Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

D*I*S_Frontman

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 20, 2002
463
28
Appleton,WI
Hey, MacRumors,

I have an old 2008 Mac Pro 3.1 I've been thinking about upgrading the GPU on. While at work tonight, a colleague GAVE me two graphics cards:

ATI FirePro 3D Graphics v4800 (mint cond.)
ASUS Radeon HD 7770 DirectCU (NIB)

Neither are native Mac cards, of course. But I'm wondering if either one could work in my old machine. I realize that I will probably have to sacrifice a boot screen, but I'm not too concerned about that.

So... Can it be done? If so, what version of OSX would it require? Thank you for your wisdom and insights.
 
Both have 1GB of memory which may be an upgrade for you. The newest OS you can run on it - without mods - is El Capitan OS 10.11.6.

I would install each - one at a time - and see what happens. Can't hurt!

Lisa
 
  • Like
Reactions: D*I*S_Frontman
If you stick to El Capitan, both should work. Starting with Sierra, Apple begin to use SSE4.2 with AMD drivers.

You can't use any AMD GCN GPU with MP3,1 with High Sierra and Mojave. Your ASUS Radeon HD 7770 is a GCN1.0 GPU, Firepro V4800 is a old Terascale 2 GPU. HD7770 is a lot faster.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.