ATI Radeon HD 4870 vs ATI Radeon HD 5870

I have an early 2009 Mac Pro with 8 cores and the upgraded ATI Radeon HD 4870 graphics card. I see that the 2010 Mac Pros have an option for the ATI Radeon HD 5870. Apparently this card will eventually be available as a kit that will work in my computer.
Do you think there will be a significant performance boost using the 5870 over the 4870 with Aperture if I purchase this upgrade? Apple says the 5870 is great for "motion graphics, 3D modeling, rendering, or animation", but not sure if I should expect much improvement using it with Aperture. I am pretty happy with the 4870, so don't want to spend the cash for minimal improvement.
Any thoughts or speculation?
Thanks,
Dave

No response here, but I posted the same question on the Apple Store Product page for the 5870 kit and received the following reply:
"You won't see a noticeable difference unless you are running heavy 3D applications or gaming. What I would suggest if you want to see an improvement in Aperture 3 is to add more ram to your mac (have at least 8 Gigabytes of ram ) boot up your mac to 64 bit (if running Mac OS 10.6) and run Aperture 3."
This supports my suspicions that this card may not be much of an improvement for Aperture users that currently use the ATI 4870.

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ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB for Mac Pro 2.66 Quad Core Xenon

I have the option of picking up an ATI Radeon HD 4870 1 GB graphics card to go with my soon-to-be-new MAc Pro 2.66 Quad core. I see know that Apple can upgrade to ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB, but that card is not available to me at the moment. Will the 1GB do the job without overheating the system? Am new to the Mac Pros. Need it for the Windows gaming portion of the system. Am using the rest for graphics and photography.

If the MAc Pro 2.66 comes with Snow Leopard, why would I have to upgrade my OS?
OK. So, if got the MAc version, it would work A-OK without overheating?
Thanks for your input!

ATI Radeon HD 4870 Composite Video?

ATI's spec sheet on the Radeon HD 4870 states that it can provide an analog composite video out. Is this feature enabled on the version that can be optioned on the Mac Pro, and if so with what adapters?

apples videoadapter does not work with this graphiccard
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2809

Early 2008 Mac Pro + ATI Radeon HD 4870 = Not working

Just took delivery of my new HD 4870 video card today. I installed it in my Early 2008 Mac Pro and booted up. I got a picture no problem on one monitor, but nothing on the other. Furthermore, the display perfpane was missing a lot of controls, like Arrangement and Detect Displays and whatnot.
I did a bunch of rebooting and swapping of cables, and determined that both the mini-display port and the standard DVI connection will drive a monitor. However, if both are plugged in, the only active display is the one plugged into the mini-display port, and there's no option to setup the secondary display.
So I booted into bootcamp, and it automatically recognized both display ports, and mirrored my desktop on both monitors. I downloaded and installed the latest windows drivers, rebooted the machine into windows once more, and was able to configure a multiple monitor display with no problem.
This tells me it's not the card and it's not the motherboard.
Booting back into mac OS, I discovered that it doesn't even recognize that the card has video ram. It thought I had no video ram in the system.
So, this all leads me to the conclusion that Apple shipped me a card that it has not yet provided driver support for.
Hey Apple, can I have my 4870 display driver now?

Hi again,
It was funny to read all your answers on my iPhone while away from my computer. I could have reply on the iPhone but I preferred to wait to give you all the procedure I used to install the beta driver successfully this morning.
To start, I found this link:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=155477
and followed the "4870 INSTRUCTIONS", starting like suggested by doing the "First, follow the 4850 INSTRUCTIONS above"... (See the link)
I would like also to specify that I did this without having installed the card physically yet. So I kept my HD 2600 in the computer, followed all the steps excepted for the step 3:
3. Reboot with -f -v (kextcache/verbose mode)
There is no -f nor -v switches available for the reboot command at the shell prompt. I simply rebooted as usual "Pomme -> Redémarrer".
After the reboot, all my software was still working as expected with my HD 2600 card, meaning that these steps are specific and active only for the HD 4870 when it's detected at boot-up.
You may have to Google for the string "Kext" in order to get the application to install the file ATY_Motmot.kext. For your information, ATY_Motmot filename is the same string as the one found under "System Information ->PCI cards" under "Name".
I get:
ATI Radeon HD 4870:
Name: ATY, Motmot
The article is not clear regarding where to find the OpenGL.framework to backup before installing the downloaded one. I found mine under:
/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.5.sdk/System/Library/Frameworks/OpenGL.framework
After having shutdown the computer, just after the reboot that proofed everything was ok, I removed the original HD 2600 card and put back the new HD 4870 and boot up...
Then I check the "System Information" and found both "Quartz Extreme" and "Core image" supported!
I launched Aperture, got it!
I launched Final Cut Express, got it!
I launched Starry Night Pro Plus, got it! Then I checked the OpenGL settings in Starry Night Pro PLus and activated both options:
Use shaders where available
Use AllSky shader (Not compatible with all hardware)
When I was doing these actions with my original HD 2600 card, the software was giving me a warning that my hardware did not support these options and that it could crash.
This time, with the HD 4870, it accepted my settings and give me back a very beautiful blue sky with much more shades!
So in conclusion, it works very smoothtly with my system and I am writing this with two monitors, having bought the MiniDP to DVI adapter this afternoon
I am happy!
P.S.: A girl from Apple support called me back this afternoon regarding my problem. She was very happy two when I told her that I did apply the beta driver and that it was working very well...
Good luck and best regards...

Ati Radeon HD 4870 out of order?

Hi folks,
im using a mac pro 1.1 with an ati radeon hd 4870 since aprox. one year without troubles.
since two weeks i habve the problem, that when i start the machine the fan of the graphik card is very loud, the power led is blinking and there is no starting at all. First i thought it would be the ram/ or riser cards. Then i installed the old graphik card (Nvida Model no P345 that one came with the computer) - and everything was ok. so i think the problem is NOT the ram. (am i right?).
My Problem FCP X is not working with this card (too slow)
Did anybody have the same trouble with that graphic card? is the gpu out of order? please help
This is my first post in any forum concerning computer-problems. sorry for my bad english, i´m german
thanks for your answers (which i long for)

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
2x2GB FBDIMM DDR2 667MHz @ $32
http://www.amazon.com/BUFFERED-PC2-5300-FB-DIMM-APPLE-Memory/dp/B002ORUUAC/
Those 512s fail. They are 7 yrs old. They were not as well engineered at what is being made and sold now, in the last year. These I use (1,1 8x2GB) are not just fine they are great (run 10-15*C colder)
You should use Temperature Monitor to see what thermal and other sensors report, fan speeds, temps of DIMMs (over 70*C is not good contrary to early reports).
Temperature Monitor
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/12381/temperature-monitor
http://www.bresink.com/osx/HardwareMonitor.html
SMCFanControl 2.4+
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23049/smcfancontrol

ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 and S20 ??

Hello,
Could somebody help me with this card ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 ?
I was wondering if we can put this card into S20 and if yes ..what exact we need to do this ? If not why ?
As far as i know there is different power socket on card ? So do we need some adapter or ??? to put this card
into S20?
Many thanks in advance
Regards
prosek
Solved!
Go to Solution.

lead_org is incorrect. a converter cable on the S20 is not needed. it already has two PCI 6 and PCI 6+2 power sockets, allowing it to run two cards requiring 6+8 pin power sockets such as the 4870x2 natively.(edit: typo... meant to say 6+2, not 6+1)
Message Edited by erik on 07-09-2009 03:53 PM
ThinkStation C20
ThinkPad X1C · X220 · X60T · s30 · 600

Ati radeon hd 4870 mac specifications

I haven't been able to find detailed specifications for the ati radeon hd 4870 mac edition.
The PC version specs show "accelerated transcoding and decoding for H.264 and Mpeg2".
Is this on the Mac version? Is it accessed/useful when compressing video to H.264 and Mpeg2?

We started to catch up, but missed the mark as far as driver support.
A GPU can also be a GPGPU, or CUDA, or PhysX card, or used in non-Macs for SLI and CrossFire. Windows 7 uses DirectX to off load work to the GPU.
A GPU is great for a lot of mathematical, encryption, parallel computing, even as a Fortran compiler.
I've never used a computer to play games, and when you see the extremes that some go to, $1000+ for 2-3 graphic cards teamed up, 180 fps... I imagine a wall of monitors at a concert or most any presentation today.
CS4 on Windows can use Quadro CX ($1600) not just for eye-candy, but off load and render. Don't send the image back and forth to the cpu.
Intel hopes to have Larabee out next year. Which goes in the other direction, use the cpu for handling tranditional gpu functions.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-larrabee-graphics,2253-11.html
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9111498/Intelkeeps_number_of_Larrabee_cores_under_wraps?intsrc=hmlist
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_%28GPU%29

ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB

Does anyone know if 1 ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB uses how much power, because in the new Mac Pro (early 2009) it can't use more than 300W of graphics power consumption. So, i am thinking of getting 4 of those ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB graphics cards (because i'm a real gamer) and stick them all into my new Mac Pro (early 2009)but if it does exceed 300W, then would anyone suggest a powerful gaming graphics card that is both compatible with Mac and Windows as i am planning to get windows vista on boot camp. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB is said to be a very crappy graphics card so i'm saying NO WAY!! to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB.

Get what you need for OS X, then get a PC card just for Windows. The GT120 might do normal things in OS X and grab whatever you want.... there is 75W and two aux power connectors of 75W each. GTX 275 Nvidia or something perhaps.
http://www.barefeats.com/nehal07.html

ATI Radeon HD 4870

I just bought a ATI Radeon HD 4870 so I could add two more monitors to my newish mac Pro. I was going to leave the existing card in there. Looks like the new card requires 2 power slots though, and I only have 1 available. Do you think I can hook it up with only 1? Or is there something I can buy to power it? I'm dying to have 4 monitors going.

Two more for a total of three? Yeah, you'd need the card you have in there still and I hope that it's not needing to be used in the slots the Radeon needs. If the other card is a single lane and you have one slot open there is no problem, but if it requires two, then that's a problem for you.
Edit: There is also something kind of odd at OWC whereby you can connect additional monitors via usb. I have no experience with it but if OWC sells it it must be decent at least if not ideal.
http://www.macsales.com/
Message was edited by: Samsara

ATI Radeon HD 4870 not better than the Nvidea Geforce 120?

I bought av new ATI Radeon HD 4870 card to my MacPro. But are wery disappointed. My old NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 performes almost better than ATI. I ran Cinebench test and this is the results:
*NVIDIA GeForce*
Rendering (Single CPU): 3225 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 18880 CB-CPU
Multiprocessor Speedup: 5.85
Shading (OpenGL Standard): 6107 CB-GFX
*ATI Radeon HD 4870*
Rendering (Single CPU): 3218 CB-CPU
Rendering (Multiple CPU): 18852 CB-CPU
Multiprocessor Speedup: 5.86
Shading (OpenGL Standard): 5846 CB-GFX
I also ran the Photoshop Actiontest from www.retouchartists.com on a large .tiff file, and my ATI Radeon used 1,10,2 and NVidea used 1,09,4. That is almost 1 second better for the old card.
Apple says that the ATI 4870 card performs 2x better than the Nvidea 120. That is not my experience!

Hello,
I currently have a 2008 3.0Ghz Harpertown mac pro and I am trying to figure out what to do here. I just purchased the 24 inch cinema display, but yet I have a nice 1GB 4870 ati radeon I got off ebay. Its more powerful than the Apple version, but lacks the mini-display port.
Currently, I have the ATI RADEON 2600 XT connected, though inactive, while my 4870 is active.
So, should I just get the Nvidia GT 120 and keep my 1GB 4870, or should I get rid of the 4870 I have and just buy Apple's? Either way, the GT 120 works in a 2008 mac pro despite what Apple says on their site that it only works in 2009 mac pros.

ATI RADEON HD 4870 Mac

Cam the ATI RADEON HD 4870 run in the 06 Mac Pro?

Yes it's an pc XFX 4890 (regular stock clocked model; not XXX version). I have it working in osx via injectors. I've been trying to flash it recently, as a rom has become available, however things aren't going very well... It seems possible that my later version xfx 4890 is not very compatible with the rom. Seems like people with earlier versions, had better success.
If I can't get it to flash correctly, might just change to a more compatible brand.
This thread can help answer all your questions:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=713428
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=751062
Word to the wise though, if you're not comfortable fiddling around with stuff inside your comp, it might not be a good idea. It can cause a lot of headaches~

Ati radeon hd 4870 for 1st generation mac pros?

unfortunately the ati radeon hd 4870 is working for all mac pros except the first generation: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB999ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA5OQ&mco=NDE4NDMxOA
are there any other graphics cards that have a mini displayport connector and are compatible with a mac pro first generation?
thanks for the help!

The information on the AMD/ATI site actually says the 4870 has lower power requirements than the 3870.
The PCIe power limit of 300W is the same for the 2008 Mac Pros as the 2007 8-core Clovertown Mac Pro. Power is not an issue. EFI appears not to be an issue either as Rob's tests have shown.
Can anyone give a logical or technical reason why the 4870 is not being made available to 1st Gen Mac Pros like the 3.0 GHz 8-core. I can't think of anything.
Surely Apple aren't restricting this cards use in an effort to persuade users to upgrade? Are they?

ATI Radeon HD 4870, support for quicktime using video card to decode h.264?

Does anyone know if Apple decided to use some of the fancy hardware in the new ATI RADEON HD 4870 to allow quicktime to shunt the h.264 decoding off to the video card?
I've got a 8 cores (and they don't seem all that busy). Even with the Perian quicktime plugin I still run into some HD movies that don't get a constant 24fps.

If the MAc Pro 2.66 comes with Snow Leopard, why would I have to upgrade my OS?
OK. So, if got the MAc version, it would work A-OK without overheating?
Thanks for your input!

Where to buy ATI Radeon HD 4870?

I have just bought a refurb MacPro 8 core (blimey) but want to put the ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 card in it sooner or later, but when I google it there seem to be so many different versions of this. e.g. a 'sonic version' etc, and so on, and they all look different in the pictures so Im really confused as to which one to get.
Can someone please advise me which is the right one and even suggest where to buy?
thanks:)

You mean Apple are the only suppliers of the one that works with OSX?
Yes, unless you can find another supplier that says their card will work properly with OSX in a Mac Pro.

Gaming with an ATI Radeon HD 4870

Hi Does anyone game on a Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon HD 4870? How is the performance? Can it play most games? Thanks

Check MacRumors forum.... there just aren't many owners yet with the 4870, and that have gotten around to doing benchmarks.
Besides, sometimes people who do benchmarks "for a living" and write up reviews - which do take a lot of time and effort, too - can give good reliable numbers.
If it can't play games, ATI is in the wrong business. And there are some excellent PC gaming / hardware reviews that give some good background research (and beginning to look to the 4890 next up).

ATI Radeon HD 4870 vs ATI Radeon HD 5870

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