Early Mac Pro Video Card Upgrade...what up?

[Syonidism]

Hi,

So yeah I have an Early 2008 Mac Pro with 2x3 dual Core Intel Xeon with 5gb 667MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM ram and an ATI RADEON X1900 XT 512 MB video card.

I want to get a higher model, Preferably one with dual video card compatability.

What do you prefer/suggest? I'd like to know. Also a lot of my friends told me that not all video cards work with the intel mac??? Is this true? wtf?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tallest Skil]

There is no newer model. How are you running the X1900 in the Early 2008? Why are you running the X1900 in the Early 2008?

Nothing has dual video card compatibility in OS X.

Unless you mean, "to run more than two monitors with the cards doing nothing for one another", in which case they do.

Seven cards work in the Mac Pro. That's it. They must be the Mac version of the card in question.

7300 GT, X1900, Quadro FX 4600, HD 2600 XT, 8800 GT, Quadro FX 5600, Radeon 3870.

 

[POLOgt]

Seven cards work in the Mac Pro. That's it. They must be the Mac version of the card in question.

7300 GT, X1900, Quadro FX 4600, HD 2600 XT, 8800 GT, Quadro FX 5600, Radeon 3870.

Will the Early 2008 (1600Mhz FSB) ONLY accept the last four?

Those cards that you will not have to mess with the EFI ROM or anything messy,
Plug and Play compatibility is what I am asking.

 

[Syonidism]

im sorry its a typo there i meant early 2006, I bought my mac in august 2006

 

[Tallest Skil]

The... 2006 model will take the first three, the EARLY version of the 8800 GT (they have their own)...

And maybe the HD 2600 XT... I don't know 100% that it works, but if it does, it would be a welcome upgrade from what you have.

You can flash... an 8800 GTS with either the EFI32 and EFI64 ROMs, but you need to find a card with the 128k ROM chip, and the benefits are very small.

 

[Chaos123x]

The 3870 Mac and PC edition will work with all models of Mac Pros.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

And maybe the HD 2600 XT... I don't know 100% that it works, but if it does, it would be a welcome upgrade from what you have.

The HD 2600 XT works fine in the 2006 Mac Pro, I've been using it for over a year now in mine. Though it is a bit slower than the X1900.

The 2006 Mac Pro can use the 7300 GT, X1900, Quadro FX 4600, HD 2600 XT, 8800 GT (for early Mac Pro) and Radeon 3870 graphics cards.

But to upgrade to a better card than the 1900XT the only options are really the 8800GT (need to make sure to get the right one) or the Radeon 3870.

 

[Syonidism]

I guess ill go with the radeon 3870... not sure though. kinda sad that i cant buy anything better...

just love this piece of fine aluminum so much.

 

[bozz2006]

I have the nvidia 7300. with the improvements made in snow leopard, what would be the best card to upgrade to in my 2006 mac pro?

 

[Chaos123x]

You have to make sure the 2600XT has had the firmware update applied before using it in a 2006 machine.

You gotta do the update on a newer machine.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

You have to make sure the 2600XT has had the firmware update applied before using it in a 2006 machine.

You gotta do the update on a newer machine.

I installed the card in my 2006 Mac Pro before the firmware update was released and never applied it as I don't have a newer machine to run the update on.

The card works fine without the update for me.

I have checked the firmware version, it is running the older one.

 

[Wormy23]

You have to make sure the 2600XT has had the firmware update applied before using it in a 2006 machine.

You gotta do the update on a newer machine.

The X1900 was the one that needed the update before it'd work on all the systems. The 2600XT just worked.

Get the HD 3870 as it has the best overall performance. When I go to the Apple store, I can't stand the horrible screen tearing on the 8800.

 

[Syonidism]

actually the screen tearing in my 1900XT was what pushed me to consider another video card. The thing is that I also know its windows based... I dont know how many times i formatted and updated and re-firmwared the thing. Still nothing though. It doesn't get any better, it doesn't get any worse.

Meh.