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GPU for 64bit 1,1 and 3,1 on?

Split-Multi-Poll: For your 64bit MacPro(s), which GPU would you go with?

  • Total voters
    30
Tesselator

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
Caution, split poll.

So with all the news and speculation which GPU would you select for the MacPro running 64bit kernel for each: the MacPro 1,1 & 2,1 and also the 3,1 ~ 5,1?

If you wanna add your reasoning or discuss some aspect hereof feel free. It's all good! :)


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PowerPCMacMan

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
1
PowerPC land
Since the ATI Radeon 7950 uses EBC firmware, this would be the best choice for any Mac Pro generation, as Nvidia's are ALL EFI64 only - eliminating the 1,1 and 2,1.

5870 would be great for those who have no interest in using ML at all and wishing to stay put. Again, all of ATI/AMD's cards use EBC firmware.. I only hope AMD continues supporting older Mac Pros with their EBC goodness.
 
Tesselator

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
PowerPCMacMan said:
Since the ATI Radeon 7950 uses EBC firmware, this would be the best choice for any Mac Pro generation, as Nvidia's are ALL EFI64 only - eliminating the 1,1 and 2,1.
Click to expand...

Well, no. the poll shows the 64bit boot-loaded MacPro 1,1 and 2,1. So it's all 64bit all around. It really is quite simple to boot a 1,1 or 2,1 into EFI64 from what I've read.
 
PowerPCMacMan

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
1
PowerPC land
Simple in terms of using the Chameleon boot loader.. It allows the system to boot into 64-bit. Consider the hackintosh bootloader to be a helper utility to inject 64-bit capability into the 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pro..

I haven't used it on my mac pro since it already is 64-bit kernel capable, but I do use chameleon on my gateway.

Tesselator said:
Well, no. the poll shows the 64bit boot-loaded MacPro 1,1 and 2,1. So it's all 64bit all around. It really is quite simple to boot a 1,1 or 2,1 into EFI64 from what I've read.
Click to expand...
 
Tesselator

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
PowerPCMacMan said:
Simple in terms of using the Chameleon boot loader.. It allows the system to boot into 64-bit. Consider the hackintosh bootloader to be a helper utility to inject 64-bit capability into the 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pro..
Click to expand...

Yup, that's it exactly.

And weather or not people are actually doing that part of this poll after/if it becomes more populated, ought to reflect the number of folks who have digested this information. Err, at least I would think so. :)
 
PowerPCMacMan

PowerPCMacMan

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2012
800
1
PowerPC land
While I like to tinker with my Mac machines I gave up on my 2006 back in 2007 and no longer have one.. I have a 2010 Mac Pro and this problem does not affect me, but just for kicks and giggles I might install chameleon to see how it would work on my mac pro..

I wonder if there is a use for chameleon on Mac Pros higher than 1,1 and 2,1? Multi-booting different OS'es perhaps?
 
DanielCoffey

DanielCoffey

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2010
1,207
30
Edinburgh, UK
I will be looking at a 680 4Gb which, in the UK at least, are a rare as a very rare thing. Failing that I would fall back to the "safe" option of a 7950 3Gb but one which was clocked a little higher than stock.

I do consider my requirements to be somewhat niche, however.

I just want a card with as much vram as possible simply to play Skyrim at 1440p as it is too easy to fill even 2Gb at 1440p without going mad on the textures and ENB. 3Gb would be the minimum as Skyrim will easily use upwards of 2.5Gb even on a single monitor above 1080p.

While I would prefer a card that ran at PCIE 2.0 in bootcamp, I have come to the conclusion that for my application it isn't really necessary. When playing games, the card is rarely pushed 100% like it would when running a render so if I hit the PCIE 1.0 cap it would only be for brief moments rather than all the time. Gaming is not a time-critical task like real world work would be.

So, to answer the poll, I would prefer a 680 but only the 4Gb version, failing that then a PC 7950 modified to run EFI.
 
Tesselator

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
DanielCoffey said:
I will be looking at a 680 4Gb which, in the UK at least, are a rare as a very rare thing. Failing that I would fall back to the "safe" option of a 7950 3Gb but one which was clocked a little higher than stock.

I do consider my requirements to be somewhat niche, however.

I just want a card with as much vram as possible simply to play Skyrim at 1440p as it is too easy to fill even 2Gb at 1440p without going mad on the textures and ENB. 3Gb would be the minimum as Skyrim will easily use upwards of 2.5Gb even on a single monitor above 1080p.

While I would prefer a card that ran at PCIE 2.0 in bootcamp, I have come to the conclusion that for my application it isn't really necessary. When playing games, the card is rarely pushed 100% like it would when running a render so if I hit the PCIE 1.0 cap it would only be for brief moments rather than all the time. Gaming is not a time-critical task like real world work would be.

So, to answer the poll, I would prefer a 680 but only the 4Gb version, failing that then a PC 7950 modified to run EFI.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I think I'll probably get the 680 as well. But I think the 4GB cards are too expensive. OC is a good thing tho. Those Jetstream cards look nice. BTW, if you or anyone anywhere needs me to get and send them a 680 it's not a problem. There's lots of them in the shops right now. About 20 of two or three brands of each 550 on up and 650 on up - per shop is typical. So if you (or anyone) has paypal and wanna do that just lemme know. Shipping is typically +$30 and prices are about the same as in the states ± $30.
 
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Tesselator

Tesselator

macrumors 601
Original poster
Jan 9, 2008
4,601
6
Japan
I wonder if there are any folks out there using the Jetstream cards? Are they any good?


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Bohab said:
...
Click to expand...
And geesh Bohab, did you really have to vote for every single option? Pretty goofy!
 
666sheep

666sheep

macrumors 68040
Dec 7, 2009
3,686
291
Poland
Voted for 570 and 670 for 1,1.

BTW, tried 7950 and 7870 in 64 bit in 1,1 (Chameleon) – drivers do not work, that same as in 32 bit.
 
GermanyChris

GermanyChris

macrumors 601
Jul 3, 2011
4,185
5
Here

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GraniteTheWolf

macrumors 6502
Mar 31, 2013
250
8
Wisconsin
I own a GTX 570, and im bias to anything nvidia for the most part :D

My only experience with an ati card was a X1600 Pro I had that crapped the bed and at the same time the motherboard in that gaming rig died too...
I liked the card's power at the time, but that sorta made me weary of them.

Never had a problem with any of the many nvidia cards ive owned yet.
 
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