Video card upgrade

[Gravity Jim]

I'm thinking of upgrading the video card in my early 2008 8-core Mac Pro.

It still has the stock card: a ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256 MB. I'm not currently having any noticeable problems pushing two monitors, one a 22" 16x9 running at a 1680 x 1050 resolution, the other an old 4x3 LCD running at 1280 x 1024. So it is pushing plenty of pixels.

But I'm thinking of ditching the old 4x3, moving the 22" over to it's slot and replacing it with a 23" monitor that runs at a higher resolution.

I have seen reports that a DAW can run better with an upgraded video card, and I'm wondering if pushing more pixels than I do now will cause problems with DP.

Anybody here any any experience to share? Any card to recommend for an older MacPro? I've read that the Radeon HD 5870 and GeForce 8800 GT are both good choices for this machine, with the GeFOrce exhibiting faster specs.

Or would this be a useless expenditure? Does a fast video card take any weight off the main CPU? Like I say, it's working great now, but I don't want to add a pile of new pixels to the load and find that the old video card craps out.

Thanks in advance...

[OLB]

A few days ago I had the same idea with the exact setup as yours. After a bit of research I ended up with the getting the Ati Radeon HD 5770. From what I've seen, it's massive AND quiet. And only great reviews.

I haven't received it yet but I'm looking forward to install it with my 30 inch Dell and 24 inch.

[Gravity Jim]

The 1GB HD 5770 looks like the bomb choice for the price, OLB. Let me know how it works for you.

[kgdrum]

A few days ago I had the same idea with the exact setup as yours. After a bit of research I ended up with the getting the Ati Radeon HD 5770. From what I've seen, it's massive AND quiet. And only great reviews.

I haven't received it yet but I'm looking forward to install it with my 30 inch Dell and 24 inch.

I've been considering updating to this card for a while,are the prices coming down at all for it?
I'd also like to hear if you see any noticeable overall performance improvements with this upgrade,I really haven't had any noticeable video issues with my '08 MacPro stock card but if the better card actually improves the Macs overall performance it might be worth considering.
Thanks

[OLB]

The 1GB HD 5770 looks like the bomb choice for the price, OLB. Let me know how it works for you.

Sure Jim - I started to notice strange things lately and I feared it was my screen. But thinking about it, it sometimes had these horizontal lines on some high loads, has to be the GPU. Well, my Mac is like four years old now, pretty staggering for a computer life, so I think it deserves a fresh pair of pants

Len

[James Steele]

A few days ago I had the same idea with the exact setup as yours. After a bit of research I ended up with the getting the Ati Radeon HD 5770. From what I've seen, it's massive AND quiet. And only great reviews.

I haven't received it yet but I'm looking forward to install it with my 30 inch Dell and 24 inch.

I have one. I totally lucked out and got it from a friend who had upgraded to something better. I'll vouch for it being quiet. Previously I had an HD 3870 that was so loud I installed a passive cooler system. I was worried I'd have to do that on the 5770 and it was quiet. I'm using it with same config as you... 30" Dell and a 24" second HP monitor. You will need a miniPort to DVI adapter and it might have to be active vs. passive. I connected my 30" to the lone DVI connector, and my friend also gave me a mini to DVI adapter that had a long cable and looked like it included a USB pass through for convenience. I learned the USB was not an option and it had to be plugged in for the adapter to work.

I please ignorance on this. I just know there are different types of adapters and you need the correct one. I also believe this card can drive THREE monitors with the proper adapters. Would love to get that going at some point.

[dix]

Speaking of pleading ignorance. I'm thinking about a new card to help me fix my video issues with DP8 (details here: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =6&t=51206) - I have no other graphics issue besides these. There's lots of these ATI Radeon HD 5770 out there reasonably priced. Are there separate PC and Mac versions of these video cards, or video cards in general?

Thanks!

[mikehalloran]

>Are there separate PC and Mac versions of these video cards, or video cards in general? <

Short answer: Yes but...

If the PC card is "flashed" for a Mac, it should work. If buying from eBay or the like, look for this.

Otherwise, OWC and other vendors do sell the Apple version
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search ... ideo+cards

[Gravity Jim]

Well, after some measuring / moving things around, I realize I'm going to have to reconfigure my mix position if I really want more screen estate... there just isn't room for a 22" monitor on the right side!

Hmmmm. Well, thanks for the GPU input... I'm get around to this eventually, I'm sure.

[mikehalloran]

All Mac Pro owners should read this thread on video cards:

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... =9&t=51473

[dix]

If DP8.1 doesn't fix my video issues I'll probably try a new video card - mine seems more of a compatibility issue than a gpu power issue. Everything's always looked fine on my 2 22" LG displays and I've never had any noise nor any performance issues until now. I'm wondering are there any other advantages to having a better GPU, or would I simply be buying it to (hopefully) fix DP?

…thanks mikehalloran, for the mac vs pc info above.

[OLB]

Ok guys!

Just received and installed my new Ati Radeon HD 5770, my first impressions..

What - a - difference!

First of all, my Mac feels much smoother. It doesn't feel like it's struggling with things. F.e. previously when putting movies in full screen in MPlayerX it was slow and struggling. Now, instant!

Now DP..

I was hesitant if there were any performance gains. In DP8 I had these sluggish video problems that most of you encountered. Now, I can work easily in full screen mode and everything feels solid. A tiny tiny bit of lag but not worth mentioning.

I've only tested it with a 1 hour H264 quicktime. So may be with other codecs it works even better.

Peace!

[Elektroakoustika]

OLB,

I've been thinking of doing a similar upgrade. A couple questions:

Do you see any improvement to general scrolling (in DP and any other OSX application)?

Did you buy the Apple version of the 5770 or a flashed version (originally for a PC but flashed to work with a Mac)?

If you would be so kind, please divulge how else your Mac feels smoother. I don't do a lot of video work so I'd like to know if the performance you're seeing is only video related or not.

Thanks!

[dix]

Thanks for the report OLB!

That tears it. I'll get one of those cards when finances permit. I just noticed that, to a lesser extent just running QT10 full screen on my Mac slows down all the graphics on my system. Therefore even if they optimize video in DP8.1 I'll still get some slow down. Yup, time for a new card.

[HCMarkus]

Ther are a number of options that are as or more powerful than the 5770... check Ebay. Several folks out there are flashing PC cards to work with Macs, and these cards can be had at a substantial discount. Watch up for OS upgrades if you get a flashed card, though!