http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305346

Saw the thread going on over at IMG. Kind of angers me somewhat that there isn’t any real “legit” upgrade path for previous generation Mac Pro owners such as myself in terms of video.

The thread over at IMG states that Apple now offers an 8800 GT upgrade kit (MB137Z/A), but has been warning anyone who places an order that it only works with the new 2008 Mac Pros which were recently introduced. Reason being the EFI firmware is only EFI32 in older Mac Pros and the new machines use EFI64 I guess.

This is bullshit on Apple’s part. Granted I’ve been happy with my Radeon X1900 XT. It’s been a very good video card and will probably continue to be so for quite some time to come. But I was merely thinking about the upgrade I made in my older PowerMac G4. The stock card was a 16 MB ATI Rage 128. Several years later, I bought a fairly cheap 64 MB nVidia Geforce3 upgrade on eBay and the experience afterward in overall performance was completely mind blowing. There was a large generational gap between the two cards yet the Geforce 3 was still able to work perfectly fine in an older PowerMac AGP slot.

Video upgrades for Macs have always been notorious in availability and in price because of the ROM. One would think this day in age, the vast majority of cheap video cards out there for sale would work in any computer even x86 based Macs with the right type of card slot and drivers. But alas, it’s one of the only areas in the upgrade market where Apple still maintains a tight grip of control.

But really, selling a video card upgrade which for all intensive purposes ought to work on any Mac Pro, not just a limited generation of Mac Pros, it really feels like a step backwards. I worry about the availability of any video upgrades for my specific Mac Pro in a couple of years.

I agree with you. I’m sure they do that because GPUs are one of the fastest components to show their age, and they want people buying new computers, but it’s still a jerk move. Why sell the 8800 by itself in the first place? If someone wants it, wouldn’t they just configure their computer with it. I don’t know if the cards are able to SLi, but that would be the only reason for doing this in the first place.

Entirely gay… Its time to bring back the days of flashing. Oh how sweet my GeForce 3 was. According to Kevster this may be remedied with a firmware update to the older Mac Pros, but for the record, the petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/geforce8800

Its located under accessories with no mention, storage for the record, or you can visit the cached link.

I REJOICE TODAY

8800 GT model now available for older Mac Pro owners. Think I’ll place my order once I get home later today.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/15/nvidia-geforce-8800-gt-upgrade-kit-available-for-older-mac-pro-d/
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=MTM5NDY&nplm=MB560Z/A

For the record, I’ve really adored my ATI X1900 XT until Leopard came out. But what seemed like little random graphical glitches at first have only worsened over time, especially with anything really taxing on the video card. I’ve come to the understanding like many others with the same model card, that the display issues I’ve experienced are probably inherit to most first revision X1900s, sometimes reported as fixed in later revisions, but others with active AppleCare have said they’ve gone through several. Simply the card is prone to over-heating and what starts as simple graphics glitches can occasionally just lock up the machine or the video simply cuts out. I’ve speculated 10.5, being what it is, has only accelerated the process of the otherwise already existing flaw of the heatsink or fan and/or possible firmware upgrades have the fan running too slow. No one knows for sure why, but I know it’s the video card.

I never noticed problems prior installing 10.5 and my Mac Pro is nearly two years old. Either way, I’ve been happy with nVidia products coming from my old GeForce 3 upgrade to my GeForce 8600M in my MacBook Pro, I just went with the X1900 at the time because it was more recent than the aging 7300 for a new machine I was buying. I think my Pro desktop deserves something better. That not only runs faster and cooler, but is actually cheaper than the X1900 upgrade Apple still sells.

EDIT: Order placed.