Graphics Card Recommendation Wanted

[pb69]

I am seeking graphics card recommendations for a 2009 Mac Pro with 5,1 firmware running El Capitan. Not sure If I will update to Sierra.
I do no video or 3-d and have no plans to. I do music composition, audio recording and some Photoshop and Illustrator.

Would a 5770 or 5870 be alright?
I understand the pros and cons of a non-flashed Nvidia card.
My budget is under $150 American.

 

[ActionableMango]

GTX 680. Easiest card to DIY flash, full boot screens, native drivers, and under $100. You'll need to buy two Mac GPU power cables.

Good choices on the AMD side are 7950, 7970, R9 280, R9 280X, which can all be flashed. However for $150 you will probably be limited to the 7950. Personally I don't have any experience with these.

 

[pb69]

What about a flashed Radeon HD 7870?

 

[pb69]

Does it matter which brand of GTX 750ti?

 

[h9826790]

What about a flashed Radeon HD 7870?

Is it much cheaper than $100?

Does it matter which brand of GTX 750ti?

Doesn't matter, none of them work OOTB, better to avoid it in your case.
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GTX 680. Easiest card to DIY flash, full boot screens, native drivers, and under $100. You'll need to buy two Mac GPU power cables.

Good choices on the AMD side are 7950, 7970, R9 280, R9 280X, which can all be flashed. However for $150 you will probably be limited to the 7950. Personally I don't have any experience with these.

I can buy a HIS R9 280 (new) for $150 2 years ago. I expect they are even cheaper now.

To OP,

For AMD card. The good side is that the user can create their own Mac EFI ROM for these card. So all clock speed, fan profile, etc must be 100% native to that card (after flash). You can also just download a Mac EFI ROM and flash it. Most of these AMD card has dual ROM design anyway, so, no need to worry about bricking it. But in general, I still recommend the user study a bit more and create their own EFI ROM.

For 680, all you have to do (or can do) is just download and flash. However, the parameters in that ROM image may not the same as your cards stock setting. And from memory? 680 is not dual ROM design, so, not really that fail safe.