RADEON HD 5770 Mac Softmod

[aikbreeze3]

Hi to all,

Does anyone have a working solution for turning a Mac specific Radeon HD 5770 into a workstation card?

I am upgrading my Mac Pro 1.1 2007 dual processor dual Xeon machine from the original Radeon X1900 to the 5770. This is the only viable upgrade for this "aging" machine. I use Vectorworks 2009 for CAD on this machine and it works very well. However, now that AutoCad 2011 is available for the Mac I want to consolidate all my CAD programs on the Apple machine.

I installed Autocad for Mac on the Mac Pro and it is quite decent apart from the initial bugs that we expect when something new gets launched. The only major issue I have is obviously graphics card related. I get crosshair artifacts stuck on the screen and the text style box has issues with displaying text correctly.

I would buy a Quadro 4000 but that card is not compatible with the 2007 model Mac Pro. So, the only thing I can do is; get the 5770 and softmod it into Fire GL if possible.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Antal I Kozma
aikozma@mac.com

 

[megamanx00]

How is a Quadro 4000 not compatible? I don't see why you couldn't use it apart from a power issue. That card is based off the power sucking heat generating monster GF100 after all.

Anyway, it should be possible to softmod your card to a FirePro 5800, but I don't know about doing it on a Mac. We don't really like Macs around here in case you didn't know 😛. Anyway, you want to check out this thread, and of course google the subject for more info

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=3547362

 

[vvhocare5]

Hmmm maybe you should try the iTunes store?? And a 2007 MAc? Dude you are 5 years back in time...

 

[EXT64]

Softmods only 'sort of' work and nobody has written a patchscript for a newer driver. If you must have a workstation card I would suggest buying a real one, either Quadro or FirePro.

 

[aikbreeze3]

How is a Quadro 4000 not compatible? I don't see why you couldn't use it apart from a power issue. That card is based off the power sucking heat generating monster GF100 after all.

Anyway, it should be possible to softmod your card to a FirePro 5800, but I don't know about doing it on a Mac. We don't really like Macs around here in case you didn't know 😛. Anyway, you want to check out this thread, and of course google the subject for more info

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=3547362

Hi, sorry for my Mac platform preference. I have been using it since old-old days in graphics and then later for CAD as well. Vectorworks has been my ACAD substitute on the Mac since MiniCad days. I've only used my Dell Workstation for AutoCad the rest was always on Mac. I am sorry for being a regular Mac user, if that is a shame on this forum. I personally do not have prejudice about who uses what, I just feel the Mac platform to be so much less frustrating that the Windows PC world. I say this despite of being able to use both systems professionally.

Anyway, apparently the Quadro 4000 is not compatible with 2007 Mac Pro running on version 1.1. It has something to do with 32 bit EFI. The Quadro cannot start up with that only with 64 bit. The Radeon can start up in 32 bit and then use the Mac's otherwise built in 64 bit capability. This is what I have collected via doing two nights worth of searching. It is hard to find a single well explained solution. Most of the threads get sidetracked by guys throwing lingo around without giving a precise and comprehensive answer if they actually know it.

I got the ATI Radeon HD 5770, it is perfectly compatible with my system described below:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro1,1
Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 13 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP11.005C.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.7f10
Serial Number (system): G873320WUPZ
Hardware UUID: 00000000-0000-1000-8000-0017F20CC128

As I said above the Radeon runs in 64 bit mode once it started up with the EFI 32 bit enabler. This card is a good improvement over the Radeon X1900 that i had before. Photoshop and all my illustration related software runs better when handling large files. The strange artifacts that were present in AutoCad for Mac disappeared. However, this is still not a FirePro that would truly take advantage of AutoCad when working in 3D.

Maybe I have to live with this and upgrade to a new generation Mac Pro when funds will be available. The latest Macs use the Nvidia Quadro 4800 cards and that is ACAD certified.

Thanks anyway, Antal

 

[aikbreeze3]

Hmmm maybe you should try the iTunes store?? And a 2007 MAc? Dude you are 5 years back in time...

Hi,

Yes I know that I am aging. However, this aging device runs as fast as I can throw data at it. My main CAD software on Mac is Vectorworks Designer 2009, just upgrading to version 2011 as we speak. It is an excellent program and very much does everything that ACAD does and some more. However, I also use AutoCad on my Dell and just have installed the new Mac version on the Mac Pro. It is simpler using one machine and cost wise makes more sense.
So, this ancient 2007 device still does everything that I need in the CAD department and in the Photoshop world too. That is not to say that I would not like to get a 12 core Mac Pro if funds would be around. Just that money is a scarce commodity these days.

Best, Antal

 

[rjandric]

Can't you get quadro 4000 for your mac if you need pro card?
That one works with early Mac Pros.