Urgent Graphics Card Assistance

Question

Urgent Graphics Card Assistance

Please excuse my urgency but I have a Mac Pro circa 2009 I believe (how can I verify the age?) Spec is Quad Core Intel Xeon 2 x 2.8GHz

I was using a Nvidia GeForce graphics card with dual outputs, not sure of the model number right now as I have had to remove it.

Both screens started playing up so I have removed it and am running with just my ATI Radeon HD 2600 and it is working fine now. But I need to replace the faulty graphics card as a matter of extreme urgency (so much work to do)

My requirements are, I need dual screen again and want to be able to run my Dell 3008 30" at the full 2560 res along with a Dell 2407 24" as dual screen.

I use CS6 and LR4 all the time so am after speed. Money is not my initial priority as I would rather spend more and get something that would be man enough to do the best job. However I will probably look to upgrade the Mac sometime in the near future.

Can someone give me a few recomendations without getting to technical, I'm not that clued up on the technical details about all these things so am happy to go with good suggestions.

I would still like to be able to run my 40" LCD screen as a third display for clients when proofing pictures so will probably leave the ATI 2600 installed as this has worked fine for this.

One other thing I have noticed since removing the Nvidia is that I was getting a very loud constant fan noise which has stopped since taking it out, it was one of those noises that got faster and louder the longer you left the machine on, kind of like a jet engine during take off on a plane.

Thanks so much for your help. I will have a look through the forums but wanted to make sure that whatever I went for was definitely compatible with my machine.

Oh forgot too mention, I am looking to upgrade to Lion very soon but presume this will not cause a problem.

Best Regards,

Jason

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2 x 2.8 Quad

Posted on Jul 16, 2012 3:57 PM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 16, 2012 4:08 PM in response to JLMedia Photography

More support from Lion, and even better in Moutain Lion.

You looked in the Apple Store => Displays & Graphic cards and didn't see one that met your needs?

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/mac_accessories/displays?n=graphi c_cards&mco=MjQzMzc0Nw&s=topSellers

There are those who pay extra to have GTX 570 flashed PC card to boost CS6 wtih CUDA.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1366650

http://myworld.ebay.com/macvidcards/

Or maybe you want to stay with 10.6.8 and get 5870.

https://www.apple.com/macpro/features/graphics.html

http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g4.html

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC743ZM/A

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-DisplayPort-Profesional-Graphics-VCQ4000MAC-PB/dp/B004 CRS78O/

Maybe this will help make up your mind. Timing and budget

http://www.barefeats.com/aecs6.html

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Answer 2

Jul 16, 2012 4:17 PM in response to The hatter

Hi Hatter.

TBH, I'm always kinda baffled when I look at all the choice so was hoping that someone might just turn round and say "this one will be amazing and will fit all your requirements"

In your honest opinion, would you suggest Mountain Lion OS, I trust your views.

If so, would this make a difference as to which card I chose?

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Answer 3

Jul 16, 2012 4:21 PM in response to JLMedia Photography

Oh Forgot too mention, I am looking to run two large monitors from one card in the near future, a 27" Eizo and the Dell 3008 meaning that both ports would need to be able to run Dual Link

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Answer 4

Jul 16, 2012 4:40 PM in response to JLMedia Photography

For a 2009, if you are in the US but not in New York, buy this and live happily ever after:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726539-REG/Apple_MC743ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 870.html

It supports up to three big displays if you do everything just right.

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Answer 5

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 16, 2012 4:39 PM in response to JLMedia Photography

Either of the ATI 5770 or 5870 will work now, matter of price and wanted you to look at CS6 performance. Depends on budget and if you are ready for Lion. I'd wait 6 months for ML to shake out the loose ends and for Adobe and anyone else to actually test the shipping version though.

You need to buy at least one dual link adapter of course.

The GTX has two DVI ports. It requires 10.7.4+

you are looking at $249 - $449 or $479 for 5x70's from Apple.

And you said "urgent" so I assume that means this week or something, not next month when you have a chance and prepared for Lion or ML and made sure you need 10.7.4 and all the software updates to go along.

Fastest GPU Mac Pro with EFI Support (the GTX 570 discussion)

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1360927

- jump to the end of the thread first, then go backwards

Barefeats:

Every Mac with an NVIDIA GPU blew away the Mac Pro with AMD GPU. That's because the ray-traced 3D render option requires CUDA support.

Our 6-core Mac Pro with Quadro 4000 was at least 10 times faster than the same Mac Pro with the Radeon HD 5870. I say "at least" because the times in the graph are an optimistic guesstimate.

The CPU was loafing along while the NVIDIA CUDA "aware" GPU was doing all the heavy lifting. This is due to the fact that the ray-traced 3D animation was made of solids with no external media or textures.

Conversely, the CPU of the Mac Pro with the AMD GPU was running at full tilt (1200%) while the RadeonHD 5870 was "taking a coffee break" -- since it does not have CUDA support (proprietary to NVIDIA).

The more cores you have, the faster your CPU intensiveAfter Effects CS6project will render -- especially if you optimize the multiprocessing settings in Preferences. However, the Mac Pro with 8-cores is not twice as fast as the MacBook Pro or iMac with 4-cores. Nor is the 12-core Mac Pro three times faster. The more memory, the better.

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Answer 6

Jul 16, 2012 4:45 PM in response to The hatter

Thank you for the amazing and prompt replies people, it is very much appreciated.

I just wanted to clear something up in case it changed views, my fault for not being clear.

I am using Photoshop CS6 and Lightoom 4 and do NOT do any video based work, not sure if this changes things.

I am happy to pay for the faster cards but only want to do so if this will be an improvement for photography based editing.

I am often working on large files because of my 50MP camera.

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Answer 7

Jul 16, 2012 4:47 PM in response to JLMedia Photography

I do have a dual link adaptor already so this is not a problem for the 30" Dell, I presume I can run two 30" monitors from this card providing I have two adaptors, can I also run my 3rd Sony screen for the same card or would this not be advisable (I only switch this on when clients come round to proof pictures so its hardly used)

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Answer 8

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 17, 2012 4:44 AM in response to JLMedia Photography

All cards can support 2 x 30-inch, all DVI out ports, and MiniDisplay Ports with proper dual-link.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3382

http://www.atlona.com/Atlona-Dual-Link-DVI-to-Mini-DisplayPort-Converter-USB-Pow ered.html

Supported display configurations (Apple ATI 5x70)

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4279

Photoshop CS5 Performance Optimizing

http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshopCS5-Benchmarks.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/OptimizingPhotoshop-Intro.html

http://macperformanceguide.com/PhotoshopCS5-performance.html

CS5 and Lightroom

http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2011/20110618_1_WhichMacProForPhotography--h owto.html

Juice Mac Pro Photoshop w/ video card:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365904

Adobe FAQ CS6

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/faq/

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Answer 9

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 17, 2012 5:11 AM in response to The hatter

On a 27" or larger monitor there will be a noticeable performance difference between the 5870 and 5770. I'm not sure to what extent this will translate into real world performance improvements in CS6 but the 5870 definitely is faster.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=14812741&postcount=33

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Answer 10

Jul 17, 2012 7:41 AM in response to The hatter

Thanks everyone, I opted for the 5770 in the end as it seems the extra benefit of the 5870 would be negligable for the photography editing that I do. (Never touch games or video editing)

Installed it and it runs straight from the box, I was pleased to find our local Apple Retailer had one in stock at one of the cheapest prices I could find. half hour drive there so I am really happy to be back in the game again.

Thanks again

Message was edited by: JLMedia Photography Just for the record in case anyone is interested or has the same question, I connected the 30" Dell 3008 direct to the Dual Link DVI and my second monitor (Dell 2407 24") is connected to my additional graphics card as I do not have the mini display to dual link DVI adaptor with me. This all seems to be working ok. I am toying with the idea of getting two 27" Apple screens and selling my 30" and 24" dell, Opinions are welcome on this idea.

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Answer 11

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 17, 2012 7:46 AM in response to JLMedia Photography

cost ~ benefit is hard, the GTX 570 offered CUDA but more important or as, was the 2.5GB VRAM.

I was looking at test results of how much a GTX w/ 2.5GB could do for rendering jobs in CS5/6, not video editing for you or something like that.

You already have it up and running? wow, yes that was "urgent"

PS: watch 27" Apple as you want to avoid any that are Thunderbolt only.

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Answer 12

Jul 17, 2012 7:49 AM in response to The hatter

Yeah I have so much editing to do and couldnt handle using the lower slower resolution my old graphics card gave me and since they had one in stock for £170 I thought it worth a go.

I can take it back within 14 days so if you think the GTX 570 would give me significant benefits I would love to hear about it.

For me, I am after something that I can just plug in and go. I'm not the sort of guy that is keen on trying to learn how to set it up in order to get the best from it. This may not be the case with the GTX but thought it worth a mention.

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Answer 13

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Jul 17, 2012 8:03 AM in response to JLMedia Photography

Wait. Can't hurt. Always (me) worth having 'backups' even with hardware like graphic card.

If it was me, I'd plan on the GTX 670. Trouble with OS X with drivers are: they are never back-ported, so 10.8+ only, and they take time to do. The drivers in 10.7.4 even are supposedly not up to par and have 'problems' (bugs) being worked out.

There are those that will throw $400 at a problem looking for better performance and the 5870 vs 570 are in that range.

When something doesn't work or you hit a wall - need more RAM or faster storage, or a job that new hardware would cut the time on....

One place I check daily for new upgrade ideas:

http://www.macperformanceguide.com/

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