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Recommended Video Card for New Mac
Apologies if this has been asked recently but if I was buying a new mac pro chiefly to run after effects what’s the best option as far as video card goes?
The standard option is the NVidia GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB RAM, the next one up is the ATI X1900 XT with 512MB RAM, I don’t think I want to upgrade as far as the NVidia Quadro FX 4300 as there is a real price hike and it seems to be aimed at the 3d market.
From the specs on paper the ATI seems better but am I really going to see much of a difference in After Effects? Has anyone got any experience with these and After Effects on the Mac? The fact that Open GL is disabled on the CS3 Mac Beta doesn’t really help in making the decision I suppose, without breaking any NDA’s can anyone give me a hint at what we can expect?Thanks,
GlennserPS I’ll probably be running two 23″ LCD’s
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4 Replies
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The best card for the money is the X1900… the Quadro just isn’t worth the $$ for the upgrade.
NOW — that all was true under OSX.4… and 4 processors. Not sure what that might act like in leopard.
But for now… go with the x1900.
CaptM
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… and personally, I’d stay away from a card that is so fat it takes up two expansion slots. I tend to use up my slots.
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actually, i beleive apple moved the bottom slot of the macpros to accomodate the ever expanding video cards, so you won’t loose a slot.
however, with ae7, it’s probably not worth trying to use opengl for preview or rendering do to issues applying opengl accelerated effects (ae will crash if you apply them directly to a layer, you must apply them to an adjustment layer).
i’d wait until you upgrade to cs3. hopefully having a native intel-mac version of ae will fix the opengl issues. and by then there may be a better graphics card or the current ones may be cheaper.
if you want one now, i’d recommend the x1900. and if you’re running two monitors, i’d recommend using two cards (one for each monitor). for the second card try to find one that only takes up one slot, it doesn’t have to be as good as the primary card (the one for previews). you may be able to use your nvidia card, although, i’ve heard unconfirmed issues with loading drivers from 2 different manufacturers.
Kevin Camp
Designer – KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW -
Thanks for the advice guys, it really was with CS3 in mind that I wanted it, can’t wait for it to ship.
Glennser
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