upgrade 1st gen Mac Pro video

[serogers]

I have an original Mac Pro, 2-dual core 2.66GHz Xeon processors, and am looking to upgrade the GPU so I can upgrade OS beyond 10.7.
Are there any known cards I can use to replace the ATI X-1900 card it shipped with? That is the reason I can't upgrade the OS, so I am looking for something to keep this otherwise sturdy machine current.

I tried a GT 740, 4GB card last night, but it wasn't recognized. Monitor came on, but got no signal from the card.

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Thanks!

- Scott

 

[Going Bald]

I have an original Mac Pro, 2-dual core 2.66GHz Xeon processors, and am looking to upgrade the GPU so I can upgrade OS beyond 10.7.
Are there any known cards I can use to replace the ATI X-1900 card it shipped with? That is the reason I can't upgrade the OS, so I am looking for something to keep this otherwise sturdy machine current.

I tried a GT 740, 4GB card last night, but it wasn't recognized. Monitor came on, but got no signal from the card.

Any help would be highly appreciated!

Thanks!

- Scott

ATI Radeon HD5770 or HD5870 would either one be a good upgrade if you can find one. Later Mac Pro's came with these cards. I still have a Sapphire HD5770 Vapor X in my build running every version of OS X from 10.6.7 to 10.10.2. I think you can still find the Apple versions on Amazon.com used.

 

[rwillett]

Technically most 5770's will work in the Apple Mac Pro. Any non-standard 5770 card will not show the Apple logo on boot up, but should still be recognised.

I ran a genuine Apple 5770 AND a generic 5770 in my old Mac Pro and both worked well at the same time. The PSU is big enough and the slots seem to work fine, though you need a six pin to 8 pin converter.

Fleabay has lots of the Apple cards but they are expensive compared to the generic ones, approx 2x which is a lot for a firmware change, no difference in speed or functionality.

Rob

 

[serogers]

Thanks, guys, for the input.
Are there any nvidia cards compatible? I see of the build your own list for graphics cards that the 740 works, but I don't know if they do on the older machines or not.
Is my Mac just gettin too old for anything anymore?
I don't want to have to get a new machine, but if the cards are that expensive, I might as well just get a Mac Mini for the price of an almost decade old graphics card.

Are there any other requirements I need to keep in mind?

Thanks again!

- Scott

 

[Going Bald]

Thanks, guys, for the input.
Are there any nvidia cards compatible? I see of the build your own list for graphics cards that the 740 works, but I don't know if they do on the older machines or not.
Is my Mac just gettin too old for anything anymore?
I don't want to have to get a new machine, but if the cards are that expensive, I might as well just get a Mac Mini for the price of an almost decade old graphics card.

Are there any other requirements I need to keep in mind?

Thanks again!

- Scott

GT120 or GT210 are both compatible with your Mac. These are the last nVidia cards with a Mac version before Apple went with AMD for GPUs due to that law suit way back when.

There is a list somewhere I remember seeing of compatible nVidia cards but I don't remember just when it was.

 

[serogers]

Thanks for the info!
I'll see what I can find out there.