Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Upgrading old Mac Pro to 8800 GT graphics?

Well, the best thing to do is go Hackintosh !

I'm running an '06 Mac Pro. I got one about 2 months after they came out.

While it is still plenty for me... it's weak link is, and always has been, the GPU.

Now that I cannot upgrade, I will just build a Hackintosh sometime this Spring.

Why ? Because I run Solidworks '07 in Parallels & Bootcamp, as well as small amounts of video processing.

I love my OS X, so I have to do it ;)

Besides, it has been almost 9 months since I built a box :eek: and it was a HTPC... so I'm not sure it counts ;)

I'll start my research on the OSX86 forums now... so I can get my shopping list sorted out :D

Steve Jobs & Apple, Go **** yourselves !
 
faketom said:
Yo, this thread is way too long to try and read!

I skimmed through and things aren't looking good.

Can somebody summarize it quick? Basically, I have a quad-core 3 GHz Mac Pro from the first generation of them and I am dying to get rid of my 7300GT and smack in an 8800GTS.
But from what I am seeing nobody is sure about the possibility of this...

CAN IT HAPPEN!?!?!?


PS- I have 5 GB of Ram in my machine, am I screwing myself by having an uneven number?
Click to expand...

No you can't put a 8800GTS in the machine at this point.

And 5gb is fine as long as its in matched pairs.
 
dreamof3d said:
I would part with mine for that maybe. Did u sell it outright yourself. The Bozo's at OnDisk offered me $1100.00 for mine, I paid $3200.00, but like it or not, our 1 year old machines will never be a new Mac Pro unless you replace everything inside almost. At that cost....forget it. Sad but true
Click to expand...

Yep. Just posted it on Craig's List and, half an hour later, I made an appointment to meet the buyer the next day. It went real smooth.
 
pastrychef...........How much did u ask if u don't mind..Here is what I got, I plan on keeping all my other drives, and just dropping them in the new machine. I should be able to do a TM restore, and my Mac's face will be exactly the same but twice as fast.

Hardware Overview:

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: 6 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512 mb ram

Applecare till April '2010
 
dreamof3d said:
pastrychef...........How much did u ask if u don't mind..Here is what I got, I plan on keeping all my other drives, and just dropping them in the new machine. I should be able to do a TM restore, and my Mac's face will be exactly the same but twice as fast.

Hardware Overview:

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: 6 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512 mb ram

Applecare till April '2010
Click to expand...

The one I sold was a 3GHz model (2 dual core CPUs) with 2GB RAM, X1900, and a 500GB HD. I asked for and got $2000.
 
i bought a new Blackbook 2days ago lol, even thought i'm annoyed with apple.

That said, it means i won't be getting a new MP at the next revision with ACD as planned, gonna sell my desktop setup and build a hackintosh... can anyone PM me the links to hackintosh rescources.

Cheers,
 
Edd.Dantes said:
Well, the best thing to do is go Hackintosh !

I'm running an '06 Mac Pro. I got one about 2 months after they came out.

While it is still plenty for me... it's weak link is, and always has been, the GPU.

Now that I cannot upgrade, I will just build a Hackintosh sometime this Spring.

Why ? Because I run Solidworks '07 in Parallels & Bootcamp, as well as small amounts of video processing.

I love my OS X, so I have to do it ;)

Besides, it has been almost 9 months since I built a box :eek: and it was a HTPC... so I'm not sure it counts ;)

I'll start my research on the OSX86 forums now... so I can get my shopping list sorted out :D

Steve Jobs & Apple, Go **** yourselves !
Click to expand...

I built a nice "Hackintosh" myself after all of this bull****. I could not deal with the fact that I had to either deal with the x1900xt or buy a new machine. So I gave in to Apple and bought a new machine. LOL

Asus Maximus Extreme
4gig DDR3 Ram
Q6600 Processor
4 1TB drives
Dual SATA DVD Burners
8800GTS (G92) 1gig video card.
in a nice Antec P190 case with 1200watts of PSU

Running XP, Vista, Suse 10.3 and OSX Leopard with all the updates.

I could not be happier.

So Thank you Apple for waking me up and opening my eyes.
 
All of this got me to thinking... Wasn't our Mac Pro marketed as a 64bit machine? If it was why do we have EFI32 in the first place? and Why have they not Updated the firmware in the machines to EFI64 instead of worrying about making the cards compatible make the machine itself compatible by simply releasing the EFI64 firmware for our machines.
 
waremaster said:
All of this got me to thinking... Wasn't our Mac Pro marketed as a 64bit machine? If it was why do we have EFI32 in the first place? and Why have they not Updated the firmware in the machines to EFI64 instead of worrying about making the cards compatible make the machine itself compatible by simply releasing the EFI64 firmware for our machines.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that too. When Apple adopted EFI, their machines
weren't all 64-bit (e.g., Core Duos). So maybe they went 32-bit for those
early Intel Macs and never got around to going 64-bit. Complete total
utter speculation on my part though :)

ps

If I had bought a 2006 MP, I'm sure I'd still be happy with it. They are
still great machines. But then gaming isn't a priority for me.
 
waremaster said:
I built a nice "Hackintosh" myself after all of this bull****. I could not deal with the fact that I had to either deal with the x1900xt or buy a new machine. So I gave in to Apple and bought a new machine. LOL

Asus Maximus Extreme
4gig DDR3 Ram
Q6600 Processor
4 1TB drives
Dual SATA DVD Burners
8800GTS (G92) 1gig video card.
in a nice Antec P190 case with 1200watts of PSU

Running XP, Vista, Suse 10.3 and OSX Leopard with all the updates.

I could not be happier.

So Thank you Apple for waking me up and opening my eyes.
Click to expand...

I'm going to give Apple another month or so to see how they resolve this graphic card issue before I buy my Power Mac. If they don't, I'll get an HP or Boxx Workstation and Hack it. It's sad, really. :rolleyes:
 
waremaster said:
All of this got me to thinking... Wasn't our Mac Pro marketed as a 64bit machine? If it was why do we have EFI32 in the first place? and Why have they not Updated the firmware in the machines to EFI64 instead of worrying about making the cards compatible make the machine itself compatible by simply releasing the EFI64 firmware for our machines.
Click to expand...

is EFI 64 different hardwarewise or firmware only? this would be an easier and cheaper solution than new cards having to be produced, and could be done via software update.

anyone able to verify this as possible?
 
waremaster said:
I built a nice "Hackintosh" myself after all of this bull****. I could not deal with the fact that I had to either deal with the x1900xt or buy a new machine. So I gave in to Apple and bought a new machine. LOL
Click to expand...

How stable is OS X on it and how well does it perform?
 
re: It's sad, really ....

Yeah, it *is* sad, really.... People think they're actually going to be better off with some crappy HP/Compaq computer or whatever, in place of far better engineered Apple hardware.

Seriously, I've been a computer tech. for over 15 years, and ever since around 2000, I've migrated away from Windows PCs and towards Apple products. Sure, a lot of this revolved my love of OS X ... BUT, I've also quickly come to realize that despite all the loud complaining when someone gets a "dud" machine once in a while, the Apple hardware BLOWS AWAY the typical store-bought "Wintel" PC.

That's why I've never paid much attention to the "Hackintosh" projects out there. What's the point, really? Sure, you can run OS X illegally on some cheaper PC, but what's that really doing for you? Do you just want "bragging rights" that you made your PC run something it wasn't supposed to run?

Apple has never been about giving you 10 million hardware upgrade options. It took the company a decade just to give in on the idea of letting you plug in anybody's PRINTER to a Mac. (Remember the proprietary ADB connectors, anyone?) They only support a small set of hardware configurations, but you wind up with a superior "out of the box" experience. If you're against that whole concept - you REALLY shouldn't even be considering Apple products in the first place.


Bubba Satori said:
I'm going to give Apple another month or so to see how they resolve this graphic card issue before I buy my Power Mac. If they don't, I'll get an HP or Boxx Workstation and Hack it. It's sad, really. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
I've been thinking about the same course of action. Seems though a comparable machine built to order, i.e. Puget, Boxx, can be a lot more pricey than a Mac Pro. I was playing around with the customize button, and had a fast Puget @ $7,000.00. Most of these systems can only use 8 gig ram max. It really sucks that Apple sells machines with a 6 month life span. At least with one of these other boxes, u can always upgrade them..........Maybe Hackintosh
will be growing quick. Sorry I didn't just download Leo. Thought supporting Apple was the right thing do do.......just like they support us....lol
 
waremaster said:
All of this got me to thinking... Wasn't our Mac Pro marketed as a 64bit machine? If it was why do we have EFI32 in the first place? and Why have they not Updated the firmware in the machines to EFI64 instead of worrying about making the cards compatible make the machine itself compatible by simply releasing the EFI64 firmware for our machines.
Click to expand...

I have been wondering the same thing since this whole EFI 32-bit/64-bit issue started. I figured I was just ignorant on what 64-bit actually meant. Looking at the press release from the Mac Pros in August of '06 they are described as:

"Apple® today unveiled the new Mac® Pro, a quad Xeon, 64-bit desktop workstation featuring two new Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of the Power Mac® G5 Quad*."

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2006/aug/07macpro.html

Is it merely the processors that are 64-bit? I know I thought I was buying a 64-bit machine when I bought my Mac Pro in August of 2006. Seems like a 64-bit machine should be able to handle 64-bit EFI. Maybe someone can enlighten us on why this isn't the case? Did we ever get official confirmation that it is indeed the 32-bit/64-bit EFI that is causing the problem with these cards?
 
Spades said:
How stable is OS X on it and how well does it perform?
Click to expand...


I can honestly say it is stable as a rock. I am not going to say it'a as easy as 1 2 3 to install but I can tell you this once it's installed it's faster than my current mac pro.

To be clear too a previous poster I am still quite happy with my current mac pro. I just wanted better graphics preformance in pro apps as well as games.

I built this machine more as a **** you to apple as it seeems they want me to spend money on a new machine. And obviously I was willing to do that. I just didn't do it with them. They ned to realize there are other alternatives and not be so cocky.
 
When a person says they are going to buy a 64-bit computer, which sane person thinks they are talking about the EFI???

The video cards only support 24-bit color, are you going to make that an issue, too?

Aren't you guys reaching just a bit far?
 
kingtj said:
Yeah, it *is* sad, really.... People think they're actually going to be better off with some crappy HP/Compaq computer or whatever, in place of far better engineered Apple hardware.


Apple has never been about giving you 10 million hardware upgrade options. It took the company a decade just to give in on the idea of letting you plug in anybody's PRINTER to a Mac. (Remember the proprietary ADB connectors, anyone?) They only support a small set of hardware configurations, but you wind up with a superior "out of the box" experience. If you're against that whole concept - you REALLY shouldn't even be considering Apple products in the first place.
Click to expand...

Yes it is sad! It is sad Apple is so greedy we now look to PCs as an alternative. This is 2008, Apple's old modus operandi does not fit and it is upsetting its most loyal customers.

We are not asking for 10 million upgrades, we are asking for fundamental upgrade choices at a par with the PC world. What good is an infinitely upgradable tower if there are few to no upgrades? I might consider buying an iMac and upgrading it every 2 years or so, only the iMac does not fit my work requirements. Apple is doing everything it can to restrict our peripheral upgrade choices in order to force us to buy new Macs. How stupid, low, transparent and totally greedy is that?

If you think greed is not the main factor and you are convinced Macs are so superior, ask yourself why Apple still charges for an extended warranty when most "quality" PC brands now offer standard 3 year coverage.
 
kingtj said:
Yeah, it *is* sad, really.... People think they're actually going to be better off with some crappy HP/Compaq computer or whatever, in place of far better engineered Apple hardware.

Seriously, I've been a computer tech. for over 15 years, and ever since around 2000, I've migrated away from Windows PCs and towards Apple products. Sure, a lot of this revolved my love of OS X ... BUT, I've also quickly come to realize that despite all the loud complaining when someone gets a "dud" machine once in a while, the Apple hardware BLOWS AWAY the typical store-bought "Wintel" PC.

That's why I've never paid much attention to the "Hackintosh" projects out there. What's the point, really? Sure, you can run OS X illegally on some cheaper PC, but what's that really doing for you? Do you just want "bragging rights" that you made your PC run something it wasn't supposed to run?

Apple has never been about giving you 10 million hardware upgrade options. It took the company a decade just to give in on the idea of letting you plug in anybody's PRINTER to a Mac. (Remember the proprietary ADB connectors, anyone?) They only support a small set of hardware configurations, but you wind up with a superior "out of the box" experience. If you're against that whole concept - you REALLY shouldn't even be considering Apple products in the first place.
Click to expand...

Pretty funny the first statement. If you care to look at my specs you will see that the parts I selected for my "hackintosh" are either equal to or better than the parts used in the Mac's hell I am not going to say that a mac would have been more expensive because to be honest I could have bought a new mac pro for about the same as I invested into the new machine. Right down to the case selection it was all about building a workstation class machine. The ONLY advantage the Mac Pro has over the "Hack" I built might possibly be the Xeons. And to be honest I am not even so sure about that.
 
pastrychef said:
When a person says they are going to buy a 64-bit computer, which sane person thinks they are talking about the EFI???

The video cards only support 24-bit color, are you going to make that an issue, too?

Aren't you guys reaching just a bit far?
Click to expand...


Hell do you ever consider the BIOS in a computer you buy? You simply expect it to be adequate to the task. In this case it's a 64bit machine running on a "32bit" "EFI/Bios" You buy a 64 bit machine you certainly Do think you are buying a 64bit machine. Video card 24bit has nothing to do with that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back