UPDATE**** I just found out about the EVGA Nvidia GTX 680 Mac edition and am buying that card now. My 7950 is for sale on Ebay with free shipping if your interested in it.
Pros: Very fast relatively quiet. Amazing performance compared to the old mac 5870. A very worthy upgrade specially for starcraft 2 and diablo
Cons: Price. It is pricey but cheaper then the mac 5870 considering
Other Thoughts: I wish it was the 7970 ghz edition but oh well.
When you install this you need to reset your PRAM and your SMC. Or else it acts weird.
I think this card is nicer to install then the Mac 5870 since it does not have the bracket on it. Since thats not there you do not have to shoe horn it in like the 5870.
I have a Mac Pro 5,1 2.8ghz with an OWC accelsior SSD. I have had a 5870 pretty much since it first came out for the Mac. I have also had the 5770 as well so I know what im talking about with all 3 cards.
The 5770 is a good card but if you game you wanted the 5870 it was double the performance.
The 7950 while is not the same placeholder in the current lineup as the 5870 was in the 5XXX series of cards, it is a close contender.
I had read several articles about using the pc version and even using converter cables to use the more power hungry 7970's in a mac. While I do believe they work and probably wont cause an issue. This does not make me comfortable considering how much a new backplane board would be for my mac pro. In this case I felt it was better safe then sorry. I dont trust traces to provide enough power. While its cool, its not able to handle tons of power. I saw MacVidCards say someone had fried their Pro doing something like that with a more powerful card. Also his power hungry cards he recommends using an external power supply. So I could have dont that but I did not want that hassle and mess to look at. Plus 2 PS' for one computer seem weird.
Another thing I want to mention is that I really like having a boot screen. So that was another reason I chose the 7950 mac edition.
Now to performance.
Starcraft 2 HOTS and WOL
Before HOTS came out the 5870 was pretty much good enough to handle anything WOL did. It was good and constant at about 45 FPS in everything give or take certain instances.
However HOTS increased the graphics and required a more powerful card on Mac OS X. the 5870 ran ok at ultra settings but not the highest and at time would need v-sync enabled but that hurt perf at times. This made it very odd to play since at times I would have so much pert, I had screen tearing and then at other times lag.
The 7950 resolved this it has wicked performance. 50+ on average on my 27" cinema display. So much that I can have all the settings up with AA and Vsync on for great gameplay.
As for Diablo 3
I didnt really have any issue with performance with the 5870 however it is noticeably smoother and easier to play with the 7950.
I have yet to try with windows but honestly I dont care. I have Windows 7 on my Pro but I never go into it.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions about my experience please feel free to hit me up.
Other links about the 7950 along with newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202027&Tpk=mac 7950&IsVirtualParent=1
This article seemed to be closest to my Performance.
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7950-mac-edition-review/
http://barefeats.com/gpu7950.html
Pros: Very fast relatively quiet. Amazing performance compared to the old mac 5870. A very worthy upgrade specially for starcraft 2 and diablo
Cons: Price. It is pricey but cheaper then the mac 5870 considering
Other Thoughts: I wish it was the 7970 ghz edition but oh well.
When you install this you need to reset your PRAM and your SMC. Or else it acts weird.
I think this card is nicer to install then the Mac 5870 since it does not have the bracket on it. Since thats not there you do not have to shoe horn it in like the 5870.
I have a Mac Pro 5,1 2.8ghz with an OWC accelsior SSD. I have had a 5870 pretty much since it first came out for the Mac. I have also had the 5770 as well so I know what im talking about with all 3 cards.
The 5770 is a good card but if you game you wanted the 5870 it was double the performance.
The 7950 while is not the same placeholder in the current lineup as the 5870 was in the 5XXX series of cards, it is a close contender.
I had read several articles about using the pc version and even using converter cables to use the more power hungry 7970's in a mac. While I do believe they work and probably wont cause an issue. This does not make me comfortable considering how much a new backplane board would be for my mac pro. In this case I felt it was better safe then sorry. I dont trust traces to provide enough power. While its cool, its not able to handle tons of power. I saw MacVidCards say someone had fried their Pro doing something like that with a more powerful card. Also his power hungry cards he recommends using an external power supply. So I could have dont that but I did not want that hassle and mess to look at. Plus 2 PS' for one computer seem weird.
Another thing I want to mention is that I really like having a boot screen. So that was another reason I chose the 7950 mac edition.
Now to performance.
Starcraft 2 HOTS and WOL
Before HOTS came out the 5870 was pretty much good enough to handle anything WOL did. It was good and constant at about 45 FPS in everything give or take certain instances.
However HOTS increased the graphics and required a more powerful card on Mac OS X. the 5870 ran ok at ultra settings but not the highest and at time would need v-sync enabled but that hurt perf at times. This made it very odd to play since at times I would have so much pert, I had screen tearing and then at other times lag.
The 7950 resolved this it has wicked performance. 50+ on average on my 27" cinema display. So much that I can have all the settings up with AA and Vsync on for great gameplay.
As for Diablo 3
I didnt really have any issue with performance with the 5870 however it is noticeably smoother and easier to play with the 7950.
I have yet to try with windows but honestly I dont care. I have Windows 7 on my Pro but I never go into it.
I hope this is helpful. If you have any questions about my experience please feel free to hit me up.
Other links about the 7950 along with newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202027&Tpk=mac 7950&IsVirtualParent=1
This article seemed to be closest to my Performance.
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7950-mac-edition-review/
http://barefeats.com/gpu7950.html
Attachments
Last edited:
