Upgrade from the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT?

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Upgrade from the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT?

I do a great deal of work in Final Cut Pro and Motion (two 23" Apple Cinema displays) and want to upgrade from the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT to possibly the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT. The Mac Pro is the 4 core (not the new 8). I understand this puts limits on the upgrade options, but I would like to know all of my possible options.

Also, I would like to add a second optical drive for disc burning. Is this an upgradable feature?

Here are some specs:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

Disc Burning:
SONY DVD RW DW-D150A:
Firmware Revision: 1.MD
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

Graphics/Displays:
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT:
Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
Type: Display
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)
Device ID: 0x0393
Revision ID: 0x00a1
ROM Revision: 3008

Thanks in advance!

20" iMac, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 2GB RAM, 500GB HD

Posted on Mar 30, 2008 6:43 PM

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Answer 1

Alex0liver Author

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Mar 30, 2008 7:27 PM in response to Alex0liver

http://www.apple.com/macpro/technology/graphics.html

I just found this link. Have I fallen into the "I need a new graphics card, so buy a new Mac Pro" trap?

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Answer 2

Kappy

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Mar 30, 2008 8:28 PM in response to Alex0liver

Presently the 8800GT will not work in your Mac Pro model. Rumors abound that a revised model will soon be released that is backward compatible, but thus far there has been no announcement or confirmation.

You can install the ATI X1900 which is considerably faster than the 7300GT but not as fast as the 8800GT. Supposedly the ATI 2600HD will work in your model. It's faster than the 7300GT but not as fast as the ATI X1900. You can find benchmarks at Bare Feats.

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2008 8:31 PM in response to Alex0liver

Alex,

I wanted to upgrade my video card to GeForce 8800 GT, but the current version will only work with the early 2008 Mac Pros. From what I have read, Apple is supposedly working on an 8800 GT version for the 2007 Mac Pros, but it is not yet available. Because of this I decided to upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT. It's not as fast as the 8800, but it is faster than the 7300 GT and it works in the older Mac Pros. You can buy the 2600 XT as a kit from Apple for $149.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7E4 EB91E&nplm=MB198Z/A

I bought a second internal Superdrive from OWC and it works great.

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Pioneer/DVR115DBK/

Hope this helps.
Keith

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Answer 4

Alex0liver Author

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Mar 30, 2008 8:55 PM in response to Keith Parobek

Thank you both! Ok- so it looks like my two options are the ATI Radeon X1900 XT ( http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore?spart=MA631Z%2FB ) & the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT ( http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=7E4 EB91E&nplm=MB198Z/A ).

The X1900's biggest complaints are overheating and its life- the common issue on reviews is it starts freezing after 3-6 months (4 stars/10 reviews).

The 2600 XT's problem seems almost only to be noise (3 stars/75 reviews).

As I previously mentioned, I do a lot of work with FCP and Motion (lots of rendering). I guess the question comes down to taking a chance that the 1900 doesn't freeze, or sacrificing performance for a slower but more reliable 2600.

What are your opinions? Thanks again for the help!!

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Answer 5

Kappy

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Mar 30, 2008 8:58 PM in response to Alex0liver

Or waiting to see if a compatible version of the 8800 is released. You could also put one of those improved coolers o the 1900 that is supposed to improve the heat dissipation problems.

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Answer 6

Alex0liver Author

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Mar 30, 2008 8:59 PM in response to Alex0liver

Oh yeah- thanks for the superdrive link Keith!

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Answer 7

Alex0liver Author

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Mar 30, 2008 9:08 PM in response to Alex0liver

...double post sorry.

Message was edited by: Alex0liver

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Answer 8

Alex0liver Author

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Mar 30, 2008 9:17 PM in response to Kappy

Kappy, thanks.

So something like this: http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/Graphics/X1900zalman_vf1000/X1900_zalmanvf1000.html

Do you think if I took the Mac Pro into the Apple Store a genius could do it, or would they refuse since it's "after-market"? I don't want to screw up my Mac...haha

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Answer 9

Kappy

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Mar 31, 2008 8:38 AM in response to Alex0liver

Yes, something like that.

Apple Stores will not. However, an authorized service center such as Geek Squad might. Or you can do it yourself. Usually these aren't as difficult as you might think as long as you can read and follow directions.

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Answer 10

ozxx

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Mar 31, 2008 8:34 PM in response to Kappy

I have exactly the same configuration (and exactly the same need for upgrading) as alex. I'm willing to wait for the 8800GT, but would love to get an idea of how long these things usually take?

I know they're just rumors, but is there a rough guideline of when (if ever) something like this would likely be released?

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Answer 11

Kappy

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Mar 31, 2008 8:57 PM in response to ozxx

Nope. It's released when it's released. Apple doesn't pre-announce products nor will they speculate on release dates.

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