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OEM Radeon 4870 working on First Gen Mac Pro

grue said:
When you mentioned failure in 6 months, I thought you were talking about the X1900 XT.

Yeah, nividia had a problem with one line of GPUs, in laptops primarily.

Meanwhile, ATI hasn't written a good driver set since Clinton was in office, and even then they were questionable.

Given the choice, I'll take a GPU that -might- fail in some cases over one that -will- have inferior performance.


But yeah, you despise nvidia. I despise ATI and Apple, it balances.
Click to expand...
ATI's drivers under OS X are far better than Nvidia's. Under Windows it's a different story. When the 8800GT first came out, the X 1900XT still outperformed it in pro apps in OS X.
 
barefeats said:
*snip*

I should have a posting ready by tomorrow morning with 3D benchmarks for the HD 4870 on two models of Nehalem as well as the Clovertown and Harpertown. I'll also have results for other cards including the GeForce 120 GT, 8800 GT, and Radeon HD 3870.
Click to expand...

Fantastic news, Rob!

It just goes to prove that it's worth waiting for real data, rather than assuming the worst!
 
Phydoux said:
lol, I think that jjahshik32 just got eaten by a grue.
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No he's wrong actually, the ATI drivers have been written better for osx for a long long time, Nvidia is the one that need to start putting some time in writing their own drivers for apple.

and what's the hate for ati and apple, wrong forum perhaps? :apple:
 
cant wait for results, be interesting too see whether it will aid in anything for me, as i dont do much besides browse, watch movies and encode video these days...
 
ekwipt said:
No he's wrong actually, the ATI drivers have been written better for osx for a long long time, Nvidia is the one that need to start putting some time in writing their own drivers for apple.

and what's the hate for ati and apple, wrong forum perhaps? :apple:
Click to expand...

I never said what OS I was referring to when I mentioned drivers :p

In any case, my Apple hate comes from a quarter century as one of their customers. They continue to suck less than the opposition, though, so I remain. :D
 
tobyg said:
Just tested my flashed 4870 in my MP 2x2.66 Quad original MacPro1,1 and yeah, works the same as it does in my 2x2.8 Octo.

Doing a few benchmarks to compare.
Click to expand...

Just curious - what did you use to flash it and what vendors 4870 are you using?
 
So the OEM works. What about the upgrade 4870 card from the apple store ? Does it use a different efi or anything ? I'd love a nice upgrade path on my aging but otherwise very capable REV 1.1 mac pro.
 
Wonder if it works in a Woodcrest Mac Pro

Looking forward to seeing if you can put the 4870 into a 2006 Mac Pro 2.66.
 
OddThomas said:
when you were testing, did the 4870 sound like a jet engine? or relatively quiet?
Click to expand...

It only rev'd up at Startup or Restart. It was quiet the whole time I was running game benchmarks as well as stressful Pro Apps like Motion which use the GPU -- not like the 3870. The fan/heatsink assembly is like the unreleased OEM 3870 -- well designed and quiet.
 
barefeats said:
It only rev'd up at Startup or Restart. It was quiet the whole time I was running game benchmarks as well as stressful Pro Apps like Motion which use the GPU -- not like the 3870. The fan/heatsink assembly is like the unreleased OEM 3870 -- well designed and quiet.
Click to expand...


Drool*
 
barefeats said:
It only rev'd up at Startup or Restart. It was quiet the whole time I was running game benchmarks as well as stressful Pro Apps like Motion which use the GPU -- not like the 3870. The fan/heatsink assembly is like the unreleased OEM 3870 -- well designed and quiet.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! That was my main concern. Will put in my order as soon as they are shipping for the MacPro08 and 10.5.7 releases.
 
OWC sez

OWC says they couldn't get their Radeon 4870 working in the first generation (3.0ghz Clovertown @ 667mhz bus) octo's. Can you speculate on what you've done differently?

Were there the right kind and number of power connectors in the Ctown octos?

Can you comment on the sound quality of the Radeon?
 
mason.kramer said:
OWC says they couldn't get their Radeon 4870 working in the first generation (3.0ghz Clovertown @ 667mhz bus) octo's. Can you speculate on what you've done differently?

Were there the right kind and number of power connectors in the Ctown octos?

Can you comment on the sound quality of the Radeon?
Click to expand...

Drivers. ;)

By 'sound' you mean how loud it is? He has already. :)
 
Working in 2006 "Woodcrest" Mac Pro

Barefeats has updated their postings on the OEM 4870 as working with the 2.66 Woodcrest Mac Pros: http://barefeats.com/nehal06.html

A 'close colleague' of Rob's has it working... I wonder, are both the the DVI and Mini Display ports functional? I can't wait to find out. My 7300GT really needs replacing, and those LED ACDs sure are shiny....
 
Mackilroy said:
Drivers. ;)

By 'sound' you mean how loud it is? He has already. :)
Click to expand...

So, if the card needs special drivers for the Clovertown but not for the 2008's, where did he get them? /don't buy this

Or do you think OWC forgot to install the 10.5.7 drivers onto their Ctown model? /don't buy this
 
mason.kramer said:
So, if the card needs special drivers for the Clovertown but not for the 2008's, where did he get them? /don't buy this

Or do you think OWC forgot to install the 10.5.7 drivers onto their Ctown model? /don't buy this
Click to expand...

They're pulling the boot drive and the 4870 from the 2009 Mac Pro and putting them in the Clovertown/Woodcrest models. They are not using 10.5.7 drivers, but rather a special build of 10.5.6 that comes on the 2009 Mac Pro. According to barefeats, attempting to simply copy the drivers over produced errors.

We (the lowly 2006 Mac Pro users) are hoping that 10.5.7 includes the drivers so the card can be used in all Mac Pro models, whether Apple 'officially' supports it or not.
 
3.0GHz 8 core Clovertown

jjahshik32 said:
This is not meant to be an insult or attack to you so no offense to you but man I'd never thought I'd see the day when I would think the 3.0GHz 8 core Clovertown would be considered old technology...

Time flies!! Life is short!!
Click to expand...

My mom (not very into computers) was buying a iMac to upgrade from her G4 iBook 996Mgz. I never thought I would be giving my 20-inch Apple DVI Display & 3.0GHz 8 core Clovertown with a GeForce 8800GT Mac Pro to her this quickly. I am happy as Apple Care is still 1 year left for as she gave me the $1,000 she would have payed for the iMac to me so I bought the 2.26GHz 8 Core. First time I have ever bought newer Mac that has slower GHz CPU.:confused:
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That was not as cheap as I had hoped when I hit the button but I feel good giving my mom what I know will last her I hope 3 more years:)
 
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