Mac Pro 2006 question.

[Des Zac]

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Okay guys, bear with me if I sound stupid, I'm an old Mac Collector and a PC guy, and I want to use SL or Lion, maybe even ML.

Could I use, let's say a 6870, (Flashed of course) in a 2006 Mac Pro? I know that should be a stupid question, but I just want to make sure.

Also, what processor could you compare the Xeon that's in the 2006 to? By that I mean, could it beat an i3 or i5? To me that seems foolish but the fact that the Xeon line is the workstation line makes me unsure. If not, what could it beat?

I really want to join the Mac side, even though I can get superior specs in the computer I'm building, I know that Mac OS is the OS I like the most... It just feels more comfortable.

Thanks a lot, and sorry for my stupidity!


-Zach

 

[minifridge1138]

Check out www.everymac.com.
They have every make/model of Mac listed and their statistics.
Check out the GeekBench scores for each and you can see how the 2006 MacPro stands up to new models.

As for flashed graphics cards, I'll let someone else comment on that.

 

[thekev]

You should consider if running the current OS is a factor to you. As of mountain lion the mac pro 1,1 and 2,1 are EOL for updates. If we see a new mac pro, the 2009s will probably be a great deal.

 

[Des Zac]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

You should consider if running the current OS is a factor to you. As of mountain lion the mac pro 1,1 and 2,1 are EOL for updates. If we see a new mac pro, the 2009s will probably be a great deal.

Ah, I didn't know they were done with ML, I suppose I could see how much the 08/09s are...

 

[Neodym]

6870 runs fine in the 2006 ootb. Requires OSX 10.6.8 or newer installed on the machine. Drawbacks:

* No DVD player (OSX - others work), no Steam games.

Remedy: ATY_Init.kext

* No boot screen (picture comes with finder loaded or login screen popping up).

Remedy: Not possible on 2006 MacPro.

Workaround: Keep 2nd card to display boot screen. 2nd card should not need additional power (like the original 7300GT that came with the 2006), as the 6870 needs both onboard power connectors.