Interesting news from OWC regarding 4870/GT120 in older Mac Pro's.

[tobyg]

http://blog.macsales.com/602-testing-those-new-graphics-cards

They claim the 4870, even in the 800mhz FSB Mac Pro that is supposed to be supported by Apple, that the Mini DisplayPort doesn't work. I find that odd, as Apple makes no mention of that on their website.

They also claim neither of the newer cards work in the 2006 667mhz FSB Mac Pro's. I am not sure why, as we already have people here with the older Mac Pro (MacPro1,1) with working flashed 4870 cards.

 

[rylin]

http://blog.macsales.com/602-testing-those-new-graphics-cards

They claim the 4870, even in the 800mhz FSB Mac Pro that is supposed to be supported by Apple, that the Mini DisplayPort doesn't work. I find that odd, as Apple makes no mention of that on their website.

They also claim neither of the newer cards work in the 2006 667mhz FSB Mac Pro's. I am not sure why, as we already have people here with the older Mac Pro (MacPro1,1) with working flashed 4870 cards.

Eh, wait for 10.5.7 before making any judgements.

 

[aibo]

I bet the Mini DisplayPort works once 10.5.7 drops.
edit: damn you and your OC3 fiber optic connection, rylin

 

[tobyg]

Good call. They probably didn't use the ATI drivers that shipped with the newer Mac Pro's.

Very likely that is the answer.

 

[Barthak]

The more interesting part is that the GT120 works on the early 2008 mac pro's even tho the apple store says its only for the early 2009 version. That's a lot cheaper solution if you want to use a 24" LED display.

 

[Mackilroy]

They also claim neither of the newer cards work in the 2006 667mhz FSB Mac Pro's. I am not sure why, as we already have people here with the older Mac Pro (MacPro1,1) with working flashed 4870 cards.

We do? Where?

 

[tobyg]

We do? Where?

In the thread about obtaining the 4870 ROM.

 

[Mackilroy]

I read the thread and I saw people had them flashed, yes, but not entirely successfully.

 

[tobyg]

I read the thread and I saw people had them flashed, yes, but not entirely successfully.

The Rominator and others are running them. Not 100% successful (analog doesn't work, etc) but more successfully than OWC claims.

 

[MacVidCards]

I have a 4870 wroking in my Mac Pro 1,1. BOTH DVI ports are functional, though one is single link only, the other Dual Link.

In any case, if the 4870 from Apple isn't working for those guys it is one of two things:

1. They didn't install the 10.5.7 ATI kexts into their system.

2. Apple went to ATI and said "Now, how can we FORCE older Mac Pro owners to buy a WHOLE NEW MACHINE?....make that 4870 not work in our older Mac Pros."

 

[jjahshik32]

I have a 4870 wroking in my Mac Pro 1,1. BOTH DVI ports are functional, though one is single link only, the other Dual Link.

In any case, if the 4870 from Apple isn't working for those guys it is one of two things:

1. They didn't install the 10.5.7 ATI kexts into their system.

2. Apple went to ATI and said "Now, how can we FORCE older Mac Pro owners to buy a WHOLE NEW MACHINE?....make that 4870 not work in our older Mac Pros."

I wouldnt be surprised if it was the latter.

 

[velocityg4]

I have a 4870 wroking in my Mac Pro 1,1. BOTH DVI ports are functional, though one is single link only, the other Dual Link.

In any case, if the 4870 from Apple isn't working for those guys it is one of two things:

1. They didn't install the 10.5.7 ATI kexts into their system.

2. Apple went to ATI and said "Now, how can we FORCE older Mac Pro owners to buy a WHOLE NEW MACHINE?....make that 4870 not work in our older Mac Pros."

I think it is probably incompatible firmwares between the MP's. Sort of along the same lines as incompatibilities between Macs and PCs for video cards. Either way it seems likely to be Apples fault as PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe 1.0. I do not know of any Windows PCIe 2.0 video cards that do not work with PCIe 1.0 boards.

 

[OZMP]

are you sure about those FSB figures?

 

[noushy]

Testing 4870 in 2008 Mac Pro

If there is a real need, I can drop my 4870 in a 2008 Mac Pro. I replaced the Radeon 4870 with an EVGA Geforce 285 GTX so the card is sitting on my desk. I happen to own an octo 2.8 Mac Pro 2008 as well (that machine has a Quadro 5600 FX card, a little bit of a pain) but I can test it.

Peace,
Noushy