Ultimate Thread: 4890 in Mac Pro

[galstaph]

This method should work with a sapphire 4890 OC (overclocked edition) right? for 240 CAD (vs~200 for the 4870) that would be a nice upgrade from my 120 (the 285 is way too much , I could buy the 4890 and another HD)

 

[Cindori]

Do you have any resources that may help me understand how it can be that the EFI can be bypassed? It just doesn't make sense to me at all. I mean is it some kind of emulator, like how with Rosetta you can run PowerPC software on an Intel Mac? If so, is there any kind of lag while using a graphics card with BIOS on a mac?

You really should have Netkas answer that. He wrote it

It is no emulator. Apple cards uses bios also. but the mac uses EFI. So on the graphic card, I think EFI-part is a kind of "hello! i am a graphic card".

 

[Cindori]

This method should work with a sapphire 4890 OC (overclocked edition) right?

If the hardware is different, I can not guarantee dual dvi.

 

[slicecom]

Does anyone with knowledge of Snow Leopard's Open CL know if this card will be able to utilize this technology?

And I've heard that the Sapphire Radeon 4890 Vapor-X is a more "pimped out" version of the card. Does this work? Would it be beneficial to me? It's only like $20 more than the regular version on newegg. If i can get more card for only $20, seems worth it.

I was wondering the exact same thing, anyone?

 

[shroud]

Edit 2: Sorry guys, for some reason I thought that the 4890 vapor-x would be the same as the 4870 vapor-x in product category. I mistook and it is not. The 4890 vapor-x is overclocked as well as it appears that the bottom heatsink is now removed which might allow it to fit into slot one of a mac pro.

----old post mistakingly referring to a 4870 vapor-x thinking that the 4890 would be like it physically----
vapor-x is too thick to place into slot one (the bottom double wide slot) since there is virtually no space in-between the pci slot and the ram cage below it. You can place it into other pci slots though. My buddy has one and I checked it out.

Vapor-x is just a better way to cool the cards and keep them quiet. Toxic is more pimped out and Atomic is their top of the line.

Edit: forgot to mention that vapor-x has quality components that are likely to last longer as well as do well with overclocking if so desired.
----end old post----

 

[Andrew Henry]

Is this the same card?

If so, I'm freakin sold, I was going to get a 4870, but I dont want to have to flash it, and all that jazz, so this is WAY better, you're the best man. Thanks a lot!

Also, I was wondering did you add the extra cooler because it was running too hot? Or just so that it would run quieter? Because quiet operation isn't an issue for me, I just want to know if that cooler is mandatory??

And one more thing, this is it I promise, can you use these power cables to connect it to the powersupply:

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

If you could take a picture of the back of the card, since i cant seem to find a good picture of it, I would appreciate it.

 

[djulz]

Dual DVI display in Rev 1 Macpro under OSX

Can anyone confirm that the 4890 works for two DVI displays under Osx, in Rev 1,1 Macpro? Im just about to order it...?

 

[Cindori]

Is this the same card?

Yes.

If so, I'm freakin sold, I was going to get a 4870, but I dont want to have to flash it, and all that jazz, so this is WAY better, you're the best man. Thanks a lot!

Thanks! I was sold too

Also, I was wondering did you add the extra cooler because it was running too hot? Or just so that it would run quieter? Because quiet operation isn't an issue for me, I just want to know if that cooler is mandatory??

Only for noise and more clocking.

And one more thing, this is it I promise, can you use these power cables to connect it to the powersupply:

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778

Yes. You need two. And they go to the motherboard.

If you could take a picture of the back of the card, since i cant seem to find a good picture of it, I would appreciate it.

http://krull.se/macpro/back.jpg

And I've heard that the Sapphire Radeon 4890 Vapor-X is a more "pimped out" version of the card. Does this work? Would it be beneficial to me? It's only like $20 more than the regular version on newegg. If i can get more card for only $20, seems worth it.

As I said, if you buy a modified version I do not guarantee dual dvi. This is the only confirmed model with dual dvi so far.

But why do you need a "pimped out" version? Buy the card I used and the same cooler, then use CRABE (Computer base Radeon Bios Editor) to edit the clocks and voilá, you have made your own overclock verison.

You can even make it faster then the Vapor-x with this cooler. There are tons of reviews where they can OC to over 1000MHz, the Vapor-X is at 870MHz. And the coolers is about 25$, so it is basically the same price.

Can anyone confirm that the 4890 works for two DVI displays under Osx, in Rev 1,1 Macpro? Im just about to order it...?

I can confirm two displays works WITH THIS MODEL. I have seen tons of other people with other models NOT getting two displays.

 

[netkas]

with snow leo , most dual-dvi problems should be solved, at least i'm getting there dual-dvi with my 4850.

 

[Tallest Skil]

Marvelous telling of your experience.

But... most powerful? Don't think so.

Quadro FX 5800.

And it might actually be possible to flash the Mac 4800 ROM to run one.

 

[gugucom]

The 6pin to 6pin PCIe cable which you can use to hook up both conections to the logic board is also available from Apple at 12$. There is an official spare part number on it and it can be ordered world wide. I got it from a German AASP in 36h. The Apple number is 922-7128.

 

[Cindori]

Marvelous telling of your experience.

But... most powerful? Don't think so.

Quadro FX 5800.

And it might actually be possible to flash the Mac 4800 ROM to run one.

You are right, it is not the most powerful. But it is the most powerful in it's class. Im guessing if you're spending 3000$ on a graphic card like that Quadro, you probably won't be doing funky things like flashing or using homebrew kexts anyway.

 

[gugucom]

with snow leo , most dual-dvi problems should be solved, at least i'm getting there dual-dvi with my 4850.

Natkas, how is this software installation going to act when I do the SL update in 8 weeks time? Have you run tests with a developer version?

I have a 3870 Mac & PC running which gives me 100% functionality. My flashed XFX 4870 is not running my Samsung HDTV in VGA. Are there any known VGA issues with the injector?

 

[bozz2006]

is there any way, or any need, to remove the injector installations? ---->

http://rapidshare.de/files/46982841/ATI_Init.pkg.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/46893369/accel.tar.bz2.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/47140484/...cards.pkg.html

if you try the upgrade then decide against it? Will installing them make my system go funky? If so, how would you uninstall them?

 

[djulz]

Probs

Hi again, i rushed to my dealer and got a 1gig Sapphire 4890, followed your instructions, and it works on Osx, but its stuck whenever i connect a second DVI screen, i get two blue screens, with the HDs loading stuff, then they stop and the screen keeps blue, and after a while, restarts...
Its a Rev1,1 macpro 2,66.
Im a bit worried... I need the two displays, and i thought i had bought the same version that you have, Cindori, a normal basic Sapphire.
And the worse is that i cannot get the card to work on Bootcamp partition, it just does not boot, i might de-install the original driver from the nividia 7300 before and re-install the 4890 after? I think i need a bit more help here.

 

[Cindori]

Hi again, i rushed to my dealer and got a 1gig Sapphire 4890, followed your instructions, and it works on Osx, but its stuck whenever i connect a second DVI screen, i get two blue screens, with the HDs loading stuff, then they stop and the screen keeps blue, and after a while, restarts...
Its a Rev1,1 macpro 2,66.
Im a bit worried... I need the two displays, and i thought i had bought the same version that you have, Cindori, a normal basic Sapphire.
And the worse is that i cannot get the card to work on Bootcamp partition, it just does not boot, i might de-install the original driver from the nividia 7300 before and re-install the 4890 after? I think i need a bit more help here.

Did you plug the screen in before or after booting?


Bootcamp is not an issue. Nothing in this guide affects boot camp performance.

You should post pictures of the System profiler and of the front of the card.


The crappy part is, my Mac is still on repair, so I can not give further details then what is already written. I only briefly tested two screens, and it worked. But I did not do a full scale research on it. At least you have a week or so to troubleshoot before you have to return it. I'll try and help as much as I can.

 

[Andrew Henry]

Hi again, i rushed to my dealer and got a 1gig Sapphire 4890, followed your instructions, and it works on Osx, but its stuck whenever i connect a second DVI screen, i get two blue screens, with the HDs loading stuff, then they stop and the screen keeps blue, and after a while, restarts...
Its a Rev1,1 macpro 2,66.
Im a bit worried... I need the two displays, and i thought i had bought the same version that you have, Cindori, a normal basic Sapphire.
And the worse is that i cannot get the card to work on Bootcamp partition, it just does not boot, i might de-install the original driver from the nividia 7300 before and re-install the 4890 after? I think i need a bit more help here.

However I did not have Quartz extreme enabled and no video in VLC player.
So I installed this too:
http://rapidshare.de/files/47140484/...cards.pkg.html

Did you install that? Are you sure you installed all the files?

 

[Cindori]

Yeah, please post all the links to pkgs you installed.


Also I might have missed something. All of the things I used are on the desktop of my Mac which is on repair. I won't know for sure until I get it (or someone makes it work from my links).

 

[djulz]

Yeah, please post all the links to pkgs you installed.

http://rapidshare.de/files/46982841/ATI_Init.pkg.html

Installed
http://rapidshare.de/files/46893369/accel.tar.bz2.html

Which I installed with kexthelper
(@ http://cheetha.net/)

http://rapidshare.de/files/47140484/...cards.pkg.html

Did you plug the screen in before or after booting?
Bootcamp is not an issue. Nothing in this guide affects boot camp performance.
You should post pictures of the System profiler and of the front of the card.

The screens where plugged before the machine was started, i tried to plug a 2nd DVi on the 4870 after i booted, i got a kernel panic after that...
-Talking about boot camp is important to me, i tried to boot on XPsp2 and i cannot!!

ATI Radeon HD 4890 :
Jeu de composants : ATI Radeon HD 4890
Type : Moniteur
Bus : PCIe
Logement : Slot-1
Longueur de la voie PCIe : x16
VRAM (totale) : 1024 Mo
Fournisseur : ATI (0x1002)
Identifiant du périphérique : 0x9460
Identifiant de révision : 0x0000
Révision de la ROM : 113-B7710C-176
Version du gestionnaire EFI : 01.00.318
Moniteurs :
B_101920 :
Résolution : 1280 x 1024 @ 75 Hz
Profondeur : Couleurs 32 bits
Core Image : Avec accélération matérielle
Moniteur principal : Oui
Miroir : Désactivé
Connecté : Oui
Quartz Extreme : Géré
Rotation : Géré
Connecteur pour le moniteur :
État : Aucun moniteur branché
Sorry for the french!
So with one monitor DVI, ok, no work with 2DVIs, and what got me troubled is that i cannot seem to start it with XPsp2 on the same machine! Its really puzzling.
Thanx for the help!

<Update> Just got it to load fine in XP! Double monitoring
<Update2> I get a double blue screen on both monitors under Osx upon start... At least the two monitors are powered equally

 

[Cindori]

I have spent several hours troubleshooting this issue and I have come up with a conclusion.


The card only gets one dual link and one single link DVI output under OSX when using this method.

This is probably because it uses a driver originally made for the Apple 4870 which only has one DVI. This makes it an issue hard, if not impossible, to adress. Netkas, please share your thoughts.

If you are using an Apple Cinema 30" or another large monitor on a single link DVI, you will not get image on the screen. This is because it requires dual link DVI support to drive its massive amount of pixels.

My second screen was a 36" HDTV. I connected by DVI -> HDMI. This only requires Single Link.



What you should try is to connect a smaller screen to the second port. If it works, it would show that I am right. Please post your monitor specs also.

I will update the main post when you confirm this.


EDIT: Also remember that this applies only on OSX

 

[Cindori]

I also would like to add that the Apple 4870 does not give you dual link on the second port either.

At least not from scratch.

The second port on the 4870 is a mini display port.
There is a minidisplayport > DVI adapter that comes with the card.

But the adapter is only single link

You have to buy the DUAL LINK adapter for 99$ if you want two dual link displays connected.

And 60% of the reviews on that dual link adapter says they are having trouble with screen flickering and black screens anyway.

So it kinda feels like we aren't missing something.


Also a workaround for keeping two dual link ports available is putting a lame card like the 7300 in second PCI slot. Then connect your second screen to the first dvi on the 7300.

 

[bozz2006]

is there any way, or any need, to remove the injector installations? ---->

http://rapidshare.de/files/46982841/ATI_Init.pkg.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/46893369/accel.tar.bz2.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/47140484/...cards.pkg.html

if you try the upgrade then decide against it? Will installing them make my system go funky? If so, how would you uninstall them?

Cindori, do you have any thoughts on my question?

 

[Cindori]

I can only guess. But they do not replace any system files, they are just extra support for the 4890. Without a 4890 in the mac, they should never touched by OSX.

I think the PKGS have option for uninstall if you try to open them again.

 

[bozz2006]

Thank you!

 

[richpjr]

Great write-up.

As an aside, the 4890 also uses less power and runs cooler at idle than the 4870 as well... for the slight price difference, I would think that the 4890 is the way to go at this point if you are going to flash your own card...

According to this post, the 4890 uses more power:

Cards draw much less power in idle of course. How can it draw the same amount of power when there is no calculations to do?


Here is a comparison by toms hardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-4890,2262-13.html