Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Palit ATi Radeon 4870 Dual Force in Mac Pro

TechInit

TechInit

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
31
1
Scotland
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!
 
TechInit said:
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!
Click to expand...
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.
 
tsialex said:
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.
Click to expand...

I thought some 4870 models are flashable.
like the stock sapphire 4870 version..
 
tsialex said:
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.
Click to expand...

Indeed totally agree ;)
 
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.
 
christoph60 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.. ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back