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Combining two different NVIDIA Cards for DaVinci
Hello. This is the first time I have written on CreativeCow, having been a lurker and seen some brilliant solutions crop up for other users in the forum.
Here is a basic outline of my system setup, and a description of what I’d like to do:
I have a MacPro3,1 (Early 2008) and following some research I did over the winter break I learnt that it is possible to use the new NVIDIA graphics cards in this Mac. The MacPro is running Mac OS X Lion to make use of the updated OpenGL, and to enhance stability for these newer graphics cards. Currently installed in the MacPro is an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT. This card is old, slow, and needs replacing. I plan to buy some additional RAM and install that before I install new graphics cards.
What I’m wondering is if I can run two NVIDIA graphics cards at the same time. I will be removing the ATI Radeon card to avoid driver conflicts, so the two I am looking at are the NVIDIA GeForce GTX-285 SSC (this card will handle the displays and GUI, and will be installed in slot 1) and the NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac (which will be specified as the GPGPU for programs that can use it, and will also temporarily drive a display on occasion).
I contacted NVIDIA Support recently and the response was that I can ‘try it out’ and that was all. I am worried that I am about to spend big bucks on the card and that the drivers might conflict and make them unstable or even unusable.
I’d also like to get some assistance on the operating system side. I run Mac OS Lion as my primary OS, and I don’t know how to specify which card the OS should use. Does that automatically get chosen depending on the way the graphics cards are installed in the slots? Can I choose which card the MacPro uses primarily?
I also use Windows 7 on Boot Camp. I don’t know if I should create another topic for this question, but I would like to know whether Windows can cope with these two cards. I have heard some horror stories and it would be great to get some information about this situation. I realize I will have to be careful with drivers, but there has to be more to it than that.
Lastly (and thanks for reading this far), I do need some support through the physical installation process, and I’m scared that I’m going to break something if I do it wrong. I know that the Quadro 4000 card requires one slot on the machine and one PCI Power cable, so that’s okay. But the GTX-285 requires two slots to be installed (this is okay) but 2 PCI Power cables too. I read that the max-power for the MacPro is 1000W, so I can run the two cards… Do I just buy a PCI-Splitter cable and then install the cards?
Installation-wise, I heard that installing the NVIDIA drivers should be done before the cards are switched… because it’s not quite plug-and-play yet.
At this point, I feel I am running round in circles with Tech Support from NVIDIA, ATI and Apple. They keep telling me to ask the other companies for the answer, so if anyone here has experience, gems of knowledge, or support to share, please do. I really will appreciate a helping hand.
Have a good one.
Dan. -
3 Replies
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No one of the resellers will give you a proper answer.
I can tell you my setup runs a Quadro 4000 as primary card (for Scratch and Premiere and my cinema display needs a displaport) and a GTX 470 as the Resolve CPU.
I am using a 6-2×6 splitter and it runs fine.
It draws around 500 watt if my 5 disks are running as well.
I also run the Decklink Xtreme card and a eSata card at the same time.
Lion is a very good idea, then you only have to delete a file from the Extensions folder and you are good to go.
RAM is not important at this point…
Resolve is 32bit and uses 3GB only.
Dont use the Quadro 4000 as your GPU card, the 470 is 2,5 times as fast for half the money.A slice of color…
DaVinci 8.2.1 OSX 10.7.2
MacPro 5.1 2×2,4 24GB
RAID0 8TB
GTX 470 / Quadro 4000
Extreme 3D+ICA Instructor
https://www.icolorist.com/Sascha.html -
Thanks for your quick reply!
It’s good to know that other users are mixing GeForce cards and Quadros. I guess it would be a PR nightmare if NVIDIA said that their cards mix… and then something went wrong. Anyway: I should switch my cards around in their slots when they are installed, and set Resolve to use The GX-285 SSC instead of the Quadro. I don’t have to worry about my displays, as it’s all old-tech so it doesn’t need the DisplayPort. I will, however, have to find some of those splitters. It’s good to know that people using additional drives and other PCI connections with no problems. Do you (Sascha) find the additional cards cause any tricky situations with core temperature?
I upgraded to Lion in preparation for these hardware upgrades. Hopefully everything works together when I have it… and as for RAM, I don’t even have the 3GB minimum so I’m going to order some in ASAP.
There are three cards I am looking at in the GeFroce GTX range to run alongside the Quadro 4000, and I’m not sure how to choose which one out of the three.
There is the regular base GeForce GTX-285, with 240 CUDA cores and 1GB of VRAM. The memory clock runs at 2484MHz and the Core/Shader is at 648/1476MHz respectively.
A step up from that card is the GeForce GTX-285-2 which has all the same specs as the above card, but has a custom ROM so can handle an extra 1GB of VRAM, (so totals 2GB VRAM installed).
The top level of GTX that I’m looking at is the GeForce GTX-285 SSC. This model has been factory over clocked (still has 240 CUDA cores and only 1GB VRAM) and operates at a memory clock speed of 2646MHz, while the Core/Shader clock is set to 702/1584Mhz.
It appears that the GeForce GTX card that Sascha is using beats the GTX-285 versions for CUDA Cores, but only has 1.28GB VRAM… so should I be looking at the GTX-470 package instead? Or will the extra VRAM not really help me out at all? Obviously, CUDA Cores can be important game-changers in the applications that know how to utilize them.
Once this is all sitting a little more understandably in my head, I can see if I can do the math and figure out if my computer can support these cards, and how to install them. It’s all a bit confusing for me in practice, much less scary when I’m not actually doing all this.
Thanks.
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Look at this:https://www.blackmagic-design.com/media/1764189/DaVinci_Resolve_8.0_Mac_Config_Guide.pdf
On page 15 it shows what cards in combination are approved.
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