Mac Pro 1,1 Graphics Card?

[Ramandu]

Hello MR forums!

I have a 2006 Mac Pro (Mac Pro 1,1). It still has the original graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT), which still runs very well--however, it doesn't support CUDA or OpenCL, which is increasingly becoming a problem. I've been thinking about replacing it for a while, but I don't really know what card to replace it with (all the research I've done so far has been non-conclusive). I've done some research on this already, but I'm curious--doesn't anyone know of a good card that would work on my Mac Pro model and supports CUDA/OpenCL?

P.S.
I'm planning to use this mainly with Blender and Da Vinci Resolve Lite.

 

[MacVidCards]

You can use many nvidia cards with Netkas' ATY_Init but you won't get boot screen.

Most powerful nvidia with boot screen is 8800GT.

We have a 1 gig version that is faster and better than standard 512 meg, but try a GTX470 with ATY

 

[peabo]

Apple sells 2 cards that will work in your Mac. The ATi Radeon HD 5770 and 5870.

The 5770 is cheaper, smaller, quieter and less powerful but leaps and bounds beyond your current card. The 5870 is the fastest that Apple offer and runs fine in my Mac Pro 2,1 (basically the same as yours). I used to have a 5770 and can't say I notice the 5870 being louder unless you run games or other things that will put a severe strain on it.

Both cards work right out of the box in the 1,1.

 

[Ramandu]

I'll have to look at those Nvidia cards. I'm willing to lose the boot screen for the sake of better performance.

I have looked at those ATI cards and they look very promising, the only thing holding me back is the lack of CUDA support. OpenCL might work as well, I just don't know if Davinci Resolve supports that.

 

[CaptainChunk]

I'll have to look at those Nvidia cards. I'm willing to lose the boot screen for the sake of better performance.

I have looked at those ATI cards and they look very promising, the only thing holding me back is the lack of CUDA support. OpenCL might work as well, I just don't know if Davinci Resolve supports that.

The newest version of Resolve does support OpenCL for GPU processing, but not to the same level it supports CUDA. They added this recently to open up compatibility with MBPs and iMacs. But you really want a supported CUDA card for the best performance.

 

[KScotty]

I just installed ATi Radeon HD 5770 last week, took about 5 minutes and works perfect. Ama*on sells it for slightly cheaper than Apple

Hello MR forums!

I have a 2006 Mac Pro (Mac Pro 1,1). It still has the original graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT), which still runs very well--however, it doesn't support CUDA or OpenCL, which is increasingly becoming a problem. I've been thinking about replacing it for a while, but I don't really know what card to replace it with (all the research I've done so far has been non-conclusive). I've done some research on this already, but I'm curious--doesn't anyone know of a good card that would work on my Mac Pro model and supports CUDA/OpenCL?

P.S.
I'm planning to use this mainly with Blender and Da Vinci Resolve Lite.

 

[ORTOX]

I'm running a GTX470 in Mac os on my mac pro 1,1 with the init and works great. Granted I don't use CUDA so I can't really give you much info in that regard.

 

[CaptainChunk]

I just installed ATi Radeon HD 5770 last week, took about 5 minutes and works perfect. Ama*on sells it for slightly cheaper than Apple

Well, the OP also mentioned wanting to use Resolve, which has pretty limited OpenCL acceleration at this point in development. Resolve is really designed for CUDA.

His best option is probably going to be a a GTX 470 running ATY_Init and perhaps use the stock 7300 GT as Resolve's "GUI" card. The only caveat there would be zero support from Blackmagic.

 

[macpro2000]

Apple still sells the ATi 2600xt... I run that and a 4870 in my 1,1 so I can run 3 displays. Works great.

 

[MacVidCards]

Well, the OP also mentioned wanting to use Resolve, which has pretty limited OpenCL acceleration at this point in development. Resolve is really designed for CUDA.

His best option is probably going to be a a GTX 470 running ATY_Init and perhaps use the stock 7300 GT as Resolve's "GUI" card. The only caveat there would be zero support from Blackmagic.

We have a GT120 for 1st Gens that is a better match for Resolve. It has CUDA support as well, something the 7300GT can't do.

The GT120 we have can run 2 @ 30" displays with no adapters. The 7300 can't do this at all, and the Apple GT120 requires a $100 adapter to do so.

In addition, our GT120s are faster and have either 512MB or 1 GB or VRAM, 2 or 4 times what the old 7300 offers.

As a final plus, it offers better display support with GTX470 in that the display can be connected to 470 and not have to be cycled through 7300 at boot. (OSX will always assign primary display to 7300, even if none connected)