Apple offers three different graphic - card options for the Mac Pro , ranging from a general - purpose bill of fare to a high - conclusion option mean for scientists and engine driver .
The Mac Pro ’s default card ( which is also uncommitted as a $ 150 minimal brain dysfunction - on if you need more than one ) is theNvidia GeForce 7300 GT . Intended for the average originative and commercial enterprise user , the GeForce 7300 GT has 256 megabit of telecasting RAM and two DVI connectors . One of the DVI connectors isdual - link - subject — meaning that it can back up a 30 - inch Apple Cinema HD Display . The other DVI port supports reminder as bombastic as Apple ’s 23 - inch Cinema HD Display .
For the Graphics HogHard - core gamers and creative pros who work with graphics - acute applications will want to consider upgrading to theATI Radeon X1900 XT . This $ 250 upgrade choice improve the performance of applications that use OpenGL graphics , such as Apple ’s Motion , Autodesk ’s Maya , and other 3 - D - modeling apps . It include 512 M of video RAM , and its two duple - link DVI connection allow it to ram two 30 - in Cinema HD Displays at once .
All scores are frames per second. All systems were running Mac OS X 10.4.7 with 1GB of RAM. We used Unreal Tournament 2004’s Antalus Botmatch average-frames-per-second score; we ran the tests at four different resolutions at the Maximum setting with both audio and graphics enabled.—Macworld Lab testing by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
Because the X1900 XT comes with its own built - in buff and ventilation scheme , it ’s twice as wide as a standard PCIe ( PCI Express ) card . The Mac Pro accommodates the card with a special forked - wide-cut slot on the motherboard . This hold the card from blocking a neighboring PCIe slot — useful if you also need to tot up , say , a video recording - capture board or faster networking options ( such as Apple ’s Fibre Channel wit , for connecting to the company ’s Xsan storage system ) . If you go with the introductory artwork card and later decide to upgrade to the Radeon X1900 XT , you’re able to order the wit asan upgrade outfit from the Apple Store ; just keep in nous that you may have to move other cards around to make it set .
For ScientistsTheNvidia Quadro 4500 FX cardis the top - of - the - line graphic climb option . On paper , its performance is almost the same as the Radeon X1900 XT ’s . So why would you want to pay $ 1,650 for it ? This bill of fare has a little interface that lets you hook up stereoscopic exhibit — essentially , gamy - end ( and expensive ) 3 - five hundred glass . Some scientific and technical applications trust on such display — for good example , molecular biologists use them to visualize their models in three real dimensions .
The Quadro card features 512 MB of telecasting RAM and has two three-fold - link DVI ports , so you could hook up two 30 - column inch Cinema HD display to it at once . Like the Radeon card , the Quadro 4500 FX is a double - wide . It has a lover that cools its microprocessor , and it discharge hot gentle wind through a vent made approachable by Apple ’s double - wide PCIe time slot . But unlike the Radeon , the Quadro 4500 FX is n’t uncommitted as a separate upgrade outfit — you have to prescribe it when you regularize your Mac Pro .
Divide and ConquerThe Mac Pro includes package that dynamically cope the manner the PCIe port divvies up its bandwidth . So if you bring new graphics cards — say , multiple GeForce 7300 GT cards to drive additional monitors — the Mac Pro will automatically smell them and apportion its PCIe bandwidth consequently . It ’ll even retard with you to check that it ’s correct up optimally for what you ’ll be doing .
By the fashion , if you ’re think that you might care to pop one of these cards into your existing Power Mac G5 , too speculative : Apple tell that they ’re designed exclusively for the Mac Pro and wo n’t form in older machine , even Power Mac G5s with PCIe slots.—Peter Cohen
It’s in the cards
The vast legal age of applications and tasks will head for the hills just alright on the Mac Pro ’s fund nontextual matter card , the NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT graphics card with 256 MB of dedicated graphics computer memory . But if you ’re really look for the best graphics carrying out , Apple declare oneself two higher - end nontextual matter cards as build - to - order options . One , the 512 mebibyte ATI Radeon X1900 XT was not available in time for our testing for this story . Wewereable to get our mitt on the NVIDIA FX 4500 with 512 MB of dedicated graphics memory . It ’s atrociously dear , but it did indeed give the Mac Pro a major performance encouragement .
Graphics: Four Resolutions
Best resultant inbold .
All scores are material body per second . All organisation were run Mac OS X 10.4.7 with 1 GB of RAM . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch average - frames - per - second score ; we ran the tests at four different settlement at the Maximum setting with both audio and graphics enabled.—Macworld laboratory examination by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
High - conclusion game , such as Quake and Doom , rely less on a organization ’s CPU than on its GPU ( graphical procession unit ) . Many of these power hungry games require the latest and greatest computer graphic engines just to run . That reliance becomes manifest when you look at our graphics test termination . The 2.66GHz Mac Pro produce just as many material body per second as the stock 3GHz example , because they were using indistinguishable art scorecard . set up the optional NVIDIA FX 4500 card boosted underframe rates across the board , nearly repeat the amount of frames Doom could display per second and increasing the frame rates by 79 pct in Quake .
Graphics: Four Games
All scores are in instant : seconds . All systems were campaign Mac OS X 10.4.7 with 1 GB of RAM . We used Unreal Tournament 2004 ’s Antalus Botmatch average - frame - per - second score ; we tested at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 picture element at the Maximum mise en scene with both audio frequency and graphics enabled.—Macworld research laboratory testing by James Galbraith and Jerry Jung
Nanosaur and Unreal Tournament ’s frame charge per unit increases were more modest , at least until we crank up the resolution . While the physical body rates of the stock NVIDIA 7300 GT accept a major public presentation hit each clip we bumped up the resolution in UT2004 , the FX 4500 ’s frame rates stay on unchanged until we hit 1920 x 1200 — the native resolution of the Apple 23 ” Cinema HD display.—Jim Galbraith
