I recently sold my XFX 4870 in anticipation of the new cards that will be coming to the MP's soon. I understand that the question will not be answered until the new MP's come out and someone can extract the BIOS. But I wanted to start a thread of which cards (Brand, Model, Rev #) works with our MP's (looks like 2008 and later).
Seen this discussion scattered throughout threads but I wanted to ask it directly here. What uses could really take advantage of the 5870? I've seen gaming benchmarks (5870 blows the 5770 away) but not much else. Specifically, I'm primarily using Aperture and some light gaming. But I'd love to hear why many of you are opting for the 5870.
I have a 2010 Mac Pro currently using the 5870 graphics card to run a 22� monitor. However, I am going to add a second 27� screen to my setup. I do a lot of heavy 3d modelling so GPU power is very important. I spend hours and hours panning and zooming in dense models so I would like to dedicate the 5870 power to this, rather than it running dual monitors.
I have read that you could use a GT 120 to drive extra monitors but I�ve also heard really bad reviews for its performance, making it really painful to spend an extra �120 on it. The 5770 is �80 more and has a lot more power than a GT 120.
Is it viable to use PCI Express Y-splitters to run a 5770 and 5870 together? If so how would it work? What are the dangers in doing this?
I have done some research and apparently you can use PCI Express Y-splitters to run two high-end cards on the Mac Pro, though, I couldn�t find a lot of info on the subject. I�m not really computer literate but I�m willing to do some moderate internal tinkering in order to run two decent cards (which is really surprising for a Professional computer).
Can someone explain to me what the differences between these two graphics cards are? My main use will be with a 6-core Mac Pro and a 27" Apple Cinema Display. I'd like to watch Netflix/Huly Plus full screen. I will not be doing any video editing. I will be doing some audio editing and the basic Apple iLife applications.
What are the pros/cons of the 5770 vs the 5870? I know the 5870 uses more power and I've also heard it's louder.
I have a GT120 and a GTX285 running one ACD 30" and two ACD 20"... I'm selling my 30" to get the all new ACD 27"... I'm also thinking of selling off the two 20's as well... Does this also mean that I need to sell my GT120 and GTX285 and either get a 5770 or 5870 to make the ACD 27" work?
What are my options? I know the 5870 is not available... I'm not a big gamer or graphics designer, but love the best!
seeing as there's at least 3 threads on this topic, and I've been posting in all of them, I figured I'd create this thread to help consolidate the info we know so far. Please note, this is for *OFFICIAL* Apple Radeon 5770/5870 cards, NOT flashed cards. I'll also try to keep it updated with more info as it comes in. Also, feel free to chime in if something is wrong.
- 5870 and 5770 work with no some issues in 2009 and 2008 Mac Pro's
- UPDATE: Weepul pointed out that Rob-ART from Barefeats had some trouble with a 30" Cinema Display and a MDP --> dual link DVI adapter on 2008/09/10 models, though he thinks this may be due to a bad adapter
- UPDATE 2: Rob-ART says OWC got a 30" working on MDP of 5870. (post)- UPDATE 3: grey17 says the 5770 works in 2009 Mac Pro (link)- 5870 and 5770 work in SOME 2006 Mac Pro's:
- Rob-ART from Barefeats says it works.
- OWC says the 5770 only works with DVI works flawlessly on 2006/2007 (MDP and DVI) (post) (confirmed by netkas), and the 5870 doesn't work at all. (link).......
I currently have an ATI 4870 card in this Mac Pro (late 2009). I use this rig for heavy Adobe Creative Suite 5 and FCP work. I use dual Apple LED 27" monitors.I'm about to order the 5870 graphics card upgrade from Apple, but before I do, is it possible to run TWO 5870 graphics cards? I am running into conflicting information and trying to get a definitive answer. If yes, do I need additional power cables and if so, which ones?
Alternatively, I've read the 5970 card is essentially two 5870 GPUs on one chip.Will this be a better solution?I also want the cards to be drop and play ready/natively supported. As I rely on this computer for business, I'm not interested in continually chasing down third-party drivers.
I've got a Mac Pro1,1 (Mid 2006) with a 7300GT installed. I want to upgrade the card as cheaply as possible. I've looked on Apple Store and according to reviews/comments the ATI HD 5770 will be compatible, but its �199!? The PC version is only �100.
I know you can flash the ATI 4870, but even this is out dated now? And most of the links on the guides here are dead/the stores don't stock them anymore.
Is it possible to buy a PC version ATI HD 5770 and flash it to work with my Mac Pro?
Finally got my Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X hooked up to my 2009 MP... and been trying to get it set up so I don't have to pull the old GT120 GPU out of the PCIe slot every time I want to boot up in Windows Vista x64 on the 5870. The GT120 still boots up beautifully to OSX with the 5870 in, but I can't seem to get the 5870 as default on WinVista64. My guess is it has something to do with the EFI, as I get the gray "pre-apple" screen when I boot with the GT120, but not with the 5870. The 5870 only starts to send out a signal once the Windows loading screen shows up.
I'm trying to completely (or at least effectively) disable the GT120 in Boot Camp/Vista x64. Is it even possible without a BIOS? I've already tried disabling the GT120 "Display Adapter" under Device Manager.
I've got an old school mac pro 1.1 (because i'm too poor to afford a newer one) which didn't come with an airport card when I go it. Have just grabbed one out of a Macbook to put in the mac pro. It works, but not as a normal airport card should.
I'm not sure if its an incompatible card, or if i'm just dealing with a software issues. The normal airport menu up by the clock is useless. It just says Airport: No configured, and then has a link to network preferences in system preferences. I can connect to a network, and once its connected it works how it should, but to connect I need to go into network in system pref, then under network name, select Join other network, then show network, then i'll see the list of networks and be able to select the right one. But if I restart, or the computer goes to sleep, it forgets all that information, and I have to go back to the start again and select the network again.
Do you think its an incompatible card, or is there some software trick I can do to get it working properly?
So, its now the 3870 vs. the 8800. As someone who plays games on the Windows and uses iLife '08 on the Mac side (not many games though), which card is looking better?
I am about to purchase a Mac Pro, and I saw the rumor about the new ATI Radeon 3870 coming for the Mac Pro in late May.
I had a few questions about it and Mac Pro graphics cards in general. First, will this card be available as an optional upgrade when configuring a Mac Pro from the Apple Store? Is that usually how it goes?
Secondly, I'm a video editor planning to use this Mac Pro primarily for Final Cut Studio and After Effects. It seems to have been indicated that ATI cards are better for this sort of work, versus the 8800GT they off right now.
Do these programs gain significant benefit from using ATI or is it more unsubstantial?
The other question I have is whether or not these cards would be recommended for use with the Avid product line (namely Avid Xpress Pro or Media Composer). It seems that Avid only will certify NVidia graphics cards, as it has with the 8800GT. I also am aware that Avid is not compatible with Leopard just yet, but will be in the near future.
So does anyone know if Avid performs well (or at all) with the ATI cards? Would the overall performance increase of ATI over NVidia be enough to take a chance with compatability issues?
The thing is that when I use the card for 3D or gaming it sounds like a taking off airplane. From 0 to 30 seconds the card increases the fan speed/sound. I clean my macpro about 3 or 4 times a year, even my card but, honestly, I have never open the black cover the nvidia has for avoiding a disaster...
Ok I just want to know the best (or at least a better) graphic card. If it is a PC card, how could I make it work in my Macpro...
I just finished upgrading my 1st gen macbook to an n card and have a N airport extreme router so the only thing that is going to drag down my network, especially disk access, is my Powerbook G4 1.67. I've searched the boards and found mention to cardbus cards for N, but all I can find online is G type cards. Are there N wireless cards that would work on my Powerbook? And are any of these 5 ghz?
I just got a third monitor and need another video card for my 08 MP. I really want to get the 3870 but here's the questions. How do two separate video cards work? Will the two monitors hooked up to the 3870 look good while the lone display on the 2600 look like crap? My background is mainly final cut pro, with a sprinkle of Color (with MXO and yes i know only one card will work) and motion. So should I just save my pennies and get the 2600? Will a 1080p panel and a 1680*1050 be too taxing on it
I am here because I am interested in buying my first Mac Laptop. I would be mainly using this in my High School during Lunch and Study hall to work on projects and research. My school only uses Apple computers so I don't think there will be a networking problem(heard there can be some unfriendly networks towards macs?). I have been looking into THIS I Book sold used by [URL]it dose not have a airport card (I dont know what that is) and the CD drive doesn't work but that doesn't bother me because I mainly use flash drives and SD cards.
So back in the days, if u had windows based computer and wanted to use the imac screen with that computer, u could get 4890 (which is out of stock) or the 5970 which is pretty expensive. So im wondering if this has been solved by ati in newer driver updates, and im wondering if anyone with a radeon 5870/5850 dekstop gpu and confirm this working with a imac 27" screen.
Apparently, Apple is seeding updated Graphics drivers .
Can any of our GPU gurus hazard a guess at whether these will benefit those of us with flashed cards, or will they more likely brick them, or do we just not know until we test them?
I don't want to get my hopes up for improvements that might never happen!
I am considering the move from the GTX 285 to the ATI 5770. The reasoning behind this is that I'm wanting to change from a Dell 30" to the new 27" Cinema display. And obviously the 285 won't connect to this monitor. My biggest concern is the potential drop in performance. Having said that the Most intensive graphics application I have is Call of Duty 4: MW. This is at the moment at least. If better game come out that are more graphics hungry things may change, but I can still upgrade down the track. I'm really struggling to find any comparison between these two cards.
I was what kind of FPS do you get in WoW with mac pro 5.1 and 5870 - what wow settings, resolution and how many monitors (size).
The FPS are generally ok on my mac with high settings in windowed (decent with ultra) but I'm getting weird FPS drops when I quickly pan around, generally out in the open. I've copied the WoW game folder from my old mac pro 1,1 - wondering if that has anything to do with performance. Would I be better off downloading the game client again?
I just upgraded from nvidia 285 to ati 5870. The FPS in Starcraft 2 did not go up. Its almost exactly the same.
I was suprised so i check the CPU usage.Its at 115% (of 800, 100 per core) spred out over the cores. So the CPU doesnt seem to be the problem.There are over 1 GB free of RAM,little disk and network usage.
I run 10.6.6 it was just reinstalled before the upgrade.
No other download avalible.i tried reinstalling SC2, same.
anyone think this is possible? I'd check the specs of the card myself but they haven't listed it in the store yet afaik. I'd really like to pick one up, no doubt it'll out perform my GTX 285.
I'm wondering if anyone has taken the plunge and tried the 5870 or 5770 in an 08 Mac Pro? I know it's early, but I thought I'd ask anyway, I am eagerly awaiting the answer!