10.8.3 GM 12D78 brings new AMD cards to Mac Pro

[MacVidCards]

It's finally here folks and the good news for the "Boot Screens? We don't need no stinking boot screens" crowd is that AMD drivers are present for many cards, at least 3 that I test from 7xxx series all work fine in prelim testing.

Note that GLViewer crashes when I try to run the newer OpenGl tests so that isn't a good sign.

Cards tested thus far include an HIS 7970, a UEFI PCS MYST 7870, and an el cheapo Gigabyte 7770. All 3 cards were able to run a 24" and 27" LED Apple display simultaneously on the MDP ports. I would expect them to run 4 total displays at least, but have not tested the other ports.

So, yes, you can more than likely pop any card from those models in your Mac Pro in 10.8.3 and have a working card.

The announcement of Mac 7950 seems to make this likely to keep working.

This was tested in a 3,1 but I will also be trying in 4,1/5,1.

On the bad news side, the 6950 is still a KP star. Netkas was kind enough to write an EFI so you get a nifty boot screen, followed by the Curtain of Grey Death. (in several languages) Not sure why AMD/Appple gave us a taste of these cards working, then killed them.

Anyhow, time to try some 7xxx cards in your Mac Pro.

 

[MacVidCards]

Verde is 7770

Tahiti Pro is 7870

Tahiti XT is 7970

 

[phoenixsan]

Sounds promising....

and I confess, I have had waiting word from you, MacVidCards about the just released upgrade to get an informated opinion. Seems to me as a knowledgeable and helpful people.....

Thanks for the info. And keep posting your findings, if you can. A sizeable amount of people wants to read you....

 

[100Daily]

I signed up just so i could respond. I don't understand what you meant by your first sentence. Is there a boot screen or not? I was trying to decide if I should wait for the 7950 Mac Edition or if I should just go generic, the deciding factor was the boot screen for me.

I noticed that the 7970 uses about 255w and the 7950 used like 210w. I was curious why sapphire went with the 7950 and assume it had to do with power consumption. I already have a 5870 and a 5770 running in my machine now and was going to replace the 5870. I have a 2010 Mac Pro. Do you think the power supply can handle a dual rig with 5770 + 7950?

Thanks for posting about this. When I saw 10.8.3 went live I thought people would be excited for a new card but I guess demand is low these days on the Mac Pro. Glad to see a few people care. Long live Mac gaming!

 

[GP-SE]

I signed up just so i could respond. I don't understand what you meant by your first sentence. Is there a boot screen or not? I was trying to decide if I should wait for the 7950 Mac Edition or if I should just go generic, the deciding factor was the boot screen for me.

I noticed that the 7970 uses about 255w and the 7950 used like 210w. I was curious why sapphire went with the 7950 and assume it had to do with power consumption. I already have a 5870 and a 5770 running in my machine now and was going to replace the 5870. I have a 2010 Mac Pro. Do you think the power supply can handle a dual rig with 5770 + 7950?

Thanks for posting about this. When I saw 10.8.3 went live I thought people would be excited for a new card but I guess demand is low these days on the Mac Pro. Glad to see a few people care. Long live Mac gaming!

no boot screen, drivers have nothing to do with teh boot screen, it's all in teh cards EFI (or lack thereof)

 

[MacVidCards]

no boot screen, drivers have nothing to do with teh boot screen, it's all in teh cards EFI (or lack thereof)

correct, my humorous line was a little convulted I guess

much like the Nvidia drivers that offer self initting cards, AMD has same thing

so there are many cards that "just work" if you can live without boot screens

I have listed 3 that work here, hopefully others will post what works, what doesn't

 

[Lukeymonster]

Thanks for the great info MacVidCards. I was researching this topic on the web to see if the new update would allow me to upgrade from my dusty old 5770 to something newer.

I have a Mid-2010 Mac Pro with Mountain Lion. Basically with 10.8.3 and it's new drivers I should be able to upgrade my card with something readily available as long as it is passing your tests? I was originally under the impression that the updated drivers were for new systems to be announced. There is no reason my Mid-2010 Mac Pro could not receive a graphics card update as well. Is my thinking correct?

 

[spaz8]

Is there any chance the FireGL cards are compatible with 10.8.3 .. ie. the W7000 firegl ... or is it just the HD 7xxx series.. which will likely be the 7850 and 7950 .. with official mac versions. I'm hoping there is a card with 3gb or more vram on the highend BTO.

 

[100Daily]

Great success! I just picked up the MSI 7970 3GB at Micro Center. (2PMD3GD5/OC) Popped it in, works like a champ!

What is doubly awesome is that my other card is a 5770 and that monitor still has the Apple logo when booting, so it's actually no different than before. When I had 2 Apple cards one screen was gray, and the other had the Apple Logo. That is exactly the way it boots now. I am very very very very happy!

The card came with the power adaptor cable, and installation was very easy in my mid 2010 Mac Pro with dual Apple 30'. I normally prefer Apple parts, but this was seamless. Plug and play. It's a bit louder than the 5870 its replacing, but overall is wonderful. The fan throttles well. Anyway, hope that helps others!

 

[MacVidCards]

Hi 100Daily, glad to hear this worked.

Can you provide more details?

Are you saying that you have both 5770 and 7970 all in same Mac Pro and that the 7970 is showing boot screens?

Also, how are you powering both of these?

 

[100Daily]

Hi 100Daily, glad to hear this worked.

Can you provide more details?

Are you saying that you have both 5770 and 7970 all in same Mac Pro and that the 7970 is showing boot screens?

Also, how are you powering both of these?

My 5770 is showing the apple boot logo. The 7970 is black then gray. When I had my 5870 in that slot it was just gray as well, and deferred to the 5770 for the logo. So I am fine. I have my logo.

I have the OEM 5770 in the top slot and the 7970 in the bottom slot. The left power connector is split with one 6 pin going to the 5770 and the other 6 pin to the 7970. Then the right power connector goes straight from the board to the 8 pin on the 7970 via the supplied adaptor. Works great!

THANK YOU for this thread. I am excited. My old 5870 is headed for eBay.

 

[adder7712]

Verde is 7770

Tahiti Pro is 7870

Tahiti XT is 7970

Nope, Tahiti Pro is 7950. 7870 is Pitcarin XT.

 

[100Daily]

Mac Vid Cards - Since you were concerned with power usage, I thought I would provide a link to this older thread where I believe I just put the issue to rest:

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17009660#post17009660

 

[MacVidCards]

Nope, Tahiti Pro is 7950. 7870 is Pitcarin XT.

Not according to the screenshots.

May just be a glitch in Apple's OpenGl or GLView but I didn't create the screenshots, just reporting them.

 

[adder7712]

Not according to the screenshots.

May just be a glitch in Apple's OpenGl or GLView but I didn't create the screenshots, just reporting them.

Yeah but I followed AMD's internal nomenclature and GPU-Z.

But there is a Tahiti-based 7870 called the 7870 XT but I believe it's Tahiti LE or whatever.

 

[cal6n]

Great success! I just picked up the MSI 7970 3GB at Micro Center. (2PMD3GD5/OC) Popped it in, works like a champ!

<snip>

Great news! However, are the limitations with unflashed PC 5XXX series cards still present?

For example, does your DVD Player work? And how about Steam games?

Also, from a personal interest, do you have Civilization V? If so, how does that run?

 

[jamer72]

Hi, here are my screenshots from a Sapphire Radeon 7870 Ghz. Edition:

(EDIT)-Forgot to say that my Mac Pro is Mid 2010 (5,1) and DVD Player and Blu-ray Player both work fine.

 

[100Daily]

I will be posting a full review in a separate thread, but I just got in my 7950 Mac Edition in from New Egg. Long story short I am returning it. I was trying to figure out if I was going to go with the MSI 7970 or the official Sapphire card. The MSI PC card was actually easier to set up in my mac pro than the 7950 Mac Edition. Lots to share, but need to compile a mountain of notes.

Edit: Here is my official review: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17035194#post17035194

 

[MacVidCards]

before you do, check the PCIE connection speed, you will find it limited to 1.0 with the 7970, this will affect both OSX and Windows. Most noticeable using compute apps.

Can you also please try the 10.7.5 drivers?

I have tried 3 separate installs on 3 separate machines and they all KP.