[gambo]

I recently ordered a refurbished Mac Pro Quad 3.0ghz Xeon. (fedex site says end of the week last 25x i checked)

I bought it mostly for games, and plan to hook it up to my 42" plasma in the living room. Looking threw these forums i have yet to find anyone who has done the same. Are there compatibility issues? Also can i buy a standard dvi to hdmi conversion cable, or are the dvi jacks on the back of the pro special such as mini divi, micro dvi etc.?

Looking threw macnn i've seen posted that the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is not compatible with my new computer. Apple is sending mine out with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, is this card suitable for my needs or do i need an upgrade and if so what are my options, what would you choose and why?

Finally RAM I've got 2x512MB chips. Do you think this is suitable if not how large should i go? Video games are really the only computer intensive tasks i will be doing. Looking around i've seen ram with small fans on them for someone in my position are they worth it? Is it true that all my chips need to be the same size to get optimal use out of them? If i was to throw 2x1g chips in there should i remove the 2x512mb?

I bought the dual core chipset because i've heard some tech babble stating that the dual core is faster than the quad for gaming, please tell me this true.

Sad to say that more games are available for xp or vista. I was looking at apple's site and saw that bootcamp runs 32bit, but leopard is 64bit. i believe vista is 64bit. Is there a 32 bit vista? Is the 64 bit compatible? How do i tell the difference?
Currently im using parallels to log on to my companies intranet. I planned on using bootcamp for games. Is there a difference in speed between bootcamp, parallels, and fusion for windows gaming?

I'm on a really tight budget, if you were setting up this computer in a similar circumstance how would you do it? graphics then memory? memory then graphics?

Thanks for your help guys-
Another Fresh Faced Recruit

oops almost forgot it doesn't come with the airport card how do i move my data from my imac over?

Any way to play blu-ray or hd-dvd on the bad boy or do i need to convince the girl friend a PS3 is necessary? I really don't want to hear her. I seen the alienware pc's have an optional blu-ray reader and burner. Can i astonish my pc friends with blu-ray or hd-dvd backups?

[0157988944]

As for RAM, get as much as you can. And only throw out what's in there if you need to make room for bigger sticks. What I would do is fill it up with at least 4 GB in addition to yout existing 1 GB. Get 2 2GB RAM sticks and put them in next to the 512s. 5 GB of RAM will be nice.

Upgrade RAM first.

I don't know why dual core would be faster than a quad... more is always better. But it should be fine.

The only way to game in Windows on a Mac is with BootCamp. It wont work with Parallels or VMWare Fusion, and if It does the fps will be really bad.

Oh and threw= what you do with a football; through= what you meant

You can move your data over with a firewire cable. Go to your local tech store (best buy, etc.) and ask for a 6 pin to 6 pin firewire cable. When you boot up your mac for the first time it will ask you if you want to move your data over. It will then walk you through how to move your data from one Mac to another. If you are coming from a PC, FireWire should still work, but I can't tell you exactly how to do it.

No way to play Blu Ray or HD DVD.

PS why buy a Mac for gaming?

[mduell]

My post assumes that by "gaming" you mean current and previous generation 3D games. If you mean something older/simpler than that, then ignore what I say.

Originally Posted by gambo 

Looking threw macnn i've seen posted that the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is not compatible with my new computer. Apple is sending mine out with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT, is this card suitable for my needs or do i need an upgrade and if so what are my options, what would you choose and why?

The 7300GT will not provide a satisfying gaming experience, and you're correct the 8800GT will not work in your machine. You should have bought the 2GB/1900XT equipped refurb for $100 more, but now you'll have to plunk down $400 for the X1900XT for a decent gaming experience.

Originally Posted by gambo 

I bought the dual core chipset because i've heard some tech babble stating that the dual core is faster than the quad for gaming, please tell me this true.

No. Games don't scale well with cores, but you're better off with quads than duals at the same clockrate.

Originally Posted by gambo 

Sad to say that more games are available for xp or vista. I was looking at apple's site and saw that bootcamp runs 32bit, but leopard is 64bit. i believe vista is 64bit. Is there a 32 bit vista? Is the 64 bit compatible? How do i tell the difference?
Currently im using parallels to log on to my companies intranet. I planned on using bootcamp for games. Is there a difference in speed between bootcamp, parallels, and fusion for windows gaming?

Both 32-bit and 64-bit Vista exist and are compatible with the Mac Pro. The product boxes are clearly labeled.
Parallels and Fusion are totally insufficient for gaming. You need to use BootCamp to install Windows and boot into Windows for gaming.

[Aegis]

Originally Posted by gambo 

I bought it mostly for games, and plan to hook it up to my 42" plasma in the living room.

It depends on the connections your TV has. It will probably require a DVI > HDMI cable. For audio I use a 3.5mm > RCA cable.

Originally Posted by gambo 

Looking threw macnn i've seen posted that the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is not compatible with my new computer.

Nvidia has said they're working on getting the 8800GT working on older MacPros. So it may be best to wait a bit and see how that goes.

Originally Posted by gambo 

Looking around i've seen ram with small fans on them for someone in my position are they worth it? Is it true that all my chips need to be the same size to get optimal use out of them? If i was to throw 2x1g chips in there should i remove the 2x512mb?

The MacPro requires a specific type of ram. It won't work with bargain basement ram. Check out OWC or Crucial, they're both reputable sellers of compatible ram. OWC is probably better if you're on a budget.

Originally Posted by gambo 

Any way to play blu-ray or hd-dvd on the bad boy or do i need to convince the girl friend a PS3 is necessary? Can i astonish my pc friends with blu-ray or hd-dvd backups?

You can make ordinary data back-ups with Toast onto a Blu-Ray disc. However you cannot currently play BR or HD movies with copyright protection under OS X.

[bearcatrp]

I love my mac's but if your really into gaming, I would cancel that order and get a pc. I just saw a refurb hp quad core (single chip), 3gb ram (max 8gb) for 699.00 from buy.com. It did have integrated graphics but you can disable that and put a smokin graphics card in it. Apple doesn't seem that interested in gaming by supporting good stable graphics cards. Maybe the new ones for the the new mac pro will prove me wrong but guess we will see soon.

[gambo]

Thanx guys

Let me know If i have this correct

I can use an ordinary dvi to hdmi conversion cable. Any resolution suggestions?

The NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT sucks i can upgrade to the X1900XT or hold off and see if the 8800gt is compatable in the future.

Ram add 2x2g leave my 2x512 in there as-well

I guess i should have gone with the quad after all.? This is what made me choose the xeon processors.
An 8-core Mac Pro is no faster than a 4-core Mac Pro when it comes to 3D Gaming. That's because none of the games uses more than 165% CPU usage (or one and one half core). Unless you run multiple games or play WoW in one window while compiling Xcode in another while running Photoshop CS3 action files in a third, the 8-core Mac Pro is hard to justify for extreme gaming. You are better off spending your money for more memory or more games. 3D Gaming on the 8 Core Mac Pro

Bootcamp is better for gaming - Do i get a 32bit or 64bit version of windows?

I need to buy a separate blu/hd-dvd player

Firewire to transfer data

Why buy a mac for gaming !? I've been using a mac for 2-3 years. Games are not the only thing i plan to use the computer for, but gaming will most-likely be the as computer intense as i get.

Would you guys recommend a second HD dedicated to windows? Besides the added space are there any other bonuses?
Do you think the solid state hard drives are worth the money?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by gambo 

I can use an ordinary dvi to hdmi conversion cable. Any resolution suggestions?

The native resolution of your TV.

[gambo]

The native resolution on my TV? I was referring to System Prefs > Displays, on my imac the highest resolution is 1440 x 900.


Looking at

Mac Pro - Technical Specifications

The mac pro supports digital resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 pixels and dual link DVI 2560 x 1600
Are they refering to the same resolutions in the system prefs? If so what is recommended for a 42 panasonic Viera

[0157988944]

The screen preferences change depending on the monitor you have. On the 17" iMac, the native resolution is 1400x900. WIth the 42" TV, it will be different. Hook it up and see what options the prefereces give you, then choose the one that looks best.

[gambo]

Few more questions if you will

-Dual-link DVI (2560 x 1600) to Hdmi cable or standard DVI (1920 x 1200) to Hdmi - will i notice a difference on my 42" 1080i TV?

-For what i want to do are there advantages to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro Capture Card?

-The Elgato EyeTV the best way to go?

- What MS operating system is most efficient for gaming? Vista or XP, 32 or 64 bit.
Boot Camp supports the most popular 32-bit releases of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Boot Camp Does this mean it only supports 32 bit?

-What MS OS's support multiple processors and multiple cores? Do all vista versions support multiple processors and multiple cores? I've heard xp pro is the only xp that does, is the same true for vista?

- I understand there is something called SP2 that is necessary to run XP with bootcamp. How can i tell if the xp version I'm going to purchasing has SP2 already?

- I'd like to add 2 internal HD's, 1tb for movie storage and 1 150gb HD for vista. What kind of drive do i shop for? Serial ATA? RAID is way to much $ for my needs.

-last but not least - Surround sound receiver/system that i can connect my 360/blu-ray/MP/Cable tv to?

How would you set your new toy up?

[mduell]

Originally Posted by gambo 

-Dual-link DVI (2560 x 1600) to Hdmi cable or standard DVI (1920 x 1200) to Hdmi - will i notice a difference on my 42" 1080i TV?

You only need 1920x1080 for your TV (which HDMI supports) and HDMI only supports single link DVI, so this isn't really a choice. Just plug in a DVI-HDMI adapter to either port and you'll be fine.

Originally Posted by gambo 

-For what i want to do are there advantages to the Blackmagic Intensity Pro Capture Card?

No.

Originally Posted by gambo 

-The Elgato EyeTV the best way to go?

Or Miglia. Read the hardware and software reviews for both.

Originally Posted by gambo 

- What MS operating system is most efficient for gaming? Vista or XP, 32 or 64 bit.
Boot Camp supports the most popular 32-bit releases of Windows XP and Windows Vista. Apple - Mac OS X Leopard - Features - Boot Camp Does this mean it only supports 32 bit?

64-bit Vista if you need DX10, otherwise 32-bit XP is the way to go.

Originally Posted by gambo 

-What MS OS's support multiple processors and multiple cores? Do all vista versions support multiple processors and multiple cores? I've heard xp pro is the only xp that does, is the same true for vista?

XP Home and Vista Home support 1 CPU (2 cores in your case); XP Pro and Vista Ultimate support 2 CPUs (4 cores in your case).

Originally Posted by gambo 

- I understand there is something called SP2 that is necessary to run XP with bootcamp. How can i tell if the xp version I'm going to purchasing has SP2 already?

SP2 is Service Pack 2, a bundle of updates for Windows XP. Any copy of XP you buy today should have it; if you get an older disk you can combine the contents of the older disk and the SP2 update to create a SP2 install disk, but it's kind of a hassle.

Originally Posted by gambo 

- I'd like to add 2 internal HD's, 1tb for movie storage and 1 150gb HD for vista. What kind of drive do i shop for? Serial ATA? RAID is way to much $ for my needs.

You need 3.5" SATA drives; for 1TB you want this. 150GB drives aren't very economical; buying 500GB makes more sense IMO. 160GB for $55, 250GB for $66, 320GB for $75, 400GB for $95, and 500GB for $100