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ONE CARD, THREE MACS: Radeon HD 5870 running 3D apps in a 2008, 2009, and 2010 Mac Pro
Posted Wednesday, August 25th, 2010, by rob-ART morgan, mad scientist
We stated in our preliminary analysis that the Radeon HD 5870 (and 5770) sold with the 2010 Mac Pros were compatible with all Mac Pros. We were able to test a 5870 in the 2008 and 2009 recently.
NEWS FLASH: Radeon HD 5870 kit status became 'Ships: Within 24hrs' on November 12th, 2010, on Apple Store USA.
We ran the following games at 2560x1600 with the High Quality settings and 4X Multisampling (Anti-Aliasing). The only exception is X-Plane which was run at 2x AA. Fastest average FPS is in RED.
2008 Mac Pro 8-Core 3.2GHz
2009 Mac Pro 8-core 2.93GHz
2010 Mac Pro 6-core 3.3GHz
Portal First Slice
138 FPS
136 FPS
138 FPS
ET:QW
109 FPS
105 FPS
109 FPS
CoD4
55 FPS
45 FPS
53 FPS
WoW
114 FPS
99 FPS
110 FPS
X-Plane
105 FPS
144 FPS
173 FPS
Halo
178 FPS
179 FPS
188 FPS
Doom 3
123 FPS
130 FPS
186 FPS
This second table is with 1920x1200 with the High Quality settings and 4X Multisampling (Anti-Aliasing). The only exception is X-Plane which was run at no AA. Fastest average FPS is in RED.
2008 Mac Pro 8-Core 3.2GHz
2009 Mac Pro 8-core 2.93GHz
2010 Mac Pro 6-core 3.3GHz
Portal First Slice
250 FPS
254 FPS
233 FPS
ET:QW
134 FPS
147 FPS
157 FPS
CoD4
60 FPS
56 FPS
70 FPS
WoW
153 FPS
125 FPS
140 FPS
X-Plane 9.61
109 FPS
155 FPS
194 FPS
Halo UB
212 FPS
226 FPS
245 FPS
Doom 3
145 FPS
165 FPS
217 FPS
(click graphic to order the kit from Apple)
INSIGHTS The Radeon HD 5870 is an exciting for owners of 2008 and 2009 Mac Pros who are satisfied with their CPU's performance but want more 'oomph' from their GPU. To see how the Radeon HD 5870 compares to other GPUs, we are are still working on that article. Here's your appetizer, though.
One concern we had was the existence of the two Mini DisplayPorts in addition to one DVI port. We can confirm that the 2008 and 2009 were able to drive our 23' Cinema displays with the Mini DisplayPorts (using Apple's Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter). I'm confident that the 24' LED Cinema display and soon-to-be-shipping 27' LED Cinema display will work fine as well. As for our 30' Cinema display, we used the DVI port while testing the 3G game listed above.
FLASH! We tried the Radeon HD 5870 on a 2006 Mac Pro. It works! Read our report.
We plan to test the Radeon HD 5770 as soon as we get one. (Ours is back ordered but we're trying to get a loaner sooner.) For many users it's a good choice. It's just as fast or faster than the Radeon HD 4870, uses only one power feed, is only one slot wide, and costs only $249.
Have any comments or questions? Send them to , mad scientist. Follow me on Twitter @barefeats
WERE TO BUY THE RADEON HD 5870 Click on THIS LINK when you order the 5870 kit so we can earn our commission. And click THIS LINK to order the 5770 kit.
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ATI Radeon HD 5870 includes three video ports: two Mini DisplayPorts and one dual-link DVI port. This allows you to connect the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display plus another Mini DisplayPort-based display, and a DVI-based display such as the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display. Feb 10, 2018 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).