Mac Pro Graphic Card: ATI Radeon 2 x 5770 or 1 x 5870?

5870 is faster. Only need 2x5770 if you have more than 3 monitors. Windows world you can merge two cards but not in OSX.

Hi Bob,

From Apple's page: http://www.apple.com/macpro/features/graphics.html

Give your graphics a turbo boost.

For even more graphics horsepower, upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. An ideal choice for the most demanding applications, this card features a wider memory bus and higher-performance GPU, resulting in up to 70 percent faster performance compared with the ATI Radeon HD 5770.

You need the 5870 it is 70% faster, but more importantly you do not want the Apple monitors for critical photography applications.

I would STRONGLY suggest the NEC wide gamut calibration monitors. I use the 30" PA301WBKSV models, but if budget is constrained, they also make a 27" model for about 40% less.

The difference between a wide gamut and a regular (Apple) monitor is startling. You will save time and money due to the accuracy of the color causing fewer reprints. You literally will see colors you have never seen before on a screen.

At the very least, buy one of the wide gamut for adjustment work, and the lesser monitor for the non-critical pallette purposes.

Also, I would not buy either the RAM or SSDs from Apple, as there are better and cheaper alternatives out there. The 480GB Mercury EXTREME™ Pro 6G SSD are less money, double as fast as Apple and have a 5 year warranty.

I would also recommend more RAM, I use 48GB and never run into pageouts. You can buy the 48.0GB OWC Memory (3 x 16.0GB PC10600 DDR3 ECC 1333MHz 240 Pin) for a little more than you are paying Apple for 12GB, and this RAM is a lifetime warranty.

Hope this helps

Take a look at this link. There is a section on that page on Photoshop. Some great work that should help you undertand what would be best for you.

I don't think Photoshop uses the CUDA engine at this point, but Premeire Pro does. I would guess that Adobe might add CUDA support at some point. If they do, cards like the NVDIA Quadro 4000 would be best. I use it for PP. But, that's a big if Adobe adds CUDA support.

http://macperformanceguide.com/index_topics.html

Mercury engine in CS5

Check the Nvidia forum for Cuda and Q4000s

Well, this could be important. If Photoshop can take advantage of a CUDA graphics card, then you should realize that the 5870 might be an issue.

The 5870, to my knowledge, needs both power cables inside your Mac Pro. I believe there is only two cables. Which means, once you install a 5870 you cannot add another graphics card that needs extra power.

I have a 5770 card and a Quadro 4000 in my Mac Pro. Each card needs only one power cable, so I can use both in my Mac Pro at the same time. If you install a 5870, you wouldn't be able to use an additional card for any application that uses CUDA, such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro.

I have two LED displays connected to the 5770 and nothing connected to the Quadro 4000. The Quadro is in slave mode and is only used by CUDA applications, in my case Premiere Pro.