Is it worth it to put a new graphics card in my Mac Pro 4.1?

I'm interested in upgrading the graphics card on my early 2009 Mac Pro, but I want your opinions before I sink more money into this computer. I'm a graphic designer, so I use all the usual Adobe apps, I do 3D rendering with Cinema 4D, and I do a small amount of video editing. I'm also interested in installing Windows via Bootcamp to try out PC gaming.

These are my current specs:
Processor: 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory: 20GB
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 4870 512 MB
Startup Disk: SSD

The graphics card I'm interested in is the Sapphire HD 7950 with 3GB of VRAM. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sapphire/100352MAC/

Is $500 worth it for this graphics card? How well do you think this machine as a whole will age in the coming years?

From the "professional" side of things...the most important reason to upgrade the video card is if it will save you time & money. If a more powerful video card helps you finish projects faster...and you can do more projects in the same amount of time...then a more powerful video card will save you time & money. And the money spent on the video card will pay itself off.

On the other hand...if your Mac Pro sits idle most of the day (there are 24 hours in a day)...then your Mac Pro isn't being fully utilized at the moment...so spending $500 on a more powerful video card to save time may not be a great idea.

As far as the gaming side of things...your call. How many more fps do you need & how large of a resolution do you need to play at?

On the flip side of purchasing a more powerful video card...what is your alternative...purchase a new Mac Pro? Are you prepared to spend $3000 on a new Mac Pro.

- Nick

Is it worth $500.00? That is a question only you can answer money v. performance = what your expectations are. In my mac Pro days I was a great believer in upgrading the standard gfx cards to do Quark and graphic design. A cheaper option may be say the 6870 series.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XFX-AMD-A...ard-for-Apple-Mac-Pro-2008-2012-/111573279529

By the way...one thing that is "killing you" with this computer is the CPU clock speed (even for activities that use all CPU cores). 2.26ghz processors are really slow pokes.

Sure...2.26ghz x 8-cores (16 virtual cores) is no "turtle" (when using all 8-cores). But just imagine how much faster CPU focused activities would be if the CPU speed was 2.93ghz??

Geekbench CPU scores:

- 2.26ghz x 8 = 13837
- 2.93ghz x 8 = 17648

Approx. 27% faster.

I used to have the exact same Mac Pro model you have...and after getting it...I was disappointed with the CPU performance (2.26ghz CPU clock speed).

- Nick

Nick,

I don't do an awful lot of work from home because I have a job. The work I do at home is mostly my own projects for fun, so it won't really save money that way.

About gaming, I haven't actually tried playing games yet. It was something I only recently started thinking about (mainly because I game on the PS4 most of the time). Do you think my current setup could handle current games without it looking crappy? I don't know much about PC gaming.

Also, the alternative to this is to wait a year or 2 and get the most updated Macbook Pro. I used to have a 2012 rMBP, but it got stolen and I was given this computer for free, so I put some money into upgrading the storage with the SSD and upgrading the RAM. I guess I'm just trying to decide if it's "good enough" now or if I should spend the extra $500 to complete the upgrades.

Do you know anything about upgrading the processor? I've read some places that it can be done but its difficult. I'm also not sure how expensive that is.

sgentile92 said:

I don't do an awful lot of work from home because I have a job. The work I do at home is mostly my own projects for fun, so it won't really save money that way.

Click to expand...

Ok no problem. When you mentioned that you were a graphic designer...all sorts of scenarios can be possible:

- Independent Graphic Designer who works from home (your personal computer).
- Graphic Designer that works for a company (this could have been a company computer)
- Graphic Designer who works from both home & office.

So good you cleared things up.

sgentile92 said:

About gaming, I haven't actually tried playing games yet. It was something I only recently started thinking about (mainly because I game on the PS4 most of the time). Do you think my current setup could handle current games without it looking crappy? I don't know much about PC gaming.

Click to expand...

Why not try gaming with the current setup..and see how things go before doing any upgrading?

sgentile92 said:

I used to have a 2012 rMBP, but it got stolen and I was given this computer for free...

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about the rMBP. But really awesome you got this Mac Pro for free!!!

sgentile92 said:

Do you know anything about upgrading the processor? I've read some places that it can be done but its difficult. I'm also not sure how expensive that is.

Click to expand...

I know a bunch about upgrading the cpu's on older Mac Pro models (1,1, 2,1). I'm not quite as familiar with doing it with Mac Pro 4,1's. But I do seem to remember seeing some info on it.

This sort of upgrade is a DIY thing (not supported by Apple). So there aren't a lot of folks doing it...so there may not be tons of internet info on it. But I'm sure if it is possible...there will be a couple good articles on it.

Actually I just did a You Tube search...and here's a video on upgrading the CPU's on a Mac Pro 4,1 2.26ghz (just like yours)! Additional videos as well.

Once you know what CPU's you need...you can check eBay for prices.

- Nick

No stay away from that card there was a video on youtube on that card that showed the machines performance got worse with the card here is a link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4umTWEfr4s

Here is the video it talks about SSD's And the graphics card.