If you have a MacPro with 8800GT...

[Mark Fletcher]

And you're wealthy enough to have one of the older 2006/2007 Mac Pros, or know someone who does, could you try the video card in the older Mac Pro and see if it works?

We know that there is a firmware issue with the 8800GT, and we know that Apple/NVidia have been working on a solution. What we dont know however is whether the current batch of 8800GT boards have the modified firmware that would allow it to work in the older Mac Pro's. To me it seems silly to have two SKU's of the same video card with different firmwares; I wouldnt be surprised if Apple have quietly rectified this.

Remember: Apple claimed that the ATI 2600 card wouldnt work in the older Mac Pros, when in fact it does, so Im holding out some hope for the 8800GT that has just arrived too. If someone could just try this card out in an older Mac Pro, and let us know if it works or not, it would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

 

[noi375]

And you're wealthy enough to have one of the older 2006/2007 Mac Pros, or know someone who does, could you try the video card in the older Mac Pro and see if it works?

We know that there is a firmware issue with the 8800GT, and we know that Apple/NVidia have been working on a solution. What we dont know however is whether the current batch of 8800GT boards have the modified firmware that would allow it to work in the older Mac Pro's. To me it seems silly to have two SKU's of the same video card with different firmwares; I wouldnt be surprised if Apple have quietly rectified this.

Remember: Apple claimed that the ATI 2600 card wouldnt work in the older Mac Pros, when in fact it does, so Im holding out some hope for the 8800GT that has just arrived too. If someone could just try this card out in an older Mac Pro, and let us know if it works or not, it would be greatly appreciated!

Mark

I think Apple's claim is "Correct" - it will only work in systems that support 64 bit EFI. I don't think all Mac Pro support the 64 bit EFI, hence the reason for them to make the disclaimer. Supposedly, there is a 32 bit version of the EFI that work with the older Macs, but when are they will be released is another question. Whether ATI put in two version of EFI on their card is a different question, since for some reason Apple let ATI/AMD get away with a lot of stuff while other component providers like nVidia always got slammed because they were not putting in the stuff that Apple told them not to put in (32 bit EFI).