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Where to buy new graphic card for Mac Pro 2008?

K

klhr890

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 2, 2015
9
0
Hi there,

My early 2008 model Mac pro's memory card just failed. Looked online and couldn't find anywhere to buy a new one. Lots on eBay but would prefer new.

Apple recommends the following:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (part number 630-9191 or 630-9897)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
ATI Radeon HD 4870, offered as an upgrade kit

but does anyone else know if other graphics cards (more recent) are also compatible?

thanks for the help!
 
I currently have a Radeon 5770 in my 2008 3,1 and it runs fine. There are others out there that will also work in the 3,1 but I don't know all of them.

The 5770 doubles the VRAM of the 2600 XT to 1GB. I picked it up new for about $230 a couple years ago.

There are some cards that go as high as 3GB VRAM (I think the Radeon 7970 is one), though I can't say anything about them as I haven't tried them.
 
klhr890 said:
Hi there,

My early 2008 model Mac pro's memory card just failed. Looked online and couldn't find anywhere to buy a new one. Lots on eBay but would prefer new.

Apple recommends the following:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (part number 630-9191 or 630-9897)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
ATI Radeon HD 4870, offered as an upgrade kit

but does anyone else know if other graphics cards (more recent) are also compatible?

thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

pretty much every nvidia 600 series and 900 series. no 690

ati 5770 5870. amd 4870 6870 7950

the ndidia770 and 780 go over the tdp as well as the amd7970.

none of these card will give you boot screens unless flashed with efi.

theres a really informative sticky about upgrading stock graphics cards in all mac pros HERE
 
Last edited:
klhr890 said:
Hi there,

My early 2008 model Mac pro's memory card just failed. Looked online and couldn't find anywhere to buy a new one. Lots on eBay but would prefer new.

Apple recommends the following:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (part number 630-9191 or 630-9897)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
ATI Radeon HD 4870, offered as an upgrade kit

but does anyone else know if other graphics cards (more recent) are also compatible?

thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

More recent cards are the Nvidia 680gtx 2Gb vram Mac Edition and the Sapphire Radeon 7950 3Gb vram. You can still find them as brand new. Other choices include the Radeon 5770Hd or the 5870Hd but brand new ones may not be available. Better go with cards that have 1gb vram.
 
Macsonic said:
More recent cards are the Nvidia 680gtx 2Gb vram Mac Edition and the Sapphire Radeon 7950 3Gb vram. You can still find them as brand new. Other choices include the Radeon 5770Hd or the 5870Hd but brand new ones may not be available. Better go with cards that have 1gb vram.
Click to expand...


Doesn't matter if the cards have 1GB VRAM or not, better go with cards that have MORE, actually.


As for the 680 and 7950 - one of them isn't compatible with the 3,1 MP's, not sure which one though. Do some research OP - and, if you have the budget, get one of them (whichever one is compatible), as it should give you the most for your money.
 
Tucom said:
Doesn't matter if the cards have 1GB VRAM or not, better go with cards that have MORE, actually.


As for the 680 and 7950 - one of them isn't compatible with the 3,1 MP's, not sure which one though. Do some research OP - and, if you have the budget, get one of them (whichever one is compatible), as it should give you the most for your money.
Click to expand...

I have the Nvidia 680 gtx mac edition and used this GPU when I still had my 3,1 Mac Pro and works fine without issues. I don't have the 7950 so I could not comment on that.
 
Macsonic said:
I have the Nvidia 680 gtx mac edition and used this GPU when I still had my 3,1 Mac Pro and works fine without issues. I don't have the 7950 so I could not comment on that.
Click to expand...

Sounds right, I think it was the 7950 that was for 2009+ MP's only.
 
Macsonic said:
More recent cards are the Nvidia 680gtx 2Gb vram Mac Edition and the Sapphire Radeon 7950 3Gb vram. You can still find them as brand new. Other choices include the Radeon 5770Hd or the 5870Hd but brand new ones may not be available. Better go with cards that have 1gb vram.
Click to expand...

To the Thread starter:

Edit: Just correcting my post about the Sapphire 7950. According to the OWC site, the 7950 is not compatible with the 2008 Mac Pro. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sapphire/100352MAC/
Sorry for the confusion.

----------
Tucom said:
Sounds right, I think it was the 7950 that was for 2009+ MP's only.
Click to expand...

Yep. :) Thanks for pointing that out. I corrected my earlier post to the OP about the Sapphire 7950. Enjoy the weekend.
 
Last edited:
TheStork said:
Nope...I'm running a 7950 in my Mac Pro 3,1 (2008).
Click to expand...

Mac Edition? If so, great! Makes sense, considering the 2008 and on were all 64 Bit EFI. Not sure why it would have compatibility issues, but IIRC there was a situation where it was ONE of these cards that had issues with the 2008's.
 
I have a MVC modified Gigabyte (3 Fan) GTX570. It has worked in both a 3,1 and a 5,1 Mac Pro. It's in the Marketplace section that you can not yet get to. If interested PM me.

Lou
 
My brother just installed a GeForce GTX660 Superclocked in his 3,1. Plug and play. It is a PC version so you don't get the boot screen but otherwise it worked without hassle.
 
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