Got a tip for us?
Let us know
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?
- Thread starter Fezzy
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I already have mine since 2 days. You will need to install the ForceWare Nvidia beta drivers ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_174.74.html ) . The latest official Nvidida driver will not install via the installer but you may manually from the extracted directory. However, it seem that in only delivers decreased performance. I don't have any issues with the beta drivers though so far but awaiting something official as well 😉
installed mine today, comes with cable(PITA to put in), but slot 1 880, slot 4 7300, will the MP automatically make slot 1 16x and slot 4 1x? or is there a utility for it?
cheers
cheers
1x GeForce 8800GT
1x Power Cable (not needed if you still have the x1900 one)
1x DVI to VGA adapter
1x male DVI to female DVI cable (I think that's what it is anyway!)
1x basic instruction booklet for installation
There's no driver CD - the drivers are built into Leopard.
So, 8800GT works in Vista, but the drivers are only beta? Does Crysis work?
And I ask once again; how's the noise level when NOT gaming or doing GPU-intensive tasks?
OK! I finally got the Geforce working under Windows XP. Apparently the card is NOT recognized as legitimate hardware by the official Nvidia drivers for some bizarre reason so I had to download the latest "forceware" drivers (I used version 174.93) at...
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
... and after running them, the proper Windows XP drivers loaded and everything works great now.
Hope this helps anyone else having trouble!
Douglas
🙂
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/
... and after running them, the proper Windows XP drivers loaded and everything works great now.
Hope this helps anyone else having trouble!
Douglas
🙂
The Noise level is VERY quiet! If you have a Radeon x1900xt now you will be THRILLED with how quiet the new card is!!!
Douglas
🙂
I have the 7300GT today, which is passively cooled. I think I'll buy the 8800GT and return it if it doesn't make me satisfied. Thanks for your reply!
jrnewhouse
macrumors regular
I just put my order in as well. As I said in a previous post, I wouldn't have given up on Apple if they didn't provide this card for us, but I am sure glad that they did! 🙂
Just installed the card
My review of the 8800GT after a couple of hours.
Installation was clean and quick. OS runs fine right away but you need to run the beta gforce driver linked a page or two back. Fortunately, these drivers work fine.
Except for a roar on the first start up for a couple of seconds, the fans are quiet. No louder than the 7300.
Performance was not at the level I expected. I ran HL2, episode 2 on ultra high graphics and it played fine where it would barely run at all with the 7300 in low settings. However, I noted that my core 2 duo PC with the ATI 3870 card seems to be noticeably faster and smoother. It my well be a driver issue..but that 3870 is a great card.
I am curious how the card would do with something more current such as Bioshock which I am eager to try out.
My review of the 8800GT after a couple of hours.
Installation was clean and quick. OS runs fine right away but you need to run the beta gforce driver linked a page or two back. Fortunately, these drivers work fine.
Except for a roar on the first start up for a couple of seconds, the fans are quiet. No louder than the 7300.
Performance was not at the level I expected. I ran HL2, episode 2 on ultra high graphics and it played fine where it would barely run at all with the 7300 in low settings. However, I noted that my core 2 duo PC with the ATI 3870 card seems to be noticeably faster and smoother. It my well be a driver issue..but that 3870 is a great card.
I am curious how the card would do with something more current such as Bioshock which I am eager to try out.
dreamof3d
macrumors regular
Wow...........I have not read anything about this card yet that makes me want to part with my x1900. Maybe I will leave mine boxed until I hear something good. Should get mine Wed. or Thursday. Why the f@!# can't Apple make a card like the Quadro 3700 or 4700 x2 work. OK, I have a $3000.00 Mac, I could justify a $700.00 gpu. All this time and it seems we still don't have a solution unless you want to run a few games in Windoz 😡
I'm not rich.....I contract home remodeling, I would purchase a kick-butt gpu solution for say $900.00 or less. Apples Quadro at almost $3k is a joke. 😱
I'm not rich.....I contract home remodeling, I would purchase a kick-butt gpu solution for say $900.00 or less. Apples Quadro at almost $3k is a joke. 😱
MRU
macrumors Penryn
And with Apple and Nvidia releasing the next generation cards for mac in Summer 3010, I too will wait and see 😉😀
Seriously though in this day and age it shouldn't be too hard to get a decent 'new' gpu as soon as it is released pc side for the mac.
With speeds / benchmarks as they are so far from the 8800GT over X1900XT, I simply cant justify spending €220 when I don't use windows.
dreamof3d
macrumors regular
I rarely use windoz..........if I don't see anything short of WOW, mine will never leave the comforts of its packaging.......then I'll be thinking Kalaway again. LOL 😱
Then I can have the say kick butt quadro 3700.........
dreamof3d
macrumors regular
I don't believe it can be installed on Mac hardware. If I could, and it would allow and gpu, I'll do it. Heck........I payed for my copy of Leo anyway.
Cindori
macrumors 68040
Of course im talking about a Windows-side card. I dont use my Mac Pro for any work except regular typing.