Upgrading old Mac Pro to 8800 GT graphics?

[fandsw]

Confused? Doesn't come close !!!! The more I read this thread the more confused I become ...... Please help .....

I have a 2007 (March) 2.66 Mac pro with the bog standard 7300 GT video card. I want to upgrade the video card but can't find a straight answer to a good replacement.

Please suggest a video card (non gamer & non-Windows) that can be a direct replacement for my 7300 GT.

i.e. Pull out the 7300 GT and pop in a ????? (no extra wires etc.) PLEASE HELP ....

You can also pop in the ATI 2600XT card from the current generation MPs to replace your 7300GT. It will work fine as is, however you won't see an appreciable gain in graphics performance.

 

[statikcat]

Does anyone else find it very ODD that theres not even a way to have any kind of other non-standard mac pro compliant card inserted into any slot while still having another (like the 7300 GT) to boot into OS X? Its almost as if its purposely done so that you CANT put in your own card.

If I could put any card in just for XP/Vista easily I would be happy enough. Apparently Apple wants us to buy their over priced crap - not that there is even a selection for us 2007 users. It's like would you like crap card A or crap card B? All at crap price.

Could Apple be waiting to rid their ATI stock before releasing an Nvidia? I havn't lost all hope yet but it's not looking too good. Look at how long we waited for a new Mac Pro..

 

[SolidShadow]

I do find it kind of ironic that many people are suggesting other cards that will work in a Mac but only when booted into Windows. So when comparing video card compatibility, Windows "just works" and OSX just doesn't.

Don't get me wrong in that statement, I hate Windows. I bought a Mac because I love OSX.. But the "just works" principle here is a little anemic. I hate to admit it, I really really do but this is a feather in Window's cap. It makes Apple look a little bad when Windows will utilize more video card options on Apple's own hardware than OSX does.

 

[toke lahti]

You can use both at the same time. The X1900XT goes in the big PCI socket and the 7300 in one of the remaining 3 sockets.
Only thing you need to know is that the X1900XT makes a lot of noise.

I had problems with FCS when monitors were connected to both 1900xt (which had primary screen) & 7300gt. Eg. Motion had smaller max rez & FCP had buggy preview and so on.
Right now I have 7300gt installed without any monitors and thinking if I should get another 1900xt or 2600xt...
Anybody tried 1900xt & 2600xt with FCS & MP2007?

 

[jemo07]

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/apple_getamac_yoga_20080401_480x272.mov

-hi am a Mac
-And I'm a PC
-Pc what are you doing....
-Ah playing some games
-Wow that is some cool graphics... how you do that...
-I m running the the latest NVIDIA card, but hey I have a gazillion other cards to choose from How about you...
-Well I was build in 2007, so I can run a 7300GT that is like 3 years old and one 5th the performance of your card... Ah but I can get an upgrade for a card that is just as old and still cost what a current mid/high end card at $300, or I can use my collage money instead and buy me the Quatro FX or a new 08 system....
-Wow, I doing this in 3 year old hardware....

Tin, tin tin tun..... Get a mac?

Is this where this is headed?

 

[ZachPruckowski]

And at this point i don't care. We arn't going to get our way. Hopefully my computer can power my 1900 and the 9800 at the same time. Maybe i can disable one in windows.

I think the 9800 uses 2 PCI power connectors, and the Mac Pro only has two (leaving none left over for the x1900). There's probably a way to get enough power from somewhere (it's a 1 kW power supply...), but I don't know how safe that'd be.

 

[rtrt]

lol @ jemo07

a

 

[syth]

That is inappropriate. This is the second time you've made immature assumptions about me. The first was in the other thread about this issue. You don't know me, don't know how old I am, what I do, or what degrees I have. Thanks!

Not only that, how is it relevant? I spend my day coding php and html and compiling code on remote servers. I live and die by ssh and a text based GUI for 90% of my work (and XCode for the other 10%). And I do it on a severely overpowered Mac Pro. Why? I mean, I could use a Mac mini and do all my work just as well. But at the end of the day, I want to unwind. Some people move to the couch and watch Dancing With the Stars. I prefer to play WoW in the evenings while chatting on Ventrillo/Skype and cruising the web. So what? I want a better graphics card not for my work, but for my reward for working all day staring at the equivalent of a 1978 terminal...

And I'm not going to apologise for that, and I am not going to cut Apple some slack because I don't 'need' an 8800. I do need an 8800, and I expect Apple to deliver one.

 

[jemo07]

And I'm not going to apologise for that, and I am not going to cut Apple some slack because I don't 'need' an 8800. I do need an 8800, and I expect Apple to deliver one.

Here here!

My question is, if this will get as all anywhere? I don't care if it's an 8800, it just so happened that this was the card that could fit my needs... also, If Apple wants a penny from me in the future, they better understand that customers (meaning ALL) are to dumb, and this is just a marketing ploy (and I know there are business reasons...) to get us to fork money for a new system since the CPU upgrade was not enough to justify it. All apple has to to to mitigate this is open up to a third party to sell the damn card with EFI32 on them and be done!

Is it that had Steve?

 

[knome]

I think the 9800 uses 2 PCI power connectors, and the Mac Pro only has two (leaving none left over for the x1900). There's probably a way to get enough power from somewhere (it's a 1 kW power supply...), but I don't know how safe that'd be.

It does but you can pull power from the cd drive bays also. Which i did.

Card should be here any minute so i hope it works.

Does anyone else find it very ODD that theres not even a way to have any kind of other non-standard mac pro compliant card inserted into any slot while still having another (like the 7300 GT) to boot into OS X? Its almost as if its purposely done so that you CANT put in your own card.

uhh that works, you just have to have a monitor plugged into the apple card at all times (during boot).

 

[dreamof3d]

Just got off the phone with Steve. They will see what they can do after they get a better display on the iPod Touch...............

 

[knome]

this is queer, i just installed my 9800GTx and it shows up in osx... It won't let it boot from it but it will show it in display properties. Even has display id and everything.

It shows up as an NVidia - standard VGA adapter. It showed the same thing in windows before i installed the drivers.

 

[ungraphic]

uhh that works, you just have to have a monitor plugged into the apple card at all times (during boot).

so your saying that I can go out and buy an XFX Geforce 8800GT, drop it into my existing PCIe 16X slot, move my 7300GT into the second slot, and boot into OS X without problems on my first gen mac pro while having both installed but the monitor plugged into the 7300GT?

Because, as it stands, everyone and their mom has made it clear that this DOESNT work

 

[ungraphic]

this is queer, i just installed my 9800GTx and it shows up in osx... It won't let it boot from it but it will show it in display properties. Even has display id and everything.

It shows up as an NVidia - standard VGA adapter. It showed the same thing in windows before i installed the drivers.

Are you on a first gen. mac pro?

 

[knome]

yes i am and i think you're getting things confused. I'm doing what is known to work. I have both graphics cards in when booting into osx. just the 9800 Doesn't load (still recognized by the system after the boot but doesn't display anything) During that time my 1900 that i have installed takes over and runs osx. When going into windows i have to disable my 1900 because the catalyst control center absolutely hates the nvidia card and will shut it down. So in windows i am running the 9800.

Not much is known about the 9800 card so i dont' know if it has EFI on it and i do not know if it is normal for it to show up at all in the system profiler.

The only problem i am having is that i have to remove the 1900 from the system under windows because windows keeps preferring that over the 9800.

 

[dreamof3d]

yes i am and i think you're getting things confused. I'm doing what is known to work. I have both graphics cards in when booting into osx. just the 9800 Doesn't load (still recognized by the system after the boot but doesn't display anything) During that time my 1900 that i have installed takes over and runs osx. When going into windows i have to disable my 1900 because the catalyst control center absolutely hates the nvidia card and will shut it down. So in windows i am running the 9800.

Not much is known about the 9800 card so i dont' know if it has EFI on it and i do not know if it is normal for it to show up at all in the system profiler.

The only problem i am having is that i have to remove the 1900 from the system under windows because windows keeps preferring that over the 9800.

Just go to the Control Panel and select device manager. Scroll down to display adapters, and click on the + to expand the tree. Right click on the ATI X1900 and choose "disable" click yes you are sure you want to disable it. Close all the windows, reboot, and Viola. Then use the Ati catalyst uninstaller from the start menu. Reboot Thats it

 

[ungraphic]

yes i am and i think you're getting things confused. I'm doing what is known to work. I have both graphics cards in when booting into osx. just the 9800 Doesn't load (still recognized by the system after the boot but doesn't display anything) During that time my 1900 that i have installed takes over and runs osx. When going into windows i have to disable my 1900 because the catalyst control center absolutely hates the nvidia card and will shut it down. So in windows i am running the 9800.

Not much is known about the 9800 card so i dont' know if it has EFI on it and i do not know if it is normal for it to show up at all in the system profiler.

The only problem i am having is that i have to remove the 1900 from the system under windows because windows keeps preferring that over the 9800.

can you tell us specifically what make you have of the 9800? id rather have that in my computer than an overpriced underpowered end of life 8800 from apple (if it even becomes available).

 

[Snowshiro]

Just go to the Control Panel and select device manager. Scroll down to display adapters, and click on the + to expand the tree. Right click on the ATI X1900 and choose "disable" click yes you are sure you want to disable it. Close all the windows, reboot, and Viola. Then use the Ati catalyst uninstaller from the start menu. Reboot Thats it

Knome - can you confirm this with the card you bought and installed? Or dreamof3d - is this a solution you have personally checked?

I'd also like to know the model of the card you bought, and what, if any, extra connectors/power cables you needed to hook it up. Also does the X1900 show any decrease in performance in Mac OS after moving it to another slot.

 

[knome]

Just go to the Control Panel and select device manager. Scroll down to display adapters, and click on the + to expand the tree. Right click on the ATI X1900 and choose "disable" click yes you are sure you want to disable it. Close all the windows, reboot, and Viola. Then use the Ati catalyst uninstaller from the start menu. Reboot Thats it

That doesn't work, Every time i disable it, it re-enables it on the next boot up and installs the driver. I just need to completely disable the whole port.

In system profiler it shows up as this:

Type: VGA-Compatible Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x0612
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x10de
Subsystem ID: 0x0577
Revision ID: 0x00a2
Link Width: x16

I purchased the evga 9800 GTX for 329 on new egg. I had to get a splitter and extender from fry's

The 1900 Will show some decreased performance due to it being forced into a 4x slot unfortunately. But i don't play any games on mac anymore and any apps that really use it i can get for windows.

 

[vvebsta]

once again does anyone know if the 2600 XT 512MB version works with the early mac pros?........as opposed to the 256mb version, thanks

 

[Father Jack]

You can also pop in the ATI 2600XT card from the current generation MPs to replace your 7300GT. It will work fine as is, however you won't see an appreciable gain in graphics performance.

Thanks for the info, but I ordered a 1900xt card yesterday from Amazon ...

 

[SolidShadow]

Let me know how the x1900 compares for you Father Jack.
I've read so many bad reviews even from Apple's site, I'm gun shy.

 

[knome]

The 1900 is a good card, in most applications it can still pull its own weight. The only ones that had a problem were the first generation ones and we all know their not first gen anymore.

 

[Father Jack]

Let me know how the x1900 compares for you Father Jack.
I've read so many bad reviews even from Apple's site, I'm gun shy.

Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes ..

FJ

 

[giantrobot]

Anything?!?

Its April and I just dont see anything coming from Apple. If there were anything in the works, this site would have covered it by now. I doubt anything is being "worked" other than PR bull. Why would they keep it a secret even if it were possible?

Regardless of all this, we need a workaround. Thats really the point of this thread and its the best revenge against Apple for crippling this computer...now the question is: Does anyone have a workaround that doesn't involve connecting and reconnecting cables in the back of my computer every time I boot? Anyone?