4x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT cards in a Mac Pro run below max supported speed

Question

Hi,
We have 4 "identical" NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB cards in one Mac Pro (to support 8 DVI monitors for a Network Operations Center). One card came with the system, the other cards were purchased from Apple at the same time. This was a refurbished computer, so we didn't have the build-to-order option. I put identical in quotes because they seem to have different ROM revisions.
The system mainly shows graphs on webpages and HP OpenView (via X11), so no heavy-duty gaming or refreshes.
We have been running with 6 monitors for the past 4 months with the following monitors:
- 1x 42" LCD with 1280x768, 32 bit color, DVI
- 5x 22" LCD with 1680x1050, 60Hz, 32 bit color, DVI
When I restart the system, at least one of the 22" monitors takes 5 or 10 minutes of flashing on then off (mostly off) before it finally syncs up and shows a constant image. The 42" LCD won't go to its native resolution (can't recall what that is right now), so have to go down to a less optional 1280x768. In the next day or so, I'll be connecting one more identical 22" LCD and then soon after another 42" monitor, but am wondering if they will work. Yesterday, I saw a post about firmware update for this video card (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/geforce7300gtfirmwareupdate.html). I also noticed that two of the cards have ROM Revision 3008 and two have 3011 ROM Revision of the cards (in System Profiler). I'm not sure yet if this firmware update increases the ROM Revision.
Running the Expansion Slot Utility (/System/Library/CoreServices/) shows that my PCI Express profile is set to Two x8 Lane + Two x4 Lane slots. All slots say that they are running below maximum speed.
The store.apple.com site still shows this configuration as a valid build-to-order, but I wonder if they do something different or extra.
Does anyone else have experience with 4 of these video cards with this many monitors?
Any experience with the Firmware Upgrade that I should know about?
Thank for any insight!

Answer 1

l_elephant wrote:
I notice that the flasher is connected to a card with ROM revision 3011, the later one.
I noticed this too.
now, to the slot profiles.
you say;
"The first one that I enter is the one to the right (looking from the back of the system)."
so you mean that the mac is laying on its side and your in the back, and what you call 'slot 1' is to the right? is that correct?
No, the system is upright, but the cards are horizontally seated. Pardon my ascii art, but here's the layout if I look from the back of the Mac Pro:
| DVI DVI ---->> slot 4
| DVI DVI ---->> slot 3
| DVI DVI ---->> slot 2
| DVI DVI ---->> slot 1
So, there are two DVI ports on each card (which is in a slot). I'm not sure which lane is which.
Either the left (as pictured) is lane 1, or the right (as pictured) is lane 2.
i ask because i'm wondering if your reproducing the way the expansion slot utility is graphically portraying it. I'm pretty sure the utility is showing the slots as if the mac is upright and the person is looking into the side of it with the access panel off.
Okay, sounds logical!
if you say that you have two x4 lanes and two x8 lanes, then i'm deducing that your flasher is on an x4 lane, and as it is, one of your x8 lanes has only one lonely monitor on it.
Probably correct.
In my utility window, it is the fourth configuration, so you would have at the moment;
slot4__x4__22" and 22"
slot3__x4__42" and 22" flasher
slot2__x8__22" and empty
slot1__x8__22" and 22"
I think that you have 2 and 3 reversed.
i would suggest trying the third configuration thusly;
slot4__x8__22" and 22"
slot3__x1__22" and empty
slot2__x8__42" and 22" flasher
slot1__x8__22" and 22"
in other words, check off the third configuration in the utility, then
exchange the connections on the second and third cards, leaving the first and fourth cards be.
Okay, will do.
as far as running below max speed, i figure as long as your workload doesn't suffer, then its fine.
Oh, and another question, does it always, always flash when you boot-up?
Do you guys shut down the system every night?
We rarely reboot it, and I'm not the only one that would see it reboot. This system is in a 24x7 Network Operations Center. I just know that rebooting takes a while for the monitor to come up all of the way.
Thanks for all of your help and guidance so far!
David