MacPro 5770 graphic card use in a PC?

Raz0rEdge said:

I'm not sure I got that from the post..does "screen goes black" mean it works flawlessly in Windows?

If there is a hardware limitation of the graphics card not working in a Mac, running Windows on that Mac won't alleviate that limitation..

Regards

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What?!

He never said anything about the screen going black as a reality. He gave the hypothetical question of the screen going black if you used windows on the mac pro due to software limitations like pigoo stated.

if it is in the OS

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Pigoo has suggested the 5770 woudn't work on a windows computer because of its rom-- which is a clash with the operating system.

then when you use bootcamp shouldnt the screen go black since your machine is essentially a windows machine now?

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Here he's asking a hypothetical question. IF it was a rom related problem with the graphics card, then he's saying whenever you used bootcamp, you'd expect a blank screen on startup-- which in reality you don't get. It works on bootcamp with no blank screen.

Now there was an issue with the late '09 iMacs getting blank screens when installing bootcamp, but that's because apple didn't include the necessary drivers. It wasn't a rom issue.


I'm not saying here the 5770 can work in a standalone windows box or not, I'm just clarifying what that guy was trying to say as his counter-argument to pigoo's posts.

For what it's worth...We should probably let "ckuta" (the member that posted that possibly confusing message)...clarify what they were trying to say.

Maybe the guess's at what they were trying to say are correct...and then maybe not.

- Nick

It's really not a guess, and it's really not that confusing of a message. I'm just reading it and understanding it like any other post on a forum. Perhaps I've been on many different forums too long and have a high tolerance for sorting the meaning of posts out, but there isn't that much ambiguity in this particular example.

I'll let it go there, though. No use in getting too worked up over it. I just find it hard to believe you guys would be baffled by its meaning. Not including a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and a comma after OS shouldn't alter its meaning too drastically though.

Now, if I may, I'd like to further the topic and question along with ckutka.


So, supposedly the 5770 won't work on windows machines because of its rom clashing with the windows operating system or windows components. How does this come into play with bootcamp, then? There is no parallel emulation when running bootcamp, as it's windows getting its own partition for windows, so you're getting windows in its entirety. How come the 5770 still works when using bootcamp if there's a rom issue? Is there something specific about how the rom communicates with the chipset or logic board that's specific to apple proprietary hardware? Those cards do work with bootcamp with no issues.

thanks trademark, that is what i was asking.

the error is mine.

basically though, as some of us may have experienced, if you try to use a device that isnt compatible then it simply will not work. in the case of a display adapter, your display shouldnt display anything. hence, it would be black or read "no connection".

if the video cards that come with macs are mac-only then it would reason they shouldnt run in bootcamp aka windows?

i doubt any of us have the answer but i am curious as to what prevents these things from working in one environment and not the next.

ok ive been researching this and it seems to be due to the fact macs dont use BIOS in the same way as the pc. however that is only the tip of it.

The Golden Guide to Flashing Graphic Cards - MacRumors Forums

mac can actually boot from pc cards but it turns out it is a conspiracy as once was said. there is a chuck missing from the firmware which prevents the cards from working to boot macs. mac cards work in windows because windows doesnt need that extra chuck in its firmware to initialize. they could add the info needed for the pc card to boot in a mac environment but they dont.

in short, they like taking your money. follow the link and learn how to flash the firmware of your card to boot osx.

I found a nice unused NVidia a386 and was wondering if it could be used in a windows 7 PC.

I read the graphics card flashing post and I think I get it, but I'm not sure if a flash is necessary or if the new rom is available to be flashed....

I know it seems like most people want to take a video card meant for a PC and use it in a mac because it's cheaper, but if you have a 'free' Mac video card, how would you use it in a PC. Its a PCIe card.. Nvidia a386

Instructions on modifying PC-only hardware to work with OS X?

Does this not technically count as a Hackintoshing thread?