kamikaZi_blitz Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I possibly have access to a new Mac Pro tower (2.8GHz Quad wth 4GB of ram) that has had the HDD and GPU taken out. I am using an 8800GT in my PC at the moment and would most likely just slap Windows Vista or XP on there through bootcamp as I do alot of gaming and work with Cinevision/Scenarist. Is this remotely possible? Would I run into any major issues? I could get an insane deal on the tower so I am seriously considering it if it is possible. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrupted Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 You can use PC graphics cards in the Mac Pro, but you can't boot OSX with them from what I've heard. So it'd work fine in Windows. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-650971 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The iMan Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 I've heard that you can flash the card if its the right version but you should look for nvinject Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-651278 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon351 Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 You also may not be able to use the boot selection menu (Alt/Option at startup) since there would be no EFI driver for the card. It would be interesting to see how this works out, and also whether NVinject works on a Mac Pro. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-652051 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The iMan Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Why don't you buy one from apple I think they sell them Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-655809 Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrancew_hod Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 ^Yeah, you'd be better off with buying the 8800GT directly from Apple and not worry about any hacks. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-655854 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcon351 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I guess the answer is that the OP would rather not spend money on an Apple 8800GT card. Since the PC card is already available, there's room to experiment without wasted purchases. A botched ROM flash can be recovered from. It happened to me when I hacked my 512MB 7900GT BIOS to work with a Hackintosh. I used a wrong flash app at first and ended up with no VGA BIOS, so I couldn't boot. I put the card in another PC as a secondary and restored it in there. All was well again... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-656261 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I've heard that you can flash the card if its the right version but you should look for nvinject You could but the former is not really meant for most people (only for people comfortable flashing/reflashing their $500 hardware). I think it's better to use the hacked drivers though they probably aren't as good as the drivers that apple coded. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-656625 Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrancew_hod Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I'm thinking it's more to the card that just flashing the bios; chances are there may be some special hardware module on the Apple card to interact with the EFI. The PC card may not have it and just flashing it may not work. However you can look at this thread: http://www.themacelite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1180 If you read it carefully and get whatever card they try to use, you may be successful. But briefly scanning the thread you may need a specific PC card to even try it so you may end up buying a card anyway... and if that's the case, you'd might as well buy from Apple. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-656638 Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrancew_hod Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 Looks like you're getting your wish... Download the rom in the link found in my previous post and hunt down this card: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Y16TXM then hunt down the articles on xlr8yourmac.com on flashing the drive... Happy flashing Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-657045 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigboss Posted March 7, 2008 Share Posted March 7, 2008 See: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=91755 Woo! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/91233-mac-pro-barebones-question/#findComment-657393 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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