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Mac Pro & 8800 GTX


J P Kogelman
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I'm trying to install an 8800 GTX into a Mac Pro, replacing an 7900 GT KO. I seem to be at a loss as to where to get the extra power for the video card. I modified a 4pin to 6pin cable and attached it to the extra feed on the DVD (I only have one optical drive thus the spare connector). But the 8800 requires two power feeds and won't boot without it. I see there are two PCIE_B1/2 connectors on the motherboard near the PCI-E slots, but haven't seen a cable that would connect to a PCI-E card.

 

Any suggestions??

 

Thanks!

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Are you replacing the MacPro graphic card with normal PC version 8800? Supposingly, Mac is using EFI and PC is using BIOS and therfore the firmware on the Graphic card should be different.

 

Besides, the OSX does not come with 8800 driver.

 

It is therefore I am still hesitate to change from a PC to a MacPro. Can you please continue to update youe result to us.

 

Thanks in advance

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i didn't think that supported something as new as the 8800 series.....

 

rlpc8 is right the firmware is different in mac cards than pc cards, and its difficult to re flash pc cards to work on a mac you need a special hacked firmware and there is a whole lot of rubbish you have to go through to flash it

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I should state I am only running my Mac Pro as a Windows system, I don't have a Mac OS installed. From searching for the power issue I ran across a number of posts that say you have to remove the other PCI-E cards and just have the 8800 installed. Now if you plan to switch back and forth, this is not only a pain, but could lead to damaging your Mac Pro motherboard.

 

There are a few alpha/beta drivers out there, but I'm afraid I have little interest personally to test them. When I need to work on the Mac OS, I have my trusty MacBook Pro available.

 

The best information I have found is located here, and there is chatter about Mac drivers, hope it helps:

 

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=250851

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I'm trying to install an 8800 GTX into a Mac Pro, replacing an 7900 GT KO. I seem to be at a loss as to where to get the extra power for the video card. I modified a 4pin to 6pin cable and attached it to the extra feed on the DVD (I only have one optical drive thus the spare connector). But the 8800 requires two power feeds and won't boot without it. I see there are two PCIE_B1/2 connectors on the motherboard near the PCI-E slots, but haven't seen a cable that would connect to a PCI-E card.

 

Any suggestions??

 

Thanks!

 

 

I don't even think the MacPro has 16x pciX slots they are all 4x. That is a waste of a system to screwing with windows, and I don't even own a mac. Ohh well

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I don't even think the MacPro has 16x pciX slots they are all 4x. That is a waste of a system to screwing with windows, and I don't even own a mac. Ohh well

 

Actually the mobo on the MacPro's does in fact have 16x PciX. Here's a quote from the graphics section on Apple's MacPro Buy & Config page: "A 16-lane, double-wide PCI Express graphics interface supports the latest graphics controllers for up to 4 GBps of data throughput. And by supplying up to 300 watts of total power to all PCI Express slots, the Mac Pro provides the headroom for high-performance, next-generation graphics cards."

 

Note that in order to have seen that you have to hit the learn more tab.

 

P.S. That is a waste of money to be running Windows exclusively. Do you not like OSX, JP? Or are you just afraid to make the switch? I have a feeling that you are using it as an game machine. If that's the case why not just use Bootcamp and get the best of both worlds?

 

P.S.S. Are you planning on playing Crysis? If so, you should let us know how it runs on that rig.

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Sorry, been busy at work...and haven't had time to read nor post.

 

I have no issue with the Mac OS, but I do enjoy games when I'm not working. Most of what I play is not available on the Mac OS; WoW is, but NWN2 is not. Last time I checked CoD 2 or 3 were console or Windows only. Also I do work from my home machine and need to remote into my AD servers, etc... and I need Windows for that.

 

At the time I purchased the Mac Pro, the Core 2 prices for the processor I wanted was higher than buying the Mac Pro. Add in the fact I enjoy the design of the Apple computers, and finally now they can run Windows ... I am a happy user. To complete my Mac Pro, I just added a nice 30" ACD ... this is one very powerful work station/game rig =)

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  • 2 months later...
At the time I purchased the Mac Pro, the Core 2 prices for the processor I wanted was higher than buying the Mac Pro. Add in the fact I enjoy the design of the Apple computers, and finally now they can run Windows ... I am a happy user. To complete my Mac Pro, I just added a nice 30" ACD ... this is one very powerful work station/game rig =)

 

Right now, though, you could buy a monster of a rig from Alienware for less money and better specs than the Mac Pro:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry350911 post#42

 

And maybe selling your Mac Pro and buying an Alienware isn't such a bad idea, considering that Macs don't lose much value.

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  • 9 months later...

I purchased a GigaByte 8800GTS & i have had succes. I only use my Mac Pro 2.66GHz to run Windows Vista.

 

You have to make sure that the System is configured to boot straight into Windows, otherwise the GFX card/Display will NOT work.

 

 

thx

SL

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LOL Do no buy AlienWare. Alien ware is owned by dell.. and is definately worse than dell. Alien ware is most overpriced. I recommend building ur own or Buy a Dell. Or check out ibuypower.com

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  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to chime in my 2 cents... I too went 8800 in my Mac Pro when it came out, I simply used a molex to 6-pin VGA adapter and ran the wires down.... Mine was an 8800GT. One thing I recently learned when I dove into building a Mac Pro from prototype parts is the molex power that the CD roms use is fed off the logic Board, not directly into the power supply! So the very early post about buying the power adapter to get power from the logic board is well worth while, I wouldn't suggest running a GTX off the molex! In case anyone was wondering :-)

 

 

And I must say, I kinda think the Mac Pro Prototype Logic Board is a cool colour!

post-186700-1205985648_thumb.jpg

post-186700-1205985687_thumb.jpg

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