Upgrade the video card in my mid-2010 Mac Pro 8 core

[imaximuss]

Hi,
I'd like to upgrade my ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
with a better card in oder to use with FCPX and maybe with Da Vinci Resolve.
Can you suggest me a good card for around 300-350 $ ?

I live in Europe so I prefer something that I could buy here!

Thank you!

p.s. my monitor is actually a ACD 30''

 

[DPUser]

Check this out:

http://www.barefeats.com/tube02.html

 

[leon771]

Another link on barefeats shows the benefits of running dual 5770s. I'd be inclined to just pick up another 5770 cheaply and bung it in your machine.

 

[imaximuss]

I have not enough space for two video cards.. In 2 pci-slot There are two other cards (esata and matrox) so i've space only for one..
Can you suggest me a good card for fcpx no too much expensive?
Thanks!

 

[leon771]

Upgrade the video card in my mid-2010 Mac Pro 8 core

Single 7950 or 7970 it is then. They are over your budget by about $100.

On netkas.org they are talking about flashing the 280x, so that may be a possible upgrade, and pricing wise should be less than 7970.

 

[whwang]

I am also thinking about upgrading the 5770 in my Mac Pro 5,1, and I would like to hear people's advices.

I mostly use Photoshop. Previously, Photoshop did not take too much advantage of the GPU. Now it seems Photoshop CC can be substantially accelerated in some tasks if the GPU is fast enough. For example：http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2014/20140117_9-MacPro2013-PhotoshopCC-filters.html
here it shows that sharpening and bluring benefit a lot from using GPU in the latest Photoshop CC on the new Mac Pro. However, on my Mac Pro 5,1, I cannot find any difference between GPU on and GPU off, also in the latest Photoshop CC. This probably means that my GPU is not good enough to really make a difference.

How do you think? Can a 5870 or a GTX680 make a difference?

Also, is Quadro K5000 still the only graphic card that can drive a 4K display on an old Mac Pro?

 

[imaximuss]

Single 7950 or 7970 it is then. They are over your budget by about $100.

On netkas.org they are talking about flashing the 280x, so that may be a possible upgrade, and pricing wise should be less than 7970.

I read that 280x do not work in OSX 10.9.x so... can you suggest me the best supported card for fcpx?
thank you!

 

[leon771]

You should use this as your guide http://www.barefeats.com/tube05.html
It is a shame that they don't have benches for single 5770 so you can make a direct comparison.

I would personally get a flashed 7970 as it is the fastest that you can really go at this time, but of course it is not officially supported in any capacity.
Sapphire 7950 is a "Mac product" so at least you will have some support at the retail level if something goes wrong.

Looking at the benches there doesn't seem to be much between the 7970 and 7950, but I'm not sure how that will reflect on your particular workflow.