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video cards in 2006 mac pro

twoodcc,
You may get a better answer if you let everyone know why you want two or more cards. Most people here discuss graphics cards with respect to the card's video quality, resolution, etc. Now if your looking for graphics cards to use for GPU processing (i.e. folding ;)) the answers may be different. I by no means am an expert in this area. Most of what I know about vid cards in my MP came from these guys! I currently run 2 4870s (power'd from the board and odd molex). I need to load up GPU2 under Windows and see what kind of ppds I get.
Cheers!
 
okay. well yes, the idea behind this project is for folding. so i'm trying to put in there the best combo of cards for folding in windows. whether that's 2 cards, or 3 or even 4. i just don't want to buy them and then they not work at all. that's why i keep asking so many questions, just to be safe before i spend any money.

i'm really leaning towards this card right now. let's say i get 2 of them. when i boot up at first, will i not see anything on the screen until i get to windows?
 
Cindori said:
i never got the idea of folding... do you earn money on it?
Click to expand...

nope. you help solve cancer instead. but that's another topic.

maybe this will clear up some things for me: is there anything stopping cards like the GTX295 from working in my mac pro for windows? or will any pci-e card work in windows?

also, do i need another card in there also when i first boot the computer, since with the windows card, i won't see anything on the screen at boot, correct?

sorry for all the questions, again i just want to understand before i go out and buy something, and the only way i'm going to find out is by asking

thanks
 
Cindori said:
yes another thing "wrong". gt120 requires efi64 and thus will Not work in MP 07 / 06
Click to expand...

is the efi64 thing just for OS X cards, so it has nothing to do with cards for windows, correct? (just trying to understand this)

also, how many connector do i have? could i run a GTX295 even though it needs 2 x 6 pin connectors?
 
if you hands down want the most powerful GPU combination for Windows only aka unable to boot OSX at all, you'll be looking at two radeon 5970x2 and a external power supply.

If you want the best GPU combination in Windows and keep ability to boot osx, a radeon 5970x2 in slot 1 and your old X1900 in slot 3 is the way to go. The 5970x2 powered by motherboard (like your X1900 is at the moment, but you need to buy 1 more cable) and the X1900 powered by Superdrive (see my sig).

You can ofc replace the 5970x2 with a PC Nvidia card of any kind. But as previously stated, they will only give you a black screen in OSX.

A Mac Pro booting windows is just like any other PC. No restrictions in PCI-E devices.
 
thanks for the reply. but i thought my mac pro only has 1 16x slot. and the others are 8x or 4x?

but thanks for answering my question. i will be making a purchase tomorrow for sure.
 
No. All the slots have variable bandwidth, but if you want two cards to run as fast as they can, the max they can both go is 8x. You can only do combos such as 16x and 4x, 8x and 8x, and so on. You can't do 16x and 8x, IIRC.
 
twoodcc said:
wait, you keep confusing me. i thought it does have 1 16x slot. or am i mistaken?
Click to expand...

yes, you have 1 16x slot. but if you were to utilize crossfire (i.e. combining 2 cards, or in nvidia's term, SLI) that would mean using 2 cards. Cindori stated "one 5970x2" on the presumption you may be using 2, I think.

yep, it does sound/read/look a little confusing "one 5970x2" ;)

Mac%20Pro%202006%20PCI%20Slots%20Bandwidth.png

to add on to Mackilroy's point on the configuration ... the short version, he's somewhat accurate. I am assuming if you link the cards, they have to be next to each other, thus a 16x and 8x configuration is a bit tough. however, if you need not put the cards next to each other, you CAN have 16x and 8x according to Apple support document - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2838

Smarter%20than%20the%20average%20bear.png

p.s. btw, you are smarter and more confused than the average bear. (responding to your signature) add me to the confusing factor but i do not think i'm smarter than any bear.
 
iamcheerful said:
however, if you need not put the cards next to each other, you CAN have 16x and 8x according to Apple support document - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2838
Click to expand...
Ah, okay. I haven't looked at the utility Apple provides to do this and had no desire to look it up online at the time. Thanks. :)

twoodcc: at boot if you have more than two cards in your machine the utility will launch and ask you how you want to divide up your bandwidth.
 
Mackilroy said:
Ah, okay. I haven't looked at the utility Apple provides to do this and had no desire to look it up online at the time. Thanks. :)
Click to expand...
you are welcome. :)

Cindori said:
sorry, I meant to say "in one case the 5970x2 would run a little slow" that would be the two-card case where they go 8x/8x
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it happens to me many times when i want to say one thing but i type or say another instead. ;)

just happy to be able to help out fellow mac users, and certainly most thankful (btw, happy thanksgivings) when fellow mac users aid me in my issues.
 
thanks guys for the help. think i'm about to go out to best buy today and see what they got. i sure hope that have a 6-pin connector there.
 
I just picked up a 9800GT 1024mb gddr3 for only $70 today. Think it's a good deal? I went ahead and got 2 of them.

Also, I got a gts 250. How good is this card? It only needs 1 6-pin cable, so I went ahead and got it. Best buy didn't have the cable
 
well i've got both 9800GTs and the GTS250 going in Vista at the moment. all three working great.

it's got me thinking, could i put a 3rd 9800GT in there? i know there's another slot, and i know there's 1 left at best buy for $70...
 
well here are the temps:

GTS250 - 73 C
9800GT1 - 65 C
9800GT2 - 60 C

all running stock. considering that heat, should i go for another 9800GT ? or would that be too much heat?

oh, and these things are running pretty loud btw
 
Yeah, NVIDIA's GPUs tend to run rather loud. My 4890 has always been quieter than my 8800 GT ever was.

You could if you want to, but do you really need four GPUs? :p
 
if either of those 9800gts have a 128K EEPROM chip, it would be possible to write a dual-boot ROM, though depending on device id you might have blasting fan
 
Mackilroy said:
Yeah, NVIDIA's GPUs tend to run rather loud. My 4890 has always been quieter than my 8800 GT ever was.

You could if you want to, but do you really need four GPUs? :p
Click to expand...

i'm using them for folding@home.

The Rominator said:
if either of those 9800gts have a 128K EEPROM chip, it would be possible to write a dual-boot ROM, though depending on device id you might have blasting fan
Click to expand...

you mean a ROM so they could work with OS X?
 
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