Recommended GPU for OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard?

[ElCapitanWOW]

Hi, this is my first thread on this forum, so go easy on me

I been wanting to dip my toes in the world that is the Hackintosh for a while. I've never done a Hackintosh install myself, so I need the easiest route to Snow Leopard possible. I've got everything I need (including a dead B&W G3 I'll be using as the case), however I'm stuck for graphics cards for Snow Leopard.

I've decided I'm buying used, as I guessed I don't really have a choice for 10.6. I know there's plenty of posts already listing some graphics cards, and I've done more research outside of tonymacx86 for possible cards to use but I'm still pretty stuck for choices. Does the card I need to use need to be period correct to Snow Leopard, or can I use even slightly newer cards? I need something that works OOB and isn't too expensive used. I just need some info straight out of the horse's mouth, if you know what I mean.

I'm not too bothererd if it's from either Nvidia or ATI/AMD, I just need to know what is the easiest card to work with on Snow Leopard. Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[trs96]

Welcome to the Forum CaptainWOW ! Good to hear you're making the leap. Here's a list of compatible cards from Nov. 2010
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/11/fully-compatible-nvidia-graphics-cards.html

Many of these can be found used on Ebay. Make sure to buy from a reputable seller that does take returns.

Here's one you could use that looks in good condition. Whatever you pick get at least 512MB of Vram not 256.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-NVIDIA...927571?hash=item1a294af393:g:TaEAAOSwc-tY2lhk

 

[ElCapitanWOW]

Hi, thanks for replying, really helped. I noticed in the post you linked the 450 and 460 are crossed out and said to be a bit unstable. Has this been fixed yet? They're a lot easier to find on ebay as they haven't become "collectable" to an extent yet

 

[Petri Krohn]

If you are starting off with a PC and a Snow Leopard retail DVD then you need a graphics card that works out of the box. Naturally you can upgrade the card once you have updated your macOS to 10.6.8 or a later macOS version. I believe the retail DVD came in version 10.6.3. I do not think the DVD sold today is of a never version.

Apple has a list of video cards that came with the original Mac Pros. See "About graphics-card compatibility between Mac Pro models". The cards listed:

• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120
• ATI Radeon X1900 XT
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
• ATI Radeon HD 4870
• ATI Radeon HD 5770
• ATI Radeon HD 5870

The Radeon HD 5870 card requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 so it may not work with the retail DVD. There is also a Radeon HD 3870 Mac & PC Edition that works in early Mac Pros.

Here is another list of graphics cards supported by Snow Leopard (10.6.x) but not OpenCL capable.

• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100
• ATI Radeon X1300
• ATI Mobility Radeon X1600
• ATI Radeon X1600
• ATI Radeon X1900 XT
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
• ATI Radeon HD 3870
• NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
• NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500

Is anything missing?