Whats The Verdict On Quadro 4000 for Mac

Erik Naso

Veteran
I keep hearing negative reviews on this card. Is it still problematic with the current drivers? I purchased but haven't opened the box yet. It has to play well with more than Adobe products, like FCP7 and the suite.
 
So I went ahead and installed the card. What a pain in the butt! First thing, the user manual is for Windows and Linux, no information on Mac at all. The drivers aren't obvious with strange names that don't include any references to Mac. I had to call tech support to figure out what I needed to install. Turns out the Cuda drivers are a separate download which is fine if I had some documentation on installing it. I cant believe a PRO card that cost as much as this has such horrible documentation. I ran out of time this morning but was able to confirm that Premiere Pro CS5.5 sees the card for Mercury Playback. Will have to wait until tomorrow to test it out.

Is there anything else I need to install? or the Driver and Cuda it for Mac.
 
No, I don't think so. I agree with the CUDA drivers. but since I'm used to fix things manually, it wasn't a big deal for me.

Anyhow the card works great with the latest drivers. Both with CS5, MC5 and FCP6. I'm using P2-media and h264 mostly.
 
Did you buy the Mac or Windows card? The Windows one is about $400 less and can still work on Mac (provided you get the right drivers from the nVidia website).

According to Nvidia's website, the cards cost the same. What's the point of having a card for the Mac if the Windows card works on a Mac?
 
I'm just bumping this thread as I purchased the card but am a complete moron when it comes to installation. I have some serious deadline work and would like to get this 4000 installed and running.

I'm on a 2009 MacPro4,1 Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2.26 GHz



First off, my mac has two cords running to an existing ATI radeon card. It appears the 4000 only needs one power source. Is that right? Will one cord just not be used?

My first attempt was unsuccessful. The computer powered up, but everything was buggy and I couldn't run programs like Final Cut Pro. So I took the card out and put the old one back in.

The installation disc the card came with doesn't seem to have any drivers for Mac, unless i'm missing the obvious. Mentioned by the OP:
First thing, the user manual is for Windows and Linux, no information on Mac at all. The drivers aren't obvious with strange names that don't include any references to Mac.
When I put my old card back in, I went ahead and installed the latest driver. So when I go to switch out the cards, what will my next step be to get the 4000 working?

This is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE as far as tech support. No instructions or phone # on the box. I got the #, left a message and am hanging in the wind.

As a customer, I'm flying blind with the installation here. Anyone care to respond or send me a PM, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
I didn't have any trouble installing the card, but I did have to download the latest driver. It works great for me. I can do some pretty sophisticated color gradng in real time on AVCHD files in multiple tracks.
 
EDIT: I think I got everything installed correctly. WHEW!

My questions could be answered relatively quickly by PNY's customer support IF they actually had someone working there that got back to me in a timely fashion. It's pretty appalling the lack of customer support/documentation as first mentioned by Erik in post #2.
 
Last edited:
Hello,

I'm considering buying this card to use with After Effects and eventually Premiere when there are better drivers for my Kona Board.

I was wondering how you like the performance of the Quadro 4000?

Many thanks
 
I'm just bumping this thread as I purchased the card but am a complete moron when it comes to installation. I have some serious deadline work and would like to get this 4000 installed and running.

I'm on a 2009 MacPro4,1 Quad-Core Intel Xeon
2.26 GHz



First off, my mac has two cords running to an existing ATI radeon card. It appears the 4000 only needs one power source. Is that right? Will one cord just not be used?

My first attempt was unsuccessful. The computer powered up, but everything was buggy and I couldn't run programs like Final Cut Pro. So I took the card out and put the old one back in.

The installation disc the card came with doesn't seem to have any drivers for Mac, unless i'm missing the obvious. Mentioned by the OP:

When I put my old card back in, I went ahead and installed the latest driver. So when I go to switch out the cards, what will my next step be to get the 4000 working?

This is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE as far as tech support. No instructions or phone # on the box. I got the #, left a message and am hanging in the wind.

As a customer, I'm flying blind with the installation here. Anyone care to respond or send me a PM, it would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Sorry I didn't get back to you from your DM. Looks like you got it working. Putting some long editing hours at work. If you still need help I can call you.
I haven't had any issues with the card so far in FCP7 and really any other apps. Seems solid with current drivers from PNY.
As for Premiere Pro CS5.5, tonight is color grading day. Looking forward to knocking them out fast with Ppro. Im going to export XML from FCP7 and do all the correction and final output to Flash video for the web. The Adobe media encoder is fantastic! So easy and uses all the resources your Mac has.
 
Sorry I didn't get back to you from your DM.

Not a problem, my friend. Yes, I was able to get the card up and running, what I was missing was an initial installation of the latest driver. I'm really pissed that PNY never called me back. "Oh our quadro 4000 expert is on vacation this week" Really? No one else can answer questions at your shop? Amazing.

I'm considering buying this card to use with After Effects and eventually Premiere when there are better drivers for my Kona Board.

I was wondering how you like the performance of the Quadro 4000?

So far I'm not wowed by it. I replaced an ATI Radeon and was expecting some radical speed increases & performance in After Effects. Nothing great to report of. The upside is being able to edit native H.264 in Premiere.

Am I missing anything? I wonder if any of the Adobe pros who have been hanging around these forums could weigh in with some system settings or tweaks that I should do to the AE & Premiere settings to get the most out of the CUDA technology.

I just do the edit, me no techie.
 
Back
Top