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Mac OS X 10.6.7 Adds Support for New AMD Graphics Cards

So has anyone stuck a 6970 in a mac pro yet?

PS for the people who don't know apple does not support Crossfire or SLI in mac os x so the 6990 which is a dual GPU on a single card solution will not and can not be supported until they change how osx works.
 
aiqw9182 said:
Actually, you are just confused and trying to back peddle:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12245564/

You are talking DirectX version numbers(which already has nothing to do with what we're talking about and has no bearing under OS X) in relation to OpenCL when OpenCL has nothing to do with DirectX? Something doesn't add up here.
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I am not trying to back pedal, I was talking about OpenCL before, I've been talking about that and graphics for a while now.

With respect to your objection, what does DirectX 10.1 mean in OpenCL terms? 1.0? 1.1?

All I can see about Sandy Bridge regarding OpenCL is conflicting information. As of now, it has no true OpenCL.
 
N10248 said:
Mac Pro's have big power supplies but thats mainly for the CPU and Ram, adding a 6970 would be pushing its limits, especially for gaming.
Click to expand...

Couldn't they simply upgrade that as well? I can't imagine why they couldn't. I mean we are talking future Mac Pros.
 
cube said:
I am not trying to back pedal, I was talking about OpenCL before, I've been talking about that and graphics for a while now.

With respect to your objection, what does DirectX 10.1 mean in OpenCL terms? 1.0? 1.1?

All I can see about Sandy Bridge regarding OpenCL is conflicting information. As of now, it has no true OpenCL.
Click to expand...
The DirectX version number has nothing to do with whether or not OpenCL support is possible. What does DirectX 10.1 mean in OpenCL terms? Absolutely nothing. They are two separate entities. The reason why Intel's IGP doesn't have true OpenCL support has absolutely nothing to do with a DirectX version number. There are tons of 'DirectX 10.1' cards that support OpenCL, hell the majority of the ones that you can use on Snow Leopard are 'DirectX 10.1' cards. DirectX 11 adds absolutely nothing in the aspect of which you were using it.
 
I REALLY hope Apple will support not only those cards but also the new crop of nVidia too. The reason I do not use Apple for my development is due to them never supporting the most current cards or nVidia. I am a professional 3D artist and some of my software take advantage of the "Cuda" cores on the nVidia ones. Therefore, I simply can not do without them.

It will be interesting to see if Apple goes all-in and supports ALL the most current video cards by AMD and nVidia. If so, I will certainly be getting at least 1-2 new Mac Pros fully loaded. Would love to see SLI or Crossfire as options too.
 
this is AWESOME news for all the hackintosh people out there.

Although, my Radeon HD5570 isn't on this 'supported' list, I still got it to work... all resolutions including quartz extreme enabled. :D:D:D
 
LarryC said:
Couldn't they simply upgrade that as well? I can't imagine why they couldn't. I mean we are talking future Mac Pros.
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It would most likely make the Mac Pro more expensive even if you go with the cheapest graphics card as all Mac Pros would have to have a better PSU Just in case the owner decides to upgrade the card later.
 
This is potentially great news...

I had a stock ATI 5850 in the Mac Pro for a while, OS X didn't like it but Windows ran it perfectly... in the end bit the bullet and bought a 5870 Mac edition for about twice the market value of a standard PC card!

Great decision though, the Mac now runs about 20 times faster... not just games either... the whole UI is great now (I guess thanks to OpenCL et al)

...and whoever decided the GT120 was a good card for a Mac Pro needs to be shot!
 
Do you think that the support of these 5xxxx cards could mean the return of the 24" iMac?

Too many cards for only 2 models (21" and 27")....
 
toddybody said:
Ehhh...you're right that it's no 1200watt corsair. But it supports dual CPUs, crap ton of ram, and 5770x2 or 5870...surely it could support a 6970(from a tdp perspective)
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Nop... consider.

2x CPUs 130W rated. So thats 260W, right there. However, no CPU consumes the rated, so it's give or take ~260W.

Each 5770 is ~108W, given two, that's ~216 W. Right off the bat we have ~476 W being consumed. Not bad; however let's look at the side where its not a dual 5770 setup.

The PSU on the Mac Pro is rated for 980 W of power, but for simplicity sake let's say 1 kW. Now, factor in the Super drive, Ethernet, Airport, at least 1 HDD and peripheral docks/cards you are looking at ~100 W. Take into account a 20 W per 1GB of memory (assume 6GB) and you've got ~120 W more. So far ~ 220 W more.

Now we have ~480 W [~260W + ~220W]consumption leaving only ~520 W left for a GPU. Currently, the HD 6970 requires 2x 8-pin connectors to provide 150 W per pin. That's 300W right off. So we are left with ~220 W in the system. Now, factor in that PCIe slot power draw at 75 W and we've got a ~145 W left over. ~145 W is cutting it too close and something will yield (yes I do realize 145 W is a lot more, but read on). Now, the sad part, we were assuming 1kW PSU which is not the case; it's 980 W meaning there will be less power, ~125 W. Now, also take into consideration no PSU is 100% efficient, hence there will be greater power outlet draw and the PSU will be operating at high voltage/amps and its life span will decrease dramatically over very high usage.

In other words the current PSU may come up short. Add to that the fact that all current shipping and past model Mac Pros don't have extra dual 8-pin connectors. They have dual 6-pins. There is an adapter to make a 6-pin into an 8-pin, but it is risky at best, big no-no.

So as you can see an HD 6970 would be barely supported on current models. Future models? Perhaps yes assuming Apple bumps to 1.1kW or 1.2kW PSU.

Take into account this was calculated assuming 6GB of memory and 1 HDD, anymore RAM (20 W/1GB) or HDDs (10W/disc) and the consumption will go up. Also, assuming nothing is hooked up to peripheral ports; like a small external drive that draws 5-10 W.
 
I would replace my Hack Pro with a Mac Pro if I had my choices of video cards.

With dual processors and VM's I'd just run 2 30" screens, one with osX, one with Win7 in a VM.

This is the biggest deficiency that Apple has.
 
MacRumors said:



135905-amd_logo.jpg


As reported by tonymacx86, Apple's new Mac OS X 10.6.7 update for the 2011 MacBook Pro includes support for a number of AMD graphics cards not currently found in Apple's machines. While the development is certainly of interest to Hackintosh fans looking to build their own systems running Mac OS X, the inclusion of the new cards may provide some hints of graphics cards to be included in future Macs such as potential iMac and Mac Pro updates.Interestingly, the broad range of cards apparently fully supported under Mac OS X 10.6.7 is leading to speculation that Apple may be looking to support more off-the-shelf GPU options as opposed to the Mac-specific cards that have been used to date.

Article Link: Mac OS X 10.6.7 Adds Support for New AMD Graphics Cards
Click to expand...

I would advise people not to take too seriously the words of tonymacx86 who admittedly does a great deal to help the junior hackintosh brigade, but he is not well respected by many serious OSX86 supporters, who claims he uses a lot of stolen code, and asks for money from people who cannot do it themselves.
 
the-ep said:
This sounds interesting. Now I'm anticipating the iMac/MP refresh even more....

The possibility of off-the-shelf options looks even better, though. Potential expansion of MP life span?
Click to expand...

Imac refresh is more imminent than the MP refresh - for all we know, middle of 2012 the latest or even later, as Apple clearly sees no interest in Mac Pro as much as the Laptops, iMac, and others, esp the iphone 5 coming up. Mac Pro simply doesn't top the list, unfortionately, but sad to say the 6-core is going to be my LAST Mac Pro as I am not using it to its full potential due to lack of interest in multi-threaded apps and no use for such applications.. Only got the 6-core w3680 for prolonging the machine.
 
Per your comment below, I think you might be misunderstanding Crossfire.

The MP does have an upgrade option to include two 5770's that will allow you to drive up to six displays. This is great but this should not be confused with crossfire.

If they were set up in crossfire you would only be able to drive 3 monitors as you would be limited to the output of your primary card. The second card acts as extra processing load for the primary card while set up in crossfire. Additionally if they were setup in crossfire you would see a bridge between the two cards.

As far as i know Apple has never supported crossfire or sli. They have however supported multi gpus in one machine.


toddybody said:
Well then, Apple is gonna confuse alot of people with the 5770 crossfire MP upgrade. Look it up folks, crossfire is supported

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_pro?mco=MTg5MTY5NDQ
Click to expand...
 
As I understand it, once the relevant files are installed, these cards don't display anything until the OS boots, but then they (or at least some of them, like the 5770, 5870 and 6870) work just fine.

But what about rEFIt? Will that put a video signal out through DVI or DP? If that'll do the job, then I'm all over a 6870 black!
 
Do the macpros have a powersuppy with about an extra 500w for a 6970? And the 8 pin and 6 pci-e power ports?
 
Just realised I was being stupid yesterday.

I forgot about the Mac Pro's

when it said ATI 6970 I thought, Yay, finally an iMac that normal people will buy will be fitted into an iMac and make it a worthy competitor to a good spec PC.

Then it dawned on me, I'm stupid and probably none of the upper end models will find their way into iMac's will they? :(
 
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