[southwos]

I am interested in upgrading my Mac Pro's video card. I have the following:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro2,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB

Memory: 20 GB

Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP21.007F.B06
SMC Version (system): 1.15f3
Serial Number (system): 1571800KUPZ
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0019E3F8CEF2

2 PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-112D
2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (Can drive 4 30" Apple Cinema Displays)
Bluetooth
Firewire 400/800

4 500GB HDs (2TB total)

Snow Leopard 10.6.4

2 external eSATA ports

23" and 30" Apple Cinema Display

I have tried to use a Nvidia GT 120 (didn't work) I have tried to burn a XFX 3870 (didn't work)

I know some have had success with using a PC based card, I could not get it to work.

I'm almost ready to buy the FX, but but the price is just crazy. Any help would be appreciated.

It really bothers me that I have almost $10k in a 4 year old machine and I can't find a video card that actually works with no major modifications. Why does apple not offer an upgrade for older (4 years old) machine that is considered their top of the line machine.

I was going to sell the Mac Pro and get a new iMac i7 machine, but quickly found out that I could only get about $800 for my $10k machine. This really makes me wish I would have never bought the Mac Pro in the first place. It seems as though the Mac Pro is something only companies buy and not a consumer machine. I have had just about every mac product and have been able to sell them at a reasonable price when I was ready to upgrade. Now I'm stuck with a really expensive machine that I can't get enough out of it to buy the lowest end mac for an even trade.

Sorry for the rant, but I will never buy a top of the line mac product and may just by used from now on.

[chris v]

With all the extra stuff you've got in that machine, you should be able to get significantly more than $800.00 I would think. 8 cores, a ton of RAM & 4 drives? I'd start at $1500.00, at least. Are you trying to sell it through a buy-back program to a used retailer or something?

Also, it sounds like the iMac would be a downgrade, anyway.

Don't know about the video card -- sorry.

[P]

I think that that's the 2007 model. The options at the time of purchase are the card you have, a Radeon X1900 and an FX4500. The FX is crazy expensive, as you seem to have noticed. The X1900 is much faster than the 7300, but it's 4 generations behind the cutting edge even if you manage to find one on eBay or something.

Reflashing cards is tricky, and I'm no expert on it. This and this are two pages I found with a situation similar to yours (MacPro 1,1 is the same motherboard as yours but with two duals instead of two quads). A 4870 is a quite good card, and the one generation it's behind the cutting edge is mostly irrelevant to us Mac users.

If you really only get $800, I'd try very hard to get a new GPU in there. While the new iMacs are impressive things, and the top model does beat your 8-core on some things, that machine you have is much too powerful to be retired just yet.

[Waragainstsleep]

I'll happily give you $800 for an 8 core Mac Pro.

APPLE Mac Pro Quad Core Xeon 3.0GHz 4GB 250GB HD NR! - eBay (item 120610948180 end time Aug-21-10 13:48:05 PDT)

[turtle777]

I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that this is retarded.

Why would you buy a Mac Pro, if not for the option to be able to later put newer components in it.

-t

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by southwos 

I am interested in upgrading my Mac Pro's video card. I have the following:
2 NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB (Can drive 4 30" Apple Cinema Displays
23" and 30" Apple Cinema Displays
I have tried to use a Nvidia GT 120 (didn't work) I have tried to burn a XFX 3870

It really bothers me that I have almost $10k in a 4 year old machine and I can't find a video card that actually works with no major modifications. Why does apple not offer an upgrade for older (4 years old) machine that is considered their top of the line machine.
I was going to sell the Mac Pro and get a new iMac i7 machine, but quickly found out that I could only get about $800 for my $10k machine. This really makes me wish I would have never bought the Mac Pro in the first place...I will never buy a top of the line mac product and may just by used from now on.

Sorry but nothing makes sense here. I thoght the GT 120 was a standard option for that box like it is for my 2006 2.66 GHz MP. That MP is an excellent pro box exceeding any ac on an overall workflow basis for most pro workflows. Only $800 for that beast is ridiclous, makes no sense.

What are you trying to do that cannot be accomplished? What experience shows two GT120 cards as not working? What did Apple tech support say?

[Mac Write]

I would wait (as I am) for the Radeon 5870 1GB to ship and hope it has EFI32. If it does you, me and allot of others will be getting that card to upgrade our Mac Pro 1/2,1's to gain OpenCL support and see a performance boost as more and more apps utilize OpenCL.

[southwos]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

Sorry but nothing makes sense here. I thoght the GT 120 was a standard option for that box like it is for my 2006 2.66 GHz MP. That MP is an excellent pro box exceeding any ac on an overall workflow basis for most pro workflows. Only $800 for that beast is ridiclous, makes no sense.

What are you trying to do that cannot be accomplished? What experience shows two GT120 cards as not working? What did Apple tech support say?

I bought a GT 120, put it in and just got a blank screen. Put in my original card with it and booted, the system profiler saw that there was a card there, but didn't recognize it as a GT 120.

To the others asking about the $800, that was what I was offered at the mac reseller I purchased the MP from originally. This machine does everything I want, I just wanted to upgrade the video card. I'm just a gadget geek who likes to tinker and wanted a faster card. If I can't get a faster card then the iMac 27 with i7 would be nice. I have a MBP i7 and it is awesome.

[southwos]

Originally Posted by Mac Write 

I would wait (as I am) for the Radeon 5870 1GB to ship and hope it has EFI32. If it does you, me and allot of others will be getting that card to upgrade our Mac Pro 1/2,1's to gain OpenCL support and see a performance boost as more and more apps utilize OpenCL.

That would be awesome, I really hope it works in my MP.

[southwos]

Originally Posted by P 

I think that that's the 2007 model.

I'm wondering why you think it's a 2007 model? I'm sure I bought it in 2006. Would it make much of a difference if it's a 06 or 07 model? I thought they changed the bus speed from 667 to 1033 from the 06 to the 07 model.

[P]

Identifying core is MacPro 2,1. That's the 2007 model. 2006 model is MacPro 1,1.

Reagrding the GT120 (which is no powerful card either, btw): What OS version do you have? Might not have the driver.

[southwos]

Originally Posted by P 

Identifying core is MacPro 2,1. That's the 2007 model. 2006 model is MacPro 1,1.

Reagrding the GT120 (which is no powerful card either, btw): What OS version do you have? Might not have the driver.

Interesting that I don't have the driver. I performed a software update and it did download a graphics update, I thought it was because of the newly installed GT 120 card, but in the end it still didn't work. Thanks for the info about the 2,1 being a 2007 model, I did not know that.

Still, I'm upset that Apple doesn't offer any upgraded cards for this machine. I bought the MP for fun and because I like working with the latest and greatest. I doubt I will ever buy another MP. The re-sale value is terrible and the performance is not that much better than an iMac for my use.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by southwos 

I'm upset that Apple doesn't offer any upgraded cards for this machine. I doubt I will ever buy another MP. The re-sale value is terrible and the performance is not that much better than an iMac for my use.

There are upgrade cards, including the one u have that just needs proper installation. Unless u have special graphics needs it is a good card.

Resale of your three year old box is good if you pursue retail like eBay rather than selling to a retail store. Note: three years old, computers lose value.

If you are not doing heavy graphics high end iMacs are fast, so if you can tolerate the glossy display u may like it. OTOH if you move data and need lots of RAM, multiple drives, advanced GPUs, multiple identical displays or are an image pro who cannot tolerate having the display add contrast, saturation and reflection to images avoid iMacs.

[P]

Originally Posted by southwos 

Still, I'm upset that Apple doesn't offer any upgraded cards for this machine. I bought the MP for fun and because I like working with the latest and greatest. I doubt I will ever buy another MP. The re-sale value is terrible and the performance is not that much better than an iMac for my use.

I'm afraid you got screwed by the entire EFI32/EFI64 debacle. I would suggest looking at the links I sent about the Radeon 4870, however - that is a card that could last you the usable lifetime of the machine.

[all2ofme]

Looking promising:
Radeon 5870 in 2006 Mac Pro

[P]

That probably works, but it's expensive.

[southwos]

Originally Posted by all2ofme 

Looking promising:
Radeon 5870 in 2006 Mac Pro

Looks very promising!!!

[cgc]

I may be in the market for a 5770 for my 2006 MacPro.

[Mac Write]

I am 100% getting the 5870HD and 2 minutes ago just installed Kingston 2x4GB 667mhz RAM as well (total 11GB).

[Andy8]

Originally Posted by Mac Write 

I am 100% getting the 5870HD and 2 minutes ago just installed Kingston 2x4GB 667mhz RAM as well (total 11GB).

Let me know how the extra RAM helps things along, I have the same MP model and considering the same 2x4GB upgrade to the standard 3GB it shipped with.

[Mac Write]

Mac Pro 1,1 only shipped with 2x512MB.

[chris v]

Originally Posted by southwos 

To the others asking about the $800, that was what I was offered at the mac reseller I purchased the MP from originally.

They're offering you about half of what it's worth, because they're going to turn around and retail it to someone else. Typical retail markup is 100%.

[Waragainstsleep]

A new option for you:
Hardmac.com : Le "Macbidouille" in English - Radeon 5870 : it has been flashed!

[SteevAK]

I was just investigating this issue this past weekend (picked up SC2, which barely runs on a Macbook Pro w/ 9400M). I found this timely article from BareFeats to be encouraging. The 5870 does work in the 2006 MacPros. My fingers are crossed that the 5770 will end up working in the 1,1 MacPro because I don't want to pay the extra $200 for the 5870.

[SteevAK]

FYI, Barefeats completed there tests of GPUs in 2006 MacPros including results from the 5870 and 5770.

[DJG3]

Originally Posted by all2ofme 

Looking promising:
Radeon 5870 in 2006 Mac Pro

So did they simply buy the card from the apple store and plug it in with no flashing or other software hacks? Certainly willing to look past the extra $ and pick this up since ive upgraded everything else in my 2006 mac pro to be more than sufficient for at least another 2-3yrs of graphics/video work if this card is actually plug and play...

[Mac Write]

Originally Posted by DJG3 

So did they simply buy the card from the apple store and plug it in with no flashing or other software hacks? Certainly willing to look past the extra $ and pick this up since ive upgraded everything else in my 2006 mac pro to be more than sufficient for at least another 2-3yrs of graphics/video work if this card is actually plug and play...

What have you upgraded to blast your 1,1 through 2012 into 2013? I just added 2x4GB RAM (and if RAM drops to $150 for 8GB next year, might to it again for a total of 19GB )/

[bartonfink]

Having the same issue, but running two LCD monitors off my NVIDIA 7300 GT card currently. Understand that the mini display ports on the 5770 will not work, leaving only the one DVI. Can I install the 7300 in another slot to run the second monitor at reduced speed or is there another option?

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by bartonfink 

Having the same issue, but running two LCD monitors off my NVIDIA 7300 GT card currently. Understand that the mini display ports on the 5770 will not work, leaving only the one DVI. Can I install the 7300 in another slot to run the second monitor at reduced speed or is there another option?

it depends on your apps. Aperture v2, for instance, would not work on two displays unless the two displays were driven by one card (I have not tried v3 with two cards yet). Many other apps work fine with two cards each driving different displays.

[bartonfink]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

it depends on your apps. Aperture v2, for instance, would not work on two displays unless the two displays were driven by one card (I have not tried v3 with two cards yet). Many other apps work fine with two cards each driving different displays.

Good to know, as aperture v2 or v3 would be one of the apps I use the most. Very frustrating trying to find an upgrade path for video on mac pro 1,1.

[cgc]

Yup..at least the new 5770 and 5870 work in our 1.1 MacPro.

[SierraDragon]

Originally Posted by bartonfink 

Good to know, as aperture v2 or v3 would be one of the apps I use the most. Very frustrating trying to find an upgrade path for video on mac pro 1,1.

Unless you are an FCP freak Aperture will be your most demanding app as regards the vid card. I would try the 5870/5770 if I could afford it, buying from a vendor who would allow me to return it if it did not work. Great cards for Aperture.

-Allen

[cgc]

Barefeats.com verified the 5770 and 5870 both work in the 2006 1.1 MacPro

[Waragainstsleep]

This may be of some interest:
Hardmac.com : Le "Macbidouille" in English - Comparing 4 Generations of Mac Pro Equipped with Radeon HD 5870

[southwos]

Just wanted to post an update so anyone wondering would know that the new ATI 5770 does work in my MP. I bought one and installed it and am very happy with the upgrade. Finally someone stepped up and helped out us older MP owners. Thanks ATI!!!!!

[The Ancient One]

Just installed a 5770 in my 2006 Mac Pro (4-core, 2.66Ghz). Works perfectly. It's absolutely silent and noticeably faster than the X1900 XT it replaced. Picked it up at the local Apple store where some of the "geniuses" told me it wouldn't work. Buys me another year or two before I need to consider a new machine, so I figure it's well worth the price.