Will either of these video cards work with an Early '08?

.macstiled said:

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 (Platform is Universal, rather than PC or Macintosh, so I'd assume this means it's cross-platform?)

http://www.macmall.com/p/Evga-Video-Cards/product~dpno~7721995~pdp.fcdejah

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It will work under Windows or Linux, but not OS X.

.macstiled said:

Apple ATI Radeon HD 4870 Kit for Mac Pro

http://www.macmall.com/p/Apple-Video-Cards/product~dpno~7763005~pdp.fdfbfag

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It will work in OS X, Windows, or Linux if you wish (once you install the appropriate drivers of course ). BIOS emulation in the MP's firmware will allow it to work under a BIOS based OS such as Windows.

This is definitely the hassle-free way to go.

But it's also expected that a 5870 will release in a Mac edition with the release of the 2010 MP's. As to when, well, there's no real news, just speculation/educated guesswork in a few other threads at this time. Hopefully sooner than later, but none of us knows for sure.

So if you can wait it out, it might be worth it.

BTW, another alternative might be the GT120 available from Apple (you'll have to figure out if it's capable of doing what you need).

I had a Zotac GTX 260 happily working alongside an 8800 in an 08 Pro, with the 8800 doing the booting and an injector loading the 260 post boot. It all worked fine and even drove CUDA in multu GPU mode. The minor hassle is not being able to boot from the 260, and doing a small bit of power routing from the optical bay.

.macstiled said:

@nanofrog: Thank you! Will wait for WWDC then. If nothing's released, I'll just pick up the 4870 since Apple's GT 120 is for Early '09 Mac Pros.

Really hoping the recent addition of Steam on the Mac will make Apple reconsider Mac Pro (gaming) video card options...

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The GT120 WILL WORK in the 2008 systems (your system has EFI64, just as the '09 models do).

Apple just doesn't advertise this, just as they don't advertise the HD4870 will work in '06 - '07 systems either (and they refuse to honor the warranty for the card if you do in this case, as has been discovered the hard way, when one failed on an EFI32 based system).

I didn't know if you were willing to leave the 8800 in, and use the injector method to get the 260 operational (I actually presumed not, and even the possibility the 8800's starting to go DOA). But it is a possibility if you wish to do so.

the 120gt will actually work in 32bit efi machines

.macstiled said:

@nanofrog: Thank you! Will wait for WWDC then. If nothing's released, I'll just pick up the 4870 since Apple's GT 120 is for Early '09 Mac Pros.

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Just to confirm what others have said, I'm using the GT120 in my 08 Mac Pro. Installed without problem and works great.

Question though, for everyone else, I'm using the GT120 to power a third monitor. Are you telling the GT120 is better than my 8800? I heard it they were basically the same. I've been using the 8800 for gaming...