Well if true, I hope they've now abandoned it, because I've had my fill of overseas customer "support" centers with lots of other companies.
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Upgrading old Mac Pro to 8800 GT graphics?
- Thread starter Fezzy
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Well if true, I hope they've now abandoned it, because I've had my fill of overseas customer "support" centers with lots of other companies.
I am not sure if they have abandoned it. It has only been about 6 hours!
From what I can tell, Apple doesn't have any official call centers overseas, but they have overseas contractors that they use when call volumes are high. I think I called during a heavy call period today. It was a total waste of time and reflects badly on Apple's image. I would rather get a busy signal than wait on hold to finally reach an underpaid uninformed "tech" who barely speaks English has no idea what a graphics card is.
I think one of the changes for PCI 2.0 is the amount of power it draws from the slot. Maybe the new Mac Pro will power the video cards from the slot and nothing else....and maybe thats why the 8800GT wont work in the older Mac Pro. Maybe Apple has deleted the add-on power connector of the 8800GT.
I think it's already been established that the (supposed) reason for the incompatibility is the switch from EFI32 to EFI64 rather than a power issue.
I may be wrong though, barefeats may be wrong, hardmac may be wrong, and blizzard may be wrong. I'm not being sarcastic here either. Until someone with a pre 2008 Mac Pro has tried this card nobody REALLY knows whether they'll work or if not why not.
*sigh* Come on Apple deliver my card!
I may be wrong though, barefeats may be wrong, hardmac may be wrong, and blizzard may be wrong. I'm not being sarcastic here either. Until someone with a pre 2008 Mac Pro has tried this card nobody REALLY knows whether they'll work or if not why not.
*sigh* Come on Apple deliver my card!
I am anxious for the cards to be delivered in the UK. My stress will either be relieved or heightened. I'm looking forward to hearing how they work for you guys.
Thanks.
As someone else has already said I am committed to getting this card to work in my Mac Pro even if it means hacking/flashing the damn thing.
But I seriously hope I don't have to.
As someone else has already said I am committed to getting this card to work in my Mac Pro even if it means hacking/flashing the damn thing.
But I seriously hope I don't have to.
Some people in the millions of xMac/Mac Pro Jr. threads claimed that Apple isn't interested in people who like us who (try to) game and want to customize and upgrade machines during their lifetime. Right now, I believe them. More than that, it seems that Apple is actively trying to give us the boot.
I'm not trying to game in OS X, I have Windows via boot camp for that and the games I play in Windows run fantastically on the X1900XT I already have.
The reason I want the added speed of the 8800GT is for editing the thousands of pictures in my Aperture library.
I want it for a legitimate Apple program running on a legitimate Apple operating system on legitimate Apple hardware.
Why should that be so difficult?
The reason I want the added speed of the 8800GT is for editing the thousands of pictures in my Aperture library.
I want it for a legitimate Apple program running on a legitimate Apple operating system on legitimate Apple hardware.
Why should that be so difficult?
Since most people are not going to upgrade to a new Mac Pro just for the GPU why Doesn't Apple want to capitalize on the revenue they could get from all us wanting these cards. I realize it is small in the grand scheme of things, but still.
Since most people are not going to upgrade to a new Mac Pro just for the GPU why Doesn't Apple want to capitalize on the revenue they could get from all us wanting these cards. I realize it is small in the grand scheme of things, but still.
Because they'd rather capitalize on MORE revenue by forcing Mac Pro owners to go out and buy the NEW ones. Really underhanded move by Apple, but not all that unsurprising.
Their internal slogan is now entitled "Think $". Apple is severely diverging from the company it once was. QA has suffered, customer support is getting worse, etc. etc, all in the name of the almighty dollar.
I guess I will wait till the next update and then upgrade. There is no way I could ever go to PC. It's a shame it has to be this way.
If that's really their plan, it's underhanded *and* really stupid. I'm not going to buy the new Mac Pro. Or the one after this one. In fact, I'll get a PC for crunching and games at a certain point and keep MP for work (pop in newer Xeons a year or two down the line) until it literally dies or it really can't run the latest stuff any more. The way it looks right now, there's little difference between MP and a mini other than the MP can take more memory and hard drives and maybe an odd expansion card (if anyone bothers to produce one). But you can use external hard drives for mini anyway (and pop in a quad core 3.0 GHz CPU in it as well if you need to crunch).
Some Hope
I am using the 2600XT on an old mac, I know it's not the 8800 but it works.
Here is my story...
I purchased my Mac Pro around Oct 06. It came with the x1900, I must have got the POS batch because it starting having the screen artifacts and weird lines and crashes. Anyway it was out of warranty and i didnt have apple care so I went back to PC. I have much man love for PC guy...
When I saw apple were offering cheaper cards as upgrades, I ordered the 2600 XT (I have a mac pro, but I don't do much pro stuff or games so I don't care that it's slow ok...). Btw, in australia the x1900 costs $660AUD/$580USD, um what!
I put the 2600 in this afternoon and it works!.
I was a bit worried the box states: Requires Mac Pro with PCI Exress 2.0 slot and Mac OSX 10.5.1 or later.
So much for that.
I am using the 2600XT on an old mac, I know it's not the 8800 but it works.
Here is my story...
I purchased my Mac Pro around Oct 06. It came with the x1900, I must have got the POS batch because it starting having the screen artifacts and weird lines and crashes. Anyway it was out of warranty and i didnt have apple care so I went back to PC. I have much man love for PC guy...
When I saw apple were offering cheaper cards as upgrades, I ordered the 2600 XT (I have a mac pro, but I don't do much pro stuff or games so I don't care that it's slow ok...). Btw, in australia the x1900 costs $660AUD/$580USD, um what!
I put the 2600 in this afternoon and it works!.
I was a bit worried the box states: Requires Mac Pro with PCI Exress 2.0 slot and Mac OSX 10.5.1 or later.
So much for that.
leave feedback here. (please don't flame) http://www.apple.com/feedback/macpro.html
Sign petition here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/geforce8800
(same no flame applies)
I'm going to wait till it is confirmed till i sign, which should be what like 6 days now?
Sign petition here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/geforce8800
(same no flame applies)
I'm going to wait till it is confirmed till i sign, which should be what like 6 days now?
Interesting. Can you try running the X1900 and the HD 2600 at the same time and see if they both work? (I.E. if you only have one monitor, put both cards in, boot with the monitor hooked to the X1900 then plug your monitor into the HD 2600 and see if you get a display?)
If that works, with the both cards still in the Mac Pro, can you download a copy of Pixelmator and see if you can open images with it?
I'd really appreciate you trying this.
nvidia 8800 in MP
I find this whole thread rather rediculous. The link on MacRumors mainpage shows the upgrade kit for the nVidia 8800:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...ccessories/storage&nplm=MB137Z/A&mco=CB3ECC1C
I did some searching and apperently the PCI Express 2.0 has double speed lanes so its still an X16 card but each lane works at 500 Mbit/s rather then 256 Mbit/s that the older cards used. My guess is that it is not 32 lanes. In any rate I will be buying a new machine, its simply easier.
I find this whole thread rather rediculous. The link on MacRumors mainpage shows the upgrade kit for the nVidia 8800:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...ccessories/storage&nplm=MB137Z/A&mco=CB3ECC1C
I did some searching and apperently the PCI Express 2.0 has double speed lanes so its still an X16 card but each lane works at 500 Mbit/s rather then 256 Mbit/s that the older cards used. My guess is that it is not 32 lanes. In any rate I will be buying a new machine, its simply easier.
I would honestly hold off on complaints until you are sure it won't work. I have yet to find any direct proof that it wont' work. Apple's page is a bit lacking in details but no where does it say or not say which machines it works on. Additionally it should take about a week for www.barefeats.com to publish some discussion on this.
Yep. Got a call at 10AM today about my order. I vented on the bitch and then hung up. I did NOT cancel my order yet.