Mac Pro video cards

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Cam


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I have limited funds at the moment so i'm probably just going to order the most specced down mac pro available (probs a couple of 2.ghz, 160h/d) and then buy bits cheaper in the future. My biggest worry is the video card, the nvidia is basically a budget card, and I do like to indulge in a spot of gaming from time to time (in windows, this computer would take over from my pc). I'm not going to go for the more expensive ati card (cant afford it), but I no doubt will want to upgrade soon. Can I buy any PCIe card and stick it in? Or are drivers still a problem? Presumably a new card would work fine in windows, but if there were no drivers out for mac osx, would it work with (my fairly limited) demands? If you dont have a driver in windows it will work with any application still viewed in a window, same with a mac?
 
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The GeForce 7300 is a fairly decent graphics card. It supports all the latest features and the performance is great as well.

I believe people have been flashing the 7800's into Mac video cards, and those are some of the fastest video cards out right now. You can also get them for around $200ish used on eBay now, so it's a great deal.
 
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Hey there I cant really answer many of your Questions Cam the only reason I am posting is because basically I am in the same situation as you. I have a pentium 4 (3.4ghz) PC at the moment but am starting college this tuesday so thought it would be nice to buy a new pc/mac. I have yet been able to speak to anyone though who isnt either a mac fanboy or pc fanboy so im finding it hard to decide. I tend to play the odd Game now and then like Call of Duty 2 or Half Life 2 but mostly I am just on msn, downloading torrents, decryting DVDs or encoding music so I am trying to base my new machine around those things. If anyone has a Mac Pro and does those things (or similar) could they please post there opinions on how well these games/applications run.

That would be greatly appreciated, Billy
 
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a 7300 is a budget card, dont expect to be running too high of resolutions and any details on in your games.

What kind of games do you like to play ?
how big a monitor are you going to use - LCD? if so you want to run at native res.

The issue with cards for Apple comp is they have a different BIOS in them then WIndows based cards, it is not just drivers. This is why i dont like their configurations options for MAC's you have very little choice in video cards. is either the bottom line or top line, nothing in between, and no a 7300 is not inbetween.
 
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NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI/dual-link DVI)
2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $150]
ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB (2 x dual-link DVI) [Add $250]
3 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $300]
4 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB [Add $450]
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI) [Add $1650]

These are the STUPIDEST options for video cards

4 7300 GT could EASILY be beaten by a single 7900 series card and cost the same!

people who decided on these options should be shot, unfortuantly apple will market this as WOW!!! 4 video cards!!! look at ALLLL that power!! buy it now!!!
 
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Try hooking up 8 monitors + with a single 7900.
 
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yeah, good point :D i was thinking gaming in my head :)
 
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It is a shame that the Mac Pro doesn't support nVidia's SLI technology. Having 2 or 4 video cards is useless except for being able to add that many displays. If the Mac Pro could support SLI, there would be a point to having more than 1 video card.
 
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Cam


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I play all sorts of games, but I've only got a 17" lcd screen that maybe supports up to about 1280 x 960 (or whatever that res around there is!). I currently use a geforce 4 ti 4200 with 128mg ram with my 1.8ghz athlon xp and 750 mb ram. Its all about 3 years old and to be perfectly honest it runs every game I throw at it really well. I'm only ever going to be using one screen, maybe two, but not in the forseeable future. Can anyone confirm these higher spec cards work? Surely nvidia and ati are gonna have to start producing drivers for mac osx now that they're using intel chips and people can run windows on them?

I almost didn't consider this mac because it was billed as a work station, but from a purely financial point of view it makes so much sense!
 
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SuB8HaVeN said:
It is a shame that the Mac Pro doesn't support nVidia's SLI technology. Having 2 or 4 video cards is useless except for being able to add that many displays. If the Mac Pro could support SLI, there would be a point to having more than 1 video card.

It does, under bootcamp.

I can't see what the fuss is about with SLI myself, one good card is all it really takes. :/
 
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Cam said:
I play all sorts of games, but I've only got a 17" lcd screen that maybe supports up to about 1280 x 960 (or whatever that res around there is!). I currently use a geforce 4 ti 4200 with 128mg ram with my 1.8ghz athlon xp and 750 mb ram. Its all about 3 years old and to be perfectly honest it runs every game I throw at it really well. I'm only ever going to be using one screen, maybe two, but not in the forseeable future. Can anyone confirm these higher spec cards work? Surely nvidia and ati are gonna have to start producing drivers for mac osx now that they're using intel chips and people can run windows on them?

I almost didn't consider this mac because it was billed as a work station, but from a purely financial point of view it makes so much sense!


Yes these higher end cards work? Why wouldnt they, yes they will eat your card for breakfast.

Your video card cant handle any of todays games good at all, you obviously dont turn up in game details or use AA or AF in your games. But if your happy playing at the settings you do, good for you. I got spoiled some years ago when i got my ti 4600 ULTRA card ($700CAD card when i got it), and i could turn up details and i loved it, never looked back since, i turn up details in games and use AA and AF when i can.

Playing counter strike source with details on medium and no AA and no AF vs all details high, HDR, and 6x AA and 8x AF, it is just sexy!

Any games i play would eat your card alive at my LCD 1680 x 1050 native res.

sure, at 1280x and lower, your CPU become more or a limitation then a video card.

ATI and NVIDIA do make drivers for their cards for MAC OS X ?? How do you think the cards work that you can buy for a MAC.

Either way ATI and NVIDIA dont have to do anything, it is upto Apple to what they want, i am sure Apple has completly control over what cards get made for their systems from ATI and NVIDIA.
 
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lionel said:
It does, under bootcamp.

I can't see what the fuss is about with SLI myself, one good card is all it really takes. :/

try a 24" or a 30" LCD and play oblivion.......

SLI is for high end gamers who want all the eye candy and in game details cranked, AA and AF and HDR and all the goodies, people who want the best possible visual experience with their games.

i prefer a single card myself, and when ATi can make a single card perform as good and inca ses better then a DUAL GPU nvidia card... i think we know it is possible to have it all in one card these days.
 
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Cam


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In reply to Mathiau, the nvidia website has no mac drivers on it. Are the drivers part of osx updates or something? I'm totally new to mac os, I dont know what the procedure is for installing new things.
 
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None? wow, didnt know that.... i ATI has mac drivers on their site, i guess they are in the O/S or got to get them from Apple somewhere.


NVIDIA may have them labeled as FreeBSD since FreeBSD is what OS X is strongly made after.
 
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Wow, lot of fuss and questions still unanswered...

If you want to use the Mac Pro as a better looking PC, you can throw in any video card that fits. Problem is, only video cards made for Mac will work with Mac OS X. It won't even start up with a PC card, the BIOS on the card is different between a PC and Mac edition. That said, it seems that some PC cards can be flashed with a Mac BIOS, but keep in mind that this voids the warranty, and if anything goes wrong while flashing, you can throw away the video card.

I think hard core gamers really should stay with a PC. Choice of games simply is much higher, game development is focused on Windows anyway, and it's the only way to be able to use all state-of-the-art hardware, for those who can afford it, and need to increase their FPS from 95 to maybe 110 (as if it mattered anyway, considering the rather slow reaction of the human eye, anything past 85 is unnoticable).

No Mac has ever been developed with hard core gaming in mind, and for the occasional gaming, a Mac Pro is really more than enough, even with the "low end" Nvidia 7300!
I can still play Call of Cuty 2 on my Dual 2GHz G5 with a Radeon 9800, with full options enabled, and no problems at all.
 
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(as if it mattered anyway, considering the rather slow reaction of the human eye, anything past 85 is unnoticable).

I wish people would stop making this generalization, many studies have shown people can tell and see the diff between upto 250FPS. (people used to think nothing above 30, then 60, then 100, and so on)

it just varies on the person and what games you are playing.

But you make good points about being a hardcore gamer or not.
 
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Mathiau said:
I wish people would stop making this generalization, many studies have shown people can tell and see the diff between upto 250FPS. (people used to think nothing above 30, then 60, then 100, and so on)

it just varies on the person and what games you are playing.

But you make good points about being a hardcore gamer or not.

no....that would be 150fps
 
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