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timothyreed

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2015
16
1
Why don't you try to flash it yourself?
How many outputs? That might help finding out if it's a reference card.

looking at the photos it has x2 DP, X1 HDMI, and X1 DVI I would love to flash this thing but don't even know where to start.
 

timothyreed

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2015
16
1
Thanks! this forum is one of the most helpful forums that I have come across in a long time. I'll do my research and will post a update when I get my card. Should be here in a few days. I really appreciate all the help.
 

mugwump

macrumors regular
Jan 10, 2004
219
0
I purchased an already flashed Gigabyte R9 280x for a 3,1 2008 Mac Pro at work, and it runs great and quiet. System sees it as a native card. I wanted an Open CL card good for Mac pro apps.
 

timothyreed

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2015
16
1
Ok So I have my card installed and everything is working. Had a few issues with Display port not working and found out that my monitors are set at DP 1.2 and apparently will not work with my card unless i set them to DP 1.1.

In system profiler the R9 380x is listed as a AMD Radeon HD 7xxx 3073 MB. I have also noticed that when I ran the Vally benchmark that it will not go above 30FPS no matter what setting I have. The Frame-rate looks smooth but will sometimes show 10FPS and then max out at 30FPS even with settings set to low and resolution set to 720p on 1440 monitors.

I have not attempted to flash the card yet. This is just stock OSX drivers. Im kind of disappointed in the lack of driver support from ATI. My GT 740 had drivers for OSX but ATI apparently does not.

So what I need to do now is -
  • install windows under bootcamp.
  • install ati flasher?
  • backup videocard BIOS
  • Flash R9 280x with (not sure what I do here)
  • Reboot into OSX and cross fingers
Any help would be awesome guys.
 

timothyreed

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2015
16
1
Well that didn't start very well.

My mac is dead in the water at the moment. The R9 is acting goofy and is flashing colors and artifacts. the funny thing is all i tried to do is boot into windows.

I have a old windows bootcamp HDD that I mounted with my USB 3 HDD dock and I selected it as boot disk in preferences and tried to boot into it ( I figured if it didn't work I could just pull the HDD and it would boot back into OSX). Well it failed miserably and rebooted into OSX with the R9 just going wacky! WTF!!!! Screen tearing, lots of flashing, no screen working at all.

I also noticed that I get blinking red lights on CPU A-B when I restart sometimes. Noticed this all after stupid windows boot fail.

Well I still have my nVidia GT 740 so I put it in and still have a black screen. I think I might need to do a Pram Reset but Im not sure If it will mess with my 32 bit efi. Ill give my info below on my hardware and software. Please Help! This is a production Mac that needs to be running tomorrow.

  • Mac Pro 1,1 (processor upgrade to L5345 2GH quad core that I pulled from old server)
  • 24GB Ram
  • OSX Yosemite with Pikes EFI and Pikes EFI patcher (efi patcher to prevent updates from smoking 32-bit efi)
  • PowerColor TurboDuo Radeon 280x (piece of **** if you ask me)
Any Help would be great guys.
[doublepost=1457319143][/doublepost]Well the PRAM (NVRAM) reset worked. Not sure what happened there It must have messed with the UEFI on the video card or something. Not sure Looks like im back where I started (lol I havent even really started yet) Slow as hell R9 that I cant see a boot screen with. Anyone interested in a R9? I Think im just gonna get a newish 2012 mac pro with a authorized Mac Video card. Im tired of all this. I really need something that just Works!
 
Last edited:

owbp

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2016
719
245
Belgrade, Serbia
I've read the whole tread and will go through it few more times, just in case, but i have question for all of you that participated here and have experience with these cards in past year and a half.

Almost there of buying a 280-280X for my 1,1, as a first mayor upgrade on the list, and this is what I've found in my country, new with /2xmDP 1xHDMI 1xDVI/ ports and 3 year warranty:

- MSI R9 280 Gaming (220 €)
- Gigabyte R9 280X / GV-R928XOC-3GD (245 €)
- MSI R9 280X Gaming LE (260 €)

Originally i had in mind HD7950 but they're only to be found second hand and not much cheaper that R9.

So, R9 280's price is a plus, but i don't know how much of a performance drop there is compared to 25-40 € more 280Xs? Also, is there any advantage in power consumption at all?
Gigabyte's 280X seems like best buy out of the three (good clock, Hynix RAM, cool), but it is power beast (some sites report up to 240-250W steady consumption in games), louder than others and ill have to buy 6pin to 8pin adapter for it.
MSI 280X Gaming LE seems to be the same as regular MSI Gaming with under clock of 860 MHz .

So I'm interested in your experiences so far and any recommendation in one of those three cards.
Ill be using it for FCPX and Win gaming. For anything else I'm using my Mac for i can go with GT210 as far as I'm concerned - DAW work and usual everyday stuff (web, forums...).
I just need it to be stable and solid after flashing (no artifacts and power overdraws) - no overclocking, mining and things like that.
 

timothyreed

macrumors newbie
Feb 26, 2015
16
1
I have the power color R9 280x in a 1,1 and it is pretty much silent. and I haven't had any problems with power consumption. I Haven't tried any games or flashed it yet though.
 

owbp

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2016
719
245
Belgrade, Serbia
Thanks for input, unfortunately no PowerColors here. At least i can't find one.

I did, however, find regular MSI 280X Gaming for 10 euros more than lite edition.
Also, XFX one with desired layout + 1 more DVI but its same price as MSI, only one year warranty and i can swear reading MacVidCards saying to avoid them if we can.
 

richgoga

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2013
150
61
In Windows 7 via Boot Camp on my 2006 Mac Pro, which is somewhat poorly ventilated in a cabinet, I overclocked my Mac-flashed MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G GPU to 1100 MHz and the memory to 1650 MHz and ran a bunch of non-stop graphics benchmarks to push the card to give you an answer on how hot/cool my card runs.

I kept pushing with GPU load around 98-99% (according to GPU-Z) for about an hour and I was able to get it to 76° C and I couldn't get the temperature to go higher. Fan speed stayed between 36-38% around 1700 RPM, and I could not hear it.

I imagine it would run cooler if I didn't have it stuck in my cabinet, where the Mac Pro has about 2" of ventilation on three sides but the front of the case is facing the open.

Hi Mr Zarniwoop,

Your Heaven benchmark score is a touch lower than my OC HD 7950.

Was this the maximum you got out of the card? Do you have any other benchmark data I can use before deciding if the upgrade is worth it?

Thanks
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
Was this the maximum you got out of the card? Do you have any other benchmark data I can use before deciding if the upgrade is worth it?
I posted the only benchmarking I've ever done with the card. I never did anything seriously to try and optimize or maximize performance, it was just quick and dirty so others would have an idea.

Other benchmarking sites seem to peg the 280X as about 15-20% faster than a 7950.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Hi Mr Zarniwoop,

Your Heaven benchmark score is a touch lower than my OC HD 7950.

Was this the maximum you got out of the card? Do you have any other benchmark data I can use before deciding if the upgrade is worth it?

Thanks

Did you run your test in OSX? And choose the same preset?
 

richgoga

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2013
150
61
Did you run your test in OSX? And choose the same preset?

Same preset, Windows 10. Mr Zarniwoop was running Win 7. That's the only difference in our setups, which is why I asked him in particular.

My HD7950 is oc to 1100/1575.

666sheep's benchmark posts in another thread have been helpful.

An R9 280x at stock clocks may not be that much of a bump to what I have now.

Looking for info on how high I can oc a 280x running on internal power only, that will help make up my mind!
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Same preset, Windows 10. Mr Zarniwoop was running Win 7. That's the only difference in our setups, which is why I asked him in particular.

My HD7950 is oc to 1100/1575.

666sheep's benchmark posts in another thread have been helpful.

An R9 280x at stock clocks may not be that much of a bump to what I have now.

Looking for info on how high I can oc a 280x running on internal power only, that will help make up my mind!

Pixlas mod is what you need.
 

richgoga

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2013
150
61
Pixlas mod is what you need.

Yes seen that thread. Very neat build.

Will probably go 2x 6pin to 8pin then run the 6pin from the 2 molex cables in the drive bay.

That's if I can decide if it's worth doing at all.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Yes seen that thread. Very neat build.

Will probably go 2x 6pin to 8pin then run the 6pin from the 2 molex cables in the drive bay.

That's if I can decide if it's worth doing at all.

That should be OK as well, but I personally don't want to sacrifice 2 HDD bay, so I always forget about that option :D
 

CabooseCXVII

macrumors newbie
May 23, 2016
3
0
Hey guys I tried a google and site search and i think I may be doing that wrong lol but I would love some help.

Looking at an Asus Direct CU II R9 280x at a steal of a price and was wondering where I can find the best info on how to flash it for a 2009 Mac pro so I can get the boot screen I am current running the ever amazing GT120 so anything will be a big upgrade... also I wanted to confirm that it will work as it is a 6/6+2 pci-e power and have noticed in the past for some reason for me Asus cards draw more power then say EVGA or Gigabyte.

Thanks also if anyone has a recommended card to look for please let me know in a PM or reply here
 

owbp

macrumors 6502a
Jan 28, 2016
719
245
Belgrade, Serbia
At first post/page of this topic you'll find all links that you need (netkas forum links).
You'll be fine with 6 and 8 pin adapters - I'm running my Gigabyte 7950 the same way (as most people in this topic do).

The only thing, AFAIK, is that it doesn't have reference layout so you'll most probably loose one DVI and DP outputs.
But ill let more experience users to say something about that.
 

fiatlux

macrumors 6502
Dec 5, 2007
352
143
Hey guys I tried a google and site search and i think I may be doing that wrong lol but I would love some help.

Looking at an Asus Direct CU II R9 280x at a steal of a price and was wondering where I can find the best info on how to flash it for a 2009 Mac pro so I can get the boot screen I am current running the ever amazing GT120 so anything will be a big upgrade... also I wanted to confirm that it will work as it is a 6/6+2 pci-e power and have noticed in the past for some reason for me Asus cards draw more power then say EVGA or Gigabyte.

Thanks also if anyone has a recommended card to look for please let me know in a PM or reply here

I had that card and gave up. It has a special PCB layout and a 256K rom. I tried to follow the patching guides but never achieved anything. I would recommend just using it unflashed, in combination with the GT120 if you want to keep a boot screen when needed.
 
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