Three Cinema monitors; two for business and one for gaming

[Cubemmal]

I have a 2009 MP with three Cinema monitors, two 24" flanking a 27". The two cards I have already are the ATI Radeon HD 5770 with two mini DP ports (the 27" and a 24") and the old GTX 120 (one mini DP port with the other 24").

I like to do some gaming on this machine and would ideally like a GTX 680 with just the center monitor, and the other two 24's on a different card. How could I pull this off? The Mac Pro only has a single power connector for the graphics card I believe. If I tee that can the power supply handle the load? Heat or noise issues?

 

[rabidz7]

The PSU can take over a 1000W. The each lobo PCIe power trace will fry when a GPU or PCIe card takes over 125W; get a PSU in the optical drive.

 

[Cubemmal]

The PSU can take over a 1000W. The each lobo PCIe power trace will fry when a GPU or PCIe card takes over 125W; get a PSU in the optical drive.

Thanks, I didn't know about the trace specs, but your reply is a little garbled. Could you clarify this a bit? I think you're saying to put a separate PSU in the optical drive, but then how are the cables managed, and how to you mount it?

Actually this is all sounding too complicated and not worth the effort for an old Mac Pro. Better to just put that into a new Mac Pro. Any other options?

 

[AdrianK]

Rabidz is way over complicating this...

The 30" ADC is DVI so...

• GTX 680 - DVI - 30" ACD
• GTX 680 - DisplayPort - Male DisplayPort to female mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD
• GT 120 - mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD

No power issues, just 2 6pin to the 680 and 120 is powered from the slot.

 

[Cubemmal]

Rabidz is way over complicating this...

The 30" ADC is DVI so...

• GTX 680 - DVI - 30" ACD
• GTX 680 - DisplayPort - Male DisplayPort to female mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD
• GT 120 - mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD

No power issues, just 2 6pin to the 680 and 120 is powered from the slot.

Apologies, the Cinema Display is a 27" with mini-DP, not the older 30" DVI version so this won't work.

 

[ActionableMango]

There is no power issue at all.

There is no loss of performance having more than one monitor hooked up to the GTX680 as long as you don't do multimonitor gaming. By default the game will only appear on the primary monitor. I added a second monitor to my GTX680 recently and there's no difference.

You wouldn't need to keep the GT120 at all if it weren't for the fact that your ACDs only have displayports.

 

[rabidz7]

Thanks, I didn't know about the trace specs, but your reply is a little garbled. Could you clarify this a bit? I think you're saying to put a separate PSU in the optical drive, but then how are the cables managed, and how to you mount it?

Actually this is all sounding too complicated and not worth the effort for an old Mac Pro. Better to just put that into a new Mac Pro. Any other options?

My G5 has one 6 pin power cable, how many does your mac pro have?

If it has two then you can install a 680 as long as it has no 8 pin connectors, connecting an 8 pin connector with an adapter will fry the motherboard.
If it has one then you will need an external PSU.

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Rabidz is way over complicating this...

The 30" ADC is DVI so...

• GTX 680 - DVI - 30" ACD
• GTX 680 - DisplayPort - Male DisplayPort to female mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD
• GT 120 - mini DisplayPort - 24" ACD

No power issues, just 2 6pin to the 680 and 120 is powered from the slot.

The OP said that the MP has only one power connector.

 

[Cubemmal]

My G5 has one 6 pin power cable, how many does your mac pro have?

If it has two then you can install a 680 as long as it has no 8 pin connectors, connecting an 8 pin connector with an adapter will fry the motherboard.
If it has one then you will need an external PSU.

I actually have two six pin connectors (I had thought it was one). Now what options to I have?

 

[rabidz7]

I actually have two six pin connectors (I had thought it was one). Now what options to I have?

Just put the 680 in, make sure the 680 has no 8 pin cable, the old card doesn't need a cable.

 

[flowrider]

The OP said that the MP has only one power connector.

Seriously Have you ever seen a 2009 Mac Pro or any Mac Pro with only one six pin power connector?

Lou

 

[AdrianK]

Apologies, the Cinema Display is a 27" with mini-DP, not the older 30" DVI version so this won't work.

Ouch. You could get another 120 if you have a free slot. There doesn't appear too many non-powered dual DisplayPort cards, I did however find this Quadro which may or may not work under OS X (it looks pretty underpowered too).

The OP said that the MP has only one power connector.

They have 2, you just need two leads to connect from the mobo to the 6 pin on the GPU. The 5770 only uses 6 pin so OP might only have one cable.

Just put the 680 in, make sure the 680 has no 8 pin cable, the old card doesn't need a cable.

But then OP only has two mini/DisplayPorts in total, so they can only use one of the 24"s.

 

[Cubemmal]

Ouch. You could get another 120 if you have a free slot.

Yeah I had two 120's before but gave one to my brother (I should have kept it) when I got the 27".

OK, so one solution is

2 x GTX 120
1 x GTX 680 (how do I convert 6 pin power to 8?)

Or, is it possible to use the 5770 (2x24") and the 680 (1x27")?

 

[AdrianK]

Or, is it possible to use the 5770 (2x24") and the 680 (1x27")?

You'd need 3 power connectors but you only have 2. You could use a splitter or siphon power from a SATA port (both bad ideas).

I'd just get a 120 or any other recent nvidia card with mDP.

 

[ActionableMango]

1 x GTX 680 (how do I convert 6 pin power to 8?)

There are plenty of 680 cards with 2x6-pin power.

If you buy a PC 680, you will need two of these cables:
http://www.svideo.com/x1900.html

If you already have a cable from the 5770, you can reuse it for one of the two cables.

If you buy a Mac Edition 680, it will come the cables you need.