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blicked · Mar 19, 2009, 04:10 PM

I have a 2 x 2.66Ghz Mac Pro with 7GB of RAM and the ATI Radeon 1900XT card— I do a lot of work in Google Sketchup, plus Adobe CS4.

What graphics card can I upgrade to to give my system a good kick in the pants?

Can I put in any of the new ones like the ATI Radeon HD 4870 card?

Thanks in advance..

tooki · Mar 22, 2009, 04:40 AM

The Radeon HD 3870 works, IIRC.

Simon · Mar 22, 2009, 05:35 AM

Yes, even the brand new 4870 works in the first-gen. MP.

http://www.barefeats.com/nehal06.html

justmetoo · Apr 13, 2009, 01:33 PM

Simon, thanks for the link.
You really have to search to the end of the article to see the statement that the 4870 will work in a 1st gen MP, but then there are no details other than a "close friend has done it" which leaves me wondering what kind of voodoo you have to do to accomplish this feat.

Anyone???

Simon · Apr 13, 2009, 03:13 PM

Presumably no voodoo will be needed once 10.5.7 is released.

justmetoo · 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Presumably no voodoo will be needed once 10.5.7 is released.

Sounds good, but I'm sorry, I can't keep up with the latest news.
So what's going to happen once 10.5.7 is released???

A quick browse of the rumour rags says it will only affect early 2008 and 2009 MP's, nothing about 1st generation MPs (which are mentioned in Barefeats as capable of using this GPU, but how?). Correct me if wrong, please.

EDIT: I'm wrong, apparently the ATI 4870 will work in 1st gen Mac Pros. Several people are reporting success with flashed versions of the GPU. I'll wait for a warranty card, I've had bad luck in the past...

Simon · Apr 15, 2009, 02:41 AM

10.5.7 will include the latest graphics drivers. The new MP ships with a different 10.5.6 build that already includes them. Once 10.5.7 is released all Macs will have these drivers.

phobos · May 5, 2009, 12:51 AM

I'm quite sure that the 4870 won't work on the 2.66 mac pro. Our best bet is the 3870.
Anyone knows of any place we can buy it from, in Europe?

Simon · May 5, 2009, 03:27 AM

Originally Posted by phobos

I'm quite sure that the 4870 won't work on the 2.66 mac pro. Our best bet is the 3870.

The 4870 actually works in every MP ever made. Even in the very first 2006 model.

If you didn't buy a new 2009 Mac Pro but want to use the new graphics cards released with the Nehalem Mac Pros, you can buy the GeForce 120 GT and Radeon HD 4870 in kit form from Apple. They both worked in our 2008 Harpertown 3.20GHz Mac Pro as you can see from the graphs above. We also got the Radeon HD 4870 to run in the 2007 Clovertown first generation Mac Pro. A close colleague has one working in the 2006 Woodcrest first generation Mac Pro.

http://www.barefeats.com/nehal06.html

(as I already pointed out above btw)

phobos · 05:51 AM

Other than this one line from barefeats there is no other information about the 4870 working on early 2006 mac pro.
If you're basing your facts on that one line than I'm afraid you will probably be dissapointed
There's a long thread in macrumours with people trying to figure out how to make it work.
There's no flashing hack yet and all that people have done is run it through windows which I'm not that interested in.
So I'm sorry, but I won't buy the card just because barefeats said that a friend tried it (and you mentioned it twice)...

Simon · May 5, 2009, 05:52 AM

Already the 3870 worked in all generations of the MP. ATI's MP graphics cards are designed so they work in all MPs (contrary to NVIDIA's).

If the 4870 doesn't work in your 2006 MP right now it's because of missing drivers. Either you get the new ATI drivers from a 2009 MP or you wait until Apple releases the 10.5.7 update which will contain the new drivers. In either case, that 4870 will eventually work in the 2006 MP.

That said, you can of course buy whatever you want.

phobos · May 5, 2009, 08:16 AM

If Apple hasn't blocked the card somehow to not work on older machines (which I don't think it would be a sane choice) then I'm willing to wait, in order to get a better card than 3870.

Drakino · May 6, 2009, 10:03 AM

On the box for the Radeon 4870, it says this:

"Requires Mac Pro (Early 2009 with 1066MHz DDR3 memory) or Mac Pro (Early 2008 with 800MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM memory) and Mac OS X v10.5.7 or later."

For me, the card worked under 10.5.6 on my early 2008 Mac Pro for booting the machine, but Quarts Extreme acceleration was off, and any program that tried to run something in 3D crashed. I got the newer ATI KText files from a friend with the 2009 Mac Pro, and the card works just like his does.

I don't have access to the 2006 Mac Pro to verify if it works or not. The main differences that I know off hand is that the older Mac Pro had PCIe 1.0 slots instead of 2.0, and EFI 32 bit firmware instead of EFI 64. Power might also be a concern, the 4870 uses both 6 pin connectors on my Mac Pro.

justmetoo · May 7, 2009, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by phobos

Other than this one line from barefeats there is no other information about the 4870 working on early 2006 mac pro.

Do some online homework. There are PLENTY of other sources reporting that the card works on 2006 MP's.

Originally Posted by phobos

There's a long thread in macrumours with people trying to figure out how to make it work. There's no flashing hack yet and all that people have done is run it through windows which I'm not that interested in.
So I'm sorry, but I won't buy the card just because barefeats said that a friend tried it (and you mentioned it twice)...

Geez, Macrumours... they must be right. There already are posts and sites discussing how to flash the 4870 card, and this guy http://www.applemacanix.com/ has been selling flashed cards that are guaranteed to work on 2006 MPs, and people have already bought them and reported them working for a few weeks now. Don't spout if you don't know...

Simon · May 7, 2009, 09:31 AM

Actually, there are already reports of 4890s working on Macs without needing to flash them on a PC first.

http://www.hardmac.com/news/2009/05/...ut-flashing-it
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2009/05/...0-gt-vs-hd4890

justmetoo · 12:48 PM

Those are excellent links, thank you and I'm looking forward to following the developments, but there is no mention of whether the 4890's will work in 2006 MPs. Yes, I know, logically if this procedure works on the 2008 it should also work on 2006's, but that is not specified. Sure would beat trying to flash one yourself though...

Has anyone followed this procedure and can independently verify? If I wasn't on a tight budget, and couldn't risk bricking it, I'd go out and buy a 4890 right now.

EDIT: here's the rub! You can't use this type of extension-activated video card if you want to use Bootcamp... Though I imagine a workaround would involve simply resetting the default boot disc each time you need to change OS to avoid the pre-boot screen. Worth the PITA? Hmmm...

"Unlike with the Mac Edition card, such extension-activated cards become active only during the loading of Mac OS X and all components, and not immediately after the boot. This could be a problem if you want to boot from another partition..."

Big Mac · 05:43 PM

That is really good news. Bless those clever hackers! As far as BC is concerned, can't you just use the Startup Disk pane and the Apple startup disk control panel on the Windows side to switch between partitions?

justmetoo · 12:44 PM

Big Mac,
Using the "Startup Disc panel" on Mac and Win side is correct, and what I unfortunately implied in fewer words.
This "workaround" (if you can call it that) all depends on whether the $avings are worth taking the time when switching between OS's, afterall, some people complain about an extra 15 to 30 seconds of bootup time... This could add up to at least that much!

I think it is really good news too!

EDIT: another link with more instructs http://www.hardmac.com/news/2009/05/...c-in-a-mac-pro