Upgrade: Graphics Card for Mac Pro

LeeP

LeeP

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Lee
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Hi

One of my Macs is a Mac Pro (Intel) Dual Core 2x 2.66GHz / 8GB RAM / 4TB storage.

The graphics card in it at present is the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT.
I run a dual 23" Apple Cinema HD setup but would like to give it some more graphics power. CS4 is starting to take it's toll on the output and I would like to incorporate my 24" LED (mini DVI) port too.

So - question is, which graphics card is support? It's a PCIe module, would like to have the main DVI ports on one slot, can I run a Mini DVI on another slot? Or is 3 monitors on one of these asking too much?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Lee
 
Bump....anyone? :thinking:
 
LeeP said:
Bump....anyone? :thinking:
Click to expand...

Lee,

I would guess that you have a variant 1 mac pro.

Go to APPLE :: About this mac

then click "More Info"

The 2nd line down on the right should give you the model identifier...... (macpro1.1 & macpro2.1 are variant1, macpro3.1 is variant 2)

Let me know what it is and I will give you your options.
 
In fact, the 4870 card will work on ALL mac pros and is the fastest card you can get in YOUR mac pro so here is a link:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MB999ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MTA4MzU2NTc

It is not officially supported on macpro1.1 or macpro2.1 (variant1) because the card is PCI-E2.0 and the variant1 mac is PCI-E1 - BUT it does work albeit at a slightly slower speed. It is faster than the X1900 that WAS the fastest option that was available at the time that your mac pro was new.

You will need a display-port to DVI-D lead too as the 4870 card has 1 DVI-D connector and 1 display port connector.

You might also need 1 or 2 PCIe Power Cables LINK

JUST MAKE SURE YOU ARE RUNNING MacOS 10.5.7 OR NEWER BEFORE YOU UPGRADE.


Let me know how it goes and what you need to get. If you are not up to fitting it etc then give me a shout. (I need a picture of the 4870 card for my web site so if you get it can you take a picture of it plus the power cables :))
 
Great info - thanks.

When you say 'run slower' - is it going to lag / screen jump etc or just not reach its full potential?

It's a variant 1,1 too (sorry, should have posted that in the first place).

Will give CCL a call - more than happy to fit them myself, just wanted advice on best specs :)

If I do get one, will take some pics for you no probs :thumbs:
 
LeeP said:
Great info - thanks.

When you say 'run slower' - is it going to lag / screen jump etc or just not reach its full potential?

It's a variant 1,1 too (sorry, should have posted that in the first place).

Will give CCL a call - more than happy to fit them myself, just wanted advice on best specs :)

If I do get one, will take some pics for you no probs :thumbs:
Click to expand...

No it is lightning fast, far quicker than the card you have or even the X1900 that was the option when it was new. There will be no lag.
 
neil_g said:
seriously? for a 4870?

id shop around.. lol
Click to expand...

It is not a games platform so having the latest GPU is not really that important. When you spent £2000 to £10000 on a computer £289 is a drop in the ocean :)

..... and we get to spend the money we save on virus software on GPUs ;)

bizarrely its also the same price for an X1900 or the 8800 !!!
 
LeeP said:
Hi

One of my Macs is a Mac Pro (Intel) Dual Core 2x 2.66GHz / 8GB RAM / 4TB storage.

The graphics card in it at present is the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT.
I run a dual 23" Apple Cinema HD setup but would like to give it some more graphics power. CS4 is starting to take it's toll on the output and I would like to incorporate my 24" LED (mini DVI) port too.

So - question is, which graphics card is support? It's a PCIe module, would like to have the main DVI ports on one slot, can I run a Mini DVI on another slot? Or is 3 monitors on one of these asking too much?!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Lee
Click to expand...

Woops didn't read that you wanted 3 monitors! You can stick 2 of these cards in or use the 4870 as the primary display card and the 7300 as the secondary card. I think 2x4870 would probably be a bit OTT and you would need Y connectors in the power cables. Also you would only be able to allocate 8 lanes on the PCI-E slot to the 2nd card. What I would do is buy the 4870 and leave the 7300 in...... See what that is like and IF you need more ooompf then look for a 2nd hand X1900 as people upgrade (in fact I might well upgrade myself with CS5 coming out as the 4870 will be MUCH faster with CS5 and its ability to transfer some of the processing to the GPU)
 
cowasaki said:
It is not a games platform so having the latest GPU is not really that important. When you spent £2000 to £10000 on a computer £289 is a drop in the ocean :)

..... and we get to spend the money we save on virus software on GPUs ;)

bizarrely its also the same price for an X1900 or the 8800 !!!
Click to expand...

i was just suggesting that the card could be found cheaper, or indeed one of the other ATI 4870 cards from another vendor (saphire, asus et all cards all work under 1 driver on windows so it should be the same on mac) which are half the price.

p.s. - i dont pay for AV software ;)
 
neil_g said:
i was just suggesting that the card could be found cheaper, or indeed one of the other ATI 4870 cards from another vendor (saphire, asus et all cards all work under 1 driver on windows so it should be the same on mac) which are half the price.

p.s. - i dont pay for AV software ;)
Click to expand...

I know ;)

It is the biggest annoyance about owning a Mac and strangely never brought up in the mac v pc threads ! The Sapphire 4870 card with 512Mb ram can be re-flashed with Apple's firmware and works so the hardware is the same why is Sapphire's card £100 and Apple's £289 !!! Oh well
 
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