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What is the best graphics card option for OS X Leopard 10.5.8 on a 4,1 Mac Pro?
- Thread starter LAHegarty
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We are bros, bro. I’m buying a 4,1 specifically to run Leopard. I’ve asked this question and searched and that’s how I ended up here.
Did you try any other cards? What have you found in your research?
People keep trying to convince me to run Snow Leopard. Why? It’s cool if somebody wants to put OS 9 on unsupported PowerBooks but if I want the original OS on a circa 2008 Mac I’m “wrong?”
I’m feeling like creating a new user group. Since the word “Leopard” overwhelmingly returns search results for “Snow Leopard”, which has me pulling my hair out, I’m calling us the Pardus gang. Pure bloods only, yo.
Did you try any other cards? What have you found in your research?
People keep trying to convince me to run Snow Leopard. Why? It’s cool if somebody wants to put OS 9 on unsupported PowerBooks but if I want the original OS on a circa 2008 Mac I’m “wrong?”
I’m feeling like creating a new user group. Since the word “Leopard” overwhelmingly returns search results for “Snow Leopard”, which has me pulling my hair out, I’m calling us the Pardus gang. Pure bloods only, yo.
Hey yeah I completely understand you @MrCheeto. I am looking for this exact same problem - what GPUs are supported on OSX Leopard 10.5. Snow Leopard is butting into every search result.
I'd really appreciate 2 things:
1. Comprehensive list of GPU chips (not finished GPU models tyvm) that work with 10.5
2. Where to get the drivers
I've stumbled upon some tonymacx86 article from 2010 that listed GPUs but for Snow Leopard and it wouldn't give you a generic idea what chips are supported, instead what actualy GPUs you can go and buy in Tony Mac's favorite shops I guess? I'm keeping an eye out for a G5 on local listings, but it's an AGP model so I'm screwed. Either that, or I wait for a PCIE G5 to arrive.
And the drivers. Boy is this frustrating. I tried nVidia's own search thing and the support is spotty at best. While 10.5 does show up as an OS for a couple cards (100 series, 300 series, and other oddballs with no rhyme or reason) it doesn't yield any results for one thing, and it doesn't even show up for the cards that actually shipped with the damn computer.
As for AMD, I've already been frustrated enough looking for their drivers for Linux back in 2017. They improved i.e. they made crap drivers in 2017-2019 only to finally have fully working (i.e. no embarassing ****ups like no display over anything newer than DVI) drivers integrated into the kernel source tree - therefore voiding the need for AMD to offer separate drivers. This just doesn't inspire me too much to spare the time to search for their drivers. I'll get to that maybe when I'm less loaded with work.
I'd really appreciate 2 things:
1. Comprehensive list of GPU chips (not finished GPU models tyvm) that work with 10.5
2. Where to get the drivers
I've stumbled upon some tonymacx86 article from 2010 that listed GPUs but for Snow Leopard and it wouldn't give you a generic idea what chips are supported, instead what actualy GPUs you can go and buy in Tony Mac's favorite shops I guess? I'm keeping an eye out for a G5 on local listings, but it's an AGP model so I'm screwed. Either that, or I wait for a PCIE G5 to arrive.
And the drivers. Boy is this frustrating. I tried nVidia's own search thing and the support is spotty at best. While 10.5 does show up as an OS for a couple cards (100 series, 300 series, and other oddballs with no rhyme or reason) it doesn't yield any results for one thing, and it doesn't even show up for the cards that actually shipped with the damn computer.
As for AMD, I've already been frustrated enough looking for their drivers for Linux back in 2017. They improved i.e. they made crap drivers in 2017-2019 only to finally have fully working (i.e. no embarassing ****ups like no display over anything newer than DVI) drivers integrated into the kernel source tree - therefore voiding the need for AMD to offer separate drivers. This just doesn't inspire me too much to spare the time to search for their drivers. I'll get to that maybe when I'm less loaded with work.
These are are the few that I know work on Leopard:
NVIDIA
- GeForce 7300 GT*
- GeForce 8800 GT
- GeForce GTX 285
- Quadro FX 4500*
- Quadro FX 4800
- Quadro FX 5600
ATI
- Radeon X1900 XT*
- Radeon HD 2600 XT
- Radeon HD 3870
- Radeon HD 4870
The best two overall are the GTX 285 and the 4870.
* These are GPU's that were meant for the 1,1/2,1 Mac Pro's with 32-bit firmware. They do work on newer machines, but are much slower than their newer counterparts.
NVIDIA
- GeForce 7300 GT*
- GeForce 8800 GT
- GeForce GTX 285
- Quadro FX 4500*
- Quadro FX 4800
- Quadro FX 5600
ATI
- Radeon X1900 XT*
- Radeon HD 2600 XT
- Radeon HD 3870
- Radeon HD 4870
The best two overall are the GTX 285 and the 4870.
* These are GPU's that were meant for the 1,1/2,1 Mac Pro's with 32-bit firmware. They do work on newer machines, but are much slower than their newer counterparts.
Good to know... so IF the 4870 is compatible... are other Terascale GPUs like 4850, 4670, 4650?? [EDIT: Just found posts saying HD4670 only in Snow Leopard so I am guessing no).
Its also a stretch to know if they would work for G5 PowerMacs. My own use would be for VFIO passthrough for KVM VMs (both Intel and PPC)
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I wish I understood more of the Hackintosh technicals. Those people were forcing Tiger and Leopard to suppor things they were never meant to support. They booted on plenty of Pentium chips if I recall. So how did they do with the GPU’s? 🤷🏼♀️
Perhaps if we want to keep Leopard alive we should be trying to snag their techniques. It is just a PC after all, right?