ATI 4870 with a GT120?

I know in PC land mixing brands is a bad thing, however I believe its due more to how drivers operate in Windows then the hardware.
If I order a Mac Pro with an HD 4870 and add in a GT 120 for a third monitor, will the universe explode?
- D

Hey,
You should be able to install both the GT 120 and ONE 4870.
The MacPro has two internal outlets for additional power, the 4870 uses both of them. That is why you can only install one 4870 and would not be able to install other cards if they need to use one of these power ports.
Since the GT 120 doesn't use these ports, you should be good from a hardware standpoint.
Now, in the past there have been problems with mixing NVIDIA and ATI cards in the same machine. To answer that question we may have to wait till someone tries it and can tell us their experiences.
Message was edited by: J.K. ROFLing

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ATI 4870 DVI-VGA not working. Help?

Howdy folks,
I was using an ATI 4870 with two DVI ports and one S-Video port on a Mac Pro 3,1 (I think) running osx 10.5 with two monitors
When we retired that computer I harvested the 4870 card to replace a GT 120 on a Mac Pro 4,1 running osx 10.8. It has been feeding two monitors without issue, one DVI and the other DVI-HDMI.
However, I cannot seem to get it to recognize any VGA monitor or projector using any of three different connectors. Nor can I seem to get any signal out of the S-Video port.
My goal is to run a VGA projector with the Mac Pro 4,1, a projector with VGA, S-Video, and RCA inputs.
As I said, I have tried three different DVI to VGA connectors. Two of these are very similar with 29 pins on the DVI connector. These did absolutely nothing. The third has only 17 pins, and while it had no result with projector, when connected to a VGA monitor the computer would recognize that a second monitor was attached, but no signal seemed to be carried to that monitor. The osx settings showed options for two monitors, but no image appeared on that second monitor.
One of the two DVI to VGA connectors I had successfully used on the previous Mac Pro 3,1 computer, but I cannot remember if it was with the 4870 or the graphics card we used before upgrading.
A Macbook using a MiniDVI to VGA connector feeds a signal to the projector without issue.
If this community can offer any help or guidance, I would be very grateful.
Best wishes-

The signals used for VGA are generated directly by the DVIO-I port on the graphics card, and are supplied in the bar at the right end, the four pins around it, and one pin from the top row of the grid (salmon/pink in the diagram above). A VGA adapter has no active components in it -- it just picks up those five signals and presents them on the proper VGA pins. The bar is used as the common return.
A failure is to produce a signal is not likely to be a failure in the adapter, but a failure on the graphics card.
DVI-I (Digital AND Analog) has the bar and the four pins around it present.
DVI-D (Digital only) has no bar, and the pins around it are not populated.
Diagram courtesy of Wikipedia.

Photoshop CS3 allows me to enable Open GL but CS4 does not Brand new MacPro with ATI 4870 card

Hi,
I just bought a brand new 8 core Mac Pro and have both the ATI 4870 graphics card and the Nvidia GT 120 card. Pshop CS3 allows me to "enable openGL" in the prefs and utiizes it when doing 3d stuff... however, CS4 has it dimmed in the prefs, thereby not allowing me to check it (it is dimmed and unchecked I should say) and when I do 3d stuff a dialog box saying
"Your video card does not meet the requirements for hardware-accelerated 3D rendering. All 3D will be rendered with software only."
any thoughts?
thanks in advance.

yeah, short term test deems keeping both cards in.
So, here are the results: Notes: I have 2 monitors, an Apple 30" and Apple 23". The 30" can only be used in the dual link dvi port and NOT the Mini Display port. Second: The ATI 4870 seems to have an issue with the Mini Display port, it does not work, alone or in tandem with the dual link dvi port being used. Apple is replacing the card (heretofore, I had no cause to use the Mini Display port on the 4870 at all) Third: Only Photoshop CS4 extended was used to see if the card was detected and if it had enabled Open GL
ATI 4870 - dual link used, Mini Display NOT used: Photoshop sees the card and enables Open GL
ATI 4870 - dual link used, MIni Display used: didn't test because Mini Display port did not work.
ATI 4870 - dual link NOT used, Mini Display used: didn't test because Mini Display port did not work
Nvidia GT120 - dual link used, Mini Display NOT used: Photoshop sees the card and enables Open GL
Nvidia GT120 - dual link used, Mini Display used: Photoshop does not see the card and thus Open GL is NOT enabled.
Nvidia GT120 - dual link NOT used, Mini Display used: Photoshop does see the card and Open GL is enabled
ATI 4870 Dual link used, Nvidia GT120 Mini Display used: Photoshop does not see a card and Open GL is NOT enabled.
ATI 4870 Mini Display used, Nvidia GT120 dual link used: did not test because ATI Mini Display port did not work

New ATI 4870 - No Video with dual Monitors

I have just received my ATI 4870 and am having some very unique problems. I have a dual display setup (NEC 2690WUXi2, Apple LED CD) running as an extended desktop. I have 2 Intel SSD X25-M in raid 0 as my boot drive in bay 1 and 2 of my Mac Pro 2.26.
The ATI card will not supply video when booted from the SSDs if both monitors are hooked up. The video stops abruptly right after the NEC is fed a signal and both monitors go blank. If only the Minidisplayport is used I get video and can subsequently plug in the NEC to the DVI port for dual displays. If I boot from one of my outboard clones the system will give me video on both monitors. I am also able to boot successfully from a SATA clone in Bay 1.
The computer boots flawlessly with 2 monitors when using the stock GT120 video card - this is from any source SSDs, outboard, etc. I have a 'clean' install of OSX with no programs that also has the same problems - no video from the 4870 and works flawlessly with the stock GT120.
If both video cards are installed I have a flawless boot. The NEC is attached to the ATI card and the Apple LED is attached to the GT120. Everything works like a champ. My thoughts are that this may be some timing issue with the SSDs and the ATI card when used alone. I can't think of any other explanation. Does anyone have a suggestion if I want to use just the ATI card?

You're sig says you have a 2009 mac pro. If so, you shouldn't need the drivers anyway as your 10.5.6 preloaded should already be the "special" version.
The beta drivers link pretty much pertained only to 2006 to 2008 mac pros ordering the 4870. As their 10.5.6 was the "plain" version.
What might be a culprit is that apple is shipping updated versions of the 4870 (different device/revision IDs). The beta drivers were taken from pre-release builds of 10.5.7 sent to devs. Maybe the updated versions are not jiving with the beta drivers, and made in particular for 10.5.7.
Well if any consolation, 10.5.7 may be as close as this week.
http://gizmodo.com/5241438/mac-os-x-1057-update-may-hit-this-friday

Aperture will not run with new ATI 4870

I just received my ATi 4870 card from Apple today. Installed it in my early 2008 MacPro. Card works fine for everything except when launching Aperture I get the error "The graphics card installed does not meet the minimum requirements for Aperture to run". Huh?? This is replacing a nVidia GeForce 8800 GT. The Ati is a newer, faster GPU than the nVidia and should absolutely run under Aperture. I'm guessing that Apple has not implemented the support for this card in Aperture, which is ridiculous since they're shipping it. Anybody else having this problem? Is there a work around until Apple fixes this?
Thanks

Chacro, it's definitely faster than my 8800GT. I don't wait nearly as long for images to render in Aperture, iPhoto, or Photoshop. I work strictly with Canon RAW 5DMarkII files that tend to be ~22-25MB and it loads 'em up like "right now" quick. Overall, I'm happy with it though it was a bit spendy. My advice would be to maybe wait for the nVidia GT285. Rumors are that Apple will be offering that in June, though I don't know if it will only be a BTO option, or sold separately as well. Sounds like that card is going to be just a little more expensive than the 4870, and will pack a full 1GB or RAM. I would have probably waited had I known that was coming when I ordered my 4870. I may wind up selling the 4870 then, or ordering a new MacPro with the GT285 option. Seems I can never have enough power to sling my photos around At the very least, I'll be selling the 8800GT though. Still a great card for someone looking for a bargain
Thanks again!

10.6.4 Combo Update - Kernel Panic on 1st Gen Mac Pro with 8GB and ATI 4870

Hi,
I installed the 10.6.4 combo update last night and now my system constantly kernel panics. It was fine with 10.6.3 for months and never kernel panicked.
I have 4 x 2GB FB-Dimms and a ATI 4870 card.
The system is also only showing one display and I can force it to kernel panic by going to system preferences and selecting 'Detect Displays'.
Anyone got any suggestions before I reinstall back to 10.6.3?
Thanks
Paul

Hey guys. I have got a new Macbook Pro 13" model and I am getting kernel panics. I've been trying to partition the drive for Boot Camp and after I updated yesterday (to 10.6.4) i've been getting the kernel panic sign. Also, when I boot from my Snow Leopard disk to go into Disk Utility to repair the permissions (I opened Onyx and on the SMART check it said the permissions needed to be reset) I get a kernel panic and it crashes! So at the moment i've just backed up my work and I am panicking myself as I have no idea what to do from here.
Any help would be appreciated!

High CPU & GPU temperature with ATI 4870 Graphics card

Hi I have replaced the original FX1700 card with an ATI 4870 on my S10 and I found the GPU temperature constantly floating at around 58C with no program running and the temperature of the CPU have also gone up to 47C with no programing running and 58C with program running(The temperature of the CPU was fine at under 40C before ATI 4870 was installed). Is this situation normal?
P.S. I have not replaced the orginal fan came with my S10.
Thanks very much for your helps
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi Erik you are truely intelligent I have tried the method as you suggested and now the temperature of CPU and GPU came down to 45C and 56C at idle respectively. That is really a dramatc improvement thanks very much!!!

Getting Asus ATI 4870 to work in my Mac Pro. Not working. please help!

I read here on these boards that an ATI 4870 would work in an early model (in my case, 2006) Intel Mac Pro.
I jumped in hastily and bought the Asus branded card: EAH4870
I connected it, and nothing... did not work.
I do not think it is a Mac version of this card, perhaps intended to be used in a windows machine.
Questions:
- Do I need to "flash: this card to make it work in my Mac Pro OSX 10.6.3?
- Are there Mac drivers for this card? I can't find anything anywhere
- Basically, can I get this card to work, or do I need to PAY the extra $$$$ just to have a "Mac" version of this.
Keep in mind, I am not a techie, I need to do Work, not fiddle with this kind of stuff.. unfortunately, a software package crucial for a job is very finicky and works with only a handful of cards.. The 4870 is one of them.
I do not have dual boot, and no windows machines to "flash" or rework this card.
If you can help me to get this card to work, it would be MOST appreciated!!!

It is not a Mac version. It does not have the required EFI boot ROM needed to work on the Mac. Video drivers are contained in OS X. Either you have to have the card flashed (this is illegal) or buy a Mac version of the card.
If you aren't a "techie" then you don't have the hardware needed to flash the ROM nor know how. Because this site belongs to Apple we cannot help you with something that is illegal.

Can I add a second ATI 4870 to my 2009 Mac Pro?

1. Can I add a second ATI 4870 to my 2009 Mac Pro? Sorry if posted already, I searched and Googled and could not find it.
2. What is the general consensus on the EVGA GTX285? Will this out perform the 4870?
I read somewhere that the ATI needs additional power from the power supply and the GTX does not? Is this true? If this is the case are there extra power supply connectors for an additional 4870 (hence my first question).
The GTX has dual DVI out connector and this is my preferred solution to get 2 x 30" Cinema Displays.
Thanks in advance,
MIke
Message was edited by: Michael710

1. Can I add a second ATI 4870 to my 2009 Mac Pro? Sorry if posted already, I searched and Googled and could not find it.
No. Each ATI 4870 needs two auxiliary power connectors. There are only two in the Mac Pro.
I read somewhere that the ATI needs additional power from the power supply and the GTX does not? Is this true?
No. Both use two per card.
If this is the case are there extra power supply connectors for an additional 4870 (hence my first question).
No.
The GTX has dual DVI out connector and this is my preferred solution to get 2 x 30" Cinema Displays.
You can use an adapter to connect a second 30" to the Mini DisplayPort
<http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=MjkyNjI0Mg>
(The latest adapters have new firmware, and shouldn't have problems.)
If you only need two displays, stick with one graphics card.

Radeon ATI 4870 PROBLEM????

Hey Everyone,
So I have a brand new MacPro with the Dual Quad 2.93 and 16GB of Ram, I have the ATI 4870 Card running along with my DeckLink HD Extreme 3 capture card. My question is that it seems like this graphics card is having trouble supporting my 30inchACD and TWO Samsung P2570HD's TOTAL OF 3 DISPLAYS, one of the Samsungs is connected via HDMI from my Decklink HD Ex and the other through MiniDisplay to DVI, I get weird issues like my mouse pointer freezing up and sometimes weird dropped frames in FCP7...can i or should i add another graphics card??? any solutions...MANY THANKS!!!!

Nice. 150 bucks for the converter. And its out of stock.
Luckily I found a much better solution... sold my 24inch cinema display on craiglist, and buy an ASUS VW266H for 280 bucks on amzn. Turns out the image quality on it is much better as well.
I'd highly recommend anyone to ditch their apple lcd for a higher quality lcd for a fraction of the cost. And leave these horrific compatibility problems behind you.

PS CS5 doesn't see my ati 4870 card

Hi All,
I have a flashed ATI 4870 1 GB card and a Nvidia GeFroce 7300 GT card in my MacPro.
The 4870 is my main card but PS CS5 is selecting the Nvidia as the main card. Is there a reason for this?
Anyone else experiencing this?
KJ

Andy Oleksy wrote:
Since I have the Apple branded 4870, the only way for me to run a second monitor is to either connect it to a second video card (in my case the 7300 GT) or buy a $30 dollar MD-to-DVI adapter. I went ahead and bought the adapter tonight (money I feel I should not have had to spend, since I already own a second video card). After connecting my second monitor to the 4870 via the MD port, CS5 Performance Pref Pane indicated that no video cards were detected! Strangely, all the advance OpenGL settings were available. Before, when the second monitor was connected to the 7300 GT, CS5 was detecting the 7300 GT, but only the basic OpenGL setting was selectable. As I said earlier, CS4 has no trouble detecting the 4870 with 7300 GT installed.
Since there is no reason for me to keep the 7300 GT in my Mac Pro any longer (I don't have a third monitor), I uninstalled it. CS5 now recognizes the 4870 and all OpenGL settings are available. I haven't done much testing yet, but things seem a lot snappier than before.
Glad you're up and running. Enjoy!

Early 2008 Mac Pro - ATI 4870 - Apple 30'' Monitor - SL .... Does it work?

I have an early 2008 Mac Pro with a ATI 2600XT on an Apple 30" Cinema Display. I want to upgrade the video card to take advantage of the new features of Snow Leopard.
Before I take the plunge on buying the ATI 4870 I want to make sure there are no issues with this configuration... Does anyone have an experience with this setup? any issues? ( I assume I will not need to load the drivers since SL should have them)
Also how is the noise level of the ATI 4870? is the GTX card better in this regards?
Thanks in advance,

Other than benchtests and synthetic, there are no OpenCL aware or optimized apps out there. So it is a non-starter I think.
There are performance tests and depends on what you prefer and type of work. Some places the GTX is better and more RAM might help. The $100 is the other factor.
The ATI X1900 and 2600 and 3870 didn't look that good to my eye and I use the 8800GT, shame it was dropped, it was a nice card (just needed better $189 price, but that is true of the X1900 ($89?) and others. I think $349 is way too much for 4870 512MB. Flash PC.
Barefeats has OpenCL TEST in Snow L.

2008 2.8 Oct-core ATi 4870 & 10.5.7 display issues

Anyone else with a 2008 Mac Pro and the new ATi 4870 graphics card? Waited forever for the card, then had to wait another week for 10.5.7. It works, but I get occasional, repeatable glitches on images in Aperture - while cropping images for example. Also sometimes random and not repeatable.
I left the 2600 card installed (moved it over to slot 2) because I have 2 monitors and didn't buy an adapter for the MiniDisplayPort. 2 CRT monitors - both Viewsonic, the main display on the 4870 is a G225f 22" at 2048x1536 and the other is a P95f+ 19" at 1600x1200. Display issues (chunky repeating patterns diagonally in the image, blocks of digital noise, etc) appear on both displays but not in the same way.
Anyone know, performance-wise if I would be better off running both displays off of one card?

There have been issues regarding ATI cards and 10.5.7
I am into Recording and follow the following forum. There is some discussion there.
http://www.logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=41255
Here is another:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2004341&tstart=75
Message was edited by: fazmanicg

MSI Neo2 FR and ATI 4870

does anybody have a similar setup? i seem to be having problems getting my system to boot with a ATI 4870 in, i have tried everything. i even purchased a new PSU but i'm still getting the same result, has anybody came across a problem like this before with this board?
i dont really see why it would be causing a problem as my current 8000GT runs fine on the board :(
much thx

hi thx for the reply
as far as the board goes its a MSI Neo2 FR this is the one http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=170&prod_no=1261
when i try to boot with the HD4870 in i get and error and going by the lights on the board it would be a problem with the graphics interface, green, red, red, red, i replace the card with my old 8800GT and the system boots fine. i know theres nothing wrong with the ATI 4870 card as its been sent back to the place i bought it from and tested and seems to be fine :/
edit: i also have the latest bois which is v1.10

P45 diamond, Vista64, ATI 4870 BSOD (incompatable???)

Well, I took the plunge on the P45 Diamond (MS-7516, PCB v 1.0) with the hopes of making a nice OC'r. Everthing was going fine on install until I loaded the ATI 4870 drivers, after which Vista 64 boots, I logon, then about 10 sec. later, BSOD. This is repeatable. I updated to AMI BIOS 1.4 (with great help from the Forum USB Bios Tool!!). All went well. Reinstalled the latest 8.9 ATI catalyst driver (Vista64) for 4870 and same thing. Vista 64 boots, I logon, then 10s later - BSOD. I can roll back with system restore and all is well. But after I reinstall - same thing. I've updated the Intel drivers, etc. Would be nice if the 'Live Update Online' worked, but I can manage with the manual method. PSU is a 750 PC P&C, so it shouldn't be a power problem. Memory is a 2MB Patriot Viper DDR3 PC3-1600 (2000 MHz). No OC'ing yet, just trying to get the 4870 running. Temps are way cool, CPU ~30C, GPU is cool via touch. I read some other threads about the 4870 problem, but looked like BIOS flash was supposed to cure. The 4870 is a Sapphire, w/ 1GB memory. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Quote from: dcoil on 18-October-08, 08:30:40
Problem RESOLVED! MSI Tech support notified me that ATI put a new driver for the 4870 (8.1) on their web site yesterday. I was a bit skeptical, as I've put several BIOS updates on and several ATI drivers on, and always ended with the same exact problem. But willing to do 'whatever' to get my hard earned cash operational, I installed the new driver and Voila! Problem resolved. Thanks also for your help and assistance Bosskiller.
dude, where did you get your 1.51 bios update? i searched and all i got is 1.50.. did you checked if you also installed your sm bus driver? because that's what screws my video card..

ATI 4870 with a GT120?

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