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12eward

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2009
9
0
Hi a freind of mine is buying a fcp rig and wants three monitors. If she got the 4870 from the factory and and moved to one of the slower pci express slots and added the gtx 285 would the computer and final cut pro be ok because I have only heard of matching cards be installed. Any help and advice. Would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
 
all slots being taken up is fine, where would i get the second power supply?
 
there's no prob with non-matching cards in OS X as far as i know (i've got a 2600HD and a 8800GT in mine)

but vista does have a problem with it (however xp and 7 don't apparently...)

as for your proposition, i'm pretty sure those cards would use beyond all of the power available to the pci slots, which is why Tallest Skill is suggesting running a power cable from the second optical drive bay (if i read correctly)

however, if you're using FCP, you may want two optical drives



may i ask why you need two super cards for FCP? if you're not sure you need them you could save yourself some trouble and just order a 4870 and GT120 when you order the Pro.

- Michael
 
may i ask why you need two super cards for FCP? if you're not sure you need them you could save yourself some trouble and just order a 4870 and GT120 when you order the Pro.

That's a great solution and one I recommend. Heck, that's my setup. I put a BD-RE/HD DVD-ROM drive in the ODD bay that I wouldn't have with two powered cards and a USB/FireWire PCIe card in one of the slots I kept free.
 
I am binging on final cut three supporting opencl making two super cards a nice add on. Also could i wire power from one of the hard drive bays or how about an external power supply?Plus the gtx 285 +4870 allows for three monitors without all that dual link dvi mini displayport mess
 
If i purchased a 400 watt power supply and bought a pci express adapter and ran the wiring out through the back of the mac pro would it work?
 
If you really want to have 3 monitors and don't want to mess with the MDP then you could easily have the GTX 285 and one GT 120.
 
Could i pop off one of the pci express covers and run the wiring through that, keeping the psu outside the mac pro?
 
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