PeteSchatz

Q: Video Card upgrade for Early 2008 MacPro III

I'm looking to upgrade the stock video card in my Early 2008 Mac Pro (2x2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon, 14 GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB graphics, running OS X 10.9.3).  In reading the posts here and elsewhere, it looks like a PC card like one of the two below would work and would meet my price requirements ($200 or less).  I know that the non-Mac cards won't show the boot screen, and that does not worry me as I will keep the old card for emergencies.  I'm interested in faster graphics performance overall and in online games.

 

I have narrowed my options down to two versions of the GeForce GTX 660 available on Amazon:

#1:  Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 DVI-I/DVI-D/HDMI/Displayport SLI Ready Graphics Card GV-N660OC-2GD

#2:  EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SUPERCLOCKED 2048MB GDDR5 DVI HDMI DP Graphics Card 02G-P4-2662-KR


In reading the reviews on Amazon, I like #1 better because it seems to have a better, and most importantly for me, QUIETER, cooling fan system.  My questions are:

Will both of these cards work?

Any preference between them?

Any issues likely with power supply or back-compatibility of the PCI-e 3.0 card with the PCI-e 2.0 slots?

Any other suggestions?

OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on May 28, 2014 11:24 AM

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Q: Video Card upgrade for Early 2008 MacPro III

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  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass May 28, 2014 11:45 AM in response to PeteSchatz
    Level 10 (189,795 points)
    Desktops
    May 28, 2014 11:45 AM in response to PeteSchatz

    Have you looked at the previous discussions listed on the right side of this page under the heading "More Like This"?

  • by PeteSchatz,

    PeteSchatz PeteSchatz May 28, 2014 12:03 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 12:03 PM in response to lllaass

    Thanks for the reply.  Yes, I have read through them.  They were the basis for my choice of the GTX 660.  I just want to be sure these particular cards will work, and to see if anyone has advice to help me choose between them.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder May 28, 2014 12:04 PM in response to PeteSchatz
    Level 9 (61,185 points)
    Desktops
    May 28, 2014 12:04 PM in response to PeteSchatz

    There are a whole raft of caveats about stepping off "the Apple pathway". This tip attempts to list them:

     

    User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

  • by PeteSchatz,

    PeteSchatz PeteSchatz May 28, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Thanks.  The main caveats that I'm aware of are the lack of a visible boot screen, and the need to buy a couple of power cables.  That seems manageable given that the GTX 660 Mac version costs about $600 vs. $200 for the PC version.

  • by PeteSchatz,

    PeteSchatz PeteSchatz Sep 12, 2014 8:27 AM in response to PeteSchatz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 12, 2014 8:27 AM in response to PeteSchatz

    Here's an update.  I bought the first GTX 660 card listed above (Amazon: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC 2GB GDDR5 PCI-Express 3.0 DVI-I/DVI-D/HDMI/Displayport SLI Ready Graphics Card GV-N660OC-2GD) and installed it. It requires one power cable purchased separately (Amazon: PCIe PCI-e Power Cable for Mac G5 nVidia ATI Video Card - High Quality).  I installed it in place of the stock video card 3 months ago.  Overall, I have been very pleased with the performance.  It is VERY quiet, making scarsely more noise than the other fans in the MacPro, even when used for graphics-intensive games.  Graphics performance is hugely improved.  For example, games like Diablo 3 and World of Tanks now very are playable on this 6-year-old machine.  I just checked Amazon, and the video card now costs about $160 after rebate.  In 3 months of use, I have noticed only two problems:

    1.  As noted in other posts, the start-up screen is not visible until the login screen appears.  This could be a problem if you need any of the pre-login functions.

    2.  Occasionally, the screen stays dark when the MacPro wakes up from sleep mode.  When this happens, I need to do a restart to get it working again.  This has not been a big problem.  You just need to be careful to save any documents before the MacPro goes into sleep mode.

  • by Pascal88,Helpful

    Pascal88 Pascal88 Oct 8, 2014 5:19 PM in response to PeteSchatz
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2014 5:19 PM in response to PeteSchatz

    Thanks for the info. I am going to buy the exact card also for my 2008 3,1 MacPro

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Solvedanswer

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Oct 8, 2014 5:45 PM in response to PeteSchatz
    Level 9 (61,185 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 8, 2014 5:45 PM in response to PeteSchatz

    the screen stays dark when the MacPro wakes up from sleep mode

    Try sleep and wake your Mac, sometimes this saves the trouble of a full restart.

     

    Control-Eject gets you this familiar screen (even if you can't see it). "S" gets you sleep. any key wakes it up:

     

    Restart-Sleep-Cancel-Shutdown.png

     

    .