[Tenacious Dyl]

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?

[mr. burns]

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.

[Faust]

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]

if you don't play games and you already have an x1900xt, there really isn't much reason to get it.

[Tenacious Dyl]

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

[Cadaver]

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.

[synthfiend]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

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]

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]

If the fans aren't as noisy as the ones 1900XT has I will be buying for sure!

[mr. burns]

Originally Posted by phobos 

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.

[dankar]

Will buy as soon as they have it for sale here...

[mr. burns]

Originally Posted by synthfiend 

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.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

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?

[mr. burns]

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.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

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]

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.

[mr. burns]

Originally Posted by Faust 

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.

[Peabo]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

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.

[SierraDragon]

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]

Originally Posted by mr. burns 

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]

Originally Posted by Faust 

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.

[mduell]

A pretty reasonable markup over the PC version compared to previous Mac video cards.

[cnlevo]

you can't trust the site. i've had my 8800GT for my 2008 mac pro for about 2 months now....when they said it wasn't availavle for 3-5 weeks. i paid for overnight and got it the next day.

i can't say that it gives me much benefit in mac, because i do mostly video editing. it's a lot better for windows gaming though.

[mkerr64]

definitely getting one. burnt up my x1900

[Xyrrus]

Just an FYI, mine shipped yesterday and arrived today. BIG thanks to whoever at Apple finally made this happen!

[Mac Write]

For Aperture use how does it compare to the X1900? Also it's only one PCI slot vs the 2 the X1900 takes up. Lastly, will it still be able to use the DVI-s Video adapter that I got for my X1900?

[shinji]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

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

I have a HD2600 as well...not sure if I should do this upgrade.

I really don't need it, and I'm satisfied with the HD2600's performance, but......

[Simon]

It appears while the 8800GT is an excellent gamer card (3D OpenGL), the 2600XT does better on many pro apps (Core Image).

From Bare Feats:

As a 3D accelerated GPU, the GeForce 8800 GT looks like a great addition to the "early 2008" Mac Pro. It's significantly faster than the two Radeon options and at $200 CTO, it's a no-brainer. The advantage should also apply to pro 3D apps that use 3D OpenGL code for animation. However, it's a different story with "pro apps" that use Core Image effects.

The fastest times in all 15 cases were achieved by one of the two ATI Radeon graphics cards. In all other cases, the Radeon HD 2600 XT's advantage over the GeForce 8800 GT (and Quadro FX 5600) was no less than 22% and as much as 42%. We consider this incontrovertible evidence that the GeForce 8800 GT is deficient when rendering Core Image effects. This performance deficiency will extend to other Apple pro apps like Final Cut Pro video effects and Aperture functions that invoke Core Image.

[shinji]

Originally Posted by Simon 

It appears while the 8800GT is an excellent gamer card (3D OpenGL), the 2600XT does better on many pro apps (Core Image).

From Bare Feats:

As a 3D accelerated GPU, the GeForce 8800 GT looks like a great addition to the "early 2008" Mac Pro. It's significantly faster than the two Radeon options and at $200 CTO, it's a no-brainer. The advantage should also apply to pro 3D apps that use 3D OpenGL code for animation. However, it's a different story with "pro apps" that use Core Image effects.

The fastest times in all 15 cases were achieved by one of the two ATI Radeon graphics cards. In all other cases, the Radeon HD 2600 XT's advantage over the GeForce 8800 GT (and Quadro FX 5600) was no less than 22% and as much as 42%. We consider this incontrovertible evidence that the GeForce 8800 GT is deficient when rendering Core Image effects. This performance deficiency will extend to other Apple pro apps like Final Cut Pro video effects and Aperture functions that invoke Core Image.

Would there be any noticeable difference in performance using Leopard itself when dealing with quicklook and whatnot? Leopard frequently uses Core Image itself, doesn't it?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by Simon 

It appears while the 8800GT is an excellent gamer card (3D OpenGL), the 2600XT does better on many pro apps (Core Image).

From Bare Feats:

As a 3D accelerated GPU, the GeForce 8800 GT looks like a great addition to the "early 2008" Mac Pro. It's significantly faster than the two Radeon options and at $200 CTO, it's a no-brainer. The advantage should also apply to pro 3D apps that use 3D OpenGL code for animation. However, it's a different story with "pro apps" that use Core Image effects.

The fastest times in all 15 cases were achieved by one of the two ATI Radeon graphics cards. In all other cases, the Radeon HD 2600 XT's advantage over the GeForce 8800 GT (and Quadro FX 5600) was no less than 22% and as much as 42%. We consider this incontrovertible evidence that the GeForce 8800 GT is deficient when rendering Core Image effects. This performance deficiency will extend to other Apple pro apps like Final Cut Pro video effects and Aperture functions that invoke Core Image.

Isn't Core Image is just a framework with underlying OpenGL code? Does the FX5600 have a similar gaming-pro performance gap (same architecture as 8800GT)?

[Cadaver]

Mine should arrive today, though I probably wont have any time to install it until tomorrow.
Any specific questions anyone want me to (try to) address??

[cgc]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

Mine should arrive today, though I probably wont have any time to install it until tomorrow.
Any specific questions anyone want me to (try to) address??

I'm curious about how loud it is compared to whatever you had before. I need to replace my 7300GT but don't want to have a diesel Mac under my desk.

[shinji]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

Mine should arrive today, though I probably wont have any time to install it until tomorrow.
Any specific questions anyone want me to (try to) address??

If you use iStat Pro, can you let me know how hot the northbridge is with the 8800?

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by cgc 

I'm curious about how loud it is compared to whatever you had before. I need to replace my 7300GT but don't want to have a diesel Mac under my desk.

So far, its barely audible. Quieter than the X1900 (mine fried itself 6 months ago). About the same as the Radeon 2600XT (very, very quiet). Haven't put it thru its paces yet, but at idle its virtually inaudible. Even at boot up (until the fan control firmware kicks in), the 8800GT is quieter than the 1900XT was.

Under a desk, not running a heavy duty 3D game, I doubt you'll ever hear it.

Originally Posted by shinji 

If you use iStat Pro, can you let me know how hot the northbridge is with the 8800?

Northbridge is currently floating between 44-46°C with CPUs at 26°C. Again, essentially at idle.

I ran the OpenGL benchmark OpenMark on it and my previous graphics cards... The 8800GT scored 21,621. X1900XT scored 18,874. X2600XT scored 7,936 and the 7300GT scored 8,128 (yes, for what ever reason, the 7300GT gives a better OpenGL OpenMark score than the 2600XT, though in Unreal Tournament 2004 the 2600XT was clearly faster).

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by shinji 

Would there be any noticeable difference in performance using Leopard itself when dealing with quicklook and whatnot? Leopard frequently uses Core Image itself, doesn't it?

As my 1900XT no longer functions, I can't test it, but I can tell you that over the last 30 minutes, Leopard effects like the Dock's stack grid effect are much faster/smoother with the 8800GT than the 2600XT that used to be in the machine.

[shinji]

Yeah I upgraded to the 2600XT as well on my old mac pro when it came out. Think I may go ahead and do the 8800GT...thanks for the info.

[cgc]

Thanks. I've placed my 7300 on notice...the 8800 is on order

[Cadaver]

Just a quick follow-up. Last night I played about an hour of the downloadable Unreal Tournament 3 Demo (don't have the retail game yet) at 1920x1200, high quality settings everywhere, under Windows XP. Even after the full hour of game play, I could not hear the 8800GT's fans over the system fans and my hard drives.
Oh, and smooth as butter.
Using latest XP ForceWare drivers from Guru3D.com.

[cgc]

Just installed my 8800GT in my MacPro (1st gen) and ran into a slight problem with the PCI-E clip on the slot. It wouldn't let go of my 7300GT card so I kept gradually applying pressure. When the clip broke, my 7300GT was released. Installed the 8800GT card and ran the Video Stress Test that is in Counterstrike: Source. Went from 72.18 fps to 210.30 fps. This card is silent, can't tell any difference from the 7300.

[wr11]

Just installed mine last light - the clip almost had me beat as well, until I looked at the other slots and figured out where and what I needed to do. The card is basically silent but I do have an Arctic Cooling Accelero passive cooler on my shelf for the future use. I'll probably run the card stock for a while just to be sure everything is working well.

[Captain Curt]

There are two knobs just to the right of graphics card that are actually thumbscrews. You need to loosen them to change graphics cards.

[Captain Curt]

Is the 8800GT overkill for Mac Pro users that have a 30" ACD? From cgc's 72.18 fps which implies 13.9 ms, I noticed that cgc's 7300 actually beat the 14 ms response time spec for the 30" ACD. The 8800GT is far faster. Am I on the right track here? My 7300 died two weeks before the 8800GT 1st gen upgrade was announced, so I have a 2600XT. Now I'm wondering if I would EVER need to upgrade.

[cgc]

Originally Posted by Captain Curt 

There are two knobs just to the right of graphics card that are actually thumbscrews. You need to loosen them to change graphics cards.

I loosened them and looked at the clips on the empty PCI-E slots to see what I needed to do. For some reason the 16x slot clip wouldn't let go. I really don't see a huge need for the clips so long as the thumbscrews are tight.

[Captain Curt]

I need to focus my question a little tighter. Is the 8800GT overkill for Mac Pro users that have a 30" ACD gaming in OSX?

[cgc]

Originally Posted by Captain Curt 

I need to focus my question a little tighter. Is the 8800GT overkill for Mac Pro users that have a 30" ACD gaming in OSX?

What games do you plan on playing? How do they currently play (e.g. FPS vs settings)?

[mr. burns]

there's no such thing as overkill when it comes to hardware.

[Captain Curt]

I was thinking of this upcoming Christmas buying a flight simulator (probably a current edition of X-Plane) with all of the hardware flight controls, playing full screen on my 30" ACD. I have no real gaming experience. I was looking at the graphics card specs trying to get a handle on the relative performance I could get out of my 30" ACD. Would a 8800GT generate images faster that my ACD could show them?

[mr. burns]

that's like asking if your new ferrari will have enough power to go the speed limit.

[wei]

A note to those that considering to upgrade to 8800. I've receive a reminder that the card need 10.5.2, those that's still on tiger will need to upgrade.

[kklein]

See, I thought I was all smart putting an Arctic Cooling Accelero on my 8800 in my MP, then I come in here and everyone's talking about it.

If you're sensitive to noise, as I am, this will help a lot. There's still noise, but it's much better than it was with the stock fan.

I suspect that when people say that MPs are silent, they are comparing them to other computers, but when I say I want a computer that is silent, I'm comparing it to a box of toast. Or some other thing that emits no noise whatsoever.