Mac Pro 1,1 and 30" Cinema Display

[Effinucked]

I know both of these are old gear by now, but they are good for the work I need them for and my budget is limited. The 30" display I bought recently. The Mac Pro is patched to run El Capitan 10.11. My graphics card is a Nvidia GeForce 210, which has one DVI port, a HDMI and a VGA.

I also purchased a second hand 150w PSU for the 30" display. However, I'm not sure if the 150w PSU is actually not working or if the problem is my graphics card!

I also have a 23" Cinema Display which is using a 90w PSU and works fine with the Mac Pro and graphics card. I switched the 90w PSU with the 150w for the 23" display and nothing shows on the 23".

I have no other way of testing the 150w, but I think it's dead, not 100% sure. Is there any way I can test it, or should I look at buying a new graphics card with dual-DVI?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

There could be several things here...
-Since the Mac Pro (MacPro1,1) only supports up to Mac OS X 10.7.5 Lion, the El Capitan hack may affect things.
-The Nvidia GeForce 210 is a PC card, and was not designed to be Mac-compatible, nor does it have a dual-link DVI port.
-The Cinema Display 30" requires a dual link DVI connection, and won't work on a non dual-link DVI card.
-Which exact model is the Cinema Display - Cinema Display (30-inch DVI) or Cinema Display (30-inch DVI Late 2005)?
-The 23" uses the 90 W power supply and the 30" uses the 150 W power supply. The 23" should work with the 150 W, but the 30" will not work with the 90 W. If the 23" doesn't work with the 150 W you purchased, it may be bad.

Hope that helps,

C

 

[Effinucked]

Thanks for your reply. I am in the process of purchasing a new graphic card anyway. I'm thinking the 150w is bad and I will have to return to the seller. Running the serial number through everymac.com, it tells me it's this model: https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/studio_cinema/specs/apple_cinema_display_30.html

 

[Effinucked]

What graphics card would you recommend for me to run both the 30" and 23" Cinema HD Displays?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Because of the age of that Mac Pro, I would only recommend one of the original "Apple" OEM cards that came in it:
NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500
ATI Radeon X1900 XT

Other cards aren't technically supported, and later cards may not be fully compatible with the PCI Express slot. The 30" requires a dual-link DVI card, but the 23" should run on those cards as well.

C

 

[Effinucked]

Thanks for your advice.
I have found a refurbished 'NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500'.

 

[Effinucked]

Hi. I'm back! So, I installed my new graphics card, with 2 x Dual-DVI ports. In the Displays section of Preferences I can see that both Cinema Displays are recognised by Mac OSX – the 23" and the 30". However, there is no picture or white light on the 30". I'm still none the wiser as whether it's the PSU that is not working or if the Display is faulty. Any help appreciated. Thanks