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Which graphics for mac pro?

crazycat

crazycat

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 5, 2005
1,319
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I will place an order with apple for a mac pro after i get some adivce from the best place i can (MR ofcorse). As maybe some of you might know or not i made a thread about buying a gaming PC but after looking at the specs of the new mac pro its hard not to take it over a PC.

I will be playing world of warcraft a lot, and any other game on OS X, for games that are not on OS X i will just use bootcamp. So my questions is, which graphics card? Should i get the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB or 4 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB or NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)?

I looked on apple store for more info but i cant really tell which one is best for games, which will give me the best fps.

Thanks in advance
 
I'm not a developer or anything, but just by reading around on other threads, people have continuously been emphasizing that the Mac Pro is a machine for professionals, not for gamers.

Apart from that, I'm sure you can build a comparable PC gaming machine for less than the price of a Mac Pro. And, you'll be able to upgrade it as time goes on.

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=468060&rl=1

That's an article dating back to May. It's a guide to build a powerful gaming rig for under $1,500. Probably costs even less now, and you can get the gaming performance you want.
 
I understand but i still would like which card to buy, which will give me the best preformance in WoW.
 
True 1900xt (what res are you running wow at?) I doubt you will notice any slowdowns even at a 30" monster res, with those dual 2.66 backing the 1900xt up. Make sure you get at least 2gig though.
 
kaboutertje said:
True 1900xt (what res are you running wow at?) I doubt you will notice any slowdowns even at a 30" monster res, with those dual 2.66 backing the 1900xt up. Make sure you get at least 2gig though.
Click to expand...

I am one of the people who always recommend more RAM :) i ordered it with 1 GIG and i will buy and install one myself.
 
crazycat said:
I am one of the people who always recommend more RAM :) i ordered it with 1 GIG and i will buy and install one myself.
Click to expand...

If you did that, then it is 2 x 512. When you upgrade you will need 2 more 512s since I am pretty sure the Mac Pro like the G5 requires paired RAM. i.e. - even numbers of cards.

BTW, since it is a Pro machine, who's your sponsor?
 
Hmm, maybe i'm confused...

Well, maybe i just dont get it, but I plan to buy a MacPro and play World of warcraft on it a ton! Sure, a gaming PC is cheaper, but heck, its not a mac. Anyway, I DO do extensive video editing, so i'm not just crazy, i just imagine that the MacPro will one heck of a super WOW+other game machine. Unfortunatley, I'll have to go with the stock video card, but thats ok, i'll upgrade sometime later, and well, it will be an upgrade from my 1.33ghz powerbook 12" ;)
 
a thread like this has already surfaced but i cannot be bothered to find it again. The general consensus was the X1900 was the best card. Although not as good as the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, it is nearly £1000 cheaper.
 
®îçhå®? said:
a thread like this has already surfaced but i cannot be bothered to find it again. The general consensus was the X1900 was the best card. Although not as good as the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, it is nearly £1000 cheaper.
Click to expand...

Definitely. The Quadro is a bit better, but for price/performance it's the x1900 all the way. And it's almost as good in absolute performance, besides.

tho btw, if WoW is your main concern, I bet even the 7300 would run it pretty darn well on a 2.66 xeon quad. I mean, WoW ran pretty well on my single 1.8 G5 with Radeon 9600 64 MB, and it runs on G4 minis. So although it will be flawless with the x1900, I'm sure it wouldn't be shabby even with the stock option.
 
QCassidy352 said:
Definitely. The Quadro is a bit better, but for price/performance it's the x1900 all the way. And it's almost as good in absolute performance, besides.

tho btw, if WoW is your main concern, I bet even the 7300 would run it pretty darn well on a 2.66 xeon quad. I mean, WoW ran pretty well on my single 1.8 G5 with Radeon 9600 64 MB, and it runs on G4 minis. So although it will be flawless with the x1900, I'm sure it wouldn't be shabby even with the stock option.
Click to expand...

This is the lower end "GS" version of the 7300... http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTExMiw3LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

It's adequate for playing, but if you want higher resolution/better frame rates/all the eye candy turned on....you'll want the fastest card you can afford. Sounds like most people suggest the x1900xt, which is apparently quite the card.



EDIT: "You" in the generic "everybody" sense... ;)
 
ZoomZoomZoom said:
I'm not a developer or anything, but just by reading around on other threads, people have continuously been emphasizing that the Mac Pro is a machine for professionals, not for gamers.

Apart from that, I'm sure you can build a comparable PC gaming machine for less than the price of a Mac Pro. And, you'll be able to upgrade it as time goes on.

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=468060&rl=1

That's an article dating back to May. It's a guide to build a powerful gaming rig for under $1,500. Probably costs even less now, and you can get the gaming performance you want.
Click to expand...

The base model isn't ideal for gamers - but upgrading to the x1900 Radeon card and adding 2-4 gigs of ram makes the Mac Pro a highly competent gaming machine, in my opinion - and, as Steve and others showed us in the WWDC keynote, the MacPro isn't outrageously priced either...
 
tipdrill407 said:
The Quadro is NOT made for gaming, it is made for 3D workstation graphics.
Click to expand...


The big difference between the Quadro/Geforce and FireGL/Radeon cards (at least on the Windows side of things) is the drivers. The "Pro" versions tend to focus on OpenGL optimizations...the underlying hardware is usually the same (in fact many times it is the exact same GPU). The other difference is the available ports, etc. The Quadro comes with 3D glasses and various other output configurations.
 
I'm gonna be honest and say that I didn't read any of the replies, but would like to add my 2 cents.

I play a lot of games (in swings), and currently play WoW. I ordered a Mac Pro and got the base 7300GT and here's why:

  • First and foremost - if I ordered any other card the ship time was delayed to over 3 weeks
  • I currently play WoW on my 15" Al Powerbook (1gig RAM, 1.25GHZ RAM) This machine is running an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 64MB RAM, on an external 20" Cinema Display at full quality & full screen with everything on except music and its only choppy when I try to use other apps while playing (like looking something up on thottbot) or when in Orgrimmar :p - all that being said, if it runs well on here it'll run SUPERBLY on anything better than this.
  • Definitely do not get 4x7300GT because as I understand it - in the Mac Pro the gfx cards don't work together, the only point to multiple cards is multiple displays (each card would handle one+ displays), not work together to render the game faster
  • The Quadro is by no means meant for gaming and while costing 5+ times more than other cards, it actually performs equally with the others or worse in some cases.
  • You can always upgrade further down the line (as I plan on doing) when more options are available and you start to wish for a faster card.

So to summarize - the card it comes with will be good, and even if it isn't every dream you've had come true - you'll at least have your Mac Pro earlier and be enjoying it while you order the other card from another vendor.
 
The 7300 is a small step up from Integrated crap O graphics,not much more then that. My 2+ yr old 6800 GT can still hammer this card. Please. Nice spin on a future upgrade for a brand spanking new $2,500 machine. Great Cpu, Gpu......is almost poor but I bet Apple is making big money.
 
x1900xt! its a great card... well with PC's anyway.

Although I am pretty sure the new nvidia GeForce 7950 GX2 is a better card, and now that you can 4 x SLI them *smokin*.... Come on Apple! Get with the times! There must be some loaded people willing to drop 800 a card!;)
 
eyeluvmyimac said:
  • Definitely do not get 4x7300GT because as I understand it - in the Mac Pro the gfx cards don't work together, the only point to multiple cards is multiple displays (each card would handle one+ displays), not work together to render the game faster
Click to expand...
This is the desktop you would need to make use of a 3x or 4x 7300GT machine...

woods-hole-ben.gif
 
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