Radeon 5870 For Mac

“The entry-level 21.5-inch iMac features a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and new Iris Pro graphics for unprecedented levels of integrated graphics performance.

> You can't get more milk out of that cow than she has, and the molex feeds > do not provide 150W. Absolutely 100% not true. Each 4-pin molex supplies 75W (max) power. Two 4-pin molex = 75W x 2. (Do the math). Yes, I have 27 Apple Mac Pro's, and every single one of them are set-up this way, and I also have four Mac Pro's at home that are set-up this way, and yes it works, and it's completely safe, and I've never had a single problem ever. The Mac Pro power supply can easily handle two video cards.

If you split the power up (exactly as I told you in my message) then you are doing everything 100% safe. You are only drawing a MAXIMUM of 75W from your 12V direct power supply leg (one 6-pin connector), and you're drawing another 75W (maximum) power from a second 12V leg (directly off your 6-pin connector on your motherboard) and then you are drawing another 75W (maximum) power directly off the PCIe card bus itself.

So yes, you can safely draw 225W (maximum) and it's dividing it up between three seperate power legs, and it's perfectly fine, and perfectly safe. > YOU MUST USE a 2nd PSU such as the 450W units that go into optical drive bay > designed for GPUs and have pairs of 8-pin and 6-pin feeds.

No you don't. Unless you're going to do EXTREME GAMING, and truly believe that you are going to be pulling 350+ Watts (through each of your two graphics cards), then yes you would/could possibly need a second power supply, but the Apple Mac Pro comes with a 1,000 watt power supply, and you can easily have 500+ Watts to play with (give or take), and installing two 5870's (which draw under 225W each MAXIMUM) are not putting you anywhere close to maxxing out your power supply. Now if you were going to try and do two HD 7990's or GTX 690's (in Dual-crossFire or Dual-SLI) and plan on MAXXING out your graphics cards (extremely heavy gaming) then yes, there is a possibility that you could smoke a power supply, or even damage a video card. Mac vs windows viruses.

But you are not buying HD 7990's or GTX 690's (which are dual-GPU cards). You are buying a small HD 5870 which is a SINGLE GPU graphics card, and the power requirements are much much lower. (225W maximum). You'll never max out your power supply with two HD 5870's.

It's completely safe. Just make sure you draw one six-pin connector (for each graphics card) off of your 12V (4-pin molex) leg, and then draw your second six-pin connector (for each graphics card) directly off your motherboard. That will split the power between the two legs EVENLY. So the graphics card will draw the first 150W of power (75W x 2) from the PCIe bus directly. If it needs more power (i.e.

Fans) then it can draw the second 150W (75W x 2) from your 12V molex leg, and the two GPU's will use the third power leg (using the two 6-pin connectors directly to your motherboard) and that will provide your third set of 150W power (75W x 2). Will the fans ever use 150W of power? Absolutely not. You're talking one or two 8watt fans (16 watts max). So why on earth 'The Hatter' is trying to SCARE you with saying you'll be drawing too much power is beyond me. Most graphics cards sit nearly idle (and draw less than 25W of total power).

Unless you are doing EXTREMELY HEAVY GAMING, and trying to burn up your graphics cards (for over an hour or two non-stop) then I honestly wouldn't be worried at all. If you plan on doing EXTREMELY heavy gaming, then I would be more worried about the COOLING (of the cards and the Apple Mac Pro case) then I would be worried about the power draw. The Apple Mac Pro power supply is more than sufficient for what you are trying to do. Best free games for mac. Grant, I have multiple video cards in all of my Apple Mac Pro's.

The Mac Pro mainboard has two six-pin power ports (75W ea). You use a Mac Pro PCIe 6-pin power cable such as this one here: If you already have a 5870 installed in your Mac Pro, then you probably already have two of the cables listed above already installed. (with one cable going to each of the two 6-pin power connectors on the 5870 graphics card that you currently have installed). So for the first video card, you are drawing 150W (75W x 2) directly off of the mainboard, and then the card is drawing an additional 75W off the PCIe bus (the card slot), for a total of 225W (maximum). For the second video card, you are saying that you don't have any additional '6-pin' power cables to connect to.