Advice on Graphics Card upgrade on Mac Pro Early 2009 model

[macproprime]

Hello Everybody I currently have two Early 2009 Mac Pro Desktops and they are in need of a graphics card upgrade. Both of these machines have these system specs posted below and I am currently running OSX Mavericks 10.9.5. Will these graphics cards I selected work? I need a Cuda Core graphics card to run Davinci Resolve on my system and the Nividia Gt 120 won't cut it. Can I use a regular pc graphics card for my two systems? I saw the prices of the mac pro graphics cards and ouch they seem like a bit much.

Thank you for your assistance!

Here are graphics cards I am looking at

GTX 660 2gb Overlocked

Gtx 750 TI


Mac Pro System Specs


Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro4,1

Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Video Card: Nivida GT 120 1gb

Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 8 MB

Memory: 32 GB

Boot ROM Version: MP41.0081.B07

 

[pigoo3]

I need a Cuda Core graphics card to run Davinci Resolve on my system and the Nividia Gt 120 won't cut it.

If you purchased these Mac Pro's in 2009...I'm surprised you're still using the GT120. The GT120 was kind of a "slow-poke" video card in 2009.

Can I use a regular pc graphics card for my two systems?

You can...but sometimes they don't work 100% as well as a official Mac/Apple video card. Sometimes there are small anomalies. Some other members will hopefully jump in with the Windows video cards they use. There are soooo many Windows video cards out there. I would stick with Windows video cards that other Mac users have used with success.

I saw the prices of the mac pro graphics cards and ouch they seem like a bit much.

Yes they are....and it has almost always been this way. Way back to the 1980's.

- Nick

 

[macproprime]

Bump: Thank You for your help if there are any other users that have experienced with this model and what pc graphics cards work more advice would be awsome!

 

[harryb2448]

For 100% happiness stick with Mac Pro cards. You purchased a top of the line machine and now you want to hobble it?

This is the card I would be going for if I still used Mac Pros. It will work beautifully if you are subsequently planning to do the 5.1 EFI update to run Sierra:-


http://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-GTX-...d=100011&rk=1&rkt=12&mehot=lo&sd=111058035844

 

[lclev]

I have a 2009/2010 Mac Pro (the firmware has been upgraded to make it "think" it is a 2010). I currently use a PC video card that has not been flashed which means no boot screen. It is a Gigabyte Geforce GTX 780 w/ 3gb. I also keep the original GT120 in the MP but I do not attach a monitor unless I need to see the boot screen. I am using the stock Apple drivers.

I have been very happy with the card. The only quirk I have seen has to do with Sierra. If the MP goes to sleep and then wakes any video it plays is jerky. Restarting it fixes the issue. I have not found a permanent fix for it but the issue started with Sierra.

I use my MP for video editing using Adobe CC apps.

I chose to upgrade my 2009 to a 2010 to keep it eligible for OS upgrades a bit longer. I am not sure how well PC cards will work with a 2009 but I have put a link below that will give you more information. It is a long set of post starting back in 2012 but when I was putting together my MP and needed information it was very helpful.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...out-nvidia-pc-non-efi-graphics-cards.1440150/

Lisa

 

[stephenvalente]

I'm at the start of upgrading an early 2009 Mac Pro that I got recently. Will do the 5,1 firmware upgrade once my workspace is sorted, and intend on upgrading both the storage to SSD in some form, graphics card, and possibly a USB 3.0 card.

I've found with an SSD in my MacBook Pro, that the boot screen isn't something I see, so not overly fussed, but would prefer a reasonably priced card with flashed firmware. The R9 280X cards were recommended to me on the Mac Rumors forums. Any other experiences and suggestions?

 

[lclev]

As stated in post #5 above, I have an upgraded 2009 MP. It has two SSD drives - one for OS X and one that is used as a cache drive for Adobe plus a 1TB HDD for storage.

For more information on graphic cards I would suggest you check out the link I posted above. It is a very long series of posts about graphic cards for the cMP line. When I started my journey to acquire a cMP I did a ton of reading to decide what I wanted. I went with two graphic cards in my MP. One is the original GT 120 mac card that I do not use unless I need to see the boot screen. The other is a Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 780 with 3GB card that is not flashed. That is the card I use to run my two monitors.

Actually I have no experience with the R9 280X card. I like Nvidia cards based mostly on my experience using them in PCs. I picked the card I have because at the time that was the beefiest card I could get that would run on native OS X drivers. I did not want to deal with having to go through driver updating every time the OS updated.

This is an interesting read on one of the AMD R9 series cards - http://barefeats.com/sierra_fury.html

What you decide will depend on what you plan to do with your MP. I use mine for video work which will use the graphic card heavily when scrubbing and rendering. So what card you pick will depend on what your use will be.

I am puzzled by your MacBook Pro comment - no boot screen with an SSD? Did you mean Mac Pro with a non-mac video card? Because the video card's EFI or non-EFI determines whether you see a boot screen.

Lisa

 

[stephenvalente]

When I switch my MacBook Pro on, the logon screen in there pretty much within 2 seconds of pressing the button.

I've not got my Mac Pro sorted yet to test out with the 3 hard drives it came with to make a comparison, but it will have an SSD installed soon thereafter.

As to graphics card, bringing it back on topic, I've read a few pieces, and it's the NVidia vs ATI debate of old. I'm flexible either way, as I don't want to spend a fortune, but would like it to look stock in the sense of the boot screen, but I don't have masses of time to get it working. I've got an old PC I could flash the card in, as don't want Bootcamp on. That's why I've held on to my old Dell laptop if I need something PC based.

Something capable of driving 2 monitors via a displayport connection, and possibly and HDMI connection too, but not as vital.

 

[lclev]

I agree about the Nvidia vs. ATI/AMD debate. I use to use ATI/AMD cards exclusively because of their built in video capture ability on their all-in-wonder cards. But updating drivers was always a pain and compatibility issues were a problem - back when I was a PC only person.

It really does depend on what you plan to use it for. If you have some particular software/app you need it to run well, check out the preferred cards for that app and then go shopping. If is isn't an issue then the R9 280X cards are reasonably priced. You can easily pick up a genuine Mac GT 120 on eBay (average price $60 - $70), install it alongside the PC card you purchase. This will get you a card that will give you the boot screen if you need it and another card that can do the heavy lifting.

So what are the specs of the 2009 you bought? Just wondering. I enjoy messing with the cMP as it offers so many customizing opportunities. ;D

Lisa

 

[stephenvalente]

The machine came with the GT120 card, so no problems with getting a boot screen when I tested it before buying. Will look at the cards recommended, and make a choice soon.

My 2009 Mac Pro is a 2.66GHz single CPU, with 16Gb ram, but I have a new tray with a 3.46GHz X5690 and 32Gb ram ready to swap over once I've done the 5,1 firmware update. Ideally like a dual processor tray, and toying with getting a half working dual tray on eBay, with a view to either attempting a board fix, or replacing the board later on, along with dual X5690's for maximum performance. Whether I need that realistically is something I'm debating, but it would make the best of the machine from a CPU context. The parts on the broken board are worth more than the BIN price, so maybe a longer term project.

 

[lclev]

Well good luck. They are fun to play with. Currently I have dual 6-core xeons and 64GB on mine. I don't plan to do anymore upgrading because it is my main workhorse and I can't have it not functional. As it stands now it runs great and is super fast.

Lisa

 

[Slydude]

I don't plan to do anymore upgrading because it is my main workhorse and I can't have it not functional.

Lisa

What happened to your sense of adventure?

 

[stephenvalente]

Would anyone recommended an Asus 960 card with 2Gb on board? Can get one cheaply with full warranty. Flashable?

 

[lclev]

What happened to your sense of adventure?

Sly - by now you should know me well enough that down the road I will have a melt down and decide I just have to ...... Stay tuned! ;D

I am trying to be good.... but the biggest reason I bought a cPM over the nMP is the ability to change it up!

Lisa

 

[lclev]

Would anyone recommended an Asus 960 card with 2Gb on board? Can get one cheaply with full warranty. Flashable?

I have always had good experience with Asus stuff on PCs. If it is worth the money I would give it a try. As for flashable - it should be. Check out this link -

http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p81/Nvidia_Flashing_Services.html

Macvidcards is the place to go for flashing video cards if you have no experience doing it or are like me and know you will mess it up.

Lisa