Success: GA-X58A-UD7, 5870, Apple Cinema 27" via DisplayPort

[andmost]

I didn't use Multibeast so now that all is working I can see only that my system is 64bit!
Thanks for your help

 

[haller]

Nice job with the Mac Pro Case mod! How long did the case mod take you and did you build the back panel of the case your self?

The case mod took quite long, mainly because I had no appropriate tooling. For instance I had no Dremel only a jigsaw and even that I purchased only for the mod. I would sum it up as 40h for the doing and another 40h for planning and preparation. All in all it was totally worth that time.

I have a second G5 spare case and if that time comes when the new chipset/cpu have 2-4x performance then I know I can do it in half of the time the first one took.

Currently though, I disassembled everything again to integrate water cooling. This will take me another week. May also be that consideration of water cooling made the initial planning phase much more complicated.

The mod is also not electronically complete, I need to connect that front panel I/O. I hesitate with that because with just one wrong wiring I could destroy the whole thing very quickly.

 

[timdafweak]

Gut gemacht! I too am interested in getting the 27" Apple LED Cinema display. Any reason why you went with the Sapphire 5870 instead of the Apple 5870?

 

[haller]

I had a MacPro with an Apple 5870 but I had to return it because it was too noisy for my ears. I am very intolerant noise-wise. And that noise was mostly coming from the 5870 cooler. I guess the noise level would be ok for most people.

So I decided to build a water cooled Hackintosh and returned the MacPro to Apple. Therefore Apple's stock 5870 was not an option. Also the price was almost double so I decided to gamble a bit

Because I wanted to start with a silent air-cooled system I decided to buy the confirmed silent Sapphire Vapor-X which was also offered at a discount and was available for pick-up at my local dealer. If it was just for performance I would probably have bought an XFX or an MSI. The Sapphire is not even good OC'able. It maxes out at 900MHz, at least without flashing the BIOS. But I can live with that as in the first place I need a dead silent OS X machine.

I am just in the middle of modding that G5 case to house the water cooling components. The Sapphire was also on the compatibility list of some of the 5870 water coolers.

 

[timdafweak]

Totally with ya on the noise part. I have been trying to find a replacement for my xfx 9800GT which screams like a banshee while gaming.

If you don't mind, I had a couple of questions regarding your setup, since I too am contemplating a similar set up (sans the elaborate case/water cooling, hats off to you)

a) how did you get the audio/iSight to work through your Apple LED Cinema? Is it a USB cable connection or is it routed through the DisplayPort (not even sure if that happens).
b) Did you have to do any framebuffer tricks to get your LED Cinema to work?

Thanks!

EDIT: NVM I found out that the Apple LED Cinema does indeed route audio etc via USB

 

[haller]

b) Did you have to do any framebuffer tricks to get your LED Cinema to work?

Nope, not at all. Just the settings as shown in the screen shot. It was all automatically enabled, even during initial installation.

EDIT: NVM I found out that the Apple LED Cinema does indeed route audio etc via USB

The ACD just works fine. Everything is supported there: mass storage, bluetooth dongle (even with wake-up). iSight works fine.

However, the screen audio is exactly where I have an issue: When I install the Realtek audio driver, this driver grabs the output and whenever I force display audio in the preferences that driver immediately switches back to one of it's own connectors. So I never get display audio while Realtek drivers are installed. However, I have found a workaround. As soon as I install a headphone on the back panel it lets me switch away from Realtek to display audio. This is not very nice but doable.

There is another issue I have but in Windows. I can not control display brightness using the function keys on the Apple keyboard. Audio level is controllable, but not brightness. I had done the firmware update on the ACD and I used the latest Boot Camp drivers. The workaround here is to adjust brightness in OS X before switching to Windows. I use Windows only for gaming so it's not a big issue to me. If I was a serious Windows user I would find that annoying. Eventually this thread here http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1023270&highlight=bootcampcan shed some light on the issue.

Good luck with your upgrade. User @andmost here seems to give his XFX 5870 a try with the ACD. But he is still in the process of purchasing it.

 

[timdafweak]

Haller,

Thanks for your detailed reply. I too have had issues when using display audio on my Gateway and conflicts with the Realtek driver. However, I gave up long back and started using just the display audio, and it works well for the most part.

How about brightness control? I see you have the Apple Bluetooth KBD, does the brightness control work with the hardware keys on the KBD?

I am ready to click "Purchase" on the Apple Store site, but am second guessing myself. I guess my only pet peeve with the ACD from what I've read so far is - no power button. I leave my system on 24/7 and often control it from work using RDC - which will switch the monitor on, and keep it on. Have you faced a similar issue? How do you switch off your ACD when not in use? CTRL+SHIFT+ESC works, but the screen will wake up again when being controlled remotely.

 

[haller]

I too have had issues when using display audio on my Gateway and conflicts with the Realtek driver. However, I gave up long back and started using just the display audio, and it works well for the most part.

I have tried that too, but I need the optical out and headphone occasionally. So I use my workaround with the always plugged headphone.

How about brightness control? I see you have the Apple Bluetooth KBD, does the brightness control work with the hardware keys on the KBD?

Under Mac OS X all keyboard controls work absolutely fine, that is display brightness and display audio volume. In Windows 7 I can only control display audio volume.

I am ready to click "Purchase" on the Apple Store site, but am second guessing myself.

I don't know why people hesitate to purchase an ACD in addition to existing hardware? You can always return it to Apple within 2 weeks. In my case, I already had the ACD and needed compatible hardware => much more complicated!

I guess my only pet peeve with the ACD from what I've read so far is - no power button. I leave my system on 24/7 and often control it from work using RDC - which will switch the monitor on, and keep it on. Have you faced a similar issue? How do you switch off your ACD when not in use? CTRL+SHIFT+ESC works, but the screen will wake up again when being controlled remotely.

This is IMO not an issue at all. I have defined an active corner for that under the expose settings. I just place the mouse in the corner and the ACD goes to sleep. Also in the energy savings settings I have enabled monitor sleep after 15 min. That should be enough.

 

[injectx]

I have a Sapphire 5770 Vapor-X. Wonder if that would work?...

EDIT: nope.

 

[injectx]

So I bought myself an XFX 5870 but without luck. MiniDP to DP adapter, nothing.

Guess I'll have to sell this card and buy the Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X rev 2.0 the topic starter is using. (which is very hard to get in The Netherlands).

Really weird though.