Very good question, cdecde12. My best answer is: it depends.

Best marketplace for Mac Pro graphics cards. GPU upgrades for Mac Pro 2008-2012 3.1, 4.1, 5.1. Variety of flashed AMD and Nvidia GPUs.

Usually Apple has graphics card drivers built into the OS, so it.may. work or.may not. They haven't exactly published a list of which ones do and don't work for sure.

Maybe in Bootcamp or VMware Fusion or Parallels it might work, but that's if you're setting up a virtual machine.Out of the box-no, probablly not. I haven't heard of a Mac compatible GTX 1060/1070/1080 yet. One may come along in the future. Usually what you'd have to do is get the card flashed with a Mac compatible ROM, which requires a PC and a whole lot of knowledge, none of which I have, or you could send it to MacVidCards.com and see if they'll flash itwhich probably will cost you some money. Also, check out xlr8yourmac.com for reports of compatible graphics cardsas reported by Mac users.

Darn shame, too. I have a Radeon Sapphire 7950 video card which works fine, but it has 3 gigs of video ram on board and that's it. The R9 series have been reported to work okay, but I can't verify that one way or the other. If that card does.sorta. work out of the box (no guarantees), you probably won't see anything on the screen until the graphics drivers load, so should you run into problems on startup, you're basically out of luck, unless you can live with thathope that helps a bitJohn B.

Originally the answer to the question is the GTX 1060 compatible with a 2008 Mac Pro running Apple's OS X would have been a definite no.This month i.e. April 2017 - nearly a year after the original question, the answer is now maybe.Nvidia have this month released beta versions of new drivers for the GTX 10x0 range of cards included the GTX 1060. Previously neither Apple nor Nvidia provided drivers for this generation of card i.e. The 'Pascal' generation. Apple still do not provide drivers themselves but as mentioned Nvidia do now have beta version drivers.There is however still an issue, currently Nvidia's beta drivers are only for macOS Sierra.

Since officially a 2008 and a 2009 model Mac Pro is not able to run Sierra that would still mean the answer is no. A 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro can officially run Sierra. Unofficially the 2009 Mac Pro can be easily made to run Sierra and unofficially it might be possible to get the 2008 to run Sierra.At this point we have no idea if Nvidia will release a finished version of these new drivers which also supports El Capitan which your 2008 Mac Pro can officially run.No recent Nvidia cards have come as standard with Mac firmware which means as standard they will not show anything on the Mac screen until the Mac has finished booting and therefore loaded the Nvidia drivers. A reseller called MacVidCards has been taking PC i.e.

Standard Nvidia cards and converting them to have a Mac compatible firmware which does then mean you will see the boot process on the Mac and be therefore also able to use options like the RecoveryHD partition, FileVault encryption and the option key to see the boot drive selector screen. As of today MacVidCards have not finished doing the same process for GTX 10x0 series cards but now there are beta Mac drivers they have started working on this. As far as I can tell the driver needed for supporting the GTX 10x0 range requires a minimum of 10.12.4 i.e. I personally do not expect Nvidia to add support for these newer cards for El Capitan.Your other route would be the built-in Apple drivers.

Here the answer would be a definite no in that Apple will not add support to older versions of macOS. Indeed they will also not be adding RX Vega 64 support to Sierra.The Nvidia GTX-980 can do both 5K and 4K resolutions and only needs the two standard 6-pin connectors of a Mac Pro.

I believe the maximum wattage it might use is 165w that's more than made up from the two 6-pin connections and the PCIe slot itself each of which provides 75w. I believe the GTX-980 can be used with El Capitan and Nvidia drivers.This page lists 4K capable video cards -Even the discontinued GTX-680 can do 4K but is a less power efficient design and obviously delivers less performance than a more modern card. Apple Footer.This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums.

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The idea of an external graphics card (eGPU) was once the talk of fantasy, but that’s no longer the case. Thanks to Thunderbolt 3 and its high-bandwidth 40Gbps transfer rate, external enclosures can now accommodate high-end graphics cards.

That means you can now supercharge the visual performance of your Mac computer, even if it’s a laptop. There are some caveats to doing this, namely a limited number of supported graphics cards and the high price of getting started (for now, anyway).

So let’s take a look at what you need to add an external GPU to your Mac or MacBook and which ones you should buy.

What You’ll Need

First, you’ll need a Thunderbolt 3-capable Mac or MacBook model. Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB-C connector, and appears on the following models:

• MacBook Pro, late 2016 and newer
• iMac, mid 2017 and newer
• iMac with Retina Display, mid 2017 and newer
• iMac Pro, late 2017 and newer

In addition to owning one of these Apple computers, you’ll also need macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 or later. Finally, you’ll need to purchase two additional items, either separately or part of a bundle:

1. A Thunderbolt 3 eGPU enclosure, into which your graphics card will slot.
2. A macOS-compatible graphics card.

With all this in place, you should be able to put the graphics card into the enclosure, then plug the enclosure into your Mac for a significant boost in graphical fidelity. However, you may still be limited in how you can use your eGPU.

The Limitations of External GPUs on macOS

Not every application you run can take advantage of your eGPU. In many cases, you’ll need to plug an external monitor directly into the eGPU enclosure in order to see the benefit. This is the case with many 3D games and VR applications.

Some pro-level software designed to take advantage of multiple GPUs will “just work” as you’d expect. This includes 3D modeling apps and video editors, but it’s worth confirming your preferred application will see a benefit before you buy.

Some applications and games have received patches allowing you to accelerate the built-in display on your iMac or MacBook. However, this is something that developers must enable on their end, so it’s worth keeping in mind if you’re thinking of using an eGPU purely to accelerate your in-built display.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to use your external GPU with Boot Camp to run Windows games How to Keep Playing Games When You Have a MacYou don't have to give up on gaming if you have a Mac. You just have to go about it differently. Read More on your Mac. But since most of these enclosures are also compatible with Windows, this might improve in the future.

Mac Compatibility With External GPUs

At present, there are only a small number of compatible graphics cards you can use as an eGPU on your Mac. These are all AMD cards, with none of the popular Nvidia cards officially supported at present.

According to Apple, these are:

• AMD Polaris cards: Radeon RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580, and Radeon Pro WX 7100
• AMD Vega 64 cards: Radeon RX Vega 64, Vega Frontier Edition Air, and Radeon Pro WX 9100
• AMD Radeon RX Vega 56

Users over at the eGPU.io community have managed to get Nvidia cards working on macOS, but not without a lot of tweaking. If you already own an Nvidia card and you want to try, its forums are your friend. But I wouldn’t buy an Nvidia card with the intent of “hacking” your way to success at this stage.

Picking an eGPU Enclosure for Your Mac

The eGPU enclosure you pick for your Mac largely depends on the graphics card you’re going to use 5 Things You Have to Know Before Buying a Graphics CardHere are five key points to keep in mind before you buy your next graphics card, otherwise you may regret your purchase. Read More . Modern graphics cards suck up a lot of power, with the higher-end cards using significantly more power than the more affordable ones.

Power is delivered in watts, but some of that power is dedicated to powering the connected Mac. Make sure your enclosure’s GPU maximum power output doesn’t exceed that of the graphics card you intend to put inside it. This information should be available on the respective manufacturer’s specification sheets.

The size of the graphics card will count too. Your card has to physically fit inside the enclosure, so make sure the two components are compatible in this regard. If you intend on upgrading the GPU in the future, you might want to buy the best enclosure you can afford rather than the best short-term solution.

Some manufacturers aim their enclosures at the Mac market, while others create eGPU solutions with their own brand of Windows laptops. You should always ensure the enclosure you pick is compatible with macOS, though the vast majority will be.

There are other aspects to consider too. Many enclosures function as Thunderbolt 3 hubs 5 Thunderbolt RAID Systems to Serve Your External Data Storage NeedsRAID systems are awesome for external storage, and with Thunderbolt 3, they're faster than ever. Here are the best Thunderbolt-compatible RAID units. Read More , adding additional features like USB ports, Ethernet, SATA ports, HDMI, and similar.

Recommended eGPU Enclosures for Mac

Here are a few of the best external GPU enclosures on the market now, including those recommended by Apple. Most of these are compatible with Nvidia cards, which is handy if Apple adds support somewhere down the line.

PowerColor Devil Box

Recommended by Apple for use with macOS, the Devil Box is a 500W (maximum GPU power 375W) eGPU. It includes a whopping five USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, and a SATA port. It’s based on AMD XConnect technology, and compatible with the Radeon RX 570, RX 560, RX 550, and Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 10 series of cards (but not on Mac, yet).

For ease of use, the PowerColor Devil Box features thumbscrews so you can swap out cards without breaking out your tools.

Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box

Sonnet’s eGFX Breakaway Box lineup comes in a modest, powerful, and extreme variant depending on the card you’re using. This is a barebones eGPU affair, with nothing in the way of expansion ports or USB connectivity to speak of.

The more powerful variants offer laptop charging up to 87W, and the 650W model can power a 350W card with an additional 100W of peak power where required.

Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Puck

Looking for an all-in-one solution? Sonnet also produces the Breakaway Puck, which comes with a Radeon RX 560 or 570 pre-installed.

Since the Radeon is an AMD card, it’s plug-and-play compatible with macOS, and will charge laptops up to 45W. For connectivity, you get three additional DisplayPort outputs and an HDMI output, but no extra USB ports.

Razer Core V2

The Core v2 is an updated version of Razer’s previous eGPU enclosure, and it’s a premium product. Not only does it look the part, it’s compatible with AMD and Nvidia cards. This one has a 500W power supply capable of delivering a maximum GPU power output of 375W. It features fancy LEDs and four USB 3.0 ports to boot.

Razer Core X

The Razer Core X is both more powerful and less expensive than the Core V2, though it presents itself as a less refined product. Lacking the fancy LEDs and styling found in the V2, the Core X delivers the goods with a 650W power supply capable of driving a full-length 500W graphics card.

Compatibility includes most major cards from Nvidia and AMD, and it can charge laptops up to 100W too.

The Best External GPU Advancements Are Yet to Come

Thunderbolt 3 is fast, but it’s still only about a third as fast as plugging your graphics card into a high-end gaming motherboard. Since Apple and Intel have pretty much doubled the throughput with each iteration of the technology, the viability of the eGPU is only going to improve in future.

Check out the above eGPU units if you need the best visual performance now, but it’s not a bad idea to wait if you can help it. Either way, you may also want to read up on common mistakes that are slowing down your Mac 7 Common Mistakes That Slow Your Mac DownIs your Mac running slow? By changing some of your computing habits, you could improve its performance. These 7 big mistakes can slow down your Mac. Read More .