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

Snow Leopard and 6870?

DrD

DrD

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 9, 2007
34
0
I did some quick googlin, and couldn't seem to get a definitive answer.

Will Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) work at all with a mac-friendly EFI Radeon 6870?

If the answer above is yes - then whats involved? And how tricky is this, in a nutshell?

To put this is perspective, I'm considering getting a used/refurbished 2010 Mac Pro with 10.6 once the newer 2013 era Mac Pro's are released, and the prices come down. I've always really liked the current case design, and actually prefer 10.6 snow leopard for the desktop macs (I already have 10.8 on a budget 13-inch macbook, where I feel the newer interface is actually worthwhile). I will use Windows 7 for the windows side. This will be to replace a 2008 era iMac with a build-to-order 8800gs.
 
DrD said:
I did some quick googlin, and couldn't seem to get a definitive answer.

Will Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) work at all with a mac-friendly EFI Radeon 6870?

If the answer above is yes - then whats involved? And how tricky is this, in a nutshell?

...I'm considering getting a used/refurbished 2010 Mac Pro with 10.6...
Click to expand...

Works fine I ran SL until a month or so ago on my 5,1 then did my ML upgrade I was eligible to do. The procedure is download the video bios with the efi in it. Flash to the card put it in Mac connect up the power cables you need the mini 6 to standard pci-e 6pin to connect it. You get or I do the boot screen on the only dvi port that works and both mini-display ports work though I have never tested them at the same time.
 
MacUser2525 said:
Works fine I ran SL until a month or so ago on my 5,1 then did my ML upgrade I was eligible to do. The procedure is download the video bios with the efi in it. Flash to the card put it in Mac connect up the power cables you need the mini 6 to standard pci-e 6pin to connect it. You get or I do the boot screen on the only dvi port that works and both mini-display ports work though I have never tested them at the same time.
Click to expand...

So, you ran a 6870 under Snow Leopard, just by flashing the video bios? I was under the impression there would also be driver issues, because only Lion and afterwards supposedly contain the drivers for a 6870... could be wrong though. If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate if you could verify this for me.
 
DrD said:
So, you ran a 6870 under Snow Leopard, just by flashing the video bios? I was under the impression there would also be driver issues, because only Lion and afterwards supposedly contain the drivers for a 6870... could be wrong though. If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate if you could verify this for me.
Click to expand...

Yes it was SL believe the idea is 10.6.8 where the drivers appear if my memory serves me. I only upgraded my machine to the ML just recently as I said in my OP before that the card ran just fine in SL. I skipped Lion entirely except for booting the new machine to confirm it worked then I put in my disks, extra ram and the card then ran the SL that was on them.
 
I'm still running 10.6.8 in my 5,1 and I'm using an unflashed 6870. Other than the boot screen and DVD stuff as mentioned elsewhere, everything has been working perfectly.
 
Nice to hear. Glad to know theres at least 2 people out there who got it working. If I end up doing so I will let you guys know.
 
I looked into this back in the day when I was going to buy one. IIRC, with SL 10.6.8 or newer you can just plug and play to get the OS with no boot screens. However, there will be no acceleration (QE/CI are not enabled) and some applications (notably DVD player) will have problems.

To gain acceleration and fix those applications, you either have to flash OR use the right version of ATY_INIT. You don't have to do both. If you flash you will also get boot screens on a MP 3,1 or newer.

Because 6870 requires drivers in the 10.6.8 update, I suspect you may have difficulty installing or reinstalling SL from any SL disc, even if you have boot screens. But I've not tried it, so I'm not sure.

666sheep said:
I'm running 6870 in 10.6.8 too (MP1,1). So far unflashed...
Click to expand...

Last I checked, the flashed ROM is a 64-bit-only EFI, so if you have an older MP 1,1 or 2,1 with 32 bit EFI, flashing the 6870 doesn't gain you anything.

Hope this helps someone.

Cheers!
 
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