Upgrading: Nvidia GPU's, what going on?

[ej24]

I'm looking to rebuild my current Haswell based El Capitan mini. I've never been totally happy with it, USB 3.0 ports don't work. I'd like to move up to a larger SSD. I'd prefer to have a dedicated GPU rather than the Intel HD 4600. Of course I'd like to move to High Sierra as well.

However, while reading over the installation guide I got sidetracked by the Nvidia Driver Thread. I was thinking of going for something simple like a Quadro P400, or a GT1030, I don't need much power, just anything that can drive 2 or 3 screens, with newer modern features like 4K60 support. Just reading through the Nvidia thread, things don't sound good for compatibility with Nvidia gpu's right now.

Should I bother getting an Nvidia GPU and struggling to get if functioning well? Is something like a Radeon RX550, or Radeon Pro WX2100 natively supported in High Sierra? I feel like I rarely see anyone on here using AMD hardware, even though it's what Apple currently uses. Suggestions?

 

[Jamesbond007]

I'm looking to rebuild my current Haswell based El Capitan mini. I've never been totally happy with it, USB 3.0 ports don't work. I'd like to move up to a larger SSD. I'd prefer to have a dedicated GPU rather than the Intel HD 4600. Of course I'd like to move to High Sierra as well.

However, while reading over the installation guide I got sidetracked by the Nvidia Driver Thread. I was thinking of going for something simple like a Quadro P400, or a GT1030, I don't need much power, just anything that can drive 2 or 3 screens, with newer modern features like 4K60 support. Just reading through the Nvidia thread, things don't sound good for compatibility with Nvidia gpu's right now.

Should I bother getting an Nvidia GPU and struggling to get if functioning well? Is something like a Radeon RX550, or Radeon Pro WX2100 natively supported in High Sierra? I feel like I rarely see anyone on here using AMD hardware, even though it's what Apple currently uses. Suggestions?

Apparently the latest version of the Nvidia web drivers has bugs that causes graphics lags. An older version (.104) appears to have no such problems on High Sierra 10.13.3.

If you want a new AMD graphics card, you will want RX560 or higher, although as you may know, prices of AMD graphics cards have risen a lot due to cryptocurrency mining.

 

[ej24]

Apparently the latest version of the Nvidia web drivers has bugs that causes graphics lags. An older version (.104) appears to have no such problems on High Sierra 10.13.3.

If you want a new AMD graphics card, you will want RX560 or higher, although as you may know, prices of AMD graphics cards have risen a lot due to cryptocurrency mining.

The older version of the Nvidia driver is fully compatible with 10.13.3? If it's that simple why aren't people just doing that? Getting my hack mini going to the first time took a while, the thought of doing it all over again with more complications sounds daunting.

 

[Jamesbond007]

The older version of the Nvidia driver is fully compatible with 10.13.3?

According to that thread you are referring to, yes, apparently it is so. At least the .104 version, which is for 10.13.2, apparently works fine under 10.13.3 and don't have the problems new drivers have.

I don't use the web drivers myself and I am not using High Sierra, so I can't verify those claims myself.

 

[Fl0r!an]

The older driver has to be modified, otherwise it won't load on 10.13.3. There are automated ways to do so though.

An AMD GPU might be more future proof though, e.g. Metal support is way ahead of Nvidia.