9800GX2 in Mac Pro, who is first?

[SuperGrobi]

Hi there,

after happily running a flashed XFX 8800GT in my Mac Pro I am curious who will be first to try the 9800GX2 which is now showing up in shops (Switzerland). It should be possible to run the card in Windows (if there is enough power), but how about Mac OS X? Will somebody be able to modify the 8800GT ROM to work on the 9800GX2. The card is pretty expensive (around $700 here in CH) so I guess not too many people are willing to make some experiments. Please post your experience if you happen to have a 9800GX2 and a Mac Pro

 

[Tallest Skil]

The ROM... It depends on whether or not the 9800 GX2 regards its GPUs separately or as one. If it sees them as one, you could flash the 8800 GT ROM to it and then clock it up/modify it to run at fullish performance. If it sees them separately, you may only get the power of one GPU, and that's no better than an 8800 GT to begin with.

When you find an 8-pin plug that works in the Mac Pro, tell us; I was under the impression that the plugs need to be modified.

The maximum draw of the PCIe bus is 300w. I was just reading benchmarks of the 9800 GX2 and it can draw up to 360w under load. Does the PCIe bus self-limit this draw, or do I not understand the ramifications of having external power connectors?

And about those connectors... the Mac Pro has at least two places on the motherboard to plug them in, but how many does it have total?

If I were to run, say, two 9800 GT (mid-range card in the Nehalem Mac Pro) in my Mac Pro, could I still have a PCIe USB card that needs an external power cable, or does the motherboard only have two plugs for cables?