Installing GeForce 8800GT Graphics Card in Early Mac Pro

When I install the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT card, is it necessary (or desirable) to remove the existing graphics card that came with the Mac Pro?

If you have 10.5.6, that is all you need or available under OS X all graphic drivers - outside of the rare "Graphics Update 1.0" are bundled. I actually hoped we would also see stand-alone graphics, but not to be, was a one time shot last year around now.

Similar Messages

  • How does having 2 Graphics Cards in a Mac pro help if it doesnt have something like Crossfire??

    Hi,
    I am thinking of buying a Mac pro for visual effects & graphics work.
    My question is quite simple, what are the benifits of having to graphic cards in a Mac Pro,
    For instance, i am thinking of putting in a Quadro 4000 with a 5870 in my mac pro.
    now is it possible for me to set say the ATI 5870 for powering my display and my Quadro 4000 for graphic processing tasks such as rendering stuff, and so on and so forth.
    Any thouights will be great.
    Cheers.
    Ani

    You need to find a way to add 3rd aux power connector.
    Mac Pro only comes with a mere 2 6-pin connectors, not a lot of power.
    Apple has had multiple problems with Nvidia drivers, with support, with say using two 4000s together, which sounds nice and makes more sense (and especially if one wants to run Windows at all where mixing ATI and Nvidia use to be against all the rules, now it seems like it is an Apple issue).
    Yes, there can be processing improvements, Adobe Mercury Engine for one, CUDA still has advantage over ATI-Apple OpenCL.

  • How do I install a airport extreme card in a mac pro (Intel 2008)

    How do I install a airport extreme card in my mac pro (intel) 2008 computer

    What Wifi Cards Do Mac Pro 2008 model use???
    http://meanderingpassage.com/2007/07/18/how-to-installing-an-airport-extreme-car d-in-an-intel-mac-pro/

  • 4x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT cards in a Mac Pro run below max supported speed

    Hi,
    We have 4 "identical" NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB cards in one Mac Pro (to support 8 DVI monitors for a Network Operations Center). One card came with the system, the other cards were purchased from Apple at the same time. This was a refurbished computer, so we didn't have the build-to-order option. I put identical in quotes because they seem to have different ROM revisions.
    The system mainly shows graphs on webpages and HP OpenView (via X11), so no heavy-duty gaming or refreshes.
    We have been running with 6 monitors for the past 4 months with the following monitors:
    - 1x 42" LCD with 1280x768, 32 bit color, DVI
    - 5x 22" LCD with 1680x1050, 60Hz, 32 bit color, DVI
    When I restart the system, at least one of the 22" monitors takes 5 or 10 minutes of flashing on then off (mostly off) before it finally syncs up and shows a constant image. The 42" LCD won't go to its native resolution (can't recall what that is right now), so have to go down to a less optional 1280x768. In the next day or so, I'll be connecting one more identical 22" LCD and then soon after another 42" monitor, but am wondering if they will work. Yesterday, I saw a post about firmware update for this video card (http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/geforce7300gtfirmwareupdate.html). I also noticed that two of the cards have ROM Revision 3008 and two have 3011 ROM Revision of the cards (in System Profiler). I'm not sure yet if this firmware update increases the ROM Revision.
    Running the Expansion Slot Utility (/System/Library/CoreServices/) shows that my PCI Express profile is set to Two x8 Lane + Two x4 Lane slots. All slots say that they are running below maximum speed.
    The store.apple.com site still shows this configuration as a valid build-to-order, but I wonder if they do something different or extra.
    Does anyone else have experience with 4 of these video cards with this many monitors?
    Any experience with the Firmware Upgrade that I should know about?
    Thank for any insight!

    l_elephant wrote:
    I notice that the flasher is connected to a card with ROM revision 3011, the later one.
    I noticed this too.
    now, to the slot profiles.
    you say;
    "The first one that I enter is the one to the right (looking from the back of the system)."
    so you mean that the mac is laying on its side and your in the back, and what you call 'slot 1' is to the right? is that correct?
    No, the system is upright, but the cards are horizontally seated. Pardon my ascii art, but here's the layout if I look from the back of the Mac Pro:
    | DVI DVI ---->> slot 4
    | DVI DVI ---->> slot 3
    | DVI DVI ---->> slot 2
    | DVI DVI ---->> slot 1
    So, there are two DVI ports on each card (which is in a slot). I'm not sure which lane is which.
    Either the left (as pictured) is lane 1, or the right (as pictured) is lane 2.
    i ask because i'm wondering if your reproducing the way the expansion slot utility is graphically portraying it. I'm pretty sure the utility is showing the slots as if the mac is upright and the person is looking into the side of it with the access panel off.
    Okay, sounds logical!
    if you say that you have two x4 lanes and two x8 lanes, then i'm deducing that your flasher is on an x4 lane, and as it is, one of your x8 lanes has only one lonely monitor on it.
    Probably correct.
    In my utility window, it is the fourth configuration, so you would have at the moment;
    slot4__x4__22" and 22"
    slot3__x4__42" and 22" flasher
    slot2__x8__22" and empty
    slot1__x8__22" and 22"
    I think that you have 2 and 3 reversed.
    i would suggest trying the third configuration thusly;
    slot4__x8__22" and 22"
    slot3__x1__22" and empty
    slot2__x8__42" and 22" flasher
    slot1__x8__22" and 22"
    in other words, check off the third configuration in the utility, then
    exchange the connections on the second and third cards, leaving the first and fourth cards be.
    Okay, will do.
    as far as running below max speed, i figure as long as your workload doesn't suffer, then its fine.
    Oh, and another question, does it always, always flash when you boot-up?
    Do you guys shut down the system every night?
    We rarely reboot it, and I'm not the only one that would see it reboot. This system is in a 24x7 Network Operations Center. I just know that rebooting takes a while for the monitor to come up all of the way.
    Thanks for all of your help and guidance so far!
    David

  • Best graphics card compatible with Mac Pro?

    I still have the stock ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series from 2010 that shipped with it. Everything else is holding up but I'm noticing the graphics card is starting to get a bit dated. I've never upgraded a graphics card on a mac so I'm wandering what kind of cards I can and cant buy.

    Windows and  games then you can use whatever you can power.
    That could be GTX 570 or ATI 7xxx
    Only issue is you only have 2 x 6-pin auxillary cables.
    you might buy a flashed GTX from MacVidCards
    http://www.ebay.com/sch/macvidcards/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25&_trksid =p3686
    You'll find more about 3rd party cards and how to install and support...
    http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1
    http://forum.netkas.org/
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1360927
    http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P3-1588-AR
    The Mac Pro limitations for serious gaming make it much more of a challenge.

  • Help Installing Windows 7 64 Bit on Early Mac Pro

    As previously noted, Wind 7 RC 64 bit DVD will not boot on early Mac Pro. I installed Win 7 64 bit on a dedicated hard drive as follows: 1) I booted into Vista 64bit successfully 2) I installed Win 7 64 bit on a second black disk, as noted above 3)All files installed correctly I think since Win 7 will begin to boot showing the Windows 7 startup screen 4) However, the startup screen will then disappear and the screen goes black, indicating a failed boot. When I engage the option screen (with primary Mac drive installed) during boot, no Windows disk is shown, indicating that boot camp does not recognize the Win 7 disk as a valid startup drive.
    Has anyone successfully installed Win 7 64 bit on an early Mac Pro?? I would appreciate any help in accomplishing this. Also, is there any reason Apple has not provided an EFI firmware update for first generation MacPros?

    Burn a DVD with Windows 7 RC 32-bit which you can boot from.
    Try Safe Boot also.
    From Vista you can install 7 on another hard drive. You can also copy the DVD to 6GB partition and run the install setup off that while in Vista.
    Mixing ATI and Nvidia probably still doesn't work (may when 7 ships).
    Windows is more aware of disk I/O errors than Mac OS.
    Keep your system basic, don't have anything connected or installed you don't need (like PCIe controllers).
    Vista SP1 or later, 64-bit also looks for EFI64/UEFI 2.x which causes the "Choose 1 or 2" boot menu and which 2008 Mac Pro (and 2009) work with.
    You aren't the first or only person to run into this, and there are people running on 2006 Mac Pro.
    http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1866970&tstart=0

  • Can you upgrade the graphics card in a mac pro xeon

    i am wondering if i bought a 2006 mac pro xeon could i upgrade the horrible graphic card to at least a 1.5 graphic card

    Yes
    User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards
    graphics card for 2006-07 Mac Pro system
    If you do not have the Mac Pro I would find a 2008 or later but preferably, a 2009 or later one.

  • Geforce 9800 GT Running On Early Mac Pro (EFI32)

    I arrived at this point from another thread, which is here:
    http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8988306#8988306
    To make a long story short, I now have a 9800 GT running safely on my early Mac Pro.
    It is a single GPU solution and it works reliably under both Mac OS X and Boot Camp Vista Ultimate 32 and is the fastest GPU (according to the Open GL benchmarks) I've ever seen on any Mac Pro. Absolutely no artifacts under either environment and the Crysis series is easily handled in Boot Camp. Still testing though...
    Here is the specific GPU that's now installed:
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187026
    The dual fans make it insanely cool. It's also quiet and while perhaps a useless observation, its setup of copper heat sinks and connectors, etc., appears very practically done while also being a kind of attractive arrangement as well.
    My 9800 GT is a reflashed PC board by bruinmacs:
    http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/bruinmacsW0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQmdoZ
    As for installation to replace my also very fast 8800 GTS, I had to remove the side rail (two screws) and the daughter board (small lcd display) from the standard 9800 GT so it could fit in the lowest slot. The small lcd is not helpful for us Mac Pro owners.
    I don't know for sure, but I believe this board by bruinmacs will run in any Mac Pro (it is PCIE 2).
    FYI...
    Cheers,
    tyvol

    Thanks for the reminder hatter...
    I think that you are correct that the ROM's on these reflashed PC GPU's should be targeted to either the EFI32 or EFI64 Mac Pro version.
    I forgot to mention that in addition to reflashing the 9800 GT with their ROM update for my EFI32 Mac Pro, bruinmacs also first increased the ROM to 128k.
    Don't know for sure (bruinmacs would, though) but it seems to me that with the proper EFI32 or EFI64 ROM reflash, this 9800 GT could work in any current Mac Pro.
    Cheers,
    tyvol

  • What Graphics card for Intel Mac Pro early 2007?

    I have a Nvidia 7300 GT Graphics Card at present, but if I were to replace it now what card would I be able to replace it with? I heard the Nvidia Geforce 8800GT is a good alternative! is this still the case?
    Your advice would be much appreciated.
    Regards Denis
    I think I may have posted in the wrong area sorry Denis
    Message was edited by: Denisimo

    Thanks Hatter, Re X1900's They are on the UK site too at £264.00 I expect they are hoping some unsuspecting user will still be daft enough to buy them not having been made aware of the problems now evident some way down the line

  • Multiple graphics cards on 2008 mac pro, won't work

    Hi, I have a 2008 Mac Pro 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon with 14 GB 800 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM. I have used a ATI Radeon HD 2600 Graphics card connected to 2 x BenQ E2400HD screens. Now, I want 4 screens so I bought a NVidia Geforce 8800 GT graphics card as I found these to be compatible with my setup on Ebay (only place I could find it). Got it in a brand new condition in a Apple graphics card box so should be all good. Put it in PCI-E slot 2. Now when I started my Mac after installing I could hear a loud fan noise (fan going on max speed) and tracked it to the new graphics card. When I open the system profiler it shows up as a display. The screen connected to the graphics card with a DVDI-cable does not show an image and the screen indicates that it does not have an input. Any ideas what's wrong here? Is my graphics card broken?

    More than likely you got wrong verion.
    1,1 and 2,1 Mac Pros are EFI32, and for Nvidia cards need proper version.
    If your machine is a 3,1 or later you need an EFI64 version.
    Contact the seller and clarify.
    If you install "ATY_Init" and are running 10.6.8 you will find the card will work once machine boots all the way.
    You could then flash the card into proper version if you were especially clever with things like that.
    But your seller should help you.
    You need to know "Model Identifier"
    http://macvidcards.com/macpro/which-mac-pro-do-you-own/

  • I need to upgrade my graphics card on my Mac Pro 3,1 2008. What will work in this computer?

    I have a 2008 3,1 Mac Pro computer running Mountain Lion. I do video editing and would like to upgrade to FCPX and Motion and Compressor. When I try to install them, I get a message that says I don't have the right graphics card. What card should I upgrade to in order to comply with the software?
    Any help would be appreciated!
    Thanks.....Gale

    The "easy way" is to upgrade to an Apple-firmware 5770 (or for 2008 and later, 5870). "It just works."
    There are a lot more options at the margins, but they may require developer-mentality. They can be quite a bit more complex, may drop features, may require flashing the card or typing terminal code to get them going.

  • Which New Graphic Card For 2008 Mac Pro?

    I'm going to buy Final Cut X, so I'll need a new graphic card for my 2008 MacPro. My current card is an ATI Radeon HD 2600.
    I asked AppleCare and they sent me a link to a lot of compatible cards (copied below).
    But it turns out that most of these cards need Windows - at least according to specs - and the rest don't have the (2) DVI-D connections I need - so which card should I buy?
    The card has to work with my 2 Acer P243W 24" screens at 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz.
    Here's Apple's list:
    •    NVIDIA
    o    GeForce 320M
    o    GeForce GT 330M
    o    GeForce 9400M
    o    GeForce 9600M GT
    o    GeForce 8600M GT  Note: OpenCL compatible, but does not meet system requirements for Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5 and Compressor.
    o    GeForce GT 120
    o    GeForce GT 130
    o    GeForce GTX 285
    o    GeForce 8800 GT
    o    GeForce 8800 GS
    o    Quadro FX 4800
    o    Quadro FX5600
    •    ATI
    o    Radeon HD 4670
    o    Radeon HD 4850
    o    Radeon HD 4870
    o    Radeon HD 5670
    o    Radeon HD 5750
    o    Radeon HD 5770

    Once you look at what is sold, limits the list. None of those listed require Windows though. What specs? I don't see any specs. And of course nothing listed are Windows, that would be strange. Why you pasted notebook and iMac graphic adapters... unless Apple is selling FCPX for Windows.
    Forget the GT120 though some use it with FCPX and are okay with it, save a little though I think 5770 has more processing, bandwidth and of course 1GB DDR5.
    support for 6870 PC card is looking like a possible option now, too.
    It is more mainly just 5770 vs 5870. Or Quadro 4000.
    Amazon has PNY Mac Pro edition $790 vs Apple's $1195 for same card
    PNY Quadro 4000 2 GB DDR5 Mac Pro
    When FCX came out we had a couple threads on same topic.
    Apple Graphics Cards
    OSX and Graphics Cards
    Radeon 6870 3DMark 30% gain on 5870
    Flashed PC Radeon HD5870 Mac Pro 2008
    Flashed PC Radeon HD5870 Mac Pro 2008 - dual DVI works
    I include the above for same reason why when the 4870 came out, PC card was 1/2 price and $450 for 5870? really? when XFX and Saffire are under $199.
    Radeon 5870 vs 5770 GTX 285 4870
    Three Video Displays one card
    Display Adapters Needed

  • Graphics Card ATI RadeonHD2600XT Mac Pro 3,1

    I work on a MacPro 3,1. When I try to select/highlight some text there is NO highlight but the text is selected. If I try to color-code with labels, they are very washed-out looking. Went into displays (I have 2 27" cinema displays circa 2007) to calibrate and the slides were either black or gray, in other words the controls were useless. I don't have any issues with the monitors blinking or flickering. That's why I tend to think it might be a graphics card issue. Can you shed some light on the subject.  I let techtool 6,x run defrag over the weekend. Everything from TechTools point of view seems ok. Video card or graphics card. Either way, I'd appreciate your knowledge. I ran the hardware tools disk from apple and everything checked out fine. My monitors continue to get more and more bleached-out looking no matter what kind of settings I try to use to try and balance the colors and contrast. Should I be seeking a new graphics card? Is there a way that I can definitely tell what is the problem? I switched monitors around as well. We have some extras laying around from artists that were given iMacs for their new machines. But that did nothing. I am totally stumped. I'm afraid it's really something like a motherboard. I don't want to waist any money replacing a graphics card if it's really the motherboard. Thanks for any and all help. Sincerely, Paul

    ATI Radeon 5770
    http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A
    http://www.amazon.com/Apple-ATI-Radeon-5770-MC742ZM/dp/B003Z6QH6M
    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/Apple_MC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 770.html
    How To Install and Remove Memory Mac Pro
    https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4433
    2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $32http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
    Hardware Monitor
    http://www.bresink.com/osx/HardwareMonitor.html

  • Graphics card crash on Mac Pro RAID

    I've had a very odd issue with a Mac Pro RAID running SL client.
    The Mac Pro serves files to a small network of Macs and is usually very reliable, however I was archiving and moving around a lot of files (over 100gb) overnight and when I returned next day, the monitor that the Mac pros connected to wouldn't show the desktop screen.
    The monitor had power, and the Mac was turned on, still serving files as normal and had not crashed in any way.
    I VNC'ed into this Mac and the desktop appeared, and looking in system profiler the video card wasn't there.
    A restart sorted it out.
    This has happened a few times and it's always when a large file copy is in progress overnight. The screen is switched off overnight by default.
    I've thought the graphics card (ATI Radeon HD 5870) maybe overheated, so I cleaned the inside of the Mac of dust (it was a bit dusty but not much), but the problem remains, always when a large file copy takes place.
    The past couple of times this has happened I couldn't even VNC into the Mac and had to restart it remotely using the terminal.
    I've seen this article from Apple, but the video card cables are connected as normal:
    Mac Pro (Mid 2010): Black screen after installing ATI Radeon HD 5870
    My next steps are a hardware test, but would that test the video card?
    Any help much appreciated.

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4208248?tstart=0
    Want to play safe w/ Apple ATI 5770 or play with PC flash/injector just to save $$

  • Can I install TWO HD 4870 cards in my Mac Pro?

    Please can you help?
    I've just bought an 8-core 2.66 Mac Pro and two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards, but each card requires two power cables to connect to the logic board, which has only two connectors. Does anyone know where the two cables to the second card should go? The second card works fine, but I expect the cables are for the cooling fans, so I don't want to fry the second card!

    It's just that I have bought two new Apple LED displays (with Mini-DVI connectors), and of course there's only one Mini-DVI port on the HD 4870, hence the reason why I bought two cards. I can't find a Mini-DVI to DVI adaptor anywhere for the second port on the same card,
    You need a DVI to Mini DisplayPort converter. There are a couple available now:
    <http://www.atlona.com/Atlona-DVI-to-Mini-DisplayPort-Converter-p-17859.html>
    <http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8913>
    does the GT120 also require a power supply from the logic board?
    No.

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