ATI Radeon HD 5870

Question

ATI Radeon HD 5870

I just purchased an Apple ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card upgrade. I installed it into a Mac Pro and have had over 25 failures/reboots in the two days it's been installed. I need help.

System info:

MacPro v4,1

24 GB RAM

OS 10.7.5

This card was replacing two nVidia GT120 cards.

Monitors are an NEC PA271 with puck, and a Samsung 24" SynMaster.

While using the two nVidia cards, everything worked well, except for an occasional hang in Photoshop when using a brush. However, Adobe & Apple don't support this kind of system setup, thus the ATI card.

When I installed the ATI card, I removed all the nVidia CUDA files, flashed the PROM, and repaired permissions (even though permissions have nothing to do with a graphics card).

After only a few minutes in Photoshop, the primary screen began to flicker wildly, then it froze with vertical lines. I disconnected the second monitor and removed all USB cabling. The same thing happened. Each time it froze, I had to do a hard reboot.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Is there a way to test the card to make sure it's fully functional?

Lastly, how do I contact Apple if this card required warranty replacement?

Thanks.

Posted on Nov 8, 2013 3:52 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 8, 2013 4:06 PM in response to Community User

Are both 6-pin aux power cables properly connected?

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Answer 2

Nov 8, 2013 4:19 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yes. I double checked before I shut the case.

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Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Nov 9, 2013 10:31 AM in response to Community User

Out on a limb guess but do you have to change or edit, remove any Adobe preference settings when changing a GPU as you did?

Of course every hard fr eeze and reboot can add errors to the direcectory or a file and need at minimum a Safe Boot, or restore from backup, or work off a test system while troubleshooting.

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Answer 4

Nov 9, 2013 2:08 PM in response to The hatter

Thanks, Hatter. I tried all four GPU preferences (3 variants & OFF) and still had corruption.

One thing I did not test yet was the if the problem occurred on the other monitor (the Samsung). IOW, it could be the monitor and not the card that's causing the problems. I will test this on my next session.

Also, when this problem occurred, it was not a system freeze. The cursor was still functional and moved everywhere. However, I could not gain control of the computer. Command-Q, command-option-esc, nor anything else worked to cease the video chaos.

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