ATI Radeon HD 5870 vs GTX570 for dual 24 inch displays

[headkick33]

I am looking to upgrade my graphics card and have a few questions.

My Mac Pro desktop setup is as follows:

Mac Pro 4,1 (8-core Xeon 5500 Series) 2.26Ghz 3rd Gen. Early 2009
OS 10.6.8
10GB Ram (upgrading to 24GB)

I have 2 - 24inch Cinema displays running from 2 NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 cards.

I want to upgrade my 2 GEForce cards to one Apple ATI Radeon HD 5870 and use the 2 mini-display ports for my two 24inch Cinema Displays. Does anyone know of conflicts or issues with this setup? After doing some research, looks like it should work fine but thought I would ask before shelling out the $450 for the new card. Also, any info on performance improvement would be appreciated.

I have also heard that the GeForce GTX570 is pretty rad but uses DVI ports and not sure I can run my Cinema Displays because of the mini-display connectors they use.

I am a motion graphics artist and use After Effects and C4D quite extenisively and am looking for better render times and overall performance. I run several plug-ins that utilize OpenGL and am hoping my upgrades will speed this process up.

Suggestions and input is greatly apprectiated.

Cheers,
Dylan

 

[jav6454]

I'll tell you this much. An HD 5870 is a 3 year old card already. It will serve its purpose to an extent, but I'd recommend you use a GTX 570 and try to get monitors that can connect to it.

 

[thelink]

Just get a new computer bro

 

[jav6454]

Just get a new computer bro

Are you suggesting throwing away a perfectly functional Mac Pro (worth a pretty penny) and just dropping $3k?

 

[headkick33]

New computer not happening

Yeah - um No. My computer is great and not time to upgrade yet. So looking for better video performance. Any useful suggestions for video cards is appreciated . Thanks again.

 

[thelink]

No. I just suggested for him to get a new computer. You could just keep the old one for a back up.

 

[jav6454]

Yeah - um No. My computer is great and not time to upgrade yet. So looking for better video performance. Any useful suggestions for video cards is appreciated . Thanks again.

Have you tried looking into a HD 6000 series?

No. I just suggested for him to get a new computer. You could just keep the old one for a back up.

Worthless advice due to the price of a new set up. A cheaper alternative would be a new GFX unit.

 

[thelink]

Yeah - um No. My computer is great and not time to upgrade yet. So looking for better video performance. Any useful suggestions for video cards is appreciated . Thanks again.

I suggest you get the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Graphics. It looks very nice and should run well with what you've got.

 

[headkick33]

I suggest you get the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Graphics. It looks very nice and should run well with what you've got.

That's what I am thinking. Still should be way faster than the stock 120s I have even if 3 years old. Would go for the 570 if I new that I could use adapters for the mini display connections. Thanks

 

[jav6454]

That's what I am thinking. Still should be way faster than the stock 120s I have even if 3 years old. Would go for the 570 if I new that I could use adapters for the mini display connections. Thanks

I don't think there are any adapters atm. Which is why I also told you to look into the HD 6000 series. It is a generation higher than the 5000 series and are Mac Pro compatible.

 

[headkick33]

I don't think there are any adapters atm. Which is why I also told you to look into the HD 6000 series. It is a generation higher than the 5000 series and are Mac Pro compatible.

Cool - I will look into that option.

 

[paulrbeers]

Cool - I will look into that option.

6870 sees to be the popular pick for the AMD chips. There are even threads about running a PC 6870 in a Mac Pro (albeit without the initial boot screens) such as below:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1393451/

I myself am going the Nvidia route, but then I am not using mini/displayport based monitors which Nvidia is only starting to embrace.

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No. I just suggested for him to get a new computer. You could just keep the old one for a back up.

What advantage would s/he have getting a new computer? The 2009 8 core 2.27ghz Mac Pro still beats the entry level Mac Pro 2012.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

If you would like to fund the difference between the OP's GPU upgrade and a new Mac Pro, I'm sure the OP would be more than happy to take your money.

Now be quiet and let the grownups talk.

 

[GermanyChris]

6870 sees to be the popular pick for the amd chips. There are even threads about running a pc 6870 in a mac pro (albeit without the initial boot screens) such as below:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1393451/

i myself am going the nvidia route, but then i am not using mini/displayport based monitors which nvidia is only starting to embrace.

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what advantage would s/he have getting a new computer? The 2009 8 core 2.27ghz mac pro still beats the entry level mac pro 2012.

http://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

if you would like to fund the difference between the op's gpu upgrade and a new mac pro, i'm sure the op would be more than happy to take your money.

now be quiet and let the grownups talk.

lol

 

[headkick33]

Yeah - thinking Radeon it is. Should be good for a year or 2. Then on to a hopefully new breed of mac. Cheers

 

[lixuelai]

HD5870 is faster than HD6870. HD5870 is roughly on par with HD6950 in terms of performance. I don't know how well HD69xx works in OSX since neither are a worthwhile upgrade from a HD5870 (unless you plan on using Crossfire in Windows which I doubt) but a quick look online seems to show that kext support is still immature. IMO a HD5870 is your best bet.

 

[headkick33]

HD5870 is faster than HD6870. HD5870 is roughly on par with HD6950 in terms of performance. I don't know how well HD69xx works in OSX since neither are a worthwhile upgrade from a HD5870 (unless you plan on using Crossfire in Windows which I doubt) but a quick look online seems to show that kext support is still immature. IMO a HD5870 is your best bet.

No Windows running on my machine. EVER!!! hehe

Mainly the reason for upgrade is AE/CD4 and Premiere/Final Cut. Need faster render times.

Thanks for the input. HD5870 looks like the winner. Amazing how difficult it was to answer this question. Not many options it seems for my particular setup. Apple needs to support way more cards and options. But hey, I still love my Mac. It works pretty much flawlessly.

HK

 

[jav6454]

No Windows running on my machine. EVER!!! hehe

Mainly the reason for upgrade is AE/CD4 and Premiere/Final Cut. Need faster render times.

Thanks for the input. HD5870 looks like the winner. Amazing how difficult it was to answer this question. Not many options it seems for my particular setup. Apple needs to support way more cards and options. But hey, I still love my Mac. It works pretty much flawlessly.

HK

Indeed. Apple definitely needs more GPU support when it comes to the Mac Pro...

 

[BenClement1978]

Upgraded my GT120 for a 5870 Running a 24" panel 1920x1200 and a 21" 1920x1080 panel.

was contemplating getting a second GT120 but happy i did not and purchase a 5870 (it runs circles around the GT120)

 

[MrCheesecake]

Why such old cards?

Are the HD 6000 and 7000 series not compatible? And as for the DVI video out, you could always use a cheap minDP adapter. Audio would be your only downside. Personally, I'd go with a 7000 series or higher. You get the same performace for less than you would from Nvidia.

 

[paulrbeers]

Are the HD 6000 and 7000 series not compatible? And as for the DVI video out, you could always use a cheap minDP adapter. Audio would be your only downside. Personally, I'd go with a 7000 series or higher. You get the same performace for less than you would from Nvidia.

Ummm what adapter goes from DVI to displayport? Last I knew there were no "cheap" adapters.... Displayport to DVI yes, but not the other way.

Further, the reason 7000 series isn't being mentioned is because (last I knew) they weren't compatible with Macs yet (at least not out of the box like some of the 5000 and 6000 series)....

 

[Mr Ski 73]

I am running an ATI 5770 with 2x24" ACD plus 1x23" Cinema Display without adapters and it's a lot cheaper

 

[BenClement1978]

I am running an ATI 5770 with 2x24" ACD plus 1x23" Cinema Display without adapters and it's a lot cheaper

and slower....

 

[Asgorath]

Are the HD 6000 and 7000 series not compatible? And as for the DVI video out, you could always use a cheap minDP adapter. Audio would be your only downside. Personally, I'd go with a 7000 series or higher. You get the same performace for less than you would from Nvidia.

Except I've seen no reports that the 7000 series cards actually work yet, while the GTX 680 works with both 10.7.5 and 10.8 for example? The GTX 570 is pretty cheap these days and is faster than the 5870 as well.

 

[bax2003]

For easy install, no flashing, no NOT-WORKING ports, problems with quartz and slow interface in general, get 5870. 5770 will drive you two monitors as well without any problems.

From experience of user from this forum (and some other) many of them have some kind of problems with GTX570. 5870 is still great card, faster than 6870, little slower than 6950.....it will happily drive 3 (1920x1080/1920x1200) monitors.

 

[theSeb]

I don't think there are any adapters atm. Which is why I also told you to look into the HD 6000 series. It is a generation higher than the 5000 series and are Mac Pro compatible.

There are adaptors, but they are an expensive option. You would have to use something like a Kanex XD to input into a miniDP port on the 24" ACD.

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Ummm what adapter goes from DVI to displayport? Last I knew there were no "cheap" adapters.... Displayport to DVI yes, but not the other way.

Further, the reason 7000 series isn't being mentioned is because (last I knew) they weren't compatible with Macs yet (at least not out of the box like some of the 5000 and 6000 series)....

Indeed. Kanex XD will take HDMI to miniDP. You would need two of those and last time I checked they were around $100 each. You would also need DVI or Displayport to HDMI adaptors, if the graphics card did not have 2 HDMI ports, and I haven't seen one that does, but I freely admit that I haven't really been looking.