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What is the best video card upgrade for the 2008 Mac Pro
- Thread starter richmlow
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Hi ActionableMango,
The graphics card is the default ATI Radeon HD 2600XT. For the graphics card upgrade, I would strongly prefer to have one which is "Mac-compatible"...I don't want to have to mess around with flashing BIOS, editing special files, etc. This will be an OS X system...no Bootcamp.
Do you have any suggestions?!
All the best,
richmlow
The graphics card is the default ATI Radeon HD 2600XT. For the graphics card upgrade, I would strongly prefer to have one which is "Mac-compatible"...I don't want to have to mess around with flashing BIOS, editing special files, etc. This will be an OS X system...no Bootcamp.
Do you have any suggestions?!
All the best,
richmlow
EVGA GTX 680 for Mac
Sapphire HD7950 for Mac
PHY Quadro K5000 for Mac
Those work OOB in 10.8.3+; however, you don’t want to see the price tags.
If you do want something cheaper and you don’t mind sacrificing your boot screen, you can use a PC card for a better value. They work ok after boot.
Recommending Mid-Powered ones as Mac 3,1 offers only 2 6-pins. Ex. GTX960/970 GTX760/GTX750Ti GTX 650/Ti/Ti Boost, usually they require 1 6 pin or not at all.
AMD: Anything in R7 series, R9 280/280X, 270/270X HD 78X0/HD77X0
HD6XXX and HD5XXX are not the best for the future but you can pick up those for cheap.
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Hi all,
Thanks for all of the replies so far....keep them coming!
By the way, I should add that I am looking for a reasonable (and reasonably-priced) video card upgrade for the 2008 Mac Pro. The TitanX from MVC looks awesome but is way too expensive for my budget. =P
richmlow
Thanks for all of the replies so far....keep them coming!
By the way, I should add that I am looking for a reasonable (and reasonably-priced) video card upgrade for the 2008 Mac Pro. The TitanX from MVC looks awesome but is way too expensive for my budget. =P
richmlow
That costs 2-3x what a 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 is worth & is complete overkill for the OP's requirements.
BTW I know that your said that you don't want to mess around with flashing BIOS but a used GTX680 that you can flash yourself to a Mac edition gives you an Apple boot screen plus support from native OS X drivers. It's the fastest card with native drivers & a boot screen. Faster cards are not useful for the 3,1 as the CPU will be the bottleneck in the system not the graphics card.
Would go with a GTX 750 Ti, if you are happy to install web drivers when needed.
I ordered this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IDG3IDO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and couldn't be happier with it. Would also recommend spendiny £25/$35 on a 620 or something similar just incase web drivers cause a cock up, t least then you can always boot the computer.
I ordered this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IDG3IDO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and couldn't be happier with it. Would also recommend spendiny £25/$35 on a 620 or something similar just incase web drivers cause a cock up, t least then you can always boot the computer.
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Is gaming your only objective? If so, with that budget, I'd buy an Xbox One.
yeah, I know that. However, I was just answering his question without any extra personal opinion.
Anyway, it seems that I was fail to give him the best answer (even not considering the cost).
He don't want to flash the card by himself. So, only 680 Mac Edition, 7950 Mac Edition, and MVC card, these 3 options available. (It's too risky to get flashed card from other source, so, not recommend to OP).
He don't want to mess around any system files. So, 7950 + 3,1 combination is out of equation due to possible power management bug which require mod the system file to fix it.
In fact, I should assume him also don't want to mess with the web driver as well. So, any card beyond the 680 (e.g. Maxwell card) is also out of equation.
And now, the 680 Mac Edition (new card) should be the best card. However, it's almost impossible to get one now. So, MVC 680 should be the best choice.
However, if including the $200-300 budget requirement, the MVC 680 is also out of equation as well. So, the in budget best card become MVC 760.
http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p20/Nvidia_GTX_760_2_GB.html
N.B. I know there are plenty of other better choice to get a better card with lower cost, or give OP better gaming experience. However, I am just answering his question.
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if you want to play games in osx then a GTX 680 or GTX 770 (a 6+8 pin not a big OC card with 8+8 pin) used is a good option or a card from MVC (MVC provides support and help etc which is cool).
(or a cheaper 670/760 are worth a look too, i use a GTX 660 which works fine for most things & can be picked up fairly cheep but the 670/760 are not far of price wise + the 7xx cards have better boost and lower temps + fans only spin up when needed which is cool for nose)
what games do you want to play?
or if you can wait with the new nvidia & ATI cards coming out the used prices for the older cards will drop soon.
or simply if it's just to play games make a windows box or get a xbone or ps4
im looking for a new gpu and have decide to wait to see what comes out
(or a cheaper 670/760 are worth a look too, i use a GTX 660 which works fine for most things & can be picked up fairly cheep but the 670/760 are not far of price wise + the 7xx cards have better boost and lower temps + fans only spin up when needed which is cool for nose)
what games do you want to play?
or if you can wait with the new nvidia & ATI cards coming out the used prices for the older cards will drop soon.
or simply if it's just to play games make a windows box or get a xbone or ps4
im looking for a new gpu and have decide to wait to see what comes out
Hi orph,
Thank you for the information!
Do you think that the MVC 680 (from MacVidCards) would work well for the following games?
Alien: Isolation
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
XCOM 2
richmlow
Thank you for the information!
Do you think that the MVC 680 (from MacVidCards) would work well for the following games?
Alien: Isolation
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut
XCOM 2
richmlow
Note that GTX 770 has the same chip as GTX 680. Works OOTB with OS X drivers in 10.8.3 and newer.
But only the MVC version of the GTX 770 supports 2 * 6 pin power: http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/my-...tops-during-boot-and-then-crashes-and-reboots
I quote: When there is a 6 pin and an 8 pin, things get more complicated. On many GTX680 cards the 8 pin is "optional". This means you can plug in a 6 pin and the card works fine. For many GTX770 and GTX780 cards we do a mod to the card that creates this same functionality. So you can just plug in the 2 @ 6 pin cables and it should boot right up.
But only the MVC version of the GTX 770 supports 2 * 6 pin power: http://www.macvidcards.com/blog/my-...tops-during-boot-and-then-crashes-and-reboots
I quote: When there is a 6 pin and an 8 pin, things get more complicated. On many GTX680 cards the 8 pin is "optional". This means you can plug in a 6 pin and the card works fine. For many GTX770 and GTX780 cards we do a mod to the card that creates this same functionality. So you can just plug in the 2 @ 6 pin cables and it should boot right up.
I'm not sure about the other two, but Alien: Isolation runs fine on my machine (see sig).
Doom 4 also runs pretty well too