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ATI Radeon HD 4870 Coming Soon For Older Mac Pros, Requires Unreleased OS X 10.5.7

iMacmatician said:
I hope so, as well as the 3.2 GHz CPU options. This could explain the lack of a Quadro option on the Mac Pro.

But I'm staying pessimistic here (why aren't you? :p).
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It's either this or think that Apple doesn't care about their own software.

What good is Grand Central without an actual graphics card to take advantage of it?

That, and even though Apple has failed us countless times with hardware, they have yet to fail to live up to the general expectation with software.

Shut up, MobileMe users. You got what they said you would. :p
 
iMacmatician said:
I hope so, as well as the 3.2 GHz CPU options. This could explain the lack of a Quadro option on the Mac Pro.

But I'm staying pessimistic here (why aren't you? :p).
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I might have an Quadro FX5600 freed up from an Boxx 8400 Windows box (Maya). Is there anyway of putting this in any MacPro? I mean if it was possible I guess theres not stopping from using a Quadro FX5800 ;)
 
Tallest Skil said:
That, and even though Apple has failed us countless times with hardware, they have yet to fail to live up to the general expectation with software
Click to expand...

Clearly you never experienced eWorld, 10.0, 10.1, or 10.2 in general, or the OS X Finder in every version.
 
Regarding my previous posts on an ATI 3870 for my first-gen Mac Pro, I finally got the Mac compatible 3870 installed this afternoon, ordered from Amazon.

The installation instructions were too vague and I could not find the power supply connector for awhile, but of course that's not the first time I've seen half-arsed product instructions.

Well, it runs just fantastic compared to the silly old Nvidia 7300 GT, which would sputter around rendering thumbnails in Lightroom. Things are great now.

One major complaint about Newegg though - I had first ordered this card through Newegg, and nowhere did they say anything about there being different ATI 3870s for PCs and Macs. So of course I ordered the wrong one, installed it, and my display was a lovely shade of black. Amazon, however, had the "Mac + PC Edition" 3870, so that's what I ended up getting, for twice the price of the PC version of course. :rolleyes:

Besides that, the thing feels great now. :)
 
there was talk that this will work on older mac pros other than what apple specified as long as the newest drivers were installed... has anyone confirmed this?
 
I have looked to all the posted pro/cons and reviewed the tests from Tom`s page. I think I have the the right version looking to the commets. Still I do not find any comments on older build games with engines like WoW.

Does anyone has informations in this area? I have a 24" with a 8800 in the moment.

Does this Kit also boost here or does it mainly help newer games?
 
why does apple use a Gaming card in a workstation?

Workstation graphics cards should be either a Quadro or a FireGL card optimised for CAD, photoshop, etc
 
valdore said:
Well, it runs just fantastic compared to the silly old Nvidia 7300 GT, which would sputter around rendering thumbnails in Lightroom. Things are great now.
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Uuh? I have been told that thumbnail generation is cpu bound (the menumeter supports that..) and only the zoom is gpu accelerated.
Is it so? I mean,in that case I´ll put in order a.s.a.p...
 
Tallest Skil said:
Because the Quadro/FirePro lines don't perform any better than the 4870 in professional applications such as those.

They were only offered because of stereoscopic 3D.
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not raw processing power but superior visual quality and color reproduction (IE 40bit color)

but think, who uses mac pros? most likely someone that does something with art/animation
 
pr5owner said:
why does apple use a Gaming card in a workstation?

Workstation graphics cards should be either a Quadro or a FireGL card optimised for CAD, photoshop, etc
Click to expand...

Optimised drivers, certification and support are what those cards give you over a GeForce or Radeon.

Apple effectively gives you all that for the GeForce and Radeon cards they use.

Obviously it isn't exactly as simple as that, Apple's drivers aren't on a par with the optimisation the Quadros and and FireGLs recieve. You only end up with GeForce or Radeon drivers in other operating systems, you don't get the Stereo connections or large memory amounts of the higher Pro cards. But Apple aren't going to pay more (and increase prices) for something that doesn't offer anything they need to sell their platform.
 
I have spoken to Apple do today. They say the web page in the store is WRONG and need to be corrected. The card is not running with the MacPro from beginning of 2008 ... :(

Where can I buy a flashed card please ... there seem to be no other option to get a fast 3D card otherwise.

Thx for your help.
 
MacGoblin said:
I have spoken to Apple do today. They say the web page in the store is WRONG and need to be corrected. The card is not running with the MacPro from beginning of 2008 ... :(

Where can I buy a flashed card please ... there seem to be no other option to get a fast 3D card otherwise.

Thx for your help.
Click to expand...

Whoever told you that is misinformed.

Scroll down to 'Power for the Rest of Us.'

If it works in a 2006 Mac Pro, it'll work in a 2008 Mac Pro.
 
I hope so thx! :D

The reason they simply gave me is the speed of memory chips, you need to run this card. They said in the older models its not fast enough ... I have no deeper technicals skills to proof them wrong.

(Any web page hint for me for flashing?)
 
Something tells me, those of us with 2008 models will be waiting for ever. When the new MacPro's were released they said 5 - 7 weeks for shipping, well it's been 4 weeks. So either Apple can't count or they are talking out of their backsides again.

7 subtract 4 does still equal 3? Or has maths changed?
 
my order says ships april 27th... crossing fingers... has anyone received theirs yet? I would like to know if its going to work on the MacPro2,1 with 667 Mhz.
 
Anybody who can help me on flashing this card e.g.

MSI R4870X2-T2D2G-OC Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Or link where to get some more background on flashing on Mac?

:D
 
Just saw this update to the original article:

Update: The U.S. Apple Store now lists the Radeon HD 4870 as shipping in 5-7 weeks at a price of $349. They have also updated the system requirements to say that the card requires OS X 10.5.6 or later.
 
Just got mine today,
have it running with my ATI Radeon HD 2600 for my 3rd display, had a 8800GT before, its ok, no big changes so far, maybe a driver issue ?

And photoshop does not detect it as openGL in CS4
 
$280 for an 8800gt :D priceless

How much will this 4870 go for? It's not even a 1gb model LOL Why not a 4890?
 
some guy called claiming that my card was being shipped back because it was shipped without the proper software...it was blocks away from my house and now its going back?!?!? wtf!?@! can't i just download the software?
 
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