NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 in a 2008 Mac Pro?

Question

NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 in a 2008 Mac Pro?

In an effort to upgrade my Mac Pro graphics card, I viewed an Apple support page and bought a card that Apple listed as compatible with my model. But my Mac won't boot with the new card. I'm wondering if there might be more to this than I realized, such as a need for the card to have different firmware.

My Mac is a Mac Pro Early 2008, model MacPro3,1, running the latest version of Yosemite (10.10.1). The graphics card is an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600. I have no other info on the card.

The card required two Mini-PCIe 6-Pin to PCI-Express 6-Pin power cables, so I bought a second one and connected it. When I tried to start my Mac with the Quadro FX 5600, the screen remained black. I couldn't tell whether the Mac was starting up or not, but I think not because when I forced a hardware shutdown, the machine was off in only about a second.

Is there something else I need to do to get this card to work with my Mac? Can it work with my Mac?

Thanks for any help!

Regards,

Jon

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10), 2 x 3 GHz Quad-Core Xeon, 20 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 18, 2014 5:47 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 18, 2014 5:59 PM in response to Jonathan Greenberg

User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

It is possible that card is not a Mac Edition, and will not show a picture under Mac OSX.

It is also possible it would show a picture if you waited until the login screen came up.

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Answer 2

Nov 18, 2014 6:12 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you, Grant.

I'm betting that the card is not a Mac edition. I bought it on eBay -- new, but without the original packaging, so I don't know that there's a way to check for this.

If it's not a Mac edition, is there a way to modify it so as to make it into one? I keep reading about flashing the RAM on PC cards for use with Macs. Is that an option with this card, and would flashing the RAM apply here?

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Answer 3

Nov 18, 2014 6:16 PM in response to Jonathan Greenberg

In later version of Mac OS X a lot of cards gained support anyway. Just be sure you have waited the appropriate amount of time before deciding it won't show any picture.

If no joy, then flashing (re-writing the firmware on the card) may be an option. Readers can point you to Posts or Posters on the MacRumors forum that talk about that.

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Answer 4

Nov 23, 2014 7:53 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for the time you took to help me, Grant!

Regards,

Jon

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