Mac Pro :: Primary Card - ATI 4870 / GTX 285?
Aug 15, 2009
I had wanted to get a dual 2.66 with the ATI 4870 card. A client ordered it with the Geo 120. One option seems to be to buy an upgrade so here are my questions: 1. Is there anything I can do with the GEO 120? If I leave it in, will it do anything useful? When you have more than one card in, is their a "primary card"? How does the computer know? 2. If I buy another card, should I buy the ATI 4870 or the GTX 285? I've been reading about the 285 here. Will installing either of these cards void my warranty and/or AppleCare? There seems to be a question as to whether the 285 is "supported" by Apple, whatever that means. I do a lot of Photoshop editing and some video -- that's why I wanted the ATI. Suggestions as to what to do will be greatly appreciated.
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Mar 13, 2009
I have a Mac Pro 2006 edition with an ATI 1900XT video card. This is working just fine, and I can boot into Mac OS X and Windows Vista via Boot Camp.
I just purchased a Sapphire 4870 video card. My plan was to remove the 1900XT and plug in the 4870, and always boot into Vista. I realize that since this card is not a "Mac" card I will not be able to use Mac OS X. I also expected from my reading that I would not be able to hold down the option key at boot time to select my boot drive. I figured if I had a need to get back into OS X, I'll put the 1900XT back in for that.
As long as the Mac is configured to boot Windows, I thought that this setup would work fine. With the 4870 I expected that I would hear the bootup gong and then eventually see Vista start to boot up.
So, with that in mind, I performed the switch last night. I removed the 1900XT and installed the 4870. I had to run an additional power lead from the spare molex connector by the DVD drive to the 4870 since it requires two power connections. The 1900XT only needs one.
I plugged everything in, and turned on the Mac. I heard the startup gong. So far so good.
Then, my screen turns almost completely white (a very light gray) and I see a blinking cursor in the upper left-hand corner. The hard drives begin to seek and it sounds like things are booting... however I never get to the Vista boot selection screen (I actually have two Vista installs on two separate drives, so I always get the boot selection screen to decide which drive to boot from.) I also never hear a Vista startup sound... it's almost as if it is booting into Mac OS X instead of Vista.
At this point I am stumped and I'm hoping somebody here in the forum knows what is going wrong. Does my 4870 not have enough power? Do I have to have a Mac-compatible video card plugged in even if I don't plan on using it? Is what I'm trying to do just impossible?
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Apr 6, 2009
I recently just purchased one of the early 2008 Mac Pro Desktops, model number MA970LL/A and am trying to upgrade the video card in it. It comes standard with an ATI Radeon HD 2600 xt, and I would like to upgrade to an ATI Radeon HD 4870. I don't know that it will work though, I know that the NVIDEA that comes standard in the early 2009 Mac Pro does not work in the early 2008 Model. Does anyone have any information on this or know if that will work?
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May 28, 2010
With the recent Steam for Mac release, I have been thinking about getting a new video card again, however I am looking for reasons to get it. So I am just wondering will I see any speed improvements if I used a better video card on Aperture 3 (running 32bit because I use nik software)? I also use FCP, Photoshop quite often.
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Feb 16, 2012
When I purchased my 2 Macs they were set up with my Apple ID. Somehow when I upgraded to Lion, which I did right after it came out, it change my contact information to show my wifes. What I mean is when I check Preferences > Users & Groups my Admin users ID shows my Apple ID but the address book card is linked to my wife's information. Of course whenever I try to complete a form on a site, it uses her information to auto-fill. We both have iPhones and iCloud accounts.I've had both these computers since OS X 10.4 or 5. They have always been correct till this upgrade.
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7), Dual 3.0 Ghz Xenon quad-core
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Jul 17, 2009
In the last 2 weeks before my MP shipped, I've asked 3 Apple Geniuses at Apple stores and Apple Tech support about running dual DVI 23" Cinema Displays with 4870's. They ALL said I would need a second card. When I attempted the install, there were only 2 power cord clips on the back face of the main board. Both being used by the onboard Radeon 4870. What to do next? Another call to Apple support offered me a nice Indian girl who I could not really understand. Finally, I called a local non-Apple shop that I frequent for hardware and service issues. The very nice service tech told me to take the 2nd card back, since that original 4870 will drive 2 monitors perfectly, in my case, with a simple Mini DisplayPort to DVI adaptor for the 2nd 23" display.
how would you install any 2nd graphics card, if a 4870 takes up both power clips?
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Feb 8, 2012
My wife's macbook monitor is destroyed due to happy 2 year old. It won't be worthwhile to replace the monitor and it is not fixable without some expensive work being done on it, therefore I would like to use our TV as an external monitor and retire the macbook to being a mediia computer. I have connected it to the TV, and I see an empty desktop, as far as I can determine it looks like it is treating the TV as a secondary display - that the desktop is extended onto - so I cannot actually interact with the normal desktop. When I try to run things using keyboard shortcuts I hear some sounds of things starting, but I don't see anything on the TV. So what I need to do is to have some way to tell it to treat the secondary display as the primary display.
Info:
iPhone 3G, Windows XP
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Sep 21, 2009
Can a 06 Mac Pro run it?
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Oct 6, 2008
Just bought a couple weeks ago, 2.8ghz 8-core Mac Pro. My only complaint is the wimpy 2600 XT that it came with.
I know I could put in the 3870 or 8800GT but that would be a step down from my windows pc that I just switched from, which was running 4850.
I've heard the rumors that Mac will soon support the 4800 series ATI cards but my question is will the card work on my current Mac Pro or would this upgrade only be for the new Mac Pros that everyone is guessing will come out in January?
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Jun 10, 2009
When I say I'd want the power of the 4870, I mostly mean gaming with that card. Now that I've typed this out, it sounds less and less like it would work.
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Aug 23, 2009
I need some help getting some facts straight. I am considering upgrading from the 4870 to the 285. It's a fine idea except that the 285 is very expensive, but at least I could try and sell the 4870 and maybe get $300CAD for it. Then I thought, what about just getting a second 4870 and crossfiring them?
I have read through a good 3 or 4 threads on these forums about powering the second card, flashing PC cards and working with crossfire... that was a freaking long 3 hours of reading non-stop.
So I have these questions which I hope someone here can answer with reasonable certainty.
1) When doing crossfire, do the cards have to be very similar for them to work? If 1 card is 512 and the other 1GB will there be any advantage over just getting a card with 512?
2) If other cards of the same family work, would a crossfiring of the apple 4870 with a 4870X2 perform similar to 3 X 4870 in crossfire?
3) Could someone explain the cables and/or hardware needed to power the second card from the second optical drive slot? I think the best way to go is 1 cable from each card to the regular spot and 1 cable from each card going to the same connector in the optical bay.
4) Apparently 2 X apple 4870s don't work with crossfire. But does this apply to combining an apple 4870 with an unflashed PC 4870?
5) I thought I read about some attempts to modify the ROM of the apple card to enable crossfire with some success. Is that true and if so where is this ROM and does it negatively impact the apple 4870 in OSX?
6) If have read in the past (I think with the PC 3870s) that if you connect a second unflashed card to an apple card with the crossfire link that the card behaves in OSX (doesn't spin it's fans wildly). I don't need it to do anything in OSX except not blow up, I only care about it working in windows. I'd like to avoid flashing the PC card if I can.
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Feb 22, 2010
guys would a flashed 4870 from this tutorial
[URL]
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Apr 7, 2010
I just bought a 4870 for my Mac Pro 1,1. Is there any advantage to keeping the 7300 GT in there, or disadvantage? It does give me a few more DVI outs if I add a third monitor, I guess. What about Aperture or other apps that use the video card - my guess is that it doesn't add anything, but I don't know.
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May 6, 2010
I just installed an ATI 4870 into my 2008 Mac Pro, I need a second power cable to connect the card to the logic board, does anyone know exactly what cable I have to order?
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Jul 27, 2010
Shew... I currently have the 4870 and am looking to upgrade to the 5870 for two reason:
1. I have duel ACD and need the dual mini display
2. I am an avid After Effects guru and need all the punch I can get (yes i know the QaudroFX, but it's just not worth it and they never update them).
How do you all think they will compare performance for price? Any early reviews comparing them both on the PC at least?
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Mar 7, 2009
Is it possible, I'm considering buying the new Pro, but I just want to know whether I could install more than one Ati 4870 HD graphics card
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Mar 3, 2009
It's no big secret that today Apple announced that the ATI 4870 will be available sometime in the near future for the new Mac Pros and some of the other recent models.
So the question is for those of us who are running a single 3870, is it worth dropping it for the 4870 or better to go 2x3870 in crossfire. This is more of a question geared towards Windows usage and not OSX since OSX doesn't support crossfire.
Just a couple of weeks ago I purchased the Mac/PC edition of the 3870 from OWC and added the Accelero passive cooler to it and it's working out well.
I was thinking about buying an additional 3870 to crossfire sometime in the relatively near future solely for the purpose of Windows gaming since you can get PC versions of the 3870 for so cheap.
I'm guessing the Mac edition of the 4870 is going to be pricey so would the dual 3870 option make more sense?
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Mar 19, 2009
Does anyone game on a Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon HD 4870? How is the performance? Can it play most games? I'd be gaming at 1920x1200.
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Mar 30, 2009
Ever since the 3870 came out last year, I've been waiting to see if anyone was able to dump the ROM from the Mac version and flash a PC version with it. But it seems no one was able to do it.
How come suddenly everyone and their brother is now able to flash the PC 4870? Anyone know what the differences between the two are, that would prevent the 3870 from being flashed successfully?
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Jul 17, 2009
I have a 2009 - Mac Pro 8 Core with a 4870 Video Card. I know this card uses both the six pin power plugs. I want to add a ATi 2600 Xt card to be able to drive a third monitor and Wacom Cintiq tablet.
Will there be any problems doing this? Does the 2600 just plug into the PCI slot and fire right up? Do I have to adjust the card from 16 to 8?
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Sep 5, 2009
Does anybody have a working ROM for this MSI 4870 1gb card (T2D1G)? I have already tried combining a "fanfix-implemented" pc bios with the apple ROM using pipomolo42's script, and then flashing it with atitool. The card seems to have been bricked in the process, after the restart command, the (early 2008) Mac Pro have begun chiming constantly, apparently stuck in a POST-loop. I have been unable to boot while the 4870 is put in (only after disconnecting all 2 power cables, although the fan spins on 100%).
Does this mean the card is paperweight, or is it reflashable in a PC (unfortunately i only have the Mac Pro right now)? Alternatively, can i reflash it without the power cables? I suppose atiflash wouldn't even recognise it.. (i couldn't test this, the bootable CD i wrote appears to have ceased working after the initial flashing, even without the 4870 put in) If the card is reflashable, and someone has a working ROM
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Sep 11, 2009
I have a Mac Pro 1.1 and I've been successfully running a flashed XFX ATi 4870 card for a month or so.
Yesterday evening I left my computer in sleep mode, when I came back it appeared to be awake with only one of the two screens working and everything frozen. Both screens were connected to an Apple ATi 2600 XT and nothing was connected to the 4870.
I held down the power button and restarted, the fans on the graphics cards ramp up and then down as usual and the computer makes the startup dong noise. I can hear the hard drives and optical drives working as usual then the drives appear to shutdown and I'm left with the computer apparently doing nothing.
- Fans are running
- Screens are in standby (LED's on)
- Both screens are connected to the ATi 2600
- 2 x 20in Apple Cinema Displays
- Nothing is connected to the ATi 4870
- No LEDs are lit up inside the case
Once I remove the ATi 4870 the computer starts up normally, putting the 4870 back in give the same startup problem.
Is there anything I can do to get the 4870 working again?
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Sep 30, 2009
I am looking at putting one of these cards in my first gen Mac Pro and was wondering if anyone has had any problems with compatibility issues etc.
I am looking at getting one from bruinmacs and was looking for feedback from others that may have bought one and whether there have been any problems.
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Dec 19, 2009
I grabbed a new i7 iMac, and have found the Bootcamp drivers to be lacking, mainly causing display driver crashes. I just loaded up the newest from ATi, but its too soon, to tell if that fixes it. I'm considering returning the iMac and getting a Mac Pro instead. Just curious if this problem still persists on the Mac Pro or not in Windows 7. And if I get full driver access control, as you would with a typical PC? (I noticed that Catalyst Control Suite on the iMac doesn't install, it will only install the drivers, so no fine-tuning access the Control Suite typically affords you)
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Mar 11, 2010
Anyone had this issue? I'm running Windows 7 (Mac Pro 200) with Bootcamp 3 drivers, every thing seems fine, but it appears that after awhile the graphics card fan seems to stop. Has this happend to anyone?, I downloaded the Catalyst drivers so can hopefully turn the fans on manually but this is'nt ideal.
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Aug 30, 2010
I use my Macbook + Boxee to watch videos via a projector as my secondary display, but when I'm watching videos the bright macbook screen can be distracting next to my projected display. I'd naturally 'sleep' my display (I even have that function set as one of my 'hot corners') but if I do this then the secondary display, i.e. the projector, also loses picture. I'm therefore left with the options of dimming the brightness of the macbook's screen right down to its lowest setting (which seems to be 'off') or shutting the macbook lid, which naturally causes the whole system to sleep unless I use one of those reportedly dodgy kernel-hacking apps like InsomniaX.
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Oct 28, 2010
I love the small foot print & great portability of the new MBA 11" but I am not sure how I can get around the storage issue since I keep lots of home multimedia files on my laptop. I do have a recent iMac with lots of storage in our basement and do have the Mobile me account.
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Mar 20, 2009
I just sold my 24" iMac and I'm looking to buy a notebook. I'm moving to Japan and I figure I want something smaller. I mostly use computers for iTunes/iPhoto/Safari and some video watching.
I'm curious if anyone uses this as their primary computer.
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Jun 6, 2009
if i hook up an external 7200rpm drive via fw800 to my mini, will this drive be faster to boot from than the internal 5400rpm drive? Could I use the external drive as my primary drive?
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Nov 16, 2009
I'm unable to find out how I can create a primary partition on a USB stick using OS X (I could just go to my Windows or Linux machine and do it there, but it just annoys the hell out of me that I haven't been able to figure out how to do it on my Mac so far).
I want to make one partition of the USB stick bootable (to keep a Windows 7 installation CD image on it) and use the rest of the USB stick for a data partition, but while the Disk utility allows me to generate two paritions, I can't find a setting that allows me to specify that one of them is primary.
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