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Pc 7950 or mac 7950?

violst

violst

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 14, 2012
339
161
Are people buying the PC or mac version of this card? the price difference is major.

Is the PC version working correctly in the Mac Pro, Do you need to upgrade to 10.8.3 for the open CL fix because of the 3 gigs of vram?

I'm on the fence between the mac or pc version. What are the cons of the PC version.

Thanks.
 
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I have a PC version, I used the flash on netkas, and no issues except my PCI-E fan spins fast. However this doesn't happen to everyone, and even people running the official apple 5770 on a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro *can* have this problem.

So besides the fast spinning PCI fan which may or may not happen, everything else is working great!
 
GP-SE said:
I have a PC version, I used the flash on netkas, and no issues except my PCI-E fan spins fast. However this doesn't happen to everyone, and even people running the official apple 5770 on a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro *can* have this problem.

So besides the fast spinning PCI fan which may or may not happen, everything else is working great!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the response.

Just a few more questions if you don't mind. What brand card are you using, was it working before you flashed it and are you running 10.8.3.

Thanks again
 
Running 10.8.3

I'm using a Reference AMD HD 7950 direct from AMD.
It's a weird design because it uses a 6pin + 8pin power connector, I'm using an adapter however without any issues.

Before I flashed it: no boot screens, showed up as RADEON HD 7xxx Series.
After flashing it: boot screens, shows up as RADEON HD 7950

Open CL runs fine, I tested it with LuxMark, no problems, scored 1583.
 
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You may not get PCIE 2.0 in Bootcamp with the PC card - just be aware that is a potential difference.

In OSX under 10.8.3 you will get full use of the memory and PCIE 2.0 (I believe) but will drop to PCIE 1.0 in Bootcamp on the PC card.

EDIT : As for the single 8-pin power lead, you will probably be safe on the PC 7950 cards unless you go for one with an extreme overclock... and there are some available that push it as high as the 7970 cards. You will need to check the max power of the specific card you purchase.
 
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DanielCoffey said:
You may not get PCIE 2.0 in Bootcamp with the PC card - just be aware that is a potential difference.

In OSX under 10.8.3 you will get full use of the memory and PCIE 2.0 (I believe) but will drop to PCIE 1.0 in Bootcamp on the PC card.

EDIT : As for the single 8-pin power lead, you will probably be safe on the PC 7950 cards unless you go for one with an extreme overclock... and there are some available that push it as high as the 7970 cards. You will need to check the max power of the specific card you purchase.
Click to expand...

I'm getting 1.0 Speeds on my flashed card in OSX and Windows, but the difference is like 5fps, so not worth the premium for the official sapphire mac card.
 
The Gigabyte card runs at 100Mhz faster than the equivalent mac-friendly car and it's silent. Was as is still $299 at the Egg.

If you can forgoe a boot logo, flashing isn't worth the real-world slow down. BTW, the Mountain Lion boot image for 10.8.3 works happily with an unflashed 7950..
 
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handheldgames said:
The Gigabyte card runs at 100Mhz faster than the equivalent mac-friendly car and it's silent. Was as is still $299 at the Egg.

If you can forgoe a boot logo, flashing isn't worth the real-world slow down. BTW, the Mountain Lion boot image for 10.8.3 works happily with an unflashed 7950..
Click to expand...

flashing shouldn't make any speed difference, flashed or unflashed will still run at PCI-E 1.0, only the Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition Runs at 2.0
Also are you saying the boot screen works on your unflashed Gigabyte card?

*EDIT* do you mean when you flash you loose your 100mhz overclock? if that's the case you can just add EFI to your original ROM, that way:
-Boot screens work
-Still have 100mhz Overclock
-Shows "AMD HD 7950" in system info.

If you flash the Mac edition Bios you will loose the 100mhz, but if you just add EFI to your original BIOS you will get all the benefits, including the 100mhz overclock.

At first I flashed the Mac Edition BIOS, but later I just added EFI to my original bios, it worked both ways, but decided it's better to just modify my original bios, than flash a bios from another card.
 
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GP-SE said:
flashing shouldn't make any speed difference, flashed or unflashed will still run at PCI-E 1.0, only the Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition Runs at 2.0
Also are you saying the boot screen works on your unflashed Gigabyte card?
Click to expand...

What he is saying is that his Gigabyte HD7950 running in OSX will be faster than the same card flashed with the EFI from the official Sapphire card. Why? Because the Gigabyte was originally running 100MHz higher.
 
Hi, interesting thread.

I have a Gigabyte HD7950 in my MacPro 5,1.

GP-SE can you please point me to a foolproof guide about how to add EFI to your original ROM?
 
I was going to get the sapphire PC version from newegg, its on sale now.

Its a single fan, is there any downside to only having a single fan for this card?

I was going to plug my u2711 into the dual link DVI and the u2312 into the mini display port with the dvi to MDP adaptor. does anyone foresee any problems with that setup?

I don't really need to flash the card because I don't use windows and the boot screen is no biggie for me.
 
GP-SE said:
I have a PC version, I used the flash on netkas, and no issues except my PCI-E fan spins fast. However this doesn't happen to everyone, and even people running the official apple 5770 on a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro *can* have this problem.

So besides the fast spinning PCI fan which may or may not happen, everything else is working great!
Click to expand...

I have a 670 and the PCI fan only spins fast when I cold boot. When I do shut the machine down, I make sure to stress the video card in a game like borderlands. I just have to spend like 1 min in it and everything goes back to normal. The fan does not spin up on restarts or switching from bootcamp to osx.
 
The gigabyte 7950 is $10 more, has 3 fans, is silent and just works :)


violst said:
I was going to get the sapphire PC version from newegg, its on sale now.

Its a single fan, is there any downside to only having a single fan for this card?

I was going to plug my u2711 into the dual link DVI and the u2312 into the mini display port with the dvi to MDP adaptor. does anyone foresee any problems with that setup?

I don't really need to flash the card because I don't use windows and the boot screen is no biggie for me.
Click to expand...
 
BigJohno said:
I have a 670 and the PCI fan only spins fast when I cold boot. When I do shut the machine down, I make sure to stress the video card in a game like borderlands. I just have to spend like 1 min in it and everything goes back to normal. The fan does not spin up on restarts or switching from bootcamp to osx.
Click to expand...

I'm the exact same, once I stress the card the noise is gone.
Is your 670 just a PC 670, or has it been flashed?
 
There are currently exactly 2 @ GTX670s with working EFI on them in the (non-Apple or Nvidia) world.

They aren't out in the world yet so the answer is nobody has them yet.

We are still working on the 2.5/5.0 issue, but may have rounded the corner on that.

Speaking of which, there was a guy named "Beige" who was actually a writer for Ars Technica who was posting here when 4870 was the "new Thing".

At the time, he swore on a stack of Bibles that the 2.5 GT/s limit on flashed cards was wrecking Mudbox performance for him and that he was better off with Mac card running at 5.0 with 512 Megs than a flashed one with 1 GB running at 2.5. Might be worth digging up what he had to say.
 
I have two questions relating to using a PC 7950 in a 5,1 Mac Pro...

The card in question is a 11196-17-40G - Sapphire 3GB HD 7950 Flex OC with Boost, 860Mhz-925Mhz with the twin fans.

Given the 2010 MP below in my sig running 10.8.3, performing general tasks only (no render or video work) do I need any drivers for the card other than what comes ready inside 10.8.3 already. I know that the Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition drivers are available if needed.

Lastly, in Bootcamp I have currently installed the most recent AMD Radeon HD driver for the 5xxx series using Win7-64. Will it auto detect the 7950 and just work or do I need to de-install the current AMD driver and choose the 7xxx package from the dropdown on the AMD driver page? Basically is it a Unified driver or a "per family" driver?

Cheers.
 
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None. Stay clear of this crapware, for me this card was returned swiftly and with a full refund.
 
Which 7950

All,

I have a MP 1,1 with 5355s and flashed 4870 running 10.8 following a chameleon boot loader.

Assuming I can somehow get 10.8.3 running, could the Mac Edition 7950 run in my machine?

I have searched around for an answer to this, but can't get confirmation on the power supply interface nor whether it'll actually run on 10.8.3 following the chameleon loader interface.

I really would like a proper grey boot screen and would prefer a 7xx series card than the 5870 which I know is supported.

F
 
FireArse said:
All,

I have a MP 1,1 with 5355s and flashed 4870 running 10.8 following a chameleon boot loader.

Assuming I can somehow get 10.8.3 running, could the Mac Edition 7950 run in my machine?

I have searched around for an answer to this, but can't get confirmation on the power supply interface nor whether it'll actually run on 10.8.3 following the chameleon loader interface.

I really would like a proper grey boot screen and would prefer a 7xx series card than the 5870 which I know is supported.

F
Click to expand...

If you can get ML running the 7950 should work just fine in 1,1. It's getting ML running that is the trick.

I think that the hack that uses 32bit kernel would be a problem as I discovered that the 32bit drivers are broken. Not sure how it would work inML 32 bit kernel.
 
Garamond said:
None. Stay clear of this crapware, for me this card was returned swiftly and with a full refund.
Click to expand...

You really need to provide more details when you make ridiculous statements like this.

violst said:
Are people buying the PC or mac version of this card? the price difference is major.

Is the PC version working correctly in the Mac Pro, Do you need to upgrade to 10.8.3 for the open CL fix because of the 3 gigs of vram?

I'm on the fence between the mac or pc version. What are the cons of the PC version.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I went for the mac 7950 just because i thought i stood more chance of it being plug and play. The mac card does work very well but i really have no clue if a pc version would be just as good or better. Good luck with whatever you end up choosing.
 
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If you can get ML running the 7950 should work just fine in 1,1. It's getting ML running that is the trick.

I think that the hack that uses 32bit kernel would be a problem as I discovered that the 32bit drivers are broken. Not sure how it would work inML 32 bit kernel.
Click to expand...
I've read reports here that the Mac 7950 works perfectly on a 1,1 running Mavericks using Tiamo's replacement boot.efi

What did you end up buying? Any joy?
 
Gigabyte 7950 ordered

Thanks guys!

Because of this thread, I got a refurbished Gigabyte 7950 on ebay ($150 yay) to install on my mac pro 4,1 (2009), and maybe flash it with netkas efi rom :) Fingers crossed!

Is it really true I'll never get PCIE 2.0 speeds? And CPU clock will be reduced if I flash it?... Just hoping I made the right buy. Regards
 
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