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there is always risk cause card can look the same, labeled the same but use different firmware anyway. you're pretty solid, but still a risk. Not too unusual that guys go ahead and flash and notice rom is incompatible and stand without any working rom.
Even if the P/N and the SKU are the same?

Are there any other distinguishing characteristics I can look for on the card to verify? It was shipped with the box, software, cables, etc. so maybe that might help to ID the card as well, yes?
 
Success!

Ok. I went with the approved method and everything turned out A-OK.

For the folks at home, here's the breakdown of tasks to reach the point where I'm at now. As a noob, this would have been helpful for me to see a step-by-step, but I was able to figure it out anyway with the resources provided on this site--including the links off-site. So hopefully this helps anyone out there. :)

For the record, I have a Mac Pro (3,1) dual 2.8 octocore with the stock ATI 256 MB card (ick).

Ok. First...get a card. I bought this card (picture below) off of eBay. I was lucky since I got the box and all of the stuff that came with it. I paid $152 USD not including shipping. The card is the Sapphire 4890 HD 1 GB and it is the one that is confirmed to be working by the 4890 Compatibility Thread.

With the card in hand, I needed power cables. Rominator suggestedthese and after a call to my local Apple reseller--not an Apple Store--they sold me the cables for almost the same cost as the eBay seller (minus the shipping, etc.). The Apple part number is 922-7128 and they sell for about $20 USD per cable.

Now with everything procured, time to install. Here are the steps that I took in order.

  1. BACKED UP THE ROM OF THE 4890. After Cindori's advise about backing up the card's ROM and without having Windows in Bootcamp being available, I did this:
    • since I had the MP's original boot drive (I had replaced it with 4-1TB drives in the bays), I pulled the number 1 drive and reinserted the OEM drive (that still had the OS on it) and loaded Bootcamp and installed Windows 7 Ultimate (the version is FYI--I had that available)--again for the record, I downloaded all necessary system updates from Microsuck (sorry I use Macs) :apple:
    • I shut down the system, removed all plugs, etc. and removed the OEM card from slot 1 and installed the 4890 there. I left the OEM card out for now and booted into Windows
    • while in Win7, I followed Cindori's link about flashing Windows cards (which points to fixing a bad flash of a 4870, btw) and found that the newest version of GPU-Z (0.4.3 as of this date) wouldn't allow me to save the ROM to file. I had to download the previous version (0.4.2) and everything worked fine. I also downloaded and ran RBE and loaded the saved ROM to see what it had to offer (pretty cool actually).
  2. Shut down Windows and powered off the system. I installed the OEM ATI card into the next available slot--leaving the 4890 in slot 1
  3. Booted into OS X by holding down the Option key and selecting the Mac OS drive
  4. Downloaded and ran ZEUS (some hacker kid made it) :D
    • Selected the card in the dropdown list and the OS version (I'm still running Leopard) 10.5.8
    • The flash was successful and I shut down the Mac
  5. Connected the monitor to the newly flashed 4890 and rebooted--still had to hold the Option key down to select the Mac boot drive
  6. Everything was working great!
  7. FIRST LESSON LEARNED--I wanted to see what the card did for a game, so I loaded up a game...
    • Nothing...black screen.
    • Killed the game to get back to the desktop
  8. Loaded up ZEUS again and realized (after more closely reading The Golden Guide) that I more than likely needed to run the Quartz Extreme patch (thank you netkas!)
  9. SECOND LESSON LEARNED--I installed the QE patch and for some dumb reason decided to see if I needed to install it by clicking the button (gasp!)...
    • Got a nice, juicy KP (kernel panic)...you know when you screen fades and a nice message greets you saying you have to shut down.
    • Powered down, counted to 10 and rebooted again
  10. Now back at the desktop...restarted Zeus and checked if I needed the QE patch and it told me it was installed. Phew.
  11. Started my game again...voila! Game playing wonderfully!
  12. All done!...Not quite...I'm still running on my OEM drive, so here's the few remaining steps to finish up
    • Shut down. Remove power cables, etc.
    • Pulled out the OEM drive and remounted the drive's bracket to the regular drive. Reinstalled drives.
    • Pulled out the OEM ATI card--I won't need it in there and I can still use it as a backup.
    • Did a last check to see that all was seated properly, sealed up the case and rebooted
    • All done! Not quite...one LAST THING TO DO!
  13. Back on my old desktop and I run Zeus one last time to check the QE patch...yep...as I suspected not installed since I did that on the OTHER hard drive that I removed. Reinstalled the QE patch and rebooted.
  14. ALL IS WELL! Thanks Cindori and all of the others that contributed to helping me!
 

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Zeus has been updated to carry a QECI downloader for 10.6.4

However, the patch, which is made by netkas, is not yet created, netkas has hinted that he will be done with the patch sometime tomorrow. so for now, the button will give an error message.


For those of you who passed through this flashing thing in bliss, I'm reminding that the QECI patch is the patch you need to re-enable Quartz Extreme and Core Image support for excotic cards, software that manages most of the graphics in OSX.

If you are having issues with a non-excotic card, such as the 4870, you probably still need the 10.6.2 framebuffers and so you should use http://groths.org/dualdvi.zip


To get the 10.6.4 button in Zeus just press Get Updates in the Driver section.

going on vacation for 1 week tomorrow, so hope this sorts out, check netkas.org for updates
 

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Zeus has been updated to carry a QECI downloader for 10.6.4

However, the patch, which is made by netkas, is not yet created, netkas has hinted that he will be done with the patch sometime tomorrow. so for now, the button will give an error message.


For those of you who passed through this flashing thing in bliss, I'm reminding that the QECI patch is the patch you need to re-enable Quartz Extreme and Core Image support for excotic cards, software that manages most of the graphics in OSX.

If you are having issues with a non-excotic card, such as the 4870, you probably still need the 10.6.2 framebuffers and so you should use http://groths.org/dualdvi.zip


To get the 10.6.4 button in Zeus just press Get Updates in the Driver section.

going on vacation for 1 week tomorrow, so hope this sorts out, check netkas.org for updates

It shows me Apple Script Error :/
 
Since there isn't a Mac 4670 for Mac Pro, there isn't a ROM for one.

Also, more than likely the cards have 512K EEPROMs.

You are MORE than welcome to write a ROM for them by modding the 4870 EFI strings and adding to 4670 BIOS ROM from card.

IF you can do this, and IF card has enough space on EEPROM, and IF the driver's exist in the OSX, then MAYBE it might work.

Go for it.
 
Since there isn't a Mac 4670 for Mac Pro, there isn't a ROM for one.

Also, more than likely the cards have 512K EEPROMs.

You are MORE than welcome to write a ROM for them by modding the 4870 EFI strings and adding to 4670 BIOS ROM from card.

IF you can do this, and IF card has enough space on EEPROM, and IF the driver's exist in the OSX, then MAYBE it might work.

Go for it.
I think i get it, but not sure
 
I have a XFX 4870 (ZWFC) that has been working fine since 10.6.2. When I upgraded to 10.6.3, I lost my dual DVI outputs, but the dualdvi.zip off of this board, and that fixed it.

Did the exact same thing this time around for 10.6.4, but Zeus is reporting that QI/QE drivers are not installed. I've tried a reflash, but Zeus 2 gives me an applescript error. I've tried both installing and uninstalling natit, neither way works.

What am I missing / what can I try next? Alternately, what's the best way to return to a "vanilla" setup without completely reinstalling OS X so I can start over with one working screen and then try from there?

Any help is appreciated,

Thanks!
 
XFX HD 489A ZDFC V5.2 All good but Quartz Extreme Negative check

Hello there
I bought this card from someone, already flashed. The seller gave me a CD with the Zeus on it, the mac rom and the original rom.
I installed the card (Mac Pro 2009), got an error message about a power cable not connected properly, my 30" was low res and some flickering lines on boot and after that. Screen was not recognised by its name etc.
So I ran Zeus (last version downloaded, not the one on the CD of the seller), installed QECI patch for 10.6.4. Now my main 30" runs at dual-link full res, the 24" next to it at 1920x1200, perfect, but still I have warning for power cable issue.
When I run driver check Quartz Extreme comes negative. Why is that so? Isnt'it supposed to be positive?
Also when running Cinebench it tells for the GPU: "Apple Software Renderer". That is not good.
And last in the PCI cards section of the System Profiler, I get 2 entries for Slot 1:
ATI Radeon HD 4890:

Name: ATY,MotmotParent
Type: ATY,MotmotParent
Driver Installed: No
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0xaa30
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1682
Subsystem ID: 0xaa30
Revision ID: 0x0000
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

ATI Radeon HD 4890:

Name: ATY,Motmot
Type: display
Driver Installed: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x9460
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1682
Subsystem ID: 0x2700
Revision ID: 0x0000
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

Where is the problem from? I am a bit lost.
 
lol, people selling CD's with zeus..

try this http://groths.org/mapp.zip


well, I was not clear... he sold me the card and I asked him to join the original rom on a cd... and he kindly put there all I could need.
Thank you very much for this help, I will give it a try as soon as I'm back in front of the computer. Shall I drp all the attached files on Kext Helper and install them at once, including the .plugin and .bundles?
 
ok I have a yes now.

I ran Cinebench 11.529 and got as a description of the GPU:
ATI Radeon RV790 Prototype OpenGL Engine
and a low 9.15 fps, that's much too low something is wrong...

If the guy is selling cards based on the work done here and using Cindori's app, how is it fair that we do his customer service?

You should be emailing this "seller" and having HIM support the product he sold you, not the people he "borrowed" the work from.
 
If the guy is selling cards based on the work done here and using Cindori's app, how is it fair that we do his customer service?

You should be emailing this "seller" and having HIM support the product he sold you, not the people he "borrowed" the work from.

This guy does not make a profession selling these as modified new cards based on your work to make money. He sold me a card that was used (was actually quite dusty) by himself and he was getting a new rig and sold the card, that is all. I don't have the impression any of us here is trying to profit in a dishonnest way. He managed to have this work on his MacPro with the tools he provided me and he didn't have any warranty this would work in mine. Now I'm on my own and I am trying to make this work. As many of us reading these threads. And then I thought I could have make all your hard work worthwhile by it being used and reused and shared. Now if your policy or eula or whatever is to help and talk only to first hand owners then I have to admit I am out of line here.

I can understand your reaction, as that is true some just made money on selling cards on eBay or anywhere else using your work and Cindori's, Netkas and everybody else's. I am sorry for how you feel.
 
dude, i am also saying that if he had it working well, he should be able to tell you what extensions he was using

different cards have needed a different mix to have DUal DVI and QE/CI

Instead of picking our brains to figure out what combo worked before, why not just ask him? No need to reinvent the wheel if you already have a guy who did it.
 
dude, i am also saying that if he had it working well, he should be able to tell you what extensions he was using

different cards have needed a different mix to have DUal DVI and QE/CI

Instead of picking our brains to figure out what combo worked before, why not just ask him? No need to reinvent the wheel if you already have a guy who did it.

That makes completely sense.
I have the combo he used on his rig, the main difference with mine being that I am on 10.6.4 and he was on 10.6.3.
The Zeus app he sent me was an older version with no QECI_1064 support (V1.1)
He provided me with the rom he used to flash the card and also with the original rom he had saved before the flash.
Also in a separate folder he had the driver package for 10.5.6 as well ass the QECI patches for 10.6.2 and 10.6.3.
This is what he used: the rom he provided me (already on the card) and the QECI patch corresponding to his system 10.6.3.
This is what I used: the rom he provided me (already on the card) and the QECI patch corresponding to my system 10.6.4.

I'm on him again to see if he can extract his kexts and send them to me to see if I can find something there.

Thanks!
 
perspixe, got it for u here http://groths.org/mapp.zip

hey Cindori,
I tied this when you posted it 2 or 3 posts above.
I got QE to become a yes in the Driver Check with Zeus, but OpenGl pereformance was very bad (3-4 fps in Cinebench, should be at least 10 times that. So I guess something might be wrong... trying to figure it out. I prepared 2 clean partitions with 1063 and 1064 to try things

Thanks!!
 
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