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Ultimate Thread: 4890 in Mac Pro

plugues said:
I bought a XFX 4890 ZSFC 1.6 and it's working in semi-decent condition. By that I mean:


1) NO DUAL DISPLAY, which is a terrible thing for a video editor

2) POOR PERFORMANCE in 3d games, in both windows and mac os x


I have read pretty much every post about flashing cards, installing drivers and followed the instructions step by step. I've tried many different roms, installed qeci patch and dualdvi.zip. Nothing worked.

My guess is most people who are satisfied with their flash cards either don't expect much in terms of performance, won't mind being below average in benchmarks, and they probably don't have dual displays.

So far, I think it was not worth the dollars I saved, when I could have gotten a card from Apple. At this point in time, I do not recommend buying a PC card and flashing it, unless you enjoy messing around with cabling and hardware hacking. I certainly enjoyed that, but I definitely do not enjoy having an impaired video card.

Just in case I'm wrong, and if there's actually someone out there with this card working 100% with dual display, could you please post the correct rom? I'd appreciate that very much.

For the record, I have a first generation Mac Pro, current OS X version is 10.5.8, and Windows XP is installed with the latest Catalyst driver pack.
Click to expand...

please don't talk crap about flashers ;)

also, there is thread, "Golden Guide", which you obviously havent read. good luck.
 
Cindori said:
please don't talk crap about flashers ;)

also, there is thread, "Golden Guide", which you obviously havent read. good luck.
Click to expand...

cindori, while I appreciate your generosity for trying to help others flashing their cards, you really don't know what you're talking about.

first of all, I'm not talking crap about flashers. I believe that many people are 100% satisfied with their cards, and there's nothing wrong in flashing your pc card. that's fine.

my card is not working 100%, and that's no because I haven't read this or that guide. yes I've read them. my card is impaired because it wasn't made for a mac, and there's something wrong with the roms I've tried. that's it.

don't try to make up an excuse for the problems I'm facing with the supposition that I might not have read some guide. and yeah, I've read the golden guide. thank you for compiling that information, I appreciate it. however, it is incomplete. I suggest you add a couple of steps to the guide, though. there's no mention of setting pcie speeds on pcie utility, and the pictures from your cabling guide are 404.

also, the only rom table I could find on this forum has a WRONG ROM for the ZSFC 1.6, which is 13.rom. it will give you a nasty headache if you use it on this card.

I also suggest we emphasize more the complete mess that becomes of the insides your mac pro if you use molex adapters. closing the box becomes a tough job, and it usually means CRUSHING THE POWER CABLES, which is pretty dangerous.

the point I'm trying to make is: there's a huge chance there might be issues, even if the card you're buying is advertised on this forum as a working flashed card. let's not turn our heads from that.
 
plugues said:
cindori, while I appreciate your generosity for trying to help others flashing their cards, you really don't know what you're talking about.

first of all, I'm not talking crap about flashers. I believe that many people are 100% satisfied with their cards, and there's nothing wrong in flashing your pc card. that's fine.

my card is not working 100%, and that's no because I haven't read this or that guide. yes I've read them. my card is impaired because it wasn't made for a mac, and there's something wrong with the roms I've tried. that's it.

don't try to make up an excuse for the problems I'm facing with the supposition that I might not have read some guide. and yeah, I've read the golden guide. thank you for compiling that information, I appreciate it. however, it is incomplete. I suggest you add a couple of steps to the guide, though. there's no mention of setting pcie speeds on pcie utility, and the pictures from your cabling guide are 404.

also, the only rom table I could find on this forum has a WRONG ROM for the ZSFC 1.6, which is 13.rom. it will give you a nasty headache if you use it on this card.

I also suggest we emphasize more the complete mess that becomes of the insides your mac pro if you use molex adapters. closing the box becomes a tough job, and it usually means CRUSHING THE POWER CABLES, which is pretty dangerous.

the point I'm trying to make is: there's a huge chance there might be issues, even if the card you're buying is advertised on this forum as a working flashed card. let's not turn our heads from that.
Click to expand...

Sounds like if you're expierencing these kind of problems you should go another route. I suggest you either sell or replace your current card with another and see if it makes a difference, or just spend the extra cash and buy the Apple version of the 4870.

Cindori has spent countless hours working on this flasher for all of us to enjoy, and the put countless hours putting a huge and comprehensive guide together that even a monkey could follow. He's gone above and beyond helping people out here, and none of this is really any of his problem. 90-95% of all the flashing cases in this thread have been successful thanks to Cindori, Netkas, and Rominator. I don't know where you've gone wrong where some many others have been successful.
 
plugues said:
don't try to make up an excuse for the problems I'm facing with the supposition that I might not have read some guide. and yeah, I've read the golden guide.
Click to expand...

You've read it have you? Of course you have! =)

jaha.jpg



plugues said:
I also suggest we emphasize more the complete mess that becomes of the insides your mac pro if you use molex adapters. closing the box becomes a tough job, and it usually means CRUSHING THE POWER CABLES, which is pretty dangerous.
Click to expand...

In the floor of the DVD area in the back there is a hole to run cables. Feel free to contribute by taking a picture of it as mine was, yes, 404'd, due to FTP switch.
In the "Power GPU from Superdrive" guide, however, it says "Locate a hole under the DVD drive".
You are unaware of how to create a tidy molex power solution because you
didnt read
couldnt bother yourself to open your machine and check



plugues said:
the point I'm trying to make is: there's a huge chance there might be issues, even if the card you're buying is advertised on this forum as a working flashed card. let's not turn our heads from that.
Click to expand...

if you get right revision of card, no.

you've had problems with dual displays, which aren't problems, they're made-up-problems becuase you....
didnt read

you've had problems with poor 3D, answer to this is to reinstall the OSX update (your case being 10.5.8) then do QECI AGAIN.
you are UNAWARE of this solution, because you....
didnt search


plz gtfo.




:) :) :)
 
Hi!
Just out of curiousity, has anybody tried to run crossfire with 2 flashed 4890:s?
I have a Vapor-X for my Mac Pro 3,1 right now, and how would crossfire work?
Would OSX still work as it's supposed to with one card, and would Windows see 2 cards when you boot into it? That would be great!

(Or maybe it isn't possible to run Crossfire at all with a flashed card?)

Thanks!
andogrando
 
plugues said:
cindori, while I appreciate your generosity for trying to help others flashing their cards, you really don't know what you're talking about.
Click to expand...

I stopped reading right about there.

Get lost, plugues. You didn't read the guide, you didn't follow instructions. Any problems you are having are your fault.

Good luck trying to find someone in this thread to help you now... :rolleyes:
 
A very practical question for Cindori and others.

Running a Mac Pro 1,1 ( 9 GB memory & Velociraptor drive) with a stock Nvidia 7300 graphics card. My displays are an NEC 30" 2560 x 1600 and an Apple 20" ACD (both dvi - NEC requires dual link).

Would I see, under Snow Leopard, an improvement in Aperture, FCE and HD video playback by installing a Mac version of the ATI 4870?

I've only browsed some of the "guides" ;)
 
If you will change 7300 to any card, you'll get improvement even in Finder ;) 4870 is much much better than 7300 in any use.
 
Cindori said:
You've read it have you? Of course you have! =)
Click to expand...

well I certainly missed the part about 10.5.8 having no dual-display. thanks for pointing that out, and my apologies if I offended you in some way.

I have always pointed out that despite my having problems with the card, I appreciated your generosity.

and no need to be rude, right? people make mistakes.

my sincere apologies, and thanks again. guess it's time to finally upgrade OSX.
 
plugues said:
well I certainly missed the part about 10.5.8 having no dual-display. thanks for pointing that out, and my apologies if I offended you in some way.

I have always pointed out that despite my having problems with the card, I appreciated your generosity.

and no need to be rude, right? people make mistakes.

my sincere apologies, and thanks again. guess it's time to finally upgrade OSX.
Click to expand...

please just go away

you were rude FAR before Cindori was

you created the problem by trying to do the "Cliff's Notes" version of research on the process.

I posted right after you that snow leopard was the answer and that you should read posts from that era

instead of following my good advice, you posted more crap

let us spend our time helping people who are actually TRYING to find a good GPU solution. Maybe you could go harass a waiter at your local restaurant? Send the food back once or twice and spend 15 minutes complaining to the manager. Somehow I think you would enjoy that.

Bye !
 
4870 ROM dump

Cindori,

Is it possible to do what you did for me with a 4890 ROM dump for a 4870 ROM dump—there seems to be some question about whether the 128 ROM on a 4870 has sufficient free space to patch in the EFI extras. This is a Japanese reference version by the maker Kuroutoushiko. It uses the same standard device ID (0x9440 and 1002) as reference cards.
Would it be asking too much of a favor to ask you look at the ROM dump and see if there is space?
 
The Rominator said:
please just go away

you were rude FAR before Cindori was
Click to expand...

no I wasn't. if you still want to try and be polite, try accepting the fact that people make mistakes (I certainly made some) and when they apologize, you can simply accept the apology. I'm trying to be nice.

this is completely unnecessary. if you need to start a flame war to feel "leet", I'll just let you be. since I have a lot of respect for the macrumors forums, I'll just stop right here.

thanks again for everyone who offered help, specially Cindori.

good-bye.
 
nekton1 said:
Cindori,

Is it possible to do what you did for me with a 4890 ROM dump for a 4870 ROM dump—there seems to be some question about whether the 128 ROM on a 4870 has sufficient free space to patch in the EFI extras. This is a Japanese reference version by the maker Kuroutoushiko. It uses the same standard device ID (0x9440 and 1002) as reference cards.
Would it be asking too much of a favor to ask you look at the ROM dump and see if there is space?
Click to expand...

no sure, upload it
 
Thanks Cindori. Did you see anything unusual in the BIOS code that might differentiate this Japanese card from first-generation Sapphire HD4870s, or do you think this will work without problems?
 
Hello i just bought an
"Sapphire Vapor-X HD4890 pci-e hdmi dp dvi-i vga"
PN 288-1E115-020SA
SKU# 11150-99-90R

and it´s working perfect in my pc but in my Mac Pro 4.1 snowleo 10.6.2 its not recognized at all, not even in boot camp win7 or xp?

I have read Cindoris golden guide and tried the zeus tool and got the right 6pin pci-e power cables on ebay.

When i power up my mac the cards fan speeds up to 100%
and it does the same in my pc if i just plug one of the power cables
so i figured out that it was one of the cables that was broken but!
the card has a 2 leds that lit if I un plug the coresponding cable so its not the cable either and now i tested with other cables and a multimeter?

Is it possible that i have to flash it manually in dos to make it work in bootcamp?

I would be very greatful for any help i could get!

Tack :eek:
 

Attachments

  • backup vapor rom.zip
    47.8 KB · Views: 72
Cindori said:
dualdvi is maybe bad name. it seems that the dualdvi.zip is only needed for people with excotic outputs - hdmi, vga or displayport - as second port on their cards.
Click to expand...

Hello,

Am I the only one who is not able to get a proper install with "Kext Helper b7" ?

I have to force to quit Kext Helper after install and even so after restart MacOs is blocked on grey screen... (permissions repaired and disk repaired, nothing make MacOs start again, I have to re-install MacOs 10.6.3 combo update...)

I am running 10.6.3 64bit on Mac Pro 3.1 with 4890 Sapphire Vapor-X and very low 3D on sketchup etc...

Thanks for any advise or comment.

best regards,

léonard
 
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