Running PC Version of Radeon 5870 HD Eyefinity 6 on MAC PRO 1.1?

[Cavalleras]

Powering PC version of GPU Ati Radeon 5870 HD Eyefinity 6 edition 2GB on MAC pro 1.1?

As per https://www.anandtech.com/show/3621/amds-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-edition-reviewed/9

Power consumption 5870 should use
180 W idle and
296 W load

My mac Pro 1.1 mid 2006 (El Capitan) has only 2 x 6 pins on MOBO (NONE of the sockets in use right now)
I also have 1 x 4 pin free socket from my DVD rom (I can remove the other DVD rom if needed to get another 4 pin socket)

However, the 5870 HD has 1 x 6 and 1 x 8 pin sockets

How do I compensate missing power from 6 pin socket to 8 pin

BTW, I am going to use this GPU for WINDOWS OS boot system on MAC, I will still keep stock GPU for running MAC OS

Final question, what should I use (2x4 pin to 8 pin or 6 pin to 8 pin converter) will they work or damage my MB?


Thank you mall who can explain this to me, I've been scratching my head for days now
The 5870 HD was gift from a friend, so no money spent on this one but I am trying to get better performance

 

[h9826790]

Powering PC version of GPU Ati Radeon 5870 HD Eyefinity 6 edition 2GB on MAC pro 1.1?

As per https://www.anandtech.com/show/3621/amds-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-edition-reviewed/9

Power consumption 5870 should use
180 W idle and
296 W load

My mac Pro 1.1 mid 2006 (El Capitan) has only 2 x 6 pins on MOBO (NONE of the sockets in use right now)
I also have 1 x 4 pin free socket from my DVD rom (I can remove the other DVD rom if needed to get another 4 pin socket)

However, the 5870 HD has 1 x 6 and 1 x 8 pin sockets

How do I compensate missing power from 6 pin socket to 8 pin

BTW, I am going to use this GPU for WINDOWS OS boot system on MAC, I will still keep stock GPU for running MAC OS

Final question, what should I use (2x4 pin to 8 pin or 6 pin to 8 pin converter) will they work or damage my MB?


Thank you mall who can explain this to me, I've been scratching my head for days now
The 5870 HD was gift from a friend, so no money spent on this one but I am trying to get better performance

View attachment 750669

You refer to the wrong number.

 

[Cavalleras]

You refer to the wrong number.

With that said, what are my options of installing and running this card?

I'm not just a newbie @ macrumors, I am also e tech newbie or a MAC newbie

Should I get one of the 4 to 8 or 6 to 8 pin converters and try if it works, or just forget about this card, sell it and get a MAC compatible one with that money?

 

[SamirPD]

It really depends on how much the power supply can provide and how many other things you have in the system.

You can always use a splitter cable to get the connectors you need--just be sure to buy from a reputable company like startech.com vs generic stuff as the generic stuff can be a fire hazard. I've used a startech.com cable in a Dell Precision 670 for the same issue (only had one 6-pin) and it's worked great for over a year now.

 

[Cavalleras]

It really depends on how much the power supply can provide and how many other things you have in the system.

I have only 1 DVD Rom and 1 HDD (500 GB) nothing else

You can always use a splitter cable to get the connectors you need

Which connector did you use, 6 pin to 8 pin or 4 pin to 8 pin, any visual reference (photo) please, as I am going to need 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 pin to power both GPU sockets (6 and 8)?

Thank you for your reply, I just started feeling more optimistic about this : )

 

[h9826790]

I didn’t own a 1,1, but AFAIK, that’s 2x mini 6pin on the logic board, not normal 6pin.

Since the 5870 is not that demanding. You should able to power it by

[Dual mini 6pin -> single 8pin] + [single 8pin female -> dual 6+2pin]

I made this post to state the reason how and why this cable combination work. Even that post was not made for 1,1, but should be applicable in this case

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1080-gtx-dual-8-pin-on-mac-pro-5-1.2104598/#post-25784036

Anyway, a quick search shows that the 5870 only max at 212W.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_5870/28.html

Since your Eyefinity version only draw a bit more than the standard 5870, and that 212W is actually the Furmark power consumption. I have confidence that your card can hardly draw 200W under normal use. So, my suggested cable combination should work.

 

[Cavalleras]

[Dual mini 6pin -> single 8pin] + [single 8pin female -> dual 6+2pin]

So my understanding is (I also read your post from the link above) that I will need 2 cables, first cable will convert TWO x 6 pins to ONE 8 pin and then the other cable will split ONE 8 pin to ONE 6 pin and ONE 8 (6+2) pin to go to 5870 card, and all this is done to balance the load on motherboard 2 x 6 pin sockets?

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I will now check and order aforementioned cables. Hopefully they will arrive fast, and will post the results after installation. : )

 

[h9826790]

So my understanding is (I also read your post from the link above) that I will need 2 cables, first cable will convert TWO x 6 pins to ONE 8 pin and then the other cable will split ONE 8 pin to ONE 6 pin and ONE 8 (6+2) pin to go to 5870 card, and all this is done to balance the load on motherboard 2 x 6 pin sockets?

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I will now check and order aforementioned cables. Hopefully they will arrive fast, and will post the results after installation. : )

That's correct.

 

[Cavalleras]

That's correct.

THANK YOU again h9826790, you are a life saver

 

[h9826790]

THANK YOU again h9826790, you are a life saver

You are welcome.

At the end, it should look something like this.

P.S. You may realise that I use 6pin as the bridge. Both 6pin and 8pin can do the job properly, both of them consist three 12V wires. So, 8pin won't do any better for load sharing. However, I usually suggest the other use a 8pin bridge because dual mini 6 pin to single 8pin is a more useful cable in general. e.g. In future, if you upgrade to a card that has single 8pin, you can simply use that dual mini 6pin to single 8pin cable. On the other hard, dual mini 6 to single 6 is purely a bridge, no other function. I pick this one because I expect the 1080Ti will be my last GPU in this cMP. So, I only need a bridge, and 6pin is little bit cheaper

 

[SamirPD]

I have only 1 DVD Rom and 1 HDD (500 GB) nothing else



Which connector did you use, 6 pin to 8 pin or 4 pin to 8 pin, any visual reference (photo) please, as I am going to need 1 x 6 pin and 1 x 8 pin to power both GPU sockets (6 and 8)?

Thank you for your reply, I just started feeling more optimistic about this : )

h9826790 beat me to it, but I think you've got it now.

Definitely post back and let us know how it went.

 

[Cavalleras]

At the end, it should look something like this.

Thank you h9826790 for the pic, this now clears/shows everything you wrote earlier, as an architect-to be, I like to visualize things

Definitely post back and let us know how it went.

I will definitely do that SamirPD


All the best

 

[Cavalleras]

SamirPD, h9826790

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that i received my cables and installed them as h9826790 said

Although, I had to restart my MAC almost 50 times before I got to install drivers for it ( I was running 2 GPUs, stock card and the Radeon HD 5870 eyefinity 6 card) and I guess they were conflicting each other (there were 2 red LED lights turning on soon as I would start MAC)

Anyway, now I am having some flickering on my screens (2 x HP 2711x) and sometimes whole screen will turn into some grey color lines, then after the other one too and then

Overall for a MAC running with 13 GB of RAM memory and a 2 GB graphic card, it is lagging a lot, youtube videos are slow and lagging, web pages when scrolling UP or DOWN have lags and so on.

Could this be because I did not flash my card?

And BTW, I am stuck on windows OS and cannot switch to MAC because of no boot screen
[doublepost=1521218250][/doublepost]

 

[h9826790]

SamirPD, h9826790

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that i received my cables and installed them as h9826790 said

Although, I had to restart my MAC almost 50 times before I got to install drivers for it ( I was running 2 GPUs, stock card and the Radeon HD 5870 eyefinity 6 card) and I guess they were conflicting each other (there were 2 red LED lights turning on soon as I would start MAC)

Anyway, now I am having some flickering on my screens (2 x HP 2711x) and sometimes whole screen will turn into some grey color lines, then after the other one too and then

Overall for a MAC running with 13 GB of RAM memory and a 2 GB graphic card, it is lagging a lot, youtube videos are slow and lagging, web pages when scrolling UP or DOWN have lags and so on.

Could this be because I did not flash my card?

And BTW, I am stuck on windows OS and cannot switch to MAC because of no boot screen
[doublepost=1521218250][/doublepost] View attachment 754658

Flash should not make any difference once OS is loaded (driver controlling the card, but not EFI), and I am not sure if eyefinity model is flashable or not. (You can always flash the Mac EFI onto a 5870, however, it may disable some ports. In worst case, all ports on this “abnormal config” card will be disabled and make you extremely hard to recover)

Since you are running Windows, that means the shuttering probably not driver issue but something else. (Assuming you installed the correct driver. Windows driver should support eyefinity card)

It’s hard to tell which part is wrong. In general, unless you can 100% the GPU was working flawlessly before this installation. The biggest suspect still the GPU itself (e.g. faulty card). However, since you only tested the card in Windows. And you mentioned there is some conflict between the old / new GPU. So, the chance of having driver issue still there. You better remove the old card, only install the 5870. Completely remove ALL GPU driver. And then re-install the AMD driver.

Perform a PRAM reset should bring you back to OSX. (Not sure which Mac OS you are running, but if you are really running macOS on a 1,1, but not OSX. That means you installed the macOS by some hack / patch. In this case, I don’t know will PRAM reset break anything)

 

[Cavalleras]

In general, unless you can 100% the GPU was working flawlessly before this installation. The biggest suspect still the GPU itself (e.g. faulty card).

It looks like the GPU itself is faulty, I was able to run it on MAC OS (after using old card to set it to MAC OS default login) then removed old card and used ATI, it worked for about 2 minutes before turning screen all white.

Now it is not showing anything when I restart to either WIN or MAC OS

However, a red LED is on on MOBO and when I press check button on MOBO it does not lit the green LED showing there is GPU present on board.

Do you know if these cards are repairable?

Thanks for your input, I tried PRAM and nothing came up, no changes, I am using "hacked OS" El capitan on a MAC Pro 1.1

 

[h9826790]

It looks like the GPU itself is faulty, I was able to run it on MAC OS (after using old card to set it to MAC OS default login) then removed old card and used ATI, it worked for about 2 minutes before turning screen all white.

Now it is not showing anything when I restart to either WIN or MAC OS

However, a red LED is on on MOBO and when I press check button on MOBO it does not lit the green LED showing there is GPU present on board.

Do you know if these cards are repairable?

Thanks for your input, I tried PRAM and nothing came up, no changes, I am using "hacked OS" El capitan on a MAC Pro 1.1

I know some card can be fixed by baking in the oven. But not sure if your card fall into this category.

 

[Cavalleras]

I know some card can be fixed by baking in the oven

I am pretty sure mine falls into this category, cos it's pretty big card. I'l check either oven or microwave, thanks for input

 

[SamirPD]

I am pretty sure mine falls into this category, cos it's pretty big card. I'l check either oven or microwave, thanks for input

NOT MICROWAVE!

Just do a search for 'video card baking' for the procedure.

 

[Cavalleras]

NOT MICROWAVE!

Just do a search for 'video card baking' for the procedure.

As I'm writing this, my owen is heating up at 195 C

Yes, I know about microwave, but I was so pissed of on this GPU that I was ready to put it on MW

 

[ActionableMango]

I don't think this is going to end well.

 

[Cavalleras]

I don't think this is going to end well

Well to my surprise IT WORKEDDDDDD

I did not expect it to work either, but at that point I had "nothing to loose", but gladly it worked,
I pre-heated owen to approx 195 Celsius and then inserted my GPU, held it for approx 9 - 10 minutes and left to cool down 30 minutes. After that, it worked on first attempt

For how long will it work before it crashes again, god knows ....


Thank you guys for helping on this process, without you it would't be possible to get this working h9826790, SamirPD


BAKING PROCESS -------

HERE I REMOVED ALU FOIL COVER

WORKING GPU

 

[ActionableMango]

Hahaha, good for you!

 

[SamirPD]

Awesome!! The baking always amazes me. Even though electronics experts say this shouldn't work, it really does! There's people who have baked cards 3 and 4 times and they keep getting fixed!

 

[tikku22]

That's correct.

Would you mind posting links to the cables you bought for this? I'm having a hard time finding these.

 

[Cavalleras]

Would you mind posting links to the cables you bought for this? I'm having a hard time finding these.

https://www.moddiy.com/products/App...tandard-PCI%2dE-8%2dPin-Video-Card-Cable.html

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CPU-8Pin-t...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

this is what i used on my MAC