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PC PCIe Video Card Experience with a Mac Pro

Ok -- tried every configuration I could, still no dice with the BFG 7600 GT OC card. I am convinced that this card just doesn't work in the Mac Pro.

Tried the card in the top slot, bottom slot, with the monitor cable connected every which way but loose.

Ah well. Hopefully my 1900 XT will ship sooner than the 27th of this month. :S

Thanks for the suggestion folks!
 
Wintrmte said:
Ok -- tried every configuration I could, still no dice with the BFG 7600 GT OC card. I am convinced that this card just doesn't work in the Mac Pro.

Tried the card in the top slot, bottom slot, with the monitor cable connected every which way but loose.

Ah well. Hopefully my 1900 XT will ship sooner than the 27th of this month. :S

Thanks for the suggestion folks!
Click to expand...
I think it might have something to do with both the 7600GT and 7300GT use the exact same chip, with the 7600GT's memory is GDDR3 whereas the 7300GT uses GDDR2, also it has fewer piplines.

I finally rigged up a power cable from the spare optical drive power cable to the 7800GT. Noise is more then the stock Mac Pro was but not as noisy as my old Dual AMD Opteron 246 PC was with the 7800GT. I expect it to be as noisy as the ATI X1900 XT will be with its on board fans.

EDIT: From what it looks like, the Geforce 7800GT and the Quadro FX 4500 both use the G70 chip. That might be why the 7800's work.
 
superorc said:
I think it might have something to do with both the 7600GT and 7300GT use the exact same chip, with the 7600GT's memory is GDDR3 whereas the 7300GT uses GDDR2, also it has fewer piplines.

I finally rigged up a power cable from the spare optical drive power cable to the 7800GT. Noise is more then the stock Mac Pro was but not as noisy as my old Dual AMD Opteron 246 PC was with the 7800GT. I expect it to be as noisy as the ATI X1900 XT will be with its on board fans.

EDIT: From what it looks like, the Geforce 7800GT and the Quadro FX 4500 both use the G70 chip. That might be why the 7800's work.
Click to expand...

Nice! How did you get the power cable down to the card from the optical drive? Would you mind sharing a photo?
 
Spanky Deluxe said:
Maybe some people could try out a 7900 GTX. Now that really would be interesting. This is great news that these other cards are working though.
Click to expand...

I tried it weeks ago. Mac OS wouldn't see the card at all. The card was eVGA, if it matter...
 
Wintrmte said:
I just tried it with a BFG 7600 GT OC card in the same exact configuration (7300GT in the top PCI-e slot, 7600 in the bottom) I was not able to get the 7600 to detect that there was a display plugged into it.

Oh well. :S My 1900XT will ship soon enough.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the 7600 GT you have is not EFI compatible. Either that or Apple does not have drivers for that card installed.
 
Wintrmte said:
The 7600 GT OC card I have doesn't have any analog ports. I'll give this another try when I get home and post my results.
Click to expand...

Every DVI plug has VGA built in.

You use an adapter to plug in your DB-15 (VGA) cable to your video card.

http://www.startech.com/productphotos/DVIVGAMF.large.jpg

Again, the 7600 probably doesn't work for drivers reasons, or the card itself is not EFI compatible (which I doubt, considering that ASP detected it).

The 'no display connected' is code for "no driver available".

In other versions of OS X, the computer would kernel panic (as I documented in my 6800 Ultra article a couple years back).
 
aiongiant said:
yea and maybe a 7950GX2 :D since i plan to get that one hehe
Click to expand...

Might want to be a bit careful with that. It requires a ton of power, and I wouldn't be sure if the Mac Pro is properly aquitted for the job.

It's nice to dream, though.;)
 
I think someone mentioned in another thread that the PSU was 1kw.

Hopefully someone will be able to test it to make sure.
 
damado said:
I think someone mentioned in another thread that the PSU was 1kw.

Hopefully someone will be able to test it to make sure.
Click to expand...


Max power according to tech specs is 1,440 VA.

However, 3ghz Mac pros may actually require it :eek:
 
superorc said:
Whelp I took a look at the PCIe connectors on the motherboard, looks like an Apple non-standard PCIe power connector. Anyways so I'm back to the ghetto configuration at the moment, and the display trick still works.
Click to expand...

Apple isnt using non standard connectors. Those are standard 6pin PCIe power connecters.

As seen on this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...6MB+GDDR3+PCI+Express+x16+Video+Card+-+Retail
And this eVga card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130035

A standard 6pin cable will work to route power and will be much more stable and safe than the ghetto hacks that are being done.

Unless the OP has a card that uses a Molex for some reason, he should have to do any ghetto hacking.

This company doesnt seem to have a 6pin male-male. They would probably do a custom cable though, and they sleeve them to look nice as well. Check them out. I will contact them about making the cable if anyone is interested.

http://www.performance-pcs.com
 
suneohair said:
Apple isnt using non standard connectors. Those are standard 6pin PCIe power connecters.

As seen on this card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...6MB+GDDR3+PCI+Express+x16+Video+Card+-+Retail
And this eVga card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130035

A standard 6pin cable will work to route power and will be much more stable and safe than the ghetto hacks that are being done.

Unless the OP has a card that uses a Molex for some reason, he should have to do any ghetto hacking.

This company doesnt seem to have a 6pin male-male. They would probably do a custom cable though, and they sleeve them to look nice as well. Check them out. I will contact them about making the cable if anyone is interested.

http://www.performance-pcs.com
Click to expand...


I used the 4pin molex to PCI-e adaptor that came with the 7800 GT, ran it down from the spare optical power.

The onboard 6pin connectors on the motherboard are just a bit smaller than 6pin connector on the 7800 GT. It seems Apple wanted to control the use of these ports.

Was able to do a quick game test with Quake 3, WOW! 1 card is running better than my old SLI AMD64x2 rig. Sweet.
 
monkeyboy1010 said:
I used the 4pin molex to PCI-e adaptor that came with the 7800 GT, ran it down from the spare optical power.

The onboard 6pin connectors on the motherboard are just a bit smaller than 6pin connector on the 7800 GT. It seems Apple wanted to control the use of these ports.

Was able to do a quick game test with Quake 3, WOW! 1 card is running better than my old SLI AMD64x2 rig. Sweet.
Click to expand...

Did you have a 6pin cable that you tried? I will see if I can find something.
 
I could just tell by even using the photos from the review sites that the connector is just a bit smaller
 
My new MP should be here this week sometime, I ordered it with the X1900XT. I have an XFX 7800GTX that I could try out, I imagine that if the 7800GT works, so should the GTX. Anyway the x1900XT should be better than my 7800 anyway so I will stick with the ATI card. Good work guys, great info!
 
I bought my Mac Pro with the default configuration and bought an X1900 separately. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to do that. Could anyone tell me where to find one of those 6 pin male-male cables? I have searched high and low and come up with nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Altimeter88 said:
My new MP should be here this week sometime, I ordered it with the X1900XT. I have an XFX 7800GTX that I could try out, I imagine that if the 7800GT works, so should the GTX. Anyway the x1900XT should be better than my 7800 anyway so I will stick with the ATI card. Good work guys, great info!
Click to expand...

Just tried my eVGA 7800 GTX, no dice. Can't get any video on it all at. :-(

-timb
 
We need to keep a running data base of what cards worked and how, some very good news in here though that some people are having sucsess! Keep up the good work folks!:cool:
 
monkeyboy1010 said:
YES! Thanks, this works PERFECTLY! I'm typing this reply with my 7800 GT in full working order... Now for SLI!

:)
Click to expand...

Please, specify the vendor (Asus, Gyga-Byte, Sapphire, etc) of your video card and full model name, it's interested information :)
 
Did anyone tried PC version of X1900XT 256Mb? This is really great price/performance card, but I read on Anandtech review they had problems in XP which they couldn't fix...I would really love to buy it, but not to only find out it won't work....
 
x1900xtx

I took a spare x1900xtx I had laying around and installed it into the 16x slot and put the stock mac 7300 and put it into the top slot. I also made a power cable extender from the backup dvd power cable and ran it out the side through the slit in the dvd rom enclosure. Works great. As for the x1900..will not work in OSX. Upon XP boot it works fine, but having the 2 grafx cards...i need to plug the 30" display into the nvidia card...once windows is loaded, unplug the monitor and plug it into the ati. It is a pain but it works just fine.
 
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