Graphics Card Advice- Replacing Zotac 9800gt for...?

[derek20la]

I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice for upgrading a video card...

Right now I have a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard with a Zotac 9800gt 512mb (1 vga, 1 dvi, 1 hdmi port). From everything I've read, this video card will only work with the VGA connector under SL. I really need a DVI port (I know Mac has no HDMI support).

Here are some of the replacements I am considering:

1) GIGABYTE GV-N98TSL-1GI GeForce 9800 GT 1GB Silent Cell- only concern is the heatsink on this card looks huge! is it really bigger than any of the other 9800gt?
2) EVGA 01G-P3-N981-TR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
3) EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB

All 3 of these cards are dual-DVI. Which one of them would work the best out-of-box with SL?

Kinda would like to stick to Nvidia, but on the other hand, should I just go ATI with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro? At least then I'd get a mini-display port too.

TIA for any advice...

 

[jimx86]

Right now I have a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard with a Zotac 9800gt 512mb (1 vga, 1 dvi, 1 hdmi port). From everything I've read, this video card will only work with the VGA connector under SL. I really need a DVI port (I know Mac has no HDMI support).

DVI should work fine.. it's just HDMI with problems.

Here are some of the replacements I am considering:

1) GIGABYTE GV-N98TSL-1GI GeForce 9800 GT 1GB Silent Cell- only concern is the heatsink on this card looks huge! is it really bigger than any of the other 9800gt?
2) EVGA 01G-P3-N981-TR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB
3) EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB

A lot of people used the silent cell, but it's width shouldn't be too much larger (if any larger) than a GTX 260, which isn't bad. It's highly recommended here, so I will also recommend it.

All 3 of these cards are dual-DVI. Which one of them would work the best out-of-box with SL?

All of them will work fine. The 9800 GTX+ might require you to set GraphicsEnabler=Yes, but they should all be very compatible.

Kinda would like to stick to Nvidia, but on the other hand, should I just go ATI with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro? At least then I'd get a mini-display port too.

Well NVidia is the most supported brand by Apple, so I'd stick with it. Especially if you want to stay with NVidia too. We only do ATI troubleshooting here if people already have ATI cards that they purchased, otherwise I'd recommend NVidia if you haven't purchased a card yet.

 

[Lnx2Mac]

Right now I have a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 motherboard with a Zotac 9800gt 512mb (1 vga, 1 dvi, 1 hdmi port). From everything I've read, this video card will only work with the VGA connector under SL. I really need a DVI port (I know Mac has no HDMI support).

DVI should work fine.. it's just HDMI with problems.

And the HDMI problem seems to be with some monitors, not all of them...

 

[jimx86]

And the HDMI problem seems to be with some monitors, not all of them...

That's weird.. then wouldn't it seem more like a monitor problem if the HDMI works sometimes?

 

[Lnx2Mac]

And the HDMI problem seems to be with some monitors, not all of them...

That's weird.. then wouldn't it seem more like a monitor problem if the HDMI works sometimes?

It's a compatibility/interoperability issue in the driver/GPU/Monitor HDCP chain...
Same rig might work OK with Windows' drivers.

 

[derek20la]

Thanks jimx86 and others for your advice... I really didn't want to buy a new card if I didn't have to.

One final question, can I use iBoot Supported (since all the rest of my hardware I know is good), or do I need iBoot Nvidia?

 

[Lnx2Mac]

One final question, can I use iBoot Supported (since all the rest of my hardware I know is good), or do I need iBoot Nvidia?

Supported should be OK...

Oh, and see faq.php#f0r2

Good Luck !
Lnx2Mac

 

[RayMacx64]

I have the EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB and it works out of the box with only GraphicsEnabler=Yes string in the com.apple.Boot. It will give you a 7.0 Windows Experience Index rating for graphics and gaming.I can highly recommend this card, it is a very well built card.

 

[jimx86]

I have the EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB and it works out of the box with only GraphicsEnabler=Yes string in the com.apple.Boot. It will give you a 7.0 Windows Experience Index rating for graphics and gaming.I can highly recommend this card, it is a very well built card.

I originally wanted to buy this card, but fermi support in OS X seemed far away.. now I regret getting the GTX 260.. Oh well, who cares about DirectX11 (which is like the only difference).

Architecture is different as well, but not many people feel a performance boost because of it. And the price actually costs more rather than when technology is normally upgraded and price stays the same. Not a really great release by NVidia this generation.. especially to stay in competition with ATI.

 

[derek20la]

To all who gave me advice before, thank you. Sorry to bring up an old topic, but it's the same incident.

I wasn't able to get DVI output working under 10.6.4 either with iBoot Supported or iBoot Nvidia with the Zotac card. I even donated and used CustomBeast, and while QE worked (Front row was ok), I was limited to 4:3 resolutions and VGA quality. I tried using my main Sharp TV, a Samsung TV and a Viewsonic widescreen monitor- none worked for DVI.

I just don't think that card is compatible. I was going to stay with the 9800gt series and get the the Gigabyte Silent Cell 1gb that's part of the Budget Power Build 1 recommendation. But there's one thing that worries me...

In Tony's blog that describes the 3 builds, the picture of the Gigabyte 9800gt is the dual-DVI version. Clicking the link to amazon.com or also going to newegg.com shows this card is now a DVI/HDMI/VGA combo...the same thing that happened as my Zotac (I must have purchased just as a new revision was released but before pictures were updated).

I just want to make sure before I put down $100+ that I wont be stuck with a card I cant use again. Any advice please?