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A MacBookPro + Microsoft Vista + SolidWorks RealView. The nVidia SoftMod.

Started by Josh M · 9 months ago

For those who just won’t allow that shiny, white MacBookPro to be torn from their cold, dead hands and insist on having the best of both OSX and Vista on one box, this post is for you.
We’ve shown you how to go about soft-modding your nVidia graphics card for Re ... Continue reading »

41 comments

  • Bruce Buck

    9 months ago

    Man, I really need to start upgrading my software arsenal. How well does this sofmod work on a desktop with a GeForce card?
    reply
  • Josh M

    9 months ago

    Hey Bruce, it does work on a desktop with a GeForce. it's a simple software mod.
    reply
  • Allan Bjerre

    9 months ago

    I have a Macbook Pro with a Radeon x1600 card. Does anyone know how to mod this?
    I know it is possible to soft-mod ATI cards as well, but I have been browsing a lot of forums without finding the right procedure.
    reply
  • D Midi

    8 months ago

    Any thoughts on the ability to softmod the newer nvidia cards? For example, the 9600m gt is a popular GPU and is going to be used on the new Macbook Pros announced today (Oct 14 08).

    I really wish Nvidia would sell a supported version of this. I would happily pay $100 directly to Nvidia to be able to make a solidworks workstation out of any laptop - the market is crying out for this. For example, there are no 16:9 workstations and I like the Sony Vaio Z @ 13" and the HP HDX16t @ 16" - and even the Macbook Pro @ 15".
    reply
  • Josh M

    8 months ago

    I haven't tried any of the newer cards, but I imagine people are going to be trying it. If you try to soft-mod, let us know or send me an email on the steps you had to go through and I can post it.

    btw, I love your comment - "...to be able to make a solidworks workstation out of any laptop" - that would indeed be nice.
    reply
  • stratogavster

    8 months ago

    Great post!!! BUT I really want to know, like D Midi, if anybody has managed to softmod a new 9600M GT Macbook Pro to a Quadro?
    reply
  • SolidGirl

    8 months ago

    Does anyone know, will this work with soldiworks *2009* ?
    reply
  • Josh M

    8 months ago

    I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it would not work. I would almosot assume that it would work better. I've had better results with RealView in 09 on a PC.
    reply
  • SolidGirl

    8 months ago

    ...and Mac Book Pro's now look like PC's... what's with this new grey & black styling?
    My clunky Dell is grey & black... :|
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    8 months ago

    They're making their laptops look like their desktops.

    The difference between Apple and Dell is build quality. The new MBPs are glass and precision machined anodized aluminum with the exception of the keyboard.
    reply
  • SolidGirl

    8 months ago

    Yes, and their desktops are looking more and more like PC's.

    Slightly nicer PC's, granted, but remarkably similar all the same, narrowing the gap and moving away from the established Mac brand style - but strangely further towards their brand opposite....hmm I'm baffled.
    I guess the black frame is something to do with viewing movies in the dark.
    I'm not sure the high gloss screen is conducive to design work... I hope it's not a serious issue since the mat screen is no longer available.

    Still, I want a Mac for all the benefits they afford, that will still deliver high enough performance with Solidworks. Sadly the aesthetic benefits are diminishing, as i need to buy now, not next year by which time they may have swung back...

    Does anyone know if this soft mod of the 8600M on last years MBP is more or less effective than results on the New MBP with the standard issue 9400M & 9600M ?
    [SW 08 &/or 09...?]
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    8 months ago

    I'm buying a new MBPro next week, so I'll let Josh know if I can apply the softmod successfully.
    reply
  • SolidGirl

    8 months ago

    thanks Dave :)
    reply
  • solidgirl

    4 months ago

    Hello Dave....

    did you get a new MBPro? ...how did you get on...any news?
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    4 months ago

    See my reply to Andrew's thread.
    reply
  • Mudslung

    7 months ago

    I just Modded an FX 5500 with SolidWorks 2009 (Student-Edition) and it works perfect.
    reply
  • Jorge Rui

    8 months ago

    Any news about the compatibly of the new 9600GT M with this tweak? Does this work?
    What about the number of windows that can be open ?
    reply
  • SolidGirl

    8 months ago

    Josh, is the soft mod of the 8600/old MBP reversible?

    I may borrow a pals book as a temporary measure, but I guess that they would want the graphics card back, as was, when I'd finished with it... is this a permanent modification?
    reply
  • Josh M

    8 months ago

    I haven't tried to reverse it, but I've have rolled back drivers on PC's, I imagine it would work much the same. The option for rolling back is in the advanced setting for the Video Card.
    reply
  • dMidi

    8 months ago

    It is reversible but I doubt the 9600 gpu has the same id as the 8600. You can certainly try, but I think you'll have to find an id that corresponds with a quadro fx gpu that shares it's internal with the 9600.

    Go ahead and try the fix, it doesn't touch your gpu in any way...it's only a 'softmod' (ie software modification) and not a BIOS fix (which could brick the gpu).
    reply
  • Andrew

    7 months ago

    I just ordered a laptop with the 9600m gt which should be here in a couple of weeks, i'll see if it works. apparently its the equivilent card of the fx 770m which is in the dell presicion
    reply
  • jorge

    7 months ago

    Let us know something...
    reply
  • Jorge silva

    7 months ago

    In this case. "no news is bad news ..."
    Anyone?
    reply
  • Andrew

    7 months ago

    Actually in this case no news is ....er, no news. Still aint recieved the laptop yet, this'll be one of the first things i try when i get it so should be able to update soon.........
    reply
  • solidgirl

    4 months ago

    Andrew,

    any news - did you get a new MBPro?
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    4 months ago

    The quadro soft mod is disabled in hardware on the 9600m. If you want to have realview capability on a Mac buy a last gen Macbook Pro and mod it. OTOH Solidworks screams on the unibody MBPro. It puts the workstation on my desk to shame.
    reply
  • Josh M

    4 months ago

    Hey Dave. Thanks for the update on the 9600. Sounds like you have a good setup.
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    4 months ago

    No prob. You might want to do a post on this since it's a question lots of people seem to be asking
    reply
  • New Mac

    7 months ago

    Anyone try softmod for 9400M Nvidia for the Aluminum Macbook? I try following the soft mod spec but can't figure out which Quadro Driver I should use. GPU is 0863. Anyone try their new MacBook?
    reply
  • Andrew

    7 months ago

    Doesn't look like this works for the 9600m gt, there is no "low-level system setting" option. I've tried various versions of rivatuner and different drivers as i was told this could help but no combination give the option.

    Either Nvidia have made sure this cant be done or it needs a different approach. Hopefully someone smarter than me will be able to work out a way.....
    reply
  • Dave Moore

    7 months ago

    Same here. I hope some genius figures this one out.
    reply
  • stratogavster

    7 months ago

    Just tried this on my 9600M GT (Macbook Pro) and no luck either!!!

    There is no 'Low-level system setting' somebody pleeeeease help!!! it does appear that this gpu core is shared by the FX770M so in theory in must be possible to soft mod?
    reply
  • Josh M

    7 months ago

    hi, I've been watching the convo and while I don't have a MBP, I'll ask some others that have tried this mod.
    reply
  • stratogavster

    7 months ago

    cool!! any help would be appreciated!! any how...i'm f**ked solidworks won't even install on my bootcamp vista 32bit!! it keeps telling me the installer has been interrupted....fresh install of vista but with solidworks mounted via isobuster. Do you think I need MS office installed before it will work...i read somewhere solidworks needs office?

    somebody please release an affordable and GOOD parametric application for mac!! come on Solidworks...come over to mac!!...
    reply
  • stratogavster

    7 months ago

    HELP!! I can't even get SolidWorks 2009 to install on my Boot Camp XP SP3 Partition!! the installer just keeps saying it's being 'Interupted" HELP!!!...I NEED SOLIDWORKS ON MY MACBOOK PRO!!

    IT WON'T INSTALL

    I've tried safe mode but I get a message about administrator privileges!
    reply
  • stratogavster

    7 months ago

    Fixed my install issue....installed XP Manager and used the "Fix MSI issue" thing...once I did that SolidWorks Installed OK!! BUT another problem!!....everytime I open Solidworks it claim to have encounterd a problem and has to close!!

    Any ideas? (I can continue to use solidworks if i drag the error window out of the way, but its annoying)
    reply
  • New Mac

    6 months ago

    anyone facing problem using the new macbook (not pro) with solidworks so far? I am running it with the new aluminium macboo 2.4 and bootcamp win xp professional. But i facing some blue screen crash and hanged occassionally when using solidworks. The file causing the problem is nvdisp.dll (the nvidea graphics). anyone else have this problem and managed to solved it?
    reply
  • New Mac

    6 months ago

    Oh by the way, I am using solidworks 2007.
    reply
  • jorge silva

    5 months ago

    Any news about this? 1 month without news sucks ! :)
    reply
  • Karch

    5 months ago

    I just did this with my 17" 2.5 MBP and it worked fine, I also found when I went back to the 8600M GT driver, RealView still worked in SW2009 but not SW2008. I had some issues with the Quadro driver resuming from sleep and hibernate (system would lock up) that cleared up with the 8600M GT driver
    reply
  • Jorge Silva

    4 months ago

    I think is not possible to softmod the 9xxx in to Quadro's
    No one manage to do that, and all people say that nvidia has blocked once for all that door...
    reply

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