New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

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fsheinfeld
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New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by fsheinfeld »

Hi guys,

I'm planing to buy a new video card for my 2008 mac in order to add a third monitor which I'll use specifically for video with DP. Any recommendations?

I currently have the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB with 2 outputs and i was told to get the same one, but not sure if I should get an upgrade instead since that's it's a pretty old card.

Thanks so much!
F
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by BKK-OZ »

I have the quad 2.66 Xeon MP and put in a Radeon 5870 awhile back. At the time, it was the highest spec after market card available - I think it still is but I am not 100% sure on that, I haven't researched this topic in awhile.

It works, and I reckon it was cost effective too. I can't remember for sure, but I think I got it through OWC.
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by dix »

I just installed a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS into my 2008 2,1 Mac Pro because the original NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256 MB is not compatible w DP8. It seems great.

I'm thinking about adding a second card too. DP is solid, but any instability I do experience when scoring always has something to do with the Firewire video output (to a Canapus). A third monitor would seem like a much better way to go.
14-inch MBP M1 Max (2021), 13.6.x, 64GB RAM, UAD Quad Tb Satellite, 4 displays ::: 2009 4,1 > 5,1 MacPro 12-core 3.33 ghz , 10.14.x, 96GB RAM, GeForce GTX 770 , NewerTech eSATA/USB3 PCIe Host Adapter, UAD-2 Quad, ::: 15-inch MBP (2015) 10.14.x, 16GB RAM ::: Lynx Aurora (n) USB ::: DP (latest version), Vienna Ensemble Pro danwool.com
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by HCMarkus »

I run three monitors - 2 DP (Display Port) and 1 VGA - from an ATI 5770 on a 4,1. Works great, but there are caveats, depending on the resolution and interface (DP, VGA, DVI) on your monitors. Apple has some help pages about this.

The 5870 is faster, but there are a number of cards that are much newer and faster still. You no longer need to use "Made for Mac" cards if using ML or Mavericks. If you need a boot screen, you can flash a lot of standard PC cards EFI to make it so or buy from someone like MacVideoCards (ebay seller) who does it for you. Do a little prospecting around MacRumors in the MacPro forum, and note the stickied first thread.

Unless you are using FInal Cut Pro X (see Barefeats.com), gaming or using your GPU for compute tasks, the 5770 is probably all you need.
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by vsoprod »

I am using an Nvidia GTX 680 video card with 2 GB vram in my mac and love it. I run two monitors off the dvi outputs and a third monitor off the HDMI connector. It can run one more monitor off the displayport output if I want. All monitors are 1080 monitors. The DVIs I use for DP windows and the third is used for full screen playback of a movie. All monitors are very smooth, I've worked on two docs and some concert mixes and have had no problems. I always get the movies encoded in Apple ProRes and they seem to not add much overhead to the system.
The card supports Open CL and CUDA, the latter is great if your using Adobe products like Premiere.
MacPro 12core 2.66GHZ, 32GB ram, UA Apollo Quad, DP9.12, OS 10.11.xx Waves, Nomad Factory, Drumagog, Autotune plugins.
Video card nVIDIA GTX 980 2GB memory
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by HCMarkus »

vsoprod wrote:I am using an Nvidia GTX 680 video card with 2 GB vram in my mac and love it.
That's what I'm talking about. Choices are broader now than in days gone by. Thanks VSO!
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by dix »

Anyone ever try a Matrox Triplehead? http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/solutions/mac/
14-inch MBP M1 Max (2021), 13.6.x, 64GB RAM, UAD Quad Tb Satellite, 4 displays ::: 2009 4,1 > 5,1 MacPro 12-core 3.33 ghz , 10.14.x, 96GB RAM, GeForce GTX 770 , NewerTech eSATA/USB3 PCIe Host Adapter, UAD-2 Quad, ::: 15-inch MBP (2015) 10.14.x, 16GB RAM ::: Lynx Aurora (n) USB ::: DP (latest version), Vienna Ensemble Pro danwool.com
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by fsheinfeld »

Thanks guys, will check those options.
F
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by frankf »

HCMarkus wrote:I run three monitors - 2 DP (Display Port) and 1 VGA - from an ATI 5770 on a 4,1. Works great, but there are caveats, depending on the resolution and interface (DP, VGA, DVI) on your monitors. Apple has some help pages about this.
I'm glad to see the card is working for you. I bought an Apple branded 5770 last year and installed it in my MacPro 3,1 (early 2008). The 2 Display ports worked well, but when I connected my apple Cinema 23” Display via the DVI port, the pixelating was so intense, I returned the card. I did not do extensive research on work arounds other than quick internet search, figuring that the card should work as advertised out of the box. I found out later that out this card is not recommended by Apple for the 3,1



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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by James Steele »

I have same problem with 5770 in my 4,1. The card was a gift. I found have to sleep then wake the monitor attached to the DVI port (30" Dell) several times when I first boot up, then it seems to "lock in" and I'm good for the rest of the day.
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

FWIW, my used MP came with a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB and with 2 monitors attached, it works great.
2013 Mac Pro 32GB RAM

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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by James Steele »

James Steele wrote:I have same problem with 5770 in my 4,1. The card was a gift. I found have to sleep then wake the monitor attached to the DVI port (30" Dell) several times when I first boot up, then it seems to "lock in" and I'm good for the rest of the day.
Well I stumbled across some useful info on the internet tonight and it seemed to have fixed my "snow" problem I was having with the ATI 5770 card and my Dell 3007WFPHC 30" monitor once and for all. It was stupidly simple.

I can't find the forum link right now, but a guy was having a similar problem with his 30" Dell monitor which has a DVI connector only. He had that monitor connected to the DVI port on the 5770 like I did. He ended up getting a powered Display Port to Dual-Link DVI adapter and then connecting the Dell to the Display Port via the adapter and the problem went away!

I then remembered that the friend who gave me the card also gave me an Apple DisplayPort to DVI adapter that I had been using for my second monitor which is an HP w2408 24" monitor. I recalled it needed USB power to function, so then realized it might be a Dual-Link adapter! So I got out of bed about 10 minutes ago, switched the DVI cables around, connecting the 30" to the Display Port to DVI adapter and the 24" to the built in DVI connector on the 5770 card and voila!!!!!

THE PROBLEM APPEARS TO BE GONE!!!!

It may be too early to say it's for sure... I need to give it a day or two, but I think it cured it!
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Re: New Video Card for an Early 2008 Mac

Post by James Steele »

Oh, I did find the URL for the forum where I found the answer fore this. It's in the last message of this topic:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/28010 ... ll-monitor
I bought a $100 "Accell UltraAV B087B-002B DisplayPort/DVI-D Dual-Link Adapter (Black)" to run 3 monitors and as a bonus it seems to output a signal that my Dell 3007WFP-HC likes! YEAH! So that was my solution.
It seems that these particular monitors have trouble with the DVI port on the ATI 5770. So far that's the solution for me. And these things are $89, but I can tell you that even if I didn't already own the Apple version of this, given how maddening it was sleeping and waking my monitors over and over to get my Dell monitor to finally "lock in" I'd have happily paid if not to have my creative trainer thought randomly interrupted throughout the day.
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