Passive GPU: Geforce GT640 or Radeon HD7750

[pBook]

I'm planning to build a hackintosh at the end of the summer. It's primary use will be Logic Pro X, some web development and a little bit of Photoshop. Since this will be my first hackintosh, I'll follow the Buyers Guides as much as possible. I've one question though


I want two buy two monitors (1920x1080 or 1920x1200 each). To drive these monitors I want to buy a discrete GPU. Noise is very important for me so it needs to be a passive card. The Geforce GT640 seems a good choice, but for a few bucks more, I can buy a Radeon HD7750. Also passive, but much faster. I've read here and there that this card is supported out of the box by Mavericks, but I can't find many success stories! What do you guys think?

 

[Going Bald]

I'm planning to build a hackintosh at the end of the summer. It's primary use will be Logic Pro X, some web development and a little bit of Photoshop. Since this will be my first hackintosh, I'll follow the Buyers Guides as much as possible. I've one question though


I want two buy two monitors (1920x1080 or 1920x1200 each). To drive these monitors I want to buy a discrete GPU. Noise is very important for me so it needs to be a passive card. The Geforce GT640 seems a good choice, but for a few bucks more, I can buy a Radeon HD7750. Also passive, but much faster. I've read here and there that this card is supported out of the box by Mavericks, but I can't find many success stories! What do you guys think?

If you can find one, the Sapphire HD7750 Ultimate ( http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1249-page3.html ) would work as the id matches the 7750 on this list http://www.tonymacx86.com/graphics/92952-list-confirmed-radeon-hd-7xxx-series-10-8-3-a.html

 

[pBook]

Both cards are still available in The Netherlands. The Asus GT640 2GB (GDDR3, also passive) sells for 80 euros and the Sapphire HD7750 1GB (GDDR5) sells for 100 euros, so price and availability aren't a problem.

 

[ojotoxy]

I am also obsessed with noise. The passive GT640 works essentially perfectly, out of the box in OSX. The HD7750, while it seems likely to work decently, will have some funny issues such as Chimera not supporting video output on it. Or having garbled text during bootup. I can't say for certain whether any of this is even possible to fully resolve currently. It seems like it won't be totally easy to get it to work with Chimera at all. There's a reason the buying guide does not recommend HD7xxx series cards.

Also the sapphire HD7750 has that overhanging cooler on top which could conceivably not fit with your CPU cooler. Visually it looks highly unlikely to fit in my particular configuration. I use the GT640 and it is fine for normal computer tasks including HD videos but it's not good for gaming. It also gets very hot.

Hope this helps and BTW I would love to hear other recommendations for good OSX GPU's that are very quiet.

 

[pBook]

Also the sapphire HD7750 has that overhanging cooler on top which could conceivably not fit with your CPU cooler. Visually it looks highly unlikely to fit in my particular configuration. I use the GT640 and it is fine for normal computer tasks including HD videos but it's not good for gaming. It also gets very hot.

After some more research, I'm dropping the HD7750 as an option. I'll buy the GT640 and might swap that card if there will be a better passive card in the future. Which GT640 do you use? I'm planning to buy this Asus GT640-DCSL-2GD3:

www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GT640DCSL2GD3/

 

[ojotoxy]

Which GT640 do you use? I'm planning to buy this Asus GT640-DCSL-2GD3:

www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GT640DCSL2GD3/

Yes that's the one I use.

 

[ojotoxy]

I am rather disappointed with the performance of the GT640. It's just not a terribly fast card and I ... well, like to do graphical intensive things.

So I am buying the ASUS GTX 760

1.It's a much more powerful card
2.Not passive... but many of the reviews say quiet, and ASUS is developing a reputation for quiet
3.On the buyers guide.

http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-490241...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121775

 

[pBook]

I am rather disappointed with the performance of the GT640. It's just not a terribly fast card and I ... well, like to do graphical intensive things.

So I am buying the ASUS GTX 760

1.It's a much more powerful card
2.Not passive... but many of the reviews say quiet, and ASUS is developing a reputation for quiet
3.On the buyers guide.

http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-490241...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121775

No wonder it's faster, it's more than twice the price of a GT640

I just found a passive Radeon R7 250:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=1&gid=3&sgid=1226&pid=2130&lid=1

The performance is equal to a GTX 650 but there's no native support for it in OS X. There seems to be a working kext (here) but I'm not taking the risk since I can't find any success stories. My experience with active cards is not really positive, when you push them to the limit, they make an awful lot of noise.