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

Grayseal

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2008
2
0
Does any body know if ATI's FirePro series graphic cards are compatibile to the MacPro '08? Im particularly interested in the 30-bit output... the V3750 costs only 199$.....
 
:( that's no good, hope ATI will offer it soon in a Mac version like the 38xx and 48xx.. Thanks for the fast reply..
 
:( that's no good, hope ATI will offer it soon in a Mac version like the 38xx and 48xx.. Thanks for the fast reply..

That seems unlikely. Without the "pro drivers" it loses it's big selling point and it doesn't seem like anyone has interest in making such drivers for OSX. Too small of a market.
 
I guess drivers are being written, at least for 10.9... maybe support for these cards will eventually come for 5,1 or previous models? all depends on if software moving forward will take advantage of them or not.
 
What do you think that the folks who matter at Nvidia are saying about today's revelation , it's likely impact on Nvidia's status in the Mac Pro market and Nvidia's resources deployment? Is Apple more or less likely to support Nvidia driver inclusion in future OSX upgrades?

I can't call it, but it sure doesn't sound promising. As long as they keep the support already included, I'm not to concerned personally. It would have a greater impact on professional video/graphics jockeys. It could be a future deal breaker for many.

If I upgraded today to the latest and greatest GPU, I would just want assured support in future OS upgrades for a few years. I won't budge from my 2012 Pro for several years, but I'd like to take advantage of a faster GPU down the road.
 
The array of Nvidia drivers for higher end GPUs that we've recently become accustomed to might soon not make it into future OSX versions.

That would be up to Nvidia. Apple isn't calling the shots on that. If they were, only drivers for Apple supplied cards would be shipping with OS X.
 
A lot depends on what Adobe does moving forward as well. That is what spurred interest in the Nvidia CUDA cards in the first place. Blackmagic has already said their software is flying on the new MacPro with ATI FirePro cards, so we'll see. IF the FirePro takes off, it would be nice to have the option to upgrade 5,1 or earlier models with a PCIe FirePro in 10.9 and get a bump... but that's depending on OS support, as well as software support. It'll be interesting to see how the "industry" really does respond in the coming weeks.
 
That would be up to Nvidia. Apple isn't calling the shots on that. If they were, only drivers for Apple supplied cards would be shipping with OS X.

True, that Apple doesn't make the drivers, but Apple can eliminate them from the OS install packages. Moreover, what incentive will Nvidia have to release future high end GPU drivers for the Mac Pro? CNet says: " In order to fit the components of the system into its radical shape, Apple has had to make some changes to the system. For one, its video cards will no longer be off-the-shelf units that can be swapped out and replaced. While they're still PCI Express-based cards, they require a unique design to fit in the system and properly marry its components to the triangular unified thermal core at the center of the new Mac Pro. " [ http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7...e-new-mac-pro/ ]. This suggesst that Nvidia will no longer have the incentive to even use it's internal resources to prepare high end GPU drivers for the Mac Pro.

----------

A lot depends on what Adobe does moving forward as well. That is what spurred interest in the Nvidia CUDA cards in the first place. Blackmagic has already said their software is flying on the new MacPro with ATI FirePro cards, so we'll see. IF the FirePro takes off, it would be nice to have the option to upgrade 5,1 or earlier models with a PCIe FirePro in 10.9 and get a bump... but that's depending on OS support, as well as software support. It'll be interesting to see how the "industry" really does respond in the coming weeks.

Agreed, except that for some it wasn't Adobe, but 3d and other compute intensive applications that drove and continue to drive reliance on CUDA.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.