josh3light Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 I am seriously considering getting the dual quad core intel mac pro as a 3d workstation. I have used pcs my whole life but the new final cut studio looks quite good. However I want to make sure of a few things before I make the purchase. Can I install and boot 64 bit windows? Where do I get the proper drivers for the hardware (32 bit and 64 bit)? (especially graphics card if I get the mac specific nvidia quadro 4500) When vista gets mature or usable, will I be able to boot into 64 bit vista as well? The pc capability is very important as I use 3ds max, xsi, and Fusion, all of which are unavailable on mac, and I am assuming will eventually be ported to vista. If I spend this much on a computer I want to make sure that I'll be able to use it with all my applications once they are updated to new versions. The extra ram ability that 64 bit computing will provide once all the software is updated is quite necessary for cg work. thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asstastic Posted May 27, 2007 Share Posted May 27, 2007 you should really be asking these sorts of questions in the mac end of the forum, but to answer your questions, yes if you get a mac pro you will be able to set up a boot camp install of Windows XP 64bit (recommended over vista) and choose which OS to run when you boot your computer. you will also be able to access your windows install from OSX if you run parallels or vmware, but due to the fact that some hardware will be emulated under these programs you will still need to exit OSX and reboot into windows to run hardware intensive programs like 3ds max. (update) after scanning some forums it seems there is a modded nvidia driver that will work with boot camp in xp. ATI/AMD just released an XP driver update specifically for apple computers. haven't checked vista compatibility but google probably has the answers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregorydf Posted June 5, 2007 Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hello I own a dual quad core Mac Pro and as a CG professional too, I had to install Windows Personnaly, I choose Vista 64 Ultimate, and it works quite well, without bootcamp. To install Vista, you just have to insert the CD, press Alt when starting the computer, and choose to boot it. But as XP doesn't support EFI, you'll have to use Bootcamp. All is ok except the eject key for the keyboard and the bluetooth driver which don't work... don't know why. Also, be aware that the Mac Pro only dispose of PCI-Express lines, so you won't be able to add PCI card. And for the graphic card, take it with Apple, it will works with Windows, the opposite don't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
josh3light Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 Hi Gregory, Thanks, this info is really good to know. I think I'll probably buy one soon. I have read that some 3d software isn't running perfectly on Vista yet so I'll probably wait on installing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxfan66 Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 obviously this can be done well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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