4870 + 2 ati 2600?

[Macpropro80]

has anyone tested to see if I can indeed run 2 ati 2600's and a 4780 at the same time on a 2008 pro?

 

[Tallest Skil]

has anyone tested to see if I can indeed run 2 ati 2600's and a 4780 at the same time on a 2008 pro?

It should be possible simply because you are still under the power draw.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

yes but i want more power! I need the graphical power of a 4870 but I also need to drive multiple displays.

What displays do you want to drive and what do you want to do on them? 3D stuff will only be accelerated by the 4870 if its on a monitor being driven by the 4870. I.e. if you had a game in a window on a screen powered by one of your ati 2600s then it will not get any performance boost from the 4870.

So, what are your needs? If you want one main display with all the graphical power of the 4870 and then some secondary displays with the graphical power of the 2600s then this should be fine.

 

[Macpropro80]

What displays do you want to drive and what do you want to do on them? 3D stuff will only be accelerated by the 4870 if its on a monitor being driven by the 4870. I.e. if you had a game in a window on a screen powered by one of your ati 2600s then it will not get any performance boost from the 4870.

So, what are your needs? If you want one main display with all the graphical power of the 4870 and then some secondary displays with the graphical power of the 2600s then this should be fine.

I do alot of motion graphics, Final Cut pro, and Photoshop. I would also like to play COD 4 on my 30inch ACD with the resolution set to the highest and all the textures set on ultra.

 

[ArthurianLegend]

I currently have an ageing G4 for graphics work and a separate gaming PC. Can I combine the two with a new Mac Pro? If I purchase a a standard 2.66 quad-core Nehalem with the GT 120, can I remove my PC graphics card (Nvidia 8800GT) and install it in the Mac Pro alongside the 120? I know that the 8800GT won't work in OS X, but I'm assuming that it will be recognised in Vista 64 via Boot Camp? Does the 8800GT have to be installed into a specific PCI-e slot and will it have enough power? Thanks.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

I currently have an ageing G4 for graphics work and a separate gaming PC. Can I combine the two with a new Mac Pro? If I purchase a a standard 2.66 quad-core Nehalem with the GT 120, can I remove my PC graphics card (Nvidia 8800GT) and install it in the Mac Pro alongside the 120? I know that the 8800GT won't work in OS X, but I'm assuming that it will be recognised in Vista 64 via Boot Camp? Does the 8800GT have to be installed into a specific PCI-e slot and will it have enough power? Thanks.

Yes you can. You might struggle a bit finding the appropriate power connector though. Its easily available in the states but costs a fair bit to get shipped over to Europe. You could run a cable from the optical bays maybe but you'd need to find a SATA to ATA power adapter - usually they go the other way around. Its also a bit of an arse to wire up. Certainly not impossible though. I've got an ATI 3700 Mac card in my Mac Pro and also an ATI 3700 PC card (for Crossfire in Boot Camp). I ran a power cable from my optical bay. It resulted in many scratched knuckles but it is possible!!

Of course, if you go this route, you'll need to have a monitor that has two DVI connections or a DVI swticher so as to switch inputs between the two cards. I'm sure you're already prepared for this though since you currently have two machines!

 

[zer0tails]

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to run two Apple 24" LED cinema displays on a 2008 2.8 Octo? I know with the new ATI 4870 I can run one 24" LED and a dual link dvi display. But what if I wanted to run two 24" ? two ATI 4870 cards?