Buying a new PC - Graphics Card + Sandy Bridge

[Procyon]

It's time to upgrade hardware. This time though I'm not going to go with Apple hardware; I'm going to try hackintoshing instead. I almost know what hardware I'm going to get, but I just have some questions.

ATI 5870s are VERY difficult to get a hold of anymore. I could either go with a AMD 6850 or 6870 (both which are not currently supported) or a (supported, but slow) ATI 5770. I realise that these cards will probably be supported in future Mac Pros, but as Apple usually takes their time with these things, would it be silly to get a 6870 now? I don't mind waiting two to three (or even four) months for this to sort itself out. I'm getting a Sandy Bridge Core i7 2600, so it'll be a while until those CPUs are natively supported by Mac OS X anyway (without a legacy kernel).

Seeing as the Core i7 2600 series is the logical (and only) way forward with Core i7 CPUs for the iMac (and Mac Pro with Xeon), would it be safe to assume that Sandy Bridge support would arrive with 2011 iMacs? Of course MacBook Pros (which are due for an upgrade early this year) would also use similar Sandy Bridge CPUs, so would this support for mobile CPUs would carry over to desktop cpus too? I would prefer to get a Sandy Bridge CPU over the previous generation Core i* series as I don't want to buy into "old" tech. The lga1155 socket seems like it will be around for at least two years, one year with Sandy Bridge and the other year facilitating Ivy Bridge CPUs. Buying a Sandy Bridge CPU seems like the most sensible option at the moment.

There are a few places still selling 5870s, but I'm not sure if they are reference cards. The local computer markets might also have a few. I'm just not sure about what models are reference cards, and which models aren't. There are any lists out there and searching the forums only results in answers where people have gotten their cards to work but don't explain what model they have and how they managed to run them.

I'm going for an ASUS P8P67 (not sure about the Pro model yet). They're a bit better than the Gigabyte boards and they have a UEFI (which the Gigabytes won't be getting for another six months).

 

[JoshNYC]

I work on Mac day-to-day but my new Sandy Bridge system is far from a work machine at this point. However, it does seem very reliable once booted. No crashes at all. The CPU has to be underclocked to make it work for now but this will be fixed pretty soon I think. I think once the CPU is officially supported (MBP or iMac) I think it could be my primary machine.

Some random (and possibly relevant) thoughts on entering the world of PC DIY:
The PC buying (and building) experience was completely new to me before I bought my SB system. It's a very confusing market but also quite an adventure. I chose the P8P67 PRO because it allows SLI (though chances are Apple won't support this anytime soon). You may want to consider the K model of the 2600 as it allows for easy overclocking (literally one click in the UEFI screen). Be careful of buying RAM that you get 1.5V – 1.65V will underclock to 1.5V but you won't get the best performance that way. Figuring out power supply need is also a bit of a mystery too. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely go for a modular model. Dealing with tons of cables you don't need is the worst part of the build.

As far as video cards go. I chose to go the NVidia route on this system (as I have the 5770 on my Mac Pro – it is far from slow, by the way!). The card I chose was the GTX460. It's pretty much a rocket (on par with the 5870 — slower than the 6xxx series) for around $150 and it seems completely supported in my working system.

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

 

[Procyon]

Hey, thanks for your reply!

I think I might wait until the CPUs are natively supported then. I'm on holidays now (which'll be over early February) and then I won't have time to mess around with the machine. I plan to do some gaming on the Windows side of things, and most productivity stuff on the Mac side. So I'll be running Aperture/Photoshop/Nik HDR Efex Pro/After Effects/Final Cut on the Mac most likely. So I'll need a graphics card that is supported by OS X. I also want to play games (such as Crysis - very GPU intensive as you would know), and I don't think the 5770 would cut it. Have you had any problems with the 460? I've heard that people have had kernel panics, glitches and system freezes with it (and other Fermi cards).

It would be really great if the next Mac Pro/iMac supports the 6*** series cards.
Also, what exact model 460 do you have?

Ah yeah, and lucky you. You with your Mac Pro.

 

[JoshNYC]

I was sitting it out for a while (I thought). But a few days in Windows (even for gaming) and I guarantee you'll be itching to get Mac OS X running. With all the kext and stuff it's still far more stable that Windows ;-)

I'm currently dual booting: I had 2 HDs installed. 1 with Win 7. 1 with OS X. Boot priority is set to CD/DVD. If I want to boot Mac, I leave the iBoot-legacy disk in the drive. If Windows I pop it out. The BIOS doesn't recognize the OS X drive as bootable. Otherwise, i could probably just use the boot menu from the BIOS/UEFI.

The Mac Pro is more than four years old at this point. But it's still quite the work horse. Still feels fast. I had to get the 5770 as my 8800GT blew out. But, even in its current underclocked state, my SB machine is quite a bit faster.

I haven't had problems with the 460 (yet). Just played around with a few demos on the Mac. On Windows (7 64) I've tested Crysis on it. Runs very smooth. The card I bought was on the low end of the options: EVGA GTX460 768MB – not a 1GB and not an overclocked version. Still fast enough for me.

 

[Procyon]

Cool. I've been lurking around these parts for a while now, and I think I'm capable of the job.

I think I might buy the PC and use it as just that, a PC, until SB is officially supported. I'll have to survive with my MacBook Pro for the time being.

No big deal, as I've been using the MacBook Pro as my sole computer for the past two years.
(And if I really need a fast Mac I could just visit my dad and his Core i7 iMac

)

I might check-out the local computer market on Saturday and see if they have any cheap reference ATI 5870s. Or maybe a GTX460.

So you're running:

Kernel Extensions 64-bit, Graphics enabler=yes with full acceleration and QE/CI. Did you just have to pop the card in the PCI slot and then run the Nvidia Graphics Update or what? What I mean is, when you installed the system, 10.6.0 wouldn't have recognised the card? What did you have to do from first boot up until everything was running properly under 10.6.6?



Also does anyone know which 5870 models are reference and which ones aren't?

 

[seanmcd72]

I'd love to figure out which 5870's are good for OSX. There's always a few on sale here and there (sometimes under $300). I have a GTX285 now, but would love a new, slightly faster and DX11 card for Windows.

 

[Implied]

I'd say a Diamond for a 1GB, unless you're getting a 2GB, then a Diamond or a Sapphire. Keep in mind they have different ports:

The 1 GBs have HMDI, Display Ports and DVis.
The 2 GBs have only 6x Display Ports.

There's a list of tested 5870s here.

OP: I'd say iMacs are due for a re-fresh around April to early summer, with i5/i7 Sandy Bridges. 2500 and 2600 for the Quad Core model.

AMD 6xxx support will probably start once they refresh the Mac Pros in the next few months. They might bump the iMacs to a low/medium end AMD 6000 card, but Mac Pros will get the high-end cards, like 6870 or 6970.

Mobile Sandy Bridge support should be soon, the MBPs are overdue for a re-fresh, but the Mobile SB first Generation hasn't hit the Market yet, so don't expect them too soon.

Not sure which will come first, or if Mobile SB support Patch will include Desktop SB support. Probably will, although not 100% sure. Will probably include AMD 6000 Series initial support as well. Not sure for which models specifically.

 

[JoshNYC]

So you're running:

Kernel Extensions 64-bit, Graphics enabler=yes with full acceleration and QE/CI. Did you just have to pop the card in the PCI slot and then run the Nvidia Graphics Update or what? What I mean is, when you installed the system, 10.6.0 wouldn't have recognised the card? What did you have to do from first boot up until everything was running properly under 10.6.6?

I did the BIOS firmware update to the latest release version, changed boot priority to CD/DVD, iBoot-legacy, Disk Utility to format a new HD, SL Install, 10.6.6 combo install, BridgeHelper, NVidia update, Multibeast (EasyBeast) install. Manually installed the Ethernet kext. Changed my CPU multiplier in BIOS to 29 and enter busratio=29 in iBoot-legacy on startup.

 

[Procyon]

I did the BIOS firmware update to the latest release version, changed boot priority to CD/DVD, iBoot-legacy, Disk Utility to format a new HD, SL Install, 10.6.6 combo install, BridgeHelper, NVidia update, Multibeast (EasyBeast) install. Manually installed the Ethernet kext. Changed my CPU multiplier in BIOS to 29 and enter busratio=29 in iBoot-legacy on startup.

Cool, thanks for that info.

I think I'm going to go with a Palit GTX 460 Sonic Platinum (P-GTX460-1GBD5-SP) http://www.techspot.com/review/299-pali ... page4.html

Does anyone know if this (overclocked) card is supported by the regular fermi drivers?

 

[Procyon]

Righteo! I've done a lot of research over the past few days as to my future PC-setup.

What I'm thinking I could do now is

1. Buy a 6870 for my new machine and use it as PC.[/*:m:2qltrb3w]
2. When Apple releases official Sandy Bridge support I'll try hackintosh the ASUS P8P67 (hopefully fully compatible).[/*:m:2qltrb3w]
3. By then either the AMD 6*** series will be supported[/*:m:2qltrb3w]
4. or, I'll buy myself a cheap Nvidia 9800GT (or something along those lines) to tie me over until 6*** series drivers.[/*:m:2qltrb3w]

Now my question is:
Does anyone have any idea how to get two cards working separately in a hackintosh? In other words, a 6870 for Windows and a 9800GT for the Mac/Hackintosh.