Nvidia GTX 980 Ti, Poor Performance even with latest Web Drivers, Yosemite 10.10.5

[joachim1989]

Hello Everybody

First, thank you so much! This community is great - we wouldn't been able to get our X99-System up and running without you guys!

But there are still some problems, especially with graphics...

Our Setup:
- Gigabyte X99 UD5 Wifi
- Intel i7 5930k
- EVGA GTX 980 Ti
- Corsair Vengeance DDR4 4x8 GB 2400MHz RAM
- Kingston 480 GB SSD
- Be Quiet Straight Power 10 800W Power Supply

Bootloader:
Clover EFI

Bootflags in config.plist:
npci=0x2000 kext-dev-mode=1 nvda_drv=1
SMBIOS: iMac 14.2

Kexts:
FakeSMC.kext
VoodooTSCSync.kext
AppelIntelE1000e.kext

Installed Drivers:
voodooHDA for Audio


Actually everything's working except of Wifi, Bluetooth.

Also we get 4k Output from our Graphics Card with the newest Nvidia Webdriver:
346.02.03f04 build 14F1509

But when we are running some Benchmarks with Cinebench OpenGL we only get framerates around 40-50fps and only 30% workload, which isn't really acceptable for that graphics card (with Windows 10 we got 150fps).

Another issue is, that on every startup it seems that it won't load the Nvidia Web Drivers by default, but nothing really changes when switching to it. So maybe it's a bug of visual presentation?



Have you guys any idea how to fix that and get full performance of it?
Is there any chance to get new web-drivers under Yosemite that might support the GTX980 Ti better? Or is the only solution to try it under El Capitan?

Has anyone full performance with the EVGA GTX 980 Ti under Yosemite?
Any help appreciated!
Greetings from Austria

 

[comfreak]

Hi,

the only idea I just had, would be to check if the "InjectNvidia" flag is not set (or set to "no").
I currently have the GTX 770 and I am using the current web drivers on El Capitan and with the InjectNvidia boot flag not set and the nvda_drv=1 boot flag checked in Clover Configurator, my system boots with the nVidia driver and I get around 135 fps in Cinebench.

Maybe Yosemite doesn't fully support your card, so it might be worth a try to install El Capitan. On the other hand, these web drivers are experimental and mostly not designed for these new GPUs, so it possibly fails to load for your card and then falls back to OS X's drivers.

Greetings!

 

[joachim1989]

Thanks for your quick reply!
I took a look at the clover configurator and the flag for "Inject Nvidia" wasn't set ... so still no luck :/

I also tried to install the latest Nvidia Web driver 346.0.2.03f05 (mentioned here in a different thread) that works with the Security Update 2016-001 ... but just the same, only got around 50fps.

Then i tried to enable VT-d at the BIOS (also mentioned here) which was disabled temporarily for the Hackintosh-Installation, through which i hoped it could get better ... nope.

Hmmm... yes, maybe it would be worth a shot with El Capitan, but I'm a bit afraid, that the installation could bring up more problems than solutions :/

Has anyone made experiences with an El Capitan Build and the GTX 980Ti?

Thx anyways!

 

[comfreak]

I also tried to install the latest Nvidia Web driver 346.0.2.03f05 (mentioned here in a different thread) that works with the Security Update 2016-001 ... but just the same, only got around 50fps.

I actually have version that looks like it is even newer:



I found them here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/180741-nvidia-releases-alternate-graphics-drivers-os-x-10-11-2-346-03-04-a.html


Edit: There is actually an even newer post here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/184105-nvidia-releases-alternate-graphics-drivers-os-x-10-11-3-346-03-05-a.html

 

[joachim1989]

Ok, yes, but that's for El Capitan :/ I'm still running Yosemite, so i cannot install these. Or is there a way?
thx

 

[joachim1989]

I followed these steps from Lokicat and added the AppleGraphicsDevicePolicy Kext Patch ...

http://www.tonymacx86.com/el-capitan-desktop-support/178425-good-news-x99-10-11-haswell-e-el-capitan-4.html

it helped and boosted my Cinebench result from 50 to 80FPS
But this can't be the end of the road - the performance is still 50% slower than with windows

 

[comfreak]

Did you already try other system definitions? Mac OS X activates certain features only on certain "Macs" which might result in a bottle neck on your configuration..

 

[slim.jim]

Performance in OS X is generally a good bit lower than in Windows.

Another issue is, that on every startup it seems that it won't load the Nvidia Web Drivers by default, but nothing really changes when switching to it. So maybe it's a bug of visual presentation?

This is just a visual bug. Without the web drivers being loaded you would have lots of graphical artifacts. You can verify that the web drivers are loaded by going into System Report - Software - Extensions and sort by loaded. Look for any kext that start with NVDA and are loaded. If those kext end in Web then you are using the web drivers regardless of what the driver manager says.

Is there any chance to get new web-drivers under Yosemite that might support the GTX980 Ti better? Or is the only solution to try it under El Capitan?

The web drivers are released for each new build of OS X. New builds usually occur for the security updates but since Yosemite will no longer be full delta updates that is all you will get. I don't know if you will see any performance change by going to El Capitan.

 

[comfreak]

Performance in OS X is generally a good bit lower than in Windows.

Are you sure it can be that much?

My GTX 770 performs with a score of around 6100 in PassMark and his GTX 980 Ti scores around 11500 (I assume that both are tested on Windows). On El Capitan with my system (Haswell) I get a score of around 136 fps in Cinebench, even though it should be half of his score, if this PassMark benchmark is half-way similar to Cinebench. I mean his card is better in every respect: more cores, more bandwidth, higher texture fill rate, higher Open GL specification and also more memory. The only thing it is "worse" is the clock which is ~4% (base) or ~1% (boost) lower.

Is this maybe just the effect of El Capitan vs. Yosemite?

@joachim1989: How does your system perform in the Unigine benchmarks (Heaven or Valley)?

My Cinebench score:

 

[equitableguru]

I'm having the same issue with my 750ti, although I get much less performance and it's almost like it's not working ever since I upgraded the security patch. I know inject_Nvidia is checked in clover and I have the latest drivers but I am getting artifacts and very sluggish performance as if the drivers aren't even being loaded.