According to Barefeats, Apple's ATI Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Upgrade Kit ($449) for the Mac Pro does indeed work in the 2008 Mac Pro. This is despite the fact that Apple only officially lists the 2009 and 2010 Mac Pros as supported hardware for the upgrade card.
We plugged the Radeon HD 5870 into the 2008 Mac Pro. It works like a charm. Runs Portal faster than the 6-core Westmere. Details coming soon.
This gives existing 2008 Mac Pro owners another video card upgrade option from Apple. We had previously reported when the video cards had become available for purchase from Apple's online store. Barefeats has posted some preliminary results on the forums:
Here's an appetizer. I'm benchmarking Portal First Slice (which all my remote testers are using).
At 1920x1200 with these settings: Model Detail = High, Texture Detail = High, Shader Detail = High Water Detail = Reflect All, Shadow Detail = High, Color Correction = Enabled Antialiasing Mode = None, Filtering Mode = Anisotropic 4X Vertical Sync = Disabled, Motion Blur = Enabled
The 6-core Westmere 3.33 (2010) with Radeon HD 5870 = 233 FPS avg The 8-core Harpertown 3.2 (2008) with Radeon HD 5870 = 250 FPS avg The 2008 model is faster!!
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps.
The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future.
To set up the...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works.
We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
Tuesday February 10, 2026 6:33 am PST by Joe Rossignol
It has been a slow start to 2026 for Apple product launches, with only a new AirTag and a special Apple Watch band released so far. We are still waiting for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the iPhone 17e, a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, long-rumored updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and much more.
Apple is expected to release/update the following products...
New MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips could arrive as soon as Monday, March 2, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In today's "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the release of new MacBook Pro models is tied to the release of macOS Tahoe 26.3. The launch is said to be slated for as early as the week of March 2. He added that the M4 Pro and M4 Max models on sale today...
I got the 5770 to support three displays by using one 30" Cinema on the DVI port, one 23" Cinema (with dual-link DVI to MDP adapter) on the first MDP, and one 24" LED Cinema direct to the second MDP.
Maybe one reason that all three lit up this time was the fact that the 30" Cinema is effectively an "active adapter" like the other two.
I'm continuing to experiment with every display combo on all models of Mac Pro with the 5770 and 5870 installed, so more to come on this.
I took time out of benchmarking with one display to experiment with multiple displays using the newest GPUs. (Special thanks to "Pegasusrjf" for his input.)
With the Radeon HD 5870 installed in the 2008 Mac Pro, I got three displays to light up and work with this setup: 1. 23" Cinema on the DVI port 2. 23" Cinema with MDP to dual-link DVI adapter on first MDP port 3. 24" LED Cinema with direct MDP connection to second MDP port
Tried the same setup with the Radeon HD 5770 in the 2008 Mac Pro: Only 2 of the 3 displays light up.
Here goes, gang. Seven games at 2560x1600 and 1920x1200 in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Mac Pro -- all three with the Radeon HD 5870:
http://barefeats.com/wst10g2.html
Who buys a Macpro to play video games :confused: LOL
I personally know a husband and wife (yes, he's a doctor/surgeon) who each bought 8-core Mac Pros primarily to play World of Warcraft (that and also to encode videos to watch on their iPads for trips to europe etc).
I'm hoping when he gets bored of the 8-core he'll sell it to me for a song but I'm not counting on it.
