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GTX 660 glitch issue with MacOS High Sierra 10.13

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This has become a very long thread for just one problem and it's easy to feel sorry for someone who comes here hoping to solve the issue.

Before anyone gives up and is resigned to staying with an older version of macOS it is a good idea to experiment with different system-definitions. It's usually the last thing people think of changing but is one that has significant effect. It doesn't get much traction here.

Remember the original GTX660 was a native GPU for macOS, which means it didn't need the Nvidia drivers. Of course it is true some manufacturers modify the OEM design and cause incompatibilities that require the web-drivers. Commonly this can be memory chips or the VBIOS.

The GTX660(M) first appeared around 2012 in the iMac 13,2 system definition. As luck would have it this is one of the earliest still supported by Catalina so should still work with it.

There can still be problems though, as many have explained in this thread.

Your first step in resolving this is to test a different system definition. As we all know iMac14,2 is one of the most stable since MacPro3,1, even though it doesn't "fit" everyone's hardware totally. The trouble is people get too fixated on this and will tell you they lose performance. Frame-rates are down ten-percent in such-an-such application etc,. etc. Okay, but that might be better than glitchy graphics that break-up and go blocky all the time. Remember the chances are your Hackintosh probably out-performs a real Mac many times over anyway.

When testing a different system-definition remember to make a note of all the serial-numbers and UUIDs in your SMBIOS. Keep them safe somewhere. Next, disconnect from the Internet while you test so that your change of definition and serial-number (because this will get changed to match the new one) doesn't get sent to Apple and confuse your account and potentially cause a lock-out. If you find a definition that works well you can always reuse your original SMBIOS serial-numbers and UUIDs.

If this really does not work and you simply can't find a system-definition that helps, then it might well be you have updated so far with macOS updates, that it is a good idea to consider upgrading your GPU. To AMD.

:)
 
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My MSI GTX 660 Ti PE 2GB was also working flawlessly in Catalina, for only 3 days until glitches started again.
I have a EVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition in my Mac Pro 2008 (not hackintosh). Maybe once a week I'll get glitches in Catalina where I need to restart. The screen starts drawing triangles everywhere and flashing rapidly.
 
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE/EVERYONE LOL I CANT BELIEVE THIS:

After all this time following all these threads, flashing card 15 times or more, after literally years I find STRONG workaround fix that's instant and easy and working flawlessly for me.

Im using HDMI out on EVGA GTX 660 with uefi support release ROM you had to find, that didn't work like other 15 roms I tried though.

Using HDMI, click overscan off (and back on if you want) clears the glitches (and memory problem) and they dont come right back. Was able to use VMware which always causes the graphics memory leak and glitch just by launching vmware guest (windows, half pc resources). It glitches on launch on my system. Go to system prefs, click overscan off (and back on) and vmware functions normally so far in my usage.

I dont remember reading this. Ive seen sleep and other things that it came right back and did not work for me. This seems to actually do something.

Overscan checkbox USE IT!!

Good luck!!

EDIT: I should say Im on Catalina 10.15.3 so I have not technically tried on mojave but I had exact same behavior from card in both OS's

Again, Good luck!!
 
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE/EVERYONE LOL I CANT BELIEVE THIS:

After all this time following all these threads, flashing card 15 times or more, after literally years I find STRONG workaround fix that's instant and easy and working flawlessly for me.

Im using HDMI out on EVGA GTX 660 with uefi support release ROM you had to find, that didn't work like other 15 roms I tried though.

Using HDMI, click overscan off (and back on if you want) clears the glitches (and memory problem) and they dont come right back. Was able to use VMware which always causes the graphics memory leak and glitch just by launching vmware guest (windows, half pc resources). It glitches on launch on my system. Go to system prefs, click overscan off (and back on) and vmware functions normally so far in my usage.

I dont remember reading this. Ive seen sleep and other things that it came right back and did not work for me. This seems to actually do something.

Overscan checkbox USE IT!!

Good luck!!

EDIT: I should say Im on Catalina 10.15.3 so I have not technically tried on mojave but I had exact same behavior from card in both OS's

Again, Good luck!!

I'll try that and report it.
Update: I don't have this option on Mojave (I'm updating to Catalina, the update from appstore is coming at the speed of a drunk slug).
 
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HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE/EVERYONE LOL I CANT BELIEVE THIS:

After all this time following all these threads, flashing card 15 times or more, after literally years I find STRONG workaround fix that's instant and easy and working flawlessly for me.

Im using HDMI out on EVGA GTX 660 with uefi support release ROM you had to find, that didn't work like other 15 roms I tried though.

Using HDMI, click overscan off (and back on if you want) clears the glitches (and memory problem) and they dont come right back. Was able to use VMware which always causes the graphics memory leak and glitch just by launching vmware guest (windows, half pc resources). It glitches on launch on my system. Go to system prefs, click overscan off (and back on) and vmware functions normally so far in my usage.

I dont remember reading this. Ive seen sleep and other things that it came right back and did not work for me. This seems to actually do something.

Overscan checkbox USE IT!!

Good luck!!

EDIT: I should say Im on Catalina 10.15.3 so I have not technically tried on mojave but I had exact same behavior from card in both OS's

EDIT 2: This continues to work flawlessly for me. This is a regular everyday use home machine so no processing files near or around the leak problem size or things I wouldnt understand but working fine now for browsing pdf and webkit WHILE VM going (this was always an instant ruined mess for me before), worst case after a load caused by one of above, overscan back and forth and no problems.

Again, Good luck!!
 
I don't have this option in Catalina too.
I am using the HDMI out port so overscan checkbox may be only for HDMI or some other apple limitation check.

It has continued to work for me very well to not need a graphics card for this older desktop.

Try different cable or research overscan a bit in mac os (google).

Good luck again!
 
I am using the HDMI out port so overscan checkbox may be only for HDMI or some other apple limitation check.

It has continued to work for me very well to not need a graphics card for this older desktop.

Try different cable or research overscan a bit in mac os (google).

Good luck again!

I am on hdmi, and despite my cable is a very good one, I've tried two different cables. There's something different on your setup.
 
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