Anyone know much about X1900XT for Mac Pro?

[yalag]

I'm trying to upgrade my graphic card for my mac pro but I dont know much about mac hardware at all. I used to build pc but never touched mac. How to do I find the right card as an upgrade? Are there pc versions and mac versions of this card?

Also, is this card pretty old? Worth upgrading to it at this point? I think it is priced around 200 right now correct?

Thanks

 

[thworple]

There are differing versions of this card for Mac and PC, and typically the Mac version is more expensive. You can get it through the Mac store.

Should be simple enough to install if you've done similar on a PC before - not much difference between the two. You should get an installation guide with the card.

Although its possible to buy a PC version and flash it so that it will work on a Mac, its not something I've personally tried, as my MacPro was BTO with the card in place.


Also, it is a little old now, and there are new MacPros due hopefully soonish, and that may in turn lead to upgrade options for existing users, but its still a solid card, and the best option available right now.

 

[Topper]

Just say no.

I'm trying to upgrade my graphic card for my mac pro but I dont know much about mac hardware at all. I used to build pc but never touched mac. How to do I find the right card as an upgrade? Are there pc versions and mac versions of this card?

Also, is this card pretty old? Worth upgrading to it at this point? I think it is priced around 200 right now correct?

Thanks

The X1900 XT costs $399.
That is very expensive for an older card.
If you decide to buy one, make absolutely certain it is a Mac Edition card.
Don't even think about flashing a PC card.
The owners of X1900 XT cards are not too thrilled with it.
Take a look at customer reviews at The Apple Store.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?revw=MA631Z/B

A new Mac Pro should be coming out fairly soon. January 2008 at the latest.
It's a guarantee that the bto consumer video card will be better than the X1900 XT.
One question we don't know is will said video card be available to buy separately from the Mac Pro.

 

[thworple]

The X1900 XT costs $399.

The owners of X1900 XT cards are not too thrilled with it.

Thats a bit of a generalisation - I'm very pleased with mine. And those reviews still average out at 3 out of 5 stars, and thats considering more people who are displeased with something are more likely to post feedback, than those who have no probs.

 

[Kosh66]

I'm pleased with mine too. I haven't had an issue with it.

 

[pprior]

Thats a bit of a generalisation - I'm very pleased with mine. And those reviews still average out at 3 out of 5 stars, and thats considering more people who are displeased with something are more likely to post feedback, than those who have no probs.

It's clearly an outdated card. It's loud, and it runs hot. It's overpriced.

Other than that, it's great!

With a cooling fan modification, it's much better noise-wise.

 

[yalag]

Does anyone know how two graphic cards work? I am not really understanding it, is it like cpu where they both are powered for the same application? So if I get two 7300 card is that going to help my gaming? Would that be better than a X1900?

 

[trainguy77]

Does anyone know how two graphic cards work? I am not really understanding it, is it like cpu where they both are powered for the same application? So if I get two 7300 card is that going to help my gaming? Would that be better than a X1900?

All this would allow you to do is run 4 monitors instead of 2. The gaming would be better on the x1900. What your thinking of is SLI or crossfire. But these cards don't support that.

 

[thworple]

It's clearly an outdated card. It's loud, and it runs hot. It's overpriced.

Other than that, it's great!

With a cooling fan modification, it's much better noise-wise.

Yes its outdated - but its quiet as a kitten, and overheating has not been a problem for myself, and many others.

 

[pprior]

Yes its outdated - but its quiet as a kitten, and overheating has not been a problem for myself, and many others.

There must be quite a bit of variation in noise levels with these cards. My first one was clearly the loudest part in the computer, but wasn't loud enough to complain about. It definitely was NOT "quiet as a kitten" however

The replacement Apple sent me (after the first one overheated and started giving graphical problems) was markedly louder and could be heard at all times.

after modding it, I now can't hear my mac pro at all.

I guess if you have a quiet one, count yourself blessed.

 

[Kosh66]

Does anyone know how two graphic cards work? I am not really understanding it, is it like cpu where they both are powered for the same application? So if I get two 7300 card is that going to help my gaming? Would that be better than a X1900?

As far as I know you can't get Crossfire to work, either in MacOS X or Windows, so you can't use two ATI Radeon cards to increase performance. As far as I know, you can, however, get SLI to work, ONLY in Windows, which would require two Nvidia cards, a hack or two, and a flex bridge. A few people have done SLI on the Mac Pro in Windows. Unfortunately SLI is not available in MacOS X.

 

[Hmac]

I have a BTO X1900XT in my Mac Pro driving two 30" ACD's. Works very well. It handles COD 4 via Boot Camp in XP with FRAPS average score of 78 FPS at 1280x1024 with 4x AA on and all textures set at high. Some action situations on that or other games will drop the frame rate, and average minimum frame rate is 48 FPS.

The only problem I've had has been rebooting from Leopard into XP. I get unreadable video when it does boot up and Windows crashes. It's not a problem if I actually shut down Leopard for 10 seconds then cold-boot.

No problem going directly to Leopard from XP.

I'm not dissatisfied with the X1900, but I do hope that Apple arranges drivers and firmware for an upgraded video card that I can buy and install iin my Mac Pro.

 

[tvbi]

I'm happy with my flashed e-bay X1900XTX

 

[Wild-Bill]

I'm happy with my flashed e-bay X1900XTX

That is a much better option than throwing your money away by paying Apple the insulting price of $400 for a 3-year old card. What nerve they have.

The BTO pricing on the Mac Pro hasn't changed since it was released. Oddly enough, there hasn't been a substantial update since then either. Perhaps the Mac Pro team was fired or placed on indefinite sabbatical.