Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
6870: are there better brands?
- Thread starter Loa
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
derbothaus
macrumors 601
The 6870 is not faster. It is slower. 6950 is about the same, 6970 is faster. But 6870 has that price going for it and is only 15% or so slower than 5870. Depends on what you are doing.
After that it goes like this the new AMD cards are pretty darn stellar right now:
(Sure the list is debatable) (DX9 vs. DX10 vs. DX11) I averaged.
7970
7950
GTX580
7870
7850
GTX570
6970
6950
5870
GTX560 ti
6870
GTX560
6870 is cheaper and is able to be flashed to work properly in a Mac Pro.
All the 6870s i've seen have mDP? 😕
You left out a few.
The GTX5xx cards are nice but not well supported until 10.7.3 (broken in 10.7.4 Beta). Their support started in 10.7.0 but required adding their device id to one kext and deleting another and modding a 3rd for OpenCl.
The GTX4xx cards are supported back in 10.6.6 and up, don't require device id added. But do require the other 2 listed fixes.
The 6950 and 6970 are only WELL supported in 10.8, use in 10.7 requires hacks and warm reboots from Windows, not for faint of heart. (or the lazy)
No version of OSX has yet received support for ANY 7xxx ATI/AMD card so those live in land of "wouldn't it be nice"
GTX680 is in theory days from release, likely 6 months til Mac drivers appear.
GTX680
7970
7950
GTX580
7870
7850
GTX480
GTX570
6970
GTX560 448core
GTX470
6950
5870
GTX560 ti
6870
GTX560
GTX460
The GTX5xx cards are nice but not well supported until 10.7.3 (broken in 10.7.4 Beta). Their support started in 10.7.0 but required adding their device id to one kext and deleting another and modding a 3rd for OpenCl.
The GTX4xx cards are supported back in 10.6.6 and up, don't require device id added. But do require the other 2 listed fixes.
The 6950 and 6970 are only WELL supported in 10.8, use in 10.7 requires hacks and warm reboots from Windows, not for faint of heart. (or the lazy)
No version of OSX has yet received support for ANY 7xxx ATI/AMD card so those live in land of "wouldn't it be nice"
GTX680 is in theory days from release, likely 6 months til Mac drivers appear.
GTX680
7970
7950
GTX580
7870
7850
GTX480
GTX570
6970
GTX560 448core
GTX470
6950
5870
GTX560 ti
6870
GTX560
GTX460
derbothaus
macrumors 601
Yeah forgot about that 480 (fingers crossed). Power/ heat suck that it is.🙂
I don't think it is anywhere near where you ranked it. I need to pull up some 3dMark on it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-480,2585-7.html
It all depends like everything else on those rankings. DX9 the GTX480 is very strong. DX10 favors the 5870. But is a close call. The 460 can't really compete against the 5870 in DX10. In DX9 it can hold it's own against it. So depends on what you play. 3DMark has Nvidia's stuff looking weak while the "Made for Nvidia" games let the GTX shine (duh).
I don't think it is anywhere near where you ranked it. I need to pull up some 3dMark on it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-480,2585-7.html
It all depends like everything else on those rankings. DX9 the GTX480 is very strong. DX10 favors the 5870. But is a close call. The 460 can't really compete against the 5870 in DX10. In DX9 it can hold it's own against it. So depends on what you play. 3DMark has Nvidia's stuff looking weak while the "Made for Nvidia" games let the GTX shine (duh).
Last edited:
what issues have you had? i have a couple of these and have noticed some quirks on the mac
ClassObject
macrumors 6502
I use a Diamond 6870 with an arctic cooler fanless and four displays hooked up. I was able to get rid of an 8800gt and a gt120. its much better all around and I was able to install a sata 3 card. The original fan was pretty quiet on the 6870 but I had the arctic cooler laying around.
I merely placed it right above 570 in the list you made.
I think everyone agrees it is faster than a 570. I have had both and am quite certain of that.
As there are more apps that use CUDA than get benefit from OpenCl in OSX, the Nvidia cards have that in their favor. Also, I am also equally certain that OpenGl View scores for 480 are head and shoulders above 5870. Or are we comparing them in Windows?
derbothaus
macrumors 601
^^^ Comparing in Windows as it does not appear to have driver/SW limitations like OS X. Just proper horsepower.
I use a Sapphire 6870 in my system. They tend to run very quietly and work fully without too much hassle on both Mac Pros and Hackintoshes, even in 10.6.7. Plus on Newegg they are fairly cheap compared to other 6870s 😀
Just nabbed myself a Sapphire 6870 on sale and will be installing it tonight. Looking forward to the boost in BF3 from my 5770!
Fan was louder than my 4870 and it would lock up if I had one monitor connected:
See: http://www.concorde-photos.co.uk/site/IMG_1173.jpg
Turned out it did it in windows too, so I sent the card back as I determined it was down to the ULPM (Ultra Low Power Mode).
Going to get a reference card and add a custom cooler later.
But it can be flashed to work properly. The drivers are in OS X and it performs *very* well...
