First Gen Mac Pro Users, Win Vista Score

[hms84]

Hi Everyone,
I have First Gen Mac Pro, 2.66 with 8GB RAM 667, ATI 4870 MAC , With 4HDD etc...
My base score is 5.1 Which is the lowest score which is the RAM (In the attachment).

I spent days and days trying to run games like Crysis, even world in conflict. :mad::mad: But they are very slow. I thought the 4870 was a peace of junk. But my brother have it in his PC and everything runs smoothly. So I thought it probably be something else. I think it's the RAM. Or my HDD

Is it really the RAM??
Is there any solution for this can I at least use the 800 MHZ one??
I know my HDD is slow I'm planning to buy an SSD, do you think it'll help or I'll be stuck with the RAM even with an SSD??

I mean there's a 1333 MHz front side bus but we are not using it??

Please help me, cuz I'm really thinking about selling my Mac Pro for the new 27-inch i7 iMac.

Thanks
:apple:

[frimple]

What resolution are you trying to play Crysis at? Keep in mind your 4870 is only the 512Mb version, most PC versions are 1Gb. AFAIK there is no way to speed up the FSB on pros, but I don't think memory speed is your problem. Even the skulltrail systems which can kill crysis only use 800MHz memory.

If you want it just for gaming I'd suggest selling it and building your own. I've seen them sell for $1500 on ebay and with that kind of money you could build a killer Crysis rig.

[hms84]

Thanks for your reply,
My brother have a 4870 with 512 DDR5 memory (the same) .
And runs Crysis on 1080p with FULL graphics DX10.1
it runs smoothly, VERY beautiful.

I don't want a PC for gaming I know I can build one. I just want a machine than can be my lovely mac and when I restart it on bootcamp I want to see a killer gaming PC.

Something like a Mac Pro is capable of doing, BUT why it isn't doing it?? :mad::mad:

[frimple]

What is your brothers machine specs? I also think that the core clock on the Mac version of the card is gimped.

[hms84]

He got a 2.66 Intel Core 2 due
with a nice Gigabyte motherboard Model GA-EP45T-UD3LR, 4 GB DDR3 RAMS
and ATI 4870 512 DDR5
Win Vista 32 bit Home Premium.

I built that computer :D

[gugucom]

The HDD or SSD will run slower in legacy mode than in AHCI mode. Put the Mac in AHCI to use the full speed potential.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=760482

[ildondeigiocchi]

Your best options are the following:
Get a new Mac Pro (2010) when it is released
Buy a GTX 285 since you can't rely on a 4870 to max out CRYSIS in DX10 on Vista


Also the issue could be that it is "lagging" because it utilizes PCI 1.1 instead of PCI 2.0 like the 2008 and 2009 Mac Pro which slows the graphics card down however, to what degree I do not know. I have a 4870 and in XP, Crysis warhead runs well on Gamer settings (HIGH) @ 1900 by 1200 with 2XAA. Any higher settings makes the framerate drop from 40+ FPS to below 20, which is unplayable in my opinion. Did you try downloading new drivers? Anyways just my 0.02$. :D

[hms84]

The HDD or SSD will run slower in legacy mode than in AHCI mode. Put the Mac in AHCI to use the full speed potential.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=760482

Thank you for this information.
I'm trying to do it, VERY confusing !!! :confused:

[slicecom]

Weird. I have the same computer as you, with the same graphics card and only 6GB of ram, yet my scores are considerably higher:

Processor: 7.1
RAM: 5.5
Graphics: 6.8
Gaming Graphics: 6.8
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

[Techhie]

IIRC the Radeon 4870 isn't made to work on the 1st gen MP's PCIe 1.0 slots, at least according to Apple. They sell a legacy version of the 8800GT for that model, I think that might be the best GPU he can use under OS X.

[nanofrog]

IIRC the Radeon 4870 isn't made to work on the 1st gen MP's PCIe 1.0 slots, at least according to Apple. They sell a legacy version of the 8800GT for that model, I think that might be the best GPU he can use under OS X.
The 4870 was designed around PCIe 1.1, which is compliant in that version of MP. It's the fact that Apple used EFI32 rather than the EFI64. As it happens, ATI designed the card to use EBC, which will operate in both, and is why members have had success with 4870's in '06 & '07 MP's. Otherwise, it wouldn't work at all, such as is the case with the GTX285 (requires EFI64 in order to operate).

Simply put, Apple's full of it on this one. :eek: :p

[hms84]

All I can say "If it can be plugged, it will work"

I did the AHCI thing, I'll do some HDD transfers.

I want to move Vista OS to 250 GB Mac HD
And move Mac OS to 1TB HDD
And move what's on 1TB to 2TB HDD

When I finish, I'll try the score again.

I hope it will better .... Finger Crossed

[hms84]

I did it.... I can actually play the game now!!!

Thank You Very Much, you really saved me lot of money :D

Now I want to go even further with this,
RAM ==================
Is there any solution for it, If I use the 800 MHZ do you think I'll get better performance ?? If so I'll buy 16 GB 800 NOW!!!

And What about SSD ==============
Even I buy one now, I'm still stuck with slow RAM. I mean in current computer basics. HDD isn't fast enough to talk to CPU. Solution was RAM. So now from HDD to RAM to CPU.
Even if I buy an SSD Physically I'll still have to use my slow RAM, I can't go from SSD to CPU directly.

[slicecom]

What are your scores now?

[dvince2]

For running Crysis on my 2009MP, I had luck adding more ram.
I had the 4870 with 3GB memory on my quad core, running Crysis on med-high at something like 1680x1050.
After upping that to 6GB, I can run on Very High settings with Natural Mod, at my Screen's native res 2048x1152

[hms84]

The only difference is HDD

5.5 score, and it's worth it,