1st Gen Mac Pro vs. ATI 4870

Grand Central? old and been around in other forms and by different name.
OpenCL? have to wait and see, though PhysX and CUDA and GPGPU have been trying to attract attention.

The work on Snow had to have been done on less than 2009 hardware. So we'll see. The best time to move to 10.6 is probably like with Tiger/Leopard and any other, when it reaches the .9 or .11 (or in the case of Leo seems like 10.5.7.x is end of the line)... AND after new hardware built around new technology.

Back in mainframe and IBM days, software has been a big seller of hardware. And that is what we are seeing again today.

This is really stupid. I thought 1.1 and 2.0 were backwards compatible. They can't do this to you guys. I am sure there will be a workaround to getting a 2.0 based card to work in a 1,1 mac pro.

My sources tell me that a guy on Ebay named Applemacanix is going to work on getting the GTX 285 to work in 2006-2007 mac pros. So, there might be some hope yet.

I really don't see the big deal though.. How much faster would snow leopard be with this opencl?

I just switched the original ATI X1900 XT in my first generation 2006 Mac Pro 3.0 with the ATI 4870 upgrade from Apple.
The computer booted normally and works like a charm. The upgrade comes with to power cables, I connected a second one to the motherboard. No need to install software as I am running 10.5.7.

I had the jumpy mouse pointer problem as well (flashed XFX 4870) but I believe it occurred only when running 2 monitors (I purchased and was comparing 2 different brand 24" monitors at home).

When I went to a single monitor, it stopped, or at least for now.

giantmech-

The number of monitors didn't affect the problem. One monitor or two, it was still jerky. As for your other question, I don't know.

It works definitly. Bought one 3870 and one 4870 and installed bouth yesterday in my first gen. Mac Pro (2006, 2 x 2.66 Ghz). Zero problems. Regarding power supply for the 3870, i did connect it to the plug for the optional second optical drive. Cable laying was a bit puzzling.

Hey Bixo - I have just received my new Mac Pro Upgrade ATI 4870 card - to be installed in my 1st gen Mac Pro - as I have read that it will works from Barefeats website. Could you explain where you installed/placed the 2 cables - in details, please?

- or did you just used one of them?

I'm upgrading from a 3870 card.

FLASH-DK 🙂

Could you explain where you installed/placed the 2 cables - in details, please?

Figure 4 shows the location of the auxiliary power connectors. Use both.
<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/Conceptual/HWtech PCI/Articles/pciimplementation.html>

the little manual that came with the card has instructions on where to plug the two power leads in. the layout of the 2006 mac pro is basically the same as the 2008. Anyhow, the power connections are near the bluetooth card on the logic board, just to the left of the front fan assembly.

p.s. I have the apple 4870 running in my 2006 mac pro, and it was and is seamless. works perfectly.

Thanks Malcolm - your answer did it - I have found the 2 ports beside each other (didn't know there were 2 ports as I couldn't see it without a lamp) - I'll try insert and see whats happening...

FLASH-DK 🙂

So is there a definitive consensus? Will Apple's HD48770 upgrade work in a MacPro1,1 or MacPro2,1 (both first-gen)? And additionally, will it work with OpenCL in Snow Leopard?

Also, does anyone know why Apple is charging $349 for a card that is selling for about $150 elsewhere?

Forget the 4870 and forget ebay. The GTX285 is already working in the first generation Mac Pros. All you need is another NV card to run some injector code on boot (7300gt/gt120/8800gt)

http://netkas.org/?cat=13

The GTX285 2 Gig I'm running courtesy Netkas is a dream.

More so when I boot into Windows where the drivers are solid and fast.

As far as "jumpy mouse" I do believe this is an issue related to the brand of monitor and which panel it uses.

I don't think the issue ever surfaces on Apple branded displays.

The fact that it occurs on OEM as well as flashed cards is a sign that Apple may eventually fix the issue.

Can I ask what monitor you are using? I am considering this upgrade, but there are plenty of folks with 3rd party monitors (not Apple-branded) who are having problems. I do want this card, but am trying to figure out whether it's going to work with my 3rd party monitor...