ATI RADEON HD 4870 Mac

Wait, this is getting confusing...

@rom78

Are you using a 4870 or 4890?

@lifelongmacuser

After reading your post I'm not sure if rom78 is talking about a 4870 or 4890. XFX 4870 is a great imo, of course like you said if you have apple displays. If you have third party...then I think you just gotta try it out on your display.

I have a feeling once the ATI 5000 series drops on (apparently) Sept 10th.
The price of both the 4870 and 4890 should drop +even more+ significantly. The one problem though, for mac users wanting to flash cards are the versions and model numbers. These things sometimes have a big influence on if they work correctly with the rom. So sometimes waiting for a lower price, or waiting too long can result in a version change or model change, thus losing out on your chance to get a reliable flashed card.

http://techpulse360.com/2009/08/12/amd-directx-11-evergreen-graphics-chips-you-w ont-believe-your-eyes/

FYI

Just installed a HD 4870 (apple upgrade). Everything works flawless. Currently using a two 24 inch monitor setup. My mac pro is a model MacPro2,1 8 Core 3GHz (2007) 16GB

It's working great!

So this thread doesn't get confusing:
XFX 4870 ZHFC = flashable
XFX 4890 ZDFC = not currently flashable with available roms.

I have a few issues running 4870 on 1st edition mac pro with up to date system and pro app software on a dell 30" screen. Preview is incredibly unresponsive. quicktime quits A LOT. and I get occassional screen crashes that a screen on/off fixes. It priorotises the displayport connection, so boots up on my TV and freaks out if I turn my TV on off (HDMI handshake issue)

I think it is better than my stock Nvidea but at the cost of dependability. But time will tell.

am thinking it may only be happy with one screen on this mac...

noice_T wrote:
So this thread doesn't get confusing:
XFX 4870 ZHFC = flashable
XFX 4890 ZDFC = not currently flashable with available roms.

Any idea about the ZHDC model?

I can't remember for sure, but I think there was a rom specific for the XXX model. Don't quote me though. You can try look through the thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=661681

There were people talking about XXX, and there were successes. It might just be using the "stock" rom for the XXX, but double check the thread regardless.

Even if you flash, and it doesn't work, as long as you make a backup of the original, you can always revert back.

i just got the card and it won't work. 1st gen macpro dual 2.66
I downloaded the drivers and still nothing. Just a black screen.
I saw a forum where someone flashed it with bootcamp, with their old graphics card in one slot and the 4870 in another. That's beyond me ... also there's only 2 power outlets for the cards.

Maybe my computer can't quite handle it, or am I missing something? thanks!

Just to report back:
My XFX XXX ZHDC flashed just fine.

I did not find a way to do it on the Mac though. ATIWinflash would not run on
my WindowsXP in Bootcamp. When I try to boot DOS (several versions) they would
either freeze or Atiflash would give me a DPMI error.
So I flashed it in my PC. At first I was a bit scared because it would not work in the PC any more after flashing. But after plugging it into the Mac it was recognized and booted into OS X fine. 🙂

morris2112 wrote:
That's beyond me ... also there's only 2 power outlets for the cards.

I still had the stock NVidia 7300GS around (does not need an extra power connection) so I used that and the new 4870 card.
But I failed to boot my Mac in a way that either ATIFlash or ATIWinFlash would run. In the end I flashed it in the PC. I should feel lucky that it worked because I would have had no (easy) way of restoring the original BIOS in the PC - perhaps by getting a PCI graphics card...

I've got the 3870 in my '06 MacPro and like the performance, but the fan noise come up one minute after I launch my Mac. Never heard back from ATI on my inquiry. Any suggestions or feedback on the noise from the 4870? Thanks, Sven

Were you ever able to get the HD 4870 to work? I am having the same problem.

Thanks!

I am having difficulty with my machine...the 4870 shows up in system profile but the 24" MDP display does not show? Additionally, when I disconnect the DVI monitor from the 7300 card and connect to the 4870, the display goes into energy save mode and never receives a signal to wake up? Any ideas?

Can you check on something for me? This would be especially useful if you are using Snow Leopard, but can you tell me how much memory System Profiler reports your video card as using? Someone from Amazon said his 06 Mac Pro with SL only recognized 256 MB of this 512 MB video card.

Thanks!