Pc 7950 or mac 7950?

[Yidahoo]

Thanks guys!

Because of this thread, I got a refurbished Gigabyte 7950 on ebay ($150 yay) to install on my mac pro 4,1 (2009), and maybe flash it with netkas efi rom Fingers crossed!

Is it really true I'll never get PCIE 2.0 speeds? And CPU clock will be reduced if I flash it?... Just hoping I made the right buy. Regards

Its not strictly true, do a search on here and you will find there is a way to realize PCIE 2.0 on certain cards. It involves removing a tiny resistor.

I have done it on my single fan MSI 7950 and now have full PCIE 2.0 speed.

Depending on what you are using your Mac for you may find no difference, however I am a flight simmer and in X-Plane 10 it made a huge difference, not inly increasing fps but also the amount of details I could use.

 

[h9826790]

Hi, I am also a X-plane 10 player. May I know what setting you use? And how is your performance?

My Pac Pro 4,1 using the MAC 7950, and W3690 3.46GHz.

It seems the CPU is the bottle neck, even though none of the core load in 100%, the game shows CPU 0.9xx already and can't get any higher.

Its not strictly true, do a search on here and you will find there is a way to realize PCIE 2.0 on certain cards. It involves removing a tiny resistor.

I have done it on my single fan MSI 7950 and now have full PCIE 2.0 speed.

Depending on what you are using your Mac for you may find no difference, however I am a flight simmer and in X-Plane 10 it made a huge difference, not inly increasing fps but also the amount of details I could use.

 

[Yidahoo]

Hi, I am also a X-plane 10 player. May I know what setting you use? And how is your performance?

My Pac Pro 4,1 using the MAC 7950, and W3690 3.46GHz.

It seems the CPU is the bottle neck, even though none of the core load in 100%, the game shows CPU 0.9xx already and can't get any higher.

My spec is almost identical to you and when the 7950 was running at PCIE 1.0 is was very disappointed. Now that kit PCIE 2.0 it is night and day. I suspect X-Plane in 64 Bits needs that extra bus width to maximize the FPS.

I am using Extreme Textures compressed (compressed is apparently runs better on Macs) My scenery levels are mid to high, with only the traffic set fairly low. Shadows are 3D global and water is low. Distance is set to medium.

With HDR on and 2x SSAA with OSM scenery I am getting worse case 21-25 fps in the Saab 340, which is the most intensive plane on X-Plane. With the FF757 I get 28-35fps. I am also using Skymaxx which brings better frame rates and better clouds.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the info, may be I should tick the Compressed VRAM option.

I only use FXAA to increase the performance. And it seems work quite well.

My spec is almost identical to you and when the 7950 was running at PCIE 1.0 is was very disappointed. Now that kit PCIE 2.0 it is night and day. I suspect X-Plane in 64 Bits needs that extra bus width to maximize the FPS.

I am using Extreme Textures compressed (compressed is apparently runs better on Macs) My scenery levels are mid to high, with only the traffic set fairly low. Shadows are 3D global and water is low. Distance is set to medium.

With HDR on and 2x SSAA with OSM scenery I am getting worse case 21-25 fps in the Saab 340, which is the most intensive plane on X-Plane. With the FF757 I get 28-35fps. I am also using Skymaxx which brings better frame rates and better clouds.

 

[TheNoize]

My spec is almost identical to you and when the 7950 was running at PCIE 1.0 is was very disappointed. Now that kit PCIE 2.0 it is night and day. I suspect X-Plane in 64 Bits needs that extra bus width to maximize the FPS.

What did you do to make it run at 2.0? The resistor mod you mentioned?

I looked up the problem, and got a pretty convincing chart showing the (pretty insignificant) performance difference between PCIE 1.1 and 2.0.

Not sure 5% performance boost justifies a $300 price boost...

 

[h9826790]

...I am using Extreme Textures compressed (compressed is apparently runs better on Macs) My scenery levels are mid to high, with only the traffic set fairly low. Shadows are 3D global and water is low. Distance is set to medium....

With reference to your settings. After some testes, I finally use the follow one.





Now I can have very good picture with constantly >30 fps, which is very decent performance. Millions thanks for your sharing.

 

[Yidahoo]

What did you do to make it run at 2.0? The resistor mod you mentioned?

I looked up the problem, and got a pretty convincing chart showing the (pretty insignificant) performance difference between PCIE 1.1 and 2.0.

Not sure 5% performance boost justifies a $300 price boost...

Image

Not sure what you are referring to about a $300 price boost, the card is a stock standard PC based 7950 with this resistor mod applied.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1547340/

As for speed boosts, as I said in a previous post, its really only X-Plane where I noticed a big difference, the reason I suspect is that X-Plane pumps huge amounts of graphical data to and from the video card.

----------

With reference to your settings. After some testes, I finally use the follow one.

View attachment 470511

View attachment 470512

Now I can have very good picture with constantly >30 fps, which is very decent performance. Millions thanks for your sharing.

Glad it worked out, I got the tip, I think, from the X-Plane developers blog, it makes a huge difference and really needs to be promoted more to Mac X-plane users.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I think he means the price differential in an official Mac card vs a flashed PC version. I bit the bullet and am using a Mac Edition of the Sapphire HD7950.

 

[TheNoize]

Not sure what you are referring to about a $300 price boost, the card is a stock standard PC based 7950 with this resistor mod applied.

HuntingPudel is right, I was referring to the difference between the PC card (which got cheaper over time) vs the official Mac Sapphire card (still sold for same premium).

As for speed boosts, as I said in a previous post, its really only X-Plane where I noticed a big difference, the reason I suspect is that X-Plane pumps huge amounts of graphical data to and from the video card.

Thanks for clarifying! I guess it's interesting to me, since I want to squeeze as much power as I can (using it for UE4 and Oculus DK2).

 

[TheNoize]

Well... so much for that!

I got the card in the mail today. Beautiful 3 fans, big cooler.

I tried both 16x PCIE slots, and nothing. It's just dead. System doesn't see it, fans don't spin. Only my old NVidia GT 120 works.

I have the early 2009 (4,1) mac pro. Could I be missing something? Extra power cable, maybe?

I'm pretty frustrated :/

EDIT: returning the card! Now considering getting the official mac version :/

 

[MacVidCards]

Well... so much for that!

I got the card in the mail today. Beautiful 3 fans, big cooler.

I tried both 16x PCIE slots, and nothing. It's just dead. System doesn't see it, fans don't spin. Only my old NVidia GT 120 works.

I have the early 2009 (4,1) mac pro. Could I be missing something? Extra power cable, maybe?

I'm pretty frustrated :/

EDIT: returning the card! Now considering getting the official mac version :/

I'm going to guess that you are using MDP to connect?

Unflashed cards don't work in 10.9.2 with MDP. Well documented issue that some genius publicized at Apple forums.

If it is a 7970, all pins must be connected on power cable unless we mod it.

7950 should only have Dual 6 so that at least should be OK.

If using with MDP, try a 10.8.5 boot disk.

 

[TheNoize]

MDP? You mean mini display port? Nah I'm only interested in DVI and HDMI outs.

No, the actual card doesn't even power up. Thanks

 

[MacVidCards]

MDP? You mean mini display port? Nah I'm only interested in DVI and HDMI outs.

No, the actual card doesn't even power up. Thanks

If you have all of it's ports powered (i.e., 6 & 6 or 6 & 8) and the fans don't spin, it's dead.

The power plugs aren't optional in any way, they all must be filled.

 

[TheNoize]

Oh, really?

Where do I buy the right cable then? It didn't come with one :/

Do you know where I can find the power pins on the Mac Pro? I don't remember seeing anything on the motherboard...

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Look at the attached pic.

Lou

 

[TheNoize]

Thanks so much flowrider!!! It's like you read my mind, I was just looking for those pci aux connectors

I'm now trying to find the right cable to order and try it out. Doesn't the 7950 have 8 + 6 pins? What would that mean? Do I need to plug two 6-pin cables ( http://www.amazon.com/PCIe-Power-Ca...ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3IDT9F5A1GWX6 )

and use an adapter 6-to-8 pins on one of them? Not even the manual is explicit about cabling to use. I feel like there's no documentation about this :| lol

 

[TheNoize]

OK so I'm placing these in my cart:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G2UR7YO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1MTJ417ECEE64

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G2UDJIW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3IDT9F5A1GWX6

Mini PCIe 6-pin to reg. 6-pin
Mini PCIe 6-pin to reg. 8-pin

Here goes nothing...

CORRECTION: 6-to-8 pin cable would take 20 days to ship LOL... switching to two mini6-to-6, and a 6 to 8 adapter....

 

[MacVidCards]

Look at your card and count the pins

Most 7950s only have 2 @ 6 pins

Some may have an 8 pin

 

[TheNoize]

Look at your card and count the pins

Most 7950s only have 2 @ 6 pins

Some may have an 8 pin

Yep, like I said, mine has a 6-pin, and an 8-pin. Hope the 6-to-8 converter does the trick!

 

[TheNoize]

After ordering, getting impatient, and spending extra time and money to get 2 6pin cables for the mac pro, I came home eager to try it!

Still dead. Even with all the power cables plugged, fans aren't spinning, system doesn't see the card.

I'm starting to feel a little angry, and now I remember why I never became a big gamer obsessed with graphics: they're the most frustrating thing to deal with.

Geforce 120 with no cables attached works fine, spins the fan.
Gigabyte with 2 aux cables, and the fierce looking fans just won't spin. A manufacturer refurbished card should be in perfect working condition. I can't believe I'm gonna have to spend close to $500 for a stupid graphics upgrade, in 2014 :/

PS: when powering up the Mac, I see the fans twitch a little. Maybe residual power coming from the PCIe cables?

 

[snarfquest]

I'm using a 7970 3gb from Macvidcards. For the price/performance it is dead on. I'm very happy with it.

 

[TheNoize]

Yep, I'm shipping the card back tomorrow, and hoping the new one (EVGA GTX760) will work.

Last attempt: has anyone here successfully installed a 6+8 pin card on a Mac Pro? Was there any trick involved? How long did it take to start up?

This Gigabyte's fans twitch on power on, but never actually spin after that (using 6+6 pin cables).

 

[666sheep]

Last attempt: has anyone here successfully installed a 6+8 pin card on a Mac Pro? Was there any trick involved? How long did it take to start up?

This Gigabyte's fans twitch on power on, but never actually spin after that (using 6+6 pin cables).

Only trick is to use proper power cables. It will never work with 6+6 pin cables. You need one 6 and one 8 pin. No other trick needed

 

[TheNoize]

Only trick is to use proper power cables. It will never work with 6+6 pin cables. You need one 6 and one 8 pin. No other trick needed

Yep, fortunately got the converter today, and it solved it! MacVidCards also recommended this and I completely ignored it :/ duh

Card is working now! Mini DisplayPort makes the computer reboot, but I installed the GT 120 in slot 1 again, and the 7950 in slot 2, so I can still use the MDP.

I might hold off on the netkas flash for now, but was wondering what the best drivers would be in OS X. Should I install the Sapphire 7950 Mac edition drivers?...

Thanks so much everyone!!!!

 

[TheAwesomeFellow]

I have a PC version, I used the flash on netkas, and no issues except my PCI-E fan spins fast. However this doesn't happen to everyone, and even people running the official apple 5770 on a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro *can* have this problem.

So besides the fast spinning PCI fan which may or may not happen, everything else is working great!

Hey, I've got a Mac Pro 1,1 running OSX Lion and I purchased the PC Sapphire HD 7950 3gb dual fans. Is the only way I'm gonna be able to run this is if I go to 10.8? Because I don't know where to get the drivers for it 10.7. Thanks!