GeForce GTX 285 Appears in Apple Online Store

Which card for AE/C4D work

I'm planning to buy a Mac Pro in the next month, and trying to figure out which graphics card would be best for my purposes. I know there are plenty of threads discussing this already but I haven't seen one that debates the subject based on my specific needs- which are Cinema 4D and After Effects mainly.

Anyone have an opinion on which is better, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512mb or the GeForce GTX 285- or is there a better option out there for the latest Mac Pro that isn't offered on Apple's website?

I'm using a 24" Apple monitor with it, probably won't be upgrading to the 30" so that's not a factor.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
jade44V said:
I'm planning to buy a Mac Pro in the next month, and trying to figure out which graphics card would be best for my purposes. I know there are plenty of threads discussing this already but I haven't seen one that debates the subject based on my specific needs- which are Cinema 4D and After Effects mainly.

Anyone have an opinion on which is better, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 512mb or the GeForce GTX 285- or is there a better option out there for the latest Mac Pro that isn't offered on Apple's website?

I'm using a 24" Apple monitor with it, probably won't be upgrading to the 30" so that's not a factor.

Thanks for any suggestions.
Click to expand...

Both will be fine for your needs. The GTX will be more powerful though. The ultimate GPU is the Quadro FX 4800 (available here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_4800_for_mac_us.html), though it costs much more than the other GPUs.
 
cgc said:
Thank you Apple for not supporting us 2006 MacPro users...I have an upgradable Mac that has no (new) video card upgrades...how long til my nVidia 8800 becomes obsolete (if not already)?
Click to expand...

Tell me about it, last time I put down that sort of cash for something that's non-upgradeable within 2 years (I bought my 8-core in July 2007). Cheers Jobs, ya big jobbie. Lets see what the flashers and hackers can do for us...
 
MacsRgr8 said:
I have the same Mac, and share the frustrations.. it's just I want to be able to play it nicely... :(
One thing I read somewhere, is that X-Plane uses just one core. It's loading the textures that can be multi-cored IIRC, but that doesn't really help the FPS during heavy scenery at the airport.

I really had hoped that the 1 GB of VRAM on the GTX 285 would help X-Plane A LOT... but, sadly, according to Barefeats, it doesn't.
As I had said, the performance difference between the 4870 and the GTX 285 running X-Plane 9 is too small to justify me to buy a card without Mini DisplayPort, and giving me headaches if I want to reinstall Mac OS X Leopard... :mad:

So, IMHO the 4870 is the better bang for your buck overall, and in 2010 I will be buying a new Mac Pro anyway, so we'll see which 1 GB (or more) VRAM grfx card is best by then. ;)
Click to expand...

I wonder if Snow Leopard will help X-Plane at all?
 
Totally p***ed off that Apple completely discontinued the 8800GT card. I have a 1st generation (2007) Mac Pro and I'm completely left in the dust now that the new GTX is out. Where can I get an 8800GT for my MP?
 
CaptSaltyJack said:
Totally p***ed off that Apple completely discontinued the 8800GT card. I have a 1st generation (2007) Mac Pro and I'm completely left in the dust now that the new GTX is out. Where can I get an 8800GT for my MP?
Click to expand...

Doesn't the 4870 work on the earlier MacPro models, or doesn't it support them?

I can only remember some confusion over which models it would support.
 
CaptSaltyJack said:
Totally p***ed off that Apple completely discontinued the 8800GT card. I have a 1st generation (2007) Mac Pro and I'm completely left in the dust now that the new GTX is out. Where can I get an 8800GT for my MP?
Click to expand...
Through European Apple Stores, we have boatloads of them, as apparently we can't be bothered with the GTX 285 and have to stick with 2nd rate components. Guess I'm going to have to go through a PC version of a GTX 285 for my 2008 Mac Pro and leverage the Hackintosh community work; that's another win for crappple.
 
Digital Fury said:
Through European Apple Stores, we have boatloads of them, as apparently we can't be bothered with the GTX 285 and have to stick with 2nd rate components. Guess I'm going to have to go through a PC version of a GTX 285 for my 2008 Mac Pro and leverage the Hackintosh community work; that's another win for crappple.
Click to expand...

Ouch, and the 8800 GT is still £166 in the UK, which is about twice as much as a PC 9800 GT (same card more or less, just rebranded).

Does say in the UK that it's shipping in 3-4 months though :confused:

Hmm, the GTX260 'core 216' I just ordered for my hackintosh build was only £130, heres hoping that having third parties releasing GPUs for the mac brings the silly prices down to a closer level of the PC GPUs.
 
CaptSaltyJack said:
Cool.. I appreciate the thought, but that's not the right one. :) I have the 1st generation Mac Pro (2007) which does not have PCI Express 2.0.
Click to expand...

Sorry,

I thought this card would work. Is this card not backwards compatible? I was looking into purchasing this very one once SL comes out.
 
Nope..be careful with the 8800 GT. It comes in two flavors, one is PCI Express 2.0 for 2008+ Mac Pros, and the other is PCI Express 1.x for 2006/2007 Mac Pros (1st generation).

8800 GT for 1st generation Mac Pro: model # is MB560Z/A
8800 GT for 2nd gen Mac Pro w/ PCI Express 2.0: model # is MB137Z/A
 
Gtx 285

Just to clarify, are all of you bent on using your video cards for games in OS X? I recently found out that most games are not written to utilized OS X code. Most games such as EVE online and a handful of other games utilize a program called Cider that actually wraps API calls from the windows based code and translates them to OS X.(TransGaming) Essentially, your getting emulation crap. I would argue to run these games it would suit you better to bootcamp into vista or XP. For video cards, theorectally it is possible to install any video card PCIe 1.0 (which account for most PC cards as they are) as long as you have your Mac compatible video card plugged in.(MacRumurs, 7800 GT). Thus you can purchase say a 250 GTX and install it as it doesn't require as much power as the other cards.(Nvidia, 250 GTX). The power connector is one 6 pin connector that can be purchased through WeLoveMacs. (MacRumurs, PCI Express Power). I believe this setup would cost you less than purchasing a newer card from apple. I am sure there are other types of software hacks in order to have these cards flashed and working with OS X; however, I believe that is more of a hassle and could lead to a mess. Coming from a Generic X86 Architecture I can honestly say I enjoy spending more time looking at my monitor using the computer than inside the case. I hope this information has helped and If I am incorrect with any information please let me know.


"GeForce GTS 250." Welcome to NVIDIA - World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies. 18 June 2009 <http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_250_us.html>.

Slughead. "'The Deal' On Mac Pro Video Card Compatibility - Mac Forums." Mac Forums - Mac News and Rumor Discussion. 18 June 2009 <https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/231318/>.

"TransGaming Inc.." TransGaming Inc.. 18 June 2009 <http://www.transgaming.com/business/cider/>.


aiongiont. "Pci express power cable for Mac - Mac Forums." Mac Forums - Mac News and Rumor Discussion. 18 June 2009 <https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/253977/>.
:apple:
 
CaptSaltyJack said:
Nope..be careful with the 8800 GT. It comes in two flavors, one is PCI Express 2.0 for 2008+ Mac Pros, and the other is PCI Express 1.x for 2006/2007 Mac Pros (1st generation).

8800 GT for 1st generation Mac Pro: model # is MB560Z/A
8800 GT for 2nd gen Mac Pro w/ PCI Express 2.0: model # is MB137Z/A
Click to expand...

Nope same cards, different firmware. You can flash them yourself.
 
I see you are having doubts, but i speak the truth. :p
In my experience evga 8800gt cards also had 128kb romchips onboard (which is the only thing that matters), so you could go for the cheaper evga instead. Since you can only buy it used now you have the advantage to check it if you find a kind seller.

On a sidenote, somebody please dump the GTX 285 Mac Rom using nvflash. :eek:
 
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