ATI FirePro V8750

[wally21]

So, I've been reading a lot about ATI's upcoming release of the FirePro V8750 and am very impressed by its performance (2GB GDDR5 memory, 115GB/s memory bandwidth, 800 shader units), especially when paired together in crossfirepro config (1600 shader units!).

I know that apple has disabled crossfire with mac pro, but is there any glimmer of hope of getting two of these monsters to work in a mac pro? I'm salivating at the idea...

[image from:http://www.slashgear.com/ati-firepro-v8750-flagship-3d-video-card-with-crossfire-pro-2850499/]

 

[wally21]

So no thoughts, eh?

I know that this has been said many times, but given that apple has a good reputation for graphics/design and given that the mac pro is positioned mostly as a professional workstation (i.e. not a gaming rig), I would expect the mac pro to have more professional graphics options than just a Quadro fx 4800, which you even have to buy separately.

I'm very heavily invested in rendering and 3D graphics, and basically need three things: a fast cpu, a lot of ram, and one or two heavy-duty graphics cards. Apple satisfies with the first two, but really drops the ball on the last one. Are there so few people like me out there that apple doesn't think our interests are worth the time and effort?

Anyways, I really love this new ATI card. It seems to completely outshine the quadro 4800 for the same price. I would love having two of these things in my machine, but even one would get the job done. The quadro 5800 is a massive card too, with great capabilities, but I think that two 8750's in crossfire mode (which would be about the same price) would probably speed past even the 5800.

 

[nanofrog]

I checked the power specs on it, and ATI indicates it only uses 154W max, so two seem possible. I didn't see the power connectors used on it, but given the power requirements, it should only use 6 pin PCIe power, so it seems possible.

I'd think using an injector could get around the firmware, though I'm not sure what would happen to the functionality of the card (all ports functional or not). Worth a shot though, and I wouldn't think too hard, given the effort put forth by the hackintosh community (particularly members like netkas).

 

[TheStrudel]

Don't we need drivers to be written for it first? Unless it's based on RV770 - which I wouldn't know - OS X will not be able to work with it. Netkas's amazing work with injectors is dependent (as far as I'm aware and I welcome him to correct me) upon some sort of compatibility being written at the OS level. It would be great to have the card, but the only workstation cards  and others have shown any interest in supporting in the past is Nvidia's Quadro cards.

I hope this changes, and this is more likely than ever (see: EVGA's GTX 285 Mac edition), but there is little incentive before more software support for workstation cards and GPGPU is added. Also, we'd need explicit software support for Crossfire in OS X. Which, again, would be nice, but I doubt  would ever commit to it.

 

[beaker7]

Even if you did get it to work under Windows...Crossfire and/or SLI does not aid at all in professional DCC applications.

 

[nutman]

this isn't a gaming card. you can get a much better gaming card for cheaper prices. this card is optimized for CAD programs and the like.

 

[MacVidCards]

May very well be possible

"ATI FirePro V3750 (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_949F
"ATI FirePro V5700 (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_949E
"ATI FirePro V7760 (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9456
"ATI FirePro V7770 (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9446
"ATI FirePro V8700 Duo (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9447
"ATI FirePro V8750 (FireGL)" = ati2mtag_R7XGL, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9444


"ATI Radeon HD 4670" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9490
"ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9440
"ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series " = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9442
"ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9441
"ATI Radeon HD4550" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9540
"ATI Radeon HD4650" = ati2mtag_R7X, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9498

It's device id is only different from 4870 by final digit. This can typically be reset within a range. Aside from which, Netkas may very well be able to craft a ROM as he did on 4890. The card should be driveable via 4800 drivers in any case and Netkas will likely be able to include in his Injector.

Could be interesting. But running as a 4870, it may not be any faster than one. The 2 Gigs of RAM could be interesting, but may very well fall victim to the "2 Gig Bug" that I have found with the GTX285 I have been playing with. And there may be issues with different ports as the guy with 2Gig Saphire Vapor-X has found.

 

[netkas]

2 DP ?

I'm out.

better get some 2gig 4890.

anyway two gigs is not working proiperly in osx, same with ati/nvidia

 

[MacVidCards]

2 DP ?

I'm out.

Party Pooper

don't imagine there's a whole lot of folks with 2K burning a hole in their pocket to play with one anyhow, especially as it is doubtful it would be much faster or much different from a 4870

Apple will EVENTUALLY fix the "2 Gig Bug"...probably when they have a 2 Gig GPU available. Just a couple short years away..............

 

[TheStrudel]

Shrug. Maybe if the GPGPU effort really kicks in, ATI will write support for this card so they're competing with Nvidia in that space too. It could happen.

 

[nanofrog]

It would be nice, but since most of the applications I'm aware of that can actually utilize this particular card (drivers), are windows based. So perhaps Apple's not interested in supporting such a model. Assuming that's the case, users to devise their own solutions under OS X.