I bought this primarily so I could add the new 27" apple cinema display as a 3rd display to my 2008 (3.1) mac pro. My other graphics card is the nvidia GeForce 8800GT which is powering two 19" monitors over dvi. It works fine- no compatibility issues with the nvidia. I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.5. I think there was also a software update available for the card after I installed it.
This thing is big- it'll take up 2 slots in your tower so make sure you have room (if you look close at the pictures on amazon you can see the faceplate has notches for two slots. I moved the original nvidia card (which only takes one slot) up a few notches so I could put this in the dual slot position at the bottom of the mac pro and not have to waste an open pci-e slot. Also unless you have really small hands be prepared for a few scratches and some frustration trying to get the power cord plugged into the motherboard. (on the 3.1 mac pro it's near where the super drive is and it's a tight fit.) That said the install took me about 10 minutes so it's not *that* bad. Just not as nice and easy as most of the other things on the mac pro are (e.g. slide in/out ram, hd, etc).
I have the 27" cinema display connected via mini-display port through the dr. bott extender cable (this was the only one I could find that was guaranteed to work with the new connector on the 27"cinema.) Annoying to pay $50 for the cable but I couldn't find anything else out there that looked like it'd work first time and didn't want to go through a bunch of hassle with exchanges and such.
Oh- a quick note for those hooking this up to the 27" Cinema display- although mini display port does support audio, the cinema display uses usb for all audio- both mic and speakers. So I haven't been able to confirm if this card will support audio with a proper mini display port to hdmi adapter. I have a sneaking suspicion it won't though I know other pc versions of the card do. :(
I don't really play games so I can't speak to the gaming performance of the card but can say the output looks absolutely stunning on the new 27" cinema. Putting the LED monitor next to two old LCD monitors was a night and day difference. I doubt that had all that much to do with the graphics card though.
Lastly, I haven't tried hooking up 3 displays so I can't confirm whether or not you can. From other reviews seems you can only hook up two even though it has 3 ports.
Overall I'm very happy with the purchase though unfortunately like most things apple, it's more expensive but works the first time with minimal fuss but with fewer features. The reasons for 4 stars are 1- it's significantly more expensive than the pc version, 2- I have yet to find any indication that it supports audio over mini display port (this should be clearly stated/advertised imo, but since it's not and I have no way to test at the moment) and 3- limited features compared to the pc version (audio, potential to have all three ports working, simultaneously)
Customers also viewed these products
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
Excellent Choice for Mac Pro 1,1.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
M. Schleicher
Grafikkarte als Ersatz für MacPro 1.1 (2007)
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on July 16, 2011Ludwig Schreiber
Karte gut für alte MacPro-Rechner geeignet
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on February 24, 2013Bernd 05
Läuft im Mac Pro 3.1 einwandfrei
Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on January 17, 2014
