Installing the Nvidia 9500 GT video card into my 2007 Mac Pro?

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Level 1

4 points

Installing the Nvidia 9500 GT video card into my 2007 Mac Pro?

I have 2 mac pros, one octrober 2007 quadcore with the 7300 GT video card, and one 2009 octocore with the 9500 GT video card. I want to swap the video cards, but when I install the 9500 into the 2007 mac pro, I get no screen at all, only when I boot into windows with bootcamp it works. How do I get it to work? It works perfectly in my 2009 mac pro why not in the 2007? I screen shared the mac pro and it sees the card as an "nvidia vga graphic controller" and it says the drivers are installed, it doesn't say the serial number 9500 like it does with the 7300. Any suggestions? Both macs run 10.6.8

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 27, 2013 10:55 AM

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Answer 1

MarcusAudio Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 27, 2013 4:03 PM in response to The hatter

I don't need a really good graphics card, but the 9500 is just a bit better than the 7300 so I want to use that one in the 2007 mac pro. Any suggestions on how to fix it? I don't get why it would work in a 2009 mac pro but refuses to work in the 2007. And why does it work in windows but not in osx?? I need to be able to install drivers or something...

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Answer 2

Jul 27, 2013 6:39 PM in response to MarcusAudio

Windows Vs. Mac:

The Mac uses EFI firmware. Windows uses BIOS. Mnay PC cards have only BIOS and do not show a picture under Mac OS X.

2007 Vs. 2009:

The Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,2 (original and 2007) have EFI-32 firmware, and require cards compatible with that.

The 2008 has an early version, and 2009 and later a more mature version of EFI-64 firmware, and requires cards compatible with that.

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The Apple-firmware 5770 (about US$250) works in all models of Mac Pro, and drivers are in 10.6.5 and later.

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Answer 3

MarcusAudio Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 28, 2013 4:17 AM in response to MarcusAudio

Never mind the 7300 doesn't work in my 2009 mac. I'll buy a new graphics card for the 1.1 mac, as it's not even mountain lion compatible. I'm looking at the Geforce GT 620 which should work OOB with ML, so I can upgrade the 1.1 to run ML with the firmware stuff.

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Jul 27, 2013 11:42 AM in response to MarcusAudio

Those are antiques, good reason for avoiding new working card?

There are "More like thiis" on the right. And yrs I tried 9800GTS snd 460GTX but currently use Apple ATI 5770.

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Answer 5

MarcusAudio Author

Level 1

4 points

Jul 28, 2013 3:09 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks! Explains a lot about macs! So can I just upgrade the 1,1 firmware to 2,2 or higher?

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Answer 6

Jul 28, 2013 7:52 AM in response to MarcusAudio

The processor firmware in the Mac Pro 1,1 and 2,1 (pre-2008) are not upgradeable. So the graphics cards you buy for them need to comply with what is installed.

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