MP 1,1-5,1 card power supply

[Mic&Pon]

What type of cable should I use to power a Vega 64 and an Avid HDX card at the same time? Thank you

 

[tsialex]

VEGA 64 itself already needs Pixla's mod to your PSU. You can use the Pixla's mod to power the VEGA 64 and then use the backplane miniPCIe power connectors to power the HDX card.

This is the reference thread for Pixla's mod:

Pixlas 4.1 Mac Pro mod

I'm creating a thread for my 4.1-->5.1 mod to keep everything in one place. I will document my upgrade to X5690, PCIe SSD (Apple SSUBX) and PSU mod to allow for two modern gfx cards using only the internal PSU. I have gotten my Mac Pro now (2x 2.26GHz) 4.1 from 2009. It had one Nvidia 120GT...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Mic&Pon]

What could be an excellent alternative to a card that doesn't need power but that I can use by updating my Mac to the latest macOS?

 

[tsialex]

What could be an excellent alternative to a card that doesn't need power but that I can use by updating my Mac to the latest macOS?

What you call latest macOS? Mojave or unsupported macOS releases? If unsupported, which macOS release you want to run?

 

[tsialex]

The very expensive and rare AMD Radeon Pro WX5100 GPU is the only modern GPU that works with a MacPro5,1 and doesn't require any additional power. It's the only card that works with macOS without issues with just the PCIe slot power and it's a 1-slot wide GPU.

The also very expensive/rare AMD Radeon Pro WX7100 requires only one PCIe 6-pin connector, leaving the second one for the AVID HDX card, also a 1-slot wide GPU.

eBay right now have both the AMD Radeon Pro WX5100 and WX7100 used/pulled from working units with a very good price:

Dell AMD Radeon PRO WX5100 8GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card Dell P/N: 0KWPWP Tested | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell AMD Radeon PRO WX5100 8GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card Dell P/N: 0KWPWP Tested at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

AMD RADEON PRO WX7100 GRAPHICS CARD WX 7100 8GB PCI-E X16 4X Display Ports | eBay

Excellent condition with little use.

www.ebay.com

I'd buy the AMD Radeon Pro WX7100. It's around 60% to 65% of the performance of VEGA 64, but it's a fully supported card and won't require any mods with your Mac Pro.

Both AMD Radeon Pro cards above works with supported macOS releases: Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave. If you use OpenCore, runs Monterey without any major issues and you can try Sonoma/Ventura (several limitations apply when running Sonoma/Ventura with a MacPro5,1, see the specific unsupported threads to know about the issues related to the missing AVX2.0 instruction support, like Adobe apps not working anymore and etc.).

 

[Mic&Pon]

What you call latest macOS? Mojave or unsupported macOS releases? If unsupported, which macOS release you want to run?

I'm mostly interested in something that allows me to update mainly music software, at the moment I use pt 11 and I want to upgrade it to the latest version, as well as other similar software (plug ins, ecc). I have no particular needs in video or graphics, I use the computer to make music. obviously I consider all options like opencore to optimize everything

 

[ClaudAA]

The very expensive and rare AMD Radeon Pro WX5100 GPU is the only modern GPU that works with a MacPro5,1 and doesn't require any additional power. It's the only card that works with macOS without issues with just the PCIe slot power and it's a 1-slot wide GPU.

The also very expensive/rare AMD Radeon Pro WX7100 requires only one PCIe 6-pin connector, leaving the second one for the AVID HDX card, also a 1-slot wide GPU.

eBay right now have both the AMD Radeon Pro WX5100 and WX7100 used/pulled from working units with a very good price:

Dell AMD Radeon PRO WX5100 8GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card Dell P/N: 0KWPWP Tested | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dell AMD Radeon PRO WX5100 8GB GDDR5 PCIe Graphics Card Dell P/N: 0KWPWP Tested at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

AMD RADEON PRO WX7100 GRAPHICS CARD WX 7100 8GB PCI-E X16 4X Display Ports | eBay

Excellent condition with little use.

www.ebay.com

I'd buy the AMD Radeon Pro WX7100. It's around 60% to 65% of the performance of VEGA 64, but it's a fully supported card and won't require any mods with your Mac Pro.

Both AMD Radeon Pro cards above works with supported macOS releases: Sierra/High Sierra/Mojave. If you use OpenCore, runs Monterey without any major issues and you can try Sonoma/Ventura (several limitations apply when running Sonoma/Ventura with a MacPro5,1, see the specific unsupported threads to know about the issues related to the missing AVX2.0 instruction support, like Adobe apps not working anymore and etc.).

Hi Alex, I have always appreciated your advices.
Here is my problem: I have not figure out how to in MacPro 5,1 make the WX7100 work in Monterey installed with OCLP 1.x Note: this card gets to the Booter picker like normal and then the OS never loads to the login page. The install works with a Quadro 4000 2gig all the way.
The AMD card is in good shape and was working on earlier versions of the OS. I also tried and have connected the 2-1 6 pin cable per your previous recommendation on another thread.
Am I missing some installation steps somewhere ??? Everything else works... SSD card with OS on PCie etc.. I couldn't find references on the OCLP threads.
Please let me know when you can your take.
Thanks a lot. Clau.

 

[tsialex]

Hi Alex, I have always appreciated your advices.
Here is my problem: I have not figure out how to in MacPro 5,1 make the WX7100 work in Monterey installed with OCLP 1.x Note: this card gets to the Booter picker like normal and then the OS never loads to the login page. The install works with a Quadro 4000 2gig all the way.
The AMD card is in good shape and was working on earlier versions of the OS. I also tried and have connected the 2-1 6 pin cable per your previous recommendation on another thread.
Am I missing some installation steps somewhere ??? Everything else works... SSD card with OS on PCie etc.. I couldn't find references on the OCLP threads.
Please let me know when you can your take.
Thanks a lot. Clau.

You can't change GPUs with OCLP without undoing root patches. A different GPU won't work, since OCLP removes all kexts/drivers for any other GPU but the GPU that you used for the installation of macOS.

It's a lot easier if your Mac Pro already have pre-boot configuration support injected in the BootROM, then you can install Monterey with an OCLP patched installer without having a black screen.

Send me a PM if you need BootROM reconstruction service, I'm already including EnableGop for pre-boot configuration support with UEFI PC GPUs, like your WX 7100.

 

[ClaudAA]

You can't change GPUs with OCLP without undoing root patches. A different GPU won't work, since OCLP removes all kexts/drivers for any other GPU but the GPU that you used for the installation of macOS.

It's a lot easier if your Mac Pro already have pre-boot configuration support injected in the BootROM, then you can install Monterey with an OCLP patched installer without having a black screen.

Send me a PM if you need BootROM reconstruction service, I'm already including EnableGop for pre-boot configuration support with UEFI PC GPUs, like your WX 7100.

OK, Claud.

 

[tsialex]

I've sent you a PM here, top right corner of the MR page, the little white letter icon.

Edit your previous post and remove your email, you don't it to be a spam magnet.

 

[ClaudAA]

I've sent you a PM here, top right corner of the MR page, the little white letter icon.

Edit your previous post and remove your email, you don't it to be a spam magnet.

Thanks Alex, got it.

 

[dataharvested]

You can't change GPUs with OCLP without undoing root patches. A different GPU won't work, since OCLP removes all kexts/drivers for any other GPU but the GPU that you used for the installation of macOS.

It's a lot easier if your Mac Pro already have pre-boot configuration support injected in the BootROM, then you can install Monterey with an OCLP patched installer without having a black screen.

Send me a PM if you need BootROM reconstruction service, I'm already including EnableGop for pre-boot configuration support with UEFI PC GPUs, like your WX 7100.

So, is a full reinstall of macOS needed in order to get the WX7100 card working on an existing OCLP installation of Ventura on a 5,1? I have just purchased a WX7100 and didn't realize that I couldn't simply install it. I too am getting only a black screen at the macOS login page, though I can sign in and hear that I'm logged in etc, I cannot see anything.

 

[tsialex]

So, is a full reinstall of macOS needed in order to get the WX7100 card working on an existing OCLP installation of Ventura on a 5,1?

You can try to remove the root patches with single user mode, reboot and reapply the root patches, but in my experience, this process seldom work and is easier to reinstall from scratch to another disk and then move the data.

I have just purchased a WX7100 and didn't realize that I couldn't simply install it. I too am getting only a black screen at the macOS login page, though I can sign in and hear that I'm logged in etc, I cannot see anything.

OCLP removes all GPU drivers but the drivers for the GPU that you did the Ventura/OCLP install, so, you can't change the GPU for a different one anymore like you did with supported macOS releases.

 

[dataharvested]

You can try to remove the root patches with single user mode, reboot and reapply the root patches, but in my experience, this process seldom work and is easier to reinstall from scratch to another disk and then move the data.



OCLP removes all GPU drivers but the drivers for the GPU that you did the Ventura/OCLP install, so, you can't change the GPU for a different one anymore like you did with supported macOS releases.

Yikes! Well, off to reinstalling Mojave and starting over again...