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ATI Radeon HD 5770 in 2008 Mac Pro

dimme

dimme

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 14, 2007
3,567
38,660
SF, CA
Hi
I have a few question for people who have upgraded to the ATI 5770 form the 8800GT.
It looks looks the install is pretty straight forward. But what type of performance upgrade can I expect? I use manly Photoshop, Lightroom and X-plane. Are there any hidden got-you's?
 
Thanks for the links. I read the reviews and I think it is a good choice but still will like to hear so real world stories.
 
I had a noise problem (pci expansion bay fan) with the 5770 in my Mac pro 2009. i didn't have that noise problem with the 5870.
 
Sorry to piggy back your thread OP but I have a quick question regarding PC GPUs. Can you run them with your OEM GPUs without any conflicts? I currently have a 2600XT and would like to keep it in there to run my OSX largely because the idea of flashing a PC GPU scares me. I just want to get a $250 PC card and throw it in the spare slot and leave that to do Windows7 and gaming. I wondered if there would be any conflicts in either OS if I simply threw one in there without modifying the kext (I believe that's what it's called) and have it work out of the box.
 
supercooled said:
Sorry to piggy back your thread OP but I have a quick question regarding PC GPUs. Can you run them with your OEM GPUs without any conflicts? I currently have a 2600XT and would like to keep it in there to run my OSX largely because the idea of flashing a PC GPU scares me. I just want to get a $250 PC card and throw it in the spare slot and leave that to do Windows7 and gaming. I wondered if there would be any conflicts in either OS if I simply threw one in there without modifying the kext (I believe that's what it's called) and have it work out of the box.
Click to expand...

It should work fine. You'll just have to get a KVM switch or unplug & plug in the video cable every time you switch the OS.
 
supercooled said:
Sorry to piggy back your thread OP but I have a quick question regarding PC GPUs. Can you run them with your OEM GPUs without any conflicts? I currently have a 2600XT and would like to keep it in there to run my OSX largely because the idea of flashing a PC GPU scares me. I just want to get a $250 PC card and throw it in the spare slot and leave that to do Windows7 and gaming. I wondered if there would be any conflicts in either OS if I simply threw one in there without modifying the kext (I believe that's what it's called) and have it work out of the box.
Click to expand...
What card are you looking at for $250? That is what the ATI 5770 is going for. I know it my not be state of the are but you can have one card for both OS's
 
Hellhammer said:
It should work fine. You'll just have to get a KVM switch or unplug & plug in the video cable every time you switch the OS.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I read in another thread which stated that Windows would see both cards but OSX would only see the ''efi'' card which would be my stocked 2600XT. I would be fine with that.

Could you point me to a list of cards compatible with the Early 2008 MPs? I'm terrible at searching threads.

Anyway, I have BF2 installing now and it remains to be seen how well it will run but L4D ran pretty abysmal so I expect this to run even worst so a new GPU is going to be necessary.
 
dimme said:
What card are you looking at for $250? That is what the ATI 5770 is going for. I know it my not be state of the are but you can have one card for both OS's
Click to expand...

My guess would be AMD 6870. At least it's the best GPU for 250$

supercooled said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I read in another thread which stated that Windows would see both cards but OSX would only see the ''efi'' card which would be my stocked 2600XT. I would be fine with that.

Could you point me to a list of cards compatible with the Early 2008 MPs? I'm terrible at searching threads.

Anyway, I have BF2 installing now and it remains to be seen how well it will run but L4D ran pretty abysmal so I expect this to run even worst so a new GPU is going to be necessary.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Windows will see both cards. All PCIe GPUs should be compatible. If you're looking at 250$ price range, then I recommend AMD 6870.
 
dimme said:
What card are you looking at for $250? That is what the ATI 5770 is going for. I know it my not be state of the are but you can have one card for both OS's
Click to expand...

Do you mean the Mac version? I don't have a card in mind but a lot of sales are going on this boxing week (Canadian Black Friday) so I can score a pretty good card for that price.

I haven't played with Windows in a few years and seeing all the incompatibilities of it with my Mac gives me pause which I'm expericning now. I just want a card that will handle games within Win7. I was really close to ordering the 5770 Mac version from OWC last week but decided to wait and see what was on sale this week.
 
supercooled said:
Do you mean the Mac version? I don't have a card in mind but a lot of sales are going on this boxing week (Canadian Black Friday) so I can score a pretty good card for that price.

I haven't played with Windows in a few years and seeing all the incompatibilities of it with my Mac gives me pause which I'm expericning now. I just want a card that will handle games within Win7. I was really close to ordering the 5770 Mac version from OWC last week but decided to wait and see what was on sale this week.
Click to expand...
I just paid $250 (with NAPP discount) for the mac ATI 5770 from Apple.
BTW Happy Boxing Day
 
dimme said:
I just paid $250 (with NAPP discount) for the mac ATI 5770 from Apple.
BTW Happy Boxing Day
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't buy much this year but if I do decide to pick up a video card it will be an indulgence in a long while.

I was searching eBay and came across this and wondered what everyone thought would be the best route to take:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-nVidia-GTX-...s=63&clkid=5953830259753726093#ht_3219wt_1141

or

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Mac-Pro-ATI...eNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ht_2854wt_1141

GTX 260 vs ATI 5770 both are flashed.
 
supercooled said:
Do you happen to know what manufacturer of the nVidia card that is in the auction? I'm thinking after shipping and customs it may be worth trying to flash it myself.
Click to expand...

It doesn't say anything about the manufacturer but I would assume it's EVGA because the GTX 285 was from EVGA. No idea about the flashing though
 
Hellhammer said:
It doesn't say anything about the manufacturer but I would assume it's EVGA because the GTX 285 was from EVGA. No idea about the flashing though
Click to expand...

I'm a layman when it comes to most things related to the GPU race. I was wondering what the highest PC card that's flashable currently available on the market is right now. You mentioned the 6870 from AMD/ATI but going by the numerical designation is misleading I've learned.
 
supercooled said:
I'm a layman when it comes to most things related to the GPU race. I was wondering what the highest PC card that's flashable currently available on the market is right now. You mentioned the 6870 from AMD/ATI but going by the numerical designation is misleading I've learned.
Click to expand...

AMD 6xxx are not flashable at the moment, maybe in the future they will be.

http://netkas.org/?p=581

ATI 5870 seems to be the best GPU that can be flashed. There is hope that nVidia GTX 480 can be flashed since Apple is/was selling the Quadro 4000.
 
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