Mac Pro :: 8800 - PC Versus Mac Version
Aug 25, 2008
I have an 8800 card that I bought for my Wintel box a couple years ago now. In the interim, I've gotten a Macbook and have totally fallen for OSX. As a result, as my Wintel box gets more and more crusty, I've been mulling over replacing it with a Mac Pro (or, preferably, the midrange mac minitower of myth, the i-Chupacabra). Assuming that I did get a Mac Pro, would I be able to cannibalize the 8800 that I have in my Wintel box and use it in the Pro, thus possibly avoiding the outrageous markup found in buying hardware upgrades from Apple? I am concerned that perhaps the 8800 GT offered as an upgrade is somehow physically different than the one that you can buy for the PC...
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Mar 12, 2009
I am trying to find similar comparisons. The refurb with 8800 is only 1599... which even to me looks like a great deal. Yet I am trying to find the two comparisons that work.
Searching is yielding lots of trash so I am probably too stupid to use that feature
I figure on popping in 4gb of RAM and being done with it, since I am only spending 1600 I look at it this way, if a real upgrade comes out in August I won't be out much if anything.
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Apr 5, 2009
Display dimness after my xfx 8800 gt 256MB alpha dog edition nvflash to Mac version (use MP8800GT.rom)I am trying to nvflash many times using MP8800GT.rom to nvflash(5.63,5.75 ect) this video to mac bios ,I check it has 1024 rom to flash to MP8800GT and each flash are successful and restart get display dimness!!!! Cannot use both in Mac and PC only thing I can do is Nvflash to the old bios.
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Jun 16, 2009
I benched tested the new GTX 285 Mac Edition and the 8800 GT Mac Edition using X-Plane.
I used the same version (9.22 rc1) for both OS X 10.5.7 and Boot Camp WinXP.
I flew in North Dakota in order to eliminate as many objects and scenery as possible thereby making X-Plane as efficient as possible.
The flight was from Grand Forks (KGFK) to Crookston (KCKN). The length of the flight is 23.59 nautical miles and took 7 1/2 minutes.
I used a King Air B200 with a ground speed of 240 knots.
The renderings (1600 x 1200, 8xAA) and weather was exactly the same in both OS X and WinXP.
I flew three times for each video card and each operating system for a total of 12 flights. I averaged out the fps.
The 8800 GT Mac Edition is 2.3 times faster running under Boot Camp (WinXP) than the same 8800 GT running under Mac OS X 10.5.7.
Running under the same OS (Mac OS X 10.5.7), the GTX 285 Mac Edition is 2.7 times faster than the 8800 GT Mac Edition.
Running under the same OS (Boot Camp WinXP), the GTX 285 Mac Edition is 1.6 times faster than the 8800 GT Mac Edition.
My conclusion is the NVIDIA cards run much faster under Windows than they do with Mac OS X.
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Nov 2, 2009
I'm looking for a new monitor to go with my MBP, and I'm stuck trying to choose between the ones listed above.
The 2407WFP is a couple of years old now I guess, but it's the rev A04 version, which supposedly fixed the (few) problems with what was otherwise meant to be a great screen. It's an sPVA screen.
I've heard good reviews of the G2410, with its LED backlighting. It's still a TN panel and I hear so much bad stuff about them.
The 2209WA is an eIPS panel which I like the sound of, but it's smaller and lower resolution.
The F2380 is a cPVA panel, the image quality looks better but I've heard bad things about blacks on this panel.
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Jan 5, 2011
I'm pretty satisfied with the Marware cover, although it can be a little frustrating when typing quickly..I'm wondering if I should go back, return the Marware cover and pick up the iSkin.
So, for those of you that have any of these in comparing..which do you think is the best?
And yes, I did search and am aware threads like this exist..but I couldn't find any comparing all three, only iSkin vs. Moshi.
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Apr 30, 2008
I'm trying to decide which product to buy and I was hoping for some advice.
First and foremost I want a device so that I may transfer my VHS tapes to DVD.
Live TV recording is secondary but for the price, I'd like to find the device that suits me best so I can continue to use it after i've transferred all my VHS.
Here are my concerns:
1) I'm going to be moving from the US to Ireland in a couple of months (not sure for how long, could be years+) Obviously there's the whole NTSC vs. PAL, ATSC vs. DVB.
I know with EyeTV 250 it's either or, any ideas if buying some sort of converter is an option (prices, quality)? If I bought just a PAL one, would I still be able to convert VHS or would it be completely unusable in the US?
2) I'd like some sort of HD/Digital abilities. From what I can tell TVMax is analog only and Blackmagic may also be but I can't find more specs on that.
Does this mean they'll be useless once the US undergoes the conversion?
So as of now I'm leaning towards EyeTV 250 but the question are there any forseeable problems with using a PAL to NTSC converter or using a PAL EyeTV in the US just to convert VHS.
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Oct 25, 2007
So I have a 1.8ghz dual G5 with 3gb of ram for work. I mainly work in Adobe CS and do a far amount of Photoshop work. At any given time I may have all of Adobe CS plus Office and a few other apps running -- and a gazillion fonts. Went to the store and saw the new 24" iMac. How would a new iMac compare to my late '04 1.8DP G5? On that same note, how would a new MacBook Pro compare to the above?
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Oct 25, 2009
I am planning on purchasing a new display for use (currently) with my imac. I am completely torn between these two models, and cannot make a decision. Any thoughts? I like the Dell because it is LED backlit, thus good blacks and little to no backlight bleed. But I like the Samsung because of the (supposedly better panel and (supposedly) better color reproduction. I like the simplistic look of both of them (though they could look a little better ) so I'm not sure which one to buy.
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Jun 30, 2009
I ran some tests on my 2009 Quad Nehalem to try and determine what was up with the triple Vs dual memory "brouhaha".
I posted the results as a new thread because I think it will be useful information for a lot of quad owners, but it was originally going to be a reply to this thread: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=735845
Here we go. Tesselator suggested 3 tests that could show the differences in speed between triple and dual channel bandwidth.
Quote:
As one idea I would maybe try creating a few very large images (16-bit, blank white, blank black, gradient fill) and then duplicating and deleting that layer repeatedly a few hundred times.
So I did them, 10 times each. I could have gone on, but the results were very very stable after the first 2 attempts.
Set-up: a 40Mpx, 16bit image (8000*5000). First test it was simply filled white; second test: black; and third test a black to white gradient. I added a fourth test, using a real (photo) 12Mpx RAW image from my Nikon D300.
I created (took a while!) an action with 350 repetitions of "duplicate layer" and "delete layer", followed by a red fill to let me know the action was done. The same action was used in all four tests.
The computer was restarted before each of the four tests, which may explain the irregularities on the first 1-2 attempts. Nothing else but PS4 was launched.
The results are interesting:
We can clearly see that the simple white and black fills show a speed difference of around 10%.
We can also clearly see that this difference disappears when a more complex image is used. The use of more complex images represents a much more realistical use of PS.
To make things even more realistic, I also tested RetouchActions's speed test on my own 12Mpx image. I use nearly all of the operations of that action on a daily basis, so it's a lot more representative of the work I do on PS.
Here are the results:
The results are clear: 11% increase in performance using 8GB of ram (Vs 6GB) when working on a 12Mpx image.
Added info: number of page-outs after running the 10 test series (after about 45 minutes of intense PS work):
-17K when using 6GB (1.7K page-out avg).
-10K when using 8GB (1K page-out avg).
For me the results are definitive: unless I plan on working only with full black or full white images (not even black and white!), having 8GB is better, even when working on smallish 12Mpx files. I imagine the differences would have been even greater using bigger file sizes of actual complex images.
What would now be interesting: someone with a 2009MP Octo doing the same tests at 12GB and 16GB.
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Jun 12, 2009
I don't know if this will work but would it be possible to use the EFI firmware from the GT8800 and flash it onto the GTX285 mac Edition? or something? to make it work on the Macpro 1,1 (2006-2007 Mac Pro Users)
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Mar 4, 2008
So I was using my second monitor to run my G5 while transferring files to my new 3.2 octo, and then the past week I was using it to transfer my old PC files to my new PC. Now I finally just went to hook it up as my second monitor on my Mac Pro, and found out that I CAN'T FIT BOTH DVI CABLES TO THE PORTS!!!
They're too close together so I can fit one monitor into either port, but not both simultaneously. My monitors are the aluminum 23" ACD's w/ DVI.
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Apr 29, 2008
setup is in my sig.Can't get anything but a black screen running bootcamp.Had normal from the 7300, updated bootcamp and the drivers for the 8800, and now nether card will give me anything past the windows loading screen, just blackness.We need a conclusive thread that can be made into an article, so if you can help, please do.
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Jul 15, 2008
My 8800 is quiet in idle, but during hours of WoW it gets extremely high. Anyone know any software that can adjust this?
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Sep 17, 2008
I got my Mac Pro in March. So I've had it for a good 6 months. In that time, at least 3 times my 30" Cinema Display has shown some sort of video glitch. I'm convinced that it is the 8800, and not necessarily the Cinema Display.
What happens is, out of the blue, and for reasons I'm not sure of, I will get a strange pattern of brightly illuminated pixels on the display. They are "fixed". In other words, If I move and image around on the display, those pixels are stuck and do not move with the image. Also, if I take a screenshot, they do not show up on the screenshot at all. I had to try and take a picture with my camera to show you guys. A reboot and/or logout/login fixes it. I think it is some sort of bad video RAM or something. I've already upgraded to 10.5.5 and it did it again last night. I'm pretty sure it was the result of DVD player crashing. But then again, I don't know if DVD player crashed because of a video glitch. The DVD was kind of scratched up (netflix) and the computer did have problems reading it. DVD player beach balled when I tried to skip a chapter so I have to kill it. That's when I noticed the display was all screwed up.
3 times in 6 months isn't a huge deal, but it does make me worry about a pending hardware death of either my display or video card.
Anyway, have you guys seen this? Is it a cause for concern? Is my 8800 on the way out, or is it most likely some sort of driver or app hiccup that isn't really a big deal?
In these picture you can see the randomly scattered light green pixels. It's almost as if a color has been swapped out.
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Mar 4, 2009
Acoording to this site the Top Spec old iMac's had GeForce 8800 The new ones have a GT 130. I am struggling to find any information on the GT 130's and i *think* the Nvidia site says the GT 130 have much lower specification than the 8800 GS. So how do they compare? Surely, the GT 130 is a lot better, right?
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Apr 12, 2012
I have a 2008 iMac with the above Graphic card installed from new by Apple along with 4Gb Ram.
All was fine. Now it chimes on boot up but remains at a black screen, I have read that these Graphic cards fail.
They are listed on E Bay about £200 from Hong Kong, Is there a Current compatible card that can be fitted, that is cheaper?
Info:
iPod touch
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Aug 17, 2009
Two short questions on which I really need an answer. This academic year, I'll be writing a lot of papers, but most specifically, I am forced to use SPSS (statistical software package for social sciences).
Will I really need the 2.93 over the 2.66 and notice the improvement?
Same goes for the gfx. I like full-hd 1080, I'll be in InDesign, and use Logic Pro. Will I need "slash" notice the 4850 over the gt130?
Also, are the "hang-ups" with the 4850 truly fixed and does it indeed run a lot hotter (inc. really that more noise) than the gt130?
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Feb 29, 2008
There seem to be a few reports of problems running 750gb F1 Spinpoints with Nvidia chipsets. Does this apply to us with the 8800 or is it a Windows thing?
Anyone out there happily running a MacPro (08) with an 8800 and F1 spinpoints?
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Feb 29, 2008
Is there consesus on wether its better to use the outdated BootCamp drivers (im using Vista 32bit) or the latest from Nvidia.com / others?
In case, is there any specific procedure for installing BootCamp drivers or i just donwload and launch the Nvidia ones?
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Jan 23, 2009
I try to use as much passive cooling in my PC's as possible. My current PC is nearly silent, however I am looking to replace my desktop with a mac pro. I would need the 8800 GT card, but am not looking forward to a lot of noise. Is it possible to mount a passive cooler on this model? Will it fit? I haven't really seen much mention of this anywhere.
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Jul 7, 2009
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro with an EVGA 8800 GT installed. When I bought the computer the EVGA 8800 GT was almost silent even when under max load.
Now 15 months later the EVGA 8800 GT fan is making so much high pitch noise under load that I try not to use it for heavy 3d. The noises started after about 6 months after purchasing.
Monitoring the fan speed under Rivatuner shows that it goes to 100% performance under almost any load in order to keep it at a steady 80 degrees celcius.
I concluded that the fan was becomming less efficient over time and that it had to spin more and more in order to keep the temperature down.
Dust Cleaning
I try to clean the computer for dust every 4 month, blowing air backwards into the components of the computer to remove all the dust.
I normally use my mouth (trying not to spit) and a hairdryer. This seem to work okay for the most part, but not much for the EVGA 8800 GT.
After cleaning the fan is still quite audible and hovers at 85-90% under loading producing the annoying high pitch noise.
After only a few weeks its back at 100% under load. I tryed getting Apple to replace the video card, but they refuse to since it is still working. ( I hate this kind of deffinitions. )
- Would buying a can of compressed air and blowing it backwards into the EVGA 8800 GT remove more dust than the method I normally use?
- Would anyone recommend taking of the fan in order to clean it better or should the can clean enough? - trying to compare the risk of not being able to assemble the card again.
- Has anyone had any luck reducing the high pitch noise of the EVGA 8800 GT fan, and if so how?
Aftermarket Cooling
I did buy an aftermarket cooling system called Accelero S2 without the turbo module (fan) which recieves top reviews.
Despite having build some computers in the past I am a bit reluctant to install it by removing the fan completely because I am affraid that I will somehow break the video card in the process or accidently install it in a way that fries it when temperature rises under heavy load.
It sure is tempting to try the Accelero S2, but with the EVGA 8800 GT Mac going out of market I would have to dig deep in my pockets to get a replacement if something happends to the video card.
I think I also read somewhere that the instant you take of the EVGA 8800 GT fan you cannot put it back again. Which also makes me a bit nervous if the aftermarket cooler is not able to keep the card cool.
- Has anyone had luck installing the Accelero S2 without the turbo module (fan) and if so is it easy?
- Would anyone recommend installing the Accelero S2 without the turbo module? - I am not familiar with the success rate of aftermarket cooling and how skilled you need to be to be successfull.
- Has anyone had any problems not being able to keep the video card cool with the Accelero S2 and in that case was force to reinstall the default fan again?
I really wish I could reduce the noise of the fan so I can stand using it for 3d heavy stuff again.
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May 5, 2008
From the reading I've done it's apparent that the NVidia 8800 card that ships as an option for the MacPro (jan '08) is slow for Pro App's.
I've read at some sites that this may be remedied by NVidia by rewriting / releasing updated drivers for this card.
What's the likely hood of this?
Or is there something in the architecture of the card that makes it maxed out?
I'm not annoyed at NVidia as I wanted a reliable card.
I just fried my 4th ATI (Retail) 9800 Pro 128 MB card in my Digital Audio PowerMac in the space of three years. I can't believe how many of these cards have been so unreliable. The first three were replaced under warranty.
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Feb 11, 2010
This is my first post here, hopefully i can begin posting a bit more and learn more about my mac pro. I just got a hold of an Apple Graphics Card Upgrade. The part# is MB560Z/A. It's an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT, but it's the 2006 version with EFI32 firmware (or do i call it BIOS or ROM?) and won't work with the 2008 Mac Pro... and of course my dilemma is i want to use it in my 2008 Mac Pro. So is it possible for me to flash it (which i'm pretty sure it is) and more importantly is it easy to do and could someone tell me how (or point me in the direction of simple instructions) of how to go about doing it? Also, I understand there's always some risk doing these type of things, but would the chance of me screwing up the card be considered minimal? Is it easy to restore to the factory default if i want to place it back in a 2006 mac (i have no plans for that, but it'd be nice to know i have that option).
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Oct 2, 2009
Early this year I replaced the stock video card in my 2006 Mac Pro with an Apple supplied Nvidia 8800 GT card. I'm driving a 30" Apple Cinema Display with no problems but occasionally, when encoding video or playing full screen games, the card emits a high pitched tone akin to a smoke alarm tone but continuous. When discontinuing the encoding or stopping the game, the tone stops.
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Sep 11, 2008
Has anybody upgraded their Mac Pro's stock graphics card to the NVIDIA card?
Does it make a big difference?
I'm playing way to much X3 Reunion at the moment, and I've noticed that the graphics on the PC screenshots look a lot better than what my Mac Pro produces. I don't know if it's a Cider thing, or simply down to the stock graphics card in the Mac Pro being a bit pants?
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Apr 21, 2009
I was thinking about a 3.06 Last Gen with 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800. How does this card fair? is it similar to the Nividia GT 120 or 130? is it able to handle all games at least on low settings? (i.e. crysis, sims 3 etc)
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Oct 8, 2009
ok so i have had my imac for over a year now, and the graphic card ram burned out a few weeks ago. i figured it was just because i was working it too hard. usually im running a second monitor, and almost constantly playing a video game on one with hulu running on the other. so i thought no big deal i have apple warranty for the next 3 years, so i took it into the store (which is almost 150miles from where i live). well a week later i went and picked it back up after they had "fixed" my problem by replacing the whole card.
but it hasn't been more then three weeks and im experiencing the same problem. i stopped using my second monitor when i got it back, so i have no clue why its doing this.
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Apr 17, 2010
I have an iMac with a 3.06 ghz intel core 2 duo processor, snow leopard 10.6.3, an nvidia geforce 8800 gs, and 2 gb of ram. I wanted to play games like Counter Strike: Source and Left 4 Dead 2. How would those games work on my iMac?
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Apr 13, 2012
My 24" iMac has been exibiting strange behavior lately... It appears to be if a graphical nature where the screen will randomly flicker or go blank in a variety of colors (black or white or yellow or red or blue). Sometimes a preceeding indicator that this is going to occur is that the system becomes on responsive or extremely delayed, text and other graphics appear garbled/corrupted/scrambled.
I've used Mac Hardware Test, Disk Utility, TechTool Pro 6, anti virus software - even took it to a local authorized Mac repair shop (not Apple Store) and the results are the same - Everything LOOKS fine with no problems reported. I've reinstalled the OS and even gone as far as completely wiping the drive and starting from scratch, just incase it is/was some kind of odd software conflict. Yet, the problem persists and the Console always captures something like this just before another epic fail:
4/13/12 5:55:50.000 PM kernel: NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x8 = Fifo: Watchdog Timeout Error
4/13/12 5:55:51.000 PM kernel: IOVendorGLContext::ReportGPURestart
4/13/12 5:55:51.000 PM kernel: 0000006e
[Code]...
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