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quiet, DEPENDABLE video card for 2.66 mac pro

howard

howard

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Nov 18, 2002
2,017
4
My video card has been acting up quite a bit and I am sick of dealing with it. Its the ATI upgrade at the time the 2.66 came out. I think the X1800... or X1900

I'm looking for an inexpensive replacement. Something that will keep cool, work fine, and hopefully be pretty quiet. I don't need high performance, something similar to this ATI. Just dependable and quiet!

Any recommendations? I feel like ATI and Nvidia purposely make their product names confusing as I keep losing track of what is out there...
 
You could try a 2600XT, or you could pick up the HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition, or you could pick up the 8800GT.

The 3870 is best all around (Gaming, Pro Apps), the 8800GT has the best gaming performance if you boot camp but not as good in OpenGL on the OSX side, and the 2600XT is the underdog. You can probably find the 2600XT on Ebay for a lower price, too.
 
You can flash the 8800GT yourself, but you have to find a card with the larger sized ROM (128). EVGA has that. If you're not comfortable flashing it, Apple is your only option.

The 3870 ROM has not yet been properly extracted to my knowledge, so you have to go with the Mac & PC Edition (Which may or may not be on NewEgg, I didn't look), and I don't know about the ROM for the 2600XT. Someone else would know.
 
the 3870 seems like the best bet anyway, I use the pro apps mostly

oddly, on the apple sight i noticed that the X1900 is $400 while the 8800GT "ugrade" is less at $280.

odd?
 
howard said:
the 3870 seems like the best bet anyway, I use the pro apps mostly

oddly, on the apple sight i noticed that the X1900 is $400 while the 8800GT "ugrade" is less at $280.

odd?
Click to expand...

Just Apple having no need to sell off the X1900s with any immediacy so no need to drop their price.
 
Another vote for the HD2600 that is stock in the Early 08 Mac Pro. You can probably buy one on ebay that someone pulled to make way for the recently introduced HD3870.
 
ungraphic said:
Yup, I have two of them in my mac pro and i cant hear a thing.

Theyre crap for gaming, but if u dont game or do much pro apps stuff, these are the best deal. they also run cooler.
Click to expand...

Will this card work in the latest mac pro? I loved that card in my old mac pro. No noise because no fan.
 
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