.  Appreciate your input =)

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By 'any card beyond that' I meant anything newer.

Really, I should have said 'newer architectures'. Maybe 770 etc are a grey area. I don't know.

 

750ti is Maxwell and apple drivers have no maxwell support, as far as I know.

I mean, I've never tried it but MVC website specifically lists 750ti as requiring 10.10 and nvidia web driver.

 

If your concern is reducing maintenance, the safe money's on gtx680.

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