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would prob work with 1 apple 1 pc card. nothing stopping it from.

It definately would, I was using a 5870+5970 crossfire, now I've sold my 5970 and I'm waiting to replace it with a 6990, (obviously not crossfired this time)
 
Any of you guys ever think of Y-splitting the 2 PCI-E outs to power dual 5870's? Works fine on dual 4870's here:)
 
It depends on how many amps the Mac Pro PSU provides per 12v rail, and how much the 5870s take under full load (the PSU is 1200W as far as I know, but that does not mean it will provide enough power). I seem to remember reading somewhere that 5870s in CrossFire require four 12v rails to function properly.

Perhaps someone with the cards might like to give it a shot?
 
Hi guys,

I have actually a Vapor-X 5870 in my 2010 Mac Pro.
A second one is coming as I want to try crossfire.
Have you already read this article :
http://www.hardmac.com/articles/331/page1

Do you think it is a good option with no risk ?
What would be the best way to do that ?
 
Do you think it is a good option with no risk ?
What would be the best way to do that ?

No, that is not a good option. It's pretty much the worst thing you can do.
The SATA connectors are not made for providing the power a GPU requires. The likelihood that you damage both logic board and PSU is extremely high.
Keep in mind that the Mac Pro's PSU is specifically made for that machine and therefore highly likely provides only what is intended by Apple, so 10 to 15W for the onboard SATA connectors and I reckon about 50W in total for the ODD bay.
I really wouldn't overload that.

The best way is an internal 5.25" drive bay PSU ($25 on newegg), or an external PSU if you wish.
 
No, that is not a good option. It's pretty much the worst thing you can do.
The SATA connectors are not made for providing the power a GPU requires. The likelihood that you damage both logic board and PSU is extremely high.
Keep in mind that the Mac Pro's PSU is specifically made for that machine and therefore highly likely provides only what is intended by Apple, so 10 to 15W for the onboard SATA connectors and I reckon about 50W in total for the ODD bay.
I really wouldn't overload that.

The best way is an internal 5.25" drive bay PSU ($25 on newegg), or an external PSU if you wish.

Thanks for answering.
Little question, do you know what is the limit of power we can ask to a sata port ?
 
Already did. :D Considering that a standard hard drives consumes less than 10W, I wouldn't load the port with much more. 20W would already mean a 100% increase from what it has been designed for.

The ODD SATA ports are different though. They've got a separate power source on the logic board and have been designed for optical drives which peak at about 25W. That might well be reason that the ODD bay easily handles additional hard drives. But again, I wouldn't overload them either. Hard drives are fine, but definitely no graphics cards.
 
Indeed :p
Again, thanks for your answer.
I already took a look at independent psu, but it looks like most of all manufacturers dont build psu like these anymore :confused:
I'll continue looking around.

Just for information, I contacted the guy of hardmac who did the tweak with his mac pro.
He is still using this configuration since and has never had any problem.
 
No I do not.

If you cannot find one in your country, there are forwarding services you can use. You have Newegg ship it to their courier's US address and they forward it on to you.
 
Ok guys so here's the issue. I have two Apple 5870s on hand, a modular power supply on order as well as a crossfire bridge connector. I am taking it upon myself to rearrange the mac pro with two 5870s and test whether or not crossfire will work under Windows 7.


Last year matthew.russo reported that he was able to achieve crossfire with two Apple 4870s with a modular power supply.

After reading this post in another thread :


Taken from this thread: 5870 Crossfire success stories


I opened my system and what was said was true. The space to route the cables to the ODD is too small....much smaller than on the 2006-2008 systems. So after analysing all possible situations, the only viable method to still attempt crossfire is a complete disassembly of the system including logic board removal. Trust me ... it is. I've spent seven hours so far and by now I know every nook and cranny of the 2009 Mac Pro. So I've removed all of the following:
- ODD
- Power supply
- Video card
- CPU/RAM board
- Hard drives
- small fan in front of graphics cards

**** The only stupid thing that doesnt want to come out is the bottom assembly which contains the two lower fans (front and rear). I removed the six screws but it just ain't coming out.... and I know there is a way cuz Apple technicians have to remove it in order to install/replace logic boards. It seems the fans are jamming the part from being taken out. ****

Please I need your collaboration in order to get this last piece taken out and then we are set on testing crossfire.

After seven hours of precision disassembly and analyzing, I must say the Mac Pro has a very tight fit and by noo means is it a highly expandable gaming rig.... but nonetheless for the pride of us Mac Pro users this experiment needs to be done and I need your help to be able to do so. So once again all experienced mac users please help :(

UPDATE: CASE IS FULLY DISASSEMBLED :)

UPDATE 2: PCI POWER CABLES ROUTED PROPERLY. LOGIC BOARD REINSTALLED. RAM CAGE AWAITING REINSTALL ( HAVING SOME TROUBLE ) ... SHOULD BE FINISHED BY TONIGHT :)

UPDATE 3: CASE IS FULLY ASSEMBLED AND 5870s are running fine.... Still awaiting arrival of CF bridge :)

[B]UPDATE 4: CROSSFIRE WORKS UNDER WINDOWS SEVEN, HOWEVER BOOTCAMP DRIVERS MUST NOT BE INSTALLED OTHERWISE SYSTEM CRASHES. WHAT A KILLER GAMING RIG THE MAC PRO IS :D[/B]



How do you get both cards to boot in windows? i have two cards that work in mac os X together, and will individually boot in bootcamp, but as soon as i put two cards in the mac pro and boot, it wont boot with two cards. i have reflashed one of the cards with every version of ATI BIOS, put them in every possible PCiE configuration and still nothing.

no one has ever had this?
 
Crossfire in Mac Pro is pointless. I was having one Apple HD5770 and one XFX flashed HD5770.

Apple card can enable Crossfire only up to Catalyst 10.11 !!! Newer version cause BSOD !

Performance was almost the same like a single card. So I decided to remove one card and put Areca RAID instead ;P
 
you have not setup crossfire correctly then,

i have seen around a 50 percent increase in performance while crossfiring (not my PC)

which is why i want mine to work so bad.
 
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