Thank you. And Exactly. The driver is what your computer will use to "Talk" to the card, but if the language is newer than your card, what to do? Oh wait... ...It's newer, so the two are usually compatible, since new implementations simply carry compressed or included backward compatibility for the cards each driver is built for.. However, if you use something in a program that is not included in the card's chips, you are SOL. Many mac cards are missing several key functions that CC uses, like the dynamics architectures that allow random and dynamic memory access both ways across the system (from gpu to system RAM, from System to GPU RAM, and many mixes thereof). However, a few actually do meet the criteria (and if you install your own, you should check the wiki page to make sure). The problem with these cards? The apple supplied driver does not include any additional stubs or connection points for advanced driver controls, nor does it include CUDA implementations, as CUDA libraries actually do allow what would normally be considered "Illegal" or unstable code to run. They are simply covering their butt-crack with superglue and concrete. I've heard that removing the apple supplied driver from the system and replacing it with a linux driver can enable CUDA. I've seen CS6 work great on pc and on mac with a card that supports 3.0 or higher, but warps are actually done really slow, even on PC with some older cards that only support version 2.x of the architecture. I personally tested PC and built some junk-heap graphics machines for my probono work from that. Amazing machines really, for anything up to 1080 input. I also tested a mac or two on yosemite running (admitedly modified) a compiled linux driver package with cuda, on two cards. The 3.0 card fails with CC, but runs CS6 okay (other than the expected CS6 hicups from the 32bit calls through the kernel). A 5.x card with the latest linux driver ran it just fine for a 7 minute clip with a few warps and time adjusts, etc. The render-file bug is still evident, but you can turn warps off then on to get them back.
Is CUDA for MAC DEAD? Only if you get your drivers where you get your computer. Mac got out of the NVIDIA chip sales biz because the code was particularly unstable in certain instances, and because the older cards were no longer compatible with newer CC and other apps that required certain additions to the library. However, Macs do use IRIS. It's a similar logic, even if it does lack a few bells and whistles. The system can access the gpu and act in a CUDA-like fashion to augment processing, and the GPU has strictly controlled access to system memory after calling the CPU for it's current state (Got that from a geek online by the way). Faster than before? Yes. By leaps and bounds? No. A leap or two maybe, depending on how much ram you install, your CPU cores\threads, your GPU thread count. CUDA cores simply allow an abstraction of the GPU so your system ram can be used in a threaded fashion, acting like multiple synchronus processors performing the same task on several different memory objects. These "Cores" can be threaded to do several ops in a row, across several objects (repeating the instruction but with different values for the adjustment) and quickly dumping out changes to active memory. The mac driver takes a similar approach, but doesn't abstract the processors, and it takes it from the CPU side, having the GPU handle one set of instructions on a particular set of objects, and then performing the next set in a CPU core, and the next set in a CPU core (if more are available, and so on, all while using the programming architecture of open CL that actually gets passed through your GPU for validation anyway. A few more steps with fewer objects, unrandom, but still dynamic, and strictly controlled. That's the APPLE way... ...("we know better than you what's best for you"). But to be fair, they are also preventing the kind of abuse that can really wear on a system, and would be a service nightmare if even a slight defect should show up.
Check which version of CUDA your card Supports. If its 3ish, you're stuck with cs6. If it's 5ish, you might be able to remove the APPLE driver (by starting up from a recovery mode or drive). Do this AFTER installing a replacement. Linux drivers have worked on one or two machines, doesn't mean everybody should jump in. Try the Mac version of the Web Driver, just remove the apple supplied driver. It interferes with anything that calls your card, as it's the signed driver from apple and takes priority at bootup. Remove this driver, and you will get the only one left. I advise you to use a time machine backup before doing this also. This will protect you in case this fails. Do a backup before any apple updates as well. And then run time machine to return the folders with your graphics drivers to the state needed. For professionals, they expect you to do a little dirty work. Yes their stuff is pretty, functional and often runs faster due to simplistic gfx calls, and they have a lot of pretty bells and whistles for media\device integration for the AVERAGE user (Home or basic office paper pusher). If you want more, you're gonna have to fiddle with it a little.
Edit: Please do not use profanity. Thanks.
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