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I Want The Best Graphics Card for my Mac Pro, Where Do I Start?

People frequently email us requesting to know what the best possible graphics card (GPU) option is for their Mac Pro. There is no catch all answer to this question! Please browse the following table for general information.
  • Which Mac Pro Do You Own?
  • OS X Version
  • Output Ports
  • Applications
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Verify which model of the Mac Pro you own as shown here. If you own the 1,1 or 2,1 Mac Pro your options are limited to a few GPUs:
  • Nvidia GT 120
  • Nvidia 8800 GT
  • AMD Radeon 7950, 7970 or R9 280X if you have installed OS X Mavericks or newer via hack methods. We do not provide these methods, but information about them is readily available online.
If you own the 3,1, 4,1, or 5,1 Mac Pro you can utilize any of GPUs we sell except for the GT 120 and 8800 GT mentioned above.
Please be aware that while the 3,1 Mac Pro has the same GPU compatibility as the 4,1 or 5,1 that the older hardware of the 3,1 will result in some comparative bottlenecking. In general I recommend the GTX 770 as the high end for the 3,1 Mac Pro as it maintains its price/performance ratio. If you prefer the ports or other features of a more powerful card it may still be worth considering.
Different GPUs require different versions of OS X as a minimum system requirement. If you're running the most current version of OS X this is never a concern, but if you prefer an older version or boot into multiple versions you will need to consider this when selecting a card. While many GPUs can run just fine with the base OS X graphics drivers some require additional drivers.​
GPU
Minimum Required OS X Version
Driver Required
Nvidia GT 120, 8800 GT
OS X 10.5.8
No
Nvidia GTX 470
OS X 10.6.5
No
Nvidia GTX 570
OS X 10.7.5
No
AMD Radeon 7950, 7970, R9 280X
OS X 10.7.5
Yes
Nvidia GT 580, 630, 640, 680, 760, 770, 780 (3 GB), Titan
OS X 10.8.3
No
AMD Radeon 7950, 7970, R9 280X
OS X 10.8.3
No
Nvidia GTX 780 (6 GB)
OS X 10.9.5
No
Nvidia Titan Black
OS X 10.9.5
Yes
Nvidia GTX 750 Ti, 960, 970, 980, 980 Ti, Titan X
OS X 10.10.5
Yes
Our products support a range of output ports with each card generally having some combination of DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort. None of our cards natively have VGA output as this is a very outdated format, but you can generally use a DVI to VGA adapter to support one VGA monitor if necessary.

If you plan to upgrade to a 4K monitor in the future you will need a GPU with at least one HDMI, DisplayPort, or Mini DisplayPort. DVI does not output 4K resolutions.
GPU
Output Ports
Nvidia GT 120, 8800 GT, GTX 480, GTX 570, GTX 580
Dual DVI
Nvidia GTX 570
DVI, DisplayPort
Nvidia GT 630
DVI, Dual DisplayPort
Nvidia GT 640
Dual DVI, HDMI
Nvidia GT 640, GTX 750 Ti
DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
Nvidia GTX 680, 770, 780, Titan, Titan Black
Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
Nvidia GTX 760, AMD 7950, 7970, R9 280X
DVI, HDMI, Dual Mini DisplayPort
Nvidia GTX 960, 970, 980, 980 Ti, Titan X
DVI, HDMI, Triple DisplayPort
Nvidia GTX 970
DVI, HDMI, Triple Mini DisplayPort
The chart below is a rough guide to commonly asked about applications. There are some applications that seem graphically intensive that do not make much use of the GPU, some can make use of the GPU with certain plug-ins installed, and even those with native GPU support do not use the GPU for all functions. Doing research on your own is important. We here at MacVidCards do not work in production ourselves so while we know the broad strokes we are not experts in most applications.
Application
Notes
Adobe CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere, After Effects)
CUDA based applications (Nvidia GPU recommended)
Avid Media Composer
Utilizes GPU for certain real time playback effects only
Cinema 4D
Utilizes GPU for certain real time playback effects only
Some renderers (ex. Octane Render) can enable GPU rendering

Final Cut Pro
OpenCL based applications (AMD GPU recommended)
Houdini
OpenCL based applications (AMD GPU recommended)
Maya
Standard viewport uses GPU, some renderers use GPU
Renderworks
Wireframe and OpenGL rendering modes use GPU
Resolve
Extensive GPU usage
Depending on your personal situation there may be even more questions to consider, but this list is a good starting point. There is much more information included on specific product and FAQ pages. If after browsing our site you still are not sure what you should purchase you may use our Contact page to email us.
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