Mac Pro GPU Drivers/Issues

Hello there,

My question pertains in part to the Mac Pro and in part to OSX and drivers. I upgraded my GPU with the newly released Mac Pro compatible Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950.

This card here:




Installed the drivers- running both on Windows and on Mac things ran great. Games I tested on both were defaulting to the highest possible graphic settings and my video and rendering applications were loving it.

I then updated from 10.8.2 to 10.8.3... I can't definitively say if I started having issues immediately after, but at some point for sure, my Mac side's graphics became pitiful. Expose and core OS animations were being played out in 2 or 3 frames per second, websites would flicker. VLC could no longer play videos (audio was fine) and I receive errors stating something along the lines of there being no OpenGL acceleration. When I go over to my Windows side, there is no issue at all. I repaired permissions and noted that there were anomalies listed with AMD, however the problem persists.

The system won't let me reinstall the drivers and I know of no way to uninstall them to then reinstall them.

I don't know if the problem originates with the software update, but I have no other leads.

OSX still identifies the card installed. I'm at a loss. I contacted apple and they said that they can't suggest anything (software support or otherwise) since I didn't purchase the card through their store..

Thoughts would be great. I've had to look into the hackintosh community for answers, but I'm not comfortable resorting to their solutions before being able to clearly identify the problem.

Thanks

I should also like to know the likelihood that the software update messed with my graphic drivers since they were supposedly introducing NVIDIA support this update. I would love any feedback pointing me in the right direction.

Thanks again

Try a reinstall and combo to 10.8.3 and leave the drivers out..10.8.3 has native driver support for those cards.

Germany_chris said:

Try a reinstall and combo to 10.8.3 and leave the drivers out..10.8.3 has native driver support for those cards.

Click to expand...

I've been thinking I might have to do this. Unfortunately Apple doesn't offer anything less of the current version of lion on the App Store so I'll have to pirate- not really my preference

sputnikv said:

I've been thinking I might have to do this. Unfortunately Apple doesn't offer anything less of the current version of lion on the App Store so I'll have to pirate- not really my preference

Click to expand...

Why are you on Lion?

The 10.7.5 drivers are on the CD but if you're on a 1,1/2,1 they don't work.

Just buy Mountain Lion, put it on a thumb drive an install, if you really are on ML re-download and put it on a stick and fresh install and migrate back..

Check out Mac Rumors there is much conversation about this card..from people who know (MacVidCards/Rominato and Netkas) and people who've bought. For not supported and just out MR is better than here for advise and info.

I think there is some miscommunication on the OPs part which confused you both, Germany_chris.

I believe what he MEANT to say is that Apple doesn't sell anything but the current version of *Mountain* Lion, which is correct.

The OP also seems confused that he would have to "pirate" something ... which is completely unnecessary. Your advice to *reinstall* the 10.8.3 update via COMBO updater was sound. If he has to reinstall the whole of 10.8.3, he can just re-download it from Internet Recovery. That sounds like it would work best since there's no opportunity for the drivers he added to conflict with the new built-in drivers in 10.8.3.

Lets do it this way..if you installed the drivers that were on the CD do a fresh install with the 10.8.3 combo using your old card. Put the 7950 in but DO NOT install the drivers from the CD. 10.8.3 Added support for 79XX card. Sapphire,s book is a bit misleading. Your graphics issue is likely coming from the drivers you installed form the CD..

If it was my MP I would clean install up to 10.8.3 install the card and migrate back from a back-up/clone