AdamB

Q: ATI R9 290x - Mac Pro 2009 4,1

Hey all. I just wanted to share my experience with video card upgrading. I have searched tireless on all forums to find solid answers and figure out what the **** I can put in my computer.

 

I ended up buying an ATI Sapphire R9 290x off eBay for like $225. The real reason is for playing games in bootcamp running Windows 8.1. Otherwise, I really didn't need to buy a new card running in Apple's OS X for work.

 

My biggest concerns were 1) will the video card even work and 2) do I need another power supply for it.

 

I don't care about EFI flashing, I really don't see a need for it. I have my old ATI 4870 if there were a reason I need to use that. The selection for non EFI cards are far better and far cheaper.

 

Back on point. Initially I had issues with the 290x, nothing working with my current setup. I also purchased a 6pin to 8pin PCIe cable for the card's power.

 

I use the system for Protools HD. Besides the video card I have an AVID Native HD PCIe card and a 4-port USB3.0 PCIe card. I also use each hard drive bay. Mac OS, Windows 8.1, an separate spare drive, and one for Time Machine backups.

 

After several attempts, I took out the PCIe cards and all the hard drives, except for the Windows drive, and it booted up.

 

To make a long story short, I had to install OS X 10.10 on my main OS X drive for the card to boot up with everything else connected. I did a clean install because of some conflicts between a generic USB3 kext and OS X 10.10.

 

So everything was cool. Running Protools in OS X 10.10, no problems. Running Battlefield 4 in Windows 8.1 seemed to be going fine at first, but I had a couple of shut downs after about 30-60 minutes of play. I added a separate power supply (650w) and that seemed to take care of the sudden shutdowns. Likely the Mac Pro power supply is just a hair short of power when it starts to stress out on more intense stuff. Also for those who don't know, to run the power supply separate, you have to do the power clip trick (google it). It might that if I wasn't running the other two cards and other hard drives, I might not need another power supply, so I would try without it first if that's the case for anyone upgrading.

 

***** because I have to keep the case open for now until I find a better solution to the power cable, but at the end of the day, running Battlefield 4 with Ultra settings, is worth the hassle this was.

 

Hopes this helps anyone else.

Posted on Dec 2, 2014 9:23 PM

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Q: ATI R9 290x - Mac Pro 2009 4,1

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  • by Macaniac,

    Macaniac Macaniac Jan 12, 2015 7:39 PM in response to AdamB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 12, 2015 7:39 PM in response to AdamB

    Thank you for providing a detailed description of your card.  Now I need to decide on the Sapphire 290x, or Gigabyte 280x.  I really appreciate both you and Lance providing this information. 

     

    I'll have to check out BootChamp.  We've been going through the Start-up disk menu to select our Boot Camp drive and restarting from there, but it looks like Champ would save a few steps. 

     

    Long live our aging Mac Pros!

  • by Macaniac,

    Macaniac Macaniac Jan 17, 2015 12:05 AM in response to Macaniac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2015 12:05 AM in response to Macaniac

    Hoorahhh!  We opted for the Gigabyte 280x (Version 3) and it worked!  After a few tense moments of darkness, the screen brightened to a comforting shade of gray and then the desktop appeared.  Both the mini display ports and hdmi port are working in both Windose 7 and 10.10.1.  We also updated the drivers on the Bootcamp side without any ill effects.  We didn't flash the card, as we have come to depend on the start-up disk menu on the Mac and Bootcamp side to select the appropriate start-up disk.  One thing I wasn't certain on was running it without an external power supply, so we hooked up a 500w supply to the eight pin port on the card and used one of the internal 6 pin plugs for the other port.

     

    Works great out of the box!  Thanks again Adam and Lance!

    Screen Shot 2015-01-17 at 1.39.27 AM.png

  • by AdamB,

    AdamB AdamB Jan 18, 2015 11:35 AM in response to Macaniac
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 11:35 AM in response to Macaniac

    Nice! Hopefully this thread helps others looking into card upgrades as well. Definitely check out BootChamp, nifty free application. Nice desktop background!

  • by Lance Mcvickar,

    Lance Mcvickar Lance Mcvickar Jan 18, 2015 11:55 AM in response to Macaniac
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 11:55 AM in response to Macaniac

     

    One thing I wasn't certain on was running it without an external power supply, so we hooked up a 500w supply to the eight pin port on the card and used one of the internal 6 pin plugs for the other port.

     

    Works great out of the box!  Thanks again Adam and Lance!

    The 280X can run off the internal power supply. You need this cable. Plus a six to six, interesting you can split it up like you did. One to mac power and one to extra power supply. You could install a second one and crosfire them if you have the slots. One running off the external on one running off the internal. I don't have the available slots to do it myself.

     

    http://www.amazon.com/Apple-PCI-E-Express-Power-Cable/dp/B009KT3ECI/ref=sr_1_fkm r3_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421609882&sr=8-3-fkmr3&keywords=8pin+to+6pn+pie+power+cable+fo r+mac+pro

     

    Hey AdamB, are you in Yosemite? with your 290X I have found Pro Tools 11.3 to have some issues. Input meter is  a bit glitchy but not when recording only on input.

    I tried a totally clean install and it still happens. It'a post for the Avid forums but just wondered what versions OS and PT you are using with your R9 290x

    thinking about upgrading when I get every think updated in Yosemite. Are all the cards ports working? I run three monitors off the 280x.

  • by AdamB,

    AdamB AdamB Jan 18, 2015 12:19 PM in response to Lance Mcvickar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 12:19 PM in response to Lance Mcvickar

    Hey Lance, I am running 10.10.1 and Protools 11.3 HD Native. I just recently went to 11.3 from 10.3.9 when I bought the card and upgraded to Yosemite. I did clean install too. The only real graphical stuff that has been bothering me has been some really slow responses with mouse movements and other things, which I saw some people commenting similar issues with 10.10.1 and 11.3. The input metering is fine for me though. I am actually pleasantly surprised at how well this card is doing.

     

    I only run one monitor on both my systems, so I can't comment on multiple monitors. Both ports on my HD Native card are working fine though.

     

    That being said. I am extremely disappointed with Avid and 11.3. They should be downright embarrassed for releasing software with so many bugs. I am hoping the next update fixes some of the AAE errors and weird mouse responses. I am probably be more picky than I should, but it's pretty annoying when you issues like that with two systems in a professional studio.

     

    I should also mention, one of the systems still just has the stock vid card in it.

  • by Lance Mcvickar,

    Lance Mcvickar Lance Mcvickar Jan 18, 2015 12:38 PM in response to AdamB
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 12:38 PM in response to AdamB

    odd how folks have different issues but most seem to be graghic related. My graphics in Pro Tools seem pretty smooth other than the meter glitch. Over all I like Yosemite.

    I will stay in 10.8.5 for now when using Pro Tools, I have not installed PT 11.3 on my 10.8.5 system yet,  I have 11.1.2  co installed with PT 10, but would be interesting to see if 11.3 is happier in 10.8.5 than in 10.10.1. I will slowly get up to speed with Yosemite when Avid gets it together.

    thanks for the info.

  • by Lance Mcvickar,

    Lance Mcvickar Lance Mcvickar Jan 18, 2015 2:17 PM in response to Lance Mcvickar
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Jan 18, 2015 2:17 PM in response to Lance Mcvickar

    It look like the issue might have been spotlight indexing at the same time I was testing out the new system. I set spotlight to not search my record drive and the issue with the meters on input is gone. I have seen folks had issues with their GT120 with Yosemite and PT11 and they upgrade to something faster and their graphic issues went away,

    Perhaps zapping the pram is a good thing to do as well

  • by Lance Mcvickar,

    Lance Mcvickar Lance Mcvickar Mar 11, 2015 8:15 AM in response to AdamB
    Level 1 (100 points)
    Mar 11, 2015 8:15 AM in response to AdamB

    Hey Adam,

    maybe you know this already but I found a fix for the graphical glitches in ProTools 11 in Yosemite check out my video on it.

     

    http://youtu.be/vLniwOEfnRo

  • by Professor Blak,

    Professor Blak Professor Blak Apr 27, 2015 2:52 PM in response to AdamB
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 27, 2015 2:52 PM in response to AdamB

    Hey all,

     

    Just wanna throw my two cents in the mix. After reading this forum I decided to go for the r9 290x....I found a great deal on the 8gb model but I saw nowhere that any actually tried to use this card. After all it is still an r9 290x just more VRAM. Heck the TITAN has just as much and it works....I have the Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290x 8gb model and can confirm it works as well. I am using an external power supply. I didn't even bother attempting to run it off the motherboard...

     

    My question is has anyone gotten triple display to work on these cards in OS X? Eyefinity works great in Windows however in OS X 10.10.2 it only recognizes 2 monitors. Card has 2 DVI ports, an HDMI port, and a Display port. My monitors are hooked up to both DVI ports and the HDMI port. OS X is actually seeing the monitor on the HDMI port and 1 of the Monitors on the DVI port which is weird? I also lost internal audio... Assuming its trying to use the HDMI audio via the card? The card registers as an HD 8xxx model but it sees the 8gb V-RAM.....

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Apr 27, 2015 8:01 PM in response to Professor Blak
    Level 9 (61,180 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 27, 2015 8:01 PM in response to Professor Blak

    The "trick for" eyefinity cards is that they only support up to two "legacy" connections unless you use ACTIVE adapters. "Legacy" means anything other than DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort.

     

    So in your case, two DVI and one HDMI is a no go, unless you use an ACTIVE adapter for one or more of them.

  • by Professor Blak,

    Professor Blak Professor Blak Apr 28, 2015 8:08 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 8:08 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I figured it was something like that......Oh well I suppose I'll need to buy an adapter. I updated to 10.10.3 and audio is functioning properly. All in all installation was relatively hassle free and everything works pretty well. I am well pleased with the performance of the card so far!

  • by domenicophoto,

    domenicophoto domenicophoto Jun 30, 2016 4:05 AM in response to AdamB
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 30, 2016 4:05 AM in response to AdamB

    My experience :
    I made ​​it to amazon 2 gpu 980 strix , the **** system apple 10.11.5 Non manages nvidia GPU , spontaneous reboots with encoder and adobe cc running , a lot of work and time loss and blasphemies .
    Apple only has agreements with AMD .
    Now I'm looking for an AMD compatible MacPro 5.1 .
    If anyone here has advice , I accept them .
    I also contacted the hardware specialist demanding the compatibility , still await answers .
    Asus and other companies claim that the problem is Apple .
    We poor users there are in the center dele their bizarre ideas markenting .

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Jun 30, 2016 9:17 AM in response to domenicophoto
    Level 6 (9,349 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Jun 30, 2016 9:17 AM in response to domenicophoto

    If you are using some video cards that require 8-pin cables then you need to use an auxiliary PSU, this applies even more if your trying to use two video cards at the same time.

     

    For Nvidia cards like the GTX 980 you have the choice of using either the Apple drivers or the Nvidia drivers. It is hard to find the Nvidia drivers for Mac but the following webpage seems a good source even if it is not Nvidia themselves.

     

    See http://myosx.info/files/category/6-web-drivers/

     

    Adobe software works best with Nvidia cards, it will work with AMD cards and the very latest Adobe application versions can actually also work with Apple's new Metal drivers which support AMD, Nvidia and some Intel video cards.

     

    If you use a video card which needs more power than the built-in Mac power supply can provide and run an application which drives the video card hard e.g. encoding a video, then this will cause the video card to ask for more power than the Mac can provide and the Mac will shutdown to prevent damage. Hence the need for an auxiliary power supply.

     

    See this page and the links on it for information about auxiliary power supplies. http://www.macvidcards.com/do-i-need-an-additional-power-supply.html

  • by domenicophoto,

    domenicophoto domenicophoto Jun 30, 2016 9:31 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (12 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 30, 2016 9:31 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Unfortunately I have to deny.
    I connected an external power supply corsair shorting 24pin circuit and the problem was always the spontaneous reboot .
    I also know the web nvidia driver , it was running with the gtx 980 on MacPro 5.1 .
    So I exclude problem energy.
    With an old hd 6870 all goes well , it purchased to avoid being out of work .
    Apple still does not provide compatible GPU list .
    I am very angry,disappointed.
    If some technical specialist apple really sees this comment is requested to provide support .

    APPLE MUST CHANGE POLICY

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 30, 2016 9:35 AM in response to domenicophoto
    Level 9 (61,180 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 30, 2016 9:35 AM in response to domenicophoto

    If you use a separate auxiliary supply for a graphics card, you must power ALL Aux inputs to the graphics card with it to make certain all are referencing the same Voltages and Earth/Grounds.

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