Best graphics card for MacPro 5,1- 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon OS 10.6.8

Hi everyone.
I have a 2011 MacPro 5,1- 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon. 32GB RAM OS 10.6.8 with the stock ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card.
When I output/process/convert video through Quicktime or iMovie or Adobe Premiere or VisualHub (not always, but usually WS multi-pass H264, best quality), it seems to take forever.
Currently (as I type this) outputting a 2 hour movie made of 14 clips of 852x480 30fps 44KHz movies to a 29.97 multi-pass H264 48KHz file with Adobe Premiere CS 5.5.2- is coming up on 10 hours.
I would like to upgrade to a better graphics card with better VRAM and processing power. I realize that being on OS 10.6.8 may create a few problems. I'm willing to upgrade to 10.7 or 10.8 if need be. Though I'd hate to lose the carbon programs that I still use (like VisualHub).
I've heard that nVidia is the way to go, but I'm not sure which card to get. The Quadro FX 4800 looks promising (and expensive).
Anyone have any insight?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Dual or triple boot until you are sure if Lion or ML works.
GTX 570 2.5GB VRAM $320 from MacVidCards is one way to go, even GTX 680 (but that does require 10.8.x)
Nvidia 4000 (I thought I read Nvidia has a 5000 Quadro) not the older 4800. Amazon has Q4K $800.

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In the nonstop anti-FCPX propaganda is an article of interest — posted 7/9/12 — comparing the benchmarks of FCPX and PP6.
http://www.streamingmedia.com/Producer/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=83582 &PageNum=1
The system used was a 2 x 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro from early 2009 running MacOS X version 10.7.4 with 12 GB of RAM and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 graphics card with 1.5 GB of onboard RAM.
In most cases PP6 outperformed FCPX with this configuration. However, in the comments Ben Balser pointed out that FCP X's A/VFoundation engine wasn't ideal on the NVIDA card:
"Quadro is actually not the best card for FCP X's A/VFoundation engine, but great for CS6's Mercury engine, so the test is amazingly flawed right there. Try both on a 5780 card and watch things drastically change. I've done that test myself. Exporting to Compressor uses a MUCH more sophisticated encoding engine meant for higher level, professional transcoding, not simple outputs, which are faster using Export Media…"
Apple lists this card on its support page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4664
So,
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Ben,
Thanks for chiming in on that article. It would be good to have a benchmark comparison with the two systems each with a preferred card.
I'm hoping to see some other comparisons on this thread. Also, some links to other articles about best practices and configurations.

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Only really need a graphics card for video editing - 3D modelling etc.
Even then the video softaware doesn't address the graphics card all that much.
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Hi Marc and Patrick, thanks for both your feedback.
Sorry Marc, I didn't mean to imply that I didn't believe you. I was just confused at to why a card that had 1.5GB of memory would not be better than one with 512MB. But I'll take your word that the 4870 is the way to go.
Regarding the ATI Radeon 4870. I went to Apple's web site in the store section but it looks like they're just selling the single DVI option of that card. BH Photo Video is selling it with Dual DVI option.
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Diamond Viper ATI Radeon HD4870 (dual DVI) ($309.50 at BH Photo Video )
or
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I would focus on your PS CS5 requirments. If you intend on using a wide gamut display at some point I'd give serious consideration to graphics card that will truly support 30 bit display data (10bit/color) in PS CS5/6.There are only a handful of graphics cards that actually support a 30 bit data path with PS CS5/6. Some links:
http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html
http://www.amd.com/us/products/workstation/graphics/software/Pages/adobe-photoshop.aspx
http://www.nvidia.com/object/photoshop-cs6.html
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4487697
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http://www.gballard.net/photoshop/srgb_wide_gamut.html

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Message was edited by: addy77
Message was edited by: addy77

We've been waiting for a Macintosh version of the 5870 for more than a year. Get the 4870, learn the application, buy a new card if you can make money with it.
Waiting for the next iteration of Mac-compatible graphics cards is a waste of time if you need to get to work.
bogiesan

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Hi,
I have a Mac Pro with 2 x 3GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon processor, and 10 Gb Ram. I would like to get a graphics card to speed things up a bit (along with Photoshop & Aperture). Any recommendations?
Must be able to handle 2 x 30" screens.
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x

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I have a Mac Pro 4,1 quad core intel Xeon running mac OSX 10.6.8 and I have just moved studios and now need to use the Internet wirelessly but there's no airport facilities on this model can anyone tell me what model of airport card I would need for this

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ere are the specs on the Mac I need more power on.
Mac Tower
Processor 2 x 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 6 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512 MB
Serial Number H00354XF20G
Software OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
Harddive 640 GB
SATA Disk
(2) Harddrives 1 TB
SATA Disk
RAM 6 slots total -- 6 are filled with 1GB
(3) UAD Quad cards installed
I use this computer stictly for audio recording.
Pro Tools 10.3.7
Interface Apollo 16
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The platform changes from 32 bit to 64 with the upgrade to 11
If it is as simple as adding more ram, what mode-part #l would you recomeend. Can the processor be upgraded also ?
The new tube like Macs are non compatible with UAD Cards. Those cards a must my sessions

You can use Activity Monitor to check if apps run as 32 or 64 bit - simply look at the "Kind" column (you may need to select it under View -> Columns) and see if the app in question is listed as "Intel" i.e. 32 bit or as "Intel (64 bit)".
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Going from your current CPU to the fastest version included in the 2009 MacPros would be going from 2.26 GHz to 2.93 GHz. This would only give a modest 30% speed boost. Using newer and highly clocked CPUs might boost this somewhat more maybe to 50% ?

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Is it ok to leave my old photos in Aperature and start with new photos in Lightroom? MacPro with 2 x 2.26 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor, 6 GB memory, 1 TB harddrive?
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That's really a personal preference. Support for Aperture is coming to an
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Faced with that prospect, I would probably put it on my list of things to
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Thanks in advance for your help!
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3.2 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 6 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: MP51.007F.B03
SMC Version (system): 1.39f11
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11
ATI Radeon HD 5770:
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 5770
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 1024 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0xXXXX
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-C0160C-180
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.436
Displays: P191W:
Resolution: 1440 x 900 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Main Display: Yes
Mirror: Off
Online: Yes
Rotation: Supported
Macintosh HD:
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Capacity: 999.35 GB (999,345,127,424 bytes)
Mount Point: /
File System: Journaled HFS+
Writable: Yes
Ignore Ownership: No
BSD Name: diskXXX
Physical Drive:
Media Name: WDC WD1001FALS-XXXXXX Media
Medium Type: Rotational
Protocol: SATA
Internal: Yes
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified

Most don't know this...
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http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html

Download requested, but site responds that my computer is not compat. with ML. Is a MacPro 2x3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon with 16 GB memory. How can this be?!

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Best graphics card for MacPro 5,1- 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon OS 10.6.8

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