[geeks] Mac Pro 1,1 slow death (video)

[Shannon]

On 11-Dec-2013 07:32, Mark Benson wrote:
> Shannon,
> 
> I've travelled this exact road. I have a Mac Pro 1,1 2.0GHz 4-core.
> 
> Exactly the same happened to my Mac Pro 1,1 with GeForce 8800GT. I
> dismantled the graphics card to find it had woefully inadequate cooling to
> the video memory chips. If you are suffering the same screen corruption
> leading to eventual OS lock-up that I did then it's very likely classic
> VRAM failure symptoms. I've had it with a few gaming gfx cards in PCs too.
> Also a lot of later pre-GTX era NVIDIA
> 
> I may have my original 7300GT card spare somewhere as my Mac Pro  now has a
> Radeon 5770 in it instead (mine failed a few years back and I replaced it
> at super-ridiculous cost at the time when I still used the 'Pro a as my
> daily driver). I'm the wrong side of the pond to post to you though, sadly.
> 
> There's a store on eBay, can't recall the name, that sells flashed PC gfx
> cards with Mac ROMs that do a cheaper Radeon 5770 for the Mac Pro 1,1 but
> it's not substantially cheaper than Apple's option, forget where you are
> but you may find it cheaper than I did due to shipping costs to the UK.

I just bought a real Apple 5770... 100% working is more important to me
than the money I might have saved, because any BS will eat the savings
quickly.

So the old beast is generating BTUs once again :)

> I replaced my Mac Pro with a new Mac Mini 2.6GHZ i7 in March, which I
> fitted 16GB of RAM and a 256MB SSD to myself post-purchase and it's a
> trooper, I'm really impressed with it. The Intel 4000 Graphics are not as
> lame as you'd expect, especially if you are basing your judgement on older
> GMA graphics. That said, I'm running a singe 1080p monitor off it, not 2
> screens to YMMV. The biggest bonus is the Mini is faster, quieter and
> MASSIVELY smaller, and uses only a fraction of the power and doesn't kick
> out as much hot air as a result.

Oh I have no doubt the Mini is "enough". However, I did test a monitor
setup like mine, and some graphics software did get somewhat sluggish.

Truth is its more of an issue of optimizing dollars. I have tried the
iMac with the new Intel graphics, and they are a LOT faster than the
previous generation.

Since the Mini is due for a refresh, I figure I'll try to wait for that.
Hopefully its not too far off. Been over a year now.

I've found some instructions on how to get Mavericks running on the 2006
Mac Pro... which I might well do after I replace it.

Oh, just FYI: On paper the Apple ATI RADEON 5770 is double the speed of
the nVidia 8800... but in reality its a bit more than that, sometimes a
hell of a lot more than that.

They are overpriced for sure, but it works flawlessly and is a decent
upgrade.

If you are patient, you can get good used prices on them. I needed my
machine back up and running for some business and financial stuff so I
had to get it going ASAP.

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