Mac Pro graphics solution?

[tom.]

I am currently in the process of selling my gaming pc, in order to buy a mac pro. My old system was an intel core 2 quad, 4GB PC2-6400 low latency, and an 8800 GTX.

I've had a macbook for about 18 months now, and i will never go back, hence my recent idea to move my desktop computing to the mac pro. However i am concerned about graphics power in gaming on OS X and on boot camp Vista/XP.

I am looking for some advice on what you think the best solution might be, and whether you think the 2 x 2600XT's will be powerful enough for the recent game s in the market (Crysis, COD4:MW).

Also wondering if it is possible to use upgrade the mac pro to an 8800 gtx myself, and whether the 2 x 2600XT's needs just simply uses crossfire drivers on bootcamp windows. I am assuming the motherboard does not have an SLi controller, hence the lack of 2 x 8800GT's.

 

[MikeDTyke]

I am currently in the process of selling my gaming pc, in order to buy a mac pro. My old system was an intel core 2 quad, 4GB PC2-6400 low latency, and an 8800 GTX.

I've had a macbook for about 18 months now, and i will never go back, hence my recent idea to move my desktop computing to the mac pro. However i am concerned about graphics power in gaming on OS X and on boot camp Vista/XP.

I am looking for some advice on what you think the best solution might be, and whether you think the 2 x 2600XT's will be powerful enough for the recent game s in the market (Crysis, COD4:MW).

Also wondering if it is possible to use upgrade the mac pro to an 8800 gtx myself, and whether the 2 x 2600XT's needs just simply uses crossfire drivers on bootcamp windows. I am assuming the motherboard does not have an SLi controller, hence the lack of 2 x 8800GT's.

A pair of 2600s is not going to cut the mustard with Crysis. You really want to bite the bullet and buy the 8800.

You're correct there's no SLI controller. As long as the drivers under bootcamp just use the pci bus for intercommunication then it should work fine. But to date i've not heard of anyone doing it.

Best of luck.

M.

 

[Tallest Skil]

For the record, I'll be running two 8800 GT...

CrossFire was possible on the 2006 Mac Pro, but I can't remember anyone trying it on the new one. If you want a serious card-a GTX or something of that nature-just get one and run it in Boot Camp. Windows'll see it.

I don't know any benchmarks, but I'm thinking one of the higher-end nVidia cards would still be better than two 2600 in CrossFire.

Oh, and... NOTHING is powerful enough for Crysis yet.

 

[Brianna]

I've been using the stock 8800GT that I ordered BTO from Apple to play Crysis and it kickcs butt! Settings re all on high with 2x AA. I think it could handle more.

 

[Siron]

I've been using the stock 8800GT that I ordered BTO from Apple to play Crysis and it kickcs butt! Settings re all on high with 2x AA. I think it could handle more.

Have you been having any problems recently? I started off just fine with all settings on HIGH and 1600x1200 but recently the game has been locking on game saves. Also I had to drop the resolution to 1280x1064 due to slow frame rates.
Alan

 

[Fingermouse]

CrossFire was possible on the 2006 Mac Pro, but I can't remember anyone trying it on the new one. ...

I don't know any benchmarks, but I'm thinking one of the higher-end nVidia cards would still be better than two 2600 in CrossFire.

The higher end nVidia is better than two 2600s, but that's not to say that two 2600s are slow.

Yes, CrossFire does work with two HD2600 XTs in the new Mac Pro (under Boot Camp - no native OS X support). You just need to get hold of an interconnect (or two if you want very high resolutions) and the speed difference is fairly dramatic. Using ATI-specific drivers you can overclock the 2600s to much faster than Apple has them configured and get some very reasonable performance.

The 8800 is still the best gaming choice, but then 2x2600 has the advantage of supporting four monitors and is considerably cheaper...

 

[Jonny427]

Can the 2600's be crossfired? I thought they couldn't..

In any event, its much better just to get the 8800GT for now. You can drop in a 2600 if you need more than 2 monitors.

 

[Fingermouse]

Yes, the stock 2600 that comes in the newer Mac Pros can be Crossfired - you just need an interconnect cable (or two).

However, it's only really useful if you're a casual gamer - my machine is primarily for work so I use 2x 2600 cards to run three monitors. I have the cards linked so that I can still play games under XP with reasonable performance, but if I was more game-focused I'd have definitely dropped the extra money on an 8800GT.

Just a little difficult to justify the 8800GT for a work machine, though, unless you're using GPU intensive applications...