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GeForce 7300 GT Crap out, need cheap replacement!!!!

K

kenetic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 29, 2006
156
1
Hi All,

My MacPro 1,1 video card crap out recently. I need to get a replacement video card for my machine. Since the machine is kind of old, i don't want to spend too much money on the machine. Does anyone know where I can get a cheap video replacement?

I had read alot of user had brought a PC video card and flash the EFI to get it to work. I don't want to go to that route yet. Since the Mountain Lion is not support on the 1,1, I will only have Lion as my OS. If there is a place I can get 7300 cheap, i don't mind.

I had checked out ebay already.

thanks
 
kenetic said:
Hi All,

My MacPro 1,1 video card crap out recently. I need to get a replacement video card for my machine. Since the machine is kind of old, i don't want to spend too much money on the machine. Does anyone know where I can get a cheap video replacement?

I had read alot of user had brought a PC video card and flash the EFI to get it to work. I don't want to go to that route yet. Since the Mountain Lion is not support on the 1,1, I will only have Lion as my OS. If there is a place I can get 7300 cheap, i don't mind.

I had checked out ebay already.

thanks
Click to expand...

If you don't care about boot screens (i.e those initial grey screens), you can buy any Nvidia PC card 8000 series or newer and use them straight out of the box. All you need is the Nvidia Mac Driver on their website. I picked up a Dual DVI GT 440 for $45 on Newegg.

Otherwise you are stuck with Ebay or feel free to PM me and if the offer is right I would be willing to sell the 7300 GT I am pulling from my Mac Pro this weekend.
 
TheSandman2236 said:
To help the OP -- here are some local options: http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.phtml?sortby=pricehigh&N=4294966937+4294946479+39

I'm looking for replacement as well -- whats the best card for $140 or less?

----------

Actually a good option might be this:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0394070

It doesn't need a power connector as well.
Click to expand...

the 640 is a kepler based card. Not sure the Mac drivers for Nvidia encompass those. I know they encompass the 8000 series thru 500, but not sure about the 600. That's why I opted for the GT 440. No power cable required either for the GT 440 (or it's "little" brother the GT430)
 
paulrbeers said:
the 640 is a kepler based card. Not sure the Mac drivers for Nvidia encompass those. I know they encompass the 8000 series thru 500, but not sure about the 600. That's why I opted for the GT 440. No power cable required either for the GT 440 (or it's "little" brother the GT430)
Click to expand...

Paul,

Can you send me the link where Newegg has the $45 card? I did a search on GT 440 on Newegg and it came up with 11 choices.

thanks
 
paulrbeers said:
the 640 is a kepler based card. Not sure the Mac drivers for Nvidia encompass those. I know they encompass the 8000 series thru 500, but not sure about the 600. That's why I opted for the GT 440. No power cable required either for the GT 440 (or it's "little" brother the GT430)
Click to expand...

What do you think is the best card under $130?
 
Have you looked into "baking" the card. Sometimes the solder gets too hot and a connection is broken. There are step-by-step instructions online that show you how to do it. The oven allows the solder to just reach the melting point, and it "falls back in place". It's pretty simple (15 minutes in the oven @ 350 degrees), and there really isn't a downside.

But as a suggestion, if you can, reapply some thermal grease between the GPU and heatsink after baking.
 
kenetic said:
Paul,

Can you send me the link where Newegg has the $45 card? I did a search on GT 440 on Newegg and it came up with 11 choices.

thanks
Click to expand...

This is the one I purchased and it has been humming along just fine for about a month or so. No power cable needed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500252&Tpk=zotac gt 440

----------
TheSandman2236 said:
What do you think is the best card under $130?
Click to expand...

I can only speak to Nvidia cards, but I would say probably the GTX 550 TI. It only requires one power cable and can be had pretty regularly for about 110-130. You can some times find the GTX 560 SE which is a slower clocked GTX 560 but the SE cards are being phased out and require two power cables. You might find a GTX 560 on sale for close to your budget.
 
paulrbeers said:
This is the one I purchased and it has been humming along just fine for about a month or so. No power cable needed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500252&Tpk=zotac gt 440

----------



I can only speak to Nvidia cards, but I would say probably the GTX 550 TI. It only requires one power cable and can be had pretty regularly for about 110-130. You can some times find the GTX 560 SE which is a slower clocked GTX 560 but the SE cards are being phased out and require two power cables. You might find a GTX 560 on sale for close to your budget.
Click to expand...

Paul,

Thanks for the link to newegg. I checked Nvidia site and the site offer the OS except Mac. Can you send me a link where you download it or send me an attachment?

You had mentioned I will not see anything on the "gray screen". Would i be able to choose which OS to boot when I press the "option" key? Or i have to select on the system preference "startup"? thanks for your help.
 
kenetic said:
Paul,

Thanks for the link to newegg. I checked Nvidia site and the site offer the OS except Mac. Can you send me a link where you download it or send me an attachment?

You had mentioned I will not see anything on the "gray screen". Would i be able to choose which OS to boot when I press the "option" key? Or i have to select on the system preference "startup"? thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Here's the link to thread discussing the new drivers:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1330964/

The link to the drivers is right there.

As for your quesiton about start up: yes you would have to use the preference "start up" option. It is one of the few downsides of not using a true Mac Card. I've kept my 7300 GT in mine just so I had it as a back up in case I had boot issues, but due to hacking Mt Lion on to my Mac Pro this weekend, I have to pull it anyway.

I suppose if you knew the exact key combination and exact timing to do the start commands you could still do it at boot up, but it would be completely blind. Since there is a fairly simple work around there really is no point to going this route.

Edit: As correction to my previous statement these drivers only work with the 9000 to the 500 series. I had previously stated it supported the 8000 series which it apparently does not. Frankly that shouldn't be much of a downside since I am not even sure you can still buy an 8000 series (especially since Nvidia basically just re-badged half the 8000 series and called them 9000). Just fixing an error on my part from earlier.

Edit2: Reports are coming in that the 600 series does work (at least one person stating his GTX 660 is working). I'm only stating this because that COULD mean the GT 640 would work, but I have no experience with this.
 
Last edited:
paulrbeers said:
Here's the link to thread discussing the new drivers:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1330964/

The link to the drivers is right there.

As for your quesiton about start up: yes you would have to use the preference "start up" option. It is one of the few downsides of not using a true Mac Card. I've kept my 7300 GT in mine just so I had it as a back up in case I had boot issues, but due to hacking Mt Lion on to my Mac Pro this weekend, I have to pull it anyway.

I suppose if you knew the exact key combination and exact timing to do the start commands you could still do it at boot up, but it would be completely blind. Since there is a fairly simple work around there really is no point to going this route.

Edit: As correction to my previous statement these drivers only work with the 9000 to the 500 series. I had previously stated it supported the 8000 series which it apparently does not. Frankly that shouldn't be much of a downside since I am not even sure you can still buy an 8000 series (especially since Nvidia basically just re-badged half the 8000 series and called them 9000). Just fixing an error on my part from earlier.

Edit2: Reports are coming in that the 600 series does work (at least one person stating his GTX 660 is working). I'm only stating this because that COULD mean the GT 640 would work, but I have no experience with this.
Click to expand...

At this moment, I don't have the option to PM you. What is your email address? I'll send you an email.
 
paulrbeers said:
Here's the link to thread discussing the new drivers:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1330964/

The link to the drivers is right there.

As for your quesiton about start up: yes you would have to use the preference "start up" option. It is one of the few downsides of not using a true Mac Card. I've kept my 7300 GT in mine just so I had it as a back up in case I had boot issues, but due to hacking Mt Lion on to my Mac Pro this weekend, I have to pull it anyway.

I suppose if you knew the exact key combination and exact timing to do the start commands you could still do it at boot up, but it would be completely blind. Since there is a fairly simple work around there really is no point to going this route.

Edit: As correction to my previous statement these drivers only work with the 9000 to the 500 series. I had previously stated it supported the 8000 series which it apparently does not. Frankly that shouldn't be much of a downside since I am not even sure you can still buy an 8000 series (especially since Nvidia basically just re-badged half the 8000 series and called them 9000). Just fixing an error on my part from earlier.

Edit2: Reports are coming in that the 600 series does work (at least one person stating his GTX 660 is working). I'm only stating this because that COULD mean the GT 640 would work, but I have no experience with this.
Click to expand...

Paul,

If I install the Nivida GeForce GT 440 on the Mac Pro and my HD crap out. Will I be able to use the video card to bootup and reload the OS on the new HD? Will I be stranded without a Mac OS supported video card? Or should I get a spare video card (GeForce 7300GT) if this happen? Or should I CC a copy of the OS? I will be using this video only and nothing else. You had mentioned it won't load the Apple Gray screen during bootup.

thanks
 
kenetic said:
Hi All,

My MacPro 1,1 video card crap out recently. I need to get a replacement video card for my machine. Since the machine is kind of old, i don't want to spend too much money on the machine. Does anyone know where I can get a cheap video replacement?

I had read alot of user had brought a PC video card and flash the EFI to get it to work. I don't want to go to that route yet. Since the Mountain Lion is not support on the 1,1, I will only have Lion as my OS. If there is a place I can get 7300 cheap, i don't mind.

I had checked out ebay already.

thanks
Click to expand...

If you're in the NY area actually I have a 7300, never used, that I'd be willing to let go cheaply. Was actually just thinking about what to do with it
 
seek3r said:
If you're in the NY area actually I have a 7300, never used, that I'd be willing to let go cheaply. Was actually just thinking about what to do with it
Click to expand...


Seek3r,

Is your card an Apple GeForce 7300 GT Graphics Card MA567Z/A ?

If so, and you haven't sold it, I would be interested in buying it.

Drop me a line.

Thanks

PS: How does one do a PM on this board?

elvisbubba@gmail.com
 
You can try getting a Radeon 2600XT as an inexpensive option for your 1.1 Mac Pro. This videocard is the default card for the 2008 Mac Pro and can work in your Mac Pro 1.1. My Nvidia 7300GT also died and I replaced it with the Radeon 2600XT and works fine. I did not get the 7300GT as I know it was a defective card with poor capacitors and had no fan. I think there was an old thread on this in this forum about the 7300GT.
 
elvisbubba said:
Seek3r,

Is your card an Apple GeForce 7300 GT Graphics Card MA567Z/A ?

If so, and you haven't sold it, I would be interested in buying it.
Click to expand...

It was an Apple one, but kinetic already bought it from me, sorry mate.
 
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