Graphics card for a Mac Pro - 08

[MadsK]

Hi guys.

I'm in a bit of trouble at work. One of our Mac Pro's won't display anything. It starts up as it should be the screen stays black. We've tried with several monitors. A Mac Partner was 99% sure it was the graphics card which was the problem.

So now I'm thinking about just finding a new graphics card and replace it myself, but I have a few questions.

The original card was a ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (256mb) and I've tried to find some suppliers for this, but it seems its not that easy to get your hands on so i was hoping that we could upgrade it to a newer one instead. But I need to know which ones will actually work with this model and if they need to be a specific version of model to work with the Mac Pro.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

EDIT: I was thinking about just buying a HD5770 from one of our local stores - would that be an option?

 

[MythicFrost]

I don't think so, it doesn't appear that they are compatible with the 08 Mac Pro.

 

[MadsK]

It seems the 4870 is compatible. Do I have to buy it at apple.com or can i buy it in any store and any brand?

 

[Weepul]

I don't think so, it doesn't appear that they are compatible with the 08 Mac Pro.

Although Apple states they are incompatible, there's a good chance they will still work just fine. It was the case with the previous generation GPUs from Apple - stated not to work, yet they did. Of course, we won't know for sure until someone tries.

 

[MythicFrost]

I saw in another post that the 5870 seems to be compatible. Do I have to buy it at apple.com or can i buy it in any store and any brand?

If you look at the 5870/5770 in the Apple Store it requires a 09 or 10 Mac Pro.

Although Apple states they are incompatible, there's a good chance they will still work just fine. It was the case with the previous generation GPUs from Apple - stated not to work, yet they did. Of course, we won't know for sure until someone tries.

True...

It seems the 4870 is compatible. Do I have to buy it at apple.com or can i buy it in any store and any brand?

You need the Mac GPU, so, from Apple. The Mac Edition GTX 285 1GB also works too, but it costs more I think.

 

[MadsK]

Alright. Thanks for the answers guys.