Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Race to dump the 4870 ROM, Who's first?
- Thread starter MacVidCards
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
you can do like this guy:
Thanks to everyone who's made this as easy as possible to flash an ATI 4870.
Thanks to Cindori for all your hard work.
I followed the following steps to successfully flash the following card:
XFX HD-487A-ZDFC
System: MacPro 2008
GFX: Nvidia 8800GT
Steps:
Moved Nvidia 8800GT to 3rd PCIe slot
Installed ATI 4870 in 1st PCIe slot
Connected 1 power cable each
Follow steps Cindori posted on page 76 post #1881
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8586494/
Shutdown Macpro
Remove Nvidia 8800GT
Plug monitors into ATI 4870
Now the only thing i'm a bit worried about is the fan control temps...
What temps/fan control did you use for this ROM Cindori?
I haven't seen this discussed in the thread before, however I've noticed that the XFX rom that people are using with the XFX HD-487A-ZDFC is meant for the XXX version HD-487A-ZDDC.
Now I've already flashed an XFX HD-487A-ZDFC with that rom and run it successfully for a few months until it died on me. I now have a second card and I'm wondering how safe that rom is as it overclocks the cards GPU from 750MHz to 775MHz and the RAM from 900MHz to 950MHz.
I might just see if I can modify the rom so it has the same clock settings as the origional, as I don't need the extra performance.
Now I've already flashed an XFX HD-487A-ZDFC with that rom and run it successfully for a few months until it died on me. I now have a second card and I'm wondering how safe that rom is as it overclocks the cards GPU from 750MHz to 775MHz and the RAM from 900MHz to 950MHz.
I might just see if I can modify the rom so it has the same clock settings as the origional, as I don't need the extra performance.
Yeah thats what I thought.
Although with the origional settings the cards core now idles at 600MHz instead of 775MHz, and only goes up to 750MHz when needed so it's running cooler by a few degrees and quieter.
Yeah thats what I would expect to see, it's what happened to my ATi X1900 XT which clogged with dust and overheated. Though with the 4870 I didn't have a screen connected at the time and I never really used it for playing games so I didn't get to see anything.also cards overclocked over the limit presents graphical artifacts long before it's damaged
Thats what I've just done.
Well I'm happier now than I was with the overclocked rom, though there's probably a good chance that the old card was a dud or maybe something else went wrong with it.
flash app didn´t work too well !!!
I just tried your flash app on a MP 1.1 with 7300 in slot 1 and the Sapphire 4870 in slot 2. After reboot the display stays black, the standby led even don´t change to on-mode. No matter if I connect to 7300 or 4870. Also changed the slots.......no chance :-(
I can use the 7300, when I disconnect the powercable of the 4870
I just tried your flash app on a MP 1.1 with 7300 in slot 1 and the Sapphire 4870 in slot 2. After reboot the display stays black, the standby led even don´t change to on-mode. No matter if I connect to 7300 or 4870. Also changed the slots.......no chance :-(
I can use the 7300, when I disconnect the powercable of the 4870
Looking for new rom
Hi Everyone,
thanks to the resources this massive thread has provided I was able to flash my card, however not without problems.
I have the following:
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI-I/TVO
PN 288-1E131-000SA
SKU# 11133-19-20R
After flashing the rom using elvisizer's rom the computer boots however I get an error saying I do not have my power cables connected properly to the video card. These are new power cables, I have them plugged in how they should, (triple checked) and I get a garbled unstable image on the computer.
The system detects the card in System Profiler with all the right specs. I'm considering buying a new set of power cables, however Id like to make sure everything is alright with the rom I used first as the card works fine in my windows boot camp.
The SKU i have the "19" i haven't been able to find anywhere in this thread, does anyone have a rom for this? any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.
Hi Everyone,
thanks to the resources this massive thread has provided I was able to flash my card, however not without problems.
I have the following:
Sapphire HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI-I/TVO
PN 288-1E131-000SA
SKU# 11133-19-20R
After flashing the rom using elvisizer's rom the computer boots however I get an error saying I do not have my power cables connected properly to the video card. These are new power cables, I have them plugged in how they should, (triple checked) and I get a garbled unstable image on the computer.
The system detects the card in System Profiler with all the right specs. I'm considering buying a new set of power cables, however Id like to make sure everything is alright with the rom I used first as the card works fine in my windows boot camp.
The SKU i have the "19" i haven't been able to find anywhere in this thread, does anyone have a rom for this? any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.
Too Late for ZDFC? / Will ZWFC work? (must be 1gb)
Where did you buy your ZDFC ? It's 1GB right? I haven't been able to find the ZDFC, only the ZWFC. Everyone is sold out of the ZDFC. I had it in my newegg basket, and went back the next day to order, and they were sold-out. I've seen some for nearly $200, amazon I think. Too much.
I have been looking at that web . me . com instructions, and I haven't been able to find anyone say they got the ZWFC to work (the cheapest one on newegg)
Either way, can anyone tell me the specific model of 1GB 4870 that they got to work, besides the ZDFC? Looking to stay at $150.
Thanks.
Where did you buy your ZDFC ? It's 1GB right? I haven't been able to find the ZDFC, only the ZWFC. Everyone is sold out of the ZDFC. I had it in my newegg basket, and went back the next day to order, and they were sold-out. I've seen some for nearly $200, amazon I think. Too much.
I have been looking at that web . me . com instructions, and I haven't been able to find anyone say they got the ZWFC to work (the cheapest one on newegg)
Either way, can anyone tell me the specific model of 1GB 4870 that they got to work, besides the ZDFC? Looking to stay at $150.
Thanks.
Is this really worth all this???
I'm about to sell my MacPro 1,1 get a new mac mini and build a win7 tower with a 5870 or 5850.
The only games I play are in windows.
What do you guys need the 4870 for on the Mac side? I haven't seen much improvement on anything mac from 7300GT to 8800GT. Not even HDTV via EyeTV. (1920x1200 and 1440x900 displays)
Nothing uses Open CL yet as far as I know. Snow Leopard hasn't made anything much faster... (ooooh screensaver password unlocks 1 second faster!!!!) Most apps are going to stay 32bit at least for the next year or so.
The best upgrade I can see right now for Mac is a high read/write speed SSD, but even then you'd have to get some sort of adapters for the 2.5 to 3.5. to attach it to SATA.
I'm about to sell my MacPro 1,1 get a new mac mini and build a win7 tower with a 5870 or 5850.
The only games I play are in windows.
What do you guys need the 4870 for on the Mac side? I haven't seen much improvement on anything mac from 7300GT to 8800GT. Not even HDTV via EyeTV. (1920x1200 and 1440x900 displays)
Nothing uses Open CL yet as far as I know. Snow Leopard hasn't made anything much faster... (ooooh screensaver password unlocks 1 second faster!!!!) Most apps are going to stay 32bit at least for the next year or so.
The best upgrade I can see right now for Mac is a high read/write speed SSD, but even then you'd have to get some sort of adapters for the 2.5 to 3.5. to attach it to SATA.
Durf. I got my card from here
http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/
Gomff pointed me to it. I reckon they may still have a few left and you might even get it shipped to you and still stay around your budget.
Anyone know somewhere I can get the power connectors from in UK?
http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/
Gomff pointed me to it. I reckon they may still have a few left and you might even get it shipped to you and still stay around your budget.
Anyone know somewhere I can get the power connectors from in UK?
The biggest improvements are seen in the pro apps, especially something like Color from FCS2.
I'm still interested in why the flashed ATI cards can't both have dual DVI for both DVI ports, also why they can't be used with a DVI to VGA adapter.
Hopefully a fix is forthcoming
Found this http://www.applemacparts.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=65524
That'll do the trick right?
That'll do the trick right?
Just thought I'd post my own experience
I ordered a A 512mb XFX HD 4870, Model: HD-487A-YWFC (haven't seen YWFC in the boards yet, so thought I'd write about it) from ebuyer.com as it was the cheapest 4870 (only £93 including delivery) I could find in the UK for new.
Dumped the BIOS from GPU-Z on windows 7 x64 and then use the manual method of injecting the EFI bios from the mac card using the python script then reflashed with ATIFacelessFlash.app - rebooted and is working perfectly in OS X and windows 7.
I ordered a A 512mb XFX HD 4870, Model: HD-487A-YWFC (haven't seen YWFC in the boards yet, so thought I'd write about it) from ebuyer.com as it was the cheapest 4870 (only £93 including delivery) I could find in the UK for new.
Dumped the BIOS from GPU-Z on windows 7 x64 and then use the manual method of injecting the EFI bios from the mac card using the python script then reflashed with ATIFacelessFlash.app - rebooted and is working perfectly in OS X and windows 7.
Success Report
I would like to post another success:-
Card purchased XFX HD-487A-ZDFC ver A.1 from here http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/
Cables from v0n from herehttp://myworld.ebay.co.uk/v0n/
And followed these instructions https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8645266/
Lovely and quiet, and a great performance improvement under Mac OS and Windows XP.
Machine is a Mac Pro Early 2008, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core, 6 GB RAM, 2.5TB previously with an 8800GT.
Thanks to all who posted here.
I would like to post another success:-
Card purchased XFX HD-487A-ZDFC ver A.1 from here http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/
Cables from v0n from herehttp://myworld.ebay.co.uk/v0n/
And followed these instructions https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8645266/
Lovely and quiet, and a great performance improvement under Mac OS and Windows XP.
Machine is a Mac Pro Early 2008, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core, 6 GB RAM, 2.5TB previously with an 8800GT.
Thanks to all who posted here.
Great news !!!!
If only those cards were still easily available.
With 5870 and now 5770 released, not m any PC folks are looking for 4870.
I hope the 5 remaining ZDFCs all go to Mac folks.
If you live somewhere in Europe that shop ships to, you would be a FOOOL not to order one of these few remaining gems.
Only 1 Gig card with DUal DVI in Leopard.
Yeap very good news for 4870...
http://www.videocardshop.co.uk/prod...48-0UTCQS@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&prodid=HD-487A-ZDFC
re: Looking for new rom
Greetings to all.
Like zvon, I appreciate the wealth of information provided in this thread, and the Mac Pro forum. And, I also have this exact same card but have not been able to find a working solution.
Any guidance? Or, a solution?
Thanks,
Greetings to all.
Like zvon, I appreciate the wealth of information provided in this thread, and the Mac Pro forum. And, I also have this exact same card but have not been able to find a working solution.
Any guidance? Or, a solution?
Thanks,
XFX 4870 ZWFC cards working!
Thanks to Rominator's hard work we have a working solution of the ZWFC and probably ZWFL (I don't have this card). The only error you will get is a "no power cable" warning once in the beginning. Otherwise single DVI works perfectly in OS X and Boot Camp.
For all you mega-noobs like me, you can follow the instructions from web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.htm, except use this attached ROM instead.
Attached is a copy of the ROM Rominator has kindly shared. I am a noob and will scour this board to learn how to edit ROMs and try and fix the error message.
BTW Rominator is a real (cool guy). THANKS!!!
I feel a lot better spending $120 for a card than $300.
Thanks to Rominator's hard work we have a working solution of the ZWFC and probably ZWFL (I don't have this card). The only error you will get is a "no power cable" warning once in the beginning. Otherwise single DVI works perfectly in OS X and Boot Camp.
For all you mega-noobs like me, you can follow the instructions from web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.htm, except use this attached ROM instead.
Attached is a copy of the ROM Rominator has kindly shared. I am a noob and will scour this board to learn how to edit ROMs and try and fix the error message.
BTW Rominator is a real
(cool guy). THANKS!!!I feel a lot better spending $120 for a card than $300.
Thanks to Rominator's hard work we have a working solution of the ZWFC and probably ZWFL (I don't have this card). The only error you will get is a "no power cable" warning once in the beginning. Otherwise single DVI works perfectly in OS X and Boot Camp.
For all you mega-noobs like me, you can follow the instructions from web.me.com/jacobcroft/4870Flash/4870Flash.htm, except use this attached ROM instead.
Attached is a copy of the ROM Rominator has kindly shared. I am a noob and will scour this board to learn how to edit ROMs and try and fix the error message.
BTW Rominator is a real
I feel a lot better spending $120 for a card than $300.
OK, this is good news. Does the machine display the Grey screen with the apple logo on it at start up OK? When I tried the ROM pipmolo mailed me, I had to disconnect and reconnect the monitor to get a signal, it didn't just happen automatically.
It should be pointed out to anybody reading this thread who's thinking of buying and then flashing a 4870 that the ZD** models are still superior because (A) there are no error messages at all at start up and to all intents and purposes it is a Mac card once flashed (with a few caveats) and (B) The cooling and fan placement is much much better and works with the Mac to give better heat dissipation and lower noise levels.
I'd still personally go for the ZDFC models in the videocardshop link on this thread. I'd even take the hit and sell a ZW** card to offset the cost of the ZD models.