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MacPro Video Card recommendation plz

J

Jukeus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2009
3
0
Hi All

I tried to find some answers before posting but really in the end I still need users advice. :rolleyes:
I have a Mac Pro 2xDual core.

I have an x1900 ati card installed and looking for a good upgrade that is relatively quiet.
Im in design school and learning 3D and video editing. I also use the card for an odd game of company of heroes.
I just ordered a Dell 24" high grade LCD and want to ugprade my video card
as it is crashing in windows and ATI no longer supports the card. I hate the fact that my choices are so limited (@#$!#@$ you Steve :mad:) but I cant quit Mac. I'm hooked.


I read the monster thread about flashing the 4780 graphic card and I was wondering if thats the best way to go.
If so, can you recommend a model to me please? one that is quiet and hopefully 1 gig memory and straight forward for the install. I can create a rom but rather not. . x1900 is very loud so i'm hoping its a quieter one.

Any advice would be appreciated. :)

Thanks
J
 
Video Card

Well, you definitely can't go wrong with the 4780 -- it's an incredible card. The other option is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, which is cheaper, but also very good and extremely cool and quiet. If you're willing to spend the money, the 4780 is the way to go. If you really want graphics that will blow you away, you should try the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 which is $450 (ouch) but has 1 GB of memory. It's not particularly quiet of cool either. If you choose this card, note that it is double wide and will only fit in the bottom slot unless you want to take up two slots. Ultimately, I would choose the 4780, and although it only has 512 MB of memory, it is GDDR5 and is an excellent card.
 
jdizzle299 said:
Well, you definitely can't go wrong with the 4780 -- it's an incredible card. The other option is the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120, which is cheaper, but also very good and extremely cool and quiet. If you're willing to spend the money, the 4780 is the way to go. If you really want graphics that will blow you away, you should try the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 which is $450 (ouch) but has 1 GB of memory. It's not particularly quiet of cool either. If you choose this card, note that it is double wide and will only fit in the bottom slot unless you want to take up two slots. Ultimately, I would choose the 4780, and although it only has 512 MB of memory, it is GDDR5 and is an excellent card.
Click to expand...

The 120GT is hardly an upgrade from the 1900XT.
 
EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 285 1GB for Mac. It's what I use.
It's probably the best card for gaming at the moment.

I manage to get an avg of 17 FPS (low 13, high 21) using the Crysis Benchmarking Tool (1900x1200 res, Very High quality, DX10).

I think they are respectable results.. this was in Windows 7.

Kind Regards
 
The 4870 apparently works fine in a 2006 macpro :)
I've read a number of posts from people confirming it does...
 
jdizzle299 said:
f you really want graphics that will blow you away, you should try the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 which is $450 (ouch) but has 1 GB of memory. It's not particularly quiet of cool either.
Click to expand...

The GTX 285 is very quiet in my Mac Pro. At least as quiet as the 8800GT it replaced. Can't say I've measured the heat output, but I have yet to see the fans spin up, even after playing Crysis.
 
If you have one of the original Mac Pros and are wanting to boot into Mac OS X then you need to be running the latest version of Leopard (10.5.x) or better to use any of the newer video cards. Otherwise, the card probably won't work.
 
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