Help - Video Card help for a 2006 MacPro

[lyphe]

Looking to upgrade the video card on a 2006 MacPro. I've called our local Apple guys, but I'm just not convinced they are giving me the right advice ( they have given bad advice several times before ).

In short, I use the computer for video editing, graphic design, and I also run World of Warcraft on it at high settings.

Recently, my video card has begun to buckle if I run my game at high settings and the original card is pretty mucht the only subpar component in my system. I got the base system in the link below, although I've since bumped the RAM up to 16gb:

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP30

When I called the Apple guys, they said I could ONLY upgrade to one of a few different cards and listed:

ATI3870
Nvidia 8800GT
ATIX1900 XT
Nvidia Quadro FX4500

Problem is that these are all old cards. I asked if I could put something newer in and he said 'no' due to apple not supporting it. What I could not get out of him though was whether he was simply saying THEY did not support it, or the SYSTEM would not support it.

Can anyone help me on this? I'm looking to put in the best and newest card that I can and prefer not to buy old cards if I don't need to.

Any help HUGELY appreciated and thank you 😀

 

[tomscott1988]

As in the other forums, the 5770 and the 5870 should work. They have been tested in 2008 MP and work very well. The 4870 is also an option and the gtx 285 i think works but dont quote me on that.

 

[Gomff]

Just wait a day or so for the full tests to be done on what the 5870 and 5770 cards will work in.....It's well worth your while as there's not much better about than the 5870 for any platform. It seems there's a good chance it will work in your machine.

 

[DjWoody]

I'm in the same boat. I have a 2006 MacPro 1,1 with an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT and I need to upgrade. I'm bummed out that I can't play STARCRAFT II on it. 🙁

Any other cards that work with this MacPro?

 

[jeanlain]

The 4870 if the only reliable/interesting option right know, if you don't want to flash cards. We don't know if the Apple 5770/5870 will work properly (reports from barefeats suggest that mini display ports do not work on pre-2009 Mac Pros). The GTX 285 will not work at all on a 2006 Mac Pro.

Thanks Apple for this ********* mess.