2 gpus, 1st just for boot screen

[r.c.]

Hi all. I have a mac pro 4,1 (flashed to 5,1) and am looking to beef up the GPU a little (and get mojave/metal compatibility).

I know Windows cards can and do work out of the box in later OSX revisions with the caveat that the boot screen won't work. I use filevault and would like a boot screen in general.

To that end, can I install say a normal/windows AMD RX570 (or other compatible card) as the main gpu and use the stock nvidia GT 120 that came with the mac pro hooked up to a different input on the monitor to provide boot screen duties?

The 120 doesn't need a separate power lead so should be doable if OSX knows to/can be set to switch to the Radeon once it is up and running?

Many thanks in advance,
Richard.

 

[h9826790]

AFAIK, none of the OSX support RX570.

For MacOS, AFAIK, High Sierra can do it, but may cause the RX570 has minor abnormal behaviour (e.g. shows transparent photo in Photos app).

For Mojave, may even cause black screen.

 

[flowrider]

AFAIK, the RX570 is a maybe card in the cMP, might work or might not. While the PULSE RX580 is a recommended GPU by Apple, why not use that? Also, the GT120 being plugged in may cause issues. I believe you can't update the Firmware with one plugged in.

Lou

 

[r.c.]

Thanks for the info guys. Appreciated!

 

[PianoPro]

I'm not sure about the GT120, but I expect it will act the same way as the Mac 5,1's stock HD 5770 GPU.

Mojave will not boot with an RX-560 (metal card) AND the HD 5770 (non-metal card) BOTH installed, even if the HD 5770 isn't connected to any monitor. I tried for a week or so to find a way to get that to work (just so the 5770 was installed IF I ever needed it later) but I never found a solution or anyone else that claimed it worked. Of course it does work with High Sierra.

Interestingly, Mojave apparently does boot with ONLY the HD 5770 installed. I've never tried it because those that said it will boot also say that it runs unaccelerated and dreadfully slow.

 

[r.c.]

Hi all. Just to update. Thanks to the DosDude patch I have installed Mojave on my 4,1 patched to 5,1 with the gt120 installed. Once swapped out to the RX570 (the RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC) it loads and works great (no errors/glitches so far) with my 3 screens. Everything seems perfect.

One caveat is that of course, with just the stock (non EFI) 570 I get no boot screen. If I have both the gt120 (which gives me a boot screen) and the 570 installed the boot sequence stalls at about half way. I do get the boot screen fine, but never make it into Mac OS after about 70% of the boot progress bar. Presumably due to the 120's lack of metal. I only get into macos when it is the RX 570 card solo in the machine.

That is fine in general, but I would like to use FileVault. I am happy to enter the password blind as I don't multi boot at all so my question is, if I enable FileVault, is the boot screen actually there behind the scenes, albeit not displayed with a non EFI card? If so can type and enter into the blank screen and press enter or does it simply stop anything boot screen-like from actually working full stop?

Don't want to enable FV, find out is doesn't work and need to wipe and install again. I'd also be happy with just a home folder encryption ala the old file vault if that is still possible as a simple work around?

Many thanks again,
Richard.

 

[tsialex]

Hi all. Just to update. Thanks to the DosDude patch I have installed Mojave on my 4,1 patched to 5,1 with the gt120 installed. Once swapped out to the RX570 (the RX 570 ARMOR 8G OC) it loads and works great (no errors/glitches so far) with my 3 screens. Everything seems perfect.

One caveat is that of course, with just the stock (non EFI) 570 I get no boot screen. If I have both the gt120 (which gives me a boot screen) and the 570 installed the boot sequence stalls at about half way. I do get the boot screen fine, but never make it into Mac OS after about 70% of the boot progress bar. Presumably due to the 120's lack of metal. I only get into macos when it is the RX 570 card solo in the machine.

That is fine in general, but I would like to use FileVault. I am happy to enter the password blind as I don't multi boot at all so my question is, if I enable FileVault, is the boot screen actually there behind the scenes, albeit not displayed with a non EFI card? If so can type and enter into the blank screen and press enter or does it simply stop anything boot screen-like from actually working full stop?

Don't want to enable FV, find out is doesn't work and need to wipe and install again. I'd also be happy with just a home folder encryption ala the old file vault if that is still possible as a simple work around?

Many thanks again,
Richard.

Apple removed FV2 support with Mojave for Mac Pro 5,1 - even if you have a METAL supported Mac EFI GPU.
[doublepost=1546729747][/doublepost]Read here, from Craig Federighi himself: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-bootrom-thread-140-0-0-0-0.2132317/page-68#post-26641653

 

[r.c.]

Hi Tsialex.
That's a shame. The option is available in my settings to enable but will it error on enabling (as mentioned, not keen to restart the wipe install if I enable and it all goes wrong)?


Many thanks,
Richard.

Apple removed FV2 support with Mojave for Mac Pro 5,1 - even if you have a METAL supported Mac EFI GPU.

 

[tsialex]

Hi Tsialex.
That's a shame. The option is available in my settings to enable but will it error on enabling (as mentioned, not keen to restart the wipe install if I enable and it all goes wrong)?


Many thanks,
Richard.

Read this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-bootrom-thread-140-0-0-0-0.2132317/page-68#post-26641653

 

[r.c.]

Many thanks, will do!

Read this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mp5-1-bootrom-thread-140-0-0-0-0.2132317/page-68#post-26641653