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ATI Radeon 4870 flashing help

N

nhood01

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 26, 2009
98
0
I'm running a 2x 2.66 intel core duo 1,1 Mac Pro from 2007. My current video card is a Nvidia 7300 GT. I want to upgrade to a better card for gaming in windows xp boot camp and Adobe products. The available upgrades i've seen are:

Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT 1st gen mac pro graphics upgrade kit for $250
ATI Radeon 4870 HD from apple for $350

... or i can spend half as much for a better PC card that ill have to flash. This option sounds very enticing, but risky and i know next to nothing about flashing. From what i've read, flashing a PC ATI Radeon 4870 is one of the safest ones to go with. All i can really do is follow a guide and hope everything turns out alright.

The most promising guides i came across are:

http://web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.html

http://boeglin.org/blog/
(scroll down to "How to flash a PC 4870 for a Mac Pro, using only Mac OS X")

The second one in that list is more along the lines of something id feel comfortable doing myself, but i would need the exact same card the guy used. Can anyone provide a link to this exact card: Sapphire 4870 with 512MB VRAM (early model, based on ATI's reference design)

Does anyone know of any other reliable 4870 flashing guides? I don't wanna buy the wrong card or destroy my computer.

Thanks.
 
I automated the process described in your 2nd link

Cindori said:
I'm looking for testers of my app:

newapp2.png


It's based on a XFX rom so don't bitch if your card is different and doesn't work :D
It's the same rom used in this guide:
http://web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.html

Download it here:
http://krull.se/macpro/4870Flash.zip

Instructions:

Unzip your package so you have your contents on your boot drive like this:

tut1.png



Now open the 4870Flash.app

It will run for 20 seconds and will pop up in the dock and vanish when it's done.

Now restart your computer

Done! you can now remove all the files from the boot drive!
Click to expand...


and I am currently working on a new version, sporting lots of improvements and features.
 
I'm a little confused as to which card i need. Which cards have been successful in using the automated process you posted?

Also, why are there so many versions of the 4870 card. How do they differ from one another?
 
ati makes the cards, companies lika asus, xfx, sapphire, sell them
sometimes they modify the cards in clock speed, fan design etc.

my post clearly states what rom is used and what card it is based on.


not trying to be rude, but read this thread, or atleast last 10 pages, and come back with questions not answered 100 times already

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/661681/
 
sorry, i was just confused. this kind of stuff is very foreign to me. ill read the thread then come back if i am still lost.
 
Alright, i finished reading the last 10 pages of the 81 pg thread.

The flash safe XFX cards appear to be the

XFX HD-487A-ZHFC
XFX HD-487A-ZDFC

and possibly the

XFX HD-487A-YWFC.

As for Sapphire... Moop from pg. 75, #1855 appears to have successfully flashed a

HD4870 512M GDDR5 PCI-E DUAL DVI-I/TVO
PN 102-B50701-10-AT
SKU# 21133-00-20R

with a rom he made himself. Also, Blunderbus of pg. 80, #1999 has done it successfully with a

Sapphire HD4870 1 GB GDDR5
PN 100259-1GL
SKU# 11133-19-20R

using a ROM made by Rominator. Seeing that your app is based on an XFX rom, i think im leaning towards XFX FHFC/ZDFC. With the ZDFC having the most success stories, i'll be looking for one of those first.

What do you think?... of the five mentioned, which would you recommend?
 
XFS HD-487A-ZWFX = boo

XFX HD-487A-ZWFX VA.0 is what's on the sticker on the back of the card.
(pending PMs)
 
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