Palit ATi Radeon 4870 Dual Force in Mac Pro

[TechInit]

Hey,

I'm investing in a Mac Pro, and I am needing a definitive answer. Do I need to flash Mac Specific Firmware to have the machine boot into MacOS with a 4870 or 5770?

Thanks!

 

[tsialex]

Hey,

I'm investing in a Mac Pro, and I am needing a definitive answer. Do I need to flash Mac Specific Firmware to have the machine boot into MacOS with a 4870 or 5770?

Thanks!

Any supported PC GPU will work after macOS loads the drivers.

To have pre-boot environment/boot screens, you need to flash a PC GPU. I don't remember HD 4870 being flash-able.

 

[FlorisVN]

Any supported PC GPU will work after macOS loads the drivers.

To have pre-boot environment/boot screens, you need to flash a PC GPU. I don't remember HD 4870 being flash-able.

I thought some 4870 models are flashable.
like the stock sapphire 4870 version..

 

[tsialex]

I thought some 4870 models are flashable.
like the stock sapphire 4870 version..

I really don't remember. Anyway, I don't think its wise to buy a PC HD 4870 with so much real Apple HD 5770/5780 GPUs flooding eBay/Craigslist since Mojave made them obsolete.

 

[FlorisVN]

I really don't remember. Anyway, I don't think its wise to buy a PC HD 4870 with so much real Apple HD 5770/5780 GPUs flooding eBay/Craigslist since Mojave made them obsolete.

Indeed totally agree

 

[christoph60]

I recently flashed a Palit 4870 1GB card with a combination of the original Palit BIOS and the 4870 EFI ROM section which can be found around here. Interestingly, the Mac (it's a 3,1) would not even chime any more after the flash. Fortunately, the card has a little switch for 'normal' and 'turbo' mode, which effectively switches between two ROMs on the card. After I switched, the Mac chimed again. So the card can be used in a Mac Pro (I tried Snow Leo and Yosemite), but the EFI part from the standard Apple 4870 does not seem to work out of the box. I gave up and live without the boot screen.

 

[FlorisVN]

I recently flashed a Palit 4870 1GB card with a combination of the original Palit BIOS and the 4870 EFI ROM section which can be found around here. Interestingly, the Mac (it's a 3,1) would not even chime any more after the flash. Fortunately, the card has a little switch for 'normal' and 'turbo' mode, which effectively switches between two ROMs on the card. After I switched, the Mac chimed again. So the card can be used in a Mac Pro (I tried Snow Leo and Yosemite), but the EFI part from the standard Apple 4870 does not seem to work out of the box. I gave up and live without the boot screen.

I think this has to be due tue to a bad efi rom oerhaps.
Or not totally compatible with the 1GB 4870 modells.

As far as I know the original apple 4870 has 512Mb.
I have three of them.
They all give perfect efi bootscreen on MacPro 1,1 aswell as my flashed 4,1 to 5,1 MacPro systems.

I think the 4870 efi rom is both 32/64 bit efi compatible.
Maybe try it again with a sapphire 512MB 4870.. ?

 

[MIKX]

If you want EFI boot screens these AMD cards can be flashed.

5770. 5870. R9 270X HD 7950. HD 7970. R9 280. R9 280X.

This is where you can learn how to flash ( as we did ) .

Don't use someone else's ROM - make your own - the first step is to download the UN-flashed, original ROM on your card.


Netkas ! GPU God.
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=129t4km0d8luq5nhl252fohv75mkbk93&board=5.0