Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
10.8.3 Brings AMD 7xxx drivers...Finally!
- Thread starter MacVidCards
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I know this may sound like a total NOOb or Fanboy question, but since the Radeon 8000's are not released yet (from what I can tell) isn't there a possiblilty that this is a sign that the next MP could have 8000 support out of the box...
The reason why I ask is it seems like the only way to see if a card is supported is to plug it into a MP and boot it up (with a known working card installed?) and if the card are not in the wild then maybe (just maybe) they are already have beta drivers in the ML beta just released... or maybe by the time the new MP is out and we are on 10.9 (that cat have a name yet?) when the new MP's are out they will... think baby steps...
on a side note i wont know untill after powerball is drawn if i am getting a new imac or a MP... for my new money is no object Gaming Rig...
The reason why I ask is it seems like the only way to see if a card is supported is to plug it into a MP and boot it up (with a known working card installed?) and if the card are not in the wild then maybe (just maybe) they are already have beta drivers in the ML beta just released... or maybe by the time the new MP is out and we are on 10.9 (that cat have a name yet?) when the new MP's are out they will... think baby steps...
on a side note i wont know untill after powerball is drawn if i am getting a new imac or a MP... for my new money is no object Gaming Rig...
I'm kinda hoping not, as I want to put a 7970 "Mac Edition" in my Late 2009 Mac Pro.
I wouldn't bet on it. The power requirements for the card don't suddenly change on the Mac.
I'm kinda hoping not, as I want to put a 7970 "Mac Edition" in my Late 2009 Mac Pro.
If you wish a 7970 with 2 6pin, you'll get something downclocked. These 8pins aren't for decoration
Good. Now we can use OS X 10.8.3 on many Dell computers (Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770 configurations for example, which are faster than many single processor Sandy Bridge E configurations).
Btw, i7-3770 vs. i7-3770K:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/333257-10-3770-3770k-difference
----------
Not? ;-)These 8pins aren't for decoration
Actually, it is the opposite. People see evidence of card support in the OS first, before a Mac with that chip is sold. The 6xxx series drivers showed up before the 6xxx series GPU were for sale in Macs. The 7xxx series just showed up about a week ago in 10.8.3, and there are no Macs for sale with 7xxx series GPUs yet. Following that pattern, we should see 8xxx series drivers show up before known working cards.
I am talking PC/Windows cards not Mac cards... when the 6XXX drivers were released in OSX you could go to the store and buy a 6XXX card (windows based) and try it out... 7xxx cards are out on the PC side (for quite some time now i think)and we now have working drivers (and no apple sold card)... i'm just saying that complaining that OSX doesn't support a card (8XXX) that DOES NOT EXIST even on the Windows side might be considered crazy... and it still leaves hope that the 8xxx driver may show up in time for new Mac Pro as the official card sold by apple as the base of and BTO option (if the 8xxx cards are being sold on the PC side at that time)
might as well complain that OSX doesn't support Haswell too...
About ThunderBolt
I think Thunderbolt support shouldn't be on the graphics card itself. In fact it should be the same implementation as with some newer motherboards supporting Thunderbolt. Afaik Lucid Virtu technology is supported by the newest Intel chipsets and displayport is channeled through the port. This is the only logical way of doing it. If Apple decides to implement some proprietary s*#t in the Graphics card, then TB support will only be available with Apple's cards, and trust me, we don't want that.
I think Thunderbolt support shouldn't be on the graphics card itself. In fact it should be the same implementation as with some newer motherboards supporting Thunderbolt. Afaik Lucid Virtu technology is supported by the newest Intel chipsets and displayport is channeled through the port. This is the only logical way of doing it. If Apple decides to implement some proprietary s*#t in the Graphics card, then TB support will only be available with Apple's cards, and trust me, we don't want that.
7950 works in Mac Pro with 10.8.3 !!!!
This being the original AMD 7xxx thread, I thought it would be informative to note that an HIS brand 7950 works A-OK with 10.8.3 Beta.
It is nearly as fast as 7970, but doesn't have those pesky 8 pin connectors that we all love to argue about. (except that guy in Germany who burned up his Mac Pro, he doesn't argue much anymore)
So, 90% of the GPU processing power of a 7970, with 0% worries...at least about power.
Before anyone runs out and buys one to replace their 5870 or whatever, please keep in mind that so far this has worked in a BETA of 10.8.3.
And that if you serach for Mac and 6950/70 you will find the TRUE meaning of "Bag of Hurt". Those cards worked great in certain 10.7.x builds, but are dead and useless again in 10.8.3. AMD does not have the track record that Nvidia does of making things WORK and keeping them WORKING. I would wait out 2 point releases before considering this even LIKELY to keep working.
And if you think I am being a scare monger, just do some reading on Mac and 6950/70. It has driven some men to INSANITY (OK, that is hyperbole)
Point here is that 7950 DOES work in 10.8.3 and solves power issue.
This being the original AMD 7xxx thread, I thought it would be informative to note that an HIS brand 7950 works A-OK with 10.8.3 Beta.
It is nearly as fast as 7970, but doesn't have those pesky 8 pin connectors that we all love to argue about. (except that guy in Germany who burned up his Mac Pro, he doesn't argue much anymore)
So, 90% of the GPU processing power of a 7970, with 0% worries...at least about power.
Before anyone runs out and buys one to replace their 5870 or whatever, please keep in mind that so far this has worked in a BETA of 10.8.3.
And that if you serach for Mac and 6950/70 you will find the TRUE meaning of "Bag of Hurt". Those cards worked great in certain 10.7.x builds, but are dead and useless again in 10.8.3. AMD does not have the track record that Nvidia does of making things WORK and keeping them WORKING. I would wait out 2 point releases before considering this even LIKELY to keep working.
And if you think I am being a scare monger, just do some reading on Mac and 6950/70. It has driven some men to INSANITY (OK, that is hyperbole)
Point here is that 7950 DOES work in 10.8.3 and solves power issue.
Review of Sapphire HD7950 MAC Edition here http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-hd7950-mac-edition-review/
If only the new Mac Pro supported PCIe cards internally. The new form factor is cool and portable, but not nearly as useful, especially for playing games, which would require a different graphics card. If you were going to plug a different graphics card into a Mac Pro, you would need an enclosure like a Vidock. Though, at that rate, there's not much reason to buy a Mac Pro anymore. And yes, I realize that a Vidock requires an ExpressCard adapter, which is half as fast as Thunderbolt. Though, the benchmarks show that bandwidth isn't much of an issue: http://www.villagetronic.com/g4/expansion-products/nano/performance
There a better solutions than a Vidock, with Thunderbolt:
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20899698#post20899698
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1848500/
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20735233#post20735233
Yeah, but my goal is portability. The nice thing about the Vidock is that the power supply is built-in. Sure, it's not directly a Thunderbolt enclosure, but those benchmarks show that the interface isn't an issue. Besides, Sonnett's enclosures are overpriced. It's Intel's goal to make this as difficult and expensive as possible.
I know. Sonnett was one of your suggestions. Another one was to use an Akitio Thunder2 and make my own enclosure. My goal is $350 or less for a portable enclosure.
I forgot to mention that because the Vidock originally uses ExpressCard, it makes use of Nvidia Optimus, which improves performance a bit and it also makes it possible to use a Mac's built-in monitor, which definitely makes it more portable, especially when you combine that with the fact that it has its own power supply built-in so you don't have to jury-rig an external Power Supply Unit. It requires a bit more hardware to use with Thunderbolt, but it's worth it. Would you want to take a monitor with you when you go to a friend's house to edit video or play games?
Thanks for info, one of my eGPU uses Express Card: http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4L V2.1.html. But to the best of my knowledge Nvidia Optimus does also work with Thunderbolt.
I think what you mean is PCI-E data compression, which works only when only one PCI-E-lane is connected, what we do have with Vidock or the PE4L-Adapter.