Help me with a budget R1000 - R2000 GPU

[shadow_man]

Hi,

I've got an old Mac Pro 1.1 that I'm using at the moment.

It's got 32GB of DDR2-800 and 2x Xeon CPU's and is still quite capable of throwing its weight around, even with games.

I'd like to get a new GPU for it - something that can play things on medium to high and is in the R1-2k range - any recommendations, i've long since lost touch with the GPU market.

MUST HAVE: PCI-e, 2X DVI PORTS as my screens are both DVI displays.

Even better if you can suggest a place where I can use my Ebucks

Thanks,
J

 

[vinodh]

I thought that only Mac compatible cards will work? http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...ics-cards-dvi-dual-link-mini-displayport.html

If i'm wrong, then a GTX750 should be within your price range: http://www.takealot.com/computers/g...gtx-750-gddr5-pci-e-3-0-graphics-1gb,30683997

 

[vinodh]

Here's an interesting post on graphics card compatibility for Mac Pro's: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1440150

It seems as if you can use regular PCI-E cards but they must be Nvidia and only certain ones. The link above explains everything.

 

[Fox1]

If you can stretch your budget and want to future proof then look at this http://www.takealot.com/computers/gigabyte-amd-radeon-r9-270-graphics-card-2048mb-gddr5,30286317

 

[Nikkel]

This would have been perfect if your Mac was compatible with all GPU's

 

[shadow_man]

That's not particularly true.

Currently im running and older Radeon 6 series card in there and it works just fine...

Most newer stuff is 100% I think....

Here's an interesting post on graphics card compatibility for Mac Pro's: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1440150

It seems as if you can use regular PCI-E cards but they must be Nvidia and only certain ones. The link above explains everything.

 

[vinodh]

That's not particularly true.

Currently im running and older Radeon 6 series card in there and it works just fine...

Most newer stuff is 100% I think....

That's good. Then you have several options that suit your budget. That Mac Pro of yours is awesome BTW.

 

[shadow_man]

That's good. Then you have several options that suit your budget. That Mac Pro of yours is awesome BTW.

Yeah they're pretty awesome. It's just been modified so it runs Mavericks which Apple don't really wan't you doing.

The 1.1 up to the 3.1 can be made the same spec (barring the RAM which is DDR3 in the 3.1 and DDR2 in mine the 1.1).

So you can literally have the same CPU's and amount of RAM as a machine 2 generations older, crazy!

 

[vinodh]

What did you do to get it to run Mavericks?

 

[shadow_man]

What did you do to get it to run Mavericks?

My brother actually did it last night.

Install Mavericks to USB key then add Mac details to the board plist.

Tiamo has a few threads on doing it:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=18411621&postcount=26