Two radeon 4870 cards

I have a 2009 Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon HD 4870 Video card, I've been using two monitors since I first got the machine, but I would like to add a second 4870 card and go to 4 monitors (one vertical for coding).
Can this be done?
There are a number of discussions about it, but no one that I can find has actually done it yet.
Thanks
-Paul-

No one is going to recommend 4870 or buying one and run Mountain Lion.
An ATI 5770 $249 can run 3 displays and uses 1 x 6-pin connector.
4870 was old even in 2009 so that puts it around 5 yr old plus tech and lacking some of the features 10.8.4 looks to use and relies on for OpenGL and OpenCL.

Similar Messages

Can I install TWO HD 4870 cards in my Mac Pro?

Please can you help?
I've just bought an 8-core 2.66 Mac Pro and two Radeon HD 4870 graphics cards, but each card requires two power cables to connect to the logic board, which has only two connectors. Does anyone know where the two cables to the second card should go? The second card works fine, but I expect the cables are for the cooling fans, so I don't want to fry the second card!

It's just that I have bought two new Apple LED displays (with Mini-DVI connectors), and of course there's only one Mini-DVI port on the HD 4870, hence the reason why I bought two cards. I can't find a Mini-DVI to DVI adaptor anywhere for the second port on the same card,
You need a DVI to Mini DisplayPort converter. There are a couple available now:
<http://www.atlona.com/Atlona-DVI-to-Mini-DisplayPort-Converter-p-17859.html>
<http://www.gefen.com/kvm/dproduct.jsp?prod_id=8913>
does the GT120 also require a power supply from the logic board?
No.

Where can i buy the ATI Radeon 4870 card in a walk in store? (not online)

I want to buy this video card that is sold in the apple online store ( http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB999ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MTA4MzU2NTc ) , but it is not in the Apple phyisical stores , i called and checked. I was wondering if there were any walk in stores that had this card and other Mac products. I checked Bestbuy and Fry,s and their websites dont have them listed . Is there anywhere i can buy them in person so i dont have to wait till next week to receive it in the mail if i buy online?

i have placed at least 7 orders with OWC and they've always arrived the next day.
though i'd be surprised that in all of LA, there isn't one (for mac) card sitting on a retail shelf somewhere.

Mac Pro 2008 with Radeon 4870 video useable resolution on DVI limited to size of minidisplay port VGA when displays are mirrored. Did not have this problem until I plugged in new monitor (miniDisplayport), but now it affects even going back original mon

Have been using the Mac Pro since 2008. Changed to a Radeon 4870 card early this year. Everything was fine.
Running an old KDS monitor from minidisplay port to VGA and a 1400x1050 projector from DVI out. Have used the
two mirrored the entire time with no trouble.
The old kDS monitor looked like it was starting to go bad so I got another monitor. Don't have much room
so it's a 14inchwith widescreen 1328x768 display. Hooked that to minidisplay port as it only has a VGA input.
Immediately the LCD display took over and restricted the output to the projector.
If I turn off mirroring, I can get projector back to normal. But this makes running programs a lot more difficult.
It worked fine with mirroring on before the monitor change. Except going back to old monitor,
now it is affecting things. I pull up display preferences. If the displays are mirrored, even setting the projector
to 1400x1050, it says "usuable resolution 1280x1024." It didn't use to do this at all.
Tried reseting NVRAM - no result.
Any suggestions would be helpful. Just looking at the image on the projector, I don't see any difference from
before.

UPDATE:
As noted in the first post, both of these newer USB DAC work fine at 24/96 on my wife's iMac, so it's clear that they didn't both become defective when I connected them to the Macbook Pro at the same time.
Resetting the Macbook Pro PRAM didn't help, so I removed the hard shell laptop case to get to the battery and remove it, then reset the SMC. After that I could use the original DAC at 24/96 again, but only IF it was plugged into the rear USB port. If I plugged it into the front USB port then the sound was garbled and filled with noise. This was a vast improvement over no sound at all.
Then I switched to the replacement/updated DAC, but I got no sound at all from either USB port at any bit-rate. And returning to the original DAC again now results in no sound again.
Sigh... I will reset the PRAM and SMC again, and see how far I can get with this. I'd still love some help. Thanks!

Possible to Use Radeon 4870 AND EVGA NVIDIA GTX 285 at the Same Time?

Hello,
I just tried to connect a second 30 inch Cinema display to my early 2009 8-core MacPro with a Radeon 4870 card.
The second display maxes out at 1280 x 800 resolution.
I think that is a function of the second port on the 4870, rather than a limitation of the card itself.
To get around this, I ordered the EVGA NVIDIA GTX 285. At $499, that's a big yikes.
Here is my question: Will I get better performance running one 30 inch from the Radeon, and the second from the Nvidia? Can I even install both at the same time? Or should I remove the Radeon and use just the Nvidia?
FWIW, I use this Mac for Photoshop and other image software, and for some stats work. No games. I am using CS4, which would never recognize my 4870. Maybe I will do better with the EVGA NVIDIA GTX 285?
I would appreciate any and all help on this!
Thanks!
Charles

I just tried to connect a second 30 inch Cinema display to my early 2009 8-core MacPro with a Radeon 4870 card.
Are you using the Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter?
<http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MjkyNjI0Mg>
The second display maxes out at 1280 x 800 resolution.
That's the resolution the 30" will run at with a single-link DVI connection.
I think that is a function of the second port on the 4870, rather than a limitation of the card itself.
It depends on the adapter you use.
To get around this, I ordered the EVGA NVIDIA GTX 285. At $499, that's a big yikes.
It has twice the graphics memory, so may be better if you are processing lots of large images at once.
Here is my question: Will I get better performance running one 30 inch from the Radeon, and the second from the NVIDIA?
No. For only two displays, one card is better because it can handle moving windows between displays, or windows spanning both displays. With the displays on different cards, the main computer has to do more work. Even if the windows are never going to cross display boundaries, there is no way for the applications to know that, so they won't let the graphics cards do as much as they could.
Can I even install both at the same time?
No. There are only two auxiliary power connectors, and one card will use both.
Or should I remove the Radeon and use just the NVIDIA?
Try each card and see which gives the best results with your applications.
FWIW, I use this Mac for Photoshop and other image software, and for some stats work. No games. I am using CS4, which would never recognize my 4870. Maybe I will do better with the EVGA NVIDIA GTX 285?
The extra video RAM may give better performance with lors of large images.

ATI Radeon 4870 Graphic Card - Minor Problems with Icon View

I have a MacPro 2,1 (early 2007)... Recently upgrade graphic card from ATI Radeon X1900 to ATI Radeon 4870... Works fine, except when viewing files in "icon view"... The icons are "fuzzy-like" some pixels are missing... This is seen in any size icon... small or large... or views no problem... cover view, list view, or column view...Does anyone have a working solution for this problem in icon view... Thanks

If ATi didn't specify the card you bought is designed for your Mac, then it's strictly the PC version and is incompatible with OS X. It may work correctly in Bootcamp for Windows, but not for OS X.
Your best option would be to return the 4350 and purchase a "designed for Mac" video card by ATi or nVidia cards offered on the Apple online store.

Msi 890fxa-g65 and two radeon 6950 video cards

Hi,
So far I have the one radeon 6950 with the MSI msi 890fxa-g65 motherboard. I was thinking of getting another 6950 down the road and was wondering if anyone was able to fit two 6950 video cards on a msi 890fxa-g65 motherboard.
It seems a bit tight. Also I currently have an Ultra brand 750W PSU. Is that enough?
Thanks.
Mike

Quote from: zerohedge101 on 27-March-11, 22:58:58
Thank for the response. The main impedance is on the motherboard connections for the front panel of the computer case. These pins are located at the bottom of the motherboard where the 6950 video card goes. The pin connections and the wire stick out quite a bit and the video card might crush them a little.
Is there some sort of adapter for those pin connections to make them go on a 90 degree instead of straight out. This is the only impedance to get that video card in really. The case is big enough even though its only a mid -tower.
Thanks for any help.
Yes, those are you HDD, power and stand-by switch connectors I believe. Yes, I have seen 90* adapters but I don't remember where. It might come with the case attachments or a Mobo I put together about a year ago. In any case, take your existing card and "gentaly" place it into that bottom slot without the pins inserted (mark or draw a little graph as to where those pins go). See if you still have a little bit of room for your connectors. Also, what kind of connectors are we talking here? USB external pins are here to. If you can live with just the MoBo USB ports, then forget the external USB connection then. That way, simply put that card in and GO! Try it out.

2 questions: validity of my machine's status as a 3.1 Mac Pro, and what PCIE cables for Radeon 4870?

Hello, I bought a used mac pro from a guy that said it was a 3.1. It runs great and when I go to "About this Mac" and then to "More info" and look at the hardware info, it says that it is indeed a 3,1. However, the serial number sticker on the back says it's a 2.8! Any insights into that? I'm very new to Mac Pro desktops and I just want to make sure I didn't get ripped off.
My second question. The machine came with the standard X2 quad 2.88 GHz processor, 8gb of Ram, and a Radeon 2200 graphics card. I bought an ATI Radeon HD 4870 from a guy on craigslist but he didn't have the power cables for it. He said it wasn't a big deal and after I did some research it looks like I need some PCIE power connectors. The card takes two, 6 pin power cables. My question is where do I plug them in on the logic board? Should it be a 6 pin plug in also meaning I want a 6pin to 6pin cable like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200975&nm_mc=KNC-Google Adwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Internal+Power+Cables-_-N82E16812200975 &gclid=CMW8u4Po5LUCFcdDMgodx2AAyA).
So yeah, the simplest answer I'm looking for is what cables do i need to power my ATI Radeon 4870 in my Mac Pro? Another way to answer that I guess would be to explain to me the way my power supply works in my mac pro.
Thanks!
Mickey

That is an 8-pin. And I just posted Amazon link to 6-pin in another graphic card upgrade thread minutes ago.
And it had a ATI 2600XT. good thing you replaced it.
10.6.8 tends to run best but try - andkeep 10.8.x and see how it goes. Also more options later in graphic cards.
Call Apple and have them check the serial number and they can provide for small $20?fee the OEM DVDs it shipped with (10.5.x) and Apple Hardware Test. They can also sell 10.6.3 DVD
I would have looked for the ATI 5770, better support, the 4870 lacks some ML (Mountain Lion) support for OpenCL.
ATI Radeon 5770
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC742ZM/A
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-ATI-Radeon-5770-MC742ZM/dp/B003Z6QH6M
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/726537-REG/Apple_MC742ZM_A_ATI_Radeon_HD_5 770.html
How To Install and Remove Memory Mac Pro
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4433
2008 Mac Pro Memory Arrangement
http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized_Pages/Framework.cfm?page=install_videos/mac pro/macpro_quicksheet.html
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $31
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
Hardware Monitor
http://www.bresink.com/osx/HardwareMonitor.html
UPS
http://www.amazon.com/CyberPower-CP1500PFCLCD-Compatible-1500VA-Tower/dp/B00429N 19W/
PCI-e Power Aux Power cable
http://www.amazon.com/PCIe-Power-Cable-nVidia-Video/dp/B002UR1654/

Early 2008 Mac Pro Raid + Radeon 4870

So far this has been a very disappointing experience in upgrading to SL!
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro with Apple software RAID as my boot drive, SL of course is not seeing this as a possible install drive as others have experienced. I have tried to boot directly off of two different SL retail upgrade disks but the installer crashes every time (I've verified that the drive boots off of other disks). I'm starting to suspect that it may be an issue with the Radeon 4870, has anyone else with a similar setup had any success in upgrading to SL? I'm going to try installing the original video card to see if that helps, otherwise it looks like I will be doing an install to a new hard drive from within Leopard.

I've got a 2006 Mac Pro, the first gen one. I've got a flashed PC 4870 and a three disk software raid of 640GB Western Digital HD's, Model: WDC WD6400AAKS-00A7B0. When I ran the install disk from Mac OS, I couldn't install to the raid, it didn't show up as a volume that could be installed to. However when I restarted from the DVD I had no trouble installing onto the raid at all. The install finished without a hitch. I also ran an install to my Intel X25-E and didn't have any trouble there either. So I know it is possible to get the install to work with a raid and a 4870.
Obviously my setup isn't exactly like yours though. But that's the best I can do.

Mac Pro 1.1/ATI Radeon 4870 HD won't detect monitor on boot/sleep

Hey there all,
First post.
Been following for a while now.
I'm running into a problem with my MacPro..
When I boot the tower up, the chime rings [through the built-in speaker--not my connected and powered externals]
The video signal will sometimes show up just for a couple of seconds while the Gray-Gear Screen loads and then will instantly loose signal and continue to not detect the display until I suffocate the tower, pull out the DVI adapter and reboot without the display connected until I can hear the volume adjust through my external speakers. . I can then proceed to plug in the adapter and the computer works as it should-- that is, until I put it to sleep and then I must start the whole process over.
I am getting sick of having to do my usual ritual in order to use this machine.
Could it a driver/capatabliliy thing? Or perhaps an installed-OS malfunction?
Is there a way to tell if the card has been flashed to work on the Pro?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for looking into this.
Cheers.
-B

Okay.. so I did the smc reset. No luck.
I've contacted the seller that I purchased the computer from and he told me that the tower had previous trouble with the card that it came with.. he didn't specify which card, but he's made arrangements for a 3rd party seller to send me an ATI Radeon X1900 with 512mb RAM [same capacity I had before in the Radeon 4870 HD]
Is there a significant difference between these two cards?
Should I have the 3rd party send me the same 4870 HD model? and if so, would the problem persist?
Thanks again, and any help is much appreciated.
Cheers.
-B

Switching in an ATI 4870 Card on my S10

Hi,
I just ordered my S10 but need to swap out the NVIDIA Quadro NVS 290 for an ATI 4870 (or something close).
Does anyone know if:
- The current 650w power supply can hack this (I am also adding another DVD burner and two 750GB hard drives)
- The longer 4870 card would fit into the S10?
Thanks,
Dave
Solved!
Go to Solution.

the S10 was designed to handle an nvidia FX 5600 so i wouldn't imagine the radeon 4800 series to be much worse. i haven't used an S10 personally to know how well it can cool large GPUs.
my best suggestion would be to buy the card from a retailer with a good return policy (tigerdirect.com comes to mind) and try it. use something like hardware monitor and/or GPU-Z to watch temps on the card.
ThinkStation C20
ThinkPad X1C · X220 · X60T · s30 · 600

Can I run Radeon 4870 + GeForce 120 simultaneously

What seems like a pretty obvious question is one I can't find answered on the web.
I just ordered a Mac Pro with GeForce 120 as standard, and I also ordered a Radeon 4870 to install in it.
I'll put the radeon in the main slot and move the geforce into the 2nd slot.
Can I do this? Will both cards operate and allow desktop spanning etc?
Also, will the colour reproduction be the same across both screens? I will be running 2 x 24" LED displays.
Thanks in advance.
Scott

Wouldn't it be better to connect one to each card, therefore giving 512MB of RAM to each screen, rather than splitting the 512MB of one card amongst two screens?
The VRAM may be better utilized with two cards and two displays, but unlike Crossfire or SLI, you will not get the combined processing power of the two cards.
Many applications won't benefit at all from two layers of VRAM.
You will, in fact, be rendering all graphics with one card, with that card then passing the information onto the second card.
The VRAM on the primary card, as well as the GPU, are still going to be working as if two displays were connected to it.
What would cause a hit in performance?
In all practicality, Yes.
What all this means, in reality, is higher latency on the PCI bus while passing graphics from one card to the other, without any gains in processing from the second card.
In a dual display/dual card setup, this means one may actually lose performance as opposed to two monitors on a single card.
In a three monitor setup, well, these issues become moot out of necessity for additional display ports.
And to reiterate what Malcolm said, some applications may actually have trouble with dual card setups.
FCP is one known to have issues.

Any ol' saphire radeon 4870 will do?

Just curious as to if I bought a PC version of the Saphire Radeon 4870 with the dual DVI connectors and installed into the new Nehalem mac pro's if you think there would be any problems. Upgrading to the ATI from Apple will cost an additional 180, but another 99 will have to go to the adapter so I can use my second DVI monitor. I figured I would save 80 dollars and having to go through another cable if I bought the dual DVI version of the card.
Do you guys see a problem with this?
Thank you in advance for your opinions

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3280778
http://www.welovemacs.com/9227128.html (costs more and fedex on top)
You should only need to buy one though some PC cards actually haven't included anything like the above and instead include a molex to 6-pin or 8-pin power cable.
Anything coming from Apple, if it needs two, it will have them (just like the 8800GT and other cards included, or the 3870s).

How Do I use an Ati Radeon 4870 HD for 3 Monitors

I am new to the Apple world and community. I recently got a new job that requires me to use a Mac Pro. OS X version 10.6.8. 2.66 ghz dual xeon and 32 GB of ram. It has a ATI Radeon 4870 HD. I can run 2 monitors fine using the DVI and Mini DV port ( Using a convertor from apple. ). When I try to use the 2 other HDMI ports for my third monitor, Mac OS wont detect it. The wierd thing is some of the images from certain apps show on the 3rd Monitor.
Under graphics information it shows the Radeon 4870. Under PCIe information it shows the same card. On the back of my machine I have 2 HDMI slots and another lower down with Mini DV and DVI.
The Displays I am running are 3 HP LP2475w Monitors. Running in DVI mode with one converted to Mini DV. The 3rd non working is running in DVI to HDMI but it can be run Straight HDMI if need. Ive tried alot of configuration settings and I can't get the HDMI port to be detected by MAC OS. Ive plugged one in at a time and just the HDMI do not detect.
Please let me know what information is needed to help troubleshoot this better.

A 5770 is $249 or slightly less and in the same dept to me as replacing hard drives, adding some RAM in order to work and because my understanding is it was the first card to support 3 monitors.
The 5770 only requires 10.6.5+ - and the 4,1 had way too many issues with 10.5.7/10.5.8
The 4870 may or may not provide what you need for the software you run, even though 3 yr old machine but 4 yr old plus video card.
flashing:
http://boeglin.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry090918-031702
4870 vs GTX 285 that came out at that time also
http://www.geek.com/articles/games/macpro-whats-better-ati-radeon-4870-or-nvidia -gtx-285-20090720/
The default card was Nvidia GT120 and req'd no power cables and popular way to support more displays.
People were running DUAL 4870s to support 3rd monitor though back then:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=665034&page=10

ATI Radeon 4870 won't detect second display

ATI Radeon 4870 won't detect second display I have a sony that come up as a sdm-hs95p and a asus that i want to connect they both have vga and both have conveters vga to dvi and on the asus it also has a dvi to mini dp because on the graphics card it has dvi and mini dp

You can't use more than one converter per display.
You need to get single converter that connects directly from the Mac port to the display.

Two radeon 4870 cards

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