I have a Mac Pro and an X1900 that I'm very happy with, but I'm wondering if I can expect to be able to upgrade that card in a year or so for a better one. Does Apple have a good history of doing this sort of thing or do third-party manufacturers produce premium cards for Macs? Thanks.
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Mac Pro and Graphics Cards: Upgrading Question
- Thread starter michaelsaxon
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Didn't ATI just release a x1900 for G5 PowerMacs (albeit, only a 256 MB)? That said, history of third party cards for the Mac is pretty abysmal compared to the PC side (part of the reason I got the x1900 right away). You never know, things may change now that there are x86 Macs.
Expect to shell out some money, after market the 1900XT 512MB card costs the Apple Dealers around $900. I think the quadro card costs around $2000. ATI seems to come out with more aftermarket Mac Cards than NVIDIA does. Keep what you have and in three years upgrade your computer and then get a new Card.
While it won't be cheap for whatever upgrades come along, I'm not sure I follow what you are saying. You can order a new 1900XT 512MB card for the mac pro from the US Apple Store for $399. You can buy the AGP 256MB card for the power mac g5 from ati for $349. Maybe I'm missing what you are trying to say.
cheers.
It seems there isn't all that much markup right now though. The x1900XT costs $350 at newegg.com versus $400 at apple.com (it certainly used to be a lot worse). There aren't any Mac Pro card firmwares/drivers though.
it's all a big waiting game. the hard part is, by the time the current top of the line card is cheaper, there will be a better bigger faster card for even more money.
I plan on flashing a PC 1900XT and putting a quiet cooler on it...
but that will all have to wait for the prices to drop... and for me to drop some cash on some more ram.
I plan on flashing a PC 1900XT and putting a quiet cooler on it...
but that will all have to wait for the prices to drop... and for me to drop some cash on some more ram.
If Apple ends up picking up market share, it is hard to imagine that some third party manufacturers won't make top of the line cards to work in Macs. Does Apple do something that makes that difficult?
My one concern coming from PC land (well at least one of them) is that PC graphics cards are so loud and my Mac Pro is so quiet.
My one concern coming from PC land (well at least one of them) is that PC graphics cards are so loud and my Mac Pro is so quiet.
I'm waiting for this to appear in stores (in January according to ThermalTake). That ought to fix the noise.
If history is any guide, expect to see a refresh to the Mac Pro line soon, possibly as soon as MWSF or (more likely) sometime in the first quarter of 2007.
The next update of the Mac Pro should include a GeForce 8800GTX-class card, or possibly a Mac version of the upcoming R600-based Radeon. It would be nice to see a new card launch simultaneously for the Mac and PC for once...but I'm not holding my breath.
So I'd say you shouldn't have to wait too long to see a new video card option available.
The next update of the Mac Pro should include a GeForce 8800GTX-class card, or possibly a Mac version of the upcoming R600-based Radeon. It would be nice to see a new card launch simultaneously for the Mac and PC for once...but I'm not holding my breath.
So I'd say you shouldn't have to wait too long to see a new video card option available.