Upgrading from 7300 GT - advice please!

[xandermitch]

My wife's early Mac Pro 2.66 GHz has the GeForce 7300 GT graphic card running a 30" ACD. She's looking at adding a second 30" ACD (we already own the screen but are selling the older G5 that is currently attached).

Anyway, I don't know much about graphic cards but I have found that the 7300 can't run a second 30" ACD. Does anyone know if I'm better to add a second 7300 GT card for the second screen or replace the current card with a more powerful alternative that can run both 30" screens.

Usage: She's a heavy photoshop user, also InDesign & looking to use Aperture more, particularly across both screens. She doesn't use 3D software or games.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Xander.

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

 

[Tallest Skil]

Anyway, I don't know much about graphic cards but I have found that the 7300 can't run a second 30" ACD.

Yes, it can.

Edit: WHOA, it's been forever. No, it can't...

Get the 2006-model 8800 GT to run two of them.

 

[velocityg4]

Here is an article I found on 32 ways to speed up Aperture. Aperture is GPU intensive and can get speed boosts from a fast GPU. Photoshop CS4 also can take advantage of the GPU for big performance boosts on some tasks.

So if you want the best performance I would definitely consider a more powerful GPU over 2 very low powered ones. The ATI Radeon 4870 is definitely king but the ATI Radeon 3870 or nVidia GeForce 8800GT will all out perform two 7300GT's.

Edit: If you are really brazen your can try flashing a PC 4870 with a Mac ROM. It is cheaper than the Mac 3870 or half the price the the Mac 4870.

 

[xandermitch]

Just wanted to say a big thank you for the advice. It's generous of you both to take the time to respond. I hope I can help some other people on the board at some stage and "pay it forward".

I'll look into gettting one of the above mentioned graphics cards.

 

[grue]

So if you want the best performance I would definitely consider a more powerful GPU over 2 very low powered ones. The ATI Radeon 4870 is definitely king but the ATI Radeon 3870 or nVidia GeForce 8800GT will all out perform two 7300GT's.

8800GT actually beats all comers with the latest drivers. Read up on barefeats.