Can you use a standard GeForce 8800 GT card? If you own a Mac Pro or other Apple product that uses a Nvidia graphics card by default, then youll have to purchase the specialized Apple version of the card. Fortunately, these are easy to find on eBay. In fact, the standard Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT driver for the non-Apple variation wont work for these. Update: (7/23/2008) Oliver wrote with initial notes on temperatures of the Accelero S1/R2 without fan vs. The stock 8800GT cooler in his Mac Pro: 'Temperatures of Nvidia 8800GT w/Accelero S1 Rev 2 cooler vs. Stock cooler Today I put the GeForce 8800 GT back in my Mac Pro (replacing the Radeon HD 3870 review sample), booted Windows Vista Business 64-bit, started the Riva Tuner monitoring tool.
Mac Pro 8800 Gt
Nvidia 8800GT w/Accelero S1 Rev 2 cooler (in Mac Pro)
By John W.
Posted: 7/2/2008
Updated 7/18/2008 (Notes and Photos on Optional Fan)
Updated 7/23/2008 (Temperatures w/stock cooler vs passive S1/R2) Update: (7/23/2008) Oliver wrote with initial notes on temperatures of the Accelero S1/R2 without fan vs. the stock 8800GT cooler in his Mac Pro: 'Temperatures of Nvidia 8800GT w/Accelero S1 Rev 2 cooler vs. stock cooler
Today I put the GeForce 8800 GT back in my Mac Pro (replacing the Radeon HD 3870 review sample), booted Windows Vista Business 64-bit, started the Riva Tuner monitoring tool, and then opened the 3D Window of ATITool, which shows a rotating fur cube, which is quite taxing for the video card.
- With the stock cooler, the GPU temperature rose to a steady 83 degrees Celsius in less than 5 minutes. (The fan spun at about 2700 RPM and was clearly audible, with the case closed, standing on the floor beneath my desk).
- With the Accelero S1 Rev 2 and no additional fan the GPU temperature rose to a steady 74 degree celsius in 30 minutes. That's with the case fans at default speeds.
Ambient room temperature was 25 degrees Celsius BTW. I must say that I'm impressed!
I might still get the optional 'Turbo Module', as I have only one other PCIe card in the Mac Pro (top slot), so I can afford to block a PCIe slot. And the cooler the equipment the better.
Cheers, Oliver'
I asked he report back if he sees any issues in longer-term use.
(
info/photos from John's original mail follows - updated for notes on adding a Fan)
I just got this VGA cooler for my Nvidia 8800 GT for Mac Pro. I got really tired of the card getting sooo hot. It would get so hot that it would burn my fingers... (
GPUs are rated to operate normally -far above- the temperatures that are uncomfortable to touch. And generally you do not want to leave the tower's side cover off in use.
) So I looked to see what I could find and saw this silent cooler. Everyone on Newegg gave it rave reviews.
I am really happy with it. I can acutely touch the heat sync 'vs' the stock. They have a cooler (fan) option for it, but it wouldn't fit in the Mac Pro. I dont know how much the temp dropped on the card after the swapping of the cooler, but all I know is that I can touch it. The cooler will fit on any of the mac pro graphics cards, both Nvidia and ATI. For only $29.99 you cannot beat the price and quality of the product.
My only issue with it is that the optional cooler doesn't plug directly into the card, but it's a direct fit with all ATI cards that use the three pin plug.
I hope this info helps others out. The biggest reason I chose this cooler is because the screws are flush on the bottom. Which is an issue with the Mac Pro, because of how close the card sits to the housing to the ram and heat sinks for the mac pro. There are alot of options for the 8800, but all of them have large screws to secure the cooler. Enjoy!
(He later sent photos (see below) and notes on adding a fan)
The fan was something that I felt I needed because the fans in the Mac Pro were not generating enough air flow, so I decided to get a fan because the area around the GPU still got really hot. Fan solves all issues with heat. I am very happy with it. Under heavy use I notice the biggest difference because its controlled by the graphics card.
The fan is only audible at start up just like the stock fan, during game play it still isn't audible at all. It would have been fine to leave the cooler without a fan, but I am one of those people that likes things to run at there best, so spending $2.99 on a fan was well worth it to me.
I don't have a way to measure how hot things get, but I do it by touch. The stock cooler got so hot it almost smelt like burning plastic, that kind of fried smell which I didn't think was right at all. It would get so hot I couldn't even touch it for a sec. So I got the cooler which solved that issue, but still got very hot to the touch after hours of game play, but I still could hold my finger on it for a couple of seconds. With the fan I can touch the cooler for as long as I want. Hope all this helps!
-John W.
From Accelero S1 Rev 2 Product Page:
'The Accelero S1 Rev. 2 dramatically extends the compatibility to many of the latest graphic cards. It supports high-end to main stream graphic cards including the latest hot selling Radeon HD 3870, 3850 , GeForce 8800GTS (G92) and 8800GT.
The Accelero S1 Rev. 2 now comes with a new flexible mounting mechanism, multiple screw hole sets and modifications to the heatpipes enabling it to fit a wider range of leading graphic cards. As a result more gamers can benefit from adopting the Accelero S1 Rev. 2 which dramatically improves their gaming experience.
To provide passive cooling for high-end graphic cards, Accelero S1 Rev. 2 is a high performance passive cooler featuring 4 heatpipes connected with extra large surface area. It effectively removes a great deal of heat from the graphic cards keeping the components cool. Thanks to the elegant design, Accelero S1 Rev. 2 outperforms active cooling solutions. Accelero S1 Rev. 2 creates a true industry leading zero noise cooling solution for all enthusiast gamers.
- Noiseless Cooling
- 4 Heat Pipes
- Special Heat Spreader for Voltage Regulator Cooling
- Memory Cooling
- High Reliability
- Low Weight
- 6 Years Warranty
Accelero S1 Rev. 2 features 4 thick copper heatpipes which connect directly from the GPU core. The heatpipes with sintered powder wicks provide ultimate heat conductivity. Heat from the GPU is rapidly dissipated through 32 fins that extend beyond the height of the graphic card. Optimized fin design allows better air flow thus removing the heat more effectively. Together with the bundled RAM heat sinks and voltage regulator heat spreader, Accelero S1 Rev. 2 provides an all-round passive solution that achieves the best cooling performance.'
Photos (updated w/Optional Fan Pix)
Another recent Mac Pro/8800GT cooler article here is on the Thermalright V2 (w/fan).
Nvidia Geforce 8800 Gt For Mac Dark Screen
Other Graphics Card Related Articles: - See the Video topics page, Graphics card and Coolers section.
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'BARE facts on Mac speed FEATS'
Rob-ART, Main Mad Scientist (aka Dr. Frankenstein)
Bet-TAY, Special Features Edtior (aka Frau Blucher)
SHOOTOUT: GeForce 8800 GT
versus three other GPUS
for the '2008' Mac ProOriginally posted February 14th, 2008, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
Updated March 3rd, 2008, with Quadro FX 5600 results We now have our GeForce 8800 GT kit in the lab along with a Quadro FX 5600 loaned to use by AppleMacanix. So here's the 3D Game 'Shoot 'em up' for all the cards compatible with the 'early 2008' Mac Pro 3.2GHz 8-core monster. BLIZZARD WORLD OF WARCRAFT
Working with a WoW programmer, we devised a test that stresses the GPU and produces repeatable results. We placed our warrior in the Firetree realm. He started at the totem pole at the entrance to Village Narache, ran East to the two large trees on a nearby hill, turned around, and returned to the totem pole. By using an addon called 'Titan Performance,' we were able to capture average frame rate for the running sequence. (Test was run in Full Screen mode and best settings.) MACSOFT UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004 FLYBY
We used the SantaDuck Toolkit to benchmark with UT2004. Though a Botmatch simulates actual game play, it is very CPU intensive. However, the Flyby benchmark is primarily GPU -- especiallly at max settings and high resolution. We used the Inferno map. ASPYR PREY
It 'represents' for the games based on the Doom 3 engine. We use a demo file in our benchmarking that we downloaded from Overclockers in Australia. High Quality was selected (including 8X anisotropy). MACSOFT HALO
We ran the newest UB version. We set everything to the highest quality except lens flare. FSAA was set to OFF. ASPYR QUAKE 4
We had trouble getting version 1.42 to run its nettimedemo so we tested version 1.3 instead using 'id_demo001.' We had the MP mode turned on along with Dynamic Shadows. ASPYR DOOM 3
Holding the Command key down at launch allows you to set the resolution to various sizes not available inside Doom 3's interactive settings. We had Dynamic Shadows enabled. LEGEND of GRAPHS
FX 5600 = nVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 (1536MB of GDDR2 - Apple CTO)
G8800 GT = nVIDIA GeForce GT (512MB of GDDR3 - Apple CTO)
R1900 XT = ATI Radeon X1900 XT (512MB of GDDR3 - Apple CTO 2006 Mac Pro)
R2600 XT = ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT (256MB of GDDR3 - Standard card for 'early 2008' Mac Pro
In the case of each 3D accelerated game, we ran at High or Highest Quality settings at 1920x1200. All Macs were running Leopard 10.5.1 with the Leopard Graphics Update 1.0 installed. CONCLUSION
As a 3D accelerated GPU, the GeForce 8800 GT looks like a great addition to the 'early 2008' Mac Pro. It's significantly faster than the two Radeon options and at $200 CTO, it's a no-brainer. The advantage should also apply to pro 3D apps that use 3D OpenGL code for animation. However, it's a different story with 'pro apps' that use Core Image effects. For that info, we refer you to our expanded page with Motion 3 and iMaginator test results. PROBLEMS WITH DVI-2 PORT
Two of my 'remote mad scientists' reported either slowness or errors when they used the DVI-2 port on the GeForce 8800 GT. Hopefully this and the Core Image performance will be addressed with a future driver or firmware update. LEGACY 8800?
As you probably know by now, a collective groan was uttered by many of the 2006/2007 Mac Pro owners when they learned that the GeForce 8800 GT kit for the 2008 Mac Pro was NOT compatible with the older Mac Pros. As of April 15th, 2008, Apple started shipping the 'legacy' version of the GeForce 8800 GT in a kit form for 2006/2007 Mac Pro owners. When you visit the Apple Store USA, click on 'Displays' in the left column and look for the Geforce 8800 GT labeled '1st Generation.' Let me remind you that our testing has shown this to be a strong 3D OpenGL gaming card but a weak Pro App card (Motion, Aperture, FCP). We believe a Mac OS X compatible Radeon HD 3870 would perform better for Pro Apps. We are urging ATI/AMD to release such a card and will alert you if and when that happens. MAKING THE RADEON X1900 XT WORK
Some reports have come in that the Radeon X1900 XT does not work on their '2008' Mac Pro. We have had no problems running it in our 2008 Mac Pro 3.2GHz. We asked ATI about this issue. They suggest performing the firmware update on the Radeon X1900 XT while it is installed in a 2006 or 2007 Mac Pro. Then moving it to the 2008 Mac Pro. NOTE: We can NOT get the Radeon X1900 XT to boot Vista 64 from our Boot Camp partition. We are forced to use the Radeon HD 2600 XT (or GeForce 8800 GT) for that purpose. THE ELEPHANT IN THE CORNER
We are not ignoring the Quadro FX 5600 (which is not available in kit form -- and we could not afford if it was). It is a pricey ($2850) CTO option that is not significantly faster than the GeForce 8800 GT for 90% of graphics intensive applications. However, the Quadro FX 5600 does feature more video memory than the GeForce 8800 GT (1.5GB vs 512MB). And, according to one Maya guru, the extra memory (and superior memory management code) of the Quadro workstation cards becomes useful for frame buffering in apps like Maya. This is especially true for redraw of multiple views of the same complex 3D model. This has been enhanced further by Quadro FX 5600's new integrated memory allocation which allows the card to dynamically allocate on-board RAM to whatever task is at hand rather than have specific hard wired allocations. So rather than say a maximum of 40% of total on-board RAM dedicated to the texture buffer the card can ramp up and down from 80% sharing with the immediate needs of the other buffers.
As of February 29th, we have a Quadro FX 5600 in the lab, thanks to our friends at AppleMacanix. Just for fun, we will test it using our 3D Game suite and add it to the graphs above on March 3rd. SPECIAL THANKS TO REMOTE MAD SCIENTISTS who provided us with early GeForce 8800 GT results. The numbers above now reflect our own testing.
Thanks toEric W. for his UT2004, Halo, Quake 4, and Doom 3 results.
Thanks to David McNett for his Prey and Motion results..
Thanks to Chris Rhoads of SarahRhoadsPhoto.com for his World of Warcraft results. RELATED LINKS
Bare Feats' reveals a weakness in the GeForce 8800 GT with the results from 15 Motion 3 template RAM Previews. Bare Feats' CPU crunch tests on the 3.2GHz Harpertown Mac Pro versus others. Bare Feats' advice on which Mac Pro graphics card to buy. Bare Feats' memory speed and heat tests on the 3.2GHz Harpertown Mac Pro. Bare Feats' power usage and noise level testing on the 3.2GHz Harpertown Mac Pro vs the 3.0GHz Clovertown Mac Pro. WHERE TO BUY A MAC PRO
When ordering products from Apple Store USA, please click THIS TEXT LINK or any Apple display ad as your 'portal' to the online store. In so doing, you help to support Bare Feats. (DON'T LIVE in the USA? See links for Apple online stores in other countries.) Also check with Small Dog Electronics and Power Max. (Power Max takes trade-ins.) WHERE TO BUY GRAPHICS CARD UPGRADE KITS
You can order the GeForce 8800 GT kit from the Apple Store USA -- search on 'MB137Z/A' to find it. The price is $349. If you are very unhappy about it not working on your 2006/2007 Mac Pro, then sign our petition asking Apple to create a version that will. We also suggest you give feedback to the Mac Pro management at Apple. The Radeon HD 2600 XT kit will work on the older Mac Pros as well as the new one (thanks to having both a 32-bit and 64-bit EFI driver in the ROM). Search on 'MB198Z/A' when you visit Apple Store USA ($149). The Radeon X1900 XT kit is still available for the 2006/2007 Mac Pro. It goes for $399 (eek!). Search on 'MA631Z/B' at the Apple Store USA. Don't confuse it with the RAdeon X1900 GT 'G5 Edition' (model TL142LL/A) being sold for $349 -- unless you have a G5 tower with PCIe slots.
WHERE TO BUY MEMORY FOR YOUR MAC PRO
Apple charges and arm and a leg for CTO memory options. We suggested ordering your Mac Pro with minimal memory and getting 8GB or 16GB of matched FB-DIMMs that meet Apple's specs and use Apple approved heat sinks from .... MaxUpgrades makes max_flow, a kit to keep your Mac Pro memory running even cooler. They also have a kit called 'MaxConnect' which enables you to use the lower optical bay to add four more internal hard drives for a total of eight.
Has Bare Feats helped you? How about helping Bare Feats? © 2008 Rob Art Morgan
'BARE facts on Macintosh speed FEATS'
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