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The Golden Guide to Flashing Graphic Cards

XFX 4870 ZWFL help !

Hi everyone,
I'm having a problem flashing my 4870. Its a HD-487A-ZWFL ver. G1 The full title on the box reads HD 4870 750M 1GB DDR5 Dual DVI PCI-E LITE. I am still trying to get this dos stuff figured out, but here is what I know so far.
Zeus doesn't find it at all yet it shows up in my system profile. It also shows up in GPU-Z, but can't even read the bios. I had to use ATIWinFlash for that, but when I try to write the new bios using ATIWinFlash it says it can't erase ROM from the card. In ATIWinFlash I get this information about my card. System VideoDevices: ATI Radeon HD 4800 series Asic Revision: N/A DeviceID : 0x9440 Flash type : SST25VFO10 current vbios P/N 113-HD487AZWF92_ image size: 0xFA00 CRC: 0x2A00

- Here is an image of the information I was given in GPU-Z

I hope someone here can help
thanks,
Bhang
 

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give up now

The "ZWxx" cards from 4870 series are not Mac friendly.

I am going to guess that the fan is in the center, not on the end?

Search for ZWFC stories if you want more details.
 
MacVidCards said:
give up now

The "ZWxx" cards from 4870 series are not Mac friendly.

I am going to guess that the fan is in the center, not on the end?

Search for ZWFC stories if you want more details.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info MacVidCards,
Yes - Fan in the center. Is this a feature to watch out for when looking for a good 4870 to flash ?
I did a lot of research and thought I bought the exact card used in a walkthrough by jacobcroft. I even found a thread last night showing a picture of the ZWFL as one of the recommended cards to flash ( strange huh?) Anyhow, back up on ebay it goes. Not worth the fuss. I NEED a working card, not half working with a bunch of software fixes.

One Last Thing ... PLEASE !
Any tips on buying the correct 4870?

I hear about the 1GB Saphires a lot, but which one? How to tell them apart etc. Man, there is there a lot of info on this. Makes it even harder when yout not that versed in these things.
thanks again,
- Bhang

:apple:
 
Last edited:
Bhang said:
Thanks for the info MacVidCards,
Yes - Fan in the center. Is this a feature to watch out for when looking for a good 4870 to flash ?
I did a lot of research and thought I bought the exact card used in a walkthrough by jacobcroft. I even found a thread last night showing a picture of the ZWFL as one of the recommended cards to flash ( strange huh?) Anyhow, back up on ebay it goes. Not worth the fuss. I NEED a working card, not half working with a bunch of software fixes.

One Last Thing ... PLEASE !
Any tips on buying the correct 4870?

I hear about the 1GB Saphires a lot, but which one? How to tell them apart etc. Man, there is there a lot of info on this. Makes it even harder when yout not that versed in these things.
thanks again,
- Bhang

:apple:
Click to expand...

As MacVidCards said:The "ZWxx" cards from 4870 series are not Mac friendly.
After you flashed a "ZWxx" 4870 video card,won't get OE/CL,only get power warning.
And as for what other card ?
just no ZWxx.
Good luck for flashing.
 
Sapphire FTW

I bought a 2nd hand Sapphire HD4870 1gb Vapor-X as my first foray into flashing. It worked first time and I later sold it on after doing the same with a Sapphire Vapor-X HD5870 18 months later.

This is the model I used: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sapphire-ATI-HD-4870-1gb-Graphics-Card-/180735488386?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item2a14acb182

With Lion you could just go for a 6870 instead: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sapphire-ATI-HD-6870-1GB-DX11-GDDR5-PCI-E-Graphics-Card-/140468939046?pt=UK_Computing_Computer_Components_Graphics_Video_TV_Cards_TW&hash=item20b499e926
 
Last edited:
HD6890 or 6870 in Mac Pro 1,1

I have an old 2006 Mac Pro1,1 in desperate need of a new graphics card. Will a 6890 or 6870 work?

I'd rather buy new tech v old. Any thoughts would be great.
 
MP 2006 doesn't need 6870 power.

I suspect a Mac Pro 1,1 from 2006 would be a waste of a 6870 tbh.
If you need a new card a 5770 would probably be the best bet.
How do I reach this conclusion?
Bare Feats tried a 5870 in a 2006 MP and the results showed that the rest of its hardware seriously gimped the card's performance: http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g3.html
They made a direct comparison between cards here too: http://www.barefeats.com/wst10g5.html
So buying a card with similar grunt to a 5870 is probably overkill.
 
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The barefeats results were proven to be because of OSX drivers, not the hardware itself. If you want a 6870 in your MP1,1 then get one.
 
In another thread, I read that the 6870 pc version will work natively in a mac pro 1,1 without flashing. I'm concerned that this anomaly will disappear with a software update, so I'd rather flash the card.

With that being said, I've seen references that using Zeus to flash the 6870 doesn't work in a 667 bus Mac Pro because the EFI is 32 bit instead of 64bit like the newer pros.

Has anyone used a flashed 6870 on a 2006 mac pro 1,1 667?

Thanks
 
aviator01 said:
In another thread, I read that the 6870 pc version will work natively in a mac pro 1,1 without flashing. I'm concerned that this anomaly will disappear with a software update, so I'd rather flash the card.

With that being said, I've seen references that using Zeus to flash the 6870 doesn't work in a 667 bus Mac Pro because the EFI is 32 bit instead of 64bit like the newer pros.

Has anyone used a flashed 6870 on a 2006 mac pro 1,1 667?

Thanks
Click to expand...

ERROR ERROR

The EFI is 64

Your Mac is 32

DOES NOT COMPUTE
 
aviator01 said:
In another thread, I read that the 6870 pc version will work natively in a mac pro 1,1 without flashing. I'm concerned that this anomaly will disappear with a software update, so I'd rather flash the card.
Click to expand...

From what I've read, there have been times where updates have broken compatibility even with flashed cards.
 
Good news for MP 1,1 then.

gullySn0wCat said:
The barefeats results were proven to be because of OSX drivers, not the hardware itself. If you want a 6870 in your MP1,1 then get one.
Click to expand...

Have the driver issues been resolved with Lion? Has anyone tested the performance of 6870s in 1,1 Mac Pros?
I hope they are useable for EFI 32 bit Mac Pros. I would suggest using a card proven to work over one which hasn't been benched yet.

Update: found a thread on netkas.org claiming to have working unflashed 6870s on Mac Pro 1,1 but only after updating to 10.6.8. :)
 
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fouel said:
As MacVidCards said:The "ZWxx" cards from 4870 series are not Mac friendly.
After you flashed a "ZWxx" 4870 video card,won't get OE/CL,only get power warning.
And as for what other card ?
just no ZWxx.
Good luck for flashing.
Click to expand...

Hey there fouel, Thanks for backing me up on the "ZWxx" cards. It would be nice if the poster of that guide would update it and remove them so that more people don't get a card that is a dead end.

I see that you have decided to sell my GTX480 on Ebay. (And changed your Ebay name from "fouel" to something less recognizable)

I spent months figuring out how to make that card work, I am hopeful that you and others will respect my work and NOT pirate it.

I have been instrumental in getting 4870, 5870 and 6870 all flashable and it has been my intention that these would be the "public" cards for anyone and everyone and that the Nvidia cards I put so much time & effort into would be respected and left for me.

There is plenty of business in the ATI cards that we have made available to everyone.

Please do the right thing and don't steal my work.
 
Thank you for your hard work and tireless testing.

MacVidCards said:
Hey there fouel, Thanks for backing me up on the "ZWxx" cards. It would be nice if the poster of that guide would update it and remove them so that more people don't get a card that is a dead end.

I see that you have decided to sell my GTX480 on Ebay. (And changed your Ebay name from "fouel" to something less recognizable)

I spent months figuring out how to make that card work, I am hopeful that you and others will respect my work and NOT pirate it.

I have been instrumental in getting 4870, 5870 and 6870 all flashable and it has been my intention that these would be the "public" cards for anyone and everyone and that the Nvidia cards I put so much time & effort into would be respected and left for me.

There is plenty of business in the ATI cards that we have made available to everyone.

Please do the right thing and don't steal my work.
Click to expand...

I am a big fan of what you have done to improve the Mac GFX card situation but I have one more favor to ask:
You have managed to make fully PCI-E 2.0 compatible cards with 5.0 GT/s link speed while the rest of us have ROMs that only give 2.5 GT/s. Please explain to us how this is possible so we can all benefit from your wisdom. I don't want to sell cards just use them to their full potential. :)

If you are unwilling to share this secret then can I send you a 5870 so you can make the changes yourself?
 
Wow, thanks guys. I am a little torn now as to what I should get. I am looking at an ATI 4870 with 512MB that is already flashed for mac. I emailed him about it and this is what he told me.
" I re-flash-ed it with a custom hybrid-ROM/EFI. The EFI part is the original code from the "official" Mac model.
It has a working native boot screen, is compatible to Mac OS 10.5.7 onwards (even the latest 10.7.2 - which was released yesterday - works smooth as silk)".
this is the card link
http://www.ebay.de/itm/230685407656?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

. Now I am doing After Effects work. Is this the best card/$$ I can get for my Mac Pro 1.1 ? I am using 10.6.8, and do use dual monitors. I'm trying to keep it around 100-150 .

Thanks again guys.

-Bhang
 
Das ich goede

If you land that card for less than 75€ you are laughing m8. Go for it! I sold my Sapphire 4870 1 GB for €150 last year.
 
Cindori wrote:

6870 1GB are around €130 if u dont need bootscreen.

Is that new? Do you have a link? I can live without a boot screen. I still have my 7300GT is I absolutely need to see it.
Or I can install boot camp like someone else mentioned (yikes!).
I was going to bid close to what your saying I can get the 6870 for. Is there any reason not to go with the 6870? and I don't need to flash it !! Thats great! I do not plan on putting Lion on this computer and plan to upgrade the whole thing end of next year, so I would think the possibility of Apple putting out a SL update that would kill the 6870 fairly unlikely ... am I wrong?

Once again, I thank you all for making my life so much easier! you guys are great !

PS: If any of you guys are ever in Berlin, I owe you a Beer!


- Bhang
 
k, this pkg
http://www.groths.org/?p=431

6870 in 10.6.7, u need all from that pkg
6870 in 10.6.8, u need only aty_init from that pkg
6870 in Lion, u need only aty_init from that pkg

6870 works out of the box in 10.6.8 or later, but will crasch in Steam or DVD Player and perhaps other apps if you dont install aty_init.

no, apple will not release more graphical updates for snow leopard.


the €130 i said was taken from some Forex currency conversion, might be +10-20 more, check ur favorite online store.

no bootscreen, some issues with triple monitors and vga monitors. thats about the price you pay.

dont forget you need special Mac Pro GPU power cables, 2x. they are about $6.99 a piece on ebay.

if you havent been there yet, http://forum.netkas.org is a great place for this stuff.
 
Xfx 6870

Bhang, that card looks to be the same one I got. Mine is model no: HD-687A-ZH and part no: HD-687A-ZHFC

Card works great in 10.7.2 , I flashed it and DVD player and steam are working. Just be aware that the Zeus tool doesn't work to flash it. You will need to save the bios and then use the script floating around to add EFI support because that card uses 128 in the script instead of 125 when it does the calculation. Then you flash the new rom, I did it all with WinFlash.

Just thought I would save you the headache!
 
he can't flash, because he has a 06/07 mac pro, and the 6870 mac firmwares are 64 bit for now.
 
Man ... My eyes are getting screen burn in. I'm starting to dream about this stuff! Time to put an end to it. :confused:
I hear the 5770 mac version is about the best card that can be put in my Mac Pro without bottlenecking. Just lost out on one. Sold for 153€ ... :-( exactly what I bid.) Wasn't expecting to win, they still go for about 2 bills used here. Could probably get one for around 150 if I had the time. I really need to replace this 7300. Working with 1080p footage is just ridiculous.

The 6870 sounds nice, but it is a bit much. Will this be that much of a speed boost over a 4870? won't it bottleneck? Its definitely going to cost a good chunk more. about double.

Anyhow, I'm bidding on a 4870 that is already flashed and tested. Hope I can get it cheap and get back to work. All of this can be quite confusing, especially when your not that familiar with it. :eek:
 
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