Installing GT610 in 10.11.6 but keeping support for HD530

[asiga]

Hi,

I just ordered a GT610 (MSI, passive, the 2GB version) for trying to fix or reduce the issues I'm having with the HD530 on 10.11.6 (having to hot-plug 2nd monitor after boot, sleep doesn't work, and broken textures in some games).

I choose the GT610 because it's passive and because (from searching the forums) seems to be one of the GPUs that best works OOB in 10.11.6.

But, however, I'd like to keep the possibility of booting with the HD530 if I need to. IIRC, I had to mark some settings in Clover for the HD530 to work, and I seem to recall that Clover did some injection or file addition. Not sure of this, I just followed the procedure recommended in the forums for the HD530.

I'd like to avoid installing the NVIDIA webdrivers, and use the GT610 OOB.

On the first PCIE slot I have a Pascal Titan X, I don't know if that matters. I guess I'll have to set the 2nd PCIE slot as boot GPU in the BIOS, so that OS X can see the GT610.

What would be the most straightforward of doing this? Do I have to remove some HD530-related setting from Clover? Do I have to add any NVIDIA-related setting? Or maybe will it work by just plugging the card and setting it as boot GPU in the BIOS -and disabling internal graphics also in the BIOS- ?

 

[asiga]

Anybody? Is it necessary to remove the HD530 injection and add NVIDIA injection, or that's not necessary for the 610 to work OOB on 10.11.6? I still didn't receive the card, though, shipping has some delays because it's Christmas.

 

[slim.jim]

I'd return the GT 610. It is not supported in Sierra should you ever want to update. Get a GT 710 which is also available as a passively cooled card.

 

[asiga]

I'd return the GT 610. It is not supported in Sierra should you ever want to update. Get a GT 710 which is also available as a passively cooled card.

It hasn't shipped yet, but I won't update to Sierra unless NVIDIA releases Pascal drivers (in which case I have the Titan). My choice would have been the passively cooled 4GB GT730 from Zotac if it worked OOB, but it needs webdrivers, and the GT710 needs them too, so I chose the GT610, which has 2GB.

Anyway, do you know if I should remove the HD530 injection or if I can keep it? Is there anyway for choosing booting OSX with the HD530 or the GT610? It would be useful for me to be able to test apps with both GPUs, for development purposes.

 

[slim.jim]

GT 710 works OOB.

If you have it setup right you can leave Inject intel enabled.

 

[asiga]

GT 710 works OOB.

If you have it setup right you can leave Inject intel enabled.

Oh, the conclusion I arrived to when searching the forums is that all GT7X0 cards require webdrivers. I'll search again then.

BTW, can I keep both the HD530 injection and the NVIDIA injection, or only one can be active?

 

[asiga]

GT 710 works OOB.

If you have it setup right you can leave Inject intel enabled.

Following your advice, I cancelled the GT610 order, but instead of the GT710 I opted for the Zotac GT730 4GB Zone Edition. About twice the price of the GT710, but having 4GB VRAM on a passively cooled card was too tempting for me. After some searching, it seems almost confirmed that it's a Kepler GK208 chip. The results for searching about the GT730 at TonyMac give mixed opinions: Some strongly affirm the 730 works OOB without webdrivers. Others strongly affirm the GT730 requires webdrivers. No idea of what's the reality I'll face. I'd prefer an OOB card because I prefer to avoid the webdrivers on my 10.11.6 installation.

 

[slim.jim]

Not sure about the 730. The GT 740 is mixed where most of the later GDDR5 variants require the drivers. Most people who were running a 610 changed to a 710 after discovering it wouldn't work with Sierra.

 

[asiga]

Not sure about the 730. The GT 740 is mixed where most of the later GDDR5 variants require the drivers. Most people who were running a 610 changed to a 710 after discovering it wouldn't work with Sierra.

I decided I'll take the risk. I prefer a card that works OOB, but, as I said, 4GB VRAM on a passive card is too tempting and I think I'd be willing to install web drivers if necessary. However, I'll first try hard to get it working without them.

 

[asiga]

Got the GT 730, but this doesn't look good: plugged it into the second slot, tried to boot without changing anything so that I booted with the HD530 (BIOS set to use internal graphics at boot time), but when the boot progress bar reaches slightly more than the half, it reboots.

So I set the BIOS to use the secondary PCIE slot for booting... and same results!! (reset at about the same point).

So I thought it would need the webdrivers, booted disabling NVIDIA and installed the correct webdrivers for my 10.11.6 build number. Reboot, and, bang, reset at the same point.

In case this was a Fermi (it's a Kepler, but let's suppose it might be a Fermi), I booted with NVIDIA injecting... no way, reset at the same point.

What could I try next?