GTX 460 + 9800 GT

[Evildemon989]

Currently, I am running a single EVGA 1GB 9800 GT, but I am going to be upgrading to the EVGA 1GB GTX 460 External Exhaust edition once the stock comes back in on Newegg. I am planning to run my GTX 460 as my primary with my 9800 GT as my physx card under windows, but I was thinking about OSX and how it could be used there. But I also thought of the problems associated with it. First, the usages:

1. As another card! Simple enough. Just another card for rendering, say I want a dual monitor setup in the future.

2. As some kind of "physx". What I mean in this is that it could still be used for OpenCL, or rendering, although it's not connected to a monitor. Or, if there is any other type of API like OpenCL which you could use it for. The reason I only really want it for this is because the P55M-UD2 has one x16 lane into the processor, and one x4 lane into the P55 chipset. This is why I would want it for OpenCL say.

3 If you guys have any other ideas, pour them on!

And now for the problems:

1. Would a 9800 GT and a GTX 460 even work like this considering the age difference? Well first I have to get the GTX 460 running, but that shouldn't be that hard considering people are actively working on it now. All I currently have for my 9800 GT is Graphics Enabler = Yes. It's one of the reason I opted for a 9800 GT in the first place!

2. How would you be able to tell the OS that the GTX 460 is the primary card? Windows knows, but will OS X? I was thinking since I have a P55M-UD2, and currently I have it set to look in PEG1 for my card, I could keep it the same because PEG1 is where the GTX 460 will be going and the 9800 GT will get transferred to PEG2. But bringing up this point, wouldn't OS X just probe the card ports for a monitor and then see it on the GTX 460 and opt for it not the 9800 GT?

If I think of anything else I'll be sure to post it! Thanks!

 

[heywes]

I actually just built the same system today (as of 2 hours ago) and im trying to get the 9800gt to work (it doesn't seem to be picking it up atm -_-).

Running it in OSX, the gtx460 won't work as far as i can tell, they (the Fermi 103) aren't supported by mac yet which means only the 9800gt will be read.

You also can't leave both plugged in, from other peoples posts, they reported that the computer would not boot if the gtx460 was left plugged in (as in power wise) so you will have to un plugged it each time you wish to boot OSX.

As far as i know they will work together under windows despite the age difference, that said i am still fiddling around (just got the 9800gt drivers and i am installing them as i type), not sure how it will go, some one with more experience may know some more.

If you want to use the card for Windows and OSX might i suggest something using the Fermi 100 engine? I believe the gtx 465, 470? (might be the 475 but i think its the 470) and the 480 (im pretty sure) run the Fermi 100 which is supported as of 10.6.4 (someone correct me if im wrong, might be 10.6.2).

Sorry if im little ranty and off topic, just tried to give you what i knew from research ^_^

 

[busted]

1. As another card! Simple enough. Just another card for rendering, say I want a dual monitor setup in the future.

This would certainly work once a osx driver is available for the gtx460. This seems relevant: http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4443

2. As some kind of "physx". What I mean in this is that it could still be used for OpenCL, or rendering, although it's not connected to a monitor. Or, if there is any other type of API like OpenCL which you could use it for. The reason I only really want it for this is because the P55M-UD2 has one x16 lane into the processor, and one x4 lane into the P55 chipset. This is why I would want it for OpenCL say.

Haven't heard of anyone doing this on the mac, but google is your friend.

1. Would a 9800 GT and a GTX 460 even work like this considering the age difference?

Age diff doesn't matter in osx, but yes, getting drivers seems to be the sticking point here.

2. How would you be able to tell the OS that the GTX 460 is the primary card?

Therein lies the rub. For normal use, there isn't really an idea of a 'primary card'. You just open system preferences/displays/arrangement and drag the detected monitors around into whatever configuration you want.

However, some programs that take direct control of the display (that is, full screen, not windowed), will need to support letting you pick which monitor to use. The few games I've played that do this have given me the option to pick which monitor to use (diablo2, for example). The only time I've encountered one that hasn't so far on the mac has been starcraft2 (which is surprising, since they also made diablo2. I didn't find anything in the config for picking a monitor, but I also didn't look too hard). Sc2 seems to want to use whichever monitor is in the lower jack on my 9500gt.

On the third hand, sc2 (and osx in general) will only try to run on jacks with plugged in monitors, so if you do find a opencl style library to use with the 9800gt and run it without monitors plugged in, I don't think you'd need to worry about the 'primary card' issue. I'm sure if you find a opencl style library for osx, they'll have instructions for card picking, etc.

But finally, between a x4 and x16 path on the motherboard, the x16 is very likely going to be the lower port of the two, so all this is moot anyway. The one you want to be 'primary' is very likely going to be primary (again, once drivers are available for that card).

 

[Evildemon989]

Update Time:

I had learned of the GTX 460 support a few days ago and today i took the plunge and reformatted my PC. Reinstalled Windows 7 and OSX. Windows 7 works of course, but OS X I have been having a few problems with. Here's my list:

1. I had installed and gotten the whole machine to work fantastically. Then I put my wifi and 9800 GT back in the machine with the GTX 460 doing the rendering for my 1080p monitor. When I did this chameleon, gives an error saying that nvidia could not intialize or something of the sort, and when I get into OS X, it is 1024x768, and in system profiler the adapter is just listed as Display, with 64MB of VRAM. Before, it showed up as a GTX 460, and it put out the correct resolution. My 9800 GT is recognized, though it says it has 1MB of VRAM. Is there anyway I can possibly get both to work together easily(DSDT edits?)? If not, is there anyway to get chameleon to not check the 9800 GT and instead put in the drivers for the GTX 460(Disable the 9800 GT)?

2. Another problem I am having is with HDMI. Right now its running through the mini HDMI on the back of my GTX 460. Graphics work great, but is there anything short of DSDT edits to get HDMI audio working?

I have to say, although these problems, I was surprised when it detected my EVGA GTX 460 1GB in system profiler correctly.

Thanks.

 

[MacMan]

Update Time:

I had learned of the GTX 460 support a few days ago and today i took the plunge and reformatted my PC. Reinstalled Windows 7 and OSX. Windows 7 works of course, but OS X I have been having a few problems with. Here's my list:

1. I had installed and gotten the whole machine to work fantastically. Then I put my wifi and 9800 GT back in the machine with the GTX 460 doing the rendering for my 1080p monitor. When I did this chameleon, gives an error saying that nvidia could not intialize or something of the sort, and when I get into OS X, it is 1024x768, and in system profiler the adapter is just listed as Display, with 64MB of VRAM. Before, it showed up as a GTX 460, and it put out the correct resolution. My 9800 GT is recognized, though it says it has 1MB of VRAM. Is there anyway I can possibly get both to work together easily(DSDT edits?)? If not, is there anyway to get chameleon to not check the 9800 GT and instead put in the drivers for the GTX 460(Disable the 9800 GT)?

2. Another problem I am having is with HDMI. Right now its running through the mini HDMI on the back of my GTX 460. Graphics work great, but is there anything short of DSDT edits to get HDMI audio working?

I have to say, although these problems, I was surprised when it detected my EVGA GTX 460 1GB in system profiler correctly.

Thanks.

To use 2 cards in OS X you will need to edit your DSDT.

 

[Evildemon989]

To use 2 cards in OS X you will need to edit your DSDT.

That's what I figured, but is there any other way I could use to possibly just disable the 9800 GT then?

 

[tstorm2002]

I have the same cards. After the 10.6.5 update with the fermi support I was finally able to boot with my 460 plugged in. But now my 9800gt stopped displaying. It shows up in the "more info-hardware-graphics/displays. Both show up as unknown nvidia card.
I tried editing gfx strings and nothing changed.
I have a quad monitor set up...hoping someone has the answer.

 

[wodfer]

To use 2 cards in OS X you will need to edit your DSDT.

Hi MacMan!

What do we need to edit in the DSDT to get two cards working?

My system is:

I have a GT120 (9500) and a GTX285. Both work fine when only 1 card is installed in OSX 10.6.8, but when I use both (GT120 in slot1 pcie x16 and GTX285 in slot2 pcie 16) the VRAM is 1MB and the slot speed is x8 according to system profiler. OSX boots, but when I launch Ie. DaVinci Resolve it crashes the system.

I have the GA-X58A-UDR3 FF DSDT from this site.

Cheers,
Andy