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Mac Pro ATI Radeon HD 3870x2 Quad Crossfire

K

kabunaru

Guest
Original poster
Jan 28, 2008
3,226
5
Is quad crossfire possible in the Mac Pro with two ATI Radeon HD 3870x2 when booted into Windows? :):confused:
 
:eek:
Chilz0r said:
Why would you bother???
Click to expand...
:eek:

Sorry if I seem rude here; But what exactly was the point of that reply?



anyways to the point - I am not sure - do the cards need 16x slots ? what about the power requirements and does the board support crossfire(themotherboard)?

answer those Q's and you'll have the answer.. (sorry am not ATi qualified as I have been an NVidia user for so long)....
 
The point was, why would you possibly need quad GPU's and what purpose would they actually serve??? as OS X doesn't support SLi OR CrossfireX
 
I have no idea why you wouldn't buy a better appointed (more stable, cooler running, yada yada) Windows machine to do the job if it's for gaming, but through some power hacks it should at least fit. Crossfire in Windows? I don't see any reason why it shouldn't, although I haven't tried it. You may have to get two of the Mac editions (if it's released - the single 3870 is supposed to be out) if the cards need to be the same.
 
Chilz0r said:
The point was, why would you possibly need quad GPU's and what purpose would they actually serve??? as OS X doesn't support SLi OR CrossfireX
Click to expand...

then maybe you could have said that and reduced any possible missinterpretation of your comment :p

anyways I do see the point of asking why would you want it in OS X, but in windows (where the majority of mac gamers have to go) it is a benefit for games :)

<not trying to antagonize anyone Chil, it just gets my goat when I see replys to genuine questions that seem blunt, bring no value and/or even sound sarcastic)
 
... its the same story over and over again ... why can't people simply offer their help with a hardware question instead of starting the old discussion again: Mac Pro ... for Gaming? ... go buy a PC! ... I cannot hear it anymore. Some people (like me) simply enjoy to do things with their Macs beyond the ordinary ... ist that a sin here? ... others modify their cars :p
 
A reply that's on topic :D
You need a Crossfire compatible MB to do this.
This from ATI webste :

What Is ATI CrossFireX™
ATI CrossFireX™ is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform. Enabling game-dominating power, ATI CrossFireX technology enables two or more discrete graphics processors to work together to improve system performance. For The Ultimate Visual Experience™, be sure to select ATI CrossFireX ready motherboards for AMD and Intel® processors and multiple ATI Radeon™ HD graphics cards.
 
Siron said:
A reply that's on topic :D
You need a Crossfire compatible MB to do this.
Click to expand...

People here in other threads stated that it DOES WORK in Windows and the Mac Pro for them ... they used 2x 2600er cards, if I remember correctly. ;)
 
Chilz0r said:
Why would you bother???
Click to expand...

Comments like this make me dislike online forums sometimes. :rolleyes:
If you are going to post something, post something useful and not a rude answer.

Anyways, thanks for the replies guys.
 
You can have 2 3870's and can crossfire them in windows, you need a crossfire connector which I dont know if that comes with the card (it comes with the pc version so I think it should) but anyways if you are in osx it will only see one. About installing the card I believe the mac pro has one double wide pci express 2.0 so you can install one, and then you can just install there other on the next port up. But it should be in the instructions.:apple: But I dont think you can have 4 because the mac pro doesnt have 4 double wide pci express ports.

Justin
 
All of the Mac Pro's PCI-e slots are double wide. But that won't be an issue since the 3870 has a single slot cooler :)

I guess you could take up the extra space with cardboard for fun though :p
 
from what i have been told and seen the Mac Pro can do crossfire but not SLI and crosfire will only work with the Mac cards so the 3870x2 will be no good but u can get of the pc/mac edition 3870 and that should work in both Mac OS X and windows but just remember that Mac OS games all run in Open GL and they dont need lots of hardware like DirectX does to get good graphics
 
Missed the 3870x2 part, have fun being unstable and crashing a lot!

Just crossfire some 3870's (single), which fit well within the power requirements.
 
Chilz0r said:
Why would you bother???
Click to expand...

I second that. If you want something that only works in windows, the underpowered 3870x2 is definitely not a good choice. And two of them is a worse idea, since it's just even more juice for a mild speed improvement.. after dual crossfire, scaling is minimal... and in Crysis, it's practically non-existent.

If you want something that works in Windows, get a 4850, or, if you want to pay a bit more, a 4870; it's possibly cheaper than a 3870x2 (certainly cheaper than two of them), and you'll definitely get better performance out of it 90%+ of the time than a 3870x2, and probably more than two 3870x2s.

So it's just a strange idea any way you look at it.

You end up paying more for less performance, and it uses more electricity (and isn't really possible in a Mac Pro I don't think anyway)
 
Siron said:
A reply that's on topic :D
You need a Crossfire compatible MB to do this.
This from ATI webste :

What Is ATI CrossFireX™
ATI CrossFireX™ is the ultimate multi-GPU performance gaming platform. Enabling game-dominating power, ATI CrossFireX technology enables two or more discrete graphics processors to work together to improve system performance. For The Ultimate Visual Experience™, be sure to select ATI CrossFireX ready motherboards for AMD and Intel® processors and multiple ATI Radeon™ HD graphics cards.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that'll be perfectly normal for ATI to advertise it's OWN products while trying to sell you it's latests Gfx cards. It wouldn't surprise me if nVidia does the same, given the opportunity.

So your saying the MB in the MacPro is incapable of doing SLI/Crossfire? Well.. I don't know about he older 2006 release but in the current 2008 version the logicboard slot 3 & 4 are tagged as 16x. There are two power points where the fans are.. so I guess the rest would be down to compatible drivers and or software to take advantage of the extra graphic power.
 
Pressure said:
Two Radeon HD 4850 are cheaper and performs better ;)
Click to expand...

True, but from time to time I like to run my Mac Pro in OS X ;)

Btw, did anybody here successfully crossfire a Mac 3870 with a PC 4870? People in a different forum claim it is possible on their PC (using a non-Mac 3870) although not officially supported by ATI. And if, does it run faster than two 3870? :confused:
I have the Mac 3870 now since a few days (had a flashed 8800GT before) and I am thinking about getting either a second Mac 3870, a 3870x2 or a 4870 for Vista.
In addition I'd like to mention that in my experience the 3870 is clearly more noisy than my 8800GT was before - what a bummer :(
 
Only Nvidia motherboards can do SLI (unless you count the Skulltrail). Both the 2006 and 2008 Mac Pros can do Crossfire, though the 2006 model would only be able to run both cards at 8x instead of 16x.
 
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