Confirmed AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Running on Mac Pro

[dnbblah]

Something isn't quite right here.

If I put the 7970 I have in my 3,1 and boot it into 10.8.3 it works fine with 6 to 8 pin adapter.

But if I try to run "Furmark" on fullscreen on 27" Apple LED it will SHUT THE COMPUTER DOWN EVERY TIME.

Loud click, SMC has to be reset to boot again. To be fair, a full speed GTX580 will do the same thing. But in 2nd slot it runs for a few seconds, in slot 1 it will literally shut down as soon as the test starts running.

The 3,1 has been upgraded to 3.2 Ghz Dual CPUs, but has only 2 drives and no other PCIE cards.

On my 4,1/5,1 so far it hasn't choked the machine yet, but if I can smother the 3,1 with this 7970, then others can as well.

Were you running Furmark with just it's tiny little default window or running it in full screen mode?

Hey there,

don't know if it quite fits the topic but today i tried running a xfx 7950 black-edition on my 3,1 Pro resulting into Black-Screen and gpu fan at fullspeed result. (2x 6pin)

So i guess not an power-management issue but maybe there's something related to the 3,1 pro, or i just got a factory broken card or its driver issue..

@MacVidCards did you try an 7950 card on your 3,1?
@MavVidCards, im curious did you try a 2 x molex to PCI-E 8PIN in addition with the 6pin from the pcb to power the 7970?

Thx btw for try-n-erroring here.
Btw. is there a list of tested/working 7950/7970 cards on the different pro models out there in the forums? Couldn't find any.

cheers

 

[dnbblah]

I am really curious what the OSX driver CD is about. I always thought as the OSX containing the driver, but apparently there is a 2nd set of drivers. I will certainly do a before and after benchmark on the software.

Updated: Wow, just like that New Egg SOLD OUT! Ka kaa!

very curious too, maybe these drivers fix some issues with other pc-cards used as well..

 

[100Daily]

I'm confused, too, but I may have misread your post. Why would my machine w/7970 freeze in less than a minute after booting vs your being able to run stress tests? I did have the card connected to 3 27" Apple displays but simply booted into Windows and let it sit. This was a fresh W7 install so nothing crazy was being loaded during startup.

I had what may be the same card MSI 7970 connected via 1 6p and 1 6p-8p connector in my 2010 MP. I had no other video or PCI cards in the machine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007NG3WQI/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I just realized you have the MSI Lightening. I have the MSI 2PMD3GD5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127652

 

[dnbblah]

I just realized you have the MSI Lightening. I have the MSI 2PMD3GD5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127652

thats interesting, i guess that if you don't take a reference board the pro seems to have some issues? my black edition also was a 2x dvi jenzjen seems to have a 4x mini-dp and yours look like the reference design: 1x hdmi 2x mini-dp 1xdvi-d.

I gonna order an 7950 with reference design soon and will report if interested.

 

[jenzjen]

thats interesting, i guess that if you don't take a reference board the pro seems to have some issues? my black edition also was a 2x dvi jenzjen seems to have a 4x mini-dp and yours look like the reference design: 1x hdmi 2x mini-dp 1xdvi-d.

I gonna order an 7950 with reference design soon and will report if interested.

I don't know the hard numbers behind it, but in retrospect, I should have only driven 1 monitor to see if driving all 3 caused the card to be under powered and consequently shut down.

 

[dnbblah]

I don't know the hard numbers behind it, but in retrospect, I should have only driven 1 monitor to see if driving all 3 caused the card to be under powered and consequently shut down.

well maybe, mine shut down on load with just two monitors connected and the tpd of the card is max. 230 watt.. so i guess maybe its not just a power issue maybe also a driver issue.

 

[Squilly]

Can't wait to see what the Mac Pro has in store for us

 

[spaz8]

very curious too, maybe these drivers fix some issues with other pc-cards used as well..

Could be so AMD does not need to wait for 10.8.4.., 10.7.6 or some graphics update from Apple to roll out. Or perhaps, people without internet? that can't run the product without it.

 

[K15]

Ok,

I just got my Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X GHz Edition Card w/ 6G's today. I will give this thing a try on Thursday. The external 450 watt power supply came today too.

I would install the equipment today but it sat outside in 29 degree temps all day. I will allow the equipment to come to room temp over night and install on Thursday.

With all this talk on this thread I wanted to see if upgrading from my two 5770's will work.

 

[100Daily]

very curious too, maybe these drivers fix some issues with other pc-cards used as well..

ANSWER: When you put in the disk, it just says "you already have the latest software".

I am actually going to return the Mac Card. I use boot camp, and no matter what BIOS you use it won't work with Windows. My Apple 5870 and 5770 worked fine in boot camp. The Mac 7950 doesnt work. The windows drivers just hate it. Catalyst doesn't recognize it. No bueno.

Here is my official review thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17035194#post17035194

 

[K15]

Well, I installed the Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X GHz Edition Card. BAM works like a champ.

Black screen when booting up. Video present at desktop when the machine finishing booting up.

 

[dnbblah]

ANSWER: When you put in the disk, it just says "you already have the latest software".

I am actually going to return the Mac Card. I use boot camp, and no matter what BIOS you use it won't work with Windows. My Apple 5870 and 5770 worked fine in boot camp. The Mac 7950 doesnt work. The windows drivers just hate it. Catalyst doesn't recognize it. No bueno.

Here is my official review thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17035194#post17035194

Thx for your review @100Daily, good to know, i guess im not going to buy the mac edition even because of the price tag here in Europe.. they charge 620 dollar abt 479euro so basically they just switched the dollar sign against the euro-sign, again which is ridiculous..

----------

Well, I installed the Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X GHz Edition Card. BAM works like a champ.

Black screen when booting up. Video present at desktop when the machine finishing booting up.

Interesting, it doesn't look like a reference design and the card is working, have you tried some stress testing, my card 7950 black was also working in desktop but crashed while stressed out..

 

[K15]

Is there a program you would like me to use??

 

[flabecot]

Can you make some benches like cinebench 11.5, luxmark and Unigine ?

 

[K15]

flabecot,

I will download and install each program and test in the order you presented.

How don't know how long this will take?


Be patient.

 

[MacVidCards]

Cinebench is WORSE than worthless, don't waste your time.

Barefeats.com has tested 7950 vs various other cards, go there.

 

[K15]

----------

 

[K15]

 

[kgapp]

7950 installation success

I am happy to report that my Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition arrived and installation was a complete success. It works fantastic in OS X 10.8.3 and also works perfectly in a Win 7 bootcamp partition.

The 7950 FLIES in OS X and even more so in bootcamp (as usual windows drivers are superior). No comparison to my 5770. Not by a long shot.

I can safely report that the Sapphire 7950 appears to be the real deal. Current generation GPU, EFI support for boot display, completely safe power draw specs for the Mac Pro hardware. Other than the cost there seems to be no downside that I can tell.

The only thing that I am disappointed about is that I still can't view any DRM'd movies in iTunes as I receive the dreaded HDCP error. I believe this problem is related to my 30" ACD being hooked up via the DVI port. I have a feeling this problem will likely never go away until I find a worthwhile set of displays to replace my aging 30" ACD and two flanking 20" ACD's in portrait mode. If anyone has any success playing DRM'd movies when outputting to ACD's please enlighten me as to what I am doing wrong.

7950 benchmark in OS X 10.8.3:

 

[dnbblah]

flabecot,

I will download and install each program and test in the order you presented.

How don't know how long this will take?


Be patient.

thx for your post, looks like you don't have any troubles at all with your card.
enjoy!

 

[KBS756]

Well, I installed the Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X GHz Edition Card. BAM works like a champ.

Black screen when booting up. Video present at desktop when the machine finishing booting up.

Considering doing this could you please post pictures of how you set up powering the card?

Thanks!

 

[K15]

I bought these items:

C2G / Cables to Go 10149 ATA Male to LP4 Female Power Cable -6-Inch, Multi
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AI272I/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

4 Pin Molex Sleeved Fan Cable extension - 48"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TJY5S8/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I did buy the:

NZXT CB-8V-45 Individually Sleeved 8Pin Video Extension Premium Cable (450mm, Black)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZDNXYY/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Then realized that no one is going to see my Mac Pro in my office under my desk so I did not use the extension cables.

I just went with Keep it , Plain and Simple.

 

[handheldgames]

I bought these items:

A couple thoughts...
1) That power supply would be a great replacement for your DVD-R drive.
2) If you need power, the lines that feed the DVD Drive bay are at the front of the motherboard. Its a Mini 4P connector.

 

[K15]

I did look at the way a few others did theirs with reversing the fans on the external power supply, mounting it in and under the optical drive. Those folks did some very very work on their machines.

Thank you, Handheldgames for the insight on that information. I may have to go back in and streamline some things.

 

[handheldgames]

Thank you, Handheldgames for the insight on that information. I may have to go back in and streamline some things.

No Problem. Im in the middle of a rewiring job myself Im not sure If I would reverse the flow of air through the extra PSU. If it's not too hot, it may be OK to push it through the PRO's PSU.

Can you or someone please confirm the configuration of resistors on the back of the 7950 PCB? Im trying to track down the physical difference on the back of the board. I only have access to low-res images from new egg.

Does the Sapphire PCB have small resistors at these locations?

Thx!