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Mac Pro 1,1 Best GPU upgrade available?

S

spadz93

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 24, 2009
72
2
I should mention that i've searched around and can only find responses for people just wanting a bare minimum card to gain support for the newer OS's. I have the aforementioned model, and am heavily leaning towards using Piker-alpha's approach to installing yosemite to keep this thing up to date. That being said, the stock 7300gt needs to bite the dust (that and i hate the thing, my monitors are always distorting on 10.7).

If i buy a new GFX card, i don't want to skimp out. I want this computer to last me for a while more (i'm also going to be throwing an SSD boot drive to give it an extra kick). I'm aiming for cards upwards of 2gb in memory. What are some of the stronger cards in circulation that will work with this model, flashed or not flashed? I'm no stranger to getting my hands dirty with tech, so a simple flash doesn't scare me off
 
The most powerful card you can run will depend on which OS you plan on using. There is a thread at the top of this forum that outlines the "maximum" card for your Mac Pro 1,1 - but since it was written, modifications have been made to allow for the installation of newer versions of OS X (Mavericks and Yosemite) on a 1,1. IF you choose to install OS X Yosemite, the newest edition of OS X, you can, theoretically, run the most powerful card money can buy. Even the Titan X has drivers thanks to NVIDIA. However, if you choose to stay on 10.7.5, you will need to use an older card, as 600+ series NVIDIA GPUs do not have drivers on that old of a system.

What work are you doing on your 1,1? If using FCPX, you may want to tend towards a Radeon card for OpenCL. If using Adobe Suite, you may want to tend toward an NVIDIA card for CUDA support.
 
NOTNlCE said:
The most powerful card you can run will depend on which OS you plan on using. There is a thread at the top of this forum that outlines the "maximum" card for your Mac Pro 1,1 - but since it was written, modifications have been made to allow for the installation of newer versions of OS X (Mavericks and Yosemite) on a 1,1. IF you choose to install OS X Yosemite, the newest edition of OS X, you can, theoretically, run the most powerful card money can buy. Even the Titan X has drivers thanks to NVIDIA. However, if you choose to stay on 10.7.5, you will need to use an older card, as 600+ series NVIDIA GPUs do not have drivers on that old of a system.

What work are you doing on your 1,1? If using FCPX, you may want to tend towards a Radeon card for OpenCL. If using Adobe Suite, you may want to tend toward an NVIDIA card for CUDA support.
Click to expand...

I'm moving to at least Mavericks, more likely yosemite
 
"Best" depends on usage. With 10.9-10.10 you have plenty of options. See what people here are using (check Yosemite thread and "Post your GPU bench Mac Pro 2006" one).
 
spadz93 said:
I'm moving to at least Mavericks, more likely yosemite
Click to expand...

A 900 Series Maxwell NVIDIA card will function with the latest Web Driver under OS X Yosemite. Perhaps you are looking at something like the GTX 970? The card takes two 6 pin power connectors which are readily available from your Mac Pro, giving you quite a bit of power without dealing with a hassle of rerouting power from Optical Drives or using an external or independent PSU to power the card.
 
NOTNlCE said:
A 900 Series Maxwell NVIDIA card will function with the latest Web Driver under OS X Yosemite. Perhaps you are looking at something like the GTX 970? The card takes two 6 pin power connectors which are readily available from your Mac Pro, giving you quite a bit of power without dealing with a hassle of rerouting power from Optical Drives or using an external or independent PSU to power the card.
Click to expand...

the 970 looks like a formidable option, definitely a powerful card. will this work on my board with yosemite out of the box, or will I need to flash the card?
 
spadz93 said:
the 970 looks like a formidable option, definitely a powerful card. will this work on my board with yosemite out of the box, or will I need to flash the card?
Click to expand...

Read up on how the card needs to be installed. There are many threads in this forum that have guides to installing the new 900 Series NVIDIA cards. It requires that the NVIDIA web drivers be pre-installed in OS X Yosemite before the card will work, so no, it does not work "out of the box." Web Drivers will be needed for every OS update until Apple decides that they're going to incorporate drivers into the OS.

The 970 is not user-flashable. Flashing a card involves a BIOS modification that allows for an EFI boot screen. As far as I know, a Flashed GTX 970 is only available through MacVidCards.
 
NOTNlCE said:
Read up on how the card needs to be installed. There are many threads in this forum that have guides to installing the new 900 Series NVIDIA cards. It requires that the NVIDIA web drivers be pre-installed in OS X Yosemite before the card will work, so no, it does not work "out of the box." Web Drivers will be needed for every OS update until Apple decides that they're going to incorporate drivers into the OS.

The 970 is not user-flashable. Flashing a card involves a BIOS modification that allows for an EFI boot screen. As far as I know, a Flashed GTX 970 is only available through MacVidCards.
Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused. This thread is mentioning that yosemite would have the built in drivers for the card?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1440150/
 
Careful with the 970s, I've been researching them recently as I'm about to put one in my 3,1. Only a few of them use 2x6pin suitable for a mac pro, most use 1x6pin and 1x8pin which is risky.

What do you want the card for? If its just to get up to date, with good power for general tasks I'd say a 970 is way overkill, and will definitely be bottlenecked badly by the CPUs if you do anything using them in tandem like games.

I'd go for something flash-able and natively supported, gtx 6XX series have been mentioned in that vein, and I have a 6870, thats great too in OS X.
 
For a 1,1 there are no flashable NVIDIA cards after 8800GT or GT120.

AMD cards to R9 280x can be flashed for boot screen but don't work in 32 but version of 10.7.5.

So if you want newer cards, those are your options with bootscreens. The 6870 flash is written by Netkas and won't work on 1,1
 
I have the 8 core clover town setup (3ghz). I just want to be able to edit 60fps gopro footage without the thing hiccuping like crazy
 
spadz93 said:
I have the 8 core clover town setup (3ghz). I just want to be able to edit 60fps gopro footage without the thing hiccuping like crazy
Click to expand...

Im building a simular system and would like to be able to edit 1080p @60fps. Please let me know whats workable but not break your bank budget. I have a PNY GTX650 1GB PCIE card in my PC. Dont know if that would work or not. Not find anything saying yeah or nah.
 
For that a 970 is way, way overkill. Pick up a used 5870, or 6870 flashed. Both work natively in OS X, so no drivers to mess with breaking updates, and both are great for editing 1080p that's what I spend a lot of time doing.

You should be able to get one on ebay really cheaply. You'll need to be running Yosemite for this ofc.
 
Inutopia said:
For that a 970 is way, way overkill. Pick up a used 5870, or 6870 flashed. Both work natively in OS X, so no drivers to mess with breaking updates, and both are great for editing 1080p that's what I spend a lot of time doing.

You should be able to get one on ebay really cheaply. You'll need to be running Yosemite for this ofc.
Click to expand...

thx. Im still waiting for my mac pro to be shipped. Guess thats what I get for getting a mac pro for less then $120. The case was bent but Im told its still in working order.
 
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