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Flashing R9 280X for boot screens/PCI System Information
- Thread starter Mr. Zarniwoop
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HWMonitor (and maybe the SMC) can't show more than 7.99 Amp for the boosters. So the Card is probably drawing more than 96W. I fixed the problem by connecting booth 12V connectors on the graphcis card. Now HWMonitor show 7.99 for booth Boosters so the load is more distributed.
here is my post about it: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1811142/
When I powered the 8-pin connector from an external PSU it did draw 180W on the wall. So the card really wants that 150W. But the OverCurrentProtection of the MacPro did not like that. After my patch the Furmark benchmark works without any problems. Before the fix the machine switched off 1-2 seconds after I started the benchmark.
Denis
Always nice with the links to projects that people have made. Good stuff.
In the meantime I've run more Valley, Tomb Raider and Grid 2 trying to max out the settings as far as possible.
I have a 2x24" 1920x1200 setup monitor wise and run the games at 1920 with me monitoring on the second screen.
Only X-Plane gets to those high values and all the other games are slightly below that. Boost B averaging maybe 85-90W under max load.
I haven't encountered any problems like this and I think I'll just roll with it. The main goal with the 280X was to avoid an extra PSU.
The tip about load distribution is interesting, and makes sense, but I couldn't say if 50-50 load is better than 80-20. It might be that the card is designed to suck what it can from the 8pin before looking elsewhere for power.
Anyway, since the Boost B on my computer isn't maxed in all scenarios (only one), I am led to believe that the card is pretty happy.
In the meantime I've run more Valley, Tomb Raider and Grid 2 trying to max out the settings as far as possible.
I have a 2x24" 1920x1200 setup monitor wise and run the games at 1920 with me monitoring on the second screen.
Only X-Plane gets to those high values and all the other games are slightly below that. Boost B averaging maybe 85-90W under max load.
I haven't encountered any problems like this and I think I'll just roll with it. The main goal with the 280X was to avoid an extra PSU.
The tip about load distribution is interesting, and makes sense, but I couldn't say if 50-50 load is better than 80-20. It might be that the card is designed to suck what it can from the 8pin before looking elsewhere for power.
Anyway, since the Boost B on my computer isn't maxed in all scenarios (only one), I am led to believe that the card is pretty happy.
Desolder R17. It's located in the yellow highlighted area.
Attachments
Is it correct that there used to be ATI flashing tool for Mac, then Zeus for Mac… and now there is nothing?
After hacking Bootcamp to allow a USB install on Yosemite and going through a couple of hoops my Windows install won't complete.
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Bootcamp does not support a Mac Pro using a RAID card or software RAID
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Is there no way for me to flash my 280X in OS X? I've got the correct .rom already from earlier in this thread.
What about Free DOS from a USB?
After hacking Bootcamp to allow a USB install on Yosemite and going through a couple of hoops my Windows install won't complete.
--------EDIT-----
Bootcamp does not support a Mac Pro using a RAID card or software RAID
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Is there no way for me to flash my 280X in OS X? I've got the correct .rom already from earlier in this thread.
What about Free DOS from a USB?
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Zeus might work, but I wouldn't count on it.
Don't know of a current OS X tool.
I don't think you can boot legacy mode/CSM from USB?
But, I know you can boot DOS from a CD/DVD, that'd probably work with Free DOS if you put all the needed files on a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. I've not used ATIFlash but it sounds like it'd work.
Zeus won't work in Yosemite for 280X.
There is no tool in OSX atm to flash 280X.
If you still have a empty drive slot. You can just put an old HDD there, install bootcamp, and then use AtiWinFlash. Otherwise, the easiest way may be boot from a USB stick to run DOS and use AtiFlash. In fact, some users prefer DOS and AtiFlash because they believe its a more reliable combination. For me, I use AtiWinFlash quite a few times, no issue so far.
There is no tool in OSX atm to flash 280X.
If you still have a empty drive slot. You can just put an old HDD there, install bootcamp, and then use AtiWinFlash. Otherwise, the easiest way may be boot from a USB stick to run DOS and use AtiFlash. In fact, some users prefer DOS and AtiFlash because they believe its a more reliable combination. For me, I use AtiWinFlash quite a few times, no issue so far.
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Many have done it with great success. It doesn't get easier than what were provided in this thread. I'd suggest contacting MacVidCards for help. He charges for his service but it's worth it.
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--------EDIT-----
Bootcamp does not support a Mac Pro using a RAID card or software RAID
This is not entirely true. It might be unique to your RAID card/chipset. I'm booting Windows 7, 8 and 10TP off an 840 EVO through a RAID card.
Software RAID is not supported by Windows. Hardware RAID array will work if you provide the RAID card drivers during Windows installation.
i very much appreciate this thread, it's incredibly informative. but taking a solder iron to a brand new video card... well... lol
I just installed an R9 280X (MSI "Gaming" 3G OC edition) in a 2008 2.8GHz 8-core. I installed the card with the provided 8-6 pin adapter. It was nice to see it included, and no problems.
It's unflashed, and so far it seems flawless. I may get around to flashing it one day, but the computer is rebooted only every few months anyway. It replaced a genuine Apple 5770. It's definitely snappier, though not overwhelmingly so.
About the resistor: My understanding is that it would rarely make a noticeable difference, and even then it would be so minor that you would have to look for it (i.e., in benchmarks). If you are concerned at all about soldering, then I'd strongly recommend skipping it. I could de-solder it easily, but I don't think I will bother. On the other hand, if you have a nice pair of flush-cutters, you could consider just snipping it cleanly in half. Just be extra sure you've got the right one!
It's unflashed, and so far it seems flawless. I may get around to flashing it one day, but the computer is rebooted only every few months anyway. It replaced a genuine Apple 5770. It's definitely snappier, though not overwhelmingly so.
About the resistor: My understanding is that it would rarely make a noticeable difference, and even then it would be so minor that you would have to look for it (i.e., in benchmarks). If you are concerned at all about soldering, then I'd strongly recommend skipping it. I could de-solder it easily, but I don't think I will bother. On the other hand, if you have a nice pair of flush-cutters, you could consider just snipping it cleanly in half. Just be extra sure you've got the right one!
Mr. Zarniwoop, is this the card?
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-R9-280-GAMING-3G/dp/B00JJNQ99U/
There seem to be two levels of prices for this card, one around $200-250, the other around $300-350, is this just people trying to blow off old revisions or something?
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-R9-280-GAMING-3G/dp/B00JJNQ99U/
There seem to be two levels of prices for this card, one around $200-250, the other around $300-350, is this just people trying to blow off old revisions or something?
Most definitely not the card, that's an R9 280. You want the R9 280X.
I paid $260 minus $15 rebate from newegg.
okay, so i missed the "x" when i ordered the card.... does that mean i am up a creek? i have the card out of the box, i need a power cable for it...
I don't know. For sure it's a different card so the firmware I posted won't work. But...
It looks like that card is a rebadged 7950 so it might work if we treat it as one, including maybe being able to flash it. This is similar to how people got the R9 280X to work, as it's a rebadged 7970 GHz Edition. But, if the R9
280 (no X) is sufficiently different from the 7950 and the firmware needs more surgery to work, then it'll be beyond me to flash it.
So if you want to proceed and try to make the R9 280 (no X) work, I'm game to help.
First questions:
Once properly powered, does Yosemite turn on and initialize the card at the desktop?
If so, what does System Information say about the card under Graphics?
That's exactly what I'm hoping for.
UPDATED:
And it looks like the R9 280 is based on the Tahiti Pro and shares the 0x679A device ID with the AMD Radeon HD 7950! So, seems like a decent chance that this MSI R9 280 (non-X) will work similarly to the MSI R9 280X in a 2006-2012 Mac Pro, albeit with slightly different firmware.
Reading about the MSI R9 280 (non-X) it seems like a compelling deal, only about 7-14% slower than the MSI R9 280X but fully 30% less expensive. And it's still a plenty fast modern graphics card that should have similar memory performance as a 2013 Mac Pro's single AMD FirePro D500 and similar GPU performance as a single FirePro D700.
It looks like the MSI R9 280 (non-X) needs the same 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connections as the MSI R9 280X, there's a picture of the power connections at the bottom of this page: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphi...80-3GB-Gaming-Review-Tahiti-Continues-Its-Run
So my guess on what to do next to flash this MSI R9 280 (non-X):
- Verify it works in Yosemite by going to the desktop, check the device ID in System Information/Graphics. It'll need both the proper 6-pin PCIe and 8-pin PCIe power cables connected to work at all. If it works in Yosemite, and the device ID is 0x679A then things are looking good.
- Boot the MSI R9 280 (non-X) in Windows (on a PC or via Boot Camp on your Mac Pro), run GPU-Z to dump its ROM. Make sure the firmware switch is in "Legacy BIOS" position and dump the "MSITV277MS" ROM, leaving the "MSITV277MH" Hybrid BIOS ROM alone as a backup UEFI ROM in case you use the card in a PC in the future.
- Post that dumped Legacy BIOS MSITV277MS ROM here. It should be 128K in size.
- I'll remove the UEFI portion, and replace with MacVidCard's 7950 EBC EFI firmware. I'll also modify it to report "AMD Radeon R9 280", repackage everything and post it back here for testing.
- Flash that new modified Mac R9 280 (non-X) firmware in Windows (on a PC or via Boot Camp on your Mac Pro) using ATI Winflash with the firmware switch still in the "Legacy BIOS" position. If you put it in a PC later, you can flip it to the "Hybrid BIOS" position. At this point, the Legacy BIOS has been flashed to a combo Legacy PC BIOS/Mac EBC EFI ROM which should work in both a legacy non-UEFI PC and a 2006-2012 Mac Pro.
- Boot the card in Yosemite, verify there's a boot screen and that the PCI section of System Information now fully recognizes the card. If we actually get to this step, I suspect it will work.
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like i said, i feel like a n00b. i have a second power cable on order, it'll get here the end of next week lol. i will put it in and power up once the cable arrives. i'm not deadset on flashing it. it would be nice, but if that means it might not work, i don't want to brick it.
It's hard to brick it because of the firmware switch. If you flash a bad firmware (like make a mistake and somehow flash random junk to the card), you can flip the switch and get to the other firmware copy, reboot to the still-good factory firmware, flip the switch to the junked copy and re-flash the dumped backup of factory firmware over your mistake.
You'd have to doubly mess up and accidentally flash BOTH firmware copies to junk to brick it. Then you'd have no choice but to flash it as a secondary card using the dumped backup, which is more of a pain.
That being said, if it has a different device ID then I listed above, it may not be worth trying as it's unlikely to work.
Couple of questions
Just picked up an MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G OC card from MicroCenter out of their clearance bin for about $225; the box didn't have the right part, but after I paid for it I looked at the sticker on the card itself and both numbers matched what Zarniwoop mentioned in post #3.
I also seem to have lucked out as all the adapters were still in the box, including a weird Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and the needed 8 to 6 pin adapter.
I'll double check the ID when I boot into BootCamp and run ATI WinFlash.
I'll keep the BIOS mode set on Legacy as that's what the flashing should replace, right?
Those of you who say it works OOTB, did you switch from Legacy to UEFI mode?
Will this work for a Mac Pro 5,1 / OS X 10.9.5?
Just picked up an MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G OC card from MicroCenter out of their clearance bin for about $225; the box didn't have the right part, but after I paid for it I looked at the sticker on the card itself and both numbers matched what Zarniwoop mentioned in post #3.
I also seem to have lucked out as all the adapters were still in the box, including a weird Mini-DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and the needed 8 to 6 pin adapter.
I'll double check the ID when I boot into BootCamp and run ATI WinFlash.
I'll keep the BIOS mode set on Legacy as that's what the flashing should replace, right?
Those of you who say it works OOTB, did you switch from Legacy to UEFI mode?
Will this work for a Mac Pro 5,1 / OS X 10.9.5?
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Very Usefull Information
Thanks for these comments - they have been very helpful especially Mr Zarni
It's a shame Nvidia cards are not as easy to work with
BS
Thanks for these comments - they have been very helpful especially Mr Zarni
It's a shame Nvidia cards are not as easy to work with
BS