ATI R9 290x - Mac Pro 2009 4,1

Hoorahhh! We opted for the Gigabyte 280x (Version 3) and it worked! After a few tense moments of darkness, the screen brightened to a comforting shade of gray and then the desktop appeared. Both the mini display ports and hdmi port are working in both Windose 7 and 10.10.1. We also updated the drivers on the Bootcamp side without any ill effects. We didn't flash the card, as we have come to depend on the start-up disk menu on the Mac and Bootcamp side to select the appropriate start-up disk. One thing I wasn't certain on was running it without an external power supply, so we hooked up a 500w supply to the eight pin port on the card and used one of the internal 6 pin plugs for the other port.

Works great out of the box! Thanks again Adam and Lance!

One thing I wasn't certain on was running it without an external power supply, so we hooked up a 500w supply to the eight pin port on the card and used one of the internal 6 pin plugs for the other port.

Works great out of the box! Thanks again Adam and Lance!

The 280X can run off the internal power supply. You need this cable. Plus a six to six, interesting you can split it up like you did. One to mac power and one to extra power supply. You could install a second one and crosfire them if you have the slots. One running off the external on one running off the internal. I don't have the available slots to do it myself.

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-PCI-E-Express-Power-Cable/dp/B009KT3ECI/ref=sr_1_fkm r3_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421609882&sr=8-3-fkmr3&keywords=8pin+to+6pn+pie+power+cable+fo r+mac+pro

Hey AdamB, are you in Yosemite? with your 290X I have found Pro Tools 11.3 to have some issues. Input meter is a bit glitchy but not when recording only on input.

I tried a totally clean install and it still happens. It'a post for the Avid forums but just wondered what versions OS and PT you are using with your R9 290x

thinking about upgrading when I get every think updated in Yosemite. Are all the cards ports working? I run three monitors off the 280x.

odd how folks have different issues but most seem to be graghic related. My graphics in Pro Tools seem pretty smooth other than the meter glitch. Over all I like Yosemite.

I will stay in 10.8.5 for now when using Pro Tools, I have not installed PT 11.3 on my 10.8.5 system yet, I have 11.1.2 co installed with PT 10, but would be interesting to see if 11.3 is happier in 10.8.5 than in 10.10.1. I will slowly get up to speed with Yosemite when Avid gets it together.

thanks for the info.

It look like the issue might have been spotlight indexing at the same time I was testing out the new system. I set spotlight to not search my record drive and the issue with the meters on input is gone. I have seen folks had issues with their GT120 with Yosemite and PT11 and they upgrade to something faster and their graphic issues went away,

Perhaps zapping the pram is a good thing to do as well

Hey Adam,

maybe you know this already but I found a fix for the graphical glitches in ProTools 11 in Yosemite check out my video on it.

http://youtu.be/vLniwOEfnRo

Hey all,

Just wanna throw my two cents in the mix. After reading this forum I decided to go for the r9 290x....I found a great deal on the 8gb model but I saw nowhere that any actually tried to use this card. After all it is still an r9 290x just more VRAM. Heck the TITAN has just as much and it works....I have the Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290x 8gb model and can confirm it works as well. I am using an external power supply. I didn't even bother attempting to run it off the motherboard...

My question is has anyone gotten triple display to work on these cards in OS X? Eyefinity works great in Windows however in OS X 10.10.2 it only recognizes 2 monitors. Card has 2 DVI ports, an HDMI port, and a Display port. My monitors are hooked up to both DVI ports and the HDMI port. OS X is actually seeing the monitor on the HDMI port and 1 of the Monitors on the DVI port which is weird? I also lost internal audio... Assuming its trying to use the HDMI audio via the card? The card registers as an HD 8xxx model but it sees the 8gb V-RAM.....

The "trick for" eyefinity cards is that they only support up to two "legacy" connections unless you use ACTIVE adapters. "Legacy" means anything other than DisplayPort or Mini DisplayPort.

So in your case, two DVI and one HDMI is a no go, unless you use an ACTIVE adapter for one or more of them.

I figured it was something like that......Oh well I suppose I'll need to buy an adapter. I updated to 10.10.3 and audio is functioning properly. All in all installation was relatively hassle free and everything works pretty well. I am well pleased with the performance of the card so far!

My experience :
I made ​​it to amazon 2 gpu 980 strix , the **** system apple 10.11.5 Non manages nvidia GPU , spontaneous reboots with encoder and adobe cc running , a lot of work and time loss and blasphemies .
Apple only has agreements with AMD .
Now I'm looking for an AMD compatible MacPro 5.1 .
If anyone here has advice , I accept them .
I also contacted the hardware specialist demanding the compatibility , still await answers .
Asus and other companies claim that the problem is Apple .
We poor users there are in the center dele their bizarre ideas markenting .

If you are using some video cards that require 8-pin cables then you need to use an auxiliary PSU, this applies even more if your trying to use two video cards at the same time.

For Nvidia cards like the GTX 980 you have the choice of using either the Apple drivers or the Nvidia drivers. It is hard to find the Nvidia drivers for Mac but the following webpage seems a good source even if it is not Nvidia themselves.

See http://myosx.info/files/category/6-web-drivers/

Adobe software works best with Nvidia cards, it will work with AMD cards and the very latest Adobe application versions can actually also work with Apple's new Metal drivers which support AMD, Nvidia and some Intel video cards.

If you use a video card which needs more power than the built-in Mac power supply can provide and run an application which drives the video card hard e.g. encoding a video, then this will cause the video card to ask for more power than the Mac can provide and the Mac will shutdown to prevent damage. Hence the need for an auxiliary power supply.

See this page and the links on it for information about auxiliary power supplies. http://www.macvidcards.com/do-i-need-an-additional-power-supply.html

Unfortunately I have to deny.
I connected an external power supply corsair shorting 24pin circuit and the problem was always the spontaneous reboot .
I also know the web nvidia driver , it was running with the gtx 980 on MacPro 5.1 .
So I exclude problem energy.
With an old hd 6870 all goes well , it purchased to avoid being out of work .
Apple still does not provide compatible GPU list .
I am very angry,disappointed.
If some technical specialist apple really sees this comment is requested to provide support .

APPLE MUST CHANGE POLICY

If you use a separate auxiliary supply for a graphics card, you must power ALL Aux inputs to the graphics card with it to make certain all are referencing the same Voltages and Earth/Grounds.

not think it is unpleasant, I thank you for answering me.

I'm furious with apple, they are only geared towards boys with iphone 6 or 7 or 8.

I've tried everything, from 7 months I find no solution.

Now I am forced to buy AMD, but which for a MacPro 5.1?

good evening !!!!!