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Race to dump the 4870 ROM, Who's first?

is it a problem with the card or the ROM? Are the Sapphire 1 GB cards rated for dual link?
 
Well, I have to say a big thanks to all that have posted here. I am now running a 1 gig Sapphire 4870 in my 2008 MP. I flashed it with evisizer's ROM from page 19 and it works like a charm. I am running one 23" ACD, getting 2.5 GT/s and ridiculous framerates from Wow (I know, I know its not that demanding, but its what I play). The mouse is smooth. I'm very happy.

So thank you to netkas, Rom, pipomolo42, elvisizer and everyone for your work. I've never done this before but it worked out beautifully.

Net cost? $175...and some time doing my homework, awesome.
 
BEIGE - BConvery - Elvisizer- This card?

I am looking at a card that either you, Elvizer or Beige flashed. No models like that in the US that I can find. Looked some more and found these which look visually to be the same.

Is this the same card?? Le us know.

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801
 
So I used RBE on my frankenrom to up the clock speeds to core 800, mem 1000 and idle 600 applied the fan speed fix and saved the new rom. I then flashed it using atiwinflash. The rom took just fine and CCC reports the new speeds. When I boot back into OS X (which still worked thankfully) the mouse jump issue is still there.

I dunno if the EFI is overriding the new clock settings as I have no way to check these values in OS X. If anyone has a util to do this then by all means chime in. If the bios settings made in RBE extend to both XP and OS X then this is a non-issue.

In short if I'm running the new clock speeds in OS X then the mouse jump issue might not be related to clock speed.

At this point I'd be interested to see if anyone got the newegg 1gb version to work (though amazon pointed to the same card). If it does I might return my card to amazon and go thru newegg.
 
Hack for analog?

So I know I asked before, and it was surmised that the table for analog output is missing. Bummer - no three displays powered by the same card via S-video/component.

I'm now wondering if it's possible to drop in the tables for that from the Mac 3870 ROM into our frankenROMs for the 4870 and thereby get analog output. I don't know enough about Graphics cards and EFI/BIOS to know, so is this ludicrous suggestion even possible? It seems worth looking into if it is, because I can't imagine doing analog output from a 4870 is all that different from a 3870.

Anybody like to give it a try in the name of science? Or mac users?
 
netkas said:
You will not feel difference, so dont bother :)
Click to expand...

actually - my benchmarks in Mudbox are lower with the 2.5 transfer rate. Ditto for Cinebench but it could be the card. It's kind of a drag - I need the card for 3D in OS X, not gaming in Windows, so the lack of bandwidth is annoying. No one knows how to fix this? Is anyone getting 5.0 GT/s with a flashed card?
 
what happens if you flash a similar card with just the ROM copied from the Apple card?

I'd be willing to settle for one DVI port at 5.0 GT/s
 
The Rominator said:
So...you can't get to DOS?

Does your card look like the pic? (ie....red fan at far end?)

You should be able to reach DOS or Windows.
Click to expand...

Yeah i have a black screen, I get the apple chime everything starts up sounds like it continues to boot into osx.. But I have a black screen. Ive tried holding the c button down to force DOS boot disk but it doesnt help. I have all the latest firmware updates etc. Im stumped. The card is well seated... cables power/dvi connected... one dvi with an adapter. (ive tried all scenarios with the DVI ports)...
 
yepper said:
Yeah i have a black screen, I get the apple chime everything starts up sounds like it continues to boot into osx.. But I have a black screen. Ive tried holding the c button down to force DOS boot disk but it doesnt help. I have all the latest firmware updates etc. Im stumped. The card is well seated... cables power/dvi connected... one dvi with an adapter. (ive tried all scenarios with the DVI ports)...
Click to expand...

First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX. So either put in a second card to work from - plus the unflashed card, or put in the original card and then set the computer to boot from bootcamp. Then pull the original card and it should see the new card. Think about it, if you could use the unflashed card in OSX - why would you need to flash it????
 
So, I caved and called amazon to setup an exchange of my card. They were more than willing to do the swaperoo gratis (nice!). I'll have the new card on Friday and will begin the flashing anew. Hopefully the mouse jump issue disappears. In the meantime I'm going to try a temp fresh install of OS X to see if that might be the culprit (dunno why as I'm not running anything too goofy, just mac fuse).

Results to follow...

Oh and again if anyone gets the 1gb non-toxic sapphire card from newegg and does not get the mouse jump issue please report in.

Cheers.
 
jjhny said:
First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX. So either put in a second card to work from - plus the unflashed card, or put in the original card and then set the computer to boot from bootcamp. Then pull the original card and it should see the new card. Think about it, if you could use the unflashed card in OSX - why would you need to flash it????
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, but I thought that if you used the C key it would boot up into the DOS disk. Regardless, Ill try to setup startup disk as Windows and see what I get. I didnt realize it before but my reFit had dissappeared and is now back . So maybe that will help as well. I did realize that an unflashed card wouldnt work in OSX , but i thought that I would at least get something else at boot up. Anyway, thanks.
 
jjhny said:
First, a non flashed card won't work in OSX.
Click to expand...

By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?
 
lynxmuc said:
By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?
Click to expand...

For this little trick to work, the card with an OSX EFI would need to be in same family.

So, a PC 3870 works in OSX as long as there is a Mac 3870.

And a PC 4870 works in OSX as long as there is a Mac 4850/4870 to load the EFI.

But I can tell you that when you set the FreeDOS CD as boot disc whilst and EFI card is in, and then switch to the PC only card, the boot to CD takes an extended time.....it seems like it isn't working but then....bang, up pops that FreeDOS screen. Requires patience
 
lynxmuc said:
By the way, will a non-flashed card not work at all in OS X, or can it just not be used as the primary (or only) card for booting? That is, if I were to put a non-flashed 4870 (or any PC card, for that matter) next to my existing X1900, could I use the 4870 for a second (third, fourth) screen in OSX? I'd guess OSX would just ignore the card, even if it had a driver, but am I right in that assumption?
Click to expand...

The issue is the ROM on the video card - these are PC compatible cards, not Mac cards. OSX is looking for the EFI BIOS written for the mac (which the cards do not have). That is what the flashing is all about. We have to make a Franken ROM from the BIOS of the PC card mated with the Apple 4870 EFI code. Netkas and Rominator know more about this. As for your question: No - until flashed they won't work in OSX as a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc.
 
yepper said:
Thanks for the reply, but I thought that if you used the C key it would boot up into the DOS disk. Regardless, Ill try to setup startup disk as Windows and see what I get. I didnt realize it before but my reFit had dissappeared and is now back . So maybe that will help as well. I did realize that an unflashed card wouldnt work in OSX , but i thought that I would at least get something else at boot up. Anyway, thanks.
Click to expand...

Okay, update. It was partly the fact that I had Refit loaded I think. Anyway I got to FreeDoS and updated the firmware following netKas's website. That seemed to work just fine. But when i try to start OSX i have a blue screen and a White box as a cursor. So me thinks its the driver? Any ideas?
 
Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?

Thank you very much.
 
bilboman said:
Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?

Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

Do you mind if putting a picture of your card here?
 
bilboman said:
Hi I need help :D

I have bought a Gainward HD 4870 512MB GS card (http://www.gainward.com/main/vgapro.php?id=82) for my 1st generation MacPro.

I have flashed the card following the instructions of this page: http://netkas.org/?p=90

The problem is that when I boot the Macpro with the new card the mac doesn't boot it keeps doing the same boot sound again and again.

If i set the turbo mode on the card the Macpro seems to boot but doesn't show anything on the display.

I have an Apple Cinema Display 23" i have try both DVI outputs on the card.

What should I do ?
Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

You need to find the the instructions to make your own ROM. Pipolomo42 was kind enough to write them out.

The cutting out during initial Gong is classic sign you need a custom ROM.

I would swear a guy was here with a similar Gainward....one with a VGA and HDMI port maybe?
 
Update HIS 4870 1 GIG

Hi all,
So I used netkas instructions to update rom on this card , all seemed to work. But i have 2 blue screens with a white square. (not placing blame obviously, just trying to describe process) .
So im going back to try the other process... with perl script, and I didnt back up the whole rom as stated by others.. 64kb. What do you do next to hopefully work your way back to try the perl script? I downloaded a .bin from techPowerUp and a bin from a 512mb HIS card.

thanks for any help
s
 
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