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The Golden Guide to Flashing Graphic Cards
- Thread starter Cindori
- Start date
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Not sure if I'm missing something, but I can't find the NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti Boost ROM anywhere! Am I supposed to use some tool to extract it?
Hey wojtek
Amazing how the same names keep popping up in this world...NeilP here from the ES forums...still not built the 5405 motor in to a bike yet..just finished tyrning down a new axle for it..don't think the Xlyte one would be happy at 20kW !! 😱
Anyone have a link to a 4870 ROM ? all the groths links seem dead
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From now on the firmware database can only be accessed here:
http://freyaserver.herokuapp.com/firmwares
Some links might be dead/removed.
http://freyaserver.herokuapp.com/firmwares
Some links might be dead/removed.
Ahhh...about 2 hrs too late...just spent the morning searching for ROM for a HD 4870.
I had a look but could not find my card via the part number on your link
Part number 288-20e85-130sa
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1Gb GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI/TVO
works with firmware posted on this post
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/661681/
Fan does not seem to come on..but did not test for more than two or three Benchmarks/ stress tests.
3 D performance much improved with this card compared to ATI2600..but no improvement with Photoshop speed..so I guess something else is causing my Photoshop speed bottleneck..Scratch disk. / SATA bus bottle neck??
But do we need new ROMS if we use Zeus? Zeus instructions say Zeus makes new firmware from the old firmware
From the instructions on the Zeus page.
On the Zeus download pages it says that you take the old ROM off the card while in Windows, send the rom firmware back to the mac and then re load it in Zeus. It implies there is no need for a new firmware ROM, since Zeus makes the new one from the old one.
I tried but it did not work,
Made new power cables, connected to CD drive spare molex
Managed to find a ROM image here for the Sapphire card I had. Successful flash with Zeus 2.8 from within Mac 10.6.8.
All fully recognised, both DVI ports working on the first flash, fan never seems to work...tried varios fan settings in ATI custom rom settings tool.
But no graphics performance increase in Photoshop..
3D benchmark showed good increase 380 fps..compared to 120fps with the ATI HD 2600 XT. but the 2 D performance when using Photoshop actually seemed slower.
So have removed the HD4870 and gone back to the 2600. no pint in using all that extra power for no benefit.
I had a look but could not find my card via the part number on your link
Part number 288-20e85-130sa
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1Gb GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI/TVO
works with firmware posted on this post
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/661681/
Fan does not seem to come on..but did not test for more than two or three Benchmarks/ stress tests.
3 D performance much improved with this card compared to ATI2600..but no improvement with Photoshop speed..so I guess something else is causing my Photoshop speed bottleneck..Scratch disk. / SATA bus bottle neck??
But do we need new ROMS if we use Zeus? Zeus instructions say Zeus makes new firmware from the old firmware
From the instructions on the Zeus page.
On the Zeus download pages it says that you take the old ROM off the card while in Windows, send the rom firmware back to the mac and then re load it in Zeus. It implies there is no need for a new firmware ROM, since Zeus makes the new one from the old one.
I tried but it did not work,
Made new power cables, connected to CD drive spare molex
Managed to find a ROM image here for the Sapphire card I had. Successful flash with Zeus 2.8 from within Mac 10.6.8.
All fully recognised, both DVI ports working on the first flash, fan never seems to work...tried varios fan settings in ATI custom rom settings tool.
But no graphics performance increase in Photoshop..
3D benchmark showed good increase 380 fps..compared to 120fps with the ATI HD 2600 XT. but the 2 D performance when using Photoshop actually seemed slower.
So have removed the HD4870 and gone back to the 2600. no pint in using all that extra power for no benefit.
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Hi Cindori
Hi Cindori,
is it still the 6870 the best card to put in a 3,1 mac pro?
I'm still original with the old 2600 but need some kick because HD .mov files stops while watching it.
No need to have a boot screen...
Hi Cindori,
is it still the 6870 the best card to put in a 3,1 mac pro?
I'm still original with the old 2600 but need some kick because HD .mov files stops while watching it.
No need to have a boot screen...
I'm using a Nvidia GTX 680-card which is MUCH better than a 6870, so no, that is not the best card 🙂
GTX 680... Expensive!
I have a limited budget for now... 100-150
Need to run HD mov and use it with Final Cut...
I have another request... need 2 DVI for extended desktop configuration.
Would like to do it by this week. Please help me.
Don't know the prices for GPUs in different countries, but what about the GTX 660?
I found a gtx650 for a decent price, 660 is still pricy here.
Do you think that the gtx650 will work out of the box on my mac pro 3,1?
I found this one
Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX650Ti 2GB
I found this card for a reasonable price.
From the specs it should be a rocket compared to my 2600.
Will it help me rendering with my old final cut?
What should I do to install it on my 10.6.8 Mac pro 3,1?
Do I need a power cable? Should I install the driver from Nvidia or there is a way to flash the card? What is the best I can do?
Help me please... I know that I should be able to find these infos on the web but is not easy to find it all at once form someone that really knows these things.
Thanks
Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX650Ti 2GB
I found this card for a reasonable price.
From the specs it should be a rocket compared to my 2600.
Will it help me rendering with my old final cut?
What should I do to install it on my 10.6.8 Mac pro 3,1?
Do I need a power cable? Should I install the driver from Nvidia or there is a way to flash the card? What is the best I can do?
Help me please... I know that I should be able to find these infos on the web but is not easy to find it all at once form someone that really knows these things.
Thanks
Robert Davies
macrumors 6502
Reading the second 'sticky' at the top of this subforum would be a good start, and we'll take it from there.
Hi Robert,
it took a while to do it but lately I've been very busy (sorry).
I have read the "sticky".
So, if I'll put a gtx650 in my mac 3,1 I wont have the boot screen, I wont be able to flash the card (nvidia cards don't have enough space for the EFI).
I will need a power cable for the card.
But my new (PC) gtx650 will work out of the box (including extended desktop on 2 monitors).
Is it right?
Not sure about those specific cards but usually it has to do with the fact that the ROM chips on the cards are not large enough to be flashed, which means soldering a new chip on there, not worth it for most of the lesser cards.
Robert Davies
macrumors 6502
I do not have a gtx650, but others have indicated that what you say is correct, work out of the box, need cable, extended desktop - the only modern Nvidia that's flashable to have boot screens is the 680, but that's in the region of three times the price of the 650!!
Sorry to make you do 'homework' but that thread is just such an excellent primer.
🙂
You're right here you can find everything you need to do it.
I'm gonna buy the card and an SSD as boot disk to speed up my old 3,1.
I'll post my impressions.
Thanks again.
ATI 4890 and Mountain Lion
Hey all...it's been awhile since this part of the forum has seen my shadow! But I'm back in a time of need (of information).
So stupid me...I've been totally happy running my ATI 4890 and 10.6.8 for years now it seems. I had been given a code for Mountain Lion to download for free so I started the download and walked away thinking (stupidly) that it was JUST downloading. Well it started the install and was partially into it before I knew what was happening.
So after the install it boots ok, but it's looking like it's in need of the quartz fix--which I find won't work anymore with Zeus since it's gone to retirement (sigh).
Any ideas on getting this back to its smooth running self or am I just screwed?
Hey all...it's been awhile since this part of the forum has seen my shadow! But I'm back in a time of need (of information).
So stupid me...I've been totally happy running my ATI 4890 and 10.6.8 for years now it seems. I had been given a code for Mountain Lion to download for free so I started the download and walked away thinking (stupidly) that it was JUST downloading. Well it started the install and was partially into it before I knew what was happening.
So after the install it boots ok, but it's looking like it's in need of the quartz fix--which I find won't work anymore with Zeus since it's gone to retirement (sigh).
Any ideas on getting this back to its smooth running self or am I just screwed?
Sorry but it didn't work. I'm running 10.8.5. When I saw that I thought all my troubles were over I guess not.
Ok
I can breathe again!
After not having to do this for a bunch of years I had to do a little re-education. Since Cindori's Zeus is taking a dirt nap, I went to the next best thing--Netkas' site. That didn't help that much, so off to Google I went. I finally found this:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/97-qe-ci-exotic-patch/
Again I needed to read a bit more to remember that I needed to update the kext files.
So after a quick reboot, I'm back in business AND running Mountain Lion. Hope this helps someone in the same situation.
Thanks again to Netkas and his magic kexts!
After not having to do this for a bunch of years I had to do a little re-education. Since Cindori's Zeus is taking a dirt nap, I went to the next best thing--Netkas' site. That didn't help that much, so off to Google I went. I finally found this:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/files/file/97-qe-ci-exotic-patch/
Again I needed to read a bit more to remember that I needed to update the kext files.
So after a quick reboot, I'm back in business AND running Mountain Lion. Hope this helps someone in the same situation.
Thanks again to Netkas and his magic kexts!
Did it
I installed my new SSD in the empty optical bay and ordered a GTX 660 from gigabyte. The card will arrive on monday. I also bought 2 6pin power cables. Do I need to connect both?
Bye
I installed my new SSD in the empty optical bay and ordered a GTX 660 from gigabyte. The card will arrive on monday. I also bought 2 6pin power cables. Do I need to connect both?
Bye
I'm gonna receive the 2GD model today and it was a very good deal.
In a couple of hours i should be able to try to install it.
I still have 1.6.8, and I need to find out if I need to upgrade to Mavericks.
Thank you.
don't have 2 6 pins power ports
Hi lou, the card is in my hands but there seems to be just one power port...
Do you think that my mac 3,1 and one power cable will be enought??
Hi lou, the card is in my hands but there seems to be just one power port...
Do you think that my mac 3,1 and one power cable will be enought??
