Because my OC package default to enable HWAccel, which the 7950 doesn't have the required media engine.
You may disable SMBIOS spoofing, which should disable HWAccel.
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Guide to Flash XFX Double D HD 7950 Black Edition Card for Mac Pro
- Thread starter VAGDesign
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You may disable SMBIOS spoofing, which should disable HWAccel.
Fantastic. Thank you @h9826790 This is all very new to me. To ensure SMBIOS spoofing was 'false' it was obviously as simple as:
<key>UpdateSMBIOS</key>
<false/>
I really appreciate your help on this. The gpu was new to me, I had flashed it and wasn't sure whether the flash was correct, there was power leads problem or a fault with the 2nd hand gpu.
<key>UpdateSMBIOS</key>
<false/>
I really appreciate your help on this. The gpu was new to me, I had flashed it and wasn't sure whether the flash was correct, there was power leads problem or a fault with the 2nd hand gpu.
Thank you for posting this. Is the 7950.rom already the Mac ROM file?Guide to Flash XFX Double D HD 7950 Black Edition Card for Mac Pro
XFX Part #: FX-795A-TDBC
Things you need:
- Windows Partition on your Mac Pro or a Windows PC.
- An OEM EFI card for Boot Screens and Choices (like Ati 5770 in case you’re on a Mac Pro)
- Bootable DOS USB Dongle
- EFI Rom from netkas
- Original Rom from your card
- AtiFlash to flash the EFI Rom to your card
- Knowledge and patience.
- Hook up your card on your Mac Pro or your PC on a secondary PCI slot.
- Start Windows, go here and get TechPowerUp GPU-Z. Install it and run the program. Select the 7950 card from the list on the bottom. Next to Bios Version there is a button that lets you save the current Rom to file. Save it and keep it in place.
- If you don’t have access to DOS, go here and download the files, create a bootable USB dongle using the step by step guide in this page.
- Go here and download AtiFlash. (I prefer this instead of AtiWinFlash)
- Go to netkas forum and download the bundle to convert your original rom to an EFI one so you can get Boot Screens. This is the goal of this guide after all.
NOTE: netkas has made a misspelling on the card id number, instead of 697a as he has wrote, YOU SHOULD write 679a. I wonder why this isn’t mentioned there already…- Follow the netkas directions to the letter EXCEPT the above noted one. After this process you will have a file that probably will be named as “Tahiti.rom.efi.rom”. (Mine was named like this on this card model).Rename it to “7950.rom” to be readable with full name in DOS.
- Plug the Bootable DOS USB Dongle on your Mac Pro running Windows or your PC. Inside the mounted USB Dongle create a folder and name it “AtiFlash”. On this folder put the files from AtiFlash download and the Rom file from the previous step (6).
- Reboot and select as Boot device the USB Dongle.
- While on DOS, give the following commands:
cd AtiFlash (this takes you to the folder we will use the program to flash the card)
atiflash -ai 1 (remember that “1” means the second PCI card, not the main, it’s wise to have only the two graphic cards hooked on your computer. The info you will get MUST write Tahiti as the chip name)
atiflash -unlockrom 1 , (I suggest you do this because some Bios files are in fact locked and can't be flashed until unlocked, the XFX ones are indeed locked)
atiflash -f -p 1 7950.rom (this is the flashing process, when it’s done flashing simply CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot to Windows on your PC or your Mac)- Run TechPowerUp GPU-Z and select the second graphics card, if you see it OK with all the card's info and clock speeds, you’re done it right ☺
- Shut down your Mac Pro, unplug the card from PCI slot 3 (probably) and put it in slot 1 after you remove the old OEM you have. In case of Windows PC, shut down, remove the card and put it into your Mac Pro’s PCI Slot 1. In both cases, hook up your monitor to the newly flashed card and enjoy Boot Screens and Correct System Profiler info!
INFO: The card I flashed is this one, you can flash with the same guide all 7950 or 7970 cards I think. I bought the XFX instead of any other brand because of the looks, the reviews I’ve read and the experience I’ve got from this brand. Here is a list of the factory ROMs for this type of cards from XFX at the TechPowerUp website. Make sure to view your card’s model number and the clock speeds before you download any ROM to overclock (if you want) and create a EFI Overclocked ROM to use in your Mac and/or PC. I am attaching the ROM I used to flash my card, the factory clock speeds of my card are: GPU Clock 900 / Memory Clock 1375 so this is the final EFI ROM I’ve flashed on my card. (you can use it if you have the same model and save some time)
PROS: You save money, you get a card fully recognized and functional for your Mac Pro with superior Hardware made by XFX, with great cooling, and low consumption (needs 2x6pin Mini PCIe to PCIe power cables without any internal or external PSU)
CONS: You lose 1 DVI, in my case the card has 2 DVIs and I lost the second one (red color). I don’t mind at all. Total ports in my card are: 2 DVIs, 2 mini DPs and one HDMI. If your card has only 1 DVI, you have to know that this won’t work from now on after the EFI rom is installed on the card.
CREDITS: Thanks and salutes goes to netkas, Rominator and all the websites linked in this guide. Without them, we couldn’t have these amazing cards installed in our Mac Pros.
DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible to any damage you may cause to your computer(s) using this guide, nor any other person or website I’ve provided/linked. You will loose your warranty if you flash your card with any no factory ROM, so BE WARNED! Also make sure to use the DOS commands by letter so you won’t brick your OEM/Factory cards with wrong ROM.
I hope this guide will help many of you who want to upgrade your Graphics Card to something very powerful for our old/classic Mac Pros. If I had it, I could have saved much time last night when I flashed my new XFX 7950 DD Black Edition.
You can see the Mac Pro I own at my signature.
Greetings from Greece and good luck flashing, remember I said that Knowledge and patience is one of the things required but never mentioned on this guide so far, now you need’em
-VAG.
EDIT: Added a screenshot by System Profiler
I was wondering the same thing.
But I think it's already the modded bios for this exact xfx card, like the topic starter has.. ?
I am about to buy a same model, (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/xfx-double-d-hd-7950-black-edition.b843)
So I think I can just use his shared rom file, flash in trough bootcamp or a pc, and it should work.. ?
Anyone can confirm.. ?
ROM was made from this: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/130831/xfx-hd7950-3072-121021
Bios-Version: 015.026.000.000.000000
Build date: 2012-10-21 22:33:00
DevID: 0x679A
Subvendor: 0x1682 (=XFX)
Only 2 differences found in vbios-image.
Bios-Version: 015.026.000.000.000000
Build date: 2012-10-21 22:33:00
DevID: 0x679A
Subvendor: 0x1682 (=XFX)
Only 2 differences found in vbios-image.
Ok thx,
So this link already lists the modded rom you mean.. ?
Or only shows the source rom used here ?
My xfx7950 should arrive in a few days..
I mainly bought it as an replacement/upgrade for my flashed gtx680.
On which display port does not work past mojave, known nvidia kepler bug within macos..
im about to flash my bios today, I think it's best to use Mojave for it ?
for best compatability with java and python needed for the script to run.. ?
I just did a test with Big Sur, and got some errors I think..
I am also planning on using atiflash 2.84 to flash back the new modded rom.
Thanks all again for your support so far !
for best compatability with java and python needed for the script to run.. ?
I just did a test with Big Sur, and got some errors I think..
I am also planning on using atiflash 2.84 to flash back the new modded rom.
Thanks all again for your support so far !
I just ran the netkas script again on my macpro mojave, and I dont think I got any more errors.
Can anyone perhaps please confirm this for me ?
running on 7950mac.efi, efiromheader.rom with devid 679a
Patching files 7950mac.efi, efiromheader.rom for device-id 0x679a
Successfully patched efi file
Successfully patched efi rom file
Orig Size = 125440
Comp Size = 47591
47591+0 records in
47591+0 records out
47591 bytes transferred in 0.231558 secs (205525 bytes/sec)
EFI part is ready at 679a.efipart.rom
orig size - 65536
65536+0 records in
65536+0 records out
65536 bytes transferred in 0.327777 secs (199941 bytes/sec)
Before:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x259, indicator=0x0, checksum=0x7f)
OpRom (size=48128, indicator_offset=0x31, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x0)
RawData (size=17408)
After:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x259, indicator=0x0, checksum=0x7f)
OpRom (size=48128, indicator_offset=0x31, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x47)
RawData (size=17408)
the rom is ready at cardname.rom.efi.rom
Can anyone perhaps please confirm this for me ?
running on 7950mac.efi, efiromheader.rom with devid 679a
Patching files 7950mac.efi, efiromheader.rom for device-id 0x679a
Successfully patched efi file
Successfully patched efi rom file
Orig Size = 125440
Comp Size = 47591
47591+0 records in
47591+0 records out
47591 bytes transferred in 0.231558 secs (205525 bytes/sec)
EFI part is ready at 679a.efipart.rom
orig size - 65536
65536+0 records in
65536+0 records out
65536 bytes transferred in 0.327777 secs (199941 bytes/sec)
Before:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x259, indicator=0x0, checksum=0x7f)
OpRom (size=48128, indicator_offset=0x31, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x0)
RawData (size=17408)
After:
OpRom (size=65536, indicator_offset=0x259, indicator=0x0, checksum=0x7f)
OpRom (size=48128, indicator_offset=0x31, indicator=0x80, checksum=0x47)
RawData (size=17408)
the rom is ready at cardname.rom.efi.rom
thanks for your offer.
Seems like this xfx 7950 was dead, it's not giving any signal output.
I got my money back from the seller, and bought another xfx 7950, which is already pre flashed..
If anyone has some suggestions on fixing this dead one, I would love to know.
Thanks in advance,
Ok thanks for the advice !
I will try that.
It btw also gave no sign of video signal using my cmp 5,1 with mojave.
Another option would be to put the dead card in slot 2 or 3 in your Mac Pro with a stock GT120 or HD 5770 in slot. This way, you could test if
1) The system actually boots and
2) Mojave recognizes it.
If 2) is true, click on About This Mac and it should be recognized as an AMD Radeon HD7xxx 3GB RAM if it hasn't been flashed to a Mac ROM.
yes thanks, will try that in the future, got a spare gt120 laying arround.
thanks for your tips/help so far !
Just used the script to create a ROM for a XFX 7970 card. Got problems and noticed, that the script is not safe regarding spaces in the filenames/directories. So beware if your path has spaces. Haven't checked the script, guess some quotes are missing somewhere.
./makerom.sh: line 42: /Volumes/ext/username/Desktop/Mac: No such file or directory
The path was something like /Volumes/ext/username/Desktop/Mac Radeon flashing/or/what/ever/bundle
In doubt, use as working directory an external disk like /Volumes/Externaldrivename/bundle with a short path.
./makerom.sh: line 42: /Volumes/ext/username/Desktop/Mac: No such file or directory
The path was something like /Volumes/ext/username/Desktop/Mac Radeon flashing/or/what/ever/bundle
In doubt, use as working directory an external disk like /Volumes/Externaldrivename/bundle with a short path.
Probably won't help if your bios filename has spaces. So just take care that there are no spaces in path and filenames.
As I said, don't have the time to check the script now, but I guess that filenames and paths are not quoted correctly or escaped (\). Might be just in that line 42, might be at other lines too.
Could be the reason why the scripts fails quite often. People often say it failed, but don't provide the printout, so we don't know.
As I said, don't have the time to check the script now, but I guess that filenames and paths are not quoted correctly or escaped (\). Might be just in that line 42, might be at other lines too.
Could be the reason why the scripts fails quite often. People often say it failed, but don't provide the printout, so we don't know.
I just have a few questions I didn't see while reading. I have a 5,1 with a HD 5870. It is on High Sierra and is my Emby Server. I managed to use a donor card to get the last boot rom. I can't seem to find a version of windows 10 that will fit on a DVD so that I can install it on a spare drive and do all of this since some of the software I am going to need is windows based.
1) Can this all be done in a windows 10 VM using VirtualBox?
2) If not, does anyone have a download to a Version of 10 (or 7) that fits on a DVD? I got blank DVDs and a Optical drive, and even a VM if I have to. Every link I chase wants me to already have windows set up, and some sites are saying to use a DVD and not a bootable USB.
3) If not, can I just make a liveDVD/CD of linux (like mint or Ubuntu) and just do all of this there?
4) Since I only have one pair of 6 pin power cables, which GPU should be powered and hooked up? In other words, do I use the stock 5870 but have the other card installed, do I boot with the 7950 powered up into my VM/live Dvd/7 environment?
I am just a little confused. My goal is to eventually upgrade my Mac Pro Emby Server to Mojave, maybe Catalina. I just want to be able to do safe browsing as I multitask this machine and it is always on.
1) Can this all be done in a windows 10 VM using VirtualBox?
2) If not, does anyone have a download to a Version of 10 (or 7) that fits on a DVD? I got blank DVDs and a Optical drive, and even a VM if I have to. Every link I chase wants me to already have windows set up, and some sites are saying to use a DVD and not a bootable USB.
3) If not, can I just make a liveDVD/CD of linux (like mint or Ubuntu) and just do all of this there?
4) Since I only have one pair of 6 pin power cables, which GPU should be powered and hooked up? In other words, do I use the stock 5870 but have the other card installed, do I boot with the 7950 powered up into my VM/live Dvd/7 environment?
I am just a little confused. My goal is to eventually upgrade my Mac Pro Emby Server to Mojave, maybe Catalina. I just want to be able to do safe browsing as I multitask this machine and it is always on.