Hey guys, I just recently bought a refurb Mac Pro with a Xeon 2.66Ghz CPU. It comes with a nvidia 7300 pre installed, and i was wondering what graphics cards I could put in it without the machine going all bananas on me. It comes with a 980w power supply, so power shouldn't be an issue. I currently have a GTX 760ti in my gaming rig and I am pretty sure it wont work with the Mac Pro, since it is a bit older machine. I was looking online, and everybody, even Apple, specify up to a 8800GT, which is fine. But would a 9800GT (Akimbo) work, maybe the 9800GTX? I dont plan on doing any gaming on the rig at all, maybe some video and photo editing, but definitely want something better then the 7300. The Model of the mac pro is ma356ll/a.
 
Thanks!  

lemerex
Hey guys, I just recently bought a refurb Mac Pro with a Xeon 2.66Ghz CPU. It comes with a nvidia 7300 pre installed, and i was wondering what graphics cards I could put in it without the machine going all bananas on me. It comes with a 980w power supply, so power shouldn't be an issue. I currently have a GTX 760ti in my gaming rig and I am pretty sure it wont work with the Mac Pro, since it is a bit older machine. I was looking online, and everybody, even Apple, specify up to a 8800GT, which is fine. But would a 9800GT (Akimbo) work, maybe the 9800GTX? I dont plan on doing any gaming on the rig at all, maybe some video and photo editing, but definitely want something better then the 7300. The Model of the mac pro is ma356ll/a.
 
Thanks!  

Providing the Mac Pro has the proper slots it should be able to take any particular graphics card you place in it. Just remember that the versions of some graphic cards are very particular as to the type of system to place it in. I do remember a while back there were Mac specific video cards out there. This may be a non issue as you have PCIe slots. Just test out one that you have there and it should work. The only caveat is if the version of OS X you are running has the driver support for the card but in general terms OS X is a BSD variant and should be utilizing a fairly generic nVidia driver in either case. I doubt you would have issues using the 9800GT that you have there. Even a GTX board should be fine providing your power supply has the appropriate amps on the +12v rail.

If you want you can put Win 7 64/32 on it. You just have to look up how to make a boot camp bypass DVD... Oh well, what the heck, here is the link if that what you decide to do.
http://derekhat.com/insta...book-without-bootcamp/
Then you can just put any gpu in it. I had 2 gtx 570s in it it was running just fine. I don't remember if i had sli enabled or not, it was a year or more ago when i played with mine. But i know it worked. I recall i had some problems with audio drivers. It could of been hardware problem though. (I got that mac for free from a friend). I still have that tank as a backup comp. It has EVGA's GTS 250 in it now. So if you gonna run media editing soft on it maybe its the way to go. Also you have to order some cables for mac gpus. You can find it on the ebay.
Something like that. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/171006401144?lpid=82&chn=ps
Hope it was of help. Good luck with what  ever you'll decide to do.
 
P.S. Keep in mind, since its win 7 you'll have no problem gaming on it if you need a break from editing. 
Long live Hackintosh.