[Works] Sapphire 6450 512MB full CI/QE

[claes]

Tried two things, both failed

Tried to compile latest Chimera from SVN myself with a modified ati.c using Xcode 2.2 and although compilation was successful the boot files in /i386 remained as folders, so I couldn't installed them using fdisk . Tried again on another mac and still no luck...

I then tried to get my ROM from gpu-z in Windows but the card wasn't identified, poked around the techpowerup bios's and found the right bios for my card, tried using lisa_user's method and still had a generic framebuffer.

Could someone please help?

After a lot of testing I got it to work!
Sapphire 6450 1Gb working with AtiRom (from techpowerup), PCI=1 and AtiConfig=duckweed. Full QE/CI and proper framebuffer.

That said, I'm pretty disappointed in this card. It's dropping frames and juddering even with 720p content. It does get better when I sync the refresh rate to the video, but even then it's not as smooth as my old Radeon 9800 on an Athlon XP, let alone the card it replaced, a GTX 470, but it should be able to handle 1080p/720p without skipping. Moreover, the color is oversaturated, particularly the reds (super-fleshy people in movies), the brights are too white and it's difficult to discern shadow detail. Will try other framebuffers this evening and might try to recalibrate my otherwise calibrated display (looks great with Sony Blu-Ray Player, OTA content and nVidia cards), but I'll probably be picking up a GT 430 or 440 to replace this card.

Hope this helps someone! Good luck!

 

[philwil007]

Tried two things, both failed

Tried to compile latest Chimera from SVN myself with a modified ati.c using Xcode 2.2 and although compilation was successful the boot files in /i386 remained as folders, so I couldn't installed them using fdisk . Tried again on another mac and still no luck...

I then tried to get my ROM from gpu-z in Windows but the card wasn't identified, poked around the techpowerup bios's and found the right bios for my card, tried using lisa_user's method and still had a generic framebuffer.

Could someone please help?

After a lot of testing I got it to work!
Sapphire 6450 1Gb working with AtiRom (from techpowerup), PCI=1 and AtiConfig=duckweed. Full QE/CI and proper framebuffer.

That said, I'm pretty disappointed in this card. It's dropping frames and juddering even with 720p content. It does get better when I sync the refresh rate to the video, but even then it's not as smooth as my old Radeon 9800 on an Athlon XP, let alone the card it replaced, a GTX 470, but it should be able to handle 1080p/720p without skipping. Moreover, the color is oversaturated, particularly the reds (super-fleshy people in movies), the brights are too white and it's difficult to discern shadow detail. Will try other framebuffers this evening and might try to recalibrate my otherwise calibrated display (looks great with Sony Blu-Ray Player, OTA content and nVidia cards), but I'll probably be picking up a GT 430 or 440 to replace this card.

Hope this helps someone! Good luck!

Do you have HDMI audio working by chance? Or anyone with a 6450 and GE=Yes? Tried all possible frame buffer options, all of them break audio. BTW, 1080p plays great on my HIS 1gb 6450. Using generic frame buffer @ the moment. Could Duckweed be your issue? I have heard of performance issues when using the incorrect buffer.

 

[shibirian]

Tried two things, both failed

Tried to compile latest Chimera from SVN myself with a modified ati.c using Xcode 2.2 and although compilation was successful the boot files in /i386 remained as folders, so I couldn't installed them using fdisk . Tried again on another mac and still no luck...

I then tried to get my ROM from gpu-z in Windows but the card wasn't identified, poked around the techpowerup bios's and found the right bios for my card, tried using lisa_user's method and still had a generic framebuffer.

Could someone please help?

After a lot of testing I got it to work!
Sapphire 6450 1Gb working with AtiRom (from techpowerup), PCI=1 and AtiConfig=duckweed. Full QE/CI and proper framebuffer.

That said, I'm pretty disappointed in this card. It's dropping frames and juddering even with 720p content. It does get better when I sync the refresh rate to the video, but even then it's not as smooth as my old Radeon 9800 on an Athlon XP, let alone the card it replaced, a GTX 470, but it should be able to handle 1080p/720p without skipping. Moreover, the color is oversaturated, particularly the reds (super-fleshy people in movies), the brights are too white and it's difficult to discern shadow detail. Will try other framebuffers this evening and might try to recalibrate my otherwise calibrated display (looks great with Sony Blu-Ray Player, OTA content and nVidia cards), but I'll probably be picking up a GT 430 or 440 to replace this card.

Hope this helps someone! Good luck!

Do you have HDMI audio working by chance? Or anyone with a 6450 and GE=Yes? Tried all possible frame buffer options, all of them break audio. BTW, 1080p plays great on my HIS 1gb 6450. Using generic frame buffer @ the moment. Could Duckweed be your issue? I have heard of performance issues when using the incorrect buffer.

That's correct.

Many problems stem from not having a correct DSDT for your motherboard, that can screw up your Video card working correctly pretty hard. (Check my sig as how to create a custom dsdt for your board - maybe that helps with audio, too? Who knows.)

 

[claes]

I suppose I should clarify - it's performance isn't up to my standards. I've always disagreed with the OOB color and processing of AMD cards, and although Catalyst would solve some of these issues it's not available on OS X. However, I had read this was the best HTPC card at the moment, and since I wasn't looking to buy a GTX 460 or better I thought I'd try it out. It performs well enough but it's quality isn't good enough for me - the colors are over saturated and too many frames are being dropped for my taste. This is the completely subjective opinion of one self-proclaimed videophile, but is also my experience with every radeon card I've owned (7). IMO nvidia offers higher color accuracy, better blacks, cleaner whites, and better motion processing, so I guess I'm going back to them.

That said, I had compiled my own DSDT based on some guide and olaria.com edits with no errors and expected performance with any GPU I've had in this system. I haven't had a chance to test more framebuffers as I just stumbled on my "solution" while writing a paper that I have to get back to. I will test them out and see if things look better and then post some benchmarks and my cleanest solution (I also found out I don't need PCI=1 last night...).

I haven't had a chance to test HDMI audio either, but I will, and I can say that all three outputs (VGA, DVI, HDMI) are working.

Thanks to everyone again!

 

[shibirian]

I suppose I should clarify - it's performance isn't up to my standards.

I can play HD 1080p videos flawlessly on my machine, with not much cpu power being used up by the process, so I assume its gotta be your setup.

OSX has got colour correction under system preferences monitor setup and colour calibration.

 

[claes]

So I did a lot of testing and here's my best boot.plist for the Sapphire HD 6450 1GB DDR3, model #10322L.

Chimera 1.8 on 10.7.3 with DSDT and ROM from techpowerup in /Extra/, iMac12,2 in smbios.

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>UseAtiROM</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>AtiConfig</key>
<string>Juncus</string>

Duckweed also worked, but Juncus produced the best benchmarks with cinebench. With Juncus the display was able to sleep and video motion was noticeably smoother. Benchmarks rose another 3 FPS when using the ROM. PciRoot didn't really make a difference in benchmarks or my viewing.

Accurately detected in System Profiler, display sleeps and wakes properly (it didn't with Duckweed) and all of the ports work. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to test HDMI audio.

Cinebench results: 17.46

I didn't notice any of the problems I had with dropped frames using Juncus that I previously had had with Duckweed.

I still had issues with the color, even after a lot of recalibration, but this is likely just my taste. My girlfriend also thought the color was oversaturated as well, and given that she rarely notices the difference beween a 480p broadcast rip and a 1080p Blu-Ray rip that probably says something - she was even disappointed and suggest I buy a more expensive card, a relationship-situation that is unheard of. This may also be the reason why design and graphics professionals prefer nvidia, but the 6450 does perform better on almost every video benchmark done by reviewers than a similarly priced GT 220/520 or a GT 430/440 - if my memory is correct it rivals a GTX 460 that costs up to 3.5 times as much. So, if you do a lot of encoding the 6450 is definitely the better card. After research from reviews and forums, I only noticed a handful of commentators complaining about Radeon color accuracy, so it may just be me. I also wanted to try MacPro3,1 in the smbios to see if benchmarks changed, but got too excited when my other card came, and since my 6450's scores were better than most other reviews of the card I chose not to bother.

For my needs I picked up a passive ASUS GT 440, and after a few quick tests I can say it's video processing is better suited towards my tastes. Worked OOB with GE=Y and MacMan's OpenCL edits installed with MultiBeast. The Quadro driver used for Fermi cards said it was incompatible but I might try adding the device ID to the kext and see if that makes a difference later. Watching my 46GB copy of Midnight In Paris with my TV calibrated as I had previously calibrated (using a friend's calibrator and three high-end reference sources) the picture was significantly more accurate - I could see shadows and splotches and facial hair where I used to see glowy, red flesh, and the colors look like sunlight is hitting objects rather than the objects producing light themselves. The motion was better as well, but not as good as my GTX 470. Cinebench scored 29.05, but this card does cost $25 more after rebates ($35 for the HD 6450 vs $60 for the GT 440) for a passive version and the 440 has 128-bit DDR3 versus 64-bit. If I have time I'll try and see if screenshots can capture the difference - it really is night and day. But, then again, some people prefer glossy to matte, led to plasma, and so on, but the accuracy and the benchmarks suggest to me that the GT 430/440 are the better buy for the HTPC and low-end markets by a long shot.

 

[osx86geek]

So I did a lot of testing and here's my best boot.plist for the Sapphire HD 6450 1GB DDR3, model #10322L.

Chimera 1.8 with DSDT and ROM from techpowerup in /Extra/, iMac12,2 in smbios.

<key>GraphicsEnabler</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>UseAtiROM</key>
<string>Yes</string>
<key>AtiConfig</key>
<string>Juncus</string>

Duckweed also worked, but Juncus produced the best benchmarks with cinebench. With Juncus the display was able to sleep and video motion was noticeably smoother. Benchmarks rose 3 FPS when using the ROM. PciRoot didn't really make a difference in benchmarks or my viewing.

Accurately detected in System Profiler, display sleeps and wakes properly (it didn't with Duckweed) and all of the ports work. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to test HDMI.

Cinebench results: 17.46

I didn't notice any of the problems I had with dropped frames using Juncus that I previously had had with Duckweed.

I still had issues with the color, even after a lot of recalibration, but this is likely just my taste. My girlfriend also thought the color was oversaturated as well, and given that she rarely notices the difference beween a 480p broadcast rip and a 1080p Blu-Ray rip that probably says something - she was even disappointed and suggest I buy a more expensive card, a relationship-situation that is unheard of. This may also be the reason why design and graphics professionals prefer nvidia, but the 6450 does perform better on almost every video benchmark done by reviewers than a similarly priced GT 220/520 or a GT 430/440 - if my memory is correct it rivals a GTX 460 that costs up to 3.5 times as much. So, if you do a lot of encoding the 6450 is definitely the better card. After research from reviews and forums, I only noticed a handful of commentators complaining about Radeon color accuracy, so it may just be me. I also wanted to try MacPro3,1 in the smbios to see if benchmarks changed, but got too excited when my other card came, and since my scores were better than most other reviews of this card I chose not to bother.

For my needs I picked up a passive ASUS GT 440, and after a few quick tests I can say it's video processing is better suited towards my tastes. Worked OOB with GE=Y and MacMan's OpenCL edits installed with MultiBeast. The Quadro driver used for Fermi cards said it was incompatible but I might try adding the device ID to the kext and see if that makes a difference later. Watching my 46GB copy of Midnight In Paris with my TV calibrated as I had previously calibrated (using a friend's calibrator and three high-end reference sources) the picture was significantly more accurate - I could see shadows and splotches and facial hair where I used to see glowy, red flesh, and the colors look like sunlight is hitting objects rather than the objects producing light themselves. The motion was better as well, but not as good as my GTX 470. Cinebench scored 29.05, but this card does cost $15 more, $25-35 without the rebate, for a passive version. If I have time I'll try and see if screenshots can capture the difference - it really is night and day. But, then again, some people prefer glossy to matte, led to plasma, and so on, but the accuracy and the benchmarks suggest to me that the GT 430/440 are the better buy for the HTPC and low-end markets by a long shot.

Hello. I was just wondering if the DVD Player and the Chess app open for you?

Thanks!

 

[claes]

Yup, frame buffer loaded and all ports working.

 

[osx86geek]

Yup, frame buffer loaded and all ports working.

Do you have any Steam games to test with? Are you on 10.7.3? Sorry for all the questions, I am looking into cards and want to make sure it will work before I get it.

Thanks again!!

 

[claes]

Edited my last post a little. Only tested on 10.7.3, nothing earlier. I do have Steam but I've removed the card from my system. I can say that you should not expect great gaming performance from this card - my card's benchmarks matched most reviews of this card done in Windows but it's a low-end, bottom of the barrel card. It'll be fine for low-resolution, low-settings, casual gaming, but anything more and it'll start to choke. What exactly are your questions, maybe I can help you out!

Edit: techpowerup's review with a lot of games benchmarked - looks like most games are unplayable