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Best 5870 (To patch or not to patch)

O

Ommid

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hi all!

Looking to get a 5770/5870 for my 2008 MP 😀

Should I:

1. Buy Apple
2. Flash my own

And if the answer is 2. which do people tend to go for?? Looking for an uber silence solution!
 
Check the prices first.

Flashing a PC card is an economic solution, I did so back in September with a Sapphire Vapor-X HD5870 and saved about £90 on an Apple HD 5870.

This one is a bargain but has a standard cooler: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1502
and the ROM is available at netkas.org.

Or this is identical to the one I used it's the quietest version available as stock I think: http://www.amazon.co.uk/SAPPHIRE-TECHNOLOGY-Radeon-5870-Vapor-X/dp/B004FMJTJ2/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1297875769&sr=8-11

Either are viable and much cheaper than the Apple Arm & a Leg version at £377.
 
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I went with a Flashed 5870 for two reasons for my 2,1 MP- one was that it was available before the retails started shipping.

The big one was that I could get a 5870 with 2xDual DVI, DisplayPort, and HDMI all on board, so I could do 2xDVI and DisplayPort triple monitors without costly adaptors (Mini-Displayport to DVI, had to be $30 dongle or whatever).

No issues with mine, regarding heat, noise, OS upgrades, etc.
 
Just with these new high power video cards, with the fans going from from to back the cards will build up dust in the cards out vents. So check the video card output vents about once every 2-4 months when cleaning dust out of the Mac Pro. I was very surprised that my video card fan noise was caused by dust in the video card itself.
 
Yeah, the machine turns on, you see activity, then it goes dark, then a few seconds later it comes back to blue and eventually the desktop.

With an SSD boot drive, something I have to get one of these days, I bet you would barely even notice the lack of boot screen. Well, unless you need to do something at that point (like manually choose a boot drive or something)
 
I've got a 120 GB Vertex 2 and I still see a boot screen. But it's not for more than 5 seconds (if that).

So display output works perfectly from the DVI ports and the display port? No hitches or limitations? Any audio passthrough? Does the HDMI port work?
 
HDMI worked, the OS gave me options for TV resolutions and such.

I connect to a Dell 3008WFP so it has HDMI/DisplayPort, but I prefer DP for the monitor.

I wouldn't be able to test audio as the connection is straight to a monitor, sorry.

But I've been 6 months or so with 2xDVI and DP (23+20 on DVI, 30 on DP) no issues. I usually rotate the 20 to vertical mode and no probs there either.
 
I have got an XFX 5870 1 GB card that I put on a Mac Pro 2,1

Pros:
1) Cheap. Bought on NewEgg and was way cheaper than an Apple version.
2) Fast. Can run 3D and video applications faster than ANY other official mac cards
3) Two dual link dvi connectors + HDMI. I have two old 30 inch monitors that have dual link dvi connections. If you buy an apple version, you get two minidisplay ports and one dual link divi port. I am so glad I didn't have to buy an apple adapter from minidisplayport to dual link dvi. Read the reviews from the apple store, it is a craps shoot to get a working device. May not be an issue for you if you don't have old, large displays.

Cons:
1) Non-Apple. I had to put it in the mac pro, run windows, flash it with a rom from someone else that mixed EFI code in the BIOS of the card in order to use with Snow Leopard. This included also getting a special cable to power the card. (The card comes with an extra power cable that won't work in a mac, had to buy it in ebay)
2) Can't see boot screen. I don't know if this is with any flashed card, but I can confirm this is still the case on a new MacPro 5,1. I boot and can't see the apple logo, which is a non-issue. But if you press the Ctrl key while booting, you can choose a different boot volume, but you can't see it. Is like flying blind. Still, not a deal breaker for me, but may be for you.
3) Game performance on Snow Leopard is subpar vs windows. Sad but true. Pick any game in both platforms it will perform better in windows. For example, I can run StarCraft II on a 30 inch screen full resolution (2500x1600) in win 7 and get 30+ fps. In Snow Leopard? I can't get resolution that high and still get 30+ fps, more like 20~25 fps. Same with Civilization, Half life, etc. (OK, not really a con between flashed vs non-flashed cards but thought you should be aware of this)

Overall, I am glad I bought it! Definitely worth it! 😀
 
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mac666er said:
I have got an XFX 5870 1 GB card that I put on a Mac Pro 2,1


1) Non-Apple. I had to put it in the mac pro, run windows, flash it with a rom from someone else that mixed EFI code in the BIOS of the card in order to use with Snow Leopard. This included also getting a special cable to power the card. (The card comes with an extra power cable that won't work in a mac, had to buy it in ebay)
2) Can't see boot screen. I don't know if this is with any flashed card, but I can confirm this is still the case on a new MacPro 5,1. I boot and can't see the apple logo, which is a non-issue. But if you press the Ctrl key while booting, you can choose a different boot volume, but you can't see it. Is like flying blind. Still, not a deal breaker for me, but may be for you.
Click to expand...

So, for #2, when you hold Ctrl to choose whether to boot into Windows or OS X, you can't see when the options come up, or which one you've selected? You just guess when the screen is up, and hit the arrow key in hopefully the right direction?

That's allllmost annoying enough to pony up for the official Apple version.

Maybe there will be another solution by Novemberish (when Skyrim comes out).
 
I have the same blank screen till log in with my flashed card, if I need to switch OS I just let it boot into whichever it is currently set to then manually switch it with the Bootcamp control panel from the inside. Simples. 🙂
 
thegreatdivorce said:
So, for #2, when you hold Ctrl to choose whether to boot into Windows or OS X, you can't see when the options come up, or which one you've selected? You just guess when the screen is up, and hit the arrow key in hopefully the right direction?

That's allllmost annoying enough to pony up for the official Apple version.

Maybe there will be another solution by Novemberish (when Skyrim comes out).
Click to expand...

Yup. That is a personal preference, since as gpzjock said, you can boot a number of ways. I have 5 bootable volumes, so I already memorized them anyway. When I put the new flashed card in, I can't see the choices anymore, I press the ctrl key and press the right arrow key a certain number of times while staring at a blank screen. However there a a number of ways you can boot also:

1) Put in a bootable cd and press the 'C' key at the chime.
2) Install a boot loader like GRUB in a non-GUID drive (a MBR - Master Boot Record - formatted drive) and select it as the boot volume. This will give you the option everytime you boot that volume to select other boot volumes at startup, GUID or not.
3) Change preferences in the control panel to switch startup disks. This will work for sure on OS X drives, and windows disks that have bootcamp drivers installed.
4) Get a different card to flash? Maybe my XFX has this issue and others can see the boot screen after being flashed?
5) Buy an apple card and forget about this.

The better option depends on you preference. I am sure people would value the options differently.

I am just saying it is great to have options!

😀
 
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Has there ever been a report of any 5870 that did show the boot screen?

I've seen threads where someone reports that such-and-such card works perfectly. Then of course people ask about specific questions like all three outputs working or bootup screen working, where then the person admits those don't work.

I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people have a different definition of "works perfectly" than I do.
 
According to Netkas and Cindori (The only resident experts at MacRumors since The Rominator left), there's currently no way to get a flashed 5870 to show the boot screen for reasons relating to EFI.

It seems like Bob Kiwi's report describes a 5870 working pretty close to perfectly, though - that would make it the first report of a Mac that isn't a Mac Mini outputting video through HDMI...
 
gpzjock said:
I have the same blank screen till log in with my flashed card, if I need to switch OS I just let it boot into whichever it is currently set to then manually switch it with the Bootcamp control panel from the inside. Simples. 🙂
Click to expand...

I feel so smart. I didn't even know you could do that. I just tell it to restart and hold Alt. Ha!

Much easier to swallow now. Hmm... wait a couple months, or buy now?
 
I'll try the restart and alt key next time I have a Windows build on mine, thanks for the tip. 🙂
I'd buy now as the Sandybridge chips that Apple will want to refresh with are not out till Q4 2011 according to the pundits. Shame the prices are so insane atm.
BUT If you are running a 2008 MP why bother? They have plenty of grunt, save up another 2 years then see what Apple have come up with.
 
gpzjock said:
I'll try the restart and alt key next time I have a Windows build on mine, thanks for the tip. 🙂
I'd buy now as the Sandybridge chips that Apple will want to refresh with are not out till Q4 2011 according to the pundits. Shame the prices are so insane atm.
BUT If you are running a 2008 MP why bother? They have plenty of grunt, save up another 2 years then see what Apple have come up with.
Click to expand...

It's fast enough for my work (i'm a photographer), but the GT120 isn't cutting it for play. I just want a faster video card for games. 🙂

Tempted to just build a gaming pc, but I don't have the time or inclination.
 
thegreatdivorce said:
So, for #2, when you hold Ctrl to choose whether to boot into Windows or OS X, you can't see when the options come up, or which one you've selected? You just guess when the screen is up, and hit the arrow key in hopefully the right direction?

That's allllmost annoying enough to pony up for the official Apple version.

Maybe there will be another solution by Novemberish (when Skyrim comes out).
Click to expand...

or just hit tab return for windows ? tab tab return for linux ?
 
In Canada the Sapphire 5870 1GB hit $170 this week.

The 5870 is a pretty smart choice at these prices.
 
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