What type video card

montylee · 01-18-2012, 03:19 PM

How do you weed through all the video cards out there to find out which one(s) are compatible with a Mac Pro (early 2008)? It came with a NVIDIA GForce (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...800_gt_us.html) but the NVIDIA site is terrible and gives you no idea which cards work in a Mac. ATI's site is not much better.

If I upgrade my video card, what would be a good suggestion or a site to compare cards?

trevor · 01-18-2012, 04:40 PM

I believe that the best choice now for the Mac Pro 2008 is the Radeon 5870. Apple Store: ATI Radeon 5870 (Apple says that it requires a 2009 Mac Pro minimum, but testing has shown this not to be true, and that it works in the 2008 Mac Pro just fine.)

Some video card benchmarks: GPU SHOOTOUT: Which One Works Best With Apple's Motion 5?

ONE CARD, THREE MACS: Radeon HD 5870 running 3D apps in a 2008, 2009, and 2010 Mac Pro

Also, this article, although it predates the availability of the 5870:
Mac Pro BUYING ADVICE: Radeon HD 2600 XT or GeForce 8800 GT?

Trevor

Jasen · 01-23-2012, 03:42 PM

I've upgraded to a Geforce 560 Ti (448 core version)--however I don't really boot into OS X ever, so have no idea if the drivers work or exist in OS X. Also required a second 6-pin video power cable.
(works fine in Windows 7 though

)

Jasen · 06-15-2012, 08:35 PM

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I wanted to update others who may have this question with a warning.
As I said, I upgraded my Mac Pro 2.1 with an MSI-branded GeForce 560 Ti. Now because I boot directly into a Windows partition, it works fine for me, but there is a huge caveat I discovered.
The Mac's EFI (aka BIOS) cannot display video on this card. That is, the display will stay blank until control is passed to the OS boot loader. So you get no pre-boot visibility, such as the startup volume selection when holding the Option key after power on. Depending on your needs, this may not be a big deal. The big deal though, is that when booting from an OS X volume, the display never appears. It works fine if you're booting from a Windows or Linux volume. So for most of you who actually use OS X, that makes a card like this a definite no-go. I probably should have expected it, this card was never made or intended to go into this machine.

01-18-2012, 03:19 PM	#1
montylee Triple-A Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 129	What type video card How do you weed through all the video cards out there to find out which one(s) are compatible with a Mac Pro (early 2008)? It came with a NVIDIA GForce (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product...800_gt_us.html) but the NVIDIA site is terrible and gives you no idea which cards work in a Mac. ATI's site is not much better. If I upgrade my video card, what would be a good suggestion or a site to compare cards?

01-18-2012, 04:40 PM	#2
trevor Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Boulder, CO USA Posts: 19,560	I believe that the best choice now for the Mac Pro 2008 is the Radeon 5870. Apple Store: ATI Radeon 5870 (Apple says that it requires a 2009 Mac Pro minimum, but testing has shown this not to be true, and that it works in the 2008 Mac Pro just fine.) Some video card benchmarks: GPU SHOOTOUT: Which One Works Best With Apple's Motion 5? ONE CARD, THREE MACS: Radeon HD 5870 running 3D apps in a 2008, 2009, and 2010 Mac Pro Also, this article, although it predates the availability of the 5870: Mac Pro BUYING ADVICE: Radeon HD 2600 XT or GeForce 8800 GT? Trevor __________________ How to ask questions the smart way

06-15-2012, 08:35 PM	#4
Jasen Major Leaguer Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 321	Update; Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I wanted to update others who may have this question with a warning. As I said, I upgraded my Mac Pro 2.1 with an MSI-branded GeForce 560 Ti. Now because I boot directly into a Windows partition, it works fine for me, but there is a huge caveat I discovered. The Mac's EFI (aka BIOS) cannot display video on this card. That is, the display will stay blank until control is passed to the OS boot loader. So you get no pre-boot visibility, such as the startup volume selection when holding the Option key after power on. Depending on your needs, this may not be a big deal. The big deal though, is that when booting from an OS X volume, the display never appears. It works fine if you're booting from a Windows or Linux volume. So for most of you who actually use OS X, that makes a card like this a definite no-go. I probably should have expected it, this card was never made or intended to go into this machine.

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01-23-2012, 03:42 PM	#3
Jasen Major Leaguer Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 321	I've upgraded to a Geforce 560 Ti (448 core version)--however I don't really boot into OS X ever, so have no idea if the drivers work or exist in OS X. Also required a second 6-pin video power cable. (works fine in Windows 7 though )