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Video Card Issue - 2006 MacPro 1,1 - El Capitan

Stonb

Stonb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 21, 2016
5
0
USA
If this has been already talked (I did some searching and couldn't find it, maybe i am a bad searcher) could someone point me to the tread.

If not...

I was just able to install El Capitan on my 2006 Mac Pro 1,1, Using Pike's Boot, but it is still rocking a GeForce 7300 GT, some places i read this GPU no longer is supported so my question is:

What would be the best Plug and Play card to buy? (hopefully not flashed)

I don't want to spend as much money so an inexpensive would be good, but I think I could go 150 maybe.

Thanks for the help beforehand,
 
A Mac Edition ATI 5770 would serve your basic computing needs nicely with your Mac Pro 1,1 (2006) upgraded to run Yosemite . I'm not certain about EL Cap (I have not personally tested it) . No issues at all in this environment . A real Mac Edition 5770 looks like this and accept no substitutes :

index.jpg


They run around 150-200 bucks on eBay .

The last guy here at Rumors that bought a poorly flashed PC Edition 5770 for use in a Mac regretted it .
 
I have a "true" Mac Edition 5770 on my 1,1 and it runs like a charm, no issue whatsoever with El Capitan.
 
havokalien said:
Everyone who runs captain I take it runs a bootloader because of the efi correct?
Click to expand...

I grabbed the Pike Boot and followed the explanation around here in the forums. Was pretty easy but the video card is the only one giving me problems!

Hopefully i am getting the new one and then will have a good computer for a while =)
 
I believe the 5770 works, but doesnt support metal, and you'll feel the UI is more 'mushy' than it was in past versions of the OS as it seems to run unaccelerated. I suspect the 5870 might run metal. Those are the apple versions.

Your only other options are to flash a better card, buy one from MacVid, or buy the saphire 7950 Mac edition.

The sluggishness was annoying, so I'm happy I upgraded as it perceptibly improves interaction with the entire UI.
 
ZombiePhysicist said:
I believe the 5770 works, but doesnt support metal, and you'll feel the UI is more 'mushy' than it was in past versions of the OS as it seems to run unaccelerated. I suspect the 5870 might run metal. Those are the apple versions.

Your only other options are to flash a better card, buy one from MacVid, or buy the saphire 7950 Mac edition.

The sluggishness was annoying, so I'm happy I upgraded as it perceptibly improves interaction with the entire UI.
Click to expand...

Ok lets say i just want to run Xcode to program for iphone and File System and maybe check email, No games, No videos no fancy graphics. Would it still be sluggish?
 
Stonb said:
Ok lets say i just want to run Xcode to program for iphone and File System and maybe check email, No games, No videos no fancy graphics. Would it still be sluggish?
Click to expand...

Absolutely not . Metal is basically a modern combination of Open GL and Open CL type APIs and is used to accelerate graphics and engage in compute . Since you have no complex graphics to worry about and no rendering needs , Metal is a non issue . Enjoy the 5770 . It will be good for your needs .
 
Stonb said:
Ok lets say i just want to run Xcode to program for iphone and File System and maybe check email, No games, No videos no fancy graphics. Would it still be sluggish?
Click to expand...

It's not that it will be painful. I disagree with the post below that if you dont do heavy graphics, that it's not a big deal. I think it is. Just moving windows around or using mission control to shrink windows etc. It's liquidy smooth and accelerated with metal, and everything feels 'light.'

In contrast, it feels more like the UI is dragged through molasses without it.

That said, it's not so slow as to be painful or anything like that, but it's certainly very appreciable. And worse, you definitely feel the difference from 10.10 where the UI seemed to be somewhat accelerated on the 5770, whereas for some reason it feels like they took off all acceleration on the 5770 with 10.11.

TLDR; UI on 10.11 with 5770 is appreciably slower than under 10.10, but works ok, but more laggy. A better card supporting metal will make the UI in 10.11 much more liquid and light.
 
Stonb said:
I found this... will this be equal to your "true" video card Morpheo?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-App...340357?hash=item35fd15f145:g:T9MAAOSwnH1WbiA1
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the one. I bought one from OWC when I bought my cMP 2012 (this model came with the 5770).
[doublepost=1458648799][/doublepost]
ZombiePhysicist said:
TLDR; UI on 10.11 with 5770 is appreciably slower than under 10.10, but works ok, but more laggy. A better card supporting metal will make the UI in 10.11 much more liquid and light.
Click to expand...

I disagree. One of my main concerns before upgrading my 1,1 to El Capitan was the graphic performance. I considered going back to Mavericks if it wasn't satisfying. I have to say, even without Metal, 10.11+the 5770 do feel "light" and very smooth. Although it's more taxing on the cpu (redrawing, fancy effects,etc). Also, maybe the fact that I replaced my older HD with an SSD is a factor to consider.

On a side note, I really wonder how Mavericks would perform on my SSD (10.11 is significantly faster than Mavericks, which is installed on a regular HD)
 
Morpheo said:
Yep, that's the one. I bought one from OWC when I bought my cMP 2012 (this model came with the 5770).
[doublepost=1458648799][/doublepost]

I disagree. One of my main concerns before upgrading my 1,1 to El Capitan was the graphic performance. I considered going back to Mavericks if it wasn't satisfying. I have to say, even without Metal, 10.11+the 5770 do feel "light" and very smooth. Although it's more taxing on the cpu (redrawing, fancy effects,etc). Also, maybe the fact that I replaced my older HD with an SSD is a factor to consider.

On a side note, I really wonder how Mavericks would perform on my SSD (10.11 is significantly faster than Mavericks, which is installed on a regular HD)
Click to expand...

A SSD will considerably improve both OS and app performance compared to a HDD . This is because a solid state device has a much higher number of IOPS , compared to a HDD . It's not even a contest . Use HDD for archiving and projects too numerous or large to be stored on solid state .
 
No need to buy a genuine 5770 for complete insane prices (lets get real, it was a mid-range card 6(!!) years ago). Used PC card for ~50$, flash it yourself and you're good to go.

Btw: Does the Window Server even utilize Metal by now? Last thing I read was that it would only use Metal when run on Intel GPUs.
 
Fl0r!an said:
No need to buy a genuine 5770 for complete insane prices (lets get real, it was a mid-range card 6(!!) years ago). Used PC card for ~50$, flash it yourself and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

Using a flashed PC Edition 5770 didn't work out for this guy, that also has a Mac Pro 1,1 running a modern 64 bit Mac OS X install .

He wound up stalling his boot sequence so bad he had to return the card, which was professionally flashed :

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/video-card-upgrade.1959093/

Forget all the days of agony involved , just get the real deal .
 
This card was obviously not "professionally flashed", but made by a eBay kid who's ripping of MacPro users.

You don't have to tell me what is (or isn't) possible with a flashed card, since I actively contributed to the development of the HD 5xxx EFI. The thread starter wouldn't have any disadvantages by flashing a cheapo $50 HD 5770 if he's doing it properly (which involves basically downloading the correct EFI file and running a handful of terminal commands).

I'd only consider the genuine card if it's a really good deal. In Europe they're currently selling for ~200€ which is just insane for a ~6 year old card. The PC version wasn't even that expensive when it was new!
 
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Morpheo said:
I disagree. One of my main concerns before upgrading my 1,1 to El Capitan was the graphic performance. I considered going back to Mavericks if it wasn't satisfying. I have to say, even without Metal, 10.11+the 5770 do feel "light" and very smooth. Although it's more taxing on the cpu (redrawing, fancy effects,etc). Also, maybe the fact that I replaced my older HD with an SSD is a factor to consider.

On a side note, I really wonder how Mavericks would perform on my SSD (10.11 is significantly faster than Mavericks, which is installed on a regular HD)
Click to expand...

Well and I disagree with you. My experience is what I said it was. As always, YMMV!
 
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