Mac Pro Gaming Machine

[endoCLONE]

After searching for several weeks for answers I have finally completed a 100% satisfiable gaming machine. This machine plays games flawlessly

Here is my setup:
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors

8GB (4 x 2GB) memory (667MHz DDR2 fully-buffered DIMM ECC)

250GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s 7200 rpm hard drive

16x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

ATI Radeon 4850 (PC Version w/ MAC power adapter that goes from card to motherboard)-This card is located in the bottom PCI Express Slot.

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory-This card is located in the PCI Express slot above the ATI.

Operating System: OSX 10.5 and boot camp Microsoft Vista Business 64bit w/sp1


After you install vista the key is the make sure you install boot camp 2.0 64bit drivers. If you have an early version of a leopard dvd it won't have 64bit drivers. I am told that only the "2008 mac pro dvd's have 64bit drivers". Alternatively you can search for "boot camp 64bit 2.0" and download it off a torrent site.

Then after installing the drivers you can then install the "boot camp 64 bit 2.1 update" successfully.

After the drivers are up to date install Service Pack 1 for vista.

Then finally put your Geforce 7300GT or whichever video card came with your mac in the pcie slot above and put your "PC Video card of choice" in the main bottom slot with the "special order power adapter" attached and install the latest "display driver".
NOTE: I don't install the whole catalyst software suite.

I tweaked Vista to make it faster using:
http://www.howtogeek.com/tag/windows-vista/

I have played many games on Steam, Quake3, Call of duty 4, Spore all without a problem.

FAQ:
Why did I choose Vista 64bit?
I wanted all 8GB's of my memory available. Vista 64bit has more support than Windows XP Pro 64bit. Don't get me wrong I would rather run Windows XP Pro but M$ has a memory cap on the 32bit version and does not support the 64bit version enough for anyone to really care about it.

Did you have to change power supplies?
No. I have 2 video cards and 4 hard drives and they all run perfectly.

Known Issues:
Sometimes when exiting Steam games it will show an error on exit.

I still haven't figured out a correct method of booting being able to choose which OS to boot to. Sometimes it will just keep booting into OSX.

 

[allmIne]

I use a PS3 / wii / x360 / DS and they all play games flawlessly, and, if you add in a MBP, it comes to about the same money, or less

I understand people wanting to play games on their Mac Pro / any other OS X computer, but tbh, it seems to be more a case of proving it can be done, or doing it purely to show your allegience. Economically and opportunity cost wise, it doesn't make much sense.

andy.

 

[endoCLONE]

I use a PS3 / wii / x360 / DS and they all play games flawlessly, and, if you add in a MBP, it comes to about the same money, or less

I understand people wanting to play games on their Mac Pro / any other OS X computer, but tbh, it seems to be more a case of proving it can be done, or doing it purely to show your allegience. Economically and opportunity cost wise, it doesn't make much sense.

andy.

quick someone get some water.

 

[grue]

I use a PS3 / wii / x360 / DS and they all play games flawlessly, and, if you add in a MBP, it comes to about the same money, or less

I understand people wanting to play games on their Mac Pro / any other OS X computer, but tbh, it seems to be more a case of proving it can be done, or doing it purely to show your allegience. Economically and opportunity cost wise, it doesn't make much sense.

andy.

Shockingly enough, not everyone wants to game on a console. Flight sims are worthless on them, strategy games are even worse than flight sims on them, and FPS games are at best subjective. I personally can't play shooters with a gamepad.

 

[endoCLONE]

I personally can't play shooters with a gamepad.

This is a whole reason why I don't play fps games such as the great Halo on the console. I've got to have my keyboard and mouse.

 

[Supaklaw]

and Windows XP Pro works just fine with all those games. Only drawback is no DirectX10.

 

[bluefire75]

ATI Radeon 4850 (PC Version w/ MAC power adapter that goes from card to motherboard)-This card is located in the bottom PCI Express Slot.

NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics with 256MB memory-This card is located in the PCI Express slot above the ATI.

Since Windows will only recognize a single video package, how are you managing both the 4850 and the 7300GT at the same time when booted into Windows?

 

[UltraNEO*]

I use a PS3 / wii / x360 / DS and they all play games flawlessly, and, if you add in a MBP, it comes to about the same money, or less

I understand people wanting to play games on their Mac Pro / any other OS X computer, but tbh, it seems to be more a case of proving it can be done, or doing it purely to show your allegience. Economically and opportunity cost wise, it doesn't make much sense.

andy.

Yep I agree with you here, completely... I think any serious gamer should be building a dedicated PC with the latest and most advance hardware combination possible, make use of X-fire or what have you. It'll most definitely out perform a MP in most cases and it'll cost less!! But at the end of the day... some people love a Mac. Plus they'd probably have more money than sense, know what I mean?

 

[chewietobbacca]

You could really build a powerful gaming PC for a whole lot less now than the cost of a Mac Pro. Then you can get a MBP to boot along the side, since you're dual booting already.

 

[Infrared]

I understand people wanting to play games on their Mac Pro / any other OS X computer, but tbh, it seems to be more a case of proving it can be done, or doing it purely to show your allegience. Economically and opportunity cost wise, it doesn't make much sense.

andy.

Economically it makes a lot more sense than buying
a second machine just to play games on

 

[Infrared]

Yep I agree with you here, completely... I think any serious gamer should be building a dedicated PC with the latest and most advance hardware combination possible, make use of X-fire or what have you.

With respect, that's ridiculous. What you're describing is not
a serious gamer, but a serious hardware enthusiast.

[EDIT: I don't wish to be rude here. I'm not saying you're
ridiculous, or anything like that. But let me put it this way:
I don't think this is your strongest ever argument. Maybe
calling it "ridiculous" is a little over the top ]

It's possible to be serious about games and have something
less than the most advanced hardware combination, because
most games don't require that. If they did, PC game makers
would go out of business.

 

[costabunny]

I do hope you do more on it than just game!

But I will say gaming on the Mac Pro is nice (I play Call of Duty4 and Crysis myself).

If you want a nice bootloader then have a peek at rEFIt - I am happy with it (tho at the mo my Bootcamp drive os offline as I am waiting for a new Sas breakout cable)

 

[Cindori]

Im sick of trying to find workarounds to get this and that to work on the Mac pro. Really you get a equal gaming PC for under 1000$ and then It will be upgradable for at least 10 years, since I can replace any part with whatever i'd like.


You will never be able to upgrade motherboard, never sli/crossfire or get a next gen-more-demanding-card (not enough power), get a new processor etc.

 

[MacsRgr8]

IMHO having a Mac Pro, enough RAM, and the good grfx card, gives you best of all worlds!
You get a really good Mac for your work.
And get a very good gaming machine for your play.
No need for consoles which are only good for gaming, and with crappy controllers which are usually inconveniently hooked up to a HD TV which the rest of the family want to use to watch TV 'n stuff...

Nothing beats Race Driver Grid on Windows on my Mac Pro.

 

[endoCLONE]

Since Windows will only recognize a single video package, how are you managing both the 4850 and the 7300GT at the same time when booted into Windows?

Oops I did leave something out. When I was installing the 4850 I did run into that particular problem. I went into the "Device Manager" and disabled the 7300GT. Although I can still boot into Windows with the 7300GT. All disabled means is "Do not load nVidia driver bs".

 

[Cindori]

IMHO having a Mac Pro, enough RAM, and the good grfx card, gives you best of all worlds!
You get a really good Mac for your work.
And get a very good gaming machine for your play.

Yeah, for the following year or so. After that you will have to buy a totally new computer.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Don't think so.

If the games will support multiple Cores, then only the grfx card needs replacing.
And changing the grfx card every year or so, is fine with me.

BTW, even if you do own a "dedicated" gaming PC, I doubt you will be changing the CPU's every year with your grfx card. Might as well get an 8 Core Xeon first time round...

 

[allmIne]

quick someone get some water.

I have no idea what this means; generally though, when someone refuses to address the topic of the post, it says quite a lot about their argument. My first post was nothing but pleasant; I'd appreciate a bit of maturity in your responses.

andy.

 

[allmIne]

Double post

 

[allmIne]

Shockingly enough, not everyone wants to game on a console. Flight sims are worthless on them, strategy games are even worse than flight sims on them, and FPS games are at best subjective. I personally can't play shooters with a gamepad.

Chill, there's no need to be rude or sarcastic grue. Life's too short. Anyway, I was specifically talking about opportunity cost and the economics behind the decision.

Re. the post above stating that economically it's not a good idea to buy a second system just for games; I'm unsure. If the second system is cheaper - and consoles are, markedly - and the variety of games generally much larger, I'd imagine the cost per game would be much lower, given the difference in outlay to begin with.

 

[bluefire75]

Oops I did leave something out. When I was installing the 4850 I did run into that particular problem. I went into the "Device Manager" and disabled the 7300GT. Although I can still boot into Windows with the 7300GT. All disabled means is "Do not load nVidia driver bs".

You know I did that with the 8800GT card (disabling via Device Manager) on the Windows side and it still launches in VGA mode. I have the 4870 plugged into the other GPU slot. The only time Windows will not recognize the 8800GT is if I detach the power cable from it. Keep in mind, I have the early 2008 Mac Pro and I have a monitor plugged into each card. I did try plugging in both monitors to the 4870 card but nothing will come up when booting into Windows unless I unplug the power cable from the 8800GT card.

I can't imagine this being a power issue since when launching Windows with the 8800GT card both cards come up within the Device Manager. Also, both cards are recognized on the Mac Pro side (obviously the 8800GT functions only). Thoughts on that?

 

[Cindori]

Don't think so.

If the games will support multiple Cores, then only the grfx card needs replacing.
And changing the grfx card every year or so, is fine with me.

BTW, even if you do own a "dedicated" gaming PC, I doubt you will be changing the CPU's every year with your grfx card. Might as well get an 8 Core Xeon first time round...

You will never be able to SLI or get anything more power-demanding then a 4870.... yeap. sounds future proof!

 

[endoCLONE]

You will never be able to SLI or get anything more power-demanding then a 4870.... yeap. sounds future proof!

quick more water. SLI is nothing more than the equivalent of going to Burger King and getting a Biggie Sized combo meal. You don't need the Biggie Sized Combo Meal or SLI. The salesman is just trying to move more product out the door.

 

[allmIne]

quick more water. SLI is nothing more than the equivalent of going to Burger King and getting a Biggie Sized combo meal. You don't need the Biggie Sized Combo Meal or SLI. The salesman is just trying to move more product out the door.

I think you sorta proved his point. You'll feel fuller for longer with the combo meal.

Do you really like water or something?

 

[Kosh66]

You will never be able to SLI or get anything more power-demanding then a 4870.... yeap. sounds future proof!

Time and time again it's been proven that SLI isn't needed since ATI and Nvidia come out with faster video cards and it's cheaper and easier buying the new card.

Frankly I thought you were kidding the first time I read your first post. After all your statements are false. You can upgrade the video card in the Mac Pro (ATI seems to be releasing Mac/PC cross-platform cards nowadays), you upgrade RAM, and as mentioned, for gaming why would you need more power than 8 cores, hardly any games use more than 2 or 3 cores. And if you really are approaching the wall in CPU power, you can change the CPUs out or pay someone to do it. They are upgradeable, maybe not easily, but it is possible.