Video Card upgrade for early 2008 MacPro II
I want to upgrade my two cards, (both ATI Radeon HD 2600 ) in my Mac Pro 3.1 (spec posted below) and found this thread, https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4816633?answerId=24010822022#24010822022 so rather than start a new one, I initially posted there, but on advice from The Hatter, I have created a seperate post too
I watch the occassional Photoshop instructional video, but really use the Apple TV for any real films .
Don't play any games, so guess I do not need all the fancy 2D renderiing cards??? or do I. That is totally unknown to me if better 3D perfromance specs make any difference to Photo editing performance.
Main use is with Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS6..very occassionally (like 3 or 4 times a year) iMovie or Final Cut
Having read here that some cards don't display on boot..I don't want that . I would like full compatibility, even if that means not getting the latest and greaest card..any improvement would be good.
From what I read, I just have PCIe 1 is that correct?
Does it make any difference if my 'Main' work sreen runs off Slot 1 or Slot2
I see links about requiring extra power leads...does my Mac Pro have extra leads on the PSU that just need an adapter..or is soldering of new connectors needed...either way no issue, just never looked at my PSU for so long. How the machine is positioned..it is a major job to get the side off.
Thanks
Here is the system spec
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro3,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 12 MB
Memory: 18 GB
Bus Speed: 1.6 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP31.006C.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.25f4
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-2
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-252
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.252
Displays:
PANASONIC-TV:
Resolution: 1600 x 900 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Philips 170B4:
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
Chipset Model: ATI Radeon HD 2600
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Total): 256 MB
Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x9588
Revision ID: 0x0000
ROM Revision: 113-B1480A-252
EFI Driver Version: 01.00.252
Displays:
SyncMaster:
Resolution: 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)
HP L1950:
Resolution: 1280 x 1024 @ 60 Hz
Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)