[rotuts]

I have two flfat panels on my old G4dual, and fiddle with movies etc and AlchemyDVR and HDTV. I plan to get the mid macPro but would like to hear from here on the graphic card choice.

im not a gamer, but I might set that comp up with a windows partition 'just in case' and not really use it. certainly not to connect to the internet.

but should I splurge and get the ATI Radeon X1900 at a $315 mark up to get the 512MB ram increase or Two NVIDIA 7300 with 256 RAM each? initially Id set up each monitor to one graphic card that way and save $180.

Later with the second set up Id save up and get a second samsung 21" and end up with three monitors!!!.

I could use iMovie on one, record my HDTV or Alchemy on another etc.

to play live over the air HDTV I think the 256 RAM in enough. my current card is an AGP ATI with 64mb ram and to get NFL football etc have to unplug the 21 " monitor and run the comp with just the 24 to avoid "live" drop out of HDTV when its Full Sized on the screen. most over the air HDTV is not full sized.

i think the experts here see my drift. Im guessing two 256 RAM cards will be better for me and cheaper. but Im hopefull the experts know a lot more about these cards and can clue me in to the benefits of the mid 512 RAM ATI that aren't just related to the ram increase.

cheers and thanks!

rotuts

[ender78]

I'd go for the 1900 for "power work" and then buy a cheapie Nvidia card down the road for some simple display support.

[mduell]

You seem irrationally fixated on VRAM. Playing HDTV requires so little GPU power and VRAM that it's almost irrelevant.

If you're not doing gaming, another 3D intensive app, or something else GPU intensive (like Motion), the X1900 is a waste. Go with the 7300GT and use the $350 saved to buy new tuners.

[rotuts]

thanks!

md: yourve everywhere this am.

Im very much leaning on one 7300 now for my two monitors, then a second later if I get the 3d monitor.

then look into an external HDTV USB and an AlchemyUSB regualr tv if I can't find that "Bridge"

lots of fun to get everyting ReadyToGO, though

thanks and cheers

[mduell]

I'd buy the one 7300GT now for your two monitors and wait on the second. If you can drop any OTS graphics card into the Mac Pro, there are better cards to use (for bang, for buck, and for bang/buck).

[rotuts]

Md, others:

graphic card: Check!

this single card now makes the most sence

now to call crucial and figure out the "heat sink ram"

there is another thread about that!

cheers

its going to be a long but good 5 weeks waiting!

r

[mduell]

Originally Posted by rotuts

Md, others:

graphic card: Check!

this single card now makes the most sence

now to call crucial and figure out the "heat sink ram"

there is another thread about that!

cheers

its going to be a long but good 5 weeks waiting!

r

What do you need to call Crucial for? Everyone, including Crucial, puts heatsinks on their FB-DIMMs.

Here's the FB-DIMM picture from Crucial:

[rotuts]

MD: you busy little beaver!

so RAM: Crucial: check!

Ive always for years gotten their add on.

now those odd Hd brackets you see on their pics: ??? what are they

a 500GB 16mb buffer is about 190 at price watch, theyd like a 180 "upgrade" for a 250 to a 500 drive on their page.

I don't begrudge Apple their mark ups. I just get " stock" mid CPU and then add to it as I need it?

correct?

(BTW: Ill have to check but I think MD answered an earlier thead of mine re eSATA in the advent that the new now old MacPro's had only two drive bays?)

cheers and many thanks hope you know about that bracket

r

[rotuts]

MD

found the crucial page with your pic: so for starters for me I get the apple 'base' two 512RAM and then the crucial 'kit' 2 x 512 ct2kit6472af667 for 202$$

then later get more crucial as needed. the implication is that the machine runs 'better' from the apple page with 4 slots filled.

2 GB is fine for me right now.

cheers again

r

[mduell]

Originally Posted by rotuts

MD: you busy little beaver!

so RAM: Crucial: check!

Ive always for years gotten their add on.

now those odd Hd brackets you see on their pics: ??? what are they

a 500GB 16mb buffer is about 190 at price watch, theyd like a 180 "upgrade" for a 250 to a 500 drive on their page.

I don't begrudge Apple their mark ups. I just get " stock" mid CPU and then add to it as I need it?

correct?

(BTW: Ill have to check but I think MD answered an earlier thead of mine re eSATA in the advent that the new now old MacPro's had only two drive bays?)

cheers and many thanks hope you know about that bracket

found the crucial page with your pic: so for starters for me I get the apple 'base' two 512RAM and then the crucial 'kit' 2 x 512 ct2kit6472af667 for 202$$

then later get more crucial as needed. the implication is that the machine runs 'better' from the apple page with 4 slots filled.

2 GB is fine for me right now.

cheers again

r

The HD brackets are all included inside the Mac Pro. Slap in any SATA drive (well, 3.5" and 1" tall) and you're good to go. Newegg has great customer service and the 500G Hitachi for $230.

You don't add to the CPUs, you replace them. The Mac Pro has two CPU sockets (ok, Land Grid Arrays if you want to be pedantic), and both are filled from the factory.

I don't understand what you mean by "new now old MacPro's." None of the professional tower Macs have eSATA, but you can add it with a PCIe card.

Note that the 2x1GB kit is cheaper per megabyte than the 1GB kit. For an extra $140 I'd take the extra gig.

I'm still catching up on FB-DIMMs, but it appears that there are no gains (aside from capacity) moving from 2 FB-DIMMs to 4 or 8.

[rotuts]

md: still hardd at work are you?

I noticed that the 2x1gb was a better deal in the long run and ill end up gettiing that. It just wans't clear to me at the earlier writing if for the 4 dimms to take advantage of the "256-bit wide memory architecture" (apple info on RAM page) they had to be the same ram size. guess not

so ill get the 2x1gb 'kit' and save a little

sorry for some bad engish: the "new"MacPro is a few hours "old"

as for the "stock" CPU in this case I meant the middle one and 'add to the whole box' with my own add-ins: RAM/Drives/optical

in the past Mac's advertized the "entry" CPU clocked speed as the base price and then Id BTO the middle of the three past CPU options. the top of the line CPU was quite a bit more $$ for the speen increase.

again thanks for all the replies here and in your many other threads today.

and getting the 'stock' they say will be sent in 3-5 buisness days!!

cheers

[mduell]

That's an interesting note about the 256-bit wide memory arch... I naively assumed that both memory cards (there are two with four slots each) were in series, not parallel. I'd guess you want to put two FB-DIMMs on each memory card to maximize memory bandwidth. That explains why 2GB at the Apple Store is 4x512MB. Let me read up on the Intel chipset docs to make sure 2x512+1x1024 gives the same bandwidth as 2x512+2x512.

Crucial now has a page for the Mac Pro, although it's not linked to in their memory selector, and the URL is a little nonstandard so it may move in the near future.

[mduell]

The Intel chipset docs state: The memory interface for the Intel 5000X MCH supports four memory channels with four Fully Buffered DIMMs per channel, enabling a total system memory bandwidth of up to 17 GB/second on a 64 GB total capacity.
Which left me wondering how Apple had configured it.

I should have just looked at the nifty diagram Apple provided:



With FB-DIMMs, everything that everyone "knows" about dual channel memory has been turned on it's head. It appears the best configuration from a bandwidth point of view is to put one FB-DIMM in each channel (so populate every other slot on both cards in the Mac Pro) since the FB-DIMM pairs are in serial, not parallel. This is the opposite of the optimum configuration with regular old DDR2.

Now of course I don't know if having one FB-DIMM per channel is legal, so you may have to install 8 FB-DIMMs in order to max out memory bandwidth.

I'll post a new thread in the forum to see if I can attract any expert opinions.

[rotuts]

OK md:

Ill order the apple 'base' of 2 x 512 and then add the 2 x 1gb from crucial later.

does that sound OK? might be too expensive to get 2 x 1 gb from apple then the 2 x 1gb from crucial

thanks

will follow and look for your 'other' thread

r

[mduell]

Yea, 2x512+2x1024 is fine. You can't even buy 2x1GB from Apple.

The only real question left is the best way to configure it in the slots.

[rotuts]

****ordered****

thanks md
pls add to this thread if you find out a "best' positioning for the 4 RAMS

R