HD 5770 and a second card.

I have a 1,1 mac pro, sporting 7 gigs of Ram and a GeForce 8800, I just purchased a HD 5770 from apple's website:

ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro (Mid 2010) - Apple Store (U.S.)

I read through all of the comments first to make sure it will work with my 1,1 Mac Pro, and am satisfied after reading through the comments that it will, so my question is this.

If I put the new card in the 16 lane Slot, can I put the old card in a slot at 8 lane and connect my small second monitor to that card? I game, and do everything graphics intensive on my main monitor, and my second one usually is displaying a web page for reference while playing games or studying, a spot for iTunes and my adium contact list, and essentially a space saver monitor, I do nothing graphics intensive in it, almost ever. Would that free up power in the new card for games?

Secondly, I run windows inside of parallells, I assume drivers wont be an issue there because Mac OS is supplying them to the virtual machine, but am I missing anything in regards to that?

Can I? Should I? Thoughts and opinions welcome!

I'll let one of our Mac Pro experts answer your questions regarding the graphics card and monitor.

Secondly, I run windows inside of parallells, I assume drivers wont be an issue there because Mac OS is supplying them to the virtual machine, but am I missing anything in regards to that?

Click to expand...

That's an incorrect assumption. When you virtualize a Windows session, the drivers are supplied by the virtual software (Parallels) not the host OS.

It will work BUT with only DVI port connections:-

OWC Reveals Which Radeon Video Cards Work With 2006-2009 Mac Pros | Other World Computing Blog

Do not connect the 8800GT to a lower powered slot as it will under perform unless you go into Core Services and adjust the power levels for each slot. Keep it packed away in static proof bag as a back up.

chscag said:

I'll let one of our Mac Pro experts answer your questions regarding the graphics card and monitor.



That's an incorrect assumption. When you virtualize a Windows session, the drivers are supplied by the virtual software (Parallels) not the host OS.

Click to expand...

Interesting, thank you, I didn't know that.

And I know Harry, Both monitors are DVI.

Thanks for the info guys