NVidia FX 4800?

[Doyle Rockwell]

Howdy,

Quadros are pretty much designed to accelerate specific industrial design apps like AutoCAD, which doesn’t even run on the Mac. Historically, they have been poor performers on the kind of tasks that Motion does. The ATI 4870 costs a fraction of the price and does as well or better. Bare Feats has some benchmarks here: https://www.barefeats.com/nehal10.html

[Matt Campbell]

Great thanks. Was not aware of it being used mainly for 3D apps. Thats cool. Thanks for the info. As others have told me, the 4870 sounds like the way to go.

However, one last question, with the 4870 only having 1 dual-link DVI port and me running two Eizo displays via DVI connections, are there miniDisplay to DVI adapters that will work with my monitors and allow for an expanded desktop?

OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card

[Mark Petereit]

OK, I don’t have one, but when I look at the picture and the specs on ATI’s web site, it clearly shows two full dual-link DVI connectors.

[Mark Crosby]

The only specs on the ATI website are PC based cards. The official Apple supported model is only found on Apples Store (search for Radeon) and includes 1 DL-DVI and 1 Mini DisplayPort.

I have read about some users flashing the BIOS on the PC based card to make it work in OS X.

[Mark Petereit]

Ah! I stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification, since I’m just about to fill out a req for one of these. I think you just saved my bacon!

[Matt Campbell]

Yeah, thanks Mark. Do you know if miniDisplay to DVI adapters will work for running dual displays?

OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card

[Mark Petereit]

Matt Campbell> are there miniDisplay to DVI adapters that will work with my monitors and allow for an expanded desktop?

Yes. Apple has one for $29. I’ve seen third party adapters for less.

[Mark Petereit]

Same as what you have now, except that one of your monitors will plug in through the adapter. No change at all in how it works in system prefs.

[Matt Campbell]

First off, thanks for everyone’s posts. Secondly, was just curious about the adapter thing because I’ve read some threads where people were having issues with the mini display port dumping the digital signal and only outputting analog.

I’m just being overly cautious and want to make sure I have it all worked out before we put our money into it. Making sure of no quality loss or anything like that.

Thanks again.

OS 10.5.5, Mac Pro 2 x 3 ghz quad-core intel xenon, 9 gb ram, with BM Intensity Pro card

[Winston A. cely]

I’m about to spring for the 4870, but I was reading all the questions on Apple’s website about this card, and now I’m getting confused. My Mac Pro has the Model Identifier of “MacPro1,1” and some responses on Apple’s site have said that I can use the 4870, while others are saying I can’t use this card (both positive and negative response have been marked as “Best Answer”).

I have had nothing but trouble with the x1900xt (I’m on my second one now -thank you Apple Care – and it’s starting to give me trouble) and I was waiting to see if Apple would update the line of Mac Pros and therefore hopefully upgrade the line of graphics cards offered. Now, having read that I may not be able to upgrade to the latest greatest because of the age of my computer (bought at the end of ’07) I need to move forward with getting a card. I use Motion every day, and I’m getting more and more requests for work from Motion that is 3D space oriented, and would therefore tax the card a great deal. I can’t afford to wait for long renders, or worse, trouble shooting because my graphics card suck *cough, x1900xt *cough. I have no problem springing for an expensive card, but it’s got to be compatible with and be the best available for Motion 4.

BTW, I also checked the “Tech Specs” via Apple’s site for Motion 4 and it doesn’t list all the card it’ll work with. It just says Nvidia or ATI. Any help pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Winston A. Cely
Editor/Owner | Della St. Media, LLC

Mac Pro 3GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon
8 GB RAM | Final Cut Studio 3 | Aja Kona LHe

“If you can talk brilliantly enough about a subject, you can create the consoling allusion it has been mastered.” – Stanley Kubrick