Mac :: Old Mac Pro Graphics Card That Is Running Out Of Steam
Nov 23, 2009
I've got an old (late 2006) Mac Pro Quad (2 x 2 x 2.66 gHz) Xeon 3GB RAM with a Nvidia 7300 GT (256 MB video ram) that is running out of steam (mostly when it comes to Flight Simulator FSX on the XP side). Still running OSX 10.4.11 but I could switch to 10.6.xxx if I have to So the question remains: Is there any good, simple, easy way to upgrade the graphics (512 MB at least) or do I have to buy a new Mac Pro?
Just want to hear some User Experiences with it so far Kinda more interested in the new graphics card performance...like what around what year of games can it play on the highest settings with great framerate? (speaking about the 13inch specifically)
I'm worried about too much heat and wearing out fans in both the card and my Mac.Below are the conditions, but first:
-Is it normal for this kind of card to run ALL the time? How do I know if it's acting correctly? -Given the heat and fan speed info below, are my Mac and internal drives OK? -Am I risking any breakdowns? Due to heat or fans running too much... or? -Do all graphics cards cause the fans to run like this? Is there a cooler card out there? -Suggestions to lessen the heat effects... or for another alternative?
Condition: MacPro Xeon / Dual 2.66 processor / 4 GB RAM Radeon HD3870 Card in Bottom slot E-Sata card in top slot. No other cards installed 4 Terabyte Internal Drives
Temperatures (in fahrenheit): (via iStat widget) HardDrives: 110 / 104 / 108 / 97 CPU A: 95 CPU B: 92 Expansion Slots: 95 Ambient: 76
Fan Speeds: Exhaust: 599 CPU Fan: 499 Power Supply: 599 HD/Expansion: 501
Is it possible to run the a MacPro under bootcamp all the time using a high end Nvidia or ATI graphics card?I would like to use the MacPro as a gaming PC.
You should be able to buy ANY of the top 20 graphics cards here, and plug them straight into any Mac or PC....they should just work. http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html"I flashed the card, and then restalled...." Too much. You should be able to to buy it, install it, reboot - with ANY of them - and they should work right out of the box.
I'm debating on whether -- when they are upgraded -- to get the top of the line 15 inch macbook pro or the top of the line macbook air. I'm going to college in 2011 and I do hope to do a tad bit of gaming during part of my free time. I currently have a early 2008 Macbook Pro with a 2.4 ghz intel core 2 duo processor and 2 gb of ram along with a 256 nvidia 8600m GT graphics card and a 5400 rpm 200 gb hdd. I can run call of duty 4 at almost maximum settings with little to no tearing, blurring, or lag during both single player and online play. Would the macbook air be faster than my current system? Could I run games like left for dead 2 or the steam ww2 game (i forgot what it's called) at medium to good quality? How about with the current macbook air? Would the macbook pro be a better choice? I absolutely love the size of the macbook air and the appeal of steam is that I don't need to use a disk to run the games (which would be good on a macbook air).
I'm looking for a new video card for a MacPro 1.1 (Intel 2007) that will handle Steam source engine games decently and also work with bootcamp. I'm OK with BIOS flashing a PC card but I don't want to have to deal with patching files as well to get it to work since its going into a friends Mac and I won't always be around to show him how to patch stuff if he ever reinstalls OS X.
I'm gonna be installing Windows 7 on my Mini, and running Boot Camp. It's my plan to download some legacy games from Steam (like Doom II, and Half-Life); but does anyone here have any experience with using Steam? Steam appeals to me because it's gonna be easier than hunting-down some of these games on disc. Then there's all that faff with patches and stuff, which Steam deals with automatically.
Does anyone know how to fix this issue? I boot up steam and i go into preferences and test the mic it works perfectly then when i boot a game like team fortress the mic works for like 30 mins and stops, people have been saying that its a buzzing noise
I have an '06 Mac Pro and my Nvidia 7300 just sucks, so I'm looking to buy a new card. I saw this, which uses ATI Radeon 4870. How safe is this, and where can I use any Radeon card for this?
I replaced my macbook pro last week with a MacPro 8 core.
For the last few days the GT120 graphics card was connected to two 24" dell monitors (2407 and 2408).
The 2407 is my main display and was connected via the display port to a display port to DVI-D adaptor and then to the DVI-D port on the screen. The 2408 was connected using the DVI-D on the graphics card straight to the monitor. This setup was great as I couldn't even tell if my mac was on or off because I couldn't hear any off the fans.
The only problem was that when running full screen video (EyeTV/Quicktime), the picture would sometimes stutter. After looking at the apple store website, a new GT120 was �99 for students so I picked one up yesterday.
The original GT120 is in slot 1 and is connected to my 2407 (main display) via DVI-D, the second GT120 is in slot 2 and connect to my 2408 via DVI -D. Now the problem is noise! I can now hear my mac whirring away all night (MacPro in my bedroom).
Any idea what the problem could be? When i run iTunes visualizer, both displays average at about 63fps and there is no stuttering of the picture. One thing I have noticed (using hardware monitor) is that when play itunes visualizer on full screen the GT120 in slot one uses 22% and the GT120 in slot two uses 99%.
Like is having a higher end GPU only good if you play games? Will it still boost the computers performance even if I do stuff that doesn't involve videogames?
I have two issues with my present X1900: it's not going to be OpenGL compliant come September, and more pressingly on a day to day basis, for some reason Eve Online, the game I'm rather addicted to, doesn't like me using two video cards - a stock GeForce 7300 and the Radeon.
I haven't been able to troubleshoot my way to confirming why I have the issue (and I've posted on Eve online forums - no one else seems to have the issue) but I get really odd graphics glitches when I have more than 2 screens 'detected'. Rather, when I have screens on more than 1 video card. I think it has to do with an ATI/nVidia conflict while running a Mac port of the Linux Port of Eve.
So I was hoping to get the 8800 perhaps, but they're getting pretty hard to find. Any other suggestions? Performance-wise I've been happy with the X1900, don't really *need* to upgrade, but I'd like to maximize OpenGL and solve this confilct issue so I'm not constantly climbing in behind my desk to unplug and replug DVI cables - I now run 3x monitors and a projector.
Price counts for me, I'd like to keep this upgrade as cheap as possible - don't use 'Pro' apps. I'm not afraid to flash a PC card if there's decent instructions around somewhere. This is actually a PC X1900 with a custom fan/heatsink fitted (Xcellero X2 or something? It's been a while).
I have a 7300 gt in my Mac Pro 1,1 and I am looking to upgrade. I am planning on getting a pc card and flashing it but am wondering what is the best card the Mac Pro 1,1 can handle. Should I just stick with the Ati 4870 or can I go bigger.
So basically, I bought a Mac Pro in mid 2007 with the following specs:
Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon 1GB (2 x 512MB) NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB SDRAM
Anyways, I have just started using it again and would like to use it to play WoW (probably via BootCamp) but the current graphics card is really insufficient.
So what I'm basically looking for is a graphics card that would run in a mid-07 Mac Pro with the 2x2.66GHZ Dual-Core Intel Xeon's (ram is not an issue, I can upgrade this as well) - that will allow me to play WoW on even good settings.
I have a mac pro mid 2007. I read the ati radeon 5870 upgrade kit will work. My video card is fried will it automatically recognize the new card and boot up fine?
I posted this on the buyers guide forum but got no response. Maybe you guys can help.
I have a G5 dual 2.0 with 5.5 GB ram and an ATI Radeon 9600 pro graphics card.
I have been running Final Cut Studio with no problems. Once I upgraded to FCS 2, it seems to drag with some of the new fetures. Motion 3 seems really slow! So I added 2 more gigs of ram to bring it up to the 5.5.
I am waiting for the new MP like so many of you, but I will keep this computer for off line editing and compressor and for a part time assistant editor to use.
Would it be worth it for me to upgrade the graphics card?
If so what would be a good choice of card for this type of work.
FYI the last computer game I played was Zork, so I don't care about gaming.
Can you fit pretty much any graphics card into a mac pro? (Im new to mac so sorry if thats basic) Also say the card only worked with windows, if I plugged in a card and booted to windows would the card run that way? Reason I ask is that some of the work I do requires running high end games but I hate vista and have always wanted a mac. Im fine with dual booting if I have to but I was hoping that high end graphics cards would work on the mac pro so I dont have to buy two machines.
Now on my second 2008 MP 2.8 octo and this keeps happening to my screen. I assume its a problem with the standard ATI 2600 graphics card. Anybody experience the same problem, happens with many different apps. Have done all updates, all Apple said was reset the PRAMMy first MP died after a couple of weeks, logic board and both processors failed. Couldn't get replacements as Apple were still waiting for Intel to increase production so I ended up with a new MP.
I had recently purchased a 2nd hand G5 PowerMac with dual 1.8GHz processors and PCI-X slots. I think it was released in November 2003. It's a great machine, but suffers from its lacklustre 64MB graphics card. My Mac man told me not to bother, but I would like to investigate the option further. What do you think is available and where would I obtain one of these things? Oh, I should also ask the most important question...is it worth it?
What do you think is the most probable future BTO graphics option (eg. for the Nehalem generation) Mac Pro?
I would like to add one of the two new ATI cards (HD 4850 or 4870) in my mac pro to use in Windows.
I would like to replace the 2600XT completely and flash the new card for mac once there will be a version with an EFI-ROM (which probably will happen sooner or later, like the 3870 now) and therefore I want to get the card which is more likely to appear as mac version in about a year.
What is the best graphics card right now out there for gaming, movie editing, 3d graphics, and will be able to use the next generation HD monitors? preferably under $300. And if there is a better one coming out soon then what?
I have a late 2008 Mac Pro. 3.0 ghz. 4gb memory. and am looking to upgrade my graphics card.
Rite now im trying to install my gtx 280 in my mac pro 1 but it will not fit in the first pcie slot. I know its pretty easy to get it in on the 2nd slot, but im just wondering if it will work? Or do all graphics cards have to be on the first slot? I read here that you can either put it in the first or second. So Im just making sure.
I already took the stock 7300 out of the 1st slot though.
I'm thinking about selling off my 1st Gen Mac Pro and buying a new one. I use boot camp once in a while to run Vista 64-bit just for playing the Total War series of games, specifically Medieval 2 and now Empire. Any advice on best graphics card setup for those particular games under bootcamp? I'm not at all worried about on the OS X side of things as I don't really do anything graphic intensive there. I saw the new Nvidia GTX 285 is coming out soon. Any thoughts on that vs the Radeon 4870s? I'm currently running dual Radeon 3870s with crossfire but because I'm on a 1st Gen Mac Pro I can't get everything out of them so I think I may want to upgrade to a new Mac Pro.
