The great consumer vs workstation graphics card debate

[goody_1989]

Hi guys, this is my first post so apologies in advance if anything comes across a bit n00bish. I have just successfully built a hackintosh using Alfa's guide here. I'm currently using the same processor and motherboard with the inbuilt HD4000 graphics, the only thing I did change from the guide was the system definition to Mac Pro 3,1 to fix some audio popping and optical digital out.

I am currently looking at getting a graphics card for the machine but I am somewhat stumped by which one to get. I intend to use the Mac for 3D work (modelling, rendering, animation) within Autodesk Maya and Mudbox. The real question is here, what is the best graphics card to get? I have waded through many forums that debate amd/ati vs nvidia and gaming cards vs workstation level cards. At the end of the day I want the machine to be as stable as possible so I'm currently think about going with the Nvidia GTX680 (EVGA 4GB) or the Quadro 4000 (2GB). (The Quadro K5000 which is the workstation equivalent of the GTX680 costs way too much).

Now on to the real meat of the matter, which of these card will work best for Maya/Mudbox in OS X? I understand that Nvidia have somewhat gimped the drivers of the GTX680 in relation to gpu compute and the drivers for the Quadro are in theory much more optimised for this kind of work. However, is this just when using the cards in Windows? I mean, if I'm just using the standard Mac drivers, and the GTX680 has 4GB rather than the Quadro's 2GB, will it not blow the Quadro out of the water? Currently both cards I'm looking at come in at around £500, but it would pain me to have to fork out that much for the Fermi based Quadro if I thought I could get better performance from the GTX 680.


Anyone have any thoughts/experience with this?

 

[goody_1989]

Also I'm guessing from the lack of info anywhere that no one has got one of the new AMD Firepro cards working in OS X?

 

[imaj]

Good luck getting the info. guys. I am new to all this hackintosh stuff and I am finding it hard to get concrete info. from people. I guess it is not that cut and dry putting a system together. Therefore, it might be tough to answer some questions. I hope you get an answer as I too am looking for a graphics card.

 

[Jotokun]

In general, the only way we know if things work is if someone tries it and posts about it. If you're not finding much info, its because not many have tried it and shared their experiences. It could work flawlessly, or not at all.

As to performance differences, I honestly couldn't tell you as I dont work with those kind of applications.

 

[ShugoTenshi]

Hi guys, this is my first post so apologies in advance if anything comes across a bit n00bish. I have just successfully built a hackintosh using Alfa's guide here. I'm currently using the same processor and motherboard with the inbuilt HD4000 graphics, the only thing I did change from the guide was the system definition to Mac Pro 3,1 to fix some audio popping and optical digital out.

I am currently looking at getting a graphics card for the machine but I am somewhat stumped by which one to get. I intend to use the Mac for 3D work (modelling, rendering, animation) within Autodesk Maya and Mudbox. The real question is here, what is the best graphics card to get? I have waded through many forums that debate amd/ati vs nvidia and gaming cards vs workstation level cards. At the end of the day I want the machine to be as stable as possible so I'm currently think about going with the Nvidia GTX680 (EVGA 4GB) or the Quadro 4000 (2GB). (The Quadro K5000 which is the workstation equivalent of the GTX680 costs way too much).

Now on to the real meat of the matter, which of these card will work best for Maya/Mudbox in OS X? I understand that Nvidia have somewhat gimped the drivers of the GTX680 in relation to gpu compute and the drivers for the Quadro are in theory much more optimised for this kind of work. However, is this just when using the cards in Windows? I mean, if I'm just using the standard Mac drivers, and the GTX680 has 4GB rather than the Quadro's 2GB, will it not blow the Quadro out of the water? Currently both cards I'm looking at come in at around £500, but it would pain me to have to fork out that much for the Fermi based Quadro if I thought I could get better performance from the GTX 680.


Anyone have any thoughts/experience with this?

Did you end up going with the GTX 680? I am still going back and forth on which Graphics Card I should finalize on too.