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Upgrading old Mac Pro to 8800 GT graphics?

giantrobot said:
If you are buying an 08 Mac Pro hoping to use it for years..forget it.
Click to expand...
This statement is a bit hard ... You'll still be able to use it for years, it'll only be impossible to upgrade it.

At least 2006 Mac Pro can be upgraded to use clovertown CPUs, and 2007 Mac Pros can be upgraded to use happertown CPUs (at least, that's what someone was told by Apple, and only CPUs with FSB <= 1333 MHz would work, then. but you could still get the 45nm, SSE4 and others).

But it seems 2008 Mac Pro will be stuck with happertown forever.
 
Its all about money. So why can't Apple's think-tank lugs envision the countless thousands that would buy products to enhance their 2007 workhorse's performance ? We should have gpu choices that make sense for every tower that they build. If you build a machine that the consumer can upgrade, the consumer needs choices, products.
The new Macs will STILL sell uninterrupted while many other loyal owners are satisfied too.
Maybe we need a gathering at the Apple store, like the mob for Leo, and the iPhone. They really need to fix this, or give other manufacturers the ability to create products for Mac on their own.........:mad:
 
pipomolo42 said:
This statement is a bit hard ... You'll still be able to use it for years, it'll only be impossible to upgrade it.

At least 2006 Mac Pro can be upgraded to use clovertown CPUs, and 2007 Mac Pros can be upgraded to use happertown CPUs (at least, that's what someone was told by Apple, and only CPUs with FSB <= 1333 MHz would work, then. but you could still get the 45nm, SSE4 and others).

But it seems 2008 Mac Pro will be stuck with happertown forever.
Click to expand...

Yes u can upgrade, you will break any Apple Care in the process too. It's really quite easy to upgrade the cpu's. Just visit newegg and check out the price, it will make you cry. I also read Harpertowns WILL NOT work in a 2007 Mac Pro, but any Clovertown could be installed in less than an hour providing you possess some mechanical aptitude. If the 2 chips didn't cost as much as a bottom-of-the-line iMac, I would be installing them in my machine.
 
A reasonable compromise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok guys, this whole graphic card updating has seriously upset me too. I have done a lot of tinkering, and LOW AND BEHOLD, I have found an EXCELLENT compromise to our dilemma of not being able to update graphics, and guess what? It's cheap, effective, and gets us to be able to play PC games under boot camp at great resolutions and speed. (Crysis, UT3, etc..) ++++ it
will work in BootCamp 1.1! No need to upgrade! (Can't anyways, unless
you update the OS.)

Another great reason to go the way I am suggesting is: no need to swap graphic cards in and out. NO NEED FOR SPECIAL POWER CABLES. Just plug and play! No need for updated graphic drivers! If you were using GT 7300, the drivers for that will work fine with 8600 GT! (under bootcamp) ... that's right,
just plug the card in and take off! Whoever has a working solution for 8600
GT drivers for bootcamp 1.1, please let the rest of us know. But like I said,
it is amazing, the 7300 drivers work fine in all the games I tested under
windows at amazing clarity, speed, resolution. (Crysis runs silky smooth in
1024x768 medium detail!)

You will need:

* At least 2 monitors
* the *PC* Geforce 8600 GT with 512meg Ram
http://www2.pny.com/8600-GT-OVERCLOCKED-512MB-PCIe-font-colordc0431NEWfont-P2547C269.aspx
($150.00 bucks!)

Put your existing Mac graphic card into slot 4, and the PC 8600 gt card into
slot 1. Reconfigure so that slot 4 uses 8x, other 2 slots use 1x, and slot 1 using 16x. Yes, this will slow down graphics on the mac os side, but not by any real noticeable difference! (Who plays games on mac os anyways?)

Hook one or more monitors to the 7300, and 1 or more monitors to the 8600.

You are done! This will at least allow you to use your MAC still, and run pc
games at much better resolution and performace compared to 7300. Yah, not 8800, but heck, I'm a really happy camper now!
 
rocco saya said:
Ok guys, this whole graphic card updating has seriously upset me too. I have done a lot of tinkering, and LOW AND BEHOLD, I have found an EXCELLENT compromise to our dilemma of not being able to update graphics, and guess what? It's cheap, effective, and gets us to be able to play PC games under boot camp at great resolutions and speed. (Crysis, UT3, etc..) ++++ it
will work in BootCamp 1.1! No need to upgrade! (Can't anyways, unless
you update the OS.)

Another great reason to go the way I am suggesting is: no need to swap graphic cards in and out. NO NEED FOR SPECIAL POWER CABLES. Just plug and play! No need for updated graphic drivers! If you were using GT 7300, the drivers for that will work fine with 8600 GT! (under bootcamp) ... that's right,
just plug the card in and take off! Whoever has a working solution for 8600
GT drivers for bootcamp 1.1, please let the rest of us know. But like I said,
it is amazing, the 7300 drivers work fine in all the games I tested under
windows at amazing clarity, speed, resolution. (Crysis runs silky smooth in
1024x768 medium detail!)

You will need:

* At least 2 monitors
* the *PC* Geforce 8600 GT with 512meg Ram
http://www2.pny.com/8600-GT-OVERCLOCKED-512MB-PCIe-font-colordc0431NEWfont-P2547C269.aspx
($150.00 bucks!)

Put your existing Mac graphic card into slot 4, and the PC 8600 gt card into
slot 1. Reconfigure so that slot 4 uses 8x, other 2 slots use 1x, and slot 1 using 16x. Yes, this will slow down graphics on the mac os side, but not by any real noticeable difference! (Who plays games on mac os anyways?)

Hook one or more monitors to the 7300, and 1 or more monitors to the 8600.

You are done! This will at least allow you to use your MAC still, and run pc
games at much better resolution and performace compared to 7300. Yah, not 8800, but heck, I'm a really happy camper now!
Click to expand...

LOL you are kidding right??

The X1900XT is a way better card than the 8600 GT so why bother? 1 card in slot 1 and works in both OS's and I would venture to guess more than half of the people in this thread already have the X1900XT and just want something BETTER than that.
 
toke lahti said:
I gotta admit that Apple is genius in making money.
Click to expand...

Not really. Microsoft makes far more money and their operating system allows for much more choice when it comes to video cards. Apple's proprietary nature is one of the main reasons they don't make the money Microsoft makes. It is the main reason PC people are turned off to Apple in general. Apple's genius is going to lose them customers and money before this issue is resolved.
 
waremaster said:
LOL you are kidding right??

The X1900XT is a way better card than the 8600 GT so why bother? 1 card in slot 1 and works in both OS's and I would venture to guess more than half of the people in this thread already have the X1900XT and just want something BETTER than that.
Click to expand...

Instead of laughing, consider the fact that the 8600 gt can be had for
$150.00, that's a lot less than $400-$500....

This is an ideal solution if you are on a budget. In addition, the 8600 does not suffer with
the noise that a X1900XT makes. My point is, I offered a reasonable solution to upgrade
the graphics in boot camp without spending a lot of money.
 
rocco saya said:
Instead of laughing, consider the fact that the 8600 gt can be had for
$150.00, that's a lot less than $400-$500....

This is an ideal solution if you are on a budget.
Click to expand...

Quite an unacceptable one. I would think. Who wants to play games at 1024x768? I think you will find most of us are not necessarily looking for a budget solution we are looking for a real solution to the problem. I am not trying to put you down for your solution as it seems to work for you. But let’s be honest here. It’s just not a good solution for anyone who even remotely considers themselves a gamer.
 
rocco saya said:
Instead of laughing, consider the fact that the 8600 gt can be had for
$150.00, that's a lot less than $400-$500....

This is an ideal solution if you are on a budget. In addition, the 8600 does not suffer with
the noise that a X1900XT makes. My point is, I offered a reasonable solution to upgrade
the graphics in boot camp without spending a lot of money.
Click to expand...

I have the X1900XT in mine and barely hear the fan accept when I am doing serious gaming. You could also buy a PC X1900XT and flash it with an Apple firmware. Thats another cheap solution and doesnt require two low end cards.
 
waremaster said:
Quite an unacceptable one. I would think. Who wants to play games at 1024x768? I think you will find most of us are not necessarily looking for a budget solution we are looking for a real solution to the problem. I am not trying to put you down for your solution as it seems to work for you. But let’s be honest here. It’s just not a good solution for anyone who even remotely considers themselves a gamer.
Click to expand...

Unacceptable for you.... acceptable for me, and I wished someone would have
posted a cheaper solution to upgrade earlier.

I am as mad about not being able to put a 8800 in as you... but, like I said... this is a cheap solution for now....
 
I really don't care about a good card for $700.00. I don't need Apple's $3000.00 one. If I could put a $700.00 card with excellent performance, and use it in my new Mac next year....bring it on
 
rocco saya said:
Unacceptable for you.... acceptable for me, and I wished someone would have
posted a cheaper solution to upgrade earlier.

I am as mad about not being able to put a 8800 in as you... but, like I said... this is a cheap solution for now....
Click to expand...

OK... And another single card option would be an ATI 2600XT from the new Mac Pro's. From what I have been reading they are compatible with the 06 - 07 Mac Pro's

Please see this chart for different cards and what class they fall into.
 
Rocco I don't know what you mean by reasonable compromise, but I have absolutely no interest in running boot camp - I want a graphics card update for my -MAC- which runs MAC software.
 
Never give up!
Keep pestering Apple until they do something about this.

I don't think they should make a EFI32 8800gt though, an EFI64 compatibility ROM upgrade for the old mac pros would be much nicer.
Or even better would be an efi plugin that knew how to initialize and use BIOS based graphics cards (bootcamp knows how to do it, why shouldn't the efi bootloader!?)

I wouldn't be so upset about the lack of new graphics cards if it weren't for my damn x1900xt overheating and crashing whenever i play games. I have to run in jet turbine mode to have any semblance of stability :(
 
error1 said:
Never give up!
Keep pestering Apple until they do something about this.

I don't think they should make a EFI32 8800gt though, an EFI64 compatibility ROM upgrade for the old mac pros would be much nicer.
Or even better would be an efi plugin that knew how to initialize and use BIOS based graphics cards (bootcamp knows how to do it, why shouldn't the efi bootloader!?)

I wouldn't be so upset about the lack of new graphics cards if it weren't for my damn x1900xt overheating and crashing whenever i play games. I have to run in jet turbine mode to have any semblance of stability :(
Click to expand...

Don't you see. If they make a EFI32 card they can sell the **** out of that, and everyone who upgrades to a new box next year, will have to buy a new card as well. :apple:
Give us a whole line on products to choose from!!!!!!!!!!
 
dreamof3d said:
Don't you see. If they make a EFI32 card they can sell the **** out of that, and everyone who upgrades to a new box next year, will have to buy a new card as well. :apple:
Give us a whole line on products to choose from!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

EFI32 cards work in EFI64 machines.

error1 said:
I don't think they should make a EFI32 8800gt though, an EFI64 compatibility ROM upgrade for the old mac pros would be much nicer.
Or even better would be an efi plugin that knew how to initialize and use BIOS based graphics cards (bootcamp knows how to do it, why shouldn't the efi bootloader!?)
Click to expand...

I agree a EFI64 upgrade for the old Mac Pros would be the way to go.

Also i wonder if that is possible. EFI supports extension so i should think that would work. It wouldn't be able to offer full resolutions during boot like EFI cards provide but i would be okay with waiting until OS X loads to get full 1920x1200.
 
waremaster said:
LOL you are kidding right??

The X1900XT is a way better card than the 8600 GT so why bother? 1 card in slot 1 and works in both OS's and I would venture to guess more than half of the people in this thread already have the X1900XT and just want something BETTER than that.
Click to expand...

of course its better, especially desktop vs. laptop!!
 
waremaster said:
I have the X1900XT in mine and barely hear the fan accept when I am doing serious gaming. You could also buy a PC X1900XT and flash it with an Apple firmware. Thats another cheap solution and doesnt require two low end cards.
Click to expand...

I dont know about you but when I had the 06' mac pro last year.. the x1900xt was a bitch and loud as **** when not even gaming it was pretty loud... thats why I installed the accelero x2 aftermarket fan on the x1900xt and it ran much cooler with the arctic silver 5 + whisper quiet even at full tilt (just like the nvidia 8800gt the stock fan on it is whisper quiet.. sounds the same as the ati radeon hd2600 that came stock on my mac pro).
 
waremaster said:
OK... And another single card option would be an ATI 2600XT from the new Mac Pro's. From what I have been reading they are compatible with the 06 - 07 Mac Pro's
Click to expand...

THat is likely what I am going to do once I confirm for sure that the 2600 is a drop in replacement for the 7300 I have. Apple still says it requires PCIe 2.0 and I haven't found anything stating unequivocally that the 2600 from Apple will 100% work as the only card in the 06/07 MPs.
 
Am I being censored here?

I suddenly seem to have lost the ability to post and respond using firefox (am using safari). A help request thread I have made here has been deleted.

Considering how critical I have been on this board about Apple business practices in connection with the GPU cripple, I cant help but wonder if this is a censorship attempt. The sudden loss of posting ability in my browser could have been caused by something else but the deletion of a thread I have started on this has me concerned.

BTW, Apple has 2 weeks to make an official statement on this issue before I start writing letters. Real letters in actual ink on actual paper to conventional print press - Wall St. Journal, NY times, Reuters, Bloomberg.
 
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