Ask Jacob
First Gen Mac Pro Graphics Card Upgrade
Monday, January 12, 2009 / Hardware
I have a Mac Pro 2.66 GHz duel-core Intel xeon, with an nvidia GeForce 7300 GT card.
I would like to upgrade the graphic card to enable me to run more intensive 3d-motion software. Which card/s are compatible with my Mac Pro- what would you recommend?
There are relatively few choices for upgrading your video card on a first generation used Mac Pro but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get a great card. The NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT is a spectacular upgrade card and quite the improvement over the 7300 GT card. There is also the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT card, but users complain of noise and relatively low performance on high-end applications compared to the 8800GT card.
January 20th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
10.5.2 is required for an 8800GT.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:04 am
I purchased the ATI Radeon HD 3780 for my first generation Mac Pro 2.66 and the Mac Pro freezes after several hours of inactivity. So when left on over night I find the screen saver on the screen but I am forced to do a hard reboot to get the computer up and running again. No problems when i put back the original GeForce 7300. ATI send me a replacement card but the same thing happens.
I am using 10.5.6 Leopard. Any advise would be appreciated.
January 26th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
noticed a couple of spelling errors…
I purchased the ATI Radeon HD 3780 for my first generation Mac Pro 2.66 and the Mac Pro freezes after several hours of inactivity. So when left the MP on over night I find the screen saver is on the screen but I am forced to do a hard reboot to get the computer up and running again. No problems when i put back the original GeForce 7300. ATI sent me a replacement card but the same thing happens.
I am using 10.5.6 Leopard. Any advice would be appreciated.
In the Radeon Box with the card is a CD and a large NOTE telling you to install the ATI drivers on your computer from the CD first before installing the Hardware.
Of course I followed the instructions and then after the fact ATI tech support tells me that all the Graphics Drivers are built into the MAC OS 10.6.5 and I am NOT supposed install the drivers on the CD. But, there is NO UNINSTALL on the ATI CD so it is a time consuming effort to create a fresh OSX. I am not sure if the ATI drivers are conflicting with the MAC Graphic drivers. Does anyone have any suggestions or advice.
May 11th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Rick
I had a lot of problems with the ATI card in my 1st gen Mac Pro (the X1900 rather than the HD 3780). I finally replaced it with an Nvidia 8800 which has worked perfectly.
Checking the various Mac user sites around it seems that whilst ATI hardware is good, and works great on Windows, ATI driver support for the Mac is very poor.
I’d either return or ebay your ATI card and get an 8800. I’ve pretty much sworn off ever getting another ATI card for any Mac.
Edward
July 1st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
The Problem is with waking up, not freezing. Try turning the monitor off and back on. That is what I have had to adopt to wake up my Mac Pro since I got the 3780.
August 4th, 2009 at 8:10 am
I just started working here and so far, the computer that I’m using is unable to render a few of my SFX due to a crappy graphic card ATI 9600.
what’s better than ATI 9600? Plus, the total VRAM is 256 MB, so how do I boost it up?
Thanks for your time and effort.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I’m using an ATI 4870 with my 1st gen (2007) Mac Pro since the ATI x1900 stopped working. The 4870 works great for me. I had issues with the screensaver causing a freeze with my old x1900, so I switched it off and use Energy Saver prefs to sleep the display after 15 minutes. Haven’t had a problem with that method.
December 19th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
i ordered the 4870 with my early 2009 MP from apple…. single quad w6G.
came with leopard and now has Snow.
zero problems with the card or it’s performance.
most everyone else i know with the similar model has had no probs either.
yeah, i paid a little more, but it was instant gratification.