Now dust has settles a little what video card should I upgrade to

[Mark Dobson]

I put a ATI Radeon 5770 in my 2009 Mac pro – works absolutely fine. Should be fine for you too.

I bought it from Jigsaw Systems. They recommended it.

Give them a ring and tell them about your Mac model and see what they say

Sales: 03332 400 888

https://www.jigsaw24.com/search/ati^5770

cheers

Mark Dobson
Producer and Director
Alembic TV
http://www.alembic.tv

[Marco Feil]

I wouldn’t recommend buying the 8800GT. The card is a bit old and Apple’s support for NVida cards isn’t that great anymore. The official ATI 5770 and 5870 upgrade Kits from the apple store do work in all Mac Pros, even the 2006 models.

Although I went for the cheaper and not officially supported Sapphire ATI 6870 PC card when my 8800gt died a few weeks ago. Costs around 170£. It’s a bit of a hack but works great in my 2008 Mac Pro so far.

[Mitch Ives]

You’re not alone. It would be nice if there was a chart that listed each model (by System Profiler code) and then told whether the base and/or optional video cards did or did not work. If one of the (typically two choices) didn’t work, then what card would actually work would be helpful.

As an example, I have the early 8-core… 2008 model I believe. It’s the Mac Pro 3,1 2.8Ghz 8-core. There you could choose between the ATI 2600 (base option), or the optional nVidia GeForce 8800 GT. I went with the nVidia. Will either of those cards support Open CL?

To be really helpful, it would be nice if there was info to the effect of “yes, your nVidia GeForce 8800 GT card will work, but if you had the newer “Mega9000”, then FCPX would really run a lot faster.

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com

[Ben Edwards]

Thanks for this, Not come across jigzaw, there seem very competitive.

—
Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com

[Ben Edwards]

Yes, wonder how much creativecow are being bribed not to write an article.

I think the nVidia GeForce 8800 GT is one of the rare cards that is actually supported by apple, but cant see to find it anywhere in the UK. Basically if you want FCPX try to but it and if you can it is supported.

Ben

—
Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com

[Craig Seeman]

I have MacPro 2008. I bought Radeon 5770 from Apple. It works fine. It’s been widely reported as working on older MacPros in places like Barefeats. Keep it simple. No headache.

Barefeats says 5770 and 5870 are best for Motion 5
https://barefeats.com/wst10g12.html

and many tests on older MacPros
https://barefeats.com/wst10g6.html

https://barefeats.com/wst10g5.html

https://barefeats.com/wst10g3.html

https://barefeats.com/wst10g2.html

[Ben Edwards]

Thanks for that. Couple of questions. How noisy are the 5770/5870, my 2600 extremely quiet/almost silent.

also it it easy to plug in 2 monitors. The 5770 days something about I DVI and a mimi sockets of some sort. Do they need adapters?

Ben

—
Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com

[Mark Dobson]

Could you speak up please I can’t hear you!

Sounds like a cement mixer.

Well I can’t hear mine and it’s 2 feet away from me on the floor by my desk.

As to connectivity to monitors – that’s something for you to work out because it will depend on what inputs your monitor has.

The 5770 has one dual-link DVI port and two mini Display ports.

I bought a minidisplay to DVI connector from the Apple Store and a DV1 to VGA connector from the local computer shop.

Mark Dobson
Producer and Director
Alembic TV
http://www.alembic.tv

[Ben Edwards]

I would like to plug 2 DVI monitors into the card like I do with the ATI 2600 I have.

—
Ben Edwards – Freelance Filmmaker
https://www.funkytwig.com

[Arnljot Bringedal]

buy the GTX 285.

They go cheap on Ebay etc……

Great card – and You can use it with Davinci Resolve

*** Norwegian videojournalist & Editor***