What’s the best graphics card for Mac Pro?

[Thomas Alexander]

Nvidia Quadro is for a Mac Pro tower. Plug it in and feel the power. Almost sounds like a poem. lol

https://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro-k5000-mac.html

Thomas Alexander | Independent Cinematographer
Soulman Films | Nicosia Cyprus | +357-97697640

[Ray dove Choi]

where can i get a pci-e expander? does it connect to my macpro via a pci-e slot? because I have a USB3 card, and also a UAD2 DSP card already installed, so I can’t even put another graphics card in my Mac, I have a stock GeForce GT120 which I REALLY need to upgrade. I know nothing about flashing cards, but would like to do so because I want to see my boot screen as I often need to choose at start-up (command+option) which drive I boot from. I don’t want to spend over 250-300$, i have no need for a monster card… what can I get? there are so many pc cards unlike “Mac Editions” which ones can I pick and flash? are there any Mac EFI ROMs for GTX570/580? Radeon equivalent? cos’ GTX680 and 7950 cost around 500$! I have only just upgraded my aging 2009 (Quad-core 2.66Ghz 4 x 2GB 1066Mhz RAM) 4.1 Mac Pro into a 5.1 Hex-Core 3.33 with 4 x 8GB 1333Mhz RAM, so the GT120 really is to been ejected. Please help me choose a card and any links to step-by-step guides are welcome! (already searched around quite a bit, but i am totally lost with all the threads on the subject, but no Guides or Selection of a list of compatible cards?)

[Thomas Alexander]

First of all, what will you do with it? Editing, 3D animation, VFX? It depends on your workflow and what gear you already have so you can build on it. Unfortunately you won’t need the other cards if you get a good one like the Nvidia i suggested in y previous post. There are also cheaper options. Every graphic card is utilized for different things. Checkout this link and read a bit about it. And when you get a clearer picture than i will explain. Do you have a camera? Do you use RAW? I need to know all these things to guide you.

https://www.nvidia.com/object/workstation-solutions.html

Thomas Alexander | Independent Cinematographer
Soulman Films | Nicosia Cyprus | +357-97697640

[Ray dove Choi]

Hi thanks for your reply here,

I really need a card that supports 3 monitor display, 2 x 27″ and a 24″ vertically, that’s is what I want to set up, I do mainly audio studff in Cubase 7, Logic Pro 9, I also occasionally do photoshop work for Logo’s Flyers design. For photos I use RAW sometimes, that’s 20% of my pictures i work with, most family pictures are iphone 5 and small canon digital cam. I don’t play games on my computer, it is only for work.

I have an upgraded MacPro 2009, to a 5.1 Mac Pro Hex-Core 3.33Ghz – 32GB RAM, but I still have a GeForce GT120. I am thinking of simply saving up a few more months and just get a Radeon 7950 similar (well as close as possible) to the Mac Edition, so I can flash it easily. because it is just to complicated for someone like me to try and save money and get say a 7850, and will probably run into loads of problem flasing it, getting the right ROM EFI, etc…

If you have a good thread where I can read and learn how to choose a card, and then build a custom ROM EFI and flash it, I would love to read and learn, please let me know what you think of my choice. (i would have prefered putting much less money for a 7770 maybe, cos they already support 3 monitors, but I am not good enough to get this to work on a mac probabaly)

[Gaston]

Sorry Rich, but since we bought our Quadro 4000 we found a complete set of benefits withiinf Adobe AE and Premiere but none using Cinema 4D.
Actually it slowed down the whole thing compared to the native 5770 of our mac pro. Would you please tell me what difference it made for you
using C4D please? It would help us. Thanks!

Gaston Soso
http://www.nocaut.tv

[Scott Green]

Hi Thomas, very informative post.

I have a 2012 12 Core Mac Pro, 64GB RAM and doing a lot of work in AE using Trapcode and a little bit of C4D but After Affects CC is starting to struggle in some of my Trapcode-heavy comps.
I just wondered if the Nvidia Quadro K5000 is still your recommended choice in 2015?

Splurj Creative, Video Production, Motion Graphics & Animation in Manchester UK.