Mac Pro :: Install 2 Video Cards That Use Power Cables In One?
Apr 22, 2012
I have a Mac pro 1,1 model and recently upgraded the video card to a Saphirre 6870 card. It works great right out of the box on both Mac and pc side of my Mac pro. From my online research, this card seems to be the best card that works with my mac pro so far, however I plan on getting an even more powerful card to use exclusively on my windows partition for games. I want to get a 6970 card, but that one may not work on the Mac side, so I plan on using both cards (the 6970 for the pc side, and the 6870 for the Mac side). There are two ways that I think may be possible but I wouldn't know how. One, is there a switch device that allows me to switch between cards without having to disconnect and reconnect them every time ? And second possible way, is there a way to house the second video card externally with its own power supply? The issue if that the are not enough power connections for both cards, so is there a way to power one card externally?
I understand that the PCI-X slots are backwards compatible with PCI, correct? If so, can we install 2 additional PCI video cards? Or, can we use PCI-X video cards for Windows and somehow flash them with Mac drivers? Of course, there is the matter of budget: we have very little to work with. Would any of you have a spare video card that would work in this machine and be willing to donate it? I can email you an in-kind donation form you can use for tax purposes.
I have a Powermac Dual G5 @2.0ghz, with 8gbs of ram, and 2 1tb drives running the latest version of 10.5. The problem I have is that I have 4 LCD monitors that I was using with my PC. I swapped that out with my mac, and while I am no novice, I didnt take into account that I cant just put any AGP and PCI video card into the system. What I need to know is if I can use two PCI video cards both with Dual Monitor outputs, and if so, which cards should I buy, and where? I found some video cards on ebay that are PCI, and it is quartz extreme compatible, but I am unable to use it with the AGP card already installed. The person selling the cards was unable to answer whether or not two of those cards could be used together. I only have about 75 per card to spend. Please help, I cant go on using this awesome machine with only one 19inch LCD. and I cant afford to buy new monitors
I have a Panasonic Viera (2006) digital TV. It has every possible port on the back (and even ports on one side.)The TV is connected to a digital TV tuner/hard disk recorder unit. The tuner also has a ton of ports. What do I need to do in order to send video from the TV to the Mac and record it on the Mac?(Either live TV or video playback from the hard disk recorder.)With my old analog TV, I used the Interview XLR8 USB video capture device with the Interview application or BTV application. (I think even Quicktime could record from the XLR too.)Seems digital TV doesn't work with the XLR8. Is that right? I tried the XLR8 with various combinations of inputs/outputs but can't seem to get any video to appear on the Mac.
I see that HDMI is one way out from Mac out and view on the TV.I also have a VCR and DVD player connected to the TV via a switcher box.With the variety of digital and analog outputs from these devices, seems I should be able to get video from the TV into the Mac.
Info: 2.8GHz Intel Core i5, Mac OS X (10.6.6), 4GB; 1TB ; 27"
I'm currently working on completely migrating from my PC to my Mac (having kvm switches here and there has got very tiresome and I'm now very much restricted for room.) So I've set up boot camp and I am able to dual boot between OS X and Windows 7. I have two graphics cards currently sat inside the Mac, 1 ATI 4870 which I use with Snow Leopard, and a GTX 280 (which I've pulled from its water cooled environment in my PC) to use in Windows.
Now the problem, I use OS X exclusively for productivity apps like FCS3 and Adobe CS4, and wish to use Windows preliminary for recreation and games, which is where my GTX280 comes in.
Currently I have both cards in the machine, naturally OSX doesn't detect the 280, and I am fine with that. In windows I am able to utilize both cards, Windows detects both cards, installs drivers for them and works no problem running games on either card (preferably the 280 as it's relatively more powerful)
But that's with the aid of an additional PSU to separately power the 280 as the 4870 uses up both of the 6-pin PCI-e sockets on the Mac Pro Logic Board.
My real question is, am I able to buy two 4-pin molex y-splitters (still allowing the power to the DVD ROM drives), and then using the spurs to connect those to a '4-pin molex to 6pin PCI-e connector'; with addition to getting two 6-pin PCI-e Y splitters and connecting the 2 spurs to both the 4870 and the 280 via 6 to 8 pin PCI-e connector? -- Yeah the 280 is a power hugry card!
I've contemplated this myself knowing that the Mac Pro as a rated 1KW PSU, what concerns me is the PSU rails. Even if I can get these connectors to wire up the 280 with the built-in PSU, I don't know if the PSU's rail's will be able to provide the current required.
So i bought a PCI ATA expansion card for my G4, but the bloody thing won't work. Despite having a Mac logo on the box, the drivers for the card are only compatable with Windows...
My question is, are there any PCI ATA cards around these days that are Mac compatible and dont cost an-arm-and-a-leg?
I have a Power Mac G4 AGP Machine and was wondering what is the best graphics card that will go into this machine??I dont it can but im going to ask Are there any HD Graphics cards that will work with it??
I currently got the 5870 driving a 30" ACD and 23" ACD. Would there be any noticeable performance increase if I were get the gt120 to run the 23" and have 5870 run the 30" ACD (my work display)?
I have a Mac Pro and two video cards, and am upping the setup to a new Nehalem Mac Pro with the ATI 4780 card + NVidia GT120 card. For illustration purposes, I will use those two cards to frame my question, as we seem to be pretty familiar with their specs by now. My question is somewhat conceptual, and is difficult to explain, but I am counting on the MR collective intelligence to sort it out! I'll use a few scenarios to illustrate my point: Scenario 1: Heavy use of the 4870 card, using both outputs (two screens). Naturally, performance is better than using the GT120 card.
Scenario 2: Same heavy use, but this time one port from the 4870 is used, and one port from the GT120.
Scenario 3: Same heavy use, but both ports on the 4870 are used, and one port on the GT120 (three screens total)
Scenario 3: Same heavy use, but both ports on the GT120 are used, and one port on the 4870 (three screens total)
How do software applications deal with two video cards? Would running Aperture, FCP, gaming etc., degrade just one screen? Wouldn't the whole application have to slow down to accommodate the lesser card? Is there a "primary" card and a "secondary" card designation? I'm thinking of multiple monitor setups (three, for example) where a lesser card is necessary to drive the extra screen, but the application is using all three.
Is this any better? I know in 10.5 to switch between video cards (on the laptops that come with two) you had to log out and log back in. I've heard Windows can do it on the fly.
Does anyone with a Mac Pro '08 and up run it with 2 high end cards? ATI 4870, 5870 and/or GTX 285 are the ones I'm thinking of.On my MP '09, I currently run a 20" off the GT 120 and the GTX 285 on a 24". I have another 24" coming in (the Apple LED), so it requires me to use the GT 120. For gaming purposes, I'm considering getting a 2nd high end card for the new 24" instead of letting the old 20" act as a slave on the GTX 285 (trying to minimize load on the gtx285, again for gaming).
I just got a third monitor and need another video card for my 08 MP. I really want to get the 3870 but here's the questions. How do two separate video cards work? Will the two monitors hooked up to the 3870 look good while the lone display on the 2600 look like crap? My background is mainly final cut pro, with a sprinkle of Color (with MXO and yes i know only one card will work) and motion. So should I just save my pennies and get the 2600? Will a 1080p panel and a 1680*1050 be too taxing on it
So what are the top AGP video cards? Either being a Mac or PC that I could flash with a Mac Rom. What are the better choices that I have? I used to use flashed PC cards of 9800 Pro for my G4s but figured there are better cards for the G5. I do prefer to get PC cards since they are cheaper and I can flash them.
i am using Mainly Photoshop, RealFlow and Maya on my latest MAC:
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:4 GB Bus Speed:1.6 GHz Video1: ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT: Video2: VIDIA GeForce 8800 GT:
If i order 2 More Video Cards, will that improve performance, even i have only 2 Displays connected?
Can the new mini's with the new video cards run final cut pro? I am not a video editor but do some small projects once in awhile. I would max out the mini at 4GB of ram running (2) 24" monitors.
As stated, specifically I want to run Sim City 4 on my Mac Book Pro 2.66 intel i7 8gb ram NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512mb OSx 10.6.4
I checked the Aspyr Game Agent and it tells me it only supports GeForce2 MX Radeon 7500 The game will run but its glitchy, and slow, and occasionally freezes. So I know there are for PC but I cant any for the mac.
Right now I've got a dual-DVI PCI-X card that runs two LCD screens on my PowerMac (the 256MB variant that shipped with the 2.0 DC). However, I just recently purchased a 37" LG LCD to replace my aging tube TV and I'd like to output my Mac to the LG to watch movies, etc. And at the moment, I have to unplug one of my smaller LCD's and run a cable to the LG.
I am about to purchase a Mac Pro, and I saw the rumor about the new ATI Radeon 3870 coming for the Mac Pro in late May.
I had a few questions about it and Mac Pro graphics cards in general. First, will this card be available as an optional upgrade when configuring a Mac Pro from the Apple Store? Is that usually how it goes?
Secondly, I'm a video editor planning to use this Mac Pro primarily for Final Cut Studio and After Effects. It seems to have been indicated that ATI cards are better for this sort of work, versus the 8800GT they off right now.
Do these programs gain significant benefit from using ATI or is it more unsubstantial?
The other question I have is whether or not these cards would be recommended for use with the Avid product line (namely Avid Xpress Pro or Media Composer). It seems that Avid only will certify NVidia graphics cards, as it has with the 8800GT. I also am aware that Avid is not compatible with Leopard just yet, but will be in the near future.
So does anyone know if Avid performs well (or at all) with the ATI cards? Would the overall performance increase of ATI over NVidia be enough to take a chance with compatability issues?
Have a brand new 2009 MacPro with 2 video cards and 3 monitors. The following two things (so far) do not work: Aperture, when secondary viewer is enabled. Powerpoint, when I view a slideshow, which uses two screens by default.
Both work for a few seconds but then the application freezes, and in some cases I cannot force-quit my way out and have to hard reboot. Anyone out there with at least 3 monitors been have/have not had similar problems with two-screen full-screen applications?
The current setup already uses about 395W and this will increase with more monitors and video cards. Is there a way to turn off all but one (or two) ACD monitors (and the unused video cards) when not required? The latest Display page in OS-X 10.5.7 System Preferences has removed the option to turn off a monitor (and not the Mac Pro itself) via the side button. Tried turning off the power supply, but this is bad for the monitors, is impractical No rear-monitor USB2 or Firewire400 ports are used (for now).
I currently have 4GB in my Macbook Pro. I'm realizing that this isn't sufficient. I like to edit photos and have Photoshop, Lightroom, and a web browser open at the same time. I'm pretty sure that maybe 10GB of RAM will do (I'd buy one 8GB card and keep one of the 2GB cards already installed), so in case I would need to upgrade again I could buy another 8GB card. Is it possible to have two different sizes of RAM in the two bays? 15-inch Macbook Pro (Early 2011) 2GHz Intel Core i7 4GB 133MHz DDR3
I may have sold a PC user on buying a mac and she's interested in the MBP. I noticed that some models of the MPB have a "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB" while others have the "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M." Are either of these integrated graphics? And what is the advantage of the models with "NVIDIA GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT with 512MB?" That sounds to me like it has two video boards. Why would Apple do this? And is there a big difference in video processing power between the models with one video board and two?
For all of you who are looking to compare video cards here is a decent list: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...rd,2011-6.html I think the 120 = 9500GT and the 130 = 9600GT. Please correct me if I am wrong as I am not positive about this.
If I launch an app to do some video editing, does the MBP automatically switch to the higher-end graphics card? Or do I have to manually switch from "better battery life" to "higher performance"?
It is time to replace the ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512 MB graphics card that came with this computer. I am wanting to upgrade to something that will allow me to play Diablo 3. Any suggestions from as to what I need to upgrade to? I understand that there are a lot of differences as to which card will work in which machine. I just don't know the difference
Info: Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 2x2 Ghz Dual-Core
