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Julien_deka
Known Participant
May 28, 2012
Question

Best graphic card for Mac Pro + CS6

  • May 28, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 30320 views

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this question has been asked several times... But it seems technology moves so fast... And also I found lots of cards that seem to me being PC only... That's why I'm having this question for Mac only.

I'm on a Mac Pro, Snow Leopard CS5.5 , and I want to re-instal a clean new system with Lion and CS6... mostly to edit 5K footage from the Epic (+ VFX and grading)... So it is mostly about PPro and AE (not quite sure about Speed Grad, still have to try it out).

What are my best options, as of today, in terms of graphic cards... ? I'm talking about boosting the Mercury Playback Engine through CUDA, as well as supporting the softwares as much as it can in term of OpenCL and OpenGL...

In this chart from nVidia's website, I only see the quadro 4000 and 4800 being available for Mac...

http://www.nvidia.com/content/PDF/product-comparison/product-comparison-master-revised.pdf

But we do have a GTX 285 in one of our computer at the office, and it works too...

Then I know some CS6 users are referring to other cards, like the GTX 570... and there is probably more to the list.

I'd like to to be able to compare what card gives you the best performances, at which price point.

Thanks in advance for sharing

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    R
    RjL190365
    Legend
    May 28, 2012

    Unfortunately, with a Mac Pro, your choice of GPUs is extremely limited. None of the GTX 570 cards are compatible with any official Apple Mac Pro at all (or put it this way, the card will require major modifications that will completely break compatibility with Windows if you want it to be Mac-compatible). With NVidia you are limited strictly to a GeForce GTX 285 or a Quadro 4000 or FX 4800 (but both the GTX 285 and FX 4800 are old-generation GPUs). You see, a Mac-compatible graphics card absolutely requires a BIOS that's fully compatible with the Mac Pro's EFI in order to even access the EFI or see the boot screen. None of the Windows-compatible graphics cards are compatible at all with the Mac's EFI.

    In other words, all of the users that you have noticed that are running a GTX 570 are all using Windows, not Mac.

    J
    Julien_dekaAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 29, 2012

    Thanks for this very detailed answer...

    So the GTX570 for Mac that we find online are only for Mac Pro running Windows on Boot Camp? Or have they been "re-configure" to fully work on Mac?

    I found this on eBay, and it's my understanding that it work on Mac... hoppefully as well on both Snow Leopard and Lion

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nvidia-GTX-570-Apple-Mac-Pro-2-5-GB-CUDA-DaVinci-Resolve-Adobe-Premiere-570-/230797067695?_trksid=p4340.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D15%26pmod%3D330727171344%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8746718267608062183#ht_1793wt_1398

    Thanks again for the answer...

    jasonvp
    jasonvp
    Inspiring
    June 16, 2012

    Thanks you Jason!

    I was confused a little bit about the text file you need to modifie... But I found this Vimeo link where the guy runs you through out the whole process, and how to use the Terminal... It is actually quite simple.

    In my case for some reason, there were no cards at all listed into Premiere, and adding mine didn't work. Went back into the process a second time, and all the supported cards were there (except mine that I had to add again). And this time it did work. As far as AE goes, it worked right away on the first try.

    https://vimeo.com/43420088

    It does improve the abilities of Premiere (full rez playback on DSLR footage + text and chroma Key), and I can now move Ray-Traced objects around more easily in AE (and faster preview on that too).

    Now, I'm reading here and there people talking about an OpenCL fix... What does it fix? where do I find it? And do I even need it? Is it going to enhance performance in AE or what?

    Once again, thanks a lot. Realy appreciate.

    Julien


    Julien_deka wrote:

    Now, I'm reading here and there people talking about an OpenCL fix... What does it fix? where do I find it? And do I even need it? Is it going to enhance performance in AE or what?

    I'm glad things are working well for you.

    The OpenCL 'fix' actually requires using a hex editor and editing the binary OpenCL drivers.  Apple, by default, disables OpenCL on any nVidia card, from what I understand.  By editing the driver file, you enable OpenCL for your card.  However, for what you're using your card for, I doubt you'll see any benefit whatsoever.  And the risk of mucking up your system by improperly editing the file is rather large.  I'd recommend ignoring that.

    jas

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