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we have two of the original intel macpros that both video cards died in. they originally had 7300 gt cards in them, but we can't seem to find a cheap source for those. (ebay for about $200 seems to be the cheapest). is there another card we can put in instead? i saw something saying they were picky about the cards they would accept. it doesn't need to be something super powerful, just something that works.
another option is we have some nehalem macpros. would the cards from them fit into the older machines and then we could upgrade the nehalem macpro video cards?
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There aren't that many options. The 7300 is expensive for no other reason than it has no fan and is therefore silent. That and people often just replace what ever breaks. It's a crummy video card.
as far as I know, these are the only options...
nvidia 7300
ATI x1900 - big improvement over the 7300, but loud and beware of defective units that SHOULD have been covered by extended warranty.
nvidia 8800 - a step above the x1900 and quieter (be sure that it is compatible with YOUR machine - there are two versions - one for 2006/7 models and one for the 2008 line)
ATI 5770 by far the most powerful card of the 4 - won't be found for under $200 unless you get lucky...
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The Apple OEM ATI Radeon 2600XT will work also (the stock card in the next newer model). But it is probably no cheaper or easier to find than the Nvidia 7300GT--in fact it might even be worse.
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and besides, there was a recall on the 2600XTs as well. I found out after I replaced my original defective one with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 120. Then I found out the 2600XT was covered under warranty, so I got it replaced. So now I have both. I have one monitor plugged into each card. Not sure if that's better than both into the GT 120. But for you it's a moot point because I don't think the GT 120 will work with the original Mac Pro.
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Thanks so much everyone for all your info, I am following up on some options suggested here, but I came up with another idea: we have a 7300gt in our xserve that we swiped from a mac pro when the xserve's video card died. what if we take the 7300gt back out of the xserve and use it in the mac pro and then find a replacement card for the xserve? what cards are compatible with the original intel xserve?
thanks in advance
