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Upgrading old Mac Pro to 8800 GT graphics?
- Thread starter Fezzy
- Start date
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At least Apple hasn't done this yet:
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3193480.ece
This sounds like Steve Ballmer's idea. The man has finally gone completely sideways.
Very interesting and pure evil. I'm not quite sure Apple hasn't done it. The keyword, at 5-6% of the market share, is "yet".
I was going to buy a (new) Mac Pro this year, I was hoping my opinion of the "New Apple" would change and all would be good again. After nearly 20 years of loyalty and endless money, I will probably look elsewhere when my required software are upgraded.
What made the Mac special is that we could feel we were a part of something good, progressive and different. The only feelings I am left with lately are frustration and anger. This is manipulation, of the shameful and pathetic kind since Apple will only manage to alienate its core base.
thankful or damn pissed
If above quote/suspicion is true, aapl is actually jeopardizing the segment of customers wishing to purchase an "ultra upgradeable" tower. Yes, this new 8800 was a great addition to the 08 MP, but i'm going to get screwed when the new Nvidia 99900 GTXYZ can only be used for the 2010 MP.
I've been waiting for a MP upgrade for sometime now, but before pulling the trigger, this damn forum actually made me think twice due to the 07 MP not being able to handle the 8800GT card. Not sure if i should be thankful or damn pissed. btw - my current sys is 6yrs old..
If above quote/suspicion is true, aapl is actually jeopardizing the segment of customers wishing to purchase an "ultra upgradeable" tower. Yes, this new 8800 was a great addition to the 08 MP, but i'm going to get screwed when the new Nvidia 99900 GTXYZ can only be used for the 2010 MP.
I've been waiting for a MP upgrade for sometime now, but before pulling the trigger, this damn forum actually made me think twice due to the 07 MP not being able to handle the 8800GT card. Not sure if i should be thankful or damn pissed. btw - my current sys is 6yrs old..
Getting back on track...
I know the 8800GT won't work in OS X on an "old" Mac Pro. Has anyone actually proven that the 8800 GT won't work on the "old" Mac Pro's using bootcamp? There are so many threads on the subject that I am getting a headache just reading through them...
I know the 8800GT won't work in OS X on an "old" Mac Pro. Has anyone actually proven that the 8800 GT won't work on the "old" Mac Pro's using bootcamp? There are so many threads on the subject that I am getting a headache just reading through them...
Could it be that the software support isn't in OS X yet? The machine and card were JUST released. We may simply have to wait until 10.5.2 and *bamf* the card will probably start working.
When I was at the Apple Store I did verify that the nvidia drivers on the new Mac Pros had higher version numbers than the same drivers on the other 10.5.1 machines I regularly use.
When I was at the Apple Store I did verify that the nvidia drivers on the new Mac Pros had higher version numbers than the same drivers on the other 10.5.1 machines I regularly use.
It would be great if that was the case but I'm not very hopefull because there have been a lot of very technical people on this thread throwing thought to the problem and I don't think they would have missed that one.
Someone with both machines should be able to test it though. Now this is where I might be showing how un-technical I am but would someone with both machines be able to simple swap the boot drives over and boot of the other machines disc?
People are Frustrated
Yeah the solution is not here now... But I cant understand this apple indifference. Probably some day, when the number of new macpro demand is smaller... we will found a software update "EFI64 update for older macpros".
The sequence is simple... you accept a request for apply the patch.
Then the machine shutdown properly.
Then now you have EFI64. And need swap the 7300 to the new 8800 because if not you only can see a black screen with the 7300 in the next boot.
Then you boot properly with your 8800GT and can see other window with a message: if you accept clicking in the boton, then the sequence is finished: you have your 8800 working.
But if you dont accept in a few seconds, the system switch over to EFI32 rebooting again.
I think that is a posible solution that can be applied for us.
But not now... Apple need put a reason to buy new machines... need the new cards for the new machines... and apple take more time to give us a solution.
I think that in this year in all likelihood... I cant understand other posibility... but... and if not? for me too It will be the last macpro for me...
Is not a wrong track to report this problem to the forums, press, etc...
although is no necesary:
obviously the pcworld can use this to laugh with our problem
PD: Sorry for my horrible english. My native language is Spanish and Euskera (Basque)
Yeah the solution is not here now... But I cant understand this apple indifference. Probably some day, when the number of new macpro demand is smaller... we will found a software update "EFI64 update for older macpros".
The sequence is simple... you accept a request for apply the patch.
Then the machine shutdown properly.
Then now you have EFI64. And need swap the 7300 to the new 8800 because if not you only can see a black screen with the 7300 in the next boot.
Then you boot properly with your 8800GT and can see other window with a message: if you accept clicking in the boton, then the sequence is finished: you have your 8800 working.
But if you dont accept in a few seconds, the system switch over to EFI32 rebooting again.
I think that is a posible solution that can be applied for us.
But not now... Apple need put a reason to buy new machines... need the new cards for the new machines... and apple take more time to give us a solution.
I think that in this year in all likelihood... I cant understand other posibility... but... and if not? for me too It will be the last macpro for me...
Is not a wrong track to report this problem to the forums, press, etc...
although is no necesary:
obviously the pcworld can use this to laugh with our problem
PD: Sorry for my horrible english. My native language is Spanish and Euskera (Basque)
Engadget is reporting that you can't upgrade the old Mac Pro's with the new 8800 GT. If it's true, it's outrageous and I'm hating Apple more and more these days.
UPDATE: By calling that # I did get a call back and was put in touch with SR level tech support representative who documented the experiments that I have done using a (PC) EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR video card in my Mac Pro. At first they were sticking to their guns until I explained that the PC card did work in bootcamp so that absolutely proves that the card is backward compatible to the PCI-e revision that the ancient Mac Pro has. Then I explained that I have a 2 1/2 yr old dell the surely does not have PCI-e 2.0 slots and the card works in that. I reiterated that the aforementioned dell only cost $400.00. I said so why can't a $3000.00 Mac work with it? At first I was being referred to the document that apple has on the site about cards that work on G5s and specific families of machines. Then I said you can show me that document till you are blue in the face and that still does not change the fact that the card IS capable of working on this machine. So I asked her are you telling me that I have to pay basically $3000.00 to upgrade my video card because thats the only Mac that will get that good of a card? I said please think about the answer would you pay $3000.00 due to a video card upgrade? To which she said no. Then I was being told that the motherboards on the new Mac Pro were redesigned and the new card would not physically fit. To which I replied You do realize that the EVGA card and I gave the part # and the Apple card are the same card but with different software on it right? Thats when I said please let me talk to an engineer and I will explain my findings to them. She said I could not speak directly to them that she would have to be an intermediate. So I clearly and with model numbers went over it one more time this time asking her to document what I was saying so she could pass it on word for word and she did. I then asked her to read it back to me so I could be sure she understood what I was saying and she did. So I am now either expecting a call back in no more than 5 days from either an engineer or her with some definitive information why it is or is not compatible.
Very nice, thank you.
Maybe this will help apple shape up their 'pro choice' claims. Although I am pretty sure someone high up from apple has read about the many, many, many complaints on various forums, blogs and other websites.
The 8800 GT is the only option for me as I am planning on buying a 24" LCD with a resolution of 19200x1200, and playing games at that res, even with an ATI 1900xt will not be enough, especially using terribly ported games to OS X, which, by the way, steve jobs made it sound as if apple was being commited to offering some games to us. Not only were those games from EA badly ported, they proved to be a miserable experience overall. With all that said, I dont even have an ATI 1900xt because i decided it would be cheaper to go with two 7300 GTs and an sli bridge when playing games under windows. And it has been a good option for the games i play at the resolution i can get. But 19200x1200 will require a higher end card.
This is one of the poorest showings from apple to date.
One word: paragraphs.
Even though what you wrote may make sense, reading it sure was a pain.
Do you really think apple engineers don't understand the difference in PCIexpress slot types and backwards compatibility?
Just more song and dance from apple. They KNOW the card -would- work, they have chosen to make it NOT work.
The reason engadget is running a story is because last night after speaking with Nate Doss I decided to take action. I wrote a long detailed description of this fiasco with links to this site, the petition and the Apple Discussion forums. I sent it to several different online news sources, one of them being engadget. I also sent it to cnet, gizmodo, Mac World, etc...
I was happy as can be to see engadget's story today along with a "Thanks John" at the end. Now I need to email Nate and let him check out the story.
Do you have this 'Nate' guy's e-mail address? Any chance you could post it if you do?
I had to google "Nate Doss Apple", but found some guy who had a blog mentioning his dealings with Nate. I emailed him and he gave me Nate's email address. It is: ndoss@apple.com
I emailed Nate last night and he called me today to let me know he got my email. He didn't have anything new to say about this issue, but the email address worked.
I am hoping that having some more "mainstream" coverage of this story might open their eyes a bit. The comments on the engadget story are classic. There are a lot of uninformed people spouting off as if the story is pointless, but none of them know the details or background of the issue. The comments are meaningless anyway. I'm just glad a few thousand more people are being made aware of this issue.
Thanks for that, we really can't let this story just fade into the background. As a community, Mac Pro owners need to make sure Apple feels the heat over this until they finally sort out the problem. The only slightly disappointing thing I felt was that engadget rather underplayed the story and made it sound a bit like we're just dumb because we ordered an upgrade kit that wasn't designed for our machines. I felt they rather missed the bigger picture which is Apple screwing it's customers by selling a very expensive machine which is promised to be upgradeable and then completely going back on that promise.
Yeah, they did put their own spin on what I told them. I think most people will get the idea though. I hope...
Maybe one of the other sites I emailed will run something as well.