Video card advice
Sorry originally posted in wrong forum 
Ok I have an original Mac Pro Tower with the Dual 2.66s, my stock video card is the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT.
I have no complaints, I just bought 2 Dell (cough) 23" monitors (hey there were only 325 each) and the card works fine for them.
I also have an original Apple Cinema display that I have been using for years, talk about quality this display almost never get's shut off just goes into screen saver mode and I've had it since the day they introduced the displays (as a side note i payed 4500 for it LOL )
I am thinking about getting a better video card for the DELLs since they are smoking and brand new, and I would still like to have my Cinema display connected for web browsing, I'm going to build it into my coffee table and make it a "flip up" out of the table. So I will need 2 video cards anyway.
My question is, in the 0-250ish dollar range what would be the best card to get for my system? I know cards have come down a ton, but I'm not sure what will be compatible and the best choice for my Mac.
Any help would be like totally awesome and rad dude-mon.
Ok I have an original Mac Pro Tower with the Dual 2.66s, my stock video card is the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT.
I have no complaints, I just bought 2 Dell (cough) 23" monitors (hey there were only 325 each) and the card works fine for them.
I also have an original Apple Cinema display that I have been using for years, talk about quality this display almost never get's shut off just goes into screen saver mode and I've had it since the day they introduced the displays (as a side note i payed 4500 for it LOL )
I am thinking about getting a better video card for the DELLs since they are smoking and brand new, and I would still like to have my Cinema display connected for web browsing, I'm going to build it into my coffee table and make it a "flip up" out of the table. So I will need 2 video cards anyway.
My question is, in the 0-250ish dollar range what would be the best card to get for my system? I know cards have come down a ton, but I'm not sure what will be compatible and the best choice for my Mac.
Any help would be like totally awesome and rad dude-mon.
Comments
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%2...ies/100435928/
I think that's your only model option available right now for your machine and your budget.
They offer an "open box" special too:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%2...s/100435928OB/
Not as much of a deal as I would like for open box though.
Put the new card in the lowest slot, and the old card in one of the higher slots.
Buy the Radeon 3870 from MacSales.com
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%2...ies/100435928/
I think that's your only model option available right now for your machine and your budget.
They offer an "open box" special too:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI%2...s/100435928OB/
Not as much of a deal as I would like for open box though.
Put the new card in the lowest slot, and the old card in one of the higher slots.
Yeah. Your options are limited with the first-gen Mac Pro. Most new and 3rd party cards don't work with them.
Didn't Apple cave to pressure and release a version of the 8800GT for early Mac Pros? Or did I imagine that?
Yeah. Your options are limited with the first-gen Mac Pro. Most new and 3rd party cards don't work with them.
Didn't Apple cave to pressure and release a version of the 8800GT for early Mac Pros? Or did I imagine that?
Apple isn't offering either version of the 8800 card anymore, they're gone, and there are no licensed third party versions of the 8800. You can buy old stock on eBay and some Apple resellers, but some on eBay are also reflashed PC cards and they're very careful about saying it too. Make sure you get one that comes in an Apple box or clearly says it's an official Apple card.
Numerous reports say that Apple's Radeon 4870 work fine with first gen Mac pros, and this has been backed up by BareFeats. I didn't mention the 4870 because it's above the price range given.
Something to consider is that Snow Leopard's OpenCL won't support anything less than 4870 on the ATI side, or less than 8800 on nVidia side, if you're considering a Mac Pro card. Probably not a concern if it's going to be a coffee table computer.
OWC (Macsales.com) is also offering the X1900 card, but I really don't trust the X1900s. One baked itself on me, Apple replaced it, but that baked itself within a few weeks too.
Edit:
Ok there are a ton of "HD 4870"s out there, I am guessing there is a specific one I would need?
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_9arhwgu59y_b
Thanks for the suggestions all, I thought it was a bit odd having trouble finding a card for this machine, especially considering it's really not that "old". I think I'm going to look into the 4870, if I'm gong to spend the money I might as well get something a bit better and that Snow L. will support just incase.
Snow Leopard will support the other cards for video & 3D, but the other cards will not be supported for the new OpenCL processing. At least as far as we know.
Snow Leopard will support the other cards for video & 3D, but the other cards will not be supported for the new OpenCL processing. At least as far as we know.
Ok so it looks like I 'want' an ATI 4870 (also for the OpenCL support) there are a ton of different 4870s out there, anyone want to narrow it down to say ... ONE =P
In my post above is a link with a bunch listed... I've owned macs since the first Mac *please dad it's sooo cool* lol, but I have never in my life changed / bought / added a video card =\\
Ok so it looks like I 'want' an ATI 4870 (also for the OpenCL support) there are a ton of different 4870s out there, anyone want to narrow it down to say ... ONE =P
You should get the one sold on Apple's web store or at an authorized Apple reseller. If it's not an Apple boxed card, it either won't work or is an unauthorized reflash.
At the web store:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB999ZM/A
For what it's worth, I decided to get one myself, I've been biding my time for too long, limping along on a 7300 because Apple's X1900 cards seemed to have a tendency to cook themselves and I missed my opportunity to get one of the 8800 cards. The 4870s don't appear to have the X1900's cooking problem.
This thing will need an adapter if you need to connect two DVI monitors to it, because it is 1x DVI and 1x mini display port.
In my post above is a link with a bunch listed... I've owned macs since the first Mac *please dad it's sooo cool* lol, but I have never in my life changed / bought / added a video card =\\
It's very simple. I think the instructions are in your manual. If you lost your manual, you can find instructions in this file:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...IeCard_DIY.pdf
The card probably includes instructions too.
You should get the one sold on Apple's web store or at an authorized Apple reseller. If it's not an Apple boxed card, it either won't work or is an unauthorized reflash.
At the web store:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB999ZM/A
For what it's worth, I decided to get one myself, I've been biding my time for too long, limping along on a 7300 because Apple's X1900s seemed to have a tendency to cook themselves. The 4870s don't appear to have that problem.
This thing will need an adapter if you need to connect two DVI monitors to it, because it is 1x DVI and 1x mini display port.
It's very simple. I think the instructions are in your manual. If you lost your manual, you can find instructions in this file:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...IeCard_DIY.pdf
The card probably includes instructions too.
Thanks for the help. oh I am sure I can put it in, I just never had to buy one and when I found out how many wouldn't work with my machine I was a bit disheartened.