The original ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT couldn't cut the mustard for my current needs.As before, the system will automatically choose which graphics card to use. I needed an OpenCL-capable graphics card or Intel HD Graphics 3000 or later. I ordered this graphic card for my Mac Pro (early 2008) because the original graphic card was no longer able to keep up the demands of current software like Apple's Motion or Final Cut Pro.
![]() Video Cards For 2008 Pro Mac OS Via BootYou must be cognizant of voltages of your EEPROM programmer, understand risks and follow the entire process correctly or it won’t work. The GC Titan Ridge Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1 DIY RouteThere’s some good info on the entire process to get the Titan Ridge working on the Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1 on GitHub, but this will require you to have an EEPROM programmer and the version 23 custom firmware found on MacRumors, which allows you to run this card in the Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1. There are even full step-by-step instructions out there for those who want to do it themselves!This is truly amazing and opens up all kinds of doors for the Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1 once again. In the last 6 months or so however, firmware and hardware modders have found ways to get the Titan Ridge and Alpine Ridge working with full functionality in MacOS with no dependency on Windows at all and have nearly ironed out all the bugs. That was a bit of a turnoff for Mac users who did not want Windows, but had to deal with the inconvenience simply for the sake of having this card installed on their Mac (there were also some glitchy behaviors noted). Then you had to switch back to Mac OS via boot screen or via the Boot Camp startup disk selector in Windows to get the card working on the Mac Pro 3,1 to 5,1 (the drivers would stay alive when warm booting back to MacOS and voila – Thunderbolt 3 on you Mac Pro).On the Alpine Ridge you get the same two DisplayPort inputs (via Mini DisplayPort), two Thunderbolt 3 outputs and one HDMI 2.0 output.The biggest differences however are really “under the hood”. Superchief9 also sells the flashing services for either card if you find a great deal on one on the open market and want to send it in for service (see items list link above for current pricing).There are a couple minor differences to note between the GC Titan Ridge and GC Alpine Ridge in terms of the ports offered and overall capabilities (the only immediate obvious one besides the packaging and label on the unit is the difference of a DisplayPort output on the Titan Ridge versus an HDMI output on the Alpine Ridge):Installed in a Mac Pro 3,1 is an Alpine Ridge. You will not be disappointed! A pre-flashed card is simply plug and play (don’t forget to plug your header cable into the card – the other end does not need to go anywhere). Get your GC Titan Ridge or GC Alpine Ridge Card Flashed or buy Pre-Flashed from an ProfessionalYou could just buy a pre-flashed card from an amazing asset to our Low End Mac community on eBay, who sells under the name “Superchief9”:Search for “Titan Ridge” or “Alpine Ridge” (depending on what you need from Superchief9) – see the differences of hardware noted below.You can use a combination of 2 of the 3 outputs (DisplayPort or the two Thunderbolt 3 ports) at up to 8K 60Hz or allegedly can drive a single 4K display at 120Hz that is FreeSync/G-Sync/VRR or native 120Hz capable! This could be a game changer (no pun intended). Titan Ridge:The Titan Ridge on the other hand uses the Intel chipset DSL7540 and negotiates over DisplayPort 1.4. It’s primary purpose is providing Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. You need a GPU to pass video signals to it. Only bus power is provided with the Alpine Ridge unfortunately and the card is supplied with a total of 38W, which allows you to power typical USB devices, but does not provide enough power for device fast charging (such as a MacBook Pro).The GC Alpine Ridge is not a GPU. The manual states to officially allow for a maximum resolution of 4K 24Hz over the HDMI port, but the Thunderbolt ports allow for up to 4K 60Hz (a single 5K Thunderbolt display can allegedly work on the Alpine Ridge as well). Access code for files mac javaThe service was an incredible value – especially if I ever decide to move away from Windows altogether one day (I use it mainly for gaming and Oculus Rift right now). Final ThoughtsI have personally installed the Titan Ridge and at first had ordered the card accepting the old method of booting into Windows first since I was using Boot Camp anyway and then found out about Superchief9’s services. It’s primary purpose is providing Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, but it does provides some advancements and advantages over the Alpine Ridge at just a small premium in price. You need a GPU to pass video signals to it. A current 16″ MacBook Pro will require 87W, and thus, at least one of the 3-pin PCIe power taps on the card need to be connected up to something (powering both taps is probably a good idea to give the card its full 100W).The GC Titan Ridge is not a GPU. Nonetheless, this thing works beautifully once you have it going.Here’s proof of the card being recognized:And lastly, here’s the Wavlink dock being recognized in MacOS:As a final note, you may need to reboot your Mac Pro a second time after a cold boot if you shut down your Mac when using the flashed card. I need to run some further test to verify overall throughput in my Mac Pro 5,1, but will need a blazing fast NVMe solution to really put it to the test. The manuals for the Alpine Ridge and Titan Ridge do state these cards as being PCIe v3 4x, so that should theoretically be the same as PCIe v2 8x. These cards are awesome since they let you connect modern peripherals such as Thunderbolt 3 docks (like the Wavlink Thunderdock v2 I obtained shown below), eGPU solutions and much more, truly adding all sorts of new capabilities to the cMP. I have tested this in MacOS High Sierra, Mojave and Windows 10 so far. Once the card is active and recognized by your Mac, you can hot plug/unplug devices connected to a Thunderbolt 3 Dock from what I have seen so far and you can boot back in forth between MacOS and Windows. I just can’t say enough good things about Superchief9’s service and how well this product functions even if there is a small quirk here and there. Even if I wind up needing to reboot once, it’s a small price to pay (of maybe 20 seconds or so – and that’s just with a cheap SATA 2.5 SSD running in SATA II right now) to get Thunderbolt 3 on my Mac Pro 5,1. I don’t have the Alpine Ridge personally, so I don’t feel it fair to review, but frankly, the Titan Ridge is only $40 more than the Alpine Ridge and is definitely worth it for the extra features it provides, so here it goes.These cards can currently be had for around $166 pre-flashed as of July 2020. Rating Breakdown (Titan Ridge):In closing, I will give a quick review of the Titan Ridge.
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