Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Flashing 5770 and 5870 for Mac Pro 2008 and later (EFI64 for now boys, sorry)

Hi Rominator

Thanks for your good work, i´ve here an Sapphire 5870 Game Edititon with 2xDVI, 1xDPand 1xHDMI.

looks like to be the same reference to the XFX5870 from wich you´re offer the first ROM. I flashed the card with both ROMs (XFX5870 and SAP5870) under both roms the card is shown under mac os x in the system profiler but no video out to the Display over DVI.

is it also possible to check my ROM to get an modified?

Thanks for your response.

macuser2003
 

Attachments

  • ORIGSAP5870.BIN.zip
    46.4 KB · Views: 194
Tesseract said:
Curiousity got the better of me, and I decided to try flashing my Sapphire Vapor-X 5870 with the same rom supplied to macroysan by Netkas/Rominator in this thread. My PN: 288-1E140-100SA (as opposed to macroysan's 200SA)

aaaaaaaaand....

SUCCESS!

Unlike Macroysan, I have the latest Snow Leopard Graphics Update kexts installed... so interesting to see the increase in framerate and the fail of the OpenGL 3.0 tests... fascinating.

Strange though... I get no detected sound output devices upon restart from Windows to Mac OS... but when I restart again into Mac OS the 2nd time... sound works just fine. Wonder whats going on there..?
Click to expand...


Hi Tesseract !

Congrats to you. If you would like to compare with my OpenGL Test then you have to sett the same settings that i did!
Take a look at Post 124

I use 1920x1200.
 
Which BIOS?

I've ordered a sapphire vapor-x 5870, to replace the borken 8800GT in my 2008 (3,1) macpro.

Which BIOS should I flash it with? There have been several posted here...
 
I have a few questions regarding these new cards and this looks like a thread where i may get some answers as there seems to be some knowledgable folk here!

I currently have a 2008 dual 2.8 Mac Pro with an 8800GT in it. I am using that to run 2 x 23" ACDs.

I plan on upgrading to an NEC 27" or 30" monitor in the not too distant future and these have both DVI and Display port inputs - this will become my main monitor but I want to keep my 2 ACDs as well so I will have a 3 monitor setup.

I am interested in the 5870 - but the Apple one would be no good to me as it has 2 x Mini DP and 1 DVI. The PC version seems perfect (in terms of outputs) as it has 2 x DVI and 1 x DP which is exactly what I would need.

However, I seem to remember reading here somewhere that the flashed PC version won't run 3 monitors - is that correct? and if so, is it always likely to remain that way or may that get fixed as the flash files get better?

I considered that I might be able to keep my 8800gt and use it to run the ACDs and use an apple 5870 for the NEC but then I realised that a) I wouldn't have enough power plugs (I would need 3 and only have 2) and b) apparently running both ATI and Nvidia cards can cause problems, or simply won't work, in Windows. Am I right about that?

So will it be possible to run the 3 monitors I want using a flashed PC 5870 or is this never going to work?

If not, is there another card/combination of cards that would allow me to do it?

Also, if the 5870 can work, would there be any benefit in keeping my 8800GT in the MP, even if it wasn't connected to a monitor, for it's CUDA capabilities? I do a bit of After Effects rendering and I have heard that CUDA cards can help speed that up? If so and I did do that, would I have problems in Windows even though the monitor wasn't connected?

thanks for any help on this.
 
His 5870 Rom

Alright, I received my second hand HIS Radeon HD 5870 and extracted its ROM.

I used the same FreeDOS boot CD as last time, but with the newest ATIFlash (v3.79) from TechPowerUp - the procedure was the same as described here. Since I didn't have access to my Windows Vista partition (NTFS) when booted off the FreeDOS CD I created a small FAT partition on another hard disk and put ATIFlash on there. After booting FreeDOS I could access that partition as C:.

Here's the MD5 checksum from the original ROM, just in case. ;)
Code: 
$ md5 HIS5870.ROM 
MD5 (HIS5870.ROM) = b66ec99bc1b4cae8dcd2fa4f2a0f33f5

If anyone (Rominator?) could turn this into a Mac capable ROM I'd very much appreciate it.

BTW I tried to extract the ROM with WinFlash (v2.0.1.11) from TechPowerUp as well (when booted into Win Vista), and the result is the same (ROM has the same MD5 checksum). If this works to put a new ROM onto the card that would be way more convenient than booting from the FreeDOS CD and using ATIFlash.

Update: ATIFlash showed the asic as "Cypress", and the BIOS P/N as 113-C00101-101. The product code (according to the box) seems to be "H587F1GDG".
 

Attachments

  • HIS5870.ROM.zip
    48.5 KB · Views: 234
  • Like
Reactions: theoamoretti
Tesseract said:
Strange though... I get no detected sound output devices upon restart from Windows to Mac OS... but when I restart again into Mac OS the 2nd time... sound works just fine. Wonder whats going on there..?
Click to expand...

I have the same issue with my 4890. I am not sure what is causing that. I never did a lot of checking because I hardly ever use Windows at the moment.
 
if it's vanilla card then just utilize same rom for all, no need to make rom every time
 
Pressure said:
Failing OpenGL 3.0 is really not that fascinating considering the operating system doesn't fully support it yet :)
Click to expand...

Yeah - not fascinating that 3.0 failed - just fascinating that it "passed" with 0 fps on Macroysan's setup (w/out the graphics update drivers), but failed on mine (with them). And mostly just the difference between the framerates.

MacRoysan said:
Hi Tesseract !

Congrats to you. If you would like to compare with my OpenGL Test then you have to sett the same settings that i did!
Take a look at Post 124

I use 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the exact test, since I have a 16:9 monitor and have no way to switch to 1920x1200. Even with the resolution difference, I still think the Snow Leopard Graphics Update drivers show a marked increase in performance.
 
Wanting to try out Sapphire 5770 on MP 3,1

Howdy, I've got a Mac Pro 3,1 with a crudful Radeon 2600 (*cries*).

Anyway, I just picked up a Sapphire "Radeon HD 5770". I've attached the stock ROM for that card to this post.

I've read all of this thread thus far as well as some stuff from Netkas' site (I love you dude) and I've reviewed stuff from that sage of dudes that wrote up Zeus....

What I'm a little unsure of in particular right now is how to actually use the vanilla ROM that Netkas has from the imac hack he did.. I tried to flash that via Zeus, but it complained - I hope it wasn't confused and trying to flash the 2600 card I'm running on? I have a few PCs to fall back on if I screw everything up at least. I guess from other posts, I can only flash this via a dos util for now?

Also, Netkas' instructions said to install those drivers he linked up before flashing. I'm confused there as I thought the point of this whole process was to make the card act like a stock Apple card? Obviously there's something I'm missing as I'm sure Netkas has a damned good idea about what he's doing.

Any tips for a newb?
 

Attachments

  • Sapphire-5770-juniper.rom.zip
    45.8 KB · Views: 206
dawning said:
Howdy, I've got a Mac Pro 3,1 with a crudful Radeon 2600 (*cries*).

Anyway, I just picked up a Sapphire "Radeon HD 5770". I've attached the stock ROM for that card to this post.

I've read all of this thread thus far as well as some stuff from Netkas' site (I love you dude) and I've reviewed stuff from that sage of dudes that wrote up Zeus....

What I'm a little unsure of in particular right now is how to actually use the vanilla ROM that Netkas has from the imac hack he did.. I tried to flash that via Zeus, but it complained - I hope it wasn't confused and trying to flash the 2600 card I'm running on? I have a few PCs to fall back on if I screw everything up at least. I guess from other posts, I can only flash this via a dos util for now?

Also, Netkas' instructions said to install those drivers he linked up before flashing. I'm confused there as I thought the point of this whole process was to make the card act like a stock Apple card? Obviously there's something I'm missing as I'm sure Netkas has a damned good idea about what he's doing.

Any tips for a newb?
Click to expand...

As far as I know - Zeus isn't ready for the 5000 series cards yet. Also, even though we're essentially flashing some EFI stuff onto the cards, you still need drivers to run the card. The kexts from Netkas' site are just the latest from the Snow Leopard Graphics update (which has only been officially released to OSX developers so far) from the MacMini update. To flash your card, you'll need to boot into Windoze or DOS. Read Cindori's golden guide for more info.

Edit: the kexts on Netkas' site are from the MacMini refresh, not the "SLGU." My bad.
 
I was a bit uncertain if I do in fact need a custom ROM after reading Netkas' comment about vanilla cards, so I tried flashing my HIS 5870 with the XFX and Sapphire 5870 ROMs, but ATIFlash complained about "wrong SSID" and didn't actually flash.

So still hoping for a kind soul to give the HIS 5870 ROM in this post a makeover. :D
 
Tesseract said:
The kexts from Netkas' site are just the latest from the Snow Leopard Graphics update (which has only been officially released to OSX developers so far). To flash your card, you'll need to boot into Windoze or DOS. Read Cindori's golden guide for more info.
Click to expand...

no, the kexts are from macmini
 
But how to install

Howdy, forgive my n00fulness, I'm just not sure WHERE/HOW to install the 5770/5870 drivers? Do I need to install all the files in Netkas' driver package, or just something that corresponds to what I'm using?

Do I need to use that ATI_Init tool I've seen referred to for driver installation, or can I just dump the kexts in some place like /Library/Extensions/?

Once we've got the ROM dump from actual Apple 5770/5870 cards, we'll be able to run these cards in our Mac Pros without adding these drivers, right?

(massive thanks)
 
You need to have installed either graphics update or drivers I linked to in my blog.

ATY_init is not driver, its injector, and you dont need it.

also the card has to have efi part in rom in order to work in macpro

clear ?
 
spiritlevel said:
Will it be possible to run the 3 monitors (2 x DVI / 1 DP) using a flashed PC 5870 or is this never going to work?
Click to expand...

Would love to know the answer to this if anyone knows...if this is the wrong thread to ask, then please accept my apologies - let me know and I'll start my own thread.
 
spiritlevel said:
Would love to know the answer to this if anyone knows...if this is the wrong thread to ask, then please accept my apologies - let me know and I'll start my own thread.
Click to expand...

I can't say for certain but I've seen on netkas' site that someone using a hackintosh has got all three outputs working. It needed a bit of trickery (changing framebuffers). I'm planning on buying a third DVI monitor for use with my hackintosh soon and I'll have to do some investigation into this because right now output from my mini display port doesn't seem to work with any kind of adapter (VGA, DVI, active dual link DVI).
 
what about 1GB vs 2GB on the 5870?

Hi,

it seems a lot here draw the conclusion to just get the Apple 5870 instead of flashing a cheaper PC version of the card, since the price difference is basically non-existant.

What I am wondering here is: the Apple card has 1 GB Ram, whereas a lot of the cards in the wild can be purchased with 2 GB.

Are there any advantages using the 2 GB card (and thus flashing a PC version)? I have read mixed opinions about this. Some say the 2 GB are only relevant in very very new games using DirectX 11.

What do you guys think? Will the 1 GB version be fine to play new games with maxed out settings at 2560*1600?
 
MacRoysan said:
Hi Tesseract !

Congrats to you. If you would like to compare with my OpenGL Test then you have to sett the same settings that i did!
Take a look at Post 124

I use 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

used your settings ..pushed even ansisotropy to the highest level 16


Your 5870 :

http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=246510&stc=1&d=1281961947

my 5770:


http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=246511&stc=1&d=1281961968


http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=246513&stc=1&d=1281962887

5770 looks better --Tessaracts 5870 vapor-x looks best



we have to see more from the 5870 with new drivers ....yes.. where the new 5xxx cards really shine... thats opencl

twice as fast as a HD 4850..and thats with an opencl driver bug detecting the card not with 850Mhz ..only with 725 Mhz (its very close to a GTX 285 !)
good decision from Apple to look into the red corner -the 5770 is dead silent - fast - draws almost no electricity - like it.
 

Attachments

  • attachment.jpg
    attachment.jpg
    98 KB · Views: 260
  • Bildschirmfoto 2010-08-16 um 14.22.24.png
    Bildschirmfoto 2010-08-16 um 14.22.24.png
    72.1 KB · Views: 299
  • Bildschirmfoto 2010-08-16 um 14.41.59.png
    Bildschirmfoto 2010-08-16 um 14.41.59.png
    60.6 KB · Views: 241
Unfortunately, The Rominator will not be coming back so anyone looking for ROM mod requests will have to study this thread and netkas' site and try to do it themselves.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back