Mac Pro graphics cards

theowebb

theowebb

theowebb

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15 Feb 2007
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Ok, so i must first confess that i am AMATEUR when it comes to graphics cards... know bugger all about them so could i PLEASE have some help!

Basically i am looking to get a mac pro as i am heavily into photo and video editing and wish to pursue both as careers and so i am looking at the best options that are available to me with the mac pro thru apple...

They are:

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (1 or 2 possible, budget wise)
or
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

I am not sure whether 2 of the ATI Radeon would be superior to the NVIDIA or whether it is better to have 2 instead of one in video editing, etc.


Thanks for your help in advance!

Theo
 
The two card solution will only benefit games or enable you to run four displays. For your needs I expect the single card would be best... I may be wrong, not knowing much about Mac Pro graphics myself!
 
It has to be the 8800 GT - it's even the favoured card in the normal PC world at the minute, and its performance is massively better than the 2600XT.

It's also a very reasonable upgrade price (look at the hilarious prices they charge for RAM upgrades!). Two cards are generally more trouble than they're worth unless you must have more than two monitors.

I don't think video editing programs currently make that much use of the GPU but it seems likely that they will in the future given many non-game programs are starting to tap the extra power of the GPU.

(And conceptually it seems wrong to put a weak graphics card in a system that is otherwise so powerful :p)
 
The 2600 would be fine providing it had enough video ram but if you're spending Mac Pro sort of cash the little extra will get you the 8800 which is leagues ahead in terms of pushing polygons.

To answer your question, you only need 1 card, and the Nvidia is far superior to the AMD.
 
Depending on the program the graphics card is utilised differently with a mac to a windows pc. When the software is coded to utilise the CORE aspect of os-x you can see a boost in performance, I would assume most of the final cut/apple software use it. So I would go for the 8800GT (well I would actually go for the quadro but I have different needs)
 
Thats great help everyone! Thanks. I reckon the 8800 is def the way forward then and look forward to the beast that will be soon unleashed!
 
AFAIK you can fit it in to a different slot and it will work in Windows, but not in OS X because it doesn't have the correct firmware on it. Not 100% on that, though!

Why wouldn't you just sell the GTXs and spec the Pro with the GT? It's a reasonable price and new GT vs. GTX performance is pretty similar, isn't it?
 
You can use ANY Windows Graphics card in the Mac Pro, but only in Windows (via Bootcamp).

You'd still need a Mac-compatible card to run OS X, or it'd be a constant black screen ;)

My advice is, if you do intend on gaming.. get the 8800GT and see how it goes, if it feels sluggish, whip in the 8800GTX.
 
well afaik sli isnt supported on mac pro thats out, 8800gtx needs additional power adapter - not in the mac pro except with the quadro and that may work but not 100% on it.
 
He didn't mention SLI, he said he has a SLI setup and would donate 1 of the cards to his Mac Pro.
 
EVH said:
You can use ANY Windows Graphics card in the Mac Pro, but only in Windows (via Bootcamp).

You'd still need a Mac-compatible card to run OS X, or it'd be a constant black screen ;)

My advice is, if you do intend on gaming.. get the 8800GT and see how it goes, if it feels sluggish, whip in the 8800GTX.
Click to expand...

Sounds good, problem is I have a 30" screen, am looking to downsize but if I dont then a single card may struggle!
 
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