(MP 1,1) ATI Radeon 2600XT with Mtn. Lion/Mavericks/Yosemite---Would it work well?

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Hi everyone,

I have asked several people this question but have gotten mixed answers, so I thought I would make a whole thread to help narrow things down.

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 with two cards. My main card is an ATI 2600XT (taken from a 2008 8-core Mac Pro), and the original GT 7300 for extra displays.

I currently run Snow Leopard on my machine, but I wanted to load either Mtn. Lion, Mavericks, or POSSIBLY Yosemite on it, with one of those custom-install guides floating around on the internet. Many have successfully been able to install these operating systems on their unsupported Macs; HOWEVER, my 2600XT card is a little questionable. I have heard people say that anything past Snow Leopard on one is either finicky, slow, or both... I have also heard people say that it would be fine, considering a supported, older iMac with a lesser card can run any of these three operating systems just fine.

So, what do you guys think? I am guessing the 7300 is out of the question, but what about my 2600XT? Would things run fine or what? Is it not really about ability but rather compatibility? Are there any out there who have had experience with running one of these operating systems in a Mac Pro that has this card?

Thanks,

MDD

P.S. If this card isn't good for any of this, what card can you all recommend? I'd be looking for something easy on the wallet, yet not cheap and underpowered.

 

[Macsonic]

Hi everyone,

I have asked several people this question but have gotten mixed answers, so I thought I would make a whole thread to help narrow things down.

I have a Mac Pro 1,1 with two cards. My main card is an ATI 2600XT (taken from a 2008 8-core Mac Pro), and the original GT 7300 for extra displays.

I currently run Snow Leopard on my machine, but I wanted to load either Mtn. Lion, Mavericks, or POSSIBLY Yosemite on it, with one of those custom-install guides floating around on the internet. Many have successfully been able to install these operating systems on their unsupported Macs; HOWEVER, my 2600XT card is a little questionable. I have heard people say that anything past Snow Leopard on one is either finicky, slow, or both... I have also heard people say that it would be fine, considering a supported, older iMac with a lesser card can run any of these three operating systems just fine.

So, what do you guys think? I am guessing the 7300 is out of the question, but what about my 2600XT? Would things run fine or what? Is it not really about ability but rather compatibility? Are there any out there who have had experience with running one of these operating systems in a Mac Pro that has this card?

Thanks,

MDD

P.S. If this card isn't good for any of this, what card can you all recommend? I'd be looking for something easy on the wallet, yet not cheap and underpowered.

Before I had a Radeon 2600XT 256 ram when I still had my 1,1 2006 Mac Pro. The 2600XT worked fine and I did not encounter any problems with the card under Leopard and Snow Leopard. I could not comment if this card will work fine with Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. What I can suggest is why not have 2 separate bootable OS, one is Snow Leopard and on another HD, your choice of either Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. At least if there are problems with compatibility you quickly shift to Snow Leopard.

I think the 5770HD is a good choice but it's price may be beyond your budget. Other options include Radeon 3870 or 4870. Though their price range is around $100+. Good Luck!

 

[NOTNlCE]

I ran the 2600 XT from my 2008 Mac Pro in my 1,1 for quite some time, under both Mavericks and Yosemite. Full boot screen, acceleration is fine. It's nothing special - keep in mind, it's STILL a 7 year old card. If you don't need a boot screen, and you want a bit more performance, check out the NVIDIA PC Card FAQ in the top of this forum. Keep in mind, the information it supplies about 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros assume that you're are NOT running Mavericks/Yosemite. With either of those OS's you can essentially consider your machine a 3,1, as the OS determines GPU support.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Before I had a Radeon 2600XT 256 ram when I still had my 1,1 2006 Mac Pro. The 2600XT worked fine and I did not encounter any problems with the card under Leopard and Snow Leopard. I could not comment if this card will work fine with Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. What I can suggest is why not have 2 separate bootable OS, one is Snow Leopard and on another HD, your choice of either Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. At least if there are problems with compatibility you quickly shift to Snow Leopard.

I think the 5770HD is a good choice but it's price may be beyond your budget. Other options include Radeon 3870 or 4870. Though their price range is around $100+. Good Luck!

Would I be able to get a GPU that isn't advertised as being compatible with Macs? The "For Mac Pro" GPUs are always really expensive; my brother bought a nice, new EVGA GPU a couple years ago, for his 2008 Mac Pro, and it worked fine without even having to be flashed first.

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I ran the 2600 XT from my 2008 Mac Pro in my 1,1 for quite some time, under both Mavericks and Yosemite. Full boot screen, acceleration is fine. It's nothing special - keep in mind, it's STILL a 7 year old card. If you don't need a boot screen, and you want a bit more performance, check out the NVIDIA PC Card FAQ in the top of this forum. Keep in mind, the information it supplies about 1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros assume that you're are NOT running Mavericks/Yosemite. With either of those OS's you can essentially consider your machine a 3,1, as the OS determines GPU support.

When you say no boot screen, do you mean to say that this is a card that is not originally made for Macs? (as in, there is no boot screen without having flashed the card first?).

 

[NOTNlCE]

When you say no boot screen, do you mean to say that this is a card that is not originally made for Macs? (as in, there is no boot screen without having flashed the card first?).

Correct. However, boot screens are, quite honestly, of minimal importance, and you could always keep your 2600 XT OR your 7300 GT either in a spare slot or lying around if you were to ever need them to troubleshoot, etc.

 

[Ih8reno]

Running Mountain Lion right now with my mac pro 1,1 2.66 and the original 7300gt 256mb card. Used mlpostfactor and so far no problems.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Running Mountain Lion right now with my mac pro 1,1 2.66 and the original 7300gt 256mb card. Used mlpostfactor and so far no problems.

Wow, and things are running smoothly and everything? I should give this a shot then.

 

[Ih8reno]

Wow, and things are running smoothly and everything? I should give this a shot then.

so far so good!

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Correct. However, boot screens are, quite honestly, of minimal importance, and you could always keep your 2600 XT OR your 7300 GT either in a spare slot or lying around if you were to ever need them to troubleshoot, etc.

Great, thanks for the info. If I get a new card, I'll just get some new thing meant for Windows PCs and wave-off the boot screen.

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so far so good!

I may actually end up giving my Mac Pro to my mom. However, knowing that these cards work fine under newer MacOSs is great, considering she is on Mavericks and it wouldn't be a good idea to downgrade her to SL.

 

[Macsonic]

Would I be able to get a GPU that isn't advertised as being compatible with Macs? The "For Mac Pro" GPUs are always really expensive; my brother bought a nice, new EVGA GPU a couple years ago, for his 2008 Mac Pro, and it worked fine without even having to be flashed first.


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When you say no boot screen, do you mean to say that this is a card that is not originally made for Macs? (as in, there is no boot screen without having flashed the card first?).

Yep you can get a PC Windows GPU for your Mac Pro. You can try checking a Windows 5770HD or an Nvidia 8800GT. With a non Mac card you will be booted straight to your desktop as pointed out by NotNice. There is a guy in this video showing an installation of a Nvidia 570gtx on his 2006 1,1 Mac Pro without the bootscreen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_IVZRFNwf8
The 570gtx is a good fast card but may still be above your budget. It's almost as fast the 680gtx card.

Just a side note, about the 7300gt card, you can keep using it though it's a problematic card with a weak capacitor. On my 2006 Mac Pro, the 7300gt died and it's second replacement also died a year after. So I opted to get the 2600XT instead and not the 7300gt. Here's an old thread about the 7300gt https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1428222/ Just letting you know though you may continue using the 7300gt. Thanks.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Yep you can get a PC Windows GPU for your Mac Pro. You can try checking a Windows 5770HD or an Nvidia 8800GT. With a non Mac card you will be booted straight to your desktop as pointed out by NotNice. There is a guy in this video showing an installation of a Nvidia 570gtx on his 2006 1,1 Mac Pro without the bootscreen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_IVZRFNwf8
The 570gtx is a good fast card but may still be above your budget. It's almost as fast the 680gtx card.

Just a side note, about the 7300gt card, you can keep using it though it's a problematic card with a weak capacitor. On my 2006 Mac Pro, the 7300gt died and it's second replacement also died a year after. So I opted to get the 2600XT instead and not the 7300gt. Here's an old thread about the 7300gt https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1428222/ Just letting you know though you may continue using the 7300gt. Thanks.

If I get a better GPU for this thing, I'll just leave the other two out. This thing originally had a 7300GT, and I added this 2600XT recently; I currently have both in just because I only wanted one of my monitors on the 2600XT (the fan is so annoying when the GPU becomes stressed).

Thanks a lot for the video---I'll watch it now. I appreciate the help! Considering the fact that the 2600XT is listed all over eBay for around $130, I'd say that or a little more is my budget. However, something tells me it would be a shame to sell-off the 2600XT---it's a cool card. Assuming I don't sell it, I'd be willing to drop a little over $100 on a non-Mac GPU.

EDIT: Would a GTX 750 work, assuming I use one of those custom installers to get Mountain Lion or later on this machine? Or does the 1,1 Mac Pro have limitations?

 

[NOTNlCE]

EDIT: Would a GTX 750 work, assuming I use one of those custom installers to get Mountain Lion or later on this machine? Or does the 1,1 Mac Pro have limitations?

The 750 works in Yosemite ONLY, as it is a Maxwell based card and requires Web Drivers. Again, your hardware is not limiting your selection of graphics card, but rather the OS.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

The 750 works in Yosemite ONLY, as it is a Maxwell based card and requires Web Drivers. Again, your hardware is not limiting your selection of graphics card, but rather the OS.

Alright, I'll look for something that's compatible with one of these three OSs.

 

[Macsonic]

If I get a better GPU for this thing, I'll just leave the other two out. This thing originally had a 7300GT, and I added this 2600XT recently; I currently have both in just because I only wanted one of my monitors on the 2600XT (the fan is so annoying when the GPU becomes stressed).

Thanks a lot for the video---I'll watch it now. I appreciate the help! Considering the fact that the 2600XT is listed all over eBay for around $130, I'd say that or a little more is my budget. However, something tells me it would be a shame to sell-off the 2600XT---it's a cool card. Assuming I don't sell it, I'd be willing to drop a little over $100 on a non-Mac GPU.

EDIT: Would a GTX 750 work, assuming I use one of those custom installers to get Mountain Lion or later on this machine? Or does the 1,1 Mac Pro have limitations?

Hi PowerMacG4 MDD. You can also check out a flashed Radeon 4870 from MacVidcards. Last time I checked this card was Sold Out. Another option is a flashed 5770HD from this seller HERE . Might fit into your budget. About the Nvidia 8800GT, please note that there are 2 kinds of this card. One is for 2006-2007 Mac Pro and another 8800GT for 2008-2012 Mac Pros. The 2008-2012 8800GT does not work on 2006-2007. I think this is because some or all ( not sure ) Nvidia GPUs only has either a 32EFI firmware or 64EFI firmware on certain models. Some Radeon cards has both a 32EFI and 64EFI in one card so they have a wider compatibility with Mac Pros from 2006-2012 like the 4870, 5770 or 5870. Note that there are also Radeon cards that only work with 2008-2012 Mac Pros like the 6870.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Hi PowerMacG4 MDD. You can also check out a flashed Radeon 4870 from MacVidcards. Last time I checked this card was Sold Out. Another option is a flashed 5770HD from this seller HERE . Might fit into your budget. About the Nvidia 8800GT, please note that there are 2 kinds of this card. One is for 2006-2007 Mac Pro and another 8800GT for 2008-2012 Mac Pros. The 2008-2012 8800GT does not work on 2006-2007. I think this is because some or all ( not sure ) Nvidia GPUs only has either a 32EFI firmware or 64EFI firmware on certain models. Some Radeon cards has both a 32EFI and 64EFI in one card so they have a wider compatibility with Mac Pros from 2006-2012 like the 4870, 5770 or 5870. Note that there are also Radeon cards that only work with 2008-2012 Mac Pros like the 6870.

Yeah, I was notified about the 32 vs. 64EFI issue. Hopefully I can get something compatible with 32-bit EFI that isn't too old and is within my budget. Thanks for the link---I'll check it out!

EDIT: I am not a good judge when it comes to the capabilities of a GPU, besides certain basic things and common knowledge. Is this card you showed me (in the link) good enough for, possibly, newer creative suites (anything Snow Leopard-era or later) or games such as GTA IV? As for GTA, minimum card requirements are: 256MB NVidia 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900. As for creative suites that I may have an interest in trying out, they may actually not be as demanding.

 

[Macsonic]

Yeah, I was notified about the 32 vs. 64EFI issue. Hopefully I can get something compatible with 32-bit EFI that isn't too old and is within my budget. Thanks for the link---I'll check it out!

EDIT: I am not a good judge when it comes to the capabilities of a GPU, besides certain basic things and common knowledge. Is this card you showed me (in the link) good enough for, possibly, newer creative suites (anything Snow Leopard-era or later) or games such as GTA IV? As for GTA, minimum card requirements are: 256MB NVidia 7900 / 256MB ATI X1900. As for creative suites that I may have an interest in trying out, they may actually not be as demanding.

Welcome and hope you're enjoying your Mac Pro. I was using a Mac edition 5770hd for Adobe CS3, CS4 and CS5 and works fine. The 5770Hd in the link should also work okay with Adobe CS and Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. As for gaming like GTA IV I could not comment as I don't play games but most likely the 5770hd can perform adequately. To expand your options, here's a video of a guy installing a Radeon 3870 on his 2006 Mac Pro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmBzlAXuznA His 7300GT also died twice.

Unboxing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7tMwOb-Q-s

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Welcome and hope you're enjoying your Mac Pro. I was using a Mac edition 5770hd for Adobe CS3, CS4 and CS5 and works fine. The 5770Hd in the link should also work okay with Adobe CS and Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite. As for gaming like GTA IV I could not comment as I don't play games but most likely the 5770hd can perform adequately. To expand your options, here's a video of a guy installing a Radeon 3870 on his 2006 Mac Pro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmBzlAXuznA His 7300GT also died twice.

Unboxing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7tMwOb-Q-s

Thanks, I AM enjoying my Mac Pro!

Alright, thanks for the info. I'll check this out soon.

 

[NOTNlCE]

Macsonic reminded me - my 7300 GT has actually died on me twice, as well. I guess just another ploy to get an upgraded GPU.

 

[MacVidCards]

Yes, sadly the 7300gt has a weak link. 2 capacitors that boil themselves to death. I used to repair bad ones all the time, still have a few dozen tantalum caps to replace them with.

Apple saved upwards of 50 cents using the low quality caps, and created nightmares for 100s of people.