Graphics card compatibility is an absolute nightmare when it comes to the Mac Pro. Only a select number will work, and you won’t get access to the cream of the crop on the market. As such, many have struggled to find a card that will handle intensive games and video editing at high settings without flinching. However the Nvidia Quadro K5000 could be the solution.
Engadget got hands on with the card (actually two of them), and the results were impressive. 11 streams of 1080p video in Premiere Pro are handled flawlessly, and while software rendering mode becomes challenging, that really is pushing things to the limit.
After Effects was also tested, and ran smoothly enough to edit images in real time, along with ray tracing.
This is certainly one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful) Mac Pro graphics cards so far, with 4K support and 4GB of RAM and is definitely a good choice – if you can afford it. You’ll have to part with $2249 to get hold of one, and while Apple won’t sell them in new Mac Pros, it is understood that other specialist vendors will.
