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Kjack
07-15-2008, 04:51 PM
Hey,

I'm in the process of buying a Mac Pro. The plan is to run bootcamp and 3dsmax 9 on xp 64b but I'm not sure what graphics card would be best suited for this.

I have the option of either buying 4x ATI Radeon 2600 XT or a Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT.

I've gone through the forums already and there seems to be a lot of talk about the 8800 having driver issues, although the discussions seems to have been a couple of months back.

From my understanding on the web the 8800 gt seems to be a superior performer than the 2600xt, but would having x4 of the 2600xt be substantially faster? I've never tried using sli or crossfire so I'm not sure about the performance boost of using more than one card.

To summarise:



Would having 4x 2600XT outperform 8800gt
Would 4x be a more stable option over the 8800gt
Would the 4x 2600xt be supported by windows through bootcamp (to be used for 3dsmax)
Cheers,
macfarlanetodd
07-15-2008, 10:10 PM
Yes, 8800 is the best choice, I´ve used it for over 4 months via bootcamp too and havent had a problem (I use maya), its a great video card. 4x 2600 will only help you drive more than 2 displays, the 8800 outperfoms it by miles, SLi doesnt help either. The only place where the 2600 wins is on macOS in the core image processes in Apple applications like Aperture or Final cut, the 8800 needs a driver update on that area which is what is maing it run core image slow. On the windows side the drivers issues that appeared were solved by the beta drivers nvidia released, but I havent installed them since I have not experienced any driver issues.
dan1el
07-16-2008, 05:56 AM
go for a single 8800

The motherboard of the Mac Pro supports SLI, though only under Windows (no such supports under OS X)
ATI cards needs Crossfire support (AFAIK)
I doubt that 3DS would use SLI anyways... so get the best single card you can, preferably Quadro.

do give OS X a try, I know 3DS is not supported, but it got some great features for quicker workflows etc.
Kjack
07-16-2008, 12:12 PM
Yes, 8800 is the best choice, I´ve used it for over 4 months via bootcamp too and havent had a problem (I use maya), its a great video card. 4x 2600 will only help you drive more than 2 displays, the 8800 outperfoms it by miles, SLi doesnt help either. The only place where the 2600 wins is on macOS in the core image processes in Apple applications like Aperture or Final cut, the 8800 needs a driver update on that area which is what is maing it run core image slow. On the windows side the drivers issues that appeared were solved by the beta drivers nvidia released, but I havent installed them since I have not experienced any driver issues.

Thanks Todd,

Its reassuring to know that 8800 no longer has many issues. Do you know if its possible to run the 4x card in crossfire mode? I am planning on running the final cut studio on this mac as well, so its going to be interesting.

Could you also confirm that you are using MAYA in windows?

go for a single 8800

The motherboard of the Mac Pro supports SLI, though only under Windows (no such supports under OS X)
ATI cards needs Crossfire support (AFAIK)
I doubt that 3DS would use SLI anyways... so get the best single card you can, preferably Quadro.

do give OS X a try, I know 3DS is not supported, but it got some great features for quicker workflows etc.

Thanks Daniel,

I would love to buy a quadro but I would need to live out of a cardboard box after. Like I mentioned earlier I need finalcut so I will have to migrate to OSX with bootcamp so I can use 3dsmax as well. Both your posts have helped to make a decision.
dan1el
07-16-2008, 12:42 PM
uh I love Final Cut... definitely go for the 8800 from Apple then.

then it should cause you no problems under either OS

and yes unfortunately the quadro is insanely pricey..tats why i don't have it :(
SheepFactory
07-16-2008, 05:47 PM
No need to get a quadro at all. I am also going with the 8800 when I get my Mac Pro soon.
Kjack
08-08-2008, 04:19 PM
Okay, got my mac pro a week back. It came with the 8800 GT and it works like a dream! would definetly recommend it.

Just to test out the card I installed crysis(I know there are better benchmark tools out there) with everything turned up to max and it was smooth as a Siamese cat.
dmeyer
08-08-2008, 08:13 PM
I just replaced an 8800 with an ATI 3870. Remedied all the driver issues I was having in both OSX and xp64.
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