Largest graphics card possible

thewhoosh said:

Hi guys, I have a 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with aNVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB

Is this the latest I can put in this machine, I am doing video editing and 3D design

I look forward to any info available

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For 3D and video work you can get the Nvidia 570GTX, 580GTX or 680GTX

ATI 5770*, 5870*
AMD 6870, 6970, 7950*, 7970
GTX 560, 570, 580, 650, 660ti, 670, 680*, 770.
Apple versions with boot screen can be bought with asterisk models.
I probably missed a few and didn't include the dual GPU cards. Point is, there is a bunch if you plan on running 10.8.

^^^^All the cards mentioned above can be bought on eBay with flashed with an Apple EFI. one of our site vendors MacVidCards is among the sellers on eBay.

Lou

Largest Graphics Card Possible ≠ Fastest Graphics Card Possible

Hi machine sounds like it could be a 1,1 or 2,1 series which may limit the cards and OS upgrades??

Good point.

Thewhoosh - can you tell us the year model of your Mac Pro please. Check Apple - About this Mac - More Info - System Report and tell us just what it says next to Model Identifier.

It will have something like MacPro3,1 or similar. We don't need any other info from that page.

thewhoosh said:

Mac Pro
Early 2008
Processor 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel XeonMemory 26 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB
Serial Number CK83600931E
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b)

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That's good. The cards mentioned in this thread will work on your 2008 Mac Pro. You'll just have to take note of the minimum system requirements on OSX on the corresponding card. Better to upgrade to Mountain Lion 10.8.4

thewhoosh said:

I will study the ones you have recommended and look for the Mac plug and play ones.
I am on OS 10.7.5
would I be better updating this?

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The drivers in OS10.7.5 (Lion) are not the latest drivers to support newer cards. I would update to OS10.8.4 (ML) if I were to update to a newer card. IMO, your graphics card selection is somewhat limited if you choose to stay with Lion. Probably just the ATI HD5770, HD5870 or a flashed HD6870.

flowrider said:

^^^^All the cards mentioned above can be bought on eBay with flashed with an Apple EFI. one of our site vendors MacVidCards is among the sellers on eBay.

Lou

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Yeah, but extremely expensive! I paid $90 for a card he sells for over $400 just as one example. I got a fairly good deal as they typically sell for $125 to $150 but that's still a far cry from $400+. The good news is that he seems to be looking into that and states that he's planning to sell card mods as a service - you buy the card from whoever and he'll mod it for you for a fee. So that sounds better money-wise. People with a high ethical awareness should also realize that these mods essentially boil down to intellectual property theft tho - so if that's important to you then be advised - it's basically the same thing as buying stolen property.

Also there are a few start-up utilities which alleviate most of the startup (boot screen) woes - if indeed you notice any. I'm running an unmodified PC card with no boot-screens and haven't had any issues. I can still boot to other volumes and stuff without any trouble. I still keep the 8800 GT and the 7300 GT laying around just in case tho. I'm running 10.7.5 BTW, and all is well with all of the cards I've tried from the list being quoted. Going to 10.8.x is probably a good idea anyway tho. It's nearing the end cycle and that when I usually upgrade. The 10.9.x cycle is about to start pretty soon now if I'm not mistaken.

^^^ I echo that. If ANYONE is on 10.7.x do yourself a favor and upgrade. Lion, to me, was frustrating as hell. Bad choices all around.

flowrider said:

^^^^All the cards mentioned above can be bought on eBay with flashed with an Apple EFI. one of our site vendors MacVidCards is among the sellers on eBay.

Lou

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I'd buy from Newegg or Fry's and cut out the middle man by flashing it yourself, it's not complicated.

thewhoosh said:

Nvidia Quadro FX 4800 for Mac Pro 1.8GB Dual DVI Flashed 4000 CUDA OpenCL Apple

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It will, but it's nothing special preformance-wise. Check sticky thread (Frequently Asked Questions...) and choose one for yourself, depending on OS you're running. If you can live without bootscreen.
GTX570 would be best bet (requires 10.7.5 or 10.8 to run OOTB). Especially with its today's prices (ca. $150).

thewhoosh said:

Nvidia Quadro FX 4800 for Mac Pro 1.8GB Dual DVI Flashed 4000 CUDA OpenCL Apple

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Ask wittjack if the card will look like the picture or if it will be in fact this one:

http://www.ztronics.com/hp-594502-001-geforce-gtx-260-1-8gb-pcie-fisker-2-video-card.html

I think you will find it to be the item I linked instead of the one pictured.

The card was developed for the Mac by myself and another party.

It is SIGNIFICANTLY slower than a GTX285 with 1GB. (Has 192 cores vs 240 in a GTX285)

The party selling it has no knowledge of how card works, he's a "copy & paste" flasher.

I have a few lying around I meant to get rid of, I'll toss one in and give you an idea how it performs.

Need more detail

thewhoosh said:

I have just received a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 1280 MB and my second monitor is Purple, but my main monitor is fine.
I swopped cables over to see if the main monitor had the same problem, this time both monitors were fine, I put the monitors back and the 19" LCD was purple again,

Any ideas

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What are the card ports, cables, and monitor ports used for each monitor.