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MP 1,1-5,1 Getting ready to upgrade older mac pro to latest version of Mac OS

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philm001

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 29, 2018
109
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Hello all,

I have a customized mac pro that is currently running Os High Sierra. I want to install the latest version of photoshop but it requires a higher version for Mac OS. I am thinking about installing MacOS Big Sur or Montery. However, it has been a few years since I last touched this and I am not sure what the requirements are or where the Mac sits in terms of upgradablility. I have been reading some information about upgrading but I will need some guidance on this process. Below are my system specs

CPU: 2 x 3.33 GHz 6 Core Intel Xeon
GPU: Radeon RX 580 8 GB
Mac Pro Early 2009
Mac OS: High Sierra
RAM: 40 GB DDR3

1) I believe that spec wise, the mac is able to handle it since the GPU is metal compatible. But I remember reading something about firmware compatibility needing to be 5.1? How do I check this?

2) Also what is openCore? How do I check if my mac is compatible with OpenCore?

3) I am considering about install Montery since it is the latest. However, how is the stability of the latest version of Mac os on these older machines?

4) If I use this guide, should I be good to go? https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...n.2180095/page-53?post=28255048#post-28255048
 
philm001 said:
Hello all,

I have a customized mac pro that is currently running Os High Sierra. I want to install the latest version of photoshop but it requires a higher version for Mac OS. I am thinking about installing MacOS Big Sur or Montery. However, it has been a few years since I last touched this and I am not sure what the requirements are or where the Mac sits in terms of upgradablility. I have been reading some information about upgrading but I will need some guidance on this process. Below are my system specs

CPU: 2 x 3.33 GHz 6 Core Intel Xeon
GPU: Radeon RX 580 8 GB
Mac Pro Early 2009
Mac OS: High Sierra
RAM: 40 GB DDR3

1) I believe that spec wise, the mac is able to handle it since the GPU is metal compatible. But I remember reading something about firmware compatibility needing to be 5.1? How do I check this?

2) Also what is openCore? How do I check if my mac is compatible with OpenCore?

3) I am considering about install Montery since it is the latest. However, how is the stability of the latest version of Mac os on these older machines?

4) If I use this guide, should I be good to go? https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...n.2180095/page-53?post=28255048#post-28255048
Click to expand...
OpenCore should work well on your cMP though do check the firmware version - you can see this in About This Mac - System Report.

Start by reading the first post of this thread - MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread). It is a very detailed post that provides explicit instructions on how to upgrade your firmware to 144.0.0.0.0 if you aren't already there.

After you have that done you can look at OpenCore to allow installing Catalina, Big Sur, or Monterey. The easiest way to do that is OpenCore Legacy Patcher. Take a look here - OpenCore Legacy Patcher. The instructions are pretty easy to follow and there is a very active discord server if you need help or have questions. This can get you to Big Sur or Monterey - both of which will allow the most recent version of Photoshop.

regards,
sfalatko
 
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Just a few days ago Big Sur seemed like a better choice:

forums.macrumors.com

cMP & Mojave - time to upgrade

Hi! Due to a bug in latest Xcode, more and more programs require 10.15+ This means that I need to upgrade. My configuration: 3.46 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon 48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 NVMe 970 EVO 1TB SATA SSD 840 EVO 250GB Radeon RX 570 8 GB + BCM94360CD What is currently the best strategy for cMP...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
I can recommend Open Core too. Be sure to have a disk with a clean Mojave in your mac or ready to insert if you get a problem with the config and need to recover.
 
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paalb said:
I can recommend Open Core too. Be sure to have a disk with a clean Mojave in your mac or ready to insert if you get a problem with the config and need to recover.
Click to expand...
Ok, I am currently running High Sierra. Not sure if that is an issue. How do I download a copy of Mojave?
 
Last edited:
Great, thank you. So to confirm, I need version 144 which is higher then MP5.1 in order to upgrade all the way up to OS Monterey?
 
sfalatko said:
OpenCore should work well on your cMP though do check the firmware version - you can see this in About This Mac - System Report.

Start by reading the first post of this thread - MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread). It is a very detailed post that provides explicit instructions on how to upgrade your firmware to 144.0.0.0.0 if you aren't already there.

After you have that done you can look at OpenCore to allow installing Catalina, Big Sur, or Monterey. The easiest way to do that is OpenCore Legacy Patcher. Take a look here - OpenCore Legacy Patcher. The instructions are pretty easy to follow and there is a very active discord server if you need help or have questions. This can get you to Big Sur or Monterey - both of which will allow the most recent version of Photoshop.

regards,
sfalatko
Click to expand...
Great, thank you. So to confirm, I need version 144 which is higher then MP5.1 in order to upgrade all the way up to OS Monterey?

(Sorry for the double post, I messed up the formatting and forgot to add in the quote)
 
Ok so after reading the first post, please correct me if I am wrong. In order to upgrade to 144, I neeed to download the full installer for Mojava, let it run up to the firmware and reboot. After that, everything should be good to go and I can check in the system information if I am at the 144 version
 
Seems like there are many links out there for the offline version of Mojava. I have some that are 2.3 and others that are 3.1. Does anyone here have a legit link for the offline installer for Mojava?
 
philm001 said:
Ok so after reading the first post, please correct me if I am wrong. In order to upgrade to 144, I neeed to download the full installer for Mojava, let it run up to the firmware and reboot. After that, everything should be good to go and I can check in the system information if I am at the 144 version
Click to expand...
Others have said, have a disk with a copy of Mojave for when/if things go wrong.

So firstly, put your current High Sierra onto a bootable disk - using various clone methods. For instance, buy a 500 GB cheap SSD SATA drive. You could then plug that directly into a drive bay (with the drive sitting there OK due to its light weight). Or plug it in instead of a DVD drive. Then upgrade that High Sierra drive to Mojave. Run that for a while. You'd then have your current boot drive running High Sierra and also, you'd have the required back-up Mojave drive. So you could then upgrade your current boot drive, having put your new Mojave drive into a drawer as an emergency if things go wrong.

I had to do a clean install of High Sierra which means formatting a drive, then booting from that drive, I had to use the upgrade from High Sierra to Mojave method onto the new clean formatted boot drive. Most can achieve an install of Mojave by installing it onto another drive. I could not though.

After Mojave, you'll be into alternative methods, such as Open Core, in order to run the latest Mac OS.

Good luck.
 
Last edited:
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rovostrov said:
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but hopeuflly it will help find the required OS and it's directly from Apple

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
Click to expand...
See the 1st post in this thread under MacOS

forums.macrumors.com

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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philm001 said:
Seems like there are many links out there for the offline version of Mojava. I have some that are 2.3 and others that are 3.1. Does anyone here have a legit link for the offline installer for Mojava?
Click to expand...
See the 1st post in this thread under MacOS

forums.macrumors.com

OpenCore on the Mac Pro

This guide explains how to use the excellent OpenCore boot loader to install, run, and update the latest version of macOS on the MacPro5,1, resulting in a clean, unaltered operating system just like on a supported Mac.
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
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Great, thank you all for the resources. I am currently downloading the latest non-beta version of Monterey and the Mojava. I did confirm that I have v5.1 of the firmware

I ahve a couple more questions.

In some of the guides, I need to go to the boot screen to select the boot device (for example when I need to boot into openCore)

However, I am using an RX 580 card. So I do not have the boot menu.

1) Will the 144 firmware fix this issue?
2) If not, will I still need to swap to an approved GPU for the boot menu (Note: the only spares that I have are not metal compatible)
2a) If not, will I still be able to use v5.1 firmware since opencore still supports this version of the firmware? What will I be losing out if I do not upgrade to v144?
3) Also for Opencore, I saw in this link, the latest version is 0.7.6. However, on the github page, the version is 0.3.3. There appears to be 2 different varients of Opencore, one from dortania (v0.3.3) and another from acidanthera (v0.7.6). Which one is the better one to use?
 
Last edited:
philm001 said:
Great, thank you all for the resources. I am currently downloading the latest non-beta version of Monterey and the Mojava. I did confirm that I have v5.1 of the firmware

I ahve a couple more questions.

In some of the guides, I need to go to the boot screen to select the boot device (for example when I need to boot into openCore)

However, I am using an RX 580 card. So I do not have the boot menu.

1) Will the 144 firmware fix this issue?
2) If not, will I still need to swap to an approved GPU for the boot menu (Note: the only spares that I have are not metal compatible)
3) Also for Opencore, I saw in this link, the latest version is 0.7.6. However, on the github page, the version is 0.3.3. There appears to be 2 different varients of Opencore, one from dortania (v0.3.3) and another from acidanthera (v0.7.6). Which one is the better one to use?
Click to expand...
1) No
2) Open Core will give you a boot menu. But to have a boot meny before that I recommend the NVIDIA Geforce GT 120 original MacPro GPU. You can get it on Ebay. It is nice to have for troubleshooting too.
3) 0.7.7 is the latest, it came two days ago. There is a new version every month. The OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher version 0.3.3 will install the latest I think or lag behind for some days. The link on Activate AMD hardware acceleration thread is also lagging one version behind for some days.
 
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paalb said:
1) No
2) Open Core will give you a boot menu. But to have a boot meny before that I recommend the NVIDIA Geforce GT 120 original MacPro GPU. You can get it on Ebay. It is nice to have for troubleshooting too.
3) 0.7.7 is the latest, it came two days ago. There is a new version every month. The OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher version 0.3.3 will install the latest I think or lag behind for some days. The link on Activate AMD hardware acceleration thread is also lagging one version behind for some days.
Click to expand...
So basically, I still need to install an approved GPU to get to the boot menu to do all of the initial installing and setting up. But, once I select OpenCore as the default boot option, I can switch back to the RX 580? Actually, I have the GT 120. Correct me if I am wrong but it is not metal compatible. Will Monterey still install if I have a non-metal card installed?
 
paalb said:
Your first goal is Mojave. You can use the GT 120 to install it. There will be no acceleration, but it is nice to see what is going on. After that you have to choose what method you wan't to follow and we can help you with where you need to ask to get further help.

Look under Introduction>Other approaches here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/opencore-on-the-mac-pro.2207814/
Click to expand...
Ok, I see, so I should first install up to Mojave (which I should be able to do with the current hardware configuration just need the GT120).

After that, then I can install Monterey. I am looking to have the full scope of what I am doing.

I think that here is the process afterwards:

1) Install openCore on main boot disk (So that I can get the boot menu with the RX 580)
1a) With the Gt 120, select the OpenCore as the default boot option. Boot, then power down, then switch back to the RX580
2) Create bootable drive of the Monterey (Should I still install OpenCore on my bootable USB? Is that necessary or redundant?)
3) Reboot machine and go into my boot drive options and select my USB drive to install Monterey
4) Let the Mac do its thing as it is installing Monterey.
5) Finish, I have a Monterey running (Once Monterey is running do I need to reinstall OpenCore on my main drive or am I good to go now?)
 
philm001 said:
Ok, I see, so I should first install up to Mojave (which I should be able to do with the current hardware configuration just need the GT120).

After that, then I can install Monterey. I am looking to have the full scope of what I am doing.

I think that here is the process afterwards:

1) Install openCore on main boot disk (So that I can get the boot menu with the RX 580)
1a) With the Gt 120, select the OpenCore as the default boot option. Boot, then power down, then switch back to the RX580
2) Create bootable drive of the Monterey (Should I still install OpenCore on my bootable USB? Is that necessary or redundant?)
3) Reboot machine and go into my boot drive options and select my USB drive to install Monterey
4) Let the Mac do its thing as it is installing Monterey.
5) Finish, I have a Monterey running (Once Monterey is running do I need to reinstall OpenCore on my main drive or am I good to go now?)
Click to expand...
I would not put OpenCore on the same disk as Mojave. If you have issues you can remove the disk with OpenCore and boot Mojave.

If you use OCLP to install Monterey and OpenCore it will set it up on the USB to install and then when working well you can have OCLP install OpenCore EFI folder to one of your internal drives.
 
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Ok, I think that this is become more clear

1) With the RX580 installed, install Mojava on main drive and clone onto a backup drive (so that if anything happens, I can go back to my original setup). Will need this for installing Mojava and doing firmware upgrade
2) Once Mojava is installed on both drives, create bootable USB drive of the Monterey
2a) Install OpenCore on bootable USB
3) Reboot machine and go into my boot drive options and select my USB drive to install Monterey
3a) Before turning the machine back on, install Gt120 in order to get the boot menu
4) Let the Mac do its thing as it is installing Monterey.
5) Once Monterey is installed and confirmed running, install OpenCore onto main drive
6) Reboot and when boot options come up, select OpenCore as default boot option.
7) Boot into monterey to confirm it is working and shutdown mac
8) remove GT 120 and install RX 580 and boot to confirm system working

I think that this is the correct working order. I am basing this off of a method at this link here

Edit:
Edited after reading steps to install Mojava here
 
Last edited:
philm001 said:
Ok, I think that this is become more clear

1) With the Gt 120, install Mojava on main drive and clone onto a backup drive (so that if anything happens, I can go back to my original setup)
2) Create bootable drive of the Monterey
2a) Install OpenCore on bootable USB
3) Reboot machine and go into my boot drive options and select my USB drive to install Monterey
4) Let the Mac do its thing as it is installing Monterey.
5) Once Monterey is installed and confirmed running, install OpenCore onto main drive
6) Reboot and when boot options come up, select OpenCore as default boot option.
7) Boot into monterey to confirm it is working and shutdown mac
8) remove GT 120 and install RX 580 and boot to confirm system working

I think that this is the correct working order. I am basing this off of a method at this link here
Click to expand...
For step 2 (just to be clear) you need OpenCore to install Monterey - I suggest you use OCLP to create the bootable USB with Monterey.
 
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Yes, that is correct. Ok, I will look at using OCLP to create the bootable USB. Not a big deal, will look into the instructions for this. But from a high level perspective, does this work flow look correct?

Q1) Since I am installing Monterey using a non-metal card (I believe that the GT120 is non metal), will that create any issues during the installation or will the UI just respond slowly?

Edit:
For 2a, I am installing OpenCore on the bootable USB that Monterey was installed onto. For step 2, Monterey will be installed on a bootable USB. I apologize for any confusion. After step 1, everything will be done on the GT120 and the OS will be Mojave
 
Last edited:
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