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Mac graphics card to pc - and vice versa

RohanRohan Registered User regular
edited March 2009 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
Hi guys.

Just wondering if it's possible to use a graphics card from a Mac with a pc? Specifically, the card I'm talking about is from an early 2008 Mac Pro, a Radeon X2600. A friend of mine who owns the Mac (dual quad-core cpu's, the smarmy git) is looking to upgrade, and I thought that the card might be a good temporary solution until I can get a better card (it's going to my brother's pc). And while we're on the subject, said friend of mine is looking to get a new graphics card. He's looking at the 4870 that's just become available at the Apple store, but it's very expensive, especially compared to the pc versions.

He was wondering if it's possible that pc cards will work with his Mac Pro? I mean, I'm not really familiar with Mac's (and he's not really interested in the hardware) but they're based on Intel's S775 now, aren't they? They use PCI-Express too, don't they? And if not, are there any other online stores that will sell the Mac versions cheaper than Apple? Thanks guys.

...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
Rohan on

Posts

  • wunderbarwunderbar What Have I Done? Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    I'm pretty sure there's something propreitary in the mac cards that means you can't interchange them. Video cards are probably the worst things for mac with hardware. Any ram will work, any HDD will work, but for some reason the video cards just seem to be proprietary.

    wunderbar on
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  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Thanks for your response, Wunderbar, we were afraid it might be something like that. In that case, do you or does anyone else here know of a cheaper store that sells the 4870 for the Mac?

    Rohan on
    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
  • EchoEcho ski-bap ba-dapModerator, Administrator admin
    edited March 2009
    It's nothing proprietary with the video cards themselves. It's completely non-proprietary, as a matter of fact.
    Open Firmware (IEEE-1275 Standard for Boot Firmware: Core Requirements and Practices) is a non-proprietary, platform (CPU and system) independent boot firmware. Similar to a PC's BIOS, Open Firmware is stored in ROM and is the first stored program to be executed upon power-up.

    Echo on
  • PeregrineFalconPeregrineFalcon Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    It's a matter of the card's BIOS being set to speak to a Mac vs a PC. I know some of the older cards (early Radeons, and even some of the newer NVIDIA cards) could be reflashed back-and-forth in order to work, but I haven't been able to find anything on the newer PCIe based ones. I admit I didn't look that hard though.

    Also Echo I am going to beat the shit out of your avatar and take back my gold now, thanks. *punt*

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  • RohanRohan Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Thanks guys. But does nobody know where we can buy Mac graphics cards cheaper than they sell them at the Apple store?

    Rohan on
    ...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.

    Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
  • SynthesisSynthesis Honda Today! Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't there also the same problem with CPUs?

    Synthesis on
  • ZiggymonZiggymon Registered User regular
    edited March 2009
    Rohan wrote: »
    Thanks guys. But does nobody know where we can buy Mac graphics cards cheaper than they sell them at the Apple store?

    Try ebay, seriously some good deals ive found on mac graphics cards.

    Ziggymon on
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