What Are The Benefits of Buying a Flashed Card?
Some people may question why they should install a card flashed with a Mac BIOS as opposed to an official Apple released card or a stock PC graphics card (GPU). Here are a few of the benefits:
- Apple releases very few GPU options and they are often out of date compared to what is available for a PC.
- A Mac BIOS enables you to see the gray boot screen at startup (where you see the Apple logo and hear the iconic boot chime). This is very helpful for users who regularly need to switch boot drives and operating systems.
- When installed in a Mac Pro a stock PC GPU will only be able to utilize the outdated PCIe 1.0 format. A card flashed with a Mac BIOS will be able to work at PCIe 2.0 speeds, supporting twice the data rate.
- Cards with our Mac BIOS are able to run their full monitor arrangement (unless specifically noted) and make use of the most up to date technologies, including 4K monitor support and CUDA, OpenCL and OpenGL support.
- Cards that require an Nvidia driver to operate require a new driver with each major OS upgrade. With an unflashed card you would need to switch to a different card to install the driver; with a flashed card you will be able to boot with basic functionality so you can install the new driver without using a second card.