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Status of MacVidCards?
- Thread starter Auggie
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AidenShaw
macrumors P6
Someone should make sure that the Amigos designing Cube 3.0 realize what a vibrant GPU upgrade underground exists for the cMP.
Feedback link in the sig.
Flint Ironstag
macrumors 68000
Yep, they finally responded to my third e-mail regarding the 1080Ti, and within a day (I emailed them this past Tues). Never responded to my 2-3 month old e-mails inquiring about the 980's, but that's fine since my new target is the 1080.
In case anyone was wondering, they are currently selling the "blower" style cooling version of the 1080's, which is the version I prefer over the "open" style.
In case anyone was wondering, they are currently selling the "blower" style cooling version of the 1080's, which is the version I prefer over the "open" style.
NeuromancerOverdrive
macrumors newbie
[doublepost=1495255388][/doublepost]I got ripped off by MacVidCards on a GTX780SC reflash. I had good communication via emails with Chris up to the point I received my card back. The card came back with a thumbsize blue sticker on it that had a smaller pink dot with the numbers 136 on it. I installed the card back in my mac pro 4,1 but it never showed the boot screen on start up and the ROM version is the same as before. I tried to contact MacVidCards 4 times since with the last email stating that I am assuming that he is ripping me off. No replies what so ever. A real bummer actually!!!
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NeuromancerOverdrive
macrumors newbie
I looked back at the e-mails from MacVidCards and they are signed Chris not Christian, so memory miscue on me. I thought it was weird as well, as it is clear that they have many happy customers, but my graphics card never had the boot screen and they never replied back after multiple attempts by me to contact them.
NeuromancerOverdrive
macrumors newbie
LightBulbFun
macrumors 68030
IIRC the sticker and number is to ID the card as it goes through the flashing and testing stages, MVC mentioned it a couple times in this forum.
when you say the BootROM version is the same, do you mean it Just lists the PC boot ROM version and not the "MacVidCards" string? when emailing back did you send screen shots of this information? also when you go to PCI in system profiler does it error out or does it list the card properly?
William_si
macrumors regular
You have an interesting legal interpretation which is not applicable in any EU country and vast parts of the US (if not all, info incomplete for DC/AK/HI).
You cannot steal something that was unlicensed and non-approved modified from an original (either from Bin, or even worse, from stolen source code), in fact him selling the cards is already the same questionable level as dumping and flashing others with the ROM, then selling them - nothing changes in legality, which is currently just "accepted" by Nvidia/AMD and not in any way approved and especially not for profit.
As for AMD cards, the EFI they - like anyone else - used/use as base is stolen from a Mac edition card which is loss to that company, that law is fairly clear as well... profiting on costs of another company by stealing their work they actually licensed unlike him.... not very legal.
Might help you to figure out why he likes complaining about ebay/other sellers (which are partly, proven, not based on 'their' work either, different ports working and so on) but never actually goes to a lawyer or sues someone, regardless if US or EU - The other side can simply go to Nvidia and they would do interesting things to his business in a split second, even if he wins the case it will simply bankrupt them way before that happens.
DearthnVader
Suspended
nVidia nor AMD copy write their Option Roms, likely because they are useless, unless someone plans to flash them to another nVidia/AMD card. It won't do anyone any good to flash a nVidia Rom to an AMD card or vice versa.
Every time someone flashes a Rom, that's a sale for nVidia/AMD. There is no reason to sue anyone over it.
Every time someone flashes a Rom, that's a sale for nVidia/AMD. There is no reason to sue anyone over it.
William_si
macrumors regular
It's "copyright" and automatically granted if you write the code, unless you waive it explicitly, which neither does.
My point still stands - the EFI from an AMD Mac Edition card is lost sales for the manufacturer of this card, which is illegal.
DearthnVader
Suspended
Not sure how the law works in the EU, but I think it would still be hard to make a case against someone that modifies a video card rom, once you have sold them a card, without an accompanying copyright.
Also, my point still stands, it just doesn't add up for nVidia/AMD to start suing their customers. nVidia did the math a long time ago, as to what would garner them more sales, locking down their drivers to only work with "Mac Edition" OEM and retail products, or allowing virtually any nVidia card to work in a Mac.
William_si
macrumors regular
Buying a card does not grant any right to the ROM, neither to modify it nor to use it for something else. Buying one Windows license does not grant you right to install it with a crack either.
NV did not do the math, they are just not really interested in OSX - you have seen how long 10xx web drivers took to appear, and Apple did send the source for the functions out years ago already, which AMD implemented the usual driver which was then fed back to Apple before release of 10.12. NV could do the same, they however choose not to.
NV did not do the math, they are just not really interested in OSX - you have seen how long 10xx web drivers took to appear, and Apple did send the source for the functions out years ago already, which AMD implemented the usual driver which was then fed back to Apple before release of 10.12. NV could do the same, they however choose not to.
DearthnVader
Suspended
vN
If you sell me a piece of hardware, with software on it, that does not contain an explicit copyright notice, I am free to modify or redistribute it in any way I see fit.
nVidia chose to release drivers for 10xx, when they found they had a backlog of chips that weren't selling. Don't be naive, nVidia did not do it out of the kindness of their heart.
If you sell me a piece of hardware, with software on it, that does not contain an explicit copyright notice, I am free to modify or redistribute it in any way I see fit.
William_si
macrumors regular
It will be in the documentation the hardware comes with. The sticker falling off or previous owner removing does not exempt from the law.
DearthnVader
Suspended
nVidia, being kind souls, not a for profit enterprise, just said," you know what would be great, if we put our software engineers to writing drivers for a platform we won't make any money off of."
One of us is very naive.😛
I don't see why a EFI driver developed by netkas & MVC should be "unlicensed" or a "non-approved modification". It's a piece of software (sitting on a SPI flash), just like anything else. Also can't find any EULA on my Nvidia GPU box which prohibits any modifications. It'll void warranty, nothing else.
You're most likely right about the AMD ROMs, but that's not what I talked about.
flowrider
macrumors 604
Tell me, in your interpretation does this also apply to the ECU of a motor vehicle? In the auto industry cracking and modifying the ECU of a car, motorcycle or truck is a big business.
Lou
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DearthnVader
Suspended
mattspace
Suspended
I am highly dubious of your understanding of copyright, given that in every other context, copyright is inherent to created works, functions as default-deny for redistribution without the copyright holder's permission, and does not require any sort of notice, registration, or mark in order to be enforced to the full extent of the laws of countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention.
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