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ATI Radeon HD 5770 in MacPro 1,1

I've searched all over these forums, there was some talk about the ATI Radeon HD 5770 working in a 1,1 MacPro, but I never really found a definitive answer. In the apple catalog someone posted this:

"It should be fine ATI cards unlike nvidia are built to be compatible with both EFI 32 and EFI 64 interfaces and i know the 4870 is fully compatible even with the first generation intel mac pro some people were saying that the 5770 takes up 2 pci express slots but that is just false i havent had the chance to try it myself since my 4870 is enough for me but i am sure it should work just fine"

Any final word on this? I'm eager to upgrade.

MacPro1,1, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Aug 14, 2010 11:06 AM

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211 replies

Dec 13, 2013 6:57 PM in response to ludy13

My 3GHz quad core 1.1 with 8GB of ram works great with the 5770 and Final Cut. I too had the 7300 and when I made the jump to FCP I had to upgrade. Anyway, my 1.1 is doing just fine. A bit slow on renders, but even with my new 12 core machine, I've found the best thing you can do is work with proxy media. That more than anything will speed things up on any machine especially if you are working with codecs that aren't FCP friendly.

May 3, 2014 9:28 AM in response to James Webster3

Hi all, very informative thread, many thanks for all the contributions.


My reason for posting:


I'm running the 5770 on 1.1 MacPro,10.7.5 for around 6 months, purchased from apple store. Easy install and I've not had any direct issues from this new card. Runs 2 x 23" LG HD Monitors.


The issue I've had which may or may not be related to the card is stuttery video streaming on various sites(youtube,facebook, vimeo etc) The streaming is done via Firefox latest release and I've had the issue on previous versions of Firefox since the install of the card.


Has anyone had this issue at all with their 5770?


If not, can anyone point me in the direction of a fix to this issue, I'm just ruling out the 5770 for now as it may be something else which is completly unknown to me at the moment.


Thanks all, hope your are well wherever you are 😁


Edit: I found this page on apple site - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2848 I contradicts what apple shop said when I purchased this card, it seems it is now no longer the correct card!? Confused...

May 3, 2014 11:00 AM in response to IntoTheWild79

You may have issues playing back COPY PROTECTED video, such as DVDs, using this card according to this article:


Mac Pro: Using ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with Mac Pro released before 2010


Other than that issue, the graphics card itself is never the source of such problems.


Perfomance problems that could produce stuttering include using a slow WiFi connection, problems on your Hard drive, or simply not enough RAM to do everything you are trying to do at once.


Using Activity Monitor to read System Memory and determine how much RAM is being used


How much of the Pie is Green?

How much is Green + Blue?


How many PageOuts?

May 3, 2014 11:19 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant,


Ok perfect with regards to 5770, I havent noticed the issue you linked too but thanks for this!


WiFi is good and internet connection good to, the video always loads quickly but playing is always very stuttery, sound is good though but video lags behind.


RAM is a possible which I have thought of, for now getting to know wether to upgrade or not and hoping it maybe a simpler cheaper soloution... Running 6gb 667Mhz DDR2 FB-DIMM RAM atm..possible cause for upgrade?


I've noticed that Firefox is always running 100%+ CPU or there or there abouts, indicative of ram upgrade?


Green/Free - 225mb roughly

Blue/Inactive - 1,70 gb

Red/Wired - 504 mb

Yellow/Active - 3.74 gb


Page outs - 4.67 bg (0 bytes/sec)


Thanks for the prompt response

May 3, 2014 11:58 AM in response to IntoTheWild79

Those numbers indicate you are running short of Real RAM for all the programs you are running at once. Solutions include Quitting Applications you are not using before starting a Video, or adding more real RAM.


A non-trivial number of PageOuts since startup is indicative of more than once when there was absolutely no spare RAM available.

May 3, 2014 12:20 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Ok, thing is, I'm not running alot of programs whilst this issue is happening, firefox could be sucking up alot of the ram though!?On Sys mem real memory is at 3.3 gb ram for firefox, I've 6 installed!?


I've quit almost all programs and the issue still remains!?


Any other possibilities other than ram?


Whats a "normal" pageouts? Does this stay with the machine once it has maxed out, rebott put this back into a normal range?


Cheers

May 3, 2014 12:30 PM in response to IntoTheWild79

If you are not running a lot of stuff while this is happening, you may need more real RAM.


The PageOuts counter is a cumulative counter since last Startup, with current amount (in parentheses). A good value for it is near zero, since it is indicative that you had to endure paging active stuff out to make room for paging something else in.


Mavericks uses memory compression and uses memory somewhat differently, and this display changes for Mavericks and later.


To reduce Browser memory consumption, reduce History tracking to ONE DAY. You will save a lot of RAM, but may occasionally have to retype a URL or re-Search instead of autocompleting it.

May 9, 2014 8:10 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi again Grant,


Since speaking to you last about my stuttering web video streaming, i've purchased new ram(22gb in total now) My machine is running much better generally and have many apps open without any delays, but, the video issue still remians... Any further advice or ways I can elimenate other things which might be causing the issue?

I have a SSD boot drive so it also makes everything run that little bit quicker so now i'm at a loss to what is causing this, all plugins for FF are up-to-date, system software is up-to-date....


Your advice and help is very much appreciated and i'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this..


Cheers

May 9, 2014 8:25 AM in response to IntoTheWild79

You seem to have plugged the biggest rat-holes with more RAM and an SSD -- do you have TRIM enabled with a third-party Utility such as TRIM Enabler?


Are you using Ethernet or WiFi? If WiFi, what does you display of Option click on the MenuBar icon look like?


User uploaded file


What are you using for PHY mode?

What Channel is being used?

What value for raw signal strength RSSI?

What Transmit Rate?


And how many other Networks can you see?

.

May 9, 2014 8:40 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi and thanks for the prompt response.


I've had the SSD for a while now, just the RAM upgrade - 2x8gb + 6gb already installed.


I Installed trim enabler when I installed the drive, I went back and checked and it wasn't enabled, now sorted.


Using WiFi, airport extream base station. Using a 3g system to connect to the net with the airpot on bridge mode to extend the distance. 3G WIBE device, cabled(Bridge) to airport base station and connect MP to airport wirlessly. Good DL/UL speeds, video loads fine but still jittery.


The WIBE device also has a wirless signal so 2 networks show up on MP, airport is always used though.


If the internet speed is good and loads the video, would this still cause issues?


Other options other than networking?

May 9, 2014 9:26 AM in response to IntoTheWild79

RE: SSD and Trim Enabler:


If you have another source of full Mac OS X software, 10.6.8 or later, that you can boot from, Install TRIM Enabler on that also. Then run Disk Utility (Repair Disk) for your SSD with TRIM Enabler fully functioning. The last line will be "TRIM-ing Unused blocks" and it will pause for as long as a minute while all the Deleted Data are removed. Very satisfying and may speed up your SSD.


WiFi:


Whether your WiFi could be a pinch point depends on those readings. Good signal Strength and good Transmit speed (not slowed down from maximum speeds due to interference) indicate a solid connection that will not likely be an issue. Marginal signal strength, slowed down Transmit speed, and using 2.4 GHz band with a dozen Networks around you are Red Flags indicating you could be in trouble from a marginal connection.

May 9, 2014 11:44 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant,


Well after following you advise above regarding repair disk from a bootable clone or similar, this has solved the issue, I'm sure the additional RAM has helped no end but this has been the thing where i've seen noticable differences, streaming works like a charm, no stutter what-soever. Big thank you Grant, that was really ******* me off 🙂 #legend


Have a great weekend!!

ATI Radeon HD 5770 in MacPro 1,1

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