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halcyon

halcyon

Splendid
Dec 4, 2004
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I know most of you are not platform agnostic and dislike Apple Macs. I respect that. That said, have any of you heard of taking a PC-driven graphics card and getting it to work in a Mac...with some sort of bios-flashing or such. ...I'm just playing with the idea of putting a more contemporary graphics card in my Mac Pro and wanted to know if the experts here had heard of such a thing. ...of course I'll search the net as well but might as well check here.
 
Solution
J
Ok...u might have a valid concern here...I know Macs can come with either GPU manufacturer in them.
So I would goto local store and buy a better GPU of the same brand (Ati or NVidia). Install normal available drivers.
This way u will limit other variables (like ur mobo only liking ATI and not NVidia) and be able to test Ur concern.
If it doesn't work take it and ur reciept back for a refund.
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I've seen plenty of Macs with "pc" GPU hardware.
Look at specs on some Macs...I think you will find they harbor Consumer level hardware.
It's an OS and packaging ur buying...the hardware is the same as all PCs but usually not as easily swappable and at a higher price.
I could be off though.

Find out what motherboard is in ur Mac...that will be ur limitation set.
FYI. Most laptops I've taken apart have the GPU soldered into the mobo and thusly a GPU swap is not viable...I realize u have a desktop pc...just adding info.
 
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As I understand it, Mac Pro uses ATI graphics cards which are PCI-e standard video cards. The Mac Pro website shows ATI 5770 and 5870 video cards which are pretty high end cards.
If you're running 2X27" displays this would seem to indicate you have a lot of video power already.
I looked at a reviw on the 5870 card http://www.techspot.com/review/198-ati-radeon-hd-5870-review/ and it compared it to 299 series Nvidia cards which are a few generations old.
I suppose you could move up to ATI 6970 which should be a better GPU.

Any way, Mac Pro's use the same graphic cards as every othe computer on the planet a far as I know.
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. I think the Mac-positioned graphics cards have a mac-specific bios though...so I don't think I could just get a 6970 and pop it in and then only have to concern myself with drivers...I think there's something in the graphics card's bios that'd have to be molested.
 
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Ok...u might have a valid concern here...I know Macs can come with either GPU manufacturer in them.
So I would goto local store and buy a better GPU of the same brand (Ati or NVidia). Install normal available drivers.
This way u will limit other variables (like ur mobo only liking ATI and not NVidia) and be able to test Ur concern.
If it doesn't work take it and ur reciept back for a refund.
 
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Solution
Cool! My first "best answer"...only been on here for two days too. :bounce:
That'll b $5 Halcyon. 😀

...and if by "mini display port inputs" u mean mini-hdmi output....I just newegged a gtx570 and saw it had 1x mini-hdmi. I'm sure others do too. Find what u want (model that is) then go to newegg, search it, and click on details tab to see what display outputs it has.

Welcome.
Ps I'm doing all this searchin and foruming from my phone...sweeet. :sol:
 
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hmm.. who provides the display drivers for apple os? apple? cause if you go to the amd site there are only windows and linux drivers available...


@JdotH
mini-DP is diffrenet than mini-HDMI

edit: @mousemonkey pls dont lock this thread yet since i dont think this is solved yet, despite the 'flag'.
 
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Ha...you gotta see if you can make "Regular" in 200 posts or less. 😉

Na, by mini display-port, I actually mean mini display-port. Its what the Cinema display outputs via and what the MacBook Pro and MacPro (contemporary MBPs and MPs anyways) accept. My 5870 has 2 mini display-ports and 1 DVI-D port.
 
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Well, its good to know my rig isn't totally obsolete yet.
 
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