Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) in Mountain Lion

@Hatter - I'm quite familiar with the GTX 6xx series, and have looked at the GTX 680, but I specifically have four Radeon HD 7970 graphics cards, and I'm just extremely disappointed/outraged that I spent the amount of money that I have spent on buying an Apple product (an Apple Mac Pro) and I can't even get a decent top-of-the-line commercial (off the shelf) graphics card to work.

It's extremely sad that Apple can't even take the time to add graphics drivers for a decent graphics card like the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G).

This thread is NOT about NVIDIA graphics cards. This thread is about the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards, and adding drivers for these graphics cards to OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion.

I want to use a Radeon HD 7970 graphics card (with 3GB of DDR5 memory). I'm just asking for graphics drivers to support the graphics cards that I have purchased. That is all. The cards work great in Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.

The only problem I am having is with OS X 10.8.x Mountain Lion.

Windows drivers exist. Linux drivers exist. I'm just asking Apple to add Radeon 7970 graphics drivers for OS X to Mountain Lion 10.8.2. I didn't realize that I would have to STOP BUYING APPLE PRODUCTS just to get a decent graphics card and a decent computer. I spent quite a bit of money on my four Apple Mac Pro's (about 3 times more than a comparable PC product) and I just find it extremely troublesome (and TERRIBLE) that I can't even use a standard commercial off the shelf (COTS) Graphics card like the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards, and find it hard to believe that nobody at Apple has the brains (or foresight) to add graphics driver support to OS X 10.8.x Mountain Lion, so that users can actually use a standard Radeon HD 7970 reference design graphics card.

The 2008 Apple Mac Pro used Diamond Radeon HD 2600XT graphics cards. The later Apple Mac Pro's used standard Diamond Radeon graphics cards.

I just find it hard to believe that Apple is falling apart, and can't even keep up (and is about 2-5 years behind the PC sector) when it comes to adding hardware support for the Apple Mac.

Apple Mac Pro's don't even have Blu-Ray support. Although some have managed to find ways to get Blu-Ray to partially work, but you can't watch Blu-Ray movies (or 3D Blu-Ray movies) with a Mac (in OS X 10.8.x Mountain Lion) and also you can't burn or rip Blu-Ray movies in OS X.

An Apple Mac Pro should come STANDARD with a Lite-on Blu-Ray burner (as a standard drive), and should have 3D Blu-Ray support (for watching 3D Blu-Ray movies) right out of the box, and it should also have support for editing/burning/ripping Blu-Ray movies (right out of the box). Apple should pull their head out of their "5th point of contact" and add hardware support for the LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray burner, and also add support for the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition graphics cards.

The Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards are the latest and greatest, and that is what I expect from Apple.

If Apple can't deliver a decent product anymore, and I can't even use decent COTS (commercial off the shelf) hardware then I'll probably have to just put my 2012 Apple Mac Pro on e-bay, and dump it, and just go out and buy a PC (that can whip the **** out of my Apple Mac Pro at nearly 1/3 the price) and can outperform the Apple Mac Pro in nearly every way (including the ability to watch/rip/record Blu-Ray movies, and the ability to use "top of the line" graphics cards like the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G)

If I spend "top dollar" purchasing an overpriced Apple Mac Pro product, then I expect a decent "top of the line" graphics card, specifically the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards to WORK with the Apple Mac Pro.

I didn't realize that I would need to use a graphics card from 3-5 years ago, and I expect to be able to use standard off-the-shelf hardware with the Apple Mac Pro.

It would be extremely easy for Apple to just take the time, and add Graphics Drivers support for the Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards to OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion.

The latest operating system should support the latest hardware. I wish Apple would begin listening to it's customers, instead of just ignoring customers, and forcing us to spend/waste thousands of dollars buying overpriced Apple products, only to find out that we can't even use a top-of-the-line graphics card like the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics cards in OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion.

The cards work fine in my Apple Mac Pro (under Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8). The only problem I am having is graphics drivers support under OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion.

Dear Apple,

Could you please add hardware/graphics driver support for Diamond Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (7970PE53GHZ) and Diamond Radeon HD 7970 (7970PE53G) graphics card support to OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x

Thank-you,

Martin,

> Usuallly it is the manufacturerer of the card that supplies the drivers.

In some/many cases, yes I would agree with you. Unfortunately this is "Apple" that we are talking about, and that is NOT the case with Apple. If you have ever developed software (or worked with Apple) you'd begin to realize that Apple is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to work with. Adobe, Autodesk, and nearly every other software developer (and hardware developer) has acknowledged this fact, and has abandoned support for Apple products.

It's nearly impossible to do anything with Apple, because of all the "mess" and "chaos" that Apple makes a developer/vendor go through, and usually in the end, Apple simply says "no" (even after all the work has been done and completed). Apple's justification is always MONEY driven. They simply don't want consumers to use a good graphics card (that they can simply buy from the store) or use "commercial off the shelf" hardware in their over-priced Apple products.

It's quite sad, but that is how Apple is. I own four Apple Mac Pro computers, and as great as I thought the computers were (back in 2008, a Mac Pro was a decent machine in relation to the rest of the market), but as it stands Apple has completely fallen apart over the past 3-4 years, and no hardware manufacturer is going to waste their time writing drivers for the miniscule "5%" of the market, when they will focus their attention on the other 95% of the market (Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8 users).

Apple holds a very very small miniscule amount of the high-performance desktop PC market, and that number is sliding/shrinking nearly daily.

Apple lost about 85% of it's "dedicated fan base" (artists, graphics designers, video editing, etc.) when Apple has chosen to IGNORE their customers, and IGNORE hardware vendors, and IGNORE what consumers are asking for.

The Apple Mac Pro (which used to be a "flagship" product) is now nothing more than an overpriced hunk of junk, and I'm embarrased to even say that I own four them (including a 2008, 2009, and two 2012 Apple Mac Pro's).

I look at what we paid for the two 2012 Apple Mac Pro's, and I still laugh (and still don't understand why I didn't just take the time, and build a few custom-built PC machines) especially since we can't even use decent hardware in Mac OS X. No Thunderbolt support in a 2012 Mac Pro? No 3D Blu-Ray support in a Mac Pro? Can't use a decent 3D graphics card like a Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition in OS X 10.8.2 Mountain Lion?

There is no 3D Blu-Ray support in OS X. Blu-Ray burners and drives are not even supported in OS X (yes, I do have them installed in each of the Mac Pro's, but you still can't find software to even watch a 3D Blu-Ray movie on a Mac Pro, and video editing is crap compared to what it once was 4-5 years ago). If you want to do anything "serious" you need to directly boot into Windows 7 (or Windows 8) and use Windows software (Adobe Premiere, etc.), if you want to do serious CAD work, you'll be using Autodesk (which again, is Windows only). If you want to do CAD/CAM editing or design, you'll be using Solidworks (again, a Windows only program).

You can't even install a decent modern graphics card (Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition) inside of a Mac Pro. (Unless you intend to simply use the computer as a "Windows PC", and stop using OS X all together). It has gotten so bad, that the majority of my hardware is not even supported in OS X, and I'm stuck using Windows nearly 80% of the time, because Apple has completely "fallen apart" when it comes to developing/building a decent machine (and adding/writing drivers for their OS X operating system).

I still can't believe that a 2012 Apple Mac Pro doesn't even have Thunderbolt? PCIe 3.0? USB 3.0? Blu-Ray burner (LG WH14NS40) included by default, and Blu-Ray 3D support? (so people can actually watch 3D Blu-Ray movies)