fermi/gtx 480/gtx 470

[cmf]

################################################################################

## Changelog:

 

update 2011/08/24:

• go get lion and latest chameleon trunk! ;P
  

update 2011/06/12:

• go get lion dp4 and latest chameleon trunk!
  

update 2011/03/31:

• updated howto
  
• 10.7 dp2 / 11A419 brings new fermi drivers (r270)
  

update 2010/11/21:

• updated howto (10.6.5)
  
• new fermi package
  
• modified nvc0 mem detection in accordance to the linux nouveau driver
  
• added many (all?) fermi device ids to the bootloader
  
• bootloader is based on chameleon svn r644 trunk, diff: fermi_20101121_diff.txt
  

update 2010/11/16:

• nvidia released a new driver including a new NVDAGF100Hal.kext: http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-macosx...f03-driver.html
  

update 2010/08/03:

• added fermi vram detection (props go to the linux nouveau driver and chrisbmr and his nvc0 patch)
  
• added rom version detection (cosmetic, but still nice to know)
  
• added fermi quadros device ids (still working on sub-device id recognition)
  
• fermi package 2010/08/03 is based on a wild mixture of 10.6.4+macmini+imac+nvidia kexts
  
• bootloader is based on chameleon svn r301 trunk, diff: fermi_20100803_diff.txt
  

update 2010/07/15:

• added gtx 460 + fermi tesla bootloader support (edit: to clarify this again: this doesn't mean os x supports it!)
  

update 2010/06/18: it's finally working

 

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## Status:

 

10.7:

• full support after patching: 10.7.0/10.7.1, 10.7.2
  
• opencl fix for non-gf100/gf110/sm2.0 cards: http://www.insanelym...howtopic=266318
  
• status of freeze/kp issues: none / ymmv
  

10.6:

• GF100 based cards (geforce gtx 480/470/465, quadro 4/5/6000, tesla *2050/*2070): full support, except for opencl and video acceleration
  
• GF10x based cards (geforce gtx 460/gts 450/possibly others): same as GF100, but with freeze/kp issues
  
• GF11x based cards / geforce 500 series: not supported
  

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## Howto:

 

(follow the links if you don't know what i mean):

1. install or update to at least 10.6.5

2. grab fermi package 2010/11/21 from here [link dead, if you're on Snow Leopard use the nvidia Quadro 4000 drivers]

3. install bootloader located in bootloader/ (if you don't have 'fdisk440', use normal 'fdisk' for now; you already should have installed chameleon before this)

4. add this to your boot plist if you haven't done so already:

		<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
	<string>Yes</string>

5. copy all kexts from kexts/ to /System/Library/Extensions (replace old ones)

6. clear caches and reboot, or reboot and ignore caches on boot-up

 

[The Finale of Seem]

Aw, WHAT? No 5xxx support yet but Apple is already adding support for Nvidia's power-gobbling branding iron of a card?

 

Screw the Fermi. I don't need a 300w video card that nearly hits 100C under load. Give me 5870 support or give me death!

[cmf]

hm, general observation these days: as soon as someone mentions "fermi", nvidia haters pop up ... please go flame somewhere else kid.

 

there are actually people that want to use fermi, b/c of it's insane compute capabilities, something that ati lacks. they only just got even with g80/gt200 feature wise, but still lack the performance.

 

------

 

on topic: what are the chances that fermi has an efi chip, next to or instead of a pc bios chip?

[The Finale of Seem]

And you don't think that a card that is so power hungry and so hot isn't going to have a ludicrously high failure rate? Read some of the reviews. Legion Hardware talked about how loud it got and how they had to handle the card with gloves after testing. The most disturbing thing is how surprisingly hot and soft the PCIe power cables became.

 

The Fermi starts doing emergency throttling at 105C. When it runs at almost 100C under load, all it takes is a hot summer day and some accumulated dust to hit that temperature.

 

You can call me a "kid" and "Nvidia hater" all you want. Doesn't change the fact that while Fermi does have some impressive performance, the other factors have seriously put it out of mind for many, many people.

[deathpulse]

But does it work on OS X 10.6.3?

[Hangten]

so, are there already any osx86 users that can call themselves lucky owners of a fermi card?

 

it seems like 10.6.3 brings support for fermi cards:

doing a "find /System/Library/Extensions/ | xargs strings -arch x86_64 2>&1 | grep -i "fermi"" gives 48 hits, including things like nvFermiGLContext and nvFermiHAL in GeForce.kext.

 

and it also seems like the geforce opencl driver has support for sm_20 (fermi ptx code).

 

 

so the question is if this enables full fermi support and is anyone able to test it yet?

 

Hmm I would be interested in testing this out but haven't looked into where to buy.

Maybe soon? Will research it. My graphics card is old to me so wouldn't

hurt to upgrade. EVGA has one thats water cooled and within very tolerable specs. {censored} my HD4850 hits 190f - 200f and can heat the room. Bring it on fermi! Time should tell they might re-tweak the silicon to but would agree that the power draw is though the roof. 500+ when overclocked is not rational when looked at from what ATI has for its power draw but two entirely different beast.

 

But does it work on OS X 10.6.3?

YEAH I wonder?

[Daioptych]

I see people are starting to receive those cards, have anyone on insanelymac got their hands on one?

[lkelly2006]

Hello All,

 

I just purchased a GeForce GTX 480 and am curious to see if anyone has had any hands on experience running this on Snow Leopard x 64.

 

Would like to hear any failed or successful attempts!

[cmf]

I just purchased a GeForce GTX 480 and am curious to see if anyone has had any hands on experience running this on Snow Leopard x 64.

no, not yet, mine won't arrive until next week

 

how about just putting it in and let us know if it just works?

you might want to update your bootloader to rc4 or aserebln. but i've no idea what it will do if it finds an unknown device id (probably nothing?).

[lkelly2006]

I should be receiving mine in the mail tomorrow... crosses fingers!

 

Very painfull spending $500 for one card but from all of the reviews this seems to be a beast of a card.

 

Once I have my new part, I will post my results.

[ANARCHiNTOSH]

Aw, WHAT? No 5xxx support yet but Apple is already adding support for Nvidia's power-gobbling branding iron of a card?

 

Screw the Fermi. I don't need a 300w video card that nearly hits 100C under load. Give me 5870 support or give me death!

It makes sense that apple would support it before 5870 though, it has immense GPGPU capabilities unlike ATi's card, even if it is not much better for de-facto gaming.

given that a lot of people use macs for graphic design and stuff, gtx480 is now a great value solution compared to the quadro range.

 

but yeah, i think ill sit this card out and wait for a 485 type card

[lkelly2006]

Alright.. I FINALLY got OSX to boot on my new custom pc.. Specs are as follows:

 

Asus P6X58D

Intel Core i7 920

12gb 1600mhz Ram

2 x 1TB 7200rpm Sata

Nvidia GeForce GTX 480

 

OSX 10.6.3 x64 will boot but even with graphics enabler = yes the card is not recgonized. I also tried graphics enabler = no with the same result.

 

 

Display:

 

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 64 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x06c0

Revision ID: 0x00a3

Displays:

Display:

Resolution: 1280 x 1024

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

 

I should be receiving mine in the mail tomorrow... crosses fingers!

 

Very painfull spending $500 for one card but from all of the reviews this seems to be a beast of a card.

 

Once I have my new part, I will post my results.

[Hangten]

@lkelly2006

 

This is great news to follow up on hope you can get it up and running. Try safemode -x

And see if you can at least get to the desktop. I would think you need to put in the graphics string to the controllerkext.

 

Bump, someone help the lad out! Maybe you should pm someone who understands the "boot loader" so your card is recognized.

[Daioptych]

GraphicsEnabler shouldn't work as Chameleon knows nothing about this card. Try injecting the proper values into DSDT yourself(see Nvidia hacks in DSDTSE).

[lkelly2006]

I was able to make it to my desktop. I wasn't able to boot from any OSX CD that I had so I simply copied over my vanilla OSX from my laptop to my PC drive. I replaced the Extra folder and voila ;-).

 

As for editing the DSDT, I have done some minor edits but nothing too fancy. Anyone wanna lend a hand ?

dsdt.zip

[kingtana1]

I was able to make it to my desktop. I wasn't able to boot from any OSX CD that I had so I simply copied over my vanilla OSX from my laptop to my PC drive. I replaced the Extra folder and voila ;-).

 

As for editing the DSDT, I have done some minor edits but nothing too fancy. Anyone wanna lend a hand ?

 

if you get this to work please let us know man i wish you the best of luck i am in the process of building a pc and i have my eyes set on a evga gtx 470 card but will probably have to settle for something else if this doesnt work, i ordered everything except my vid card and have been keeping an eye on this thread til i saw some good news, i appreciate any feedback on here and wish you the best of luck again hopefully you get it to work!

[VCH888]

I was able to make it to my desktop. I wasn't able to boot from any OSX CD that I had so I simply copied over my vanilla OSX from my laptop to my PC drive. I replaced the Extra folder and voila ;-).

 

As for editing the DSDT, I have done some minor edits but nothing too fancy. Anyone wanna lend a hand ?

 

 

I added your GTX480 device-id and compiled aserenln-Chameleon boot loader. I copied boot, boot0, boot1h into installer package. This installer package was not originally created by me, please credit to the person who made the installer package.

 

GTX480_testing.pkg.zip

 

add these lines into com.apple.Boot.plist if you don't have them.

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

 

 

I got source code from this and selected AsereBLN_v1.1.9.

Go to this thread for info.

 

I would like to know whether your GTX 480 is supported by OS X 10.6.3 or not.

[lkelly2006]

I tried the package... no success. SL will not boot normal or in safe mode. I am doing to attempt a fresh install as I was having other issues as well. Any file you need to see why the KP?

 

I added your GTX480 device-id and compiled aserenln-Chameleon boot loader. I copied boot, boot0, boot1h into installer package. This installer package was not originally created by me, please credit to the person who made the installer package.

 

GTX480_testing.pkg.zip

 

add these lines into com.apple.Boot.plist if you don't have them.

 

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>

<string>Yes</string>

 

 

 

I got source code from this and selected AsereBLN_v1.1.9.

Go to this thread for info.

 

I would like to know whether your GTX 480 is supported by OS X 10.6.3 or not.

[Hangten]

I tried the package... no success. SL will not boot normal or in safe mode. I am doing to attempt a fresh install as I was having other issues as well. Any file you need to see why the KP?

 

In trying to make logic of this even with a screen going black or stuck @ the apple icon with the spinner one can use the volume control (my keyboard has one) to here the click sound of the volume changing to see if all is well and its the graphics. So its the boot screwing up with some trait thats not compatible with the "boot" thats gets the computer to the desktop.

 

Learning curve, I wish i could learn about decompile & compiling the boot. perhaps someone from the Voodoo Team can step in.

 

If you have a spare graphics card that is working you can boot into SL and repair permissions and clear cache then reboot with the 480.

 

Just trying to brain storm ideas your way.

[lkelly2006]

Yeah that does not work either...

 

I'm sure we'll get it! Thanks everyone for the interest!

[VCH888]

I tried the package... no success. SL will not boot normal or in safe mode. I am doing to attempt a fresh install as I was having other issues as well. Any file you need to see why the KP?

 

Did you try to add Device (GFX0) into your DSDT? You may go to this http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php...t&p=1280888 for some info although it is for ASUS P5K PRO.

 

 

P.S.

I have GT240 and I need to use only 10.6.2 and up. I could not use my GT240 for installing from 10.6 and got to use old 7300GT for installation. After I updated to 10.6.2, I swapped from 7300GT to GT240.

[lkelly2006]

So I tried that package again on my fresh install and Chameleon recgonized the card but I get a kernel panic if my graphicsenabler= yes

 

It frezzes before I can pinpoint what is causing the panic...

 

Progress nontheless!

[dafootballer]

Im happy to see some progress!

 

Just a question can you give a guest at when this card will work without to much hassle for hackintosh's as I am building my first one and dont want to buy a gtx 285 and then have to go buy a 480 next year. Im willing to live with Windows for a few months if thats what it takes.

[T13]

Just picked up an EVGA "Fermi" NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 470

Starting a fresh build tomorrow based on the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R and i7. I was planning on using the Kakewalk build method.

 

Any advise would be much appreciated.

 

I will post progress.

[lkelly2006]

Possible progress!!

 

I manually installed three packages inside an apple update, http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/driv...evgagtx285.html, and set graphicsenabler=yes:

 

I apologize for the screenshot, had to use iPhone as OSX won't allow me:

 

As you can see System Profiler recgonizes the name of the Nvidia GTX 480 but no properties such as ram and features such as OpenCL/Quartz Extreme.

 

Any thoughts?