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Building an Aperture-dedicated Mac Pro

juanm

juanm

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 1, 2006
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Hi all

I happen to have a pc running an RX 570 Sapphire 8GB Nitro+ that I know works (I know someone who has a Mac Pro running the same exact model with no issues). With Mac Pro 5,1 going for cheap on eBay, already owning the right GPU, and Apple leaving Aperture behind, I'm thinking about building a Mac Pro for Aperture only. I also have a Xeon W3580 (quad core, 3.33Ghz) processor from an old PC that I could salvage if the Mac Pro I get is slower.

I currently have my libraries on an external 4-drive RAID Thunderbolt drive from Areca connected to a MacBook Pro. Since Thunderbolt is not an option, can Mac Pros still do software RAID? I'm more interested in speed than in redundancy, as I'd have an external backup drive always connected.

The last Mac Pro I had was years ago, a 3.1 and it's hard to keep up with all the developments and sort what info is still valid. Is there anything I need to know? Is an "upgraded" 4,1 just the same as a genuine 5,1?

In a nutshell:
Mac Pro 5,1 (or 4,1?) (GBP 350)
If slower, put my W3580 in it (GBP 0)
Install the RX 570 (GBP 0)
Add an SSD for the system drive (I already have some laying around) (GBP 0)
Install two 4TB drives.

Then
Upgrade to Mojave (and leave it with Mojave forever)
All the Mac Pros I find on eBay already have 16GB+ of RAM, which I find is fine for my needs.

All good, or is there anything I'd have to worry about?
Thanks
 
juanm said:
Hi all

I happen to have a pc running an RX 570 Sapphire 8GB Nitro+ that I know works (I know someone who has a Mac Pro running the same exact model with no issues). With Mac Pro 5,1 going for cheap on eBay, already owning the right GPU, and Apple leaving Aperture behind, I'm thinking about building a Mac Pro for Aperture only. I also have a Xeon W3580 (quad core, 3.33Ghz) processor from an old PC that I could salvage if the Mac Pro I get is slower.

I currently have my libraries on an external 4-drive RAID Thunderbolt drive from Areca connected to a MacBook Pro. Since Thunderbolt is not an option, can Mac Pros still do software RAID? I'm more interested in speed than in redundancy, as I'd have an external backup drive always connected.

The last Mac Pro I had was years ago, a 3.1 and it's hard to keep up with all the developments and sort what info is still valid. Is there anything I need to know? Is an "upgraded" 4,1 just the same as a genuine 5,1?

In a nutshell:
Mac Pro 5,1 (or 4,1?) (GBP 350)
If slower, put my W3580 in it (GBP 0)
Install the RX 570 (GBP 0)
Add an SSD for the system drive (I already have some laying around) (GBP 0)
Install two 4TB drives.

Then
Upgrade to Mojave (and leave it with Mojave forever)
All the Mac Pros I find on eBay already have 16GB+ of RAM, which I find is fine for my needs.

All good, or is there anything I'd have to worry about?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Go visit your local recycling facilities. You would be surprised how many macs you will find there. The guy wanted to sell me the whole MAC for 50 bucks because it was missing the side cover.
 
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Apple don't support RAID with APFS, so you can't install Mojave into a RAID array, but you can do it for HFS+ and High Sierra. You can use Mojave with a HFS+ data RAID array, just can't boot from it.

Aperture is 32bit software and Apple only really supported 32bit software up to High Sierra. Mojave still runs 32bit software, but warns you about it and it's not optimised.
 
startergo said:
Go visit your local recycling facilities. You would be surprised how many macs you will find there. The guy wanted to sell me the whole MAC for 50 bucks because it was missing the side cover.
Click to expand...
Interesting. What kind of recycling facility has Mac Pros? I'm in the UK, so it might be different.
[doublepost=1559559368][/doublepost]
tsialex said:
Apple don't support RAID with APFS, so you can't install Mojave into a RAID array, but you can do it for HFS+ and High Sierra. You can use Mojave with a HFS+ data RAID array, just can't boot from it.

Aperture is 32bit software and Apple only really supported 32bit software up to High Sierra. Mojave still runs 32bit software, but warns you about it and it's not optimised.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Would the AMD gpu work with High Sierra? All I see is people saying it runs Metal 2 with Mojave, but I don't know whether it would actually benefit me with Aperture being such an old piece of software.
 
juanm said:
Thanks. Would the AMD gpu work with High Sierra? All I see is people saying it runs Metal 2 with Mojave, but I don't know whether it would actually benefit me with Aperture being such an old piece of software.
Click to expand...
High Sierra supports Polaris GPUs, RX 570 is one of them, since the start. The only Polaris GPU that don't have High Sierra support is RX 590.
 
tsialex said:
High Sierra supports Polaris GPUs, RX 570 is one of them, since the start. The only Polaris GPU that don't have High Sierra support is RX 590.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll have a look. As long as it works and security patches are updated, I'm fine with older OS.

startergo said:
Google "electronic recycling near me"
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. I'm in a small city, so I'm unsure what I'll find, but since I'm not in a hurry, it's worth trying. Thanks!
 
if you can run some tests on the macpro when you pick it up.
check the back next to the gpu's for the sticker that shows the modle 4,1 or 5,1 & orginal speck

if you can take a usb stick with
tempture monitor (or like app)
https://www.bresink.com/osx/LegacyProducts.html
and run something to stress the sytem like blender benchmark https://opendata.blender.org/ or cinbench r20 (for cinbench run it a few times for blender it can take a long time so if needed abort it after 10 mins)
watch temps etc

you can also try apple hardware test, you need to instal it on a usb stick in advance then boot from the USB stick
https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest
long test can take a long time but short test is fairly fast

thats what i did :p think i spent 30 mins checking it

o and ram is cheep on ebay, i got 32GB for £50 a few years ago. pulled server ram.

sad appture died, i never used it but just shame to see less and less production apps from apple

edit found this https://barefeats.com/wst10c4.html mentiones at the end that the GPU dose not relay do much so CPU will be the most important part then ram/disc speed
 
Last edited:
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orph said:
if you can run some tests on the macpro when you pick it up.
check the back next to the gpu's for the sticker that shows the modle 4,1 or 5,1 & orginal speck

if you can take a usb stick with
tempture monitor (or like app)
https://www.bresink.com/osx/LegacyProducts.html
and run something to stress the sytem like blender benchmark https://opendata.blender.org/ or cinbench r20 (for cinbench run it a few times for blender it can take a long time so if needed abort it after 10 mins)
watch temps etc

you can also try apple hardware test, you need to instal it on a usb stick in advance then boot from the USB stick
https://github.com/upekkha/AppleHardwareTest
long test can take a long time but short test is fairly fast

thats what i did :p think i spent 30 mins checking it

o and ram is cheep on ebay, i got 32GB for £50 a few years ago. pulled server ram.

sad appture died, i never used it but just shame to see less and less production apps from apple

edit found this https://barefeats.com/wst10c4.html mentiones at the end that the GPU dose not relay do much so CPU will be the most important part then ram/disc speed
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm keeping an eye open on eBay. It's really not urgent, with Catalina coming out this fall, so I'll wait for "the right one"
 
apture wont work with osx 10.15.
as tsialex mentioned
tsialex said:
Aperture is 32bit software and Apple only really supported 32bit software up to High Sierra. Mojave still runs 32bit software, but warns you about it and it's not optimised.
Click to expand...
osx10.15 is killing 32bit apps

if you stick to osx10.13 or osx10.14 you will be mostly fine or maybe look to swap app.

im still on lightroom CS6, not a fan of the monthly payment.
there's a few valid options now depending on your needs from opensorce apps to capture one etc

relay wish i was able to just get adobe bridge and ACR, it's all i relay want 99% of the time.

edit ops was not clear
 
Last edited:
orph said:
will apture even work with osx 10.15?
as tsialex mentioned

osx10.15 is killing 32bit apps

if you stick to osx10.13 or osx10.14 you will be mostly fine or maybe look to swap app.

im still on lightroom CS6, not a fan of the monthly payment.
there's a few valid options now depending on your needs from opensorce apps to capture one etc

relay wish i was able to just get adobe bridge and ACR, it's all i relay want 99% of the time.
Click to expand...
Catalina already killed 32bits apps. Aperture is a 32bits app.
 
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