There's a magical thing called Google image search, you should try it some time. If you type in "Mac 3870" you'll find LOTS of RED 3870 cards for the Mac, on other sites than just Amazon. And you've still shown no proof that the red card is not for the Mac. Nice job.
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is your 3870 fan always loud?
- Thread starter DualShock
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There's a magical thing called Google image search, you should try it some time. If you type in "Mac 3870" you'll find LOTS of RED 3870 cards for the Mac, on other sites than just Amazon. And you've still shown no proof that the red card is not for the Mac. Nice job.
Every review and every owner report I've seen with pictures has shown the blue card only and no one that I've read about has ever mentioned receiving a red version. The lack of evidence is proof enough for me, though it doesn't have to be so for you. Your own post indicated you can't find any information on the elusive red card. I require proof too.
Show me someone who bought the Mac & PC Edition and got that red card from those pictures and I will believe you. It's only been out since June/July and they've only ever sold one version of the card that works with all Mac Pros. For them to be selling such a significantly different product (at least in terms of cooling) without any differentiation at all would be surprising and frustrating considering the issues we're having.
My blue card temps are like this:
Idle in Vista @46°C with fan@86% speed.
With a few secs of screen saver the GPU temp @52°C and then fan @99%
And for what I can hear the fan rev in OS X when idling are more or less the same. It's definitely not less noisy.
Idle in Vista @46°C with fan@86% speed.
With a few secs of screen saver the GPU temp @52°C and then fan @99%
And for what I can hear the fan rev in OS X when idling are more or less the same. It's definitely not less noisy.
The red units seen may be from 2 main reasons.Every review and every owner report I've seen with pictures has shown the blue card only and no one that I've read about has ever mentioned receiving a red version. The lack of evidence is proof enough for me, though it doesn't have to be so for you. Your own post indicated you can't find any information on the elusive red card. I require proof too.
1. PC card images were used in place of opening a Mac & PC ed. and taking good photos.
2. Multiple manufacturers were licensed by ATI to produce them. Those different companies would then likely use the same cooling components, including the plastic shroud, that they would use on the PC versions those same companies build.
Ultimately, it doesn't really matter, as the fan issue is present in quite a few cards. This needs to be addressed by ATI, since it is their name on the box in this case. Even if Sapphire and/or other companies are manufacturing this thing.
Anybody using CS4 with the 3870?
Since this is a 3870 thread, I'd thought I ask if people are finding that photoshop cs4 is in fact running faster with the gpu enhancements. Anybody using this combo on a mac pro?
Since this is a 3870 thread, I'd thought I ask if people are finding that photoshop cs4 is in fact running faster with the gpu enhancements. Anybody using this combo on a mac pro?
I didn't mean to get the thread sidetracked about the meaningless issue of what color the card is. Either way, ATI hasn't exactly had a good track record with Mac Pro cards, have they? The X1900 XT was a total failure a good card for the most part, but all destined to fail prematurely it seems and now the fan speed issue with the 3870. I just hope it doesn't indicate any further problems down the line with the card. I wonder what the 4870 will be like if they actually to release a Mac version.
Curious if other 3870 users have seen the same thing.
Either way, ATI hasn't exactly had a good track record with Mac Pro cards, have they? The X1900 XT was a total failure a good card for the most part, but all destined to fail prematurely it seems and now the fan speed issue with the 3870. I just hope it doesn't indicate any further problems down the line with the card. I wonder what the 4870 will be like if they actually to release a Mac version.I just tried it out the other day actually and posted a thread about it in the Apps forum. There is bad display corruption when using the new OpenGL features, I had to turn them off.
Curious if other 3870 users have seen the same thing.Check this out:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI Technologies/630ATI3870/
I've been checking the macsales site quite frequently and this must have been added in the last day or so. Haha, looks like we can squabble over red, blue, and grey cards now
Besides being ugly as a toaster, I like this one better than the blue because of the better heat exhaust. Hopefully, this one has less fan issues, I will let you all know.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI Technologies/630ATI3870/
I've been checking the macsales site quite frequently and this must have been added in the last day or so. Haha, looks like we can squabble over red, blue, and grey cards now
Besides being ugly as a toaster, I like this one better than the blue because of the better heat exhaust. Hopefully, this one has less fan issues, I will let you all know.
Who cares about the color.Check this out:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI Technologies/630ATI3870/
I've been checking the macsales site quite frequently and this must have been added in the last day or so. Haha, looks like we can squabble over red, blue, and grey cards now
Besides being ugly as a toaster, I like this one better than the blue because of the better heat exhaust. Hopefully, this one has less fan issues, I will let you all know.
It's cheaper!
Here's an update: I received and installed the Twin Turbo today, in fact I've just booted my Mac. So far so good — that is, I didn't break the card, and there's no smoke or funny smells.
I ran into one significant issue though, that is that the power connector for the fans is incompatible, just like the original turbo module that Urchinboy was talking about. It's a 3-pin connector with a black, red, and green wire. The original 3870 fan unit had a 2-pin connector with black and red.I'm not entirely sure how I will be able to get the fans powered. Since the Twin Turbo is essentially the same as the S1 Rev 2 with the turbo module already installed, I think I should be safe running it for the time being with just the passive heatsink. At least I will be able to enjoy some peace and quiet, as the always-spinning fan was starting to drive me nuts.
Edit: here's some pics, first of the board with the original cooler removed. The CPU is naked and the RAM units have new heatsinks installed. Second, the power connectors. The one coming off the twin turbo fans has a 3 and 4-pin connection, assume either can be used, instructions don't mention the fans at all.
It did come with an adapter that I can plug the 3-pin end into, but it's a molex adapter which is useless for the Mac Pro.I can come back and post some temps after it's been on a while, but as I've no way to check specific GPU temps in OS X, all I can go by is the general temps of everything else. So far, the "Ambient" temp is about the same at around 70ºF and "Expansion Slots" temp is also the same at 94ºF. Does anyone have any idea what the normal safe operating temps are for the 3870? I can check them out later in Windows.
Edit 2: GPU-Z shows current temps at 52ºC, this is idle in Vista x64 that I've only been booted into for several minutes. I think this is normal but not cooler than temps from the stock cooler (I wish I had checked first, but I was anxious to install the Twin Turbo), however it is also silent.
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I didn't mean to get the thread sidetracked about the meaningless issue of what color the card is.
I just tried it out the other day actually and posted a thread about it in the Apps forum. There is bad display corruption when using the new OpenGL features, I had to turn them off.
i have mine enabled and advanced enabled and i haven't had any corruption issued in photoshop. mine seems to be running really well.
If I turn off just "Use for Image Display" but leave the other OpenGL options enabled, it runs fine, though that may be obvious. I can't tell any difference with it on/off while leaving the other OpenGL options on, so I guess that's fine.
Check this out:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI Technologies/630ATI3870/
I've been checking the macsales site quite frequently and this must have been added in the last day or so. Haha, looks like we can squabble over red, blue, and grey cards now
Besides being ugly as a toaster, I like this one better than the blue because of the better heat exhaust. Hopefully, this one has less fan issues, I will let you all know.
I got this card but it was unfortunately dead -- I must've got a lemon but I'm not very happy right now. Needed to get some work done today so I went off and bought a retail 3870 and I think I'm just going to deal with any noise that comes up -- if it gets very loud I'll look to other solutions but for now I'm ok with the noise of the stock 3870.
Rob
Very Disappointed
Was there ever a fix for the loud 3870? I bought the Apple version over 6 weeks ago. Immediately sent back because it kept black-screening while gaming. OWC shipped the ATI retail version as a replacement because they were out of the Apple version. Just installed the ATI 3870 today and, of course, the fan is at full speed in both OSX and Bootcamp. This is unacceptable. I don't see buying a passive cooler as an option because I'm not going to invest even more money into this mess. What are my options, other than hate Apple for the lack of options and try my luck with the far overpriced 8800GT?
By the way, I'm running a new Mac Pro 2008. I followed instructions perfectly, installed drivers, rebooted, shut down, installed card, etc. Also reset PRAM as a test, nothing resolved.
Was there ever a fix for the loud 3870? I bought the Apple version over 6 weeks ago. Immediately sent back because it kept black-screening while gaming. OWC shipped the ATI retail version as a replacement because they were out of the Apple version. Just installed the ATI 3870 today and, of course, the fan is at full speed in both OSX and Bootcamp. This is unacceptable. I don't see buying a passive cooler as an option because I'm not going to invest even more money into this mess. What are my options, other than hate Apple for the lack of options and try my luck with the far overpriced 8800GT?
By the way, I'm running a new Mac Pro 2008. I followed instructions perfectly, installed drivers, rebooted, shut down, installed card, etc. Also reset PRAM as a test, nothing resolved.
This isn't good.
Try running the 10.5.6 update again...the drivers on the 3870 disk are older than the ones that come with the OS.
If Apple improves fan control, it will be in the drivers.
Would be nice if someone would dump the ROM from an OEM 3870...could maybe lead to some fan help.
I did try running Software Update from the menu bar after installing the drivers but nothing came up. Is there a place I can manually download the latest Apple update?
Also, the fan speed was full blast in Boot Camp as well, which leads me to believe it's hardware related.
Check this out:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/ATI Technologies/630ATI3870/
I've been checking the macsales site quite frequently and this must have been added in the last day or so. Haha, looks like we can squabble over red, blue, and grey cards now
Besides being ugly as a toaster, I like this one better than the blue because of the better heat exhaust. Hopefully, this one has less fan issues, I will let you all know.
Umm.. The illustration shows it's a dual slot card. Mine's only a single slot. Could it be an error?
Which card are you referring to? If you ordered the gray Apple/ATI card, it's a dual slot with a much larger fan. If you ordered the blue ATI retail card, it's single slot.
Mine are both ATI retail cards now with passive sinks, vastly reduces the fan noise from the annoyingly loud 125dB to 0dB!! I figure with the MacPro having cooling zones and hardware thermo monitoring, having fans on the cards are just meaningless.
Go the the Apple site and look up downloads. Should be under "Most Popular" or something. You can typically either download the "Combo" or an incremental. (10.5.5 to 10.5.6) I'd get the Combo and run it.
I'm used to being on a PC.... do I need to uninstall the old Mac video drivers or will doing the latest update overwrite the old ones?
Unfortunately, OWC is screwing me over with this new card. I originally bought the Apple ATI 3870 over 6 weeks ago. I returned it as soon as I got it, kept black screening during games. They shipped this ATI 3870 with the loud fan which I received last week and now they say they can't RMA because I'm over the 30 days on the Apple card. Ridiculous. I've had the ATI card for less than a week, the 30 days should have started over when they set up the exchange between the Apple and ATI cards (which they had to do because they don't carry the Apple one anymore).
Honestly... All that time wasted sending stuff back and forth. Why don't you just buy a generic heatsink that's suitable for the ATI 3800 Series? OK, it might be a little more money spent but it's hell of less of a headache. ThermalRight does a couple, so does Zelman, take your pick!
I paid for a product and have yet to received a working unit, simple as that. No way I'm going to be satisfied until they send me a card that actually works. I talked to OWC tech support and they even told me to fill out the form for an RMA and to specifically ask to have the new card tested before it's shipped out. After I filled out the RMA form, I got a response saying I couldn't get the RMA because of the 30 days. This is bad business and I'm going to keep bugging them until it gets fixed. I can still use the 2600 in the meantime so it's not like I can't use the machine like it is.