MacPro 5770 graphic card use in a PC?

Can you use the 5770 graphic card that comes in the new MacPro in a PC? if so how? i feel like it's too simple as just to plug it into a PC and it will work.

icyx said:

Can you use the 5770 graphic card that comes in the new MacPro in a PC? if so how? i feel like it's too simple as just to plug it into a PC and it will work.

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Can't do it...it doesn't have the correct ROM. This counts in the reverse direction as well...you can't use a 5770 from a Windows computer in a Mac Pro.

- Nick

thanks for the answer.

Let me preface this question by saying I'm not familiar with Mac Pro's at all..

Aren't the components in there standard components and not Apple specific? Apart from drivers, I don't believe I've seen a graphics card say that it's specifically for the Mac?

Regards

Raz0rEdge said:

Let me preface this question by saying I'm not familiar with Mac Pro's at all..

Aren't the components in there standard components and not Apple specific? Apart from drivers, I don't believe I've seen a graphics card say that it's specifically for the Mac?

Regards

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Ohh yes my friend...the exact same video card that may be available for both Windows computers & Mac's are definitely different. Many times it's just the ROM instructions on the video card...but sometimes there are different ports on each card. For example...many Windows computer video cards will have a serial port on it...where Mac video cards almost never have a serial port.

Also...the same video card for a Macintosh may cost 2 times more than the same video card for a Windows computer...especially when we are talking used cards. For example...I know of an older video card model (used in older Mac Pros) that in used condition for Windows computers sells for $20 bucks...and the same used card for a Mac Pro will sell for $100 or more.

This is why some Mac users (in order to use a the less expensive version of a video card from a Windows computer)...try to "flash" the Windows video card with Macintosh ROM...so it will work on a Mac Pro. But even then they don't always work 100%.

HTH,

- Nick

p.s. This was the same situation with the old Powermac G4 models. Users would try to "flash" the Windows version of a video card to work in a Mac.

@Nick

Does the same hold true for the newer Intel Mac Pro models? I would think that the video cards used in the Intel Mac Pro would have the same instruction set as those used in the Intel Win machines.

I know that the older Mac models (G5, etc) had an entirely different instruction set for video because of the Power PC chipset.

Just wondering?

chscag said:

@Nick

Does the same hold true for the newer Intel Mac Pro models? I would think that the video cards used in the Intel Mac Pro would have the same instruction set as those used in the Intel Win machines.

I know that the older Mac models (G5, etc) had an entirely different instruction set for video because of the Power PC chipset.

Just wondering?

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How new is newer? If you mean all Mac Pros since the first ones in 2006...then I can definitely vouch for my 2006 "quad-core" model not able to use Windows computer video cards. I also know that the couple of Mac Pro "generations" after the 2006 Mac Pro still had "Macintosh" version graphics cards.

And technically...I don't have experience with 2010 Mac Pros...but I have no reason to believe anything has changed. Still separate Macintosh & Windows versions of video cards.

I did some internet searching...and it seems like the Macintosh version of the ATI Radeon 5770 costs about $250 (including the Apple Store):

ATI Radeon HD 5770 Graphics Upgrade Kit Graphics adapter - 1 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM

The Windows version sells for around $150:

XFX Radeon HD 5770 Graphics adapter - 1 GB - GDDR5 SDRAM

With that $100 price difference...if the Windows 5770 video card was compatible with Mac Pros...I would think that every Mac Pro owner would probably be buying the $150 Windows version rather than the $250 Mac version.

You would think that with both Macintosh & Windows computers both using Intel cpu's there might be some video card compatibility...but I guess there still must be big enough differences between Mac OS X & Windows that the video cards are not cross-platform compatible. I guess if it were possible for a video card to have both Windows & Macintosh ROM instructions on it...and somehow the card would "sense" what platform it was installed in...then I could see one video card working in both a Windows & Macintosh computer.

Maybe the day will come...but I don't think it's here yet.

- Nick

You would think that with both Macintosh & Windows computers both using Intel cpu's there might be some video card compatibility...but I guess there still must be big enough differences between Mac OS X & Windows that the video cards are not cross-platform compatible. I guess if it were possible for a video card to have both Windows & Macintosh ROM instructions on it...and somehow the card would "sense" what platform it was installed in...then I could see one video card working in both a Windows & Macintosh computer.

Maybe the day will come...but I don't think it's here yet.

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Thanks Nick. I was just wondering since I have no experience with working with the Mac Pro. Yeah, it does kind of make sense to have a video card that could work both ways by sensing which type of machine it's in.

But there has to be something else involved other than the operating system because the newest Mac Pro has no problem running Windows or Linux using the same Mac instruction set video card.

It must be a conspiracy by the video card manufacturers to charge us more.

Here's goes "Nick" with "Mac History" again!

Since 2006 when the first Intel Mac's were released...the Mac Pro's have been the only Macintosh computer that had a video card that was replaceable or upgradeable. So what I'm saying is...the Mac Pro's are the only Apple computer since 2006 where this whole video card (Windows & Mac version) has been a possibility.

But...before Intel Mac Pro's (with PCIe expansion slots)...this same exact issue existed with:

- Powermac G5's (with AGP, PCI, PCI-X, and PCIe expansion slots) which takes us back to 2003 when the first Powermac G5's were introduced
- Powermac G4's (with AGP & PCI expansion slots)...where you could replace or upgrade the video card. This takes us back to 1999.
- Powermac G3's (with PCI expansion slots)...which takes us back to 1997
- Even some of the original Powermac's had PCI expansion slots...which takes us back to 1996.
- Where things start to get a "little funky"...is Macintosh computers from 1987-1996 had "Nubus" expansion slots.

Where I'm going with this are two things:

- the whole "issue" of there being a Macintosh version & a Windows version of the same video card has been with us since probably about 1996...when both Macintosh & Windows computers shared a similar logic board architecture with PCI expansions slots (with the Macintosh video card version always being significantly more expensive).

- before this (1987-1996) desktop Macintosh's had "Nubus" expansion slots...which made Mac's much different from Windows computers...thus requiring "special" video cards that had the "Nubus" interface. So because of this Nubus interface...it was more understandable why Windows video cards wouldn't work in a Macintosh...and why Mac video cards were more expensive.

Since 1996-2010 (with both Mac's & Windows computers sharing a similar PCI, PCI-x, PCIe expansion card interface)...you would think that the cost of the same exact video card model would be much closer (just differences in the ROM on each version of the card).

With there still being (in 2010) an approx. $100 difference between the cost of a Windows & Mac version of a video card...it's seems hard to justify where that $100 extra cost is going other than "economies of scale". Which basically says...the greater the numbers you can make of something (greater volumes), the lower your costs, and the cheaper you can sell something. So apparently this has got to be the reason for the $100 cost difference (as it has been since at least 1996).

Ok...history lesson & personal commentary over!

- Nick

Ok...history lesson & personal commentary over!

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Great history lesson Nick. I may nominate you for a "Mac Pulitzer"! ;D

chscag said:

Great history lesson Nick. I may nominate you for a "Mac Pulitzer"! ;D

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That would be cool!

- Nick

Nah his Newfoundland would eat it ~ they eat anything!

harryb2448 said:

Nah his Newfoundland would eat it ~ they eat anything!

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Funny you should say that Harry!!!

My "stupid" Newfoundland ate part of one of our Halloween pumpkins yesterday when I was out of the house...and thus got himself in trouble when I returned!

Of course last week he ate:

- a toothbrush
- some aloe vera lotion
- some toilet paper
- some soap
- some canned coffee
- and some firewood that's stored next to the fireplace

...dumb dog!!!

- Nick

Yep!

Those Newfoundlands, Labradors and Corgis will eat absolutely anything and scoff it down almost whole!

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

ckuta said:

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

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Huh??

Raz0rEdge said:

Huh??

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I was confused as well. Is this question even related to the thread topic...don't know!

- Nick

He's asking how come the gpus work seamlessly with windows when you use bootcamp, because you stated the mac pro gpus wouldn't work under windows due to their rom.

There is no emulation under osx when running bootcamp afterall, it's a completely separate partition of the harddrive to run a full-blown version of windows.

So, it is every bit related to the topic.

trademark said:

He's asking how come the gpus work seamlessly with windows when you use bootcamp, because you stated the mac pro gpus wouldn't work under windows due to their rom.

There is no emulation under osx when running bootcamp afterall, it's a completely separate partition of the harddrive to run a full-blown version of windows.

So, it is every bit related to the topic.

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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

trademark said:

He's asking how come the gpus work seamlessly with windows when you use bootcamp, because you stated the mac pro gpus wouldn't work under windows due to their rom.

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Mind-reading can be a very inaccurate science.

- Nick