1MB or-at least-512MB Video card for Mac Pro Quad 1,1 (2006) 2.66 MHz
Looks like I have acquired an Apple Mac Pro (1,1) Xeon 2.66 GHz Quad-Core (2006) that should arrive next week.
I will not be able to tell for sure until it gets here and I unpack it, but it was represented to come with the "original stock card" which—according to the Apple tech specs on the Apple site for the MA356LL/A Mac Pro—would make it an "NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (single-link DVI and dual-link DVI)".
1.— My first question is whether that card, ignoring for a minute the measly 256 MB of VRAM, can drive my ancient-but-excellent dual 22" analog CRT monitors, which currently are being driven indistinctly by my PPC G5 Quad Tiger 10.4.11 system and/or a dinky Mac Book 2,1 Intel Core 2 Duo Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system through its built-in Intel GMA 950 graphics with a puny 64MB of Shared System Memory.
I figure that, if the Mac Book can, anything in the Mac Pro should. 😝
2.— I would like to upgrade to a video card with 512 MB or more of VRAM, and that's why I'm asking for recommendations here. I live practically inside Photoshop, and I would like the GPU to handle as much as possible.
My trusty G5 Quad will remain my main machine for other than Photoshop 13.x (CS6). The bare minimum requirements set by Adobe for Ps CS6 call for 216 MB of VRAM, with 512 recommended, and 1 GB of VRAM optimal.
I'm open to any card within my vague "budget" that will suit my purposes, whether a mutant flashed card, a stock card, a new, refurbished or used one.
Thanks in advance.
PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2.5G5Quad,16GB,7800GTX 512MB, Tiger