"Today I got my ATI Radeon 3870 512MB PCIe card for Mac Pros from OWC. I was the one who had sent you pictures and story about upgrading my Nvidia 8800 GT with the Accelero S1 Rev 2 cooler. Well I had to sell it. The card ran great for games, but I totally locked up my computer. I could not boot off of any CD's or DVD's. I couldn't use My Techtool Pro 4, or Diskwarrior. It wouldn't even let me boot off my OS X 10.5 DVD. Every time i tried to boot off of a disk I would get kernel panic, and it would ask me to restart my computer. (Sounds like the same thing I saw years ago when I got the Nvidia 6800 Ultra for my G5 Tower - it required a later OS X version (w/driver update/support) to boot without a kernel panic. My original G5 restore DVD and others would Kernel Panic on boot with the 6800 card installed, due to a lack of driver support for it. (Although G5 was still under warranty and card bought direct from Apple, I was not able to get them to send me an updated G5 restore Disc.) Apple says the 8800GT requires OS X 10.5.2 (w/Leopard graphics update) or later.-Mike)
I found threads in the message boards at apple's support site that talked about the problem:

1.) Mac Pro not booting from CD's using 'C'
2.) Can't boot from installation disk

Well about the ATI Radeon 3870, it runs perfectly. Doesn't get hot at all, very cool to the touch. Also for what ever reason computer seems more snappy. I don't know why but it does. Stock cooler is very nice on the ears (very quiet) and seems to blow enough air to cool the card. I think due to its 55nm GPU, it's nice and cool. Well I just wanted to pass on the great info about this card.
For anyone looking to upgrade their Mac, I would recommend this over the Nvidia 8800 GT anytime. I guess I am not speaking as a hard core gamer, but I still play my games that are offered for the mac and the 3870 works great! I attached scores from both xbench and geekbench (zip file) so you can how the card ran. To my surprise my scores went up in both tests so I am very happy.

(I wrote John to ask if there were any problems seen booting from his restore DVD (or Leopard install DVD) with the 3870 card installed. I had also asked about his Mac Pro series - 2008 or 2006/7 model, although the 3870 card works in both.-Mike)
I have a first generation mac pro 2.66GHz model. When I had the 8800 GT I could not boot off both the restore DVD and also my OSX 10.5 disk I had. With the new 3870 I am able to boot from all disks including the system restore disk as well as the OSX 10.5 disk. Hope all this helps your readers.
Thank you, John W."

I've added this to a feedback section at the bottom of Oliver's earlier review of the 3870 card.
(I had a couple other 3870 owners write today they were also happy with the 3870 card - one mentioning improvements in After Effects and Motion over his previous Nvidia card, (which he said was the 8800GT card) - he mentioned that card had issues with OpenGL acceleration in After Effects and Motion, which the 3870 didn't.)

"FYI, we have provided the update containing the calibration fix to Apple. As soon as they review it, it will be made available for download. It's hard to say how long this will take, but it should be about a week, maybe less.
Best Regards,
Justin M.
BunsenTech, LLC"

Hitachi has been kind enough to once again get some special Rebate Savings going for OWC Customers. Up to 5 drives can be claimed and up to $30 per drive offered!

The latest, fastest 320GB 7200RPM 2.5in SATA 16MB Cache Notebook HD - $162.99 after $30 Rebate

200GB 7200RPM 2.5in SATA 16MB Cache Notebook HD now $88.99 after $20 Rebate

250GB 5400RPM 2.5in SATA 8MB Cache Notebook HD now $65.99 after $20 Rebate

500GB 5400RPM 2.5in SATA 8MB Cache NoteBook HD (12.5mm high) now $229.99 after $30 Rebate *This model for MacBook Pro 17in or PC laptops with 12.5mm HD bay(s) only!
(For other MacBook/MacBook Pro models or Intel-based Mini, the 500GB Samsung 2.5in HD is 9.5mm high)
More Storage, More Performance for MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac mini (Intel), as well as PC laptops, etc. Great drives and really nicely priced with these Hitachi Rebate bonuses.
Best Regards,
Lawrence O'Connor
Other World Computing"

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