Recommend me a video card

[adam9c1]

I have 2009 2x 2.26 quad
32 GB RAM
GT120 driving two monitors

I'll have usually two vms running via VMware fusion and most of the time they are under low load.

I WILL have multiple Chrome windows open with many tabs in each.

My boot drive is SSD with 20 GB free.

Sometimes if I open few tabs with videos they will not render right, or video played will be choppy.

What video adapter should I go with?
I don't want to run extra power supply booster.

I don't edit videos etc.

 

[lowendlinux]

I think you're at the end of your processing power not graphics

 

[A Hobo]

I have 2009 2x 2.26 quad
32 GB RAM
GT120 driving two monitors

I'll have usually two vms running via VMware fusion and most of the time they are under low load.

I WILL have multiple Chrome windows open with many tabs in each.

My boot drive is SSD with 20 GB free.

Sometimes if I open few tabs with videos they will not render right, or video played will be choppy.

What video adapter should I go with?
I don't want to run extra power supply booster.

I don't edit videos etc.

oke of the best cards to go with in regards to ease of use, power and no requirement for external power is a reference type nvidia gtx 680, this card can be flashed easily to provide full mac support and is basically the best card with full support.

 

[IowaLynn]

I would look at your SSD and move to a larger one or free up space, maybe move the VMs to their own SSD.

If you have looked at the specs for Samsung XP941's, just put one in mine and best SSD upgrade, ever.

For $300 you could put the system on 256GB XP941, or a PCIe SSD SATA III 500GB. Is that in your budget range?

Next upgrade would be what many 2009 owners have done, your 8 cores could stand a faster processor. That would get you 1GHz per core probably which will help, no?

 

[Macsonic]

I have 2009 2x 2.26 quad
32 GB RAM
GT120 driving two monitors

I'll have usually two vms running via VMware fusion and most of the time they are under low load.

I WILL have multiple Chrome windows open with many tabs in each.

My boot drive is SSD with 20 GB free.

Sometimes if I open few tabs with videos they will not render right, or video played will be choppy.

What video adapter should I go with?
I don't want to run extra power supply booster.

I don't edit videos etc.

The GPU I could think of is the EVGA Nvidia 680gtx Mac Edition or a flashed 680gtx. Alternate choices would be Radeon 5770 or 5870 Mac version if your budget is tight. The Radeons are old cards but may be adequate for the kind of tasks you mentioned. All these GPUs do not require any additional power supply.

 

[adam9c1]

the VMs are on a separate WD Black drive.
I have a larger SSD on order.

 

[gpzjock]

You will need Mavericks, Montain Lion or Yosemite to get the best out of a GTX680. Which OS X version are you using?

 

[adam9c1]

I'm on Mavericks right now (planning on not upgrading to Yosemite yet).

 

[DougTheImpaler]

I don't really think you're at the end of your processing power if you have them under "Low" loads. I have a single 3.2GHz quad and 16GB of RAM with two VMs running and I don't have any memory or processing constraints. They sit on their own SSD, though, so if you have that coming that's a great option. As for graphics, I also found the GT120 to be kind of lacking. I wound up with a Radeon 7950 that I flashed myself, but that's probably overkill, and the GTX 680 is even faster than that. Got it for around $140 on eBay after shipping, and spent about 20 minutes on the flash process after reading the thread on Netkas's forum. Just need to be sure to source the right power cables for your card, to plug into the two 6-pin ports on the motherboard.

 

[IowaLynn]

I don't really think you're at the end of your processing power if you have them under "Low" loads. I have a single 3.2GHz quad and 16GB of RAM with two VMs running and I don't have any memory or processing constraints. They sit on their own SSD, though, so if you have that coming that's a great option. As for graphics, I also found the GT120 to be kind of lacking. I wound up with a Radeon 7950 that I flashed myself, but that's probably overkill, and the GTX 680 is even faster than that. Got it for around $140 on eBay after shipping, and spent about 20 minutes on the flash process after reading the thread on Netkas's forum. Just need to be sure to source the right power cables for your card, to plug into the two 6-pin ports on the motherboard.

I based upgrading processor on how inexpensive, and that 3.2GHz or higher processors would help. Whether 'necessary' or not. And this MacPerformnaceGuide article.

If you want to do any upgrades, there were other things than GPU that would help and make $$sense. Separate PCIe SATA III or blade being another.