zarac Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Here's the Tomshardware review. Is there anyone lucky enough to have it this soon? And of course, the big question: Will it work on OSx86? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Mine's coming in on Thursday. I'll let you know if it works in OS X. I would think that it would work with the current 3870 drivers, but who knows. It may also only work with one GPU if it does work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarac Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 great, please do so. i really hope it will work. ati cards have much better display quality than nvidia. my current card is nvidia and i can say that my ooold matrox g400 beats it in 2d quality. also, nvidia's tv-out diplay is pitiful - black is nowhere to be found ati maybe didn't manage to make chips as fast as nvidia, but the sharpness of the signal is almost as good as with matrox cards (almost 10 years old.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I had a Matrox g400 back in the day and not only was the picture better than the geforce 3 Ti200 that I had later, but the multi-monitor support was still the best I've ever dealt with. Matrox just had that feature figured out. I have since had a Radeon 9700 pro, radeon x850XTPE, radeon X1800 GTO crossfire, and currently radeon HD 2900xt until I get the 3870 x2 in. I've always loved the 3d quality of ATI. Nvidia might have made framerates increase, but picture quality has never increased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarac Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 so, has it arrived? did you have any luck with OSX? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 I just installed it last night, but I haven't had any luck yet getting it to work in OS X. I'm not giving up yet though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoyomac Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 So do you have it working yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinsinking Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 i'm getting either 8800GT/GTS or 3870X2 within few days.. 3870 X2 will be my choice but leopard driver.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 I've got it working with the framebuffer that is used with a normal 3870 found on netkas.org, but not 3d acceleration yet. Still working on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinsinking Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 looking for your news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarac Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 @Black Knight: i guess this silence means you haven't managed to get it working with acceleration yet.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 You are absolutely right. If I add the deviceID to ATIRadeonX2000.kext and use GFX-string in my boot.plist, I can get the framebuffer to work in normal mode. It detects all of the monitors I have and correct ram, etc., but no 3D. I'm currently trying to get 10.5.2 working on my system to attempt some more things, but we'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azurael Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 I've had enough of graphics cards that sound like miniature hurricanes and use more power than a small third world nation... Hence swapping my 2900XT for an 8800GTS 512. Not going there again for a few extra percent performance. You do know that multi-GPU scaling with CF/SLi or these multi-GPU cards (which are just internal SLi/CF) is rarely anywhere even remotely near double, right? You have to be running at a very high resolution, and playing a game that ATI/NV have worked on driver optimisations for, else you'll likely see little difference, as was the case when I used to run SLi with 7800GTXs... I'm not trying to put anybody off a purchase they've considered well, I'm just saying you'll be very disappointed if you're expecting a 3870 X2 to even nearly double the performance of a normal 3870. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarac Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 hey Black Knight, i saw your post on netkas' blog. he replied, have you met him on the irc? i'm really curious about this card because i'm in the process of buying a new machine and i want to make sure everything works with the osx because it will be my primary os. and since the architecture of the card is quite different from the others (because of the bridge) i didn't want to rush with the purchase. in my country vendors don't have no-ask return policy, so im stuck with what i buy. sorry for nagging... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Thanks to your post, I now know that he replied. I just found out and he's not online right now. I'll let you know if we get something working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonefr Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Netkas is online and waiting for you just /whois netkas. Even if he manages to get 3870X2 working, only one core will work, don't even dream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarac Posted February 23, 2008 Author Share Posted February 23, 2008 Even if he manages to get 3870X2 working, only one core will work, don't even dream Damn !!! I was hoping noone would say that. I'll wait some time before accepting it, and then i'll probably buy a regular 3870 go netkas, go Black Knight, prove cyclonefr's wrong!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclonefr Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Well as expected, netkas made it to work but only one core so it runs the same as 3870 ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vladthebad Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 what about one of the other 3870x2's that has 4 DVI outputs.......... that would certainly be interesting..... single x16 slot quad head. (yeah, double wide card, but now you wouldn't need an board with two x16 slots) that would also make things interesting...... Heck, if it worked and worked well, that would definately make it a must buy in my book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Hey guys, after working with Netkas, we've got full framebuffer and 3d support working on one core of the HD3870X2. I've even got both cores recognized using a gfx string, but since neither of the two DVI ports are connected to the second core, I have no way of testing them. I just noticed in ioregexplorer that the framebuffer was loaded for all four display outputs (two are not physically there). I'd like to see if someone with the 4 DVI version of the card has success with all four ports. If anyone would like to try this with that card, please let me know and I'll send my gfx-string plist file to you so you can use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubenpp Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 Hey guys, after working with Netkas, we've got full framebuffer and 3d support working on one core of the HD3870X2. I've even got both cores recognized using a gfx string, but since neither of the two DVI ports are connected to the second core, I have no way of testing them. I just noticed in ioregexplorer that the framebuffer was loaded for all four display outputs (two are not physically there). I'd like to see if someone with the 4 DVI version of the card has success with all four ports. If anyone would like to try this with that card, please let me know and I'll send my gfx-string plist file to you so you can use it. Hi. Saw the comments and posts at netkas.org , but I have not been to able to figure out which files to use hex editor with or patch . Also wanted to ask how to use the r3870.hex , R3870.plist and special natit for x2. Hope you can help . Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 If you are going to use Natit, then you don't need the r3870.hex or .plist. Those files are only for gfx-strings and PC_EFI v8. Netkas might be posting a new Natit today that detects both cores of the card, but unless you have a 4 DVI version of the card, you may only end up using one core. You'll also need the white-menu fix and you need to edit the ATIRadeonX2000.kext file as mentioned at the top of the topic on netkas.org. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubenpp Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 If you are going to use Natit, then you don't need the r3870.hex or .plist. Those files are only for gfx-strings and PC_EFI v8. Netkas might be posting a new Natit today that detects both cores of the card, but unless you have a 4 DVI version of the card, you may only end up using one core. You'll also need the white-menu fix and you need to edit the ATIRadeonX2000.kext file as mentioned at the top of the topic on netkas.org. Thanks Black Knight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Knight Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 No problem. Also I don't know if you noticed that there is now a full package for Natit on a 3870 X2 posted on IRC. I've tested it and it does work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbarou Posted February 29, 2008 Share Posted February 29, 2008 Hi all, Black Night, maybe you can help. I have a HD3870 (not a x2) and I'm looking to use a gfx string. Where can I found the hex file, i had no luck finding one so far. Would your string work? thanks for any help you could provide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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