Does X1900 need drivers?

[Renderz]

Hi,

I'm contemplating buying a x1900 off ebay, but it's an OEM so it's without drivers. The ebay page does provide a url that does have drivers but it's well over a year old.

So I ask the question, does the X1900 need drivers?

I tend to run OS X most of the time, I just want to improve overal performance on my high resolution which includes running Warcraft in the background.

 

[Nermal]

An OEM card will work directly, as the drivers are already installed on your system.

 

[robbieduncan]

It has to be a Mac card. You cannot use an OEM card intended for standard PCs. This is due to the fact that standard PCs use an old-school BIOS and Macs use EFI.

 

[Nermal]

Actually, after looking around a bit, it appears that the OEM cards are for Mac Pros, and the retail cards are for G5s. Which system do you have?

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Actually, after looking around a bit, it appears that the OEM cards are for Mac Pros, and the retail cards are for G5s. Which system do you have?

Yep...and they are very different cards...

The G5 card won't work at all in a Mac Pro - Nor will the Mac Pro card work in a G5...so make sure the one you are looking at is the correct model for your system.

The G5 card is offically called the "Radeon X1900 G5 Mac Edition", is based in the X1900GT from the wintel world and comes in retail ATI packaging.

The Mac Pro card is an X1900XT, and is only available either as an installed option on new Macs or as an upgrade kit, in which case it comes in Apple packaging.

 

[Renderz]

Hey folks,

I have a Mac Pro 2.6 and I'm looking, on Ebay, at one of these.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Apple-ATI-Rad...oryZ3762QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Lord Blackadder]

That looks to be the correct card for a Mac Pro - you might want to confrm that with the seller just in case though...

One more identifying feature - the Radeon X1900XT for the Mac Pro has 512MB VRAM, whereas the X1900 G5 Mac edition has 256MB.

 

[Nermal]

That looks to be the correct card for a Mac Pro - you might want to confrm that with the seller just in case though...

Well the auction title is "Apple ATI Radeon X1900 XT Graphics Card Mac Pro (OEM)" so it looks like it's suitable for a Pro

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Well the auction title is "Apple ATI Radeon X1900 XT Graphics Card Mac Pro (OEM)" so it looks like it's suitable for a Pro

Well, ebay ain't exactly a paragon of virtue eek: ), so I tend to check, double check and triple check when it comes to buying there...If the pictures are what you get it looks kosher though.

 

[CyberPrey]

Well, ebay ain't exactly a paragon of virtue eek: )

NO!!! say it isn't so!!!

.. so I tend to check, double check and triple check when it comes to buying there...If the pictures are what you get it looks kosher though.

I agree with this though... The card in the pictures DOES look exactly like mine did when I ordered the upgrade kit though, and to the best of my knowledge, Apple is the one one who uses and needs the card length expander you see on the end.

Although the person selling it seems not to know to much about the Mac Pro... I'm a relative newbie (to Mac's...) and even I am aware that the ATI driver is already sitting in OS-X simply waiting for you to pop the card in