Evga Gtx 680 For Mac



The EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition is the clear winner in the tests featured on this page. The specs show the GTX 680 supporting up to four displays. I've observed Aperture grabbing over 1G of video memory (VRAM) while removing noise from 50 raw images. Get to the next level with the EVGA GeForce GTX 680. This card delivers truly game-changing performance that taps into the powerful new GeForce architecture to redefine smooth, seamless, lifelike gaming. It offers brand new, never before seen features that will redefine the way you think about performance graphics cards.


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PART ONE: EVGA GeForce GTX 680
'Mac Edition'
versus Past and Present Mac GPUs

Posted Tuesday, April 16th, 2013 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
April 17th updated comments on multiple displays (see #2 in insights)

Things are getting exciting for owners of 2008 - 2012 Mac Pros. Yet another graphics processor upgrade is shipping: the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition. Let's see how it compares to other Mac Pro GPUs past and present.

GRAPH LEGEND
GTX 680 Mac = EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition (2G VRAM)
QK5000 = NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac (4G VRAM)
Quadro 4000 = NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac (2G VRAM)
GTX 285 = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 for Mac (1G VRAM)
GT 120 = NVIDIA GT 120 GPU (512M VRAM)
Radeon 7950 = Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 GPU (3G VRAM)
Radeon 5870 = AMD Radeon HD 5870 GPU (1G VRAM)
Radeon 5770 = AMD Radeon HD 5770 GPU (1G VRAM)
Radeon 4870 = AMD Radeon HD 4870 GPU (512 VRAM)
GTX680MX = NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX (iMac 2012; 2G VRAM)

All Mac Pro GPUs above were in a in a 'Mid 2010' Mac Pro 3.33GHz Hex-Core. The GeForce GTX 680MX is the only exception -- embedded in the 'Late 2012' (27') iMac 3.4GHz Core i7. Both Macs were running OS X 10.8.3.

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm-- In the Rat Lab, the various mutations are complete. Settings are 2560x1440 Fullscreen, Ultra and Extreme, vSync OFF, no AA. (LONGEST bar indicates FASTEST in frames per second.)

Diablo III-- 'Evil is in its prime.' Our lonely traveler is on the path to adventure stopping occasionally to kill a few zombies. Settings are 2560x1440 Fullscreen, vSync OFF, Best Quality, Anti Aliasing enabled. (LONGEST bar indicates FASTEST in frames per second.)

Civilization Vis now on Steam. By entering '-LeaderBenchmark' in the Properties > Set Launch Options, it runs through multiple animated sequences of the various World Leaders. Though it does not simulate real game play, it is GPU intensive. Resolution was 2560x1440 with FullScreen ON. Quality settings were on 'Medium' with one exception -- Texture Quality was set to 'High.' vSync and High Detail Strategic View were both OFF. (LONGER bar indicates FASTEST in frames per second.)

X-Plane-32bit - Our Phantom Jet Fighter takes off over the ocean during a thunderstorm. Best settings at 2560x1440. (LONGER bar means FASTER average frames per second)

Unigine's Heaven Benchmark 4.0 is an OpenGL 'real world' benchmark that flies through 26 scenes of a village, a ship, and floating islands applying advanced ambient occlusion, volumetric clouds, and various lighting conditions with refraction. We used Extreme preset for our testing which specifies 1600x900 windowed resolution with 8x Anti-aliasing, Ultra Quality for Shaders and Textures, with Occlusion, Refraction, and Volumetric Shadows enabled. (LONGER means bar means FASTER AVERAGE frames per second.)

Unigine's Valley'flies' through forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains. It's a bird’s-eye view of 64 million meters of extremely detailed terrain down to every leaf and flower petal. It features advanced visual technologies: dynamic sky, volumetric clouds, sun shafts, DOF, ambient occlusion. (It is cross platform. For Windows users it is a test of DirectX.) We used Extreme preset: 1600x900 windowed resolution with 8x Anti-aliasing, Ultra Quality for Shaders and Textures, and with Occlusion, Refraction, and Volumetric Shadows enabled. (LONGER means bar means FASTER AVERAGE frames per second.)

INSIGHTS and INFO
1. The
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition is the clear winner in the tests featured on this page.

2. The specs show the GTX 680 supporting up to four displays. I've observed Aperture grabbing over 1G of video memory (VRAM) while removing noise from 50 raw images. With only 2G of VRAM, does the GeForce GTX 680 have enough to support the four displays if multiples such pro apps are running? Turns out that the displays themselves only consume about 45MB each. The majority of VRAM is consumed by the apps themselves. One way to track the total consumption of available VRAM during your workflow is with an Apple Developer app called OpenGL Driver Monitor (see Current Free Video Memory parameter).

3. According to EVGA's spec sheet, it is compatible with Mac Pro 'early 2008' or later running OS X 10.8.3 (aka MacPro 3,1 or later). Just as with the Radeon HD 5870 and GeForce GTX 285, it requires two 6-pin PCIe Power feeds. You may have the correct power cables already but a 'fresh' pair is included in the kit along with one DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort adapter and one DVI to VGA adapter.

CHECK OUT PART TWO...
... where we benchmark using Pro Apps like Cinema 4D, Motion, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects (Ray-traced 3D), and Octane Render.

And Part Three where it goes up against 'alternative' GPUs like the GeForce GTX 580 Classified and GeForce GTX 690.

Comments? Suggestions? Email , mad scientist.
Follow me on Twitter @barefeats

WHERE TO BUY THE EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition:

  • Order Direct from EVGA
  • Other World Computing (MacSales.com)
  • Trans International (TransIntl.com)
  • NewEgg.com(NOTE: one buyer posted on NewEgg.com that the GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition is not compatible with After Effects CS6. That's incorrect. As with any new CUDA GPU, you must add it to the whitelist of 'ray-traced_enabled_cards' using the 'sudo nano' Terminal command. For full procedure, contact us.)
  • The Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition is available from OWC and Amazon.
  • The Radeon HD 5870 is available from OWC and Apple Store USA.
  • The NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac is available from OWC and Amazon.
  • The NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac is avaiable from OWC and Apple Store USA.

WHERE TO BUY NEW APPLE PRODUCTS
USA readers can help us earn a commission by using this Apple Store USA link or by clicking on any Apple display ad. For GPUs, click the left side bar option for 'For Mac > Displays & Graphics' to find the GPU kits available. Or if you are buying a new Mac Pro, you will find options when you configure your order. For UK readers, visit Apple Store UK.

WHERE TO BUY FACTORY REFURBISHED Mac Pros and models of Mac
Apple Store USA has refurbished Macs with 12 month warranty that can be extended to 36 months with AppleCare. Pay attention to the GPU it comes with.

LOOKING FOR ADOBE SOFTWARE?
Order your copy of Adobe Creative Suite (or any portion thereof) direct from Adobe USA. Or click these links to Adobe France, Adobe Germany, Adobe Sweden, or Adobe UK. (Clicking our links helps us earn a commission.)

Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?

copyright 2013 Rob Art Morgan
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS'
FEEDBACK or QUESTIONS?


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PART THREE: EVGA GeForce GTX 680
Mac Edition versus the 'Sharks'

Posted Friday, April 26th, 2013 by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist

In response to popular demand, here is the EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition compared to non-standard Mac Pro GPUs like the GeForce 580 Classified and GeForce 680 Classified.

GRAPH LEGEND
GTX 690 = ASUS NVIDIA GTX 690 (4G GDDR5)
GTX 680C = EVGA NVDIA GTX 680 Classified (4G GDDR5)
GTX 680 Mac = EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition (2G VRAM)
GTX 580C = EVGA NVIDIA GTX 580 Classified (3G GDDR5)*
GTX 580E = EVGA NVIDIA GTX 580 (3G GDDR5)*
GTX 570 = EVGA NVIDIA GTX 570 (2.5G GDDR5)*
QK5000 = NVIDIA Quadro K5000 (4G GDDR5)
Q6000 = NVIDIA Quadro 6000 (6G GDDR5)*
Radeon 7970G = Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7970 Gigahertz (3G GDDR5)
Radeon 7970F = HIS AMD Radeon HD 7970 925MHz (3G GDDR5)*
Radeon 7950 = Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 GPU(3G GDDR5)
Radeon 5870 = Apple factory AMD Radeon HD 5870 GPU (1G GDDR5)

All Mac Pro GPUs above were in a in a 'Mid 2010' Mac Pro 3.33GHz Hex-Core running OS X 10.8.3.

After Effects CS6 Ray-traced 3D render of an animated robot. Thankfully, AE measures and displays the render time. Since it can take many minutes, that's a blessing. Technically, you can render this project with an AMD GPU, but that could take literally hours. Recently we tried to render with a Radeon HD 5870. After 8 hours, it was only three-quarters done. If you plan to use the Ray-traced 3D render function often, a CUDA capable NVIDIA GPU is the preferred tool. (FASTEST GPU has the LOWEST time in MINUTES.)

NOTE: The AE Ray-traced 3D animation we refer to at 'robot' was provided courtesy of Juan Salvo and Danny Princz. Danny sent us a link to a compilation of render times featuring up to three GPUs.

Octane Render is a 'GPU only' standalone renderer that can process scenes created in Maya, ArchiCAD, Cinema 4D, etc. -- and does so in a fraction of the time it takes with a CPU based renderer. However, it only runs only on CUDA capable NVIDIA graphics cards. The DEMO comes with a scene called octane_benchmark.ocs. For our test we clicked on RenderTarget PT (Path Tracing). The render time is tracked and displayed in minutes and seconds. (FASTEST GPU has the LOWEST time in MINUTES.)

CUDA-Z is a utility that collects information from CUDA enabled NVDIA GPUs such as core clock speed and memory capacity. It also can be used to measure performance. Here's the test results for both Single Precision and Double Precision Floating Point calculations. Note the shuffle in ranking that happens in the shift from Single to Double Precision. (LONGEST bar indicates FASTEST in Gigaflops per Second.)

Diablo III -- 'Evil is in its prime.' Our lonely traveler is on the path to adventure stopping occasionally to zap the undead. Settings are 2560x1440 Fullscreen, vSync OFF, Best Quality, Anti Aliasing enabled. (LONGEST bar indicates FASTEST in frames per second.)

Civilization Vis now on Steam. By entering '-LeaderBenchmark' in the Properties > Set Launch Options, it runs through multiple animated sequences of the various World Leaders. Though it does not simulate real game play, it is GPU intensive. Resolution was 2560x1440 with FullScreen ON. Quality settings were on 'Medium' with one exception -- Texture Quality was set to 'High.' vSync and High Detail Strategic View were both OFF. (LONGER bar means FASTER.)

Unigine's Valley 'flies' through forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains. It's a bird’s-eye view of 64 million meters of extremely detailed terrain down to every leaf and flower petal. It features advanced visual technologies: dynamic sky, volumetric clouds, sun shafts, DOF, ambient occlusion. (It is cross platform. For Windows users it is a test of DirectX.) We used Extreme preset: 1600x900 windowed resolution with 8x Anti-aliasing, Ultra Quality for Shaders and Textures, and with Occlusion, Refraction, and Volumetric Shadows enabled. (LONGER means bar means FASTER AVERAGE frames per second.)

FurMark is a Cross-Platform, OpenGL-based GPU stress test (also called GPU burn-in test). It makes it possible to push the GPU to the max in order to test the stability of the graphics card leading to maximal GPU temperatures (and therefore fan speeds.) That’s why FurMark is often used by overclockers and graphics cards fanatics to validate an overclocking, to test a new VGA cooler or to check the max power consumption of a video card. FurMark is now included in a collection of GPU stress tests called GPUTest.

REACTION
When it comes to CUDA accelerated apps, the
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition is beaten by its more muscular 'siblings,' the GTX 690 and GTX 580. It's only slightly slower than the overclocked 680 Classified with twice the amount of video memory.

With the exception of the FurMark test, the GTX 680 Mac Edition was second only to the 680 Classified in the OpenGL tests.

COMING SOON
We are working on more challenging Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, X-Plane, and Cinema 4D tests. Stay tuned for those results in a future posting.

Comments? Suggestions? Email , mad scientist.
Follow me on Twitter @barefeats

WHERE TO BUY THE EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition:

  • Order Direct from EVGA
  • Other World Computing (MacSales.com)
  • Trans International (TransIntl.com)
  • The Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition is available from OWC and Amazon.
  • The Radeon HD 5870 is avaiable from OWC and Apple Store USA.
  • The NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac is available from OWC and Amazon.
  • The NVIDIA Quadro 4000 for Mac is avaiable from OWC and Apple Store USA.

WHERE TO BUY NEW APPLE PRODUCTS
USA readers can help us earn a commission by using this Apple Store USA link or by clicking on any Apple display ad. For GPUs, click the left side bar option for 'For Mac > Displays & Graphics' to find the GPU kits available. Or if you are buying a new Mac Pro, you will find options when you configure your order. For UK readers, visit Apple Store UK.

WHERE TO BUY FACTORY REFURBISHED MACS
Apple Store USA has refurbished Macs with 12 month warranty that can be extended to 36 months with AppleCare. Pay attention to the GPU it comes with.

LOOKING FOR ADOBE SOFTWARE?
Order your copy of Adobe Creative Suite (or any portion thereof) direct from Adobe USA. Or click these links to Adobe France, Adobe Germany, Adobe Sweden, or Adobe UK. (Clicking our links helps us earn a commission.)

COREL PAINTER LITE for $19 or try the full version of PAINTER 12 for 30 days then get a $130 off on new purchase or $70 off the upgrade.

Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats?

copyright 2013 Rob Art Morgan
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS'
FEEDBACK or QUESTIONS?


INDEX of
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or...
index, sitemap, advanced





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