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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Pro & Power Mac > 8800GT for First Rev Mac Pro now selling!

8800GT for First Rev Mac Pro now selling!
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Tenacious Dyl
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Apr 15, 2008 , 02:05 PM
 
Good news for all of us. With little fanfare, the Apple Store is now selling the nVidia GeForce 8800 GT for those of us with non-2008 Mac Pros!

Here is the link (US Store):
The Apple Store (U.S.) - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (1st Generation) Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro

They're going for $279.00 and ship in 3-5 days. On the Educational discount, they are only $251. I think I may be picking one up soon, as they seem to about double the framerates in most games compared to the x1900xt (Although in Motion and other core image tasks, it is still behind, probably because of newer drivers compared to more mature x1900xt ones).

Who's buying?
yep.
     
mr. burns
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Apr 15, 2008 , 04:34 PM
 
ooooooo. nice.

i wouldn't say it's double the speed of the x1900xt, but it's a boost, and the ability to play directX 10 games in windows will be nice. guess i know where part of my 'stimulus' package will be going.

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Faust
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Apr 15, 2008 , 04:41 PM
 
That's good to know. I'm not sure I'll be upgrading from my 1900xt as I do not know if it pays off (I'm not a gamer).
     
mr. burns
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Apr 15, 2008 , 04:59 PM
 
if you don't play games and you already have an x1900xt, there really isn't much reason to get it.

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Tenacious Dyl
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Apr 15, 2008 , 07:35 PM
 
In WoW it really is about twice the framerates, in other games its more like 1/3 improvement. Check out some recent benches of the two mac cards against each other:

2008 Mac Pro - GeForce 8800 GT vs Radeon HD 2600 XT
yep.
     
Cadaver
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Apr 15, 2008 , 08:07 PM
 
Damn. I told myself I wasn't going to buy one, since I really don't do that much gaming.
Didn't last long. Ordered this evening. At least I don't have to pay sales tax (no sales tax in Delaware).

Guess maybe now I've got no excuse for not buying the new Unreal Tournament and maybe COD 4.
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synthfiend
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Apr 15, 2008 , 09:33 PM
 
Originally Posted by mr. burns View Post
ooooooo. nice.

i wouldn't say it's double the speed of the x1900xt, but it's a boost, and the ability to play directX 10 games in windows will be nice. guess i know where part of my 'stimulus' package will be going.
You're kidding. THAT's why AvP2 won't work in Boot Camp?

#$&!%$@!!!
     
wr11
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Apr 15, 2008 , 11:22 PM
 
Hell yeah! I'm not a gamer, but I can appreciate Apple's gesture to all us "1st Generation" MacPro owners. I've ordered mine, it'll keep my machine going for a little longer!
     
phobos
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Apr 16, 2008 , 12:24 AM
 
If the fans aren't as noisy as the ones 1900XT has I will be buying for sure!
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mr. burns
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Apr 16, 2008 , 01:03 AM
 
Originally Posted by phobos View Post
If the fans aren't as noisy as the ones 1900XT has I will be buying for sure!
yeah, i wonder how it compares to ATI's leaf blower fan.

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dankar
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Apr 16, 2008 , 01:11 AM
 
Will buy as soon as they have it for sale here...
     
mr. burns
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Apr 16, 2008 , 01:12 AM
 
Originally Posted by synthfiend View Post
You're kidding. THAT's why AvP2 won't work in Boot Camp?

#$&!%$@!!!
AvP2 as in alien versus predator 2? that's not a directx 10 game.

not all who wander are lost.
     
Simon
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Apr 16, 2008 , 03:07 AM
 
Originally Posted by mr. burns View Post
if you don't play games and you already have an x1900xt, there really isn't much reason to get it.
What about noise and reliability?
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mr. burns
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Apr 16, 2008 , 03:41 AM
 
my x1900xt has never had problems and chances are if his hasn't yet, it's a good one too. if they don't play games then they won't ever hear the fan rev up, so that's not a problem. that's the only time it makes noise.

not all who wander are lost.
     
Faust
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Apr 16, 2008 , 05:41 AM
 
Originally Posted by mr. burns View Post
my x1900xt has never had problems and chances are if his hasn't yet, it's a good one too. if they don't play games then they won't ever hear the fan rev up, so that's not a problem. that's the only time it makes noise.
My experience differs. The fans in my Mac Pro are quite loud and I do not play games. It's not all that disturbing but mine is quite noisy. I forgot which card my older Power Mac tower had but it was definitely less noisy.
     
wr11
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Apr 16, 2008 , 10:03 AM
 
Okay, so just incase this 8800GT is louder than I would like - coming from a fan-less 7300. I've ordered on of these:

Accelero S1 Rev. 2 Fan-less cooler. Reviewed here: [H]hardocp.com. Which has been installed successfully in MacPros before - mostly on X1900XTS. Anyways, just wanted to share my research.
(Last edited by wr11 : Apr 16, 2008 at 10:08 AM (Reason:fix links))
     
mr. burns
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Apr 16, 2008 , 02:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by Faust View Post
My experience differs. The fans in my Mac Pro are quite loud and I do not play games. It's not all that disturbing but mine is quite noisy. I forgot which card my older Power Mac tower had but it was definitely less noisy.
these aren't imacs. they make noise. chances are you're just hearing the case fans, not the video card fan.

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Peabo
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Apr 16, 2008 , 03:13 PM
 
Originally Posted by mr. burns View Post
these aren't imacs. they make noise. chances are you're just hearing the case fans, not the video card fan.
I know for a fact that whenever I heard the fan on my Mac Pro it was the x1900. I upgraded the fan on it with one of those Accelero things and it's much much quieter.
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SierraDragon
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Apr 16, 2008 , 05:09 PM
 
Well I already bought an HD 2600 XT for Aperture. If anyone finds decent comparative performance 8800GT vs 2600XT as regards Aperture, please let me know.

-Allen Wicks
     
Faust
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Apr 16, 2008 , 05:21 PM
 
Originally Posted by mr. burns View Post
these aren't imacs. they make noise. chances are you're just hearing the case fans, not the video card fan.
I had a Powermac tower before that and it didn't make any noise whatsoever.
     
mr. burns
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Apr 16, 2008 , 06:37 PM
 
Originally Posted by Faust View Post
I had a Powermac tower before that and it didn't make any noise whatsoever.
same here but mine was louder than the mac pro. they're all different.

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mduell
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Apr 16, 2008 , 07:23 PM
 
A pretty reasonable markup over the PC version compared to previous Mac video cards.
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