7950 Gx2

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Right...here is a relatively simple question.

If I buy a 7950GX2, will it work in XP on my Mac Pro (Gaming) ?

I know its a serious noob question, but, hell, what will we do without noobs ?



A simple yes or no would be appreicated unless there are terms and conditions.

(Although make sure you know what you post ! Im coughing up some £350 quid, and Id rather not buy the GPU and find it doesnt work in XP.)

Yes, I realise that ill have to slot my BTO card back in when I want to use OSX.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 132GHz,4TB DDR8 SDRAM,95TB HDD


    Right...here is a relatively simple question.

    If I buy a 7950GX2, will it work in XP on my Mac Pro (Gaming) ?

    I know its a serious noob question, but, hell, what will we do without noobs ?



    A simple yes or no would be appreicated unless there are terms and conditions.

    (Although make sure you know what you post ! Im coughing up some £350 quid, and Id rather not buy the GPU and find it doesnt work in XP.)

    Yes, I realise that ill have to slot my BTO card back in when I want to use OSX.



    I honestly don't know if it would or not, Being an Intel board and all...



    But... I wouldn't get the card if I were you. Vista will be out in less than 6 months, and it and all the games for it will be Direct X 10. All the current video cards, including the 7950GX2 are Direct X 9 cards. You'd have to upgrade again anyway...



    But then again I don't see the point in spending several hundred dollars more to squeeze out a measly 10fps more than a significantly cheaper card. I'm still using a 6800GT and it's enough for me until I get a PCI-Express system..
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Ah...well, normally I would agree with you.

    If my display is 1024x764.

    However, it is not.

    Its 1920x1200.

    Any card below the 7800 Series or 1900 series will have unplayable frame rates with FSAA x4, and all the fancy stuff on 1920x1200.

    Besides, Ill likely upgrade my GPU once or twice before Vista is released (I presume the Mac Pro may run that ?)



    Anyone know ?!
  • Reply 3 of 16
    So not one person on this forum has any knowledge of this ?!
  • Reply 4 of 16
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    I don't know, but I would assume yes.



    And yes, the Mac Pro runs Vista just fine.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    Thanks for the quick answer to one of my questions !
  • Reply 6 of 16
    marcukmarcuk Posts: 4,442member
    it wont work.
  • Reply 7 of 16
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MarcUK


    it wont work.



    What makes you conclude this? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work.
  • Reply 8 of 16
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    It's likely that it will work (and I believe it has been done), but it won't work in Mac OS X so you'll have to keep at 7300 GT in there for OS X use.
  • Reply 9 of 16
    I'd love to see Apple offer this card as an option.
  • Reply 10 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 132GHz,4TB DDR8 SDRAM,95TB HDD


    Ah...well, normally I would agree with you.

    If my display is 1024x764.

    However, it is not.

    Its 1920x1200.

    Any card below the 7800 Series or 1900 series will have unplayable frame rates with FSAA x4, and all the fancy stuff on 1920x1200.

    Besides, Ill likely upgrade my GPU once or twice before Vista is released (I presume the Mac Pro may run that ?)



    Anyone know ?!



    Define "unplayable"... Cuz I'm running my games at 1680x1050 at 4xAF and 6xFSAA with a realitivly slow system (2.4 Ghz P4) and I'm getting about 120 to 160 FPS in modern games like F.E.A.R. and Doom 3 on my 6800GT with max graphic settings...



    *edit* 124 FPS on Half-life 2...
  • Reply 11 of 16
    Hmm ?

    Ok...Ill take your word for it.

    Although I didnt really think that the 6800GT would even run HL2 on medium settings.

    But you proved me wrong.



    I still dont have a definate 'Yes' !

    Ive only got 'probably's, 'possibly's and 'maybe's.

    And one 'No', but that appears to be heavily disputed.
  • Reply 12 of 16
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 132GHz,4TB DDR8 SDRAM,95TB HDD


    Hmm ?

    Ok...Ill take your word for it.

    Although I didnt really think that the 6800GT would even run HL2 on medium settings.

    But you proved me wrong.



    I still dont have a definate 'Yes' !

    Ive only got 'probably's, 'possibly's and 'maybe's.

    And one 'No', but that appears to be heavily disputed.



    To my knowledge, the only thing the Geforce 7 Series has over the 6 Series is CineFX 4.0 over CineFX 3.0, and minor HDR performance tweaks. Along with a clock speed bump. The 7 Series uses the same DDR3 RAM and everything else.



    And to my knowledge, CineFX 4.0 is to CineFx 3.0 what Shader Model 3.0 is to SM 2.0... A very, VERY minor change.



    The only real benifet you're getting would be the dual GPU chips on the board. Which is something that just seems to me that it's best to wait for the 2nd or 3rd revision of.



    And there's also the drivers to consider. When the 6 Series first came out it wasn't getting all that good of benchmarks, but after a few driver revisions, it started to fly.

    My $0.02
  • Reply 13 of 16
    slugheadslughead Posts: 1,169member
    I think the 6800 is faster than the 7300



    would not be the first time..
  • Reply 14 of 16
    emig647emig647 Posts: 2,455member
    According to xlr8yourmac... it is currently impossible to run other cards right now because all of the current PC cards are made for BIOS and not EFI. The current mac cards are EFI. Now that doesn't mean it won't work in windows. I'd be happy if someone could get a 7900gt to work. I'd rather have a 7900gt than an x1900xt just for the drivers.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    emig647emig647 Posts: 2,455member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by slughead


    I think the 6800 is faster than the 7300



    would not be the first time..



    Anandtech did some tests and the 6800GT and GS (not plain 6800) beat the 7300 in most tests. But the 7300 shined in games like doom3. But with all the tests the 7300gt was RIGHT there. Only a few fps separated them in every test.
  • Reply 16 of 16
    marcukmarcuk Posts: 4,442member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker


    What makes you conclude this? I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work.





    because the drivers are made in RealBasic
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