New Mac Pro video cards

Does anyone know when Apple is going to release next gen video cards, nVidia 8000 series or ATI 2000 series, for the Mac Pro? I have been having some problems with my ATI X1900XT and don't want to go through the hassle of sending it back to Apple to repaired/replaced if there will be a next gen product available soon.

That really is up to Nvidia and ATI/AMD. Apple does not make Video Cards. It's up to NVidia and ATI to get going with full OSX support for the new cards.

Ahh, but there is already support for OSX . The ATI 2600 in the new imac and the 8600 in the mac book pro. Its just a mater of a firmware update on the cards to support OSX and support from Apple.

Right, I hope Nvidia and ATI/AMD soon update the firmware so those cards can be used in the Mac Pro.

Can't you just buy any PCI-E video card and slap it in? After all, it's a Mac, and Macs "just work".

Joe Redifer said:

Can't you just buy any PCI-E video card and slap it in? After all, it's a Mac, and Macs "just work".

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Naw, you are thinking of Vista. Just works. Slap in a ISA 1Meg Trident in an AGP slot, it will work. Blow all over the room but it will work.

Apple never says any Video Card will just go right in and work by the way.

Joe Redifer said:

Can't you just buy any PCI-E video card and slap it in? After all, it's a Mac, and Macs "just work".

Click to expand...

The hardware is the same but the cards firmware is different so it can used on a mac. Theoretically you can buy the regular card off the shelf in any computer store and flash the firmware to work on a mac, but there is currently no mac version of the firmware available for the 8800/2900 series of cards. Of course if you go this route you have no support options if something goes wrong and you have the potential of ruining a $300.00+ video card. I was just wondering if any one had any inside info on when the Mac approved cards will be coming out.

Let me guess... the Mac-approved cards cost more, right?

What if I boot up in Windows on my Mac Pro? Do I still need the Mac-approved card? This kind of brings owning a Mac down a notch.

I still don't understand this, as I could slap just about any PCI card into my old Mac and it would work just fine (like a USB 2.0 card) that was made for PCs only and I didn't install any drivers.

Well the video card problem is getting worse. I'm getting bad artifacts and other graphics anomalies when playing World of Warcraft. I have also experienced some system freezes. I can make the system stable while gaming if I use SMCfancontrol to turn all fans to max. I guess I will pull the heatsink off the graphics card and give it a good lap and polish this weekend. Probably do the same for the processors and their heatsinks also. Hopefully this along with some new thermal paste will last me until the next gen graphics cards are released. Anyone else have any ideas?

I'm curious about this as well. Up to this point is the x1900XT really the highest powered card available for the MP? I just ordered a new MP and it'll be showing up soon. I didn't bother with the upgraded graphics when I ordered. It's ironic because I just sold off ALL of my PC components that were just collecting dust to put towards the Mac Pro... one of them being a 512mb Sapphire x1900XT. Lol. I don't play many PC games much these days though. Sounds like the Nvidia card in the base model doesn't quite cut the mustard. Guess I'll find out.

Anyway, definitely curious if anything else is in the pipeline graphics-wise.