Simple question. Can I upgrade past the 8800GT on the 2008 8 core Pro?
If its only possible with some mods, that's fine by me. I just didnt know if later GPU's in the newer Mac Pro's will work 100%.
Anyone know? Maybe a list of what WILL work? Thanks!
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8), PowerMac G4 MDD, BFG 7800GS
You can use either the ATI 5770 or ATI 5870 card available from Apple.
So then anything up to those? Including the GT 120 or 4870?
I know the 4870 works but I don't know about the GT120. Check out Bare Feats to verify the GT120. The ATI 4870 is now an obsolete card. Since you have PCIe 2.0 slots you will see better performance from the ATI 5770 card. You should find used 4870s, but be sure to get the one exclusively for the Mac. Non-Apple cards do not have a proper boot ROM.
So any of these works?:
Do any of them work in ANY Mac Pro? Maybe the later ones not in the original or early cards in the newest Pro?
I think so. Generally speaking, if the card was available for your model during production then it will work now. You would visit Bare Feats that I linked and look in their archives. You can also check on XLR8YourMac.
To work under Mac OS X it must have Apple firmware.
If it is a PC card that has been flashed, generally you will not get a picture until Mac OS X is fully operational, which means no booting from alternate sources, no disk repairing from the DVD, no seoparate installs and no debugging.
A straight PC card gives no picture at all under Mac OS X.
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You asked for the best choices for Graphics cards for your Mac pro 3,1 2008. Kappy answered that question well.
Now you have changed subjects to ask about crappy half-baked solutions that Might work for less money. You should start a new discussion -- that is a different topic.
Actually, some PC cards will work but won't give any picture until completion of startup. Not a real problem unless you need to OPTION boot or some other operation during the boot process. It's a bit disconcerting to start up the computer and see nothing.
I have a non-Apple ATI 5770 in my 2006 Mac Pro that does that. I should note that it works perfectly normally in VGA mode but not in digital mode. But that may be because it has a flashed ROM.
Supposedly the ATI 6850 and 6870 will work but not during startup. They actually are supported by OS X.
Half-baked? I was just curious about if any of the cards ever for the Mac Pro's would work. Every card I listed was available for the Pro from Apple.
It's my thread talking about Mac Pro graphics cards on the 3,1, so calm down.
I tried 4 nVidia cards, they work fine: even standard ( not builded for mac ).
Try nVidia driver because card seems to work better.
4? GTX 470 and others I assume?
Nvidia GTX-285 would be the best overall for total compatibility. The 5770 etc will have compatibility problems and those who say it works have never done total testing on it because of shallaw thinking on their part.
I just installed the ati 5770 and kept both my 2600xt in my mac pro 2008 3.1 had no problems running 4 screens final cut pro x no more
Spinning wheel have only 12 gb of ram so not only do the ati 5700 work but it runs nicely with the old 2600 xt and now notice my mac is running quite and smoother!
There is always atleast one d0uche in every thread. 😉
would NVIDIA Quadro 4000 work with MacPro3.1 early 2008 model?
Best Graphics Card for MacPro3.1
