2006 Mac Pro looking to upgrade gfx card

[coconutkc]

Hi everyone, i'm having a heck of a time figuring out what is and what isn't compatible for my 2006 Mac Pro. I'd like to get the best card I can for 150 or under, any suggestions? Please help, i'd like to buy as soon as possible.

[jav6454]

A new GT card from nVidia. I beleive you have the GT 120 for $149.99 + free shipping. Your other options are Radeon HD 4870 or GTX 285. Both of which are over $150.

[The Rominator]

A new GT card from nVidia. I beleive you have the GT 120 for $149.99 + free shipping. Your other options are Radeon HD 4870 or GTX 285. Both of which are over $150.

Well, you 've just proven to not only be a troll, but a poorly informed troll.

Neither the GT120 nor the GTX285 will work on a 2006 Mac Pro.

People who have no clue what they are talking about should REALLY avoid giving advice.

For a 2006, you can use:

7300GT (used from Ebay or DV Warehouse, or Mac-Pro.com) $100+
2600XT (same deal) $100+
3870 Mac Edition (new or used..just make sure it is for Mac) $200
8800GT (Must be EFI32 Mac Edition)
4870 (Apple or flashed, avoid 4890) $200-350
Quadro 4500 $350

[Roman23]

Dear Mac Pro 2006-2007 users,

Your only choice for graphics upgrades is ATI.. THATS IT. Nvidia, a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and not doing very well(nanofrog) does NOT support EFI32 and they never will.. those mamzerim!(I won't translate this), but ATI is the most user friendly and caters to those in the EFI32 community.. Don't count on nvidia for anything.. I had their GT120 and tossed it in the trash.. my radeon 4870 is much better than the GT120.. but in general I dislike nvidia for what they did to the 2006-2007 mac pro community.. 2008's? You guys are IMMUNE as you have EFI64.. and 2009's? We are also immune.. however, when and if EFI128 comes out? Then all generations are going to be out of lock.



Well, you 've just proven to not only be a troll, but a poorly informed troll.

Neither the GT120 nor the GTX285 will work on a 2006 Mac Pro.

People who have no clue what they are talking about should REALLY avoid giving advice.

For a 2006, you can use:

7300GT (used from Ebay or DV Warehouse, or Mac-Pro.com) $100+
2600XT (same deal) $100+
3870 Mac Edition (new or used..just make sure it is for Mac) $200
8800GT (Must be EFI32 Mac Edition)
4870 (Apple or flashed, avoid 4890) $200-350
Quadro 4500 $350

[slughead]

not true. you can hack an NVidia GTX480 and get it to work with EFI32. a thread was posted on it earlier this week

[Vylen]

Dear Mac Pro 2006-2007 users,

Your only choice for graphics upgrades is ATI.. THATS IT. Nvidia, a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and not doing very well(nanofrog) does NOT support EFI32 and they never will.. those mamzerim!(I won't translate this), but ATI is the most user friendly and caters to those in the EFI32 community.. Don't count on nvidia for anything.. I had their GT120 and tossed it in the trash.. my radeon 4870 is much better than the GT120.. but in general I dislike nvidia for what they did to the 2006-2007 mac pro community.. 2008's? You guys are IMMUNE as you have EFI64.. and 2009's? We are also immune.. however, when and if EFI128 comes out? Then all generations are going to be out of lock.

Christ go away. Seriously...

And i told you.. You don't need to worry about EFI128 in a long time... as long as there are no consumer 128bit CPU's. Hell, there arent that many experimental 128bit CPU's, you can count them on your damn hand.

Get off your EFI obsession and stop posting this **** - you're not being helpful.

[Roman23]

According to consensus, I AM very helpful.. but not to kids like you.. Nanofrog knows me and he knows I am not one for causing problems.. but kids like you seem to want to cause problems for people like us because we know more than you do and we have a stronger tie to the last generation of macs than you have.

bottom line: maybe to a small percentage, but not to everyone.. and i consider you VERY UNFRIENDLY and pugnacious at best..

Learn to respect and be nice when you offer criticism, rather than FLAME someone.

so what? ATI gives better choices over nvidia anyway.

but i am not going to argue with a stupid kid anymore.. not worth my time on my 24th birthday.

DOLBOYOB


Christ go away. Seriously...

And i told you.. You don't need to worry about EFI128 in a long time... as long as there are no consumer 128bit CPU's. Hell, there arent that many experimental 128bit CPU's, you can count them on your damn hand.

Get off your EFI obsession and stop posting this **** - you're not being helpful.

[Roman23]

DON'T listen to the person who said GT120 as that card will NOT work in a 2006-2007 mac pro.. your only choices are really 4870 and flashed cards.. ATI is the only one that supports your firmware.. nvidia doesn't - that ended when the 2008 mac pros came out and EFI64.

As you will see when you goto the apple website and look at the GT120 - it will say for use with 2009 mac pros only, though it also works in the 2008's as its been tested by OWC and countless others, INCLUDING me.



Hi everyone, i'm having a heck of a time figuring out what is and what isn't compatible for my 2006 Mac Pro. I'd like to get the best card I can for 150 or under, any suggestions? Please help, i'd like to buy as soon as possible.

[Roman23]

I saw the message ROMINATOR(racist) said to you and I just wanted to say what he posted was really nasty, and not even friendly at that.. You aren't a troll at all.. you simply didn't know.. and thats ok.. But, for those like vylen and rominator who think they know it all - They know nothing compared to what I know... yeah, probably because they are gamers and stuff.. and using a mac to play games on(I also play games) - but not to the extreme like these guys do..

so, I think you were in the right as you didn't know.. just someone had to flame you.. it wouldn't have been me.. Russians don't flame anyone.. as we are more respecting of AMericans than americans towards themselves.

my .02


A new GT card from nVidia. I beleive you have the GT 120 for $149.99 + free shipping. Your other options are Radeon HD 4870 or GTX 285. Both of which are over $150.

[jav6454]

Dear Mac Pro 2006-2007 users,

Your only choice for graphics upgrades is ATI.. THATS IT. Nvidia, a company that is on the verge of bankruptcy and not doing very well(nanofrog) does NOT support EFI32 and they never will.. those mamzerim!(I won't translate this), but ATI is the most user friendly and caters to those in the EFI32 community.. Don't count on nvidia for anything.. I had their GT120 and tossed it in the trash.. my radeon 4870 is much better than the GT120.. but in general I dislike nvidia for what they did to the 2006-2007 mac pro community.. 2008's? You guys are IMMUNE as you have EFI64.. and 2009's? We are also immune.. however, when and if EFI128 comes out? Then all generations are going to be out of lock.

What's with the whole EFI32... makes no sense what you say. GT 120 is not a gaming card like the HD4870. They are not even near the same level. It is unfair to compare them both. Also, tossing a GT 120 to the trash is plain stupid. EFI128? WTF! We are just getting into 64-bit computing and there are NO consumer level 128-bit CPUs.

What are you smoking... really?

Yes I didn't know about GT 120s. Well, learn something every day.

[Vylen]

But, for those like vylen and rominator who think they know it all - They know nothing compared to what I know... yeah, probably because they are gamers and stuff.. and using a mac to play games on(I also play games) - but not to the extreme like these guys do..

so, I think you were in the right as you didn't know.. just someone had to flame you.. it wouldn't have been me.. Russians don't flame anyone.. as we are more respecting of AMericans than americans towards themselves.

my .02

Hey, I never said i know everything. Feel hostile to me all you want, but you have to understand that if you keep posting your apparent dislike for the previous generation of Mac Pro's in every single thread with the same explanation, you're going to get some hostility too.

[Roman23]

seems like you are anti-mac.. reading from what you said about the mac pro - me personally, I have no sony drives at all in my 2009 mac pro.. memory? Ha! I am using desktop PC PNY memory and just upgraded my 2.66 processor to NOT A XEON, but a desktop core i7-975 - the top of the line 3.33 of which apple uses the W3580.

You tout and scream that the mac uses proprietary parts.. how true, to an extent.. But, so far in this 2009 mac pro I own I am able to upgrade far more than in the 2008 I once had.. While I do agree with some stuff you wrote, a majority of the rest of it is just plain nonsense - typical of PC only people.. I left that crowd a long time ago.. and while I build my own computers also, I still have respect for apple though I do wish for Jobs to step down and someone come in and open the macs technology up, so one can get clones again.



not true. you can hack an NVidia GTX480 and get it to work with EFI32. a thread was posted on it earlier this week

[jav6454]

I do wish for Jobs to step down and someone come in and open the macs technology up, so one can get clones again.

Not gonna happen. If it does, the end of OS X easiness of use with respect to hardware and software integration.

[Roman23]

I wasn't born yesterday.. and really no, i didn't toss it in the trash but it was too slow for my liking.. like you, I am also waiting for the 5870 or any other 58xx series or eyefinity to come out under apple hardware. I like the eyefinity versions as those have support for Mini display port.

no offense intended.



What's with the whole EFI32... makes no sense what you say. GT 120 is not a gaming card like the HD4870. They are not even near the same level. It is unfair to compare them both. Also, tossing a GT 120 to the trash is plain stupid. EFI128? WTF! We are just getting into 64-bit computing and there are NO consumer level 128-bit CPUs.

What are you smoking... really?

Yes I didn't know about GT 120s. Well, learn something every day.

[petvas]

Well, you 've just proven to not only be a troll, but a poorly informed troll.

Neither the GT120 nor the GTX285 will work on a 2006 Mac Pro.

People who have no clue what they are talking about should REALLY avoid giving advice.

For a 2006, you can use:

7300GT (used from Ebay or DV Warehouse, or Mac-Pro.com) $100+
2600XT (same deal) $100+
3870 Mac Edition (new or used..just make sure it is for Mac) $200
8800GT (Must be EFI32 Mac Edition)
4870 (Apple or flashed, avoid 4890) $200-350
Quadro 4500 $350

Very well said. I own a first gen Mac Pro and zi have three cards! One Nvidia 8800 which is also installed on the machine, one 7300 as a backup, and one flashed ATI 4890, which I now don't use because I was tired of hacking the system every time a new update comes in order to make hardware acceleration to work.

[jav6454]

I wasn't born yesterday.. and really no, i didn't toss it in the trash but it was too slow for my liking.. like you, I am also waiting for the 5870 or any other 58xx series or eyefinity to come out under apple hardware. I like the eyefinity versions as those have support for Mini display port.

no offense intended.

Um, I am not waiting for the new Mac Pro to come out, nor am I waiting for 5870 support on it. I am already building my own PC with Crossfire HD 5850s and an i7-930.

Now, I argue against the GTX 480 because it is a heat furnance or space heater, either one is fine.

A Mac Pro is useless to me as it has a high price tag for the ability to "upgrade" certain components. Also, the upgrades are limited to the ones Apple wishes to support officially. Something I really hate because I want to be free in choosing the right card, not what Apple tells me is fine (specially with those poor GDDR equiped GPUs; 512MB in 2010... the fu*k?!)

[Roman23]

I like all the generations of mac pros.. what are you on??? I am just saying that the 2008's have EFI64 plus a much better chance of future video card upgrades compared to those with 2006-2007 EFI32 based machines.. I happen to like all of them.. but I don't like the way Apple does this to people.. they should update te firmware in the 2006-2007 to support EFI64.. so everyone can be on par.. it would be nice if they did..

What statement of dislike did I say about any previous generation mac pro, CONSIDERING i started life on a 2006 mac pro from a G5 Quad.. and if not for the G5 Quad, i would never have ever gotten a mac pro let alone a 2006 model.. shortly after than the same person who sold me the 2006 had an 2008 and traded up for that.. I would have kept my 2008 3.2 8-core, but it had limitations such as:

odd_ports not being recognized in windows - required some "funky" modification to the mbr.. under os x, they work fine.
vt-x - this was fixed in the 1.4 firmware of the 2009 mac pro, but never in the 2008 even though firmware 1.3 was supposed to fix this and I have alerted Apple's engineering to this. While they told me that I was correct, they might not make a new firmware update to fix this problem..so, its unknown.

IDE bus: They should have done away with IDE completly, though I had two sata superdrives in my mac pro connected to the odd ports and one external for use with windows booting USB, as firewire wouldn't work(windows won;t boot from a firewire optical or hard drive).

Limitations of 2009? So far, none!! I just completed the upgrade of my 2009's 2.66 to the 3.33 w3580 and its working great. Had I had known that the desktop i7-975 would work also and non-ecc memory, prob would have saved 300 dollars.


Hey, I never said i know everything. Feel hostile to me all you want, but you have to understand that if you keep posting your apparent dislike for the previous generation of Mac Pro's in every single thread with the same explanation, you're going to get some hostility too.

[Vylen]

apparent dislike

That's the feeling i get from your posts. Nothing more.

[Roman23]

You asked:

What are you smoking... really?

I don't smoke, I pump.

I pump as in work out.. smoking is bad for you so they say.. rather pump iron than smoke. Besides, too many of my Russian friends smoke and drink Vodka of which I don't.





What's with the whole EFI32... makes no sense what you say. GT 120 is not a gaming card like the HD4870. They are not even near the same level. It is unfair to compare them both. Also, tossing a GT 120 to the trash is plain stupid. EFI128? WTF! We are just getting into 64-bit computing and there are NO consumer level 128-bit CPUs.

What are you smoking... really?

Yes I didn't know about GT 120s. Well, learn something every day.

[Roman23]

because you never know if it may happen.. I am sure there are some "5th-columnists" inside Apple somewhere who yearn to open Apple's system to use OEM parts, rather than commercial, proprietary parts.. I admire Jobs, but he is too closed minded when it comes to expansion of a computer.. While I like the imac also, its a closed system and is not that capable of being expanded compared to the mac pro or even a pc for that matter.


Not gonna happen. If it does, the end of OS X easiness of use with respect to hardware and software integration.

[jav6454]

because you never know if it may happen.. I am sure there are some "5th-columnists" inside Apple somewhere

Reeeaaaaalllly? I didn't know Apple's employees wanted to sabottage their CEO's dream.

[Roman23]

Yeah, the 8800 is a nice card also.. a lot better than the card I originally had in my 2008 mac pro which was the 2600xt. The other good thing I liked about the 8800 was the support for opencl, while the 2600xt didn't have that.. Then I wised up and got the radeon 4870 apple version.. I had a pc flashed radeon 4870 1GB that I bought on ebay from someone and the only problem I had with it is that in system profiler, the card's speed would come up as: 2.5GT/sec instead of 5.0. So, I decided to get the Apple one and ever since I am able to take advantage of 5.0 over 2.5.

According to what I read sometime ago, all pc flashed cards for the mac (at least the ones I have encountered) run at 2.5 rather than 5.0, while under WIndows bootcamp it ran at 5.0.



Very well said. I own a first gen Mac Pro and zi have three cards! One Nvidia 8800 which is also installed on the machine, one 7300 as a backup, and one flashed ATI 4890, which I now don't use because I was tired of hacking the system every time a new update comes in order to make hardware acceleration to work.

[jav6454]

Fermi running nVidia's 196.75 drivers.

http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/5/5b/FermiLiftoff.jpg

[Roman23]

We are on the same page.. look at what I did!

I took a core i7-975 and replaced the xeon w3520 and it works great.. had to change out the memory, as ECC memory is useless to me.. even xeon's are useless to me. So, actually the single-quad 2009's use standard INTEL OEM processors with integrated heat spreaders - leaving those who own this machine the ability to spend less money to upgrade the processors.. To go from 2.66 to 3.33 on the apple store would have been 1200.00, but i got the parts for a lot less cheaper.

I agree with you.. i like open systems also.. hence why i still build them for friends.


Um, I am not waiting for the new Mac Pro to come out, nor am I waiting for 5870 support on it. I am already building my own PC with Crossfire HD 5850s and an i7-930.

Now, I argue against the GTX 480 because it is a heat furnance or space heater, either one is fine.

A Mac Pro is useless to me as it has a high price tag for the ability to "upgrade" certain components. Also, the upgrades are limited to the ones Apple wishes to support officially. Something I really hate because I want to be free in choosing the right card, not what Apple tells me is fine (specially with those poor GDDR equiped GPUs; 512MB in 2010... the fu*k?!)

[Roman23]

Read my messages a lot more carefully before you say anything negative about them? Not one d*** thing I said wrong about any of the mac pros.. I was just going over their limitations, thats all.. and I express my dislike at Apple for screwing 2006-2007 mac pro owners from further expanding their video cards like 2008 and 2009 can already do.

I am sure that when the radeon 5870 or 5890 comes out as an Apple part, i am sure it will work in those systems as Apple doesn't own the firmware. ATI does and its ATI's decision to include it for that segment of the community. ATI-AMD sorry.


apparent dislike

That's the feeling i get from your posts. Nothing more.

[Roman23]

all I know is that any corporation will have rebels inside of it.. ANY.. esp large companies like Apple.. yes, I am sure there are a few who share our views on these forums.. I know one in my local apple store who does, but he doesn't dare show it on the floor..



Reeeaaaaalllly? I didn't know Apple's employees wanted to sabottage their CEO's dream.

[Vylen]

Hey, you may feel like you can criticise people about the way they write their posts, going so far as to brandish them as "unfriendly" but, if you can't take it that i had the feeling that you apparently disliked previous machines, then don't say anything.

You might be listing the limitations but you do it everywhere - even when people don't ask about it. That's the main reason why I feel the way I do.

[EDIT] P.S This thread has really gone off the rails. This guy just wants to know what graphics cards he can upgrade his machine with.

[jav6454]

all I know is that any corporation will have rebels inside of it.. ANY.. esp large companies like Apple.. yes, I am sure there are a few who share our views on these forums.. I know one in my local apple store who does, but he doesn't dare show it on the floor..

Now really... an employee on a retail store is like that?! You do realize retail != corporate.

Edit - Oh Noes! He is in Time-Out. I wonder why?

[Vylen]

Now really... an employee on a retail store is like that?! You do realize retail != corporate.

Edit - Oh Noes! He is in Time-Out. I wonder why?

Indeed, didn't know there was a Time-Out thing.

Anyway, back on topic.

Is the list provided by Rominator definitive for cards that don't need to be flashed?

How about non-native flashable cards?

[slughead]

[... ]

The above quote is all things in your post relevant to this topic (video cards for the 2006 mac pro).

Sorry for not replying directly. If you'd like to talk about this further, please repost your opinion in the appropriate topic (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=941196&page=4)

[The Rominator]

It's funny, we were Troll Free until the word "Fermi" started appearing in posts, suddenley we are awash in them.

Anyhow, to those who feel need for virulent Anti-ATI or Anti-Nvidia or virulent ANYTHING, try this site: (http://www.crayolastore.com/creator.asp)

With Fall just around the corner, you're going to need proper tools for school.

[slughead]

With Fall just around the corner, you're going to need proper tools for school.

You shouldn't be so harsh. One of the trolls (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=10430190&postcount=19) doesn't do drugs, he pumps--as in pumps iron... he works out, you see. He also has Russian friends who smoke and drink "Vodka." However, he does not. He felt it important to be clear on this issue when talking about video card availability for the 2006 mac pro. I think we need to respect that.

[coconutkc]

I'm not really sure how to flash a card so i'll stay away from that option for the time being. The only card i can seem to find is the 8800gt but it doesn't say it's the mac version and the specs lists never say if the card supports efi or not.

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-SLI-Ready-Graphics-VCG88512GXPB/dp/B000XD1JJK/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

[The Rominator]

I'm not really sure how to flash a card so i'll stay away from that option for the time being. The only card i can seem to find is the 8800gt but it doesn't say it's the mac version and the specs lists never say if the card supports efi or not.

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-GeForce-SLI-Ready-Graphics-VCG88512GXPB/dp/B000XD1JJK/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top


If it doesn't SPECIFICALLY specify Mac support, it isn't for Macs. And even if you find a Mac one, it needs to be for the series of Mac you have. There are 2 versions.

WeLove Macs has them for $500-800 or you can try Ebay

A reasonable deal is here:

http://www.mac-pro.com/Geforce-8800-GT-512MB-Video-Card-Mac-Pro-1st-gen-661-4724

If it doesn't SPECIFICALLY specify Mac support, it isn't for Macs.

[jeanlain]

not true. you can hack an NVidia GTX480 and get it to work with EFI32. a thread was posted on it earlier this week
Those kinds of hacks don't depend on EFI bitness.
However, when Apple/Nvidia releases a GTX480 for Mac, you can be sure it won't work on older Mac Pros, without a hack that is.

[skavenn]

Well, you 've just proven to not only be a troll, but a poorly informed troll.

Neither the GT120 nor the GTX285 will work on a 2006 Mac Pro.

People who have no clue what they are talking about should REALLY avoid giving advice.

For a 2006, you can use:

7300GT (used from Ebay or DV Warehouse, or Mac-Pro.com) $100+
2600XT (same deal) $100+
3870 Mac Edition (new or used..just make sure it is for Mac) $200
8800GT (Must be EFI32 Mac Edition)
4870 (Apple or flashed, avoid 4890) $200-350
Quadro 4500 $350

So, if i buy a original 4870 from apple i can use it on my 2600 mac pro? on apple site they say i need a pci 2.0 2008/2009 mac.

But if this card work on my old mac i buy it

thanks =)

[Vylen]

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-desktops/151812-ati-radeon-hd-4870-first-generation-mac-pro.html

Seems so... a few people have done it since last year at least.

Additional googling will probably yield more results. For now, it seems you're safe to buy the 4870.

[skavenn]

nice, thanks a lot for the reply Vylen :)


Cheers

[coconutkc]

Thanks for the post Vylen. I'll be picking that up.

[Cindori]

Neither the GT120 nor the GTX285 will work on a 2006 Mac Pro.


actually GT120 works on 32bit efi macs, im surprised

[The Rominator]

actually GT120 works on 32bit efi macs, im surprised

you sure?

i had one here, it only worked using aty_init

[Cindori]

u are right, I misread this post

http://blog.macsales.com/602-testing-those-new-graphics-cards

[audio_inside]

For a 2006, you can use:

7300GT (used from Ebay or DV Warehouse, or Mac-Pro.com) $100+
2600XT (same deal) $100+
3870 Mac Edition (new or used..just make sure it is for Mac) $200
8800GT (Must be EFI32 Mac Edition)
4870 (Apple or flashed, avoid 4890) $200-350
Quadro 4500 $350

For a Mac1,1 or Mac2,1 if you can't find anything better you can also reflash an ATI x1900. I'll sell you mine cheap after I finish upgrading to the HD 4870 :)

-Steve