Help Overclocking 12 core Mac Pro

[phooodisgoood]

Mid 2010
Processor 2 x 2.93 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 12 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 7xxx 3072 MB (7950 I don't know why About this mac lists it as 7xxx)
Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5

I have all the other software to help make sure I don't destroy my GPU, but ATIccelerator 2 can't recognize my graphics card. Not sure if it even works on lion. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-JL

 

[h9826790]

You can't use ATIccelerator 2 to OC your 7950. In order to achieve that. You need to... (before start, make sure your card has a ROM switch as a safety precaution)

1) Boot your Mac Pro into Windows

2) Use Software (e.g. MSI Afterburner + Furmark / Unigine Valley) to slowly push your card and decide your final stable safe setting (e.g. 1100/1500 @1.15V + custom fan profile)

3) Use GPU-Z to save the vBIOS to a .rom image file

4) Back it up x2

5) Use VBE7 to modify the 3D profile (the lowest profile on power play tag) to your final setting (e.g. 1100/1500 @1.15V), no need to touch other profiles, you can't change them by VBE7.

6) If required, modify the fan profile and the max power.

7) Save that setting to a new .rom file.

8) Flash the card with the new .rom image by using AtiWinFlash

9) Now you can restart in OSX and enjoy your OC 7950.

If you want the boot screen, then continue the following... (N.B. the HDMI port may be disabled as a side effect)

10) Boot into OSX

11) Get your device ID in the system report (e.g. 679a)

12) Run fixrom script with the correct device id in order to produce a efi.rom image file.

13) Boot into Windows again

14) Use AtiWinFlash to flash that new efi.rom image to the card.

By now, you should have a OC 7950 in OSX with Boot screen.

 

[phooodisgoood]

Thanks a million looks like a long day of testing ahead of me

 

[phooodisgoood]

I understand the values are set but is there a way to write apple script to turn OC on and off once I set it up from the Windows side?

 

[brand]

You do realize that the process is flashing the firmware of the video card don't you?

 

[h9826790]

I understand the values are set but is there a way to write apple script to turn OC on and off once I set it up from the Windows side?

Sorry, I don't know is that possible, but at least there is no such script at this moment, otherwise, you just need that script to OC your card.

As Brand point's out, it's a firmware OC, you chance the card's setting permanently. If you can "switch off" the OC, that means you can down clock your card by a script, technically you can OC it by the same script as well.

 

[666sheep]

You may also want to upgrade your OS to 10.8.5 at least. 10.7.5 drivers are very poor performance-wise.

 

[phooodisgoood]

The computer won't take 10.8 for whatever reason, it took about two weeks to fully erase all the damage it did when we tried to upgrade years ago.

I'm going to college in less than a month and the computer is meant for video editing for my dad. The less complicated the process is to manage the OC once I'm gone the better.

From what I can see it would be best/easiest to do a permamnet slight OC rather than OC it near its limit for short periods of time...

 

[G4DP]

The computer won't take 10.8 for whatever reason, it took about two weeks to fully erase all the damage it did when we tried to upgrade years ago.

I'm going to college in less than a month and the computer is meant for video editing for my dad. The less complicated the process is to manage the OC once I'm gone the better.

From what I can see it would be best/easiest to do a permamnet slight OC rather than OC it near its limit for short periods of time...

That computer can run 10.8 without issue unless you have messed about with other hardware. As for erasing damage? How did it cause damage other than software that would take a re-install.

If you are leaving, and your dad is going to be running the machine then leaving it other than factory defaults is a stupid idea, unless you are going to come running if anything goes wrong. If your dad want something over clocked it would be best if he did it. That way he has a vague idea of the process involved.

 

[phooodisgoood]

I wasn't involved in the process so I don't know the specifics other than that all the hardware was stock at that point and apple couldn't fix it after a week so we had some apple consultant work on it for another week.

Thanks for the help and the advice. I think I'll put this on my "to do when I have some idea what I'm doing" list

 

[Ironjer]

You can't use ATIccelerator 2 to OC your 7950. In order to achieve that. You need to... (before start, make sure your card has a ROM switch as a safety precaution)

1) Boot your Mac Pro into Windows

2) Use Software (e.g. MSI Afterburner + Furmark / Unigine Valley) to slowly push your card and decide your final stable safe setting (e.g. 1100/1500 @1.15V + custom fan profile)

3) Use GPU-Z to save the vBIOS to a .rom image file

4) Back it up x2

5) Use VBE7 to modify the 3D profile (the lowest profile on power play tag) to your final setting (e.g. 1100/1500 @1.15V), no need to touch other profiles, you can't change them by VBE7.

6) If required, modify the fan profile and the max power.

7) Save that setting to a new .rom file.

8) Flash the card with the new .rom image by using AtiWinFlash

9) Now you can restart in OSX and enjoy your OC 7950.

If you want the boot screen, then continue the following... (N.B. the HDMI port may be disabled as a side effect)

10) Boot into OSX

11) Get your device ID in the system report (e.g. 679a)

12) Run fixrom script with the correct device id in order to produce a efi.rom image file.

13) Boot into Windows again

14) Use AtiWinFlash to flash that new efi.rom image to the card.

By now, you should have a OC 7950 in OSX with Boot screen.

Bro, i running a 7950 boost flashed with boot screen pci-e 2.0 all ok. But i need to calibrate a little the card with overlock volt etc i can use vbe7 but we know it will to disable efi part then i need to find the bit what is disabling the efi part comparing the rom with hexedit, normally it's first 00 80 like that, right?

now my problem is i don't know to use fixrom.py to correct the checksum.

 

[h9826790]

I prefer to use VBE7 to adjust the OC voltage setting, save it to a new ROM image file (e.g. file name 7950OC.rom). Then enable the EFI part again by the fixrom script rather than perform the hex edit.

To enable the EFI again.

1) Boot into OSX

2) Go to system report and get the device ID (679a in the following example)



3) Place your fixrom script package in a path that do NOT have any space (no space in the folder's name). I just put it in a USB stick call UNTITLED.

4) Open terminal

5) type cd (c+d+space) and then drag the folder that contain that fixrom script to terminal



6) Hit enter



7) type

./makerom.sh --efifile=7950mac.efi --romfile=efiromheader.rom --originalrom=7950OC.rom --devid=679a

(In this example, file name is 7950OC.rom, and device ID is 679a)


8) Hit enter

9) Fews seconds later, you will have a file called 7950OC.rom.efi.rom (inside the fixrom folder). And this is the ROM image file with the EFI enabled.



10) And now, you can go back to Windows (or DOS) again to flashed that new rom image file to your 7950 card.

 

[666sheep]

I love the sight of spoon feeding in the morning

 

[bbdjam]

I prefer to use VBE7 to adjust the OC voltage setting, save it to a new ROM image file (e.g. file name 7950OC.rom). Then enable the EFI part again by the fixrom script rather than perform the hex edit.

To enable the EFI again.

1) Boot into OSX

2) Go to system report and get the device ID (679a in the following example)

View attachment 486271

3) Place your fixrom script in a path that do NOT have any space (no space in the folder's name). I just put it in a USB stick call "UNTITLED".

4) Open terminal

5) type "cd " (c+d+space) and then drag the folder that contain that fixrom script to terminal

View attachment 486268

6) Hit enter

View attachment 486269

7) type "./makerom.sh --efifile=7950mac.efi --romfile=efiromheader.rom --originalrom=7950OC.rom --devid=679a"

(In this example, file name is 7950OC.rom, and device ID is 679a)
View attachment 486270

8) Hit enter

9) Fews seconds later, you will have a file called 7950OC.rom.efi.rom (inside the fixrom folder). And this is the ROM image file with the EFI enabled.

View attachment 486272

10) And now, you can go back to Windows (or DOS) again to flashed that new rom image file to your 7950 card.

1) Boot into OSX

2) Go to system report and get the device ID (679a in the following example)

how to start osx while the R9 280X gives black screen?

 

[h9826790]

1) Boot into OSX

2) Go to system report and get the device ID (679a in the following example)

how to start osx while the R9 280X gives black screen?

Why black screen?

You've already flashed a wrong ROM and brick the card?

Does your card has VBIOS switch? If yes, try to boot from another ROM

 

[bbdjam]

Why black screen?

You've already flashed a wrong ROM and brick the card?

Does your card has VBIOS switch? If yes, try to boot from another ROM

yes the card has a bios switch as in the photo against it is in position 1 or 2 restart is done with windows bootcamp and not osx

 

[h9826790]

yes the card has a bios switch as in the photo against it is in position 1 or 2 restart is done with windows bootcamp and not osx

Then the card is working, you can always boot back to macOS if you want to.

Anyway, in Windows, you can read the card's Device ID in GPU-Z.

Anyway, for your info. On the genuine HD7950 Mac Edition card, position 2 is the Mac EFI BIOS. Position 1 is the UEFI BIOS.

 

[bbdjam]

[QUOTE = "h9826790, post: 26418969, member: 884762"] Ensuite, la carte fonctionne, vous pouvez toujours redémarrer sur macOS si vous le souhaitez.

Quoi qu'il en soit, sous Windows, vous pouvez lire l'ID de périphérique de la carte dans GPU-Z.
[ATTACH = full] 779872 [/ ATTACH]

En tout cas, pour votre information. Sur la véritable carte HD7950 Mac Edition, la position 2 correspond au BIOS EFI Mac. La position 1 est le BIOS UEFI. [/ QUOTE]

Then the card is working, you can always boot back to macOS if you want to.

Anyway, in Windows, you can read the card's Device ID in GPU-Z.
View attachment 779872

Anyway, for your info. On the genuine HD7950 Mac Edition card, position 2 is the Mac EFI BIOS. Position 1 is the UEFI BIOS.

, thank you for informing ok for the flashing in position 2 the most difficult is to do the rom I'm going through the thread you gave me in hope to understand better this method

 

[kings79]

yes the card has a bios switch as in the photo against it is in position 1 or 2 restart is done with windows bootcamp and not osx

Is this a "Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 GV-R777OC-1GD". And did you get it to function ok with Mojave?

 

[UNK7]

Hi Guys
I am very new to this forum. I need some help.
Apologies for the long explanation

1): I have recently bought XFX R9 280x DD black for one of my Mac Pro 5,1 to run Mojave. Initially it would not boot into Mac OS at all. I installed Win 7 via boot camp and the card would boot into Win 7 which is obvious as its an un flashed card. I know its advisable to make your own rom however I found a rom on netkas before the site went down and flashed it to the XFX R9 280x. Now I can boot into Mac OSX however there is a strange phenomenon (Possible not the right rom), If I connect two Apple cinema 24 inch monitors, I get flickering of the screen and can hardly see Apple logo or boot menu (pressing ALT) for the first 5-10 second, then it stops flickering and Mac loads normally. When I connect it with one monitor with DVI port, there is no flickering of the screen and everything works well. Now if I connect three monitors then there is no flickering at all. I am not sure why do I get flickering with 2 monitors and not with one or three? Do you think I need to create my own rom to fix this problem? It reads as R9 280x in system profiler.(See Pic). I have read on this forum to use bios switch 2 to flash. Does XFX R9280x DD black has two bios switch?

2): My other Mac Pro has Gigabyte R9 280X wind force which I bought of the Ebay allegedly flashed but it only gives me apple logo however when I press Alt for Boot menu, Mac Pro freezes and I have to restart the computer. I contacted the seller but he said it worked fine in his Mac Pro 5,1 and sent me his screen shots. Do you think this card is not flashed properly?

 

[Stephsa]

does anyone can help me.
I have a Sapphire 7950 and make the flash many time but it does not work. I found on windows (bootcamp) that the card have now a UEFI but impossible to boot on OS X just windows and just black screen on boot.

 

[h9826790]

does anyone can help me.
I have a Sapphire 7950 and make the flash many time but it does not work. I found on windows (bootcamp) that the card have now a UEFI but impossible to boot on OS X just windows and just black screen on boot.

Don’t trust that UEFI status in GPU-Z, it only tells you if there is anything in the EFI part. The EFI part can be disabled or broken.

7950 should work in reasonably up to date vanilla OSX / MacOS natively. Which OSX you are talking about?

Also, there are many reasons why your flashing is failed. We can’t help without any details.

 

[Stephsa]

I want to change a 4,1 on 5,1 with two new cpu and Catalina. Now I want to have a metal card so I buy this one. I make the new bios on a iMac and also on a mbp so I think I have to make it on the Mac Pro but it's now impossible to return on OS X ?! I always boot on boot camp. I search a Mac card to have the chance to return on OS X. I will report the result.

 

[Petri Krohn]

I have a Sapphire 7950 and make the flash many time but it does not work. I found on windows (bootcamp) that the card have now a UEFI but impossible to boot on OS X just windows and just black screen on boot.

This maybe the wrong place to discuss the problem a better thread might be Guide to Flash XFX Double D HD 7950 Black Edition Card for Mac Pro.

I make the new bios on a iMac and also on a mbp so I think I have to make it on the Mac Pro but it's now impossible to return on OS X ?! I always boot on boot camp. I search a Mac card to have the chance to return on OS X.

To boot back into macOS just pull out the Windows drive.

You can also flash your card in Linux. See my guide here: How to Atiflash on a Mac Pro without Windows or boot screen.

 

[Stephsa]

finale I boot on an external drive (all over drives are pull out) and make the flashed process on the Mac Pro
thanks