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Mac Pro life

post #1 of 10
6/13/07 at 9:48pm
Thread Starter 
I'm interested in the Mac Pro because I...

1. Already have a sick homemade gaming rig.

and

2. Know Apple builds pretty good technology... as my MBP rocks

Unfortunately, the graphics cards on the Mac Pro are pretty outdated and it offers very small upgrade options longer into it's life.

For example: the Mac "Pro" offers the "NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB, Stereo 3D (2 x dual-link DVI)"

which is pretty nice, except it's directx9 and has a low openGL support as opposed to the newer 5600.

I want this thing to last as long as possible, and having the most up to date graphics cards possible for professional work, (maya, acad, etc..)
so do you think I should stick with building one, or splurging a little and getting the MP...

so, my main question is... Will the Mac Pro offer more choices for newer graphics cards soon, or will I have to stick with the previous generation versions?

thanks for the help
-ark
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post #2 of 10
6/13/07 at 10:29pm
If you aren't going to be gaming why don't you just get a 7300 GT?
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post #3 of 10
6/13/07 at 11:02pm
Thread Starter 
Because graphics cards aren't just for gaming...this is for professional work like acad, 3dsmax, maya, etc.
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post #4 of 10
6/13/07 at 11:57pm
get a dell workstation that offers the 5600 ... will prolly cost less too.
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post #5 of 10
6/14/07 at 12:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by abf View Post
get a dell workstation that offers the 5600 ... will prolly cost less too.
not interested in another computer, just the longtivity of a mac pro but ya the dell is a lot cheaper, as with a bunch of other manufactorers
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post #6 of 10
6/15/07 at 1:04pm
I agree that the cards are outdated however if you want you can easily buy a graphics card for the Mac Pro and swap out the one it came with. I agree though for the premium you pay you definitely should get an bleeding-edge (or near bleeding-edge card). But hey look at the MacBook, GMA950 anyone!?
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post #7 of 10
6/17/07 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by serox View Post
I agree that the cards are outdated however if you want you can easily buy a graphics card for the Mac Pro and swap out the one it came with. I agree though for the premium you pay you definitely should get an bleeding-edge (or near bleeding-edge card). But hey look at the MacBook, GMA950 anyone!?
i thought you couldnt do this? because macs dont have a bios, and the gfx has to be compatible with efi?
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post #8 of 10
6/17/07 at 9:39pm
The main video card has to be Mac specific because of EFI. However, I've heard that you can add extra cards that aren't Mac specific but they'll only work in Windows
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post #9 of 10
6/19/07 at 4:38pm
Last time I compared the Mac Pro to a comparable Dell Precision. The Mac Pro was quite a bit less expensive. The only Precision close to the Mac Pro (SLI capable and dual quads) costs almost $1000 more. So I have to say in the premium workstation market Apple is quite competitive.
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post #10 of 10
6/19/07 at 8:39pm
i want a mac pro, too. i'm getting into photoshop a lot and have a wacom tablet.

the video cards aren't bad - the 7300 and x1900 are options, right? I'd go with the x1900 because I have ATI on my current computer.
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