HD 3870 in MacPro

[ggg05a]

SO. . . .

I think I found the deal of a lifetime on a MacPro. My question is could I buy any HD 3870 to pop in there, or must it be a Mac specific one?

Thanks!

--Garrett

 

[pastrychef]

It must be a Mac specific one.

 

[ggg05a]

What makes it Mac specific?

Would this be something I could remedy by flashing it? I have no problem paying the 'MacTax' on actual Apple product, but on ATI cards?

--Garrett

 

[nicfargo]

There are firmware flashes to turn certain ati cards into their mac counterpart. Not sure if the 3870 has one floating around or not. For the ones that do have it, it seems like an easy enough of a process...but I think you need a PC to get it all started.

 

[TimmyDee]

There are flashes. There's a guy on eBay who will sell you a preflashed Radeon or GeForce. Poke around for seller "bruinmacs".

 

[ggg05a]

There are firmware flashes to turn certain ati cards into their mac counterpart. Not sure if the 3870 has one floating around or not. For the ones that do have it, it seems like an easy enough of a process...but I think you need a PC to get it all started.

Yeah the process seems easy enough. I remember back in the day (2003?) I flashed a Radeon 9500 Pro into a 9700 Pro. Seems like the process hasn't changed at all. I just have get myself a ROM that will work.

Seems like all we need is someone with a Mac HD3780 to put it in their PC and dump the BIOS using GPU-z.

Anyone!?

 

[CheesusRise]

It is not as simple for PC-only to MAC-enabled card. The size of the ROM is different on the 2 cards. Read this thread:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/514158/

 

[ggg05a]

Ahh . . . I understand.

Looks like I'll just go with a 8800GT, they seem much easier to flash. I was already able to gram a ROM online for it.

--Garrett