Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

lowendlinux

macrumors 603
Original poster
Sep 24, 2014
5,461
6,789
Germany
So this single processor 4,1 shows up on ebay getting no love so I set jbidwatcher to $365 and I win. I'm not sure how I feel about it but it's done so I'll pay and move along smartly. I'll pull one of the 5675's, my PCIe to SATA 3 controller, and my RAM out of the hack and put it all in the machine when it gets here then sell the hack. The bigger questions is the hack has an EVGA GTX 760 in it right now but I also have an XFX Double D R9 280 hanging around unused. One card I'll put in the hack when I sell it and the other will replace the GT120 in the MP If you were in my shoes which would you keep and which would you sell?
 
Last edited:
The xfx R9 280x had major issues to get working correctly in the 4.1/5.1, I'd keep the GTX760 and live happily ever after ...

Edit: not sure if they have Dover the xfx issues now...? Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Since the XFX Double D R9 280 is a 6+8 pin card. I think it's better (and easier) to put the 2x6 pin 760 in the 4,1.

I am not sure if your 760 is flashable. Even it isn't, you can still keep the GT120 in there for the boot screen (if you need it).
 
Since the XFX Double D R9 280 is a 6+8 pin card. I think it's better (and easier) to put the 2x6 pin 760 in the 4,1.

I am not sure if your 760 is flashable. Even it isn't, you can still keep the GT120 in there for the boot screen (if you need it).


They're both 6+8 and the 280 is non x
 
My single 6-pin GTX760 has been trouble-free for several months since I installed it.
 
Oh, the 760 is a superclocked version?

Anyway, AFAIK, it can still works fine with 2x6pin power supply, and should not draw more than 225W in total. Of course, you still better check it under your hack now if it will draw more than 75W from the 8pin cable under full load. If not, than you are 99.9% safe to put it inside the 4,1.

The advantage of the 280 is very easy to flash for the boot screen. Fail safe for flashing. And use the native driver from current OSX. However, some port may be inoperative after flash since the double D version's non standard port layout. If you need all the ports, then you basically can't flash it. That means it won't has much advantage over the 760.

And since you may not want to flash it, that means you can't lower the clock or voltage under OSX. Which also means the 280 may draw more than 100W over the 8pin supply (50% more than the 75W spec limit). This will be my primary concern. I own a 7950 and a 280, both of them do pretty bad on balancing the power draw. So, even though the 280 should draw less then 225W overall, but may be still heavily rely on the 8 pin supply.

I am not a nVidia guy, so can't give any comment about how the 760 works under OSX. But so far, it seems that as long as you can install the web driver, then everything will be fine.

In terms of performance, I am quite sure that the 280 is a better choice, but it really depends on your workflow.

In either case, if you have extra PSU, or you are happy with the PSU Mod, then both card should work well. And I will definitely keep the GT120 as my backup card.
 
The advantage of the 280 is very easy to flash for the boot screen. Fail safe for flashing. And use the native driver from current OSX. However, some port may be inoperative after flash since the double D version's non standard port layout. If you need all the ports, then you basically can't flash it. That means it won't has much advantage over the 760.

Even if this is the case, you could break the framebuffer injection inside the EFI to make the driver fall back to the generic RadeonFramebuffer (which has become quite trouble-free). This way you'd get the bootscreen of a flashed EFI card together with all working ports of an unflashed card.
 
Oh, the 760 is a superclocked version?

Anyway, AFAIK, it can still works fine with 2x6pin power supply, and should not draw more than 225W in total. Of course, you still better check it under your hack now if it will draw more than 75W from the 8pin cable under full load. If not, than you are 99.9% safe to put it inside the 4,1.

The advantage of the 280 is very easy to flash for the boot screen. Fail safe for flashing. And use the native driver from current OSX. However, some port may be inoperative after flash since the double D version's non standard port layout. If you need all the ports, then you basically can't flash it. That means it won't has much advantage over the 760.

And since you may not want to flash it, that means you can't lower the clock or voltage under OSX. Which also means the 280 may draw more than 100W over the 8pin supply (50% more than the 75W spec limit). This will be my primary concern. I own a 7950 and a 280, both of them do pretty bad on balancing the power draw. So, even though the 280 should draw less then 225W overall, but may be still heavily rely on the 8 pin supply.

I am not a nVidia guy, so can't give any comment about how the 760 works under OSX. But so far, it seems that as long as you can install the web driver, then everything will be fine.

In terms of performance, I am quite sure that the 280 is a better choice, but it really depends on your workflow.

In either case, if you have extra PSU, or you are happy with the PSU Mod, then both card should work well. And I will definitely keep the GT120 as my backup card.

No it's just an ACX.

I have a drive bay power supply and I've been reading the thread on the power supply mod it doesn't look difficult so I may go that route. There are a couple things I like about the idea of the 280 I like the fact that is has more mini display ports, and I like the fact that it's AMD and Apple seems to be all AMD. Both cards are quite and fast enough for the stuff I do.
 
No it's just an ACX.

I have a drive bay power supply and I've been reading the thread on the power supply mod it doesn't look difficult so I may go that route. There are a couple things I like about the idea of the 280 I like the fact that is has more mini display ports, and I like the fact that it's AMD and Apple seems to be all AMD. Both cards are quite and fast enough for the stuff I do.

take a read of https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5991048?start=15&tstart=0 before settling with the XFX card in the cMP ;)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.