Best recommended setup for FCS Studio are 2 x 7300GT video cards?

[deleted_account]

I understand there are far more superior and faster / advance and more recent video cards out there preceding the 7300GT. This morning, out of curiousity, I went to chat with the 'Live Chat' feature under the apple store to ask questions about video card upgrades. Since I couldn't really decide which video card to get for my osx86, whether to settler for an 'out-of-the-box' 7300GT, or wait for the 8x00 drivers, or to get an x1900xt, I took the initiative to talk to an apple representative. Now, I didn't expect a 2-video card setup as an answer. I was thinking they'd promote the more expensive video cards like the quadro FX4500 or something. So, coming in conclusion that the representative recommended a dual-video card setup, I have a few questions.

 

How will the 2 cards connect? which card do i plug the monitor too? i searched in apple discussions forum about those questions, and I got mixed responses. I read that one person had 3 x 7300GTs and a person responded saying the other 2 doesn't do anything but sit there. So I was wondering if you guys could answer these question I had. hopefully it can confirm things, maybe, if you have the time, share me your thoughts/advice/opinon about which video card i should consider:

(1) 7300GT (possibly dual setup)

(2) x1900xt (or x1950xt)

(3) 8x00 series (wait)

(4) 7900 series?

(5) Others.

 

Transcript from chat:

• You are chatting with Natasha, an Apple Expert
  

• Hi, my name is Natasha. Welcome to Apple!
  
• You: Hi Natasha
  
• Natasha: Hi how are you?
  
• Natasha: How may I assist you today?
  
• You: I was wondering if you're able to answer any questions about the mac pro
  
• Natasha: I will be happy to assist you.
  
• You: what's the most recommended video card upgrade for the mac pro?
  
• Natasha: Will you be doing any graphic intense programs?
  
• You: i hope to work with apple's final cut pro one day
  
• Natasha: Great.
  
• Natasha: One moment while I research that for you.
  
• Natasha: Thanks for waiting. I'll be right with you.
  
• Natasha: This would be the graphics card I would get on the Mac pro 2 x Nvidia GeForce 7300GT 256MB
  
• You: 2 x?
  
• You: does that mean 2 video cards?
  
• Natasha: Yes sir or madam it would have 2 video cards in the mac pro.
  
• Natasha: It can go up to 4 video cards.
  
• You: wow
  
• You: since you said the mac pros can run 4 video cards? is that recommended? will the system be really hot?
  
• You: also, if there were 2 video cards in the mac pro, how would the monitor be connected? would it connect to either one of them? or both?
  
• Natasha: The mac pro has fans in the cpu part of the mac pro.
  
• Natasha: As far as the 2 video cards running that would be an technical support question.
  
• Natasha: I can give you the number.
  
• Natasha: The number for AppleCare is 800-275-2273.
  
• You: thanks, i appreciate your help
  

[BJMoose]

Besides my Hack, I own a Mac Pro with 1 video card. My understanding is that OSX doesn't support crossfire or anything like that. If you have 2 or more gfx cards, you can hook as many monitors as you have outputs for. Then they can be either mirrored or extended as you choose. The benefit is that you have tons of space to view all the different windows of your editing software. Hope this helps.

[deleted_account]

Besides my Hack, I own a Mac Pro with 1 video card. My understanding is that OSX doesn't support crossfire or anything like that. If you have 2 or more gfx cards, you can hook as many monitors as you have outputs for. Then they can be either mirrored or extended as you choose. The benefit is that you have tons of space to view all the different windows of your editing software. Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the reply BJMoose, I really appreciate it. Nice! you have a Mac Pro, I hope to own one, one day, but MacBook Pro first, the very reason why i'm builing a hackintosh system. I work with Final Cut Studio on my iMac G5, and yes, I understand the benefit of have an additional monitor especially for editing software, it's way convenient, more neck exercise too! (in a good way) So from what you replied, having the additional 7300GT video card like 'natasha' recommended was really for additional monitor purposes? That makes a lot of sense, and I can see where/how she's coming from. Since I mentioned FCS...well, from this point on, now that I have that understanding, would there be any benefit at all with 2 x 7300GT 256mb sli'd to be a 512 mb video card, this if for my software purposes and for osx86, is that possible? I've read people sli-ing the 7300GT in particular for windows....I've read here on insanely that it is possible to have 2 video cards in your system, for the purpose of one for the mac OS and one for the windows OS. Is it possible to turn off the other video card since i'll be using one OS at a time? That way, the power wouldn't too overload...Also, i'd like to know your thought on which video card you'd recommend from the 5 choices I had. Thanks again!

[BJMoose]

There have been a few post about this recently. If you have your 2 cards sli'd for windows and are using the same machine for OSX, I think you're going to have problems. I don't know if it will even see the card. I can't remember which Insanely Mac forum it was in, but within the last couple of days there was some talk recently about 2 cards, one each for windows and mac. Not sure if it ever got resolved. If you want to combine the 2 machines (mac and pc) why not go for a 512mb card. I'm using a flashed 7600GS 512mb card for both windows and osx. I'm a video editor by trade and it works plenty well for me...dual 24" monitors, 1 dvi and 1 vga.

[deleted_account]

There have been a few post about this recently. If you have your 2 cards sli'd for windows and are using the same machine for OSX, I think you're going to have problems. I don't know if it will even see the card. I can't remember which Insanely Mac forum it was in, but within the last couple of days there was some talk recently about 2 cards, one each for windows and mac. Not sure if it ever got resolved. If you want to combine the 2 machines (mac and pc) why not go for a 512mb card. I'm using a flashed 7600GS 512mb card for both windows and osx. I'm a video editor by trade and it works plenty well for me...dual 24" monitors, 1 dvi and 1 vga.

 

I agree with you on 2 cards vs. 1 that can do just as much or even better due to the excess of heat having 2. The second cards seems so unnessary. I don't see what is there to benefit as well, since sli-ing cards would just add more complication than osx86 already is, itself. I'll probably not go that route, and I'll search for those threads you mentioned about booting with both video cards for both OS's. I'm really considering a 7300GT, since, supposedly, it works out of the box? do you think it'd be powerful enough for Final Cut Studio 2? oh yeah, which OSx86 install dvd version are you using? And, was it hard to get your 512mb video card to work? Any problems at all?

[BJMoose]

First of all, all nVidia cards over 256mb need to have their rom flashed in order to work with OSX. It's simple to do and not very dangerous to the card (although I suppose there's always a risk). Check out macvidia.com for more info. The flash does not affect windows performance in case you're wondering.

 

I'm currently running uphuck's v1.4iR3 and Koolkal's 10.4.10 update with FCS2. Diabolik's Natit dual 0.2 is necessary for 512mb cards to get dual monitors working. Not sure about 256mb cards or the 7300GT. FCS2 works just as reliably and just as fast (if not faster ins some cases) as it does on my Mac Pro with its ATI x1900xt 512mb video card. No complaints whatsoever.

 

Uphuck's release has Natit built in, so once I checked that box during the install process, all functions of the video card, multi-resolution, qe/ci, mirroring, rotate etc work properly right 'out of the box'. Sli/Crossfire is more about gaming than anything else I think. The newest games really tax video refresh rates and redraw capabilities. Video editing does not have anywhere near the pull on a gfx card as the latest high-res games do. Hope this helps.

[ekwipt]

BJMoose, being a video editor on the high end FCS editing sytems, they have dual monitors and TV out. Do you think this is possible on a hackingtosh?