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My wife is using dual Nvidia Quatro NX 285 cards in her Hackintosh with four monitors all connected with DVI. Performance is great for normal useage but she has just started to use Final Cut & finds that frames are being dropped in playback. I am looking for buying recommendations for a pair of passively cooled cards that would work well with Final Cut.

 

I realise that current graphics cards are nice for 2D business applications but don't really cut it for graphics intensive rendering with Final Cut so almost any card with 2xDVI is going to be an improvement but fidn a wide disparity in pricing. I would probably prefer to stick with Nvidia cards as I know that with the current setup every combination of Nvidia cards that I have tried works great with 4 monitors. However if someone can guarantee me that e.g. 2 x ATI 2600XTs are the best for the job then I am prepaored to listen.

 

I can find a 512MB 8500GT for 53 Euros ($83) , a 256MB DDR3 or a 512MB DDR2 8600GT for 70 Euros  ($110),but the cheapest 9600GT is nearly double that price at 135 Euros ($210).

 

Is it worth paying for a 9600GT or will I see the more or less the same performance in Final Cut by spedning a lot less?

The 2xATi is pimp, but i haven't tried it on the hack. I have a PNY Geforce 8800gt and dual screen works with a HD display and my 21inch lacie display at home (both DVI). I tested with motion and it works better then my 9600 pro special edition in my G5 at work. Regular animations, behaviors, live type stuff works real time, but there is still a little lag when using a lot of particles. In FCP, I don't drop frames with rt extreme on using the overdrive filter and video off an internal sata drive.

 

One thing I really like about the lacie monitor is that you can turn it sideways on the included base, so I have my browser and viewer over there and the timeline and canvas on the HD screen. This card does rotation in the display prefs.

 

On a side note:

my students always ask me, "Is there an FCP for PC?" now I can say, "Well, Sorta". Cheers

I just found a really good deal on Gigabyte branded 256MB DDR3 2600XTs. Just 40 Euros each (approx $63) so I have ordered two for 86 Euros ($135) including shipping. These were literally less than half the price of anywhere else. I figured that at that price I can't go wrong as they are after all the basic graphics card on a Mac Pro. Let's just hope that it's not too difficult figuring out how to get them bioth working on the Hackintosh.

 

I will report back next week after I have received the cards.

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