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Installing HIS Radeon HD4870 512MB DDR5 in Mac Pro 2006

S

Spacedust

macrumors 65816
Original poster
May 24, 2009
1,008
161
I bought HIS Radeon HD4870 512MB DDR5 for my Mac Pro 2006 1.1.

The first problem I've found it that card will not fit to slot 1, because of too long screws. So I installed it in slot 2, leaving 7300GT in slot 1.

The next problem was how to get rid of these power cables - I've tried the more elegant way taking that molex adapter under HDD trays, but cables where too short :/

So I installed them on the right of Superdrive's tray.

Now on Mac OS X I got kernel panic (probably the injector thing).
On Windows Vista card is detected, but automatically disabled (probably not enough power or just PCI-EX 1x slot is not compatible).

Here are photos from the operation.

I'll try to install Accelero S1 rev. 2 with Noctua 120 mm fan and will see how things go :)

I've also ordered two special Apple PCI-EX power connectors from Austria.



 
Good for you, but there are already tons of topics on this subject.

4870 does not need injector - just flash it.

Instructions for proper molex-powering can be found here;
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/418279/


Also, a 4870 in Slot 2 will lose ~25% performance because the slot can only be 8x PCI speed instead of 16x. Just saw off the screws.
 
Cindori said:
Good for you, but there are already tons of topics on this subject.

4870 does not need injector - just flash it.

Instructions for proper molex-powering can be found here;
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/418279/


Also, a 4870 in Slot 2 will lose ~25% performance because the slot can only be 8x PCI speed instead of 16x. Just saw off the screws.
Click to expand...

I will put 4870 back in Slot 1 with Accelero mounted. Which ROM will be OK for my card ?
 
Go to the thread "The race to ......" somewhere in mid thread there is a method described to generate a ROM for every card based on its own BIOS ROM.
 
OK. The Accelero is mounted and the card fits into slot 1.

I've tested this molex expansion and there is power, because my Noctua fan is spinning. However the card is still not running.

I think the card isn't having enough power to run. These two molex to PCI-EX converters needs 4 molex's available but I got only 2 (or 3 without superdrive), so currently the card is powered in only about 50% :/

Take a look a this:

25p.png




 
Super Squirrely.

Whats up with that?

Have you flashed a ROM on that card?

Everything in that GPU-Z window is wrong.

It seems that the driver hasn't "locked" into the card yet.

Run "Device Manager" and choose the card. See what it says there.

Did you try uninstalling, running driver cleaner (of some sort), and re-installing ATI drivers?

One of the things i truly detest about Windows is all the fussing with Video Drivers. And once they get buggered up it can be messy to straighten them out. But hopefully it is drivers and not the card itself.

Currently there is something very wrong. Note that the mem bus width and overall RAM are currently doubled from real values, clocks off scale, etc. Would make some sense if you flashed it with incompatible memory timings.
 
The Rominator said:
Super Squirrely.

Whats up with that?

Have you flashed a ROM on that card?

Everything in that GPU-Z window is wrong.

It seems that the driver hasn't "locked" into the card yet.

Run "Device Manager" and choose the card. See what it says there.

Did you try uninstalling, running driver cleaner (of some sort), and re-installing ATI drivers?

One of the things i truly detest about Windows is all the fussing with Video Drivers. And once they get buggered up it can be messy to straighten them out. But hopefully it is drivers and not the card itself.

Currently there is something very wrong. Note that the mem bus width and overall RAM are currently doubled from real values, clocks off scale, etc. Would make some sense if you flashed it with incompatible memory timings.
Click to expand...

It's definitely the power problem. If I start my card without any power connector I got the same. Vista automatically shuts down this card to prevent problems. On a PC it will probably block startup (displaying error in BIOS phase).

problemd.jpg

problem2.jpg
 
I've bought additional molex splitters and now card is not detected at all in Vista :mad:

What's going on ?
 
Eidorian said:
Did you make sure the card worked before installing the Accelero on it?
Click to expand...

No i got the same issues.

I've set 7300GT as standard graphics card and now Radeon is properly detected.

I think Vista is not able to run two graphic cards from two different vendors.

I will wait for these special power connectors, because card is one time detected the other time is gone ... :/
 
The Rominator said:
did you try running it in Windows without any other video cards?

it is well known that Windows doesn't like diferent vendors on gpus
Click to expand...

Yes. Mac Pro starts (Apple Sound) and automatically loads Vista, but nothing is displayed on my monitor.

I will wait for power cables and then continue this thread.

BTW: Card is brand new and is having 24 months of warranty in the biggest polish computer store.
 
Eidorian said:
XP and 7 support different GPU vendors simultaneously but Vista doesn't.
Click to expand...

Vista is crap, but it works with my 12 GB RAM and BOX edition will give me ability to change my Mac Pro in future without having to pay for another licence :)

Anyone got HD4870 working with molex adapters ?

This card is taking 90W idle, maybe that's the problem. It automatically turned off to prevent starting with wrong power.
 
Spacedust said:
Vista is crap, but it works with my 12 GB RAM and BOX edition will give me ability to change my Mac Pro in future without having to pay for another licence :)

Anyone got HD4870 working with molex adapters ?

This card is taking 90W idle, maybe that's the problem. It automatically turned off to prevent starting with wrong power.
Click to expand...
You need to get a pair of the ATI x1900 Mac ed. power cables to go to the card from the logic board. The PCIe slot only provides 75W of power BTW.

ATI has sites in europe (Poland as well, IIRC), so they may ship to you. You can also order them from Svideo.com, who will ship them to you (they ship internationally). The last option apparently is an Apple store, though the personnel may not know how to find them, and tell you they can't get them (according to posts by another member who went this route; sort of difficult).

These cables are a cleaner installation, and given the need for a fan off the Molex as well, would be the best route compared to a Molex Y splitter, with each end feeding a Molex to PCIe 6 pin (fan's passthrough on one of them).

This pulls a lot of power off one source, and could be too high a draw for the wiring, and possibly the PSU (it may actually be a single +12V rail, though I'm not so sure). At any rate, the possibility still exists it's a multiple rail design, and you want to divide the load, otherwise you could damage the PSU. If that goes, you're in a mess, as it's not inexpensive, and they have a habit of taking things with them, such as logic boards, CPU's,... :eek: :(

So be carefull. IMO, it would seem an inexpensive investment to keep from trashing something. ;)

Good luck. :)
 
nanofrog said:
You need to get a pair of the ATI x1900 Mac ed. power cables to go to the card from the logic board. The PCIe slot only provides 75W of power BTW.

ATI has sites in europe (Poland as well, IIRC), so they may ship to you. You can also order them from Svideo.com, who will ship them to you (they ship internationally). The last option apparently is an Apple store, though the personnel may not know how to find them, and tell you they can't get them (according to posts by another member who went this route; sort of difficult).

These cables are a cleaner installation, and given the need for a fan off the Molex as well, would be the best route compared to a Molex Y splitter, with each end feeding a Molex to PCIe 6 pin (fan's passthrough on one of them).

This pulls a lot of power off one source, and could be too high a draw for the wiring, and possibly the PSU (it may actually be a single +12V rail, though I'm not so sure). At any rate, the possibility still exists it's a multiple rail design, and you want to divide the load, otherwise you could damage the PSU. If that goes, you're in a mess, as it's not inexpensive, and they have a habit of taking things with them, such as logic boards, CPU's,... :eek: :(

So be carefull. IMO, it would seem an inexpensive investment to keep from trashing something. ;)

Good luck. :)
Click to expand...

Yes. That's true. It's better to wait. As I wrote before cables where shipped to me on monday from Austria and should be here (Poland) tommorow or next week.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120450261914&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

I've removed HD4870, and putted 7300GT back in Slot 1 - everythings works fine. So nothing is broken yet ;)
 
Spacedust said:
Yes. That's true. It's better to wait. As I wrote before cables where shipped to me on monday from Austria and should be here (Poland) tommorow or next week.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120450261914&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123

I've removed HD4870, and putted 7300GT back in Slot 1 - everythings works fine. So nothing is broken yet ;)
Click to expand...
:cool: I either missed you'd ordered the cables, or it slipped my mind. :eek:

At least you've got them on the way. :D Best to just wait it out if you can, though I'm rather familiar with "new toy anxiety". ;) ...Must...resist...urge...to...tinker...:p
 
nanofrog said:
:cool: I either missed you'd ordered the cables, or it slipped my mind. :eek:

At least you've got them on the way. :D Best to just wait it out if you can, though I'm rather familiar with "new toy anxiety". ;) ...Must...resist...urge...to...tinker...:p
Click to expand...

I'm worried about all this flashing that's waiting to be done, but there where reports that HIS card worked without any problems.
 
Spacedust said:
I'm worried about all this flashing that's waiting to be done, but there where reports that HIS card worked without any problems.
Click to expand...
I've read that as well. It shouldn't be a problem, so long as the power doesn't go out during the flash proceedure. It's rare though, and if you've a UPS, that issue would be negated. ;)

That leaves user error, but it's not hard presuming you can understand the directions (language related issues). ;) :p
 
nanofrog said:
I've read that as well. It shouldn't be a problem, so long as the power doesn't go out during the flash proceedure. It's rare though, and if you've a UPS, that issue would be negated. ;)

That leaves user error, but it's not hard presuming you can understand the directions (language related issues). ;) :p
Click to expand...

I got small UPS so I'll be safe.
 
Allright guys - I got my PCI-Express cables from Austria. This priority mail is fast :)
 
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