Advice please. Graphics cards...going crazy trying to upgrade

[RandomNumber]

My system is below in the signature. I want to replace my GeForce 9800 GT with something that is faster. Since upgrading to Mavericks I've noticed a lag in things like the icons being rendered on screen either in a folder with many icons or sometimes visiting a website. I don't remember ever seeing those things being drawn on screen before. In any event I'd like a suggestion for a card that will be faster and still allow me to boot into 10.6 and 10.8 which I still need to do sometimes.

I have been reading thru the forums and all but it is very confusing. What works with what and how you can compare real world effect compared to my current card (9800GT).

I really appreciate any advice offered.

 

[bobsbuddypeter]

You can compare GPUs at http://gpuboss.com .
There may be something else going on though, I'd try a clean install first.

 

[Adrian B]

My system is below in the signature. I want to replace my GeForce 9800 GT with something that is faster. Since upgrading to Mavericks I've noticed a lag in things like the icons being rendered on screen either in a folder with many icons or sometimes visiting a website. I don't remember ever seeing those things being drawn on screen before. In any event I'd like a suggestion for a card that will be faster and still allow me to boot into 10.6 and 10.8 which I still need to do sometimes.

I have been reading thru the forums and all but it is very confusing. What works with what and how you can compare real world effect compared to my current card (9800GT).

I really appreciate any advice offered.

I think that the following ATI models work in Snow Leopard (10.6.8) through to Yosemite:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/building-sandy-bridge-customac-buyers.html

I think that the NVIDIA 2**, 4** and 5** series cards all work with 10.7 (LION) and above. I have an old Asus ATI 5570 fitted with a Passive cooling solution that runs in a Snow Leopard Build. I have also run test installations of ML, Mavericks and Yosemite successfully.

Some other further old links that may give you some help:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/14547-10-6-7-native-ati-5xxx-6xxx-cards-work-dont.html
http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/...graphics-cards-framebuffer-personalities.html

For an idea of performance use the following link: http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/...-right-now-hierarchy-chart-toms-hardware.html

 

[rwillett]

The 5770's work all the way through. I've used them from 10.6 up to 10.9.5.

Can't comment on their use in Yosemite but I'd be gobsmacked if they didn't.

I'd also suspect the 7xxx series would also work. You will struggle with the nVidia cards in older software, though the nVidia cards are a lot better supported now.

It depends on what you want to do with your kit. For most uses the nVidia cards are very good but not well supported on older stuff. The 5770's are dirt cheap, work well, easily supported but not so fast.

If you moved to 10.9.x you will get more and better options.

Hope this helps,

Rob.

 

[george86]

I have Asus Republic of Gamers Nvidia gtx760 4gb and running on 4k monitor works awesome no additional kexts needed, OS X yosemite recognized it no problem. Good Luck

 

[Adrian B]

I have Asus Republic of Gamers Nvidia gtx760 4gb and running on 4k monitor works awesome no additional kexts needed, OS X yosemite recognized it no problem. Good Luck

The GTX 760 is a great card, but the OP needs to retain the ability to use Snow Leopard(10.6) as well as Mountain Lion (10.8) thus a GTX 760 would not be suitable.

 

[RandomNumber]

First of all let me thank all of you folks for responding. It's very helpful and I appreciate your thoughts and comments.

I have decided that to move forward I might have to accept giving up booting into 10.6. I can upgrade that to 10.8 and still it will be useful for a lot of what I needed 10.6 for. I will also boot routinely into 10.9. Therefore I am looking at the GTX 760 cards as they have pretty good price/performance. I have narrowed my choice to two options. My question is:

Which of these two choices is best?

1. MSI GTX 760
2. EVGA GTX 760

It seems from this article from http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4608/geforce-gtx-760-round-up-asus-vs-msi-vs-evga-vs-inno-3d that the EVGA performs a little better but the MSI is cooler and much quieter. The MSI is $10 dollars cheaper.

I think they will both work out of the box with GraphicsEnabler=no

Thank you.

 

[RandomNumber]

I found a review of GTX 760 cards but unfortunately the EVGA is not included. Here is the review:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542.html

I still need guidance though...

 

[DrEskimo]

Both will work just fine.

I have the MSI GTX 770 and it runs nice and quiet.

The EVGA does have better support for backplates and water-cooling though. I wanted a backplate for my MSI and ended up having to order a custom one.

Personally, I would go for which ever is cheaper. Unlikely to notice any real world difference between the two. Both are good cards

 

[Adrian B]

I found a review of GTX 760 cards but unfortunately the EVGA is not included. Here is the review:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542.html

I still need guidance though...

GTX 760 do not work in Snow Leopard - not sure that it would work in Mountain Lion either.