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2007 Macpro 2,1 upgrade to Yosemite - Novice Fear

J

J20056

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 30, 2015
11
0
I read the post related to this upgrade but feel a bit overwhelmed as I am not super technical. I have a few basic questions to help me decide whether to commit or not. First, my system is a 2007 MacPro 2,1 with 8 core, 16gb RAM, dual-display original graphic card and 4 internal Sata drives. Currently running Lion 10.7.5 which is the last possible Apple-supported upgrade. I also own a 2012 iMac currently running 10.10.1. I do not need advanced graphics prcoessing as this is an audio recording machine for Logic Pro X only.

My questions:
1. Do I need to buy a new graphics card for the upgrade to work at all? If not, do I only lose the boot display? if yes, are my two options depending on whether I want to see the boot display or not? If I need a new card and have a budget of $250, what is the cheapest card I should consider? Does it require some sort of flashing no matter what, or only if I want to see the boot screen?
2. As far as the overall upgrade process, once #1 has been resolved, is it easier to do the upgrade from my iMac running Yosemite? I understand that there are 2-3 options to to this but still overall confused between the different approaches.
3. Would susbequent Yosemite upgrades require any touching-up, or it would be 100% seamless? I'd be happy to stay at 10.10.1 forever in any case.

I realize this is repetitive, but what is the the easiest path to get this done as the long technical threads are a bit overwhelming?
 
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Read the thread thanks.
I need to first focus on the GPU.
It looks like MacVidCards is sold out for sub-$200 flashed cards. I may be OK letting go off the bootable card so from the thread mentioned above, it looks like many standard PC cards would work, but not all of them. So how do I know?
I am looking for a dual display that can handle two DVI ports for Apple Cinema 23" displays. This is for audio application, no video editing, so don't need a high-end card. Do any PC cards have DVI connectors or I would need some sort of adaptors?
 
Would the upgrade work on a SSD drive? I am considering upgrading my boot drive to SSD so would be great to do both at the same time.
 
1) For 250 USD I would buy an eVGA GTX 960. You need to install the Nvidia Web Drivers for it work under OS X but you will lose the boot screen until a hacked BIOS is released. (well worth it IMO)

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/301416-nvidia-web-driver-updates-for-yosemite/

2) I would upgrade the OS using the iMac. The reason being is your current GPU doesn't support Yosemite while your new GPU won't support anything under Yosemite. (If I am reading the situation correctly).

After you install 10.10.2, use this guide to install the web drivers before putting the drive back into the Mac Pro.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/20659909/

3) Depends. You might need to reinstall/upgrade the web drivers after an OS upgrade.

4) Definitely get a SSD for your boot drive. There are lots of moments when the OS needs to write small amounts of data to the drive so you'll notice a much smoother and responsive OS with a SSD. I recommend getting a Samsung 850 [not 840] EVO 250GB or larger capacity.

5) You can use adapters to convert displayport or HDMI to DVI. But with that said you would probably notice a huge upgrade getting a new monitor as well. The 21:9 crossover monitor on eBay looks really cool imo.
 
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Thank you for your prompt response. I have done much more research since my original post based on the fabulous link referenced above.
On #1, I decided to get a flashed GPU from MacVidCards as I prefer to be able to see what's going on during the process. I do not need fancy graphics and want the card to be as silent as possible so I dont want a more powerful card that might have a louder fan and so I am just looking to get a GT120 flashed. On that front, do we know whether Yosemite runs on a 256mb card or it needs 512 or 1gb?
Once that is done, I am wondering if I should still upgrade from my MBP running Yosemite by connecting the Mac pro as a firewire slave drive or whether to use the scripts. No sure what's more reliable and wils research more but it seems that the mainstream approach is script from the same machine.
As far a the display, I have a dual 20" Apple setup and looking for minimal cost of upgrade so won't do anything there as this computer is 100% dedicated to multitrack audio recording only.
The last unanswered question is whether I should upgrade to a SSD boot drive or stick with a standard drive. I have not seen a definite post saying that the upgrade is 100% seamless with a SSD drive using the same exact scripts. So I am still undecided on that front. This was the purpose of my last post. I hope there is some clarity that emerges on SSD as I would love to upgrade. A 256gb SSD drive is under $150 now so no brainer all things equal.

Thanks
 
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J20056 said:
Thank you for your prompt response. I have done much more research since my original post based on the fabulous link referenced above.
On #1, I decided to get a flashed GPU from MacVidCards as I prefer to be able to see what's going on during the process. I do not need fancy graphics and want the card to be as silent as possible so I dont want a more powerful card that might have a louder fan and so I am just looking to get a GT120 flashed. On that front, do we know whether Yosemite runs on a 256mb card or it needs 512 or 1gb?
Once that is done, I am wondering if I should still upgrade from my MBP running Yosemite by connecting the Mac pro as a firewire slave drive or whether to use the scripts. No sure what's more reliable and wils research more but it seems that the mainstream approach is script from the same machine.
As far a the display, I have a dual 20" Apple setup and looking for minimal cost of upgrade so won't do anything there as this computer is 100% dedicated to multitrack audio recording only.
The last unanswered question is whether I should upgrade to a SSD boot drive or stick with a standard drive. I have not seen a definite post saying that the upgrade is 100% seamless with a SSD drive using the same exact scripts. So I am still undecided on that front. This was the purpose of my last post. I hope there is some clarity that emerges on SSD as I would love to upgrade. A 256gb SSD drive is under $150 now so no brainer all things equal.

Thanks
Click to expand...
In regards to the video card question:
"The 64-bit EFI loader is not optimized to work with graphics cards smaller than 512 MB. The catch-22 here is that if you run a larger PC card, you will not see the verbose screen upon start up. The card will not initialize until OSX’s GUI loads, so your Mac Pro will not send signal to the monitor until fully booted. Conversely, if you stick with the Geforce 7300GT or one of the other earlier GPUs under 512 MB designed for variants of the Mac Pro, OS X will read it as a 5 MB or 7 MB graphics card instead of the 256 MB that it is. Ideally, you’ll want to have a Mac compatible card that is at least 512 MB during upgrades such as the Geforce 8800 GT."

Source: http://lowendmac.com/2014/modernizing-the-mac-pro-11-and-21/


In regards to the preferred method of installation:
Either way works, I used SFOTT and it worked fine for me. It doesn't really matter.

In regards to the SSD & Yosemite:
I installed Yosemite on my SSD and it works fine. Just make sure you research TRIM support on unsupported SSDs and Yosemite. There are issues with that.
 
Thanks agin. On the graphics card topic, I was going to buy a card from MacVidCards that would be flashed for Yosemite. He offers flashed GT120 cards with 256/512 or 1GB. Are you saying that I need at least the 512 even for a flashed card? Since cost is not a huge issue, I might as well do that, or even go 1gb.
 
Having a boot screen isn't that big deal. More important a GT120 is hella obsolete and 100 bucks + shipping is incredibly overpriced. At that price range you should just buy a GTX 750 ti. (about 100 on eBay and 130-150 new depending on deals)

Get a SATA to USB 3.0 adapter, plug the SSD into the iMac and install the OS that way. Very easy and simple to do.

Lastly, like I said, your monitors are incredibly obsolete. You can get a 29" Crossover 21:9 monitor on eBay for like 300 dollars.
 
J20056 said:
Thanks agin. On the graphics card topic, I was going to buy a card from MacVidCards that would be flashed for Yosemite. He offers flashed GT120 cards with 256/512 or 1GB. Are you saying that I need at least the 512 even for a flashed card? Since cost is not a huge issue, I might as well do that, or even go 1gb.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure. Email MacVidCards on the website and ask him.
 
Just read that article at low end. Bunch of horsepoop.

It screams "I have no idea what I'm talking about but want to sound like I do"

The stuff about a boot loader being "optimized for 512 meg cards" is complete rubbish. The 256 meg gt120s are perfectly fine for someone who wants basic display function including boot screens and up to 2@ 30" DVI displays. Not a gaming or rendering card but for someone who wants to have their 1,1 act like it always has but in a newer OS, they are perfect.

If that guy's goal was to convince people of how easy it is, he has done the opposite.

Either get a FireWire adapter for imac or an external USB holder for a drive from the Mac Pro. Use iMac as the install machine on your MP drive. Run updates to 10.10.2. Replace boot.efi in both places. Move drive back to MP OR take MP out of FireWire mode. Boot into Mavericks and be amazed that you saved approx 100 tedious steps from that moronic "guide".

At some point put the gt120 in. Once up and running run 666sheep's pikeryose script.

Done. When 10.10.3 comes out come read here, if the boot.efi file is still good in 10.10.3 then upgrade freely from App Store and let that script do the dirty work. I just did 10.10.2 update on my 1,1 and it was just like running it on 5,1 courtesy that boot.efi script.

If you want to have MP easily converse with your iPhone get one of the WiFi AC /BT 4.1 cards.

It really is simple if you listen to someone with a brain and not some overinflated gobbledygook guide trying to scare people off.
 
Thank you and I will follow your approach. I bought a OWC SSD drive as they claim that it is Yosemite compatible, i.e. no issues with TRIM and kexts and so on. I plan to connect the SSD with a USb3 to SATA adapter, do as you describe below then slide the SSD as a replacement to my current MP Lion internal boot drive. I'll keep the latter as a backup boot drive in case all hell breaks loose now or in the future.
Are there other issues I should be aware of when using a SSD drive? Mine is the OWC Mercury Electra 3G 240gb model.
Lastly, why do you say to add the GT120 "at some point"? I thought my current card (original from MP 2007 2,1) wasnt going to work at all? So I would have thought the very first thing I'm supposed to do is in fact to swap the video card?

Thanks
 
The guy who wrote the low end article had many things confused, but the part about cards showing up with 7mb of memory describes how a 7300 shows up in Yose, IIRC. I believe it will be limited to choppy single display use. Everything on screen has to be rendered by CPU, so it is clumsy and slow.

If you read the threads about Yosemite on older hardware, the pain is coming from iMacs and PowerBooks that have CPU that can run Yosemite but are stuck with GPU with no drivers. No transparency and poor, glitchy performance. Most try out newer OS's for novelty but go back to something with drivers for their GPU that is soldered in.

The whole reason a 1,1 is viable for Yosemite is that you have the option of switching card. So you can do the install with a 7300, it will just run poorly and have lots of issues.
 
Well hopefully the GT120 I bought from you will arrive soon so I can just plug it in and not worry about GPU issues :)
 
Some progress. I installed 10.10.2 on a SSD drive from OWC. I was able to copy Pike's boot.efi to the /usr/standalone/i386 directory, but I have no permissions to write to the /System/Library/CoreServices/ folder and boot.fi is locked there and I don't seem to be able to change permissions. I'm not that good at Unix, so help appreciated!
 
Never mind, found how in the instruction guide referenced in the main article. As soon as I get the vidcard, I am ready to boot up the MP 2006 2,1. If this works, I would say it is a fairly trivial process. As an aside, I can confirm that the OWC SSD works flawlessly as a 10.10.2 boot drive without any single tweak necessary.
 
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