Using PC video cards on your new Mac Pros (GUIDE)

[Boz]

Well since i successfully pimped out my Mac Pro with 2 8800GT PC cards I would like to write down a quick tutorial for anyone who doesn't want to pay $350 to Apple for 8800GT option.

For this you will need to do/get following:

IMPORTANT: Don't start doing things right away before you read every point in my guide here.

1. 1x PC 8800GT card with G92 chip (all newer 8xxx series of cards are G92 like 8800GT or 8800GTS 512mb) - the one I'm working with is this one

2. You will need Mac specific power cable for graphics card

3. fdfullcd.iso for FreeDos from their site

4. you will also need to download nvFlash DOS utility for flashing (5.63 version)

5. and of course Mac 8800GT version BIOS for the card

6. Next since you need to burn the above .iso you will need to make a bootable disc that will contain eveyrthing you downloaded. From nvFlash to FreeDOS. The best app on PC to do that quickly would be UltraISO. and point to .ISO file. Once you do that, you will see the files in the right window of UltraISO. You can now drag the remaining files from nvFlash folder to the root of that virtual disc (in right window) and also copy the mp8800gt.rom file you unzipped as well. When you drag the nvFlash from your 5.63 folder you can freely overwrite the files in UltraISO from the 8800GT_flash_toMac.zip files because they contain the older nvFlash.

Then in UltraISO got to TOOLS>Burn CD/DVD/Image and click BURN on the next window that will appear.

7. Once you burned that sucka, pop it into your Mac Pro and reboot holding ALT key. Once you get to the boot menu between Windows | Mac | CD or Windows with CD-ROM icon pick the CD-ROM icon to boot from the DVD.

8. press enter to continue booting from the CD/DVD

9. then follow these steps:

- click "1" : continue to boot Free DOS from CD-ROM

- click "1" : Install to hard disk using Free Dos setup ( Default ) - don't worry it won't install anything

- point to "1" to choose English (US) keyboard

- point to run Free Dos From CD-ROM and hit enter

10. Once you see X: or some other letter follow by :

type the following:

nvFlash --check

you should see some text appear and you need to pay attention to that the nvFlash identifies your card as GeForce 8800GT if you have another card in the system. For example if you have 2 GeForce 8800GT card in the system it will ask you Select Display Adapter: 8800GT and 8800 GT.. is the card in the primary slot. This just means that the app needs to know what card to query.

If you have ATI card already in there you can plug your monitor into it it won't matter and you can actually see the whole process even if something gets fookered up God forbid, but I'm sure you'll be fine.. the nvFlash should recognize only GeForce 8800GT you have in there. Just make sure the card you are flashing is in the PCI-E primary slot.

Okay.. --check parameter will actually identify your card/s and show you what EEPROM you have.. if you see 1024Kx1S in the line below Identifying EEPROM.. you are GOOD TO GO because the EEPROM on that GeForce 8800GT is 1mb which is in sync with the Mac version of BIOS for the 8800GT. If you see smaller one like 32k or 64k or anything smaller then 1024k it's no good. You can't flash that card (it's older version)

11. Now you are ready to flash.. usually you would be wise to backup your existing EEPROM with nvFlash if you have a USB drive or something hooked up to your Mac Pro, but otherwise you will need to be able to write to FAT compatible hard disk and I think the only you would be doing that is on PC.

I"m not going to go through that now but if you wish to backup your EEPROM from the card you are just about to flash and you have the USB drive connected to Mac Pro and you can see from the DOS you should type this

nVFlash --save Z:/old8800gt.rom where Z:/ would be your USB drive.

once that is done.. it will show you command prompt again and you are now ready to flash.

11. You flash by typing:

nvFlash -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom or

if you have 2 8800GT cards in there and you want to flash 1 of them you would revise this line to:

nvFlash --index=1 -4 -5 -6 mp8800gt.rom (I do advise you to no really have 2 8800GT cards in there if you are not really tech savvy about this. just put one in there).

then

you will get 2 warnings how bioses are mismatched or something like that..and then the 3rd one will be ARE YOU REALLY sure and ready to UPDATE?

you answer Y and wait until the flash is done..

Once you get UPDATE SUCCESSFUL you are done.

12. Turn off your Mac Pro holding the power button for 4 secs.

13. Turn it back on.. and enjoy your 8800GT Mac Pro.

[BoJo]

Wow. Thanks for the guide, very in depth and carefully constructed :) Not sure if I'm quite ready to splash the cash on a potential disaster (knowing me...) but I'd like to know what's the worst that could happen?

[Brian M. Veteran]

I'd guess the worst that can happen is that the flash fails and you end up with a dead card (I assume you can replace the bios chip of the card, but if motherboards are anything to go by it'll be a pain in the backside to do).

[BoJo]

Yeah thats what puts me off doing something like flashing a 9800gx2 etc. - that would be ?400 wasted:((

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Wait a minute. Macbook Pros can use desktop video cards? :blink:

[Boz]

You don't want to flash 9800GX2.. this is only for 8800GT PC cards because they are between $100 to $150 cheaper then the Apple one. I think the flash SHOULD work with new 8800GTS or GTX cards relying on G92 chip but I can only guarantee that if you follow my tutorial up there you will get fully working cards on your Mac Pro.

I will update this guide with new information as I get certain that it works.

I'd guess the worst that can happen is that the flash fails and you end up with a dead card (I assume you can replace the bios chip of the card, but if motherboards are anything to go by it'll be a pain in the backside to do).

Right..but if you do backup your old EEPROM, you can always boot with another card and reflash your new video card with the old firmware.

[BoJo]

Wait a minute. Macbook Pros can use desktop video cards? :blink:

A mac pro is not a macbook pro. It is apple's professional workstation

Oh ok boz, I get it. This only works for G92 chipped cards.

Quick question: is there any way to get these two new cards working in SLI in a windows bootcamp environment? I have heard at least 10 saying you can, and a further 10 saying you can't. Confused.

[Lasker]

Yeah thats what puts me off doing something like flashing a 9800gx2 etc. - that would be ?400 wasted:((

Not really, even if you damaged the card you can exchange for another one in the store where you bought it, you need to have the receipt and the box in which came.

[Boz]

Not really, even if you damaged the card you can exchange for another one in the store where you bought it, you need to have the receipt and the box in which came.

In other words just play dumb and return it like you have no idea what's going :)

[ritsuke Veteran]

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you, Boz. :-)

[Boz]

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you, Boz. :-)

You are welcome.. the cards are still working like champs.. I now have new guide in writing about Bootcamp, Vista x64 and NTFS partitions all on the same machine with no problems, backing everything up (partitions), putting new hard drives and restoring everything the easy way.

I will post it up on Neowin as well.

[ms001]

I have a 1st Gen Mac Pro and this is not working for me. Does anyone have any pointers to where I can find a rom file that will make the 8800gt work with the 1st gen Mac Pro?