Mac Pro 1,1 With ATI Radeon 2600 XT with Mavericks

[vincenzo79]

Hello all,
I would like to upgrade the Mac Pro from 10.7.5 to 10.9, because unfortunately with the version currently in my possession no longer possible to do anything.
Therefore I ask you some practical advice on how to operate.

- If I have not understood badly you need to upgrade your graphics card. Now my doubt is this..I have to say that the mac does not use it for graphics, so I don't need very handsome, but I have read that most people use the ATI 5770 that is around 100 Euro. It is essential that or I can use safely for example a ATI XT 2600 with 256 MB of RAM

- I have read that many people are pushed to install 10.10 and 10.11...Recommended to install directly to 10.10, or install 10.9 which I guess will be still supported for a 2 / 3 years ?

Thanks to all for the advice.
Vincenzo

 

[Fl0r!an]

The HD 5770 should be fine, as it's supported on all OS starting with 10.6. You can just buy a cheap PC 5770 (should be << 50€) and flash it yourself (or use it as is if you don't need the boot screens).

 

[vincenzo79]

It is very difficult to find a card 5770 to flash, however, I would like to avoid. The XT 2600 works ?

 

[Mr. Zarniwoop]

The XT 2600 works ?

[EDITED]

Yes.

[Sorry for the confusion, I got my wires crossed and was for some reason jumped from 1900-series and SierraOS. Long days and late nights.]

 

[Fl0r!an]

If you can't find a HD 5770, a HD 5870 will also be fine. If you don't need support for OS prior to 10.8, you can also think about a HD 7xxx series GPU.

 

[vincenzo79]

@Fl0r!an HD 7xxx serie GPU ? Can you be more explicit ?

 

[Fl0r!an]

Tahiti GPUs (HD 7950 / 7970 / R9 280 / R9 280X) can easily be flashed with public methods.
Their little brothers (HD 7770 / 7870 & R9/R7 rebadges) can also be flashed with some tinkering.

(Both applies only to reference layout GPUs -> 2x miniDisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, 1x DVI).

 

[LightBulbFun]

the Radeon 2600 is fully supported in all OS Xs from 10.5 to 10.12 it was the stock card shipped in 3,1s and will work Fine in a Mac Pro 1,1 running mavericks

 

[vincenzo79]

@LightBulbFun are you sure ?

 

[666sheep]

Not really.

It will suck and be almost unusable for running any application with a user interface. The 2600 will no longer be recognized because there are no 64-bit drivers for it, so it'll limp along and be horrible to use.

It will be ok if it's used as a "headless" server in a closet.

That's BS.

the Radeon 2600 is fully supported in all OS Xs from 10.5 to 10.12 it was the stock card shipped in 3,1s and will work Fine in a Mac Pro 1,1 running mavericks

This, with a side note: it's slowest possible card that will let you run Mavericks. It doesn't even support OpenCL.

 

[LightBulbFun]

The slowest card supported in modern OSX would actually be the Radeon 2400 or the Geforce 8600M GT found in some 2007-8 iMac/MacBook Pros

 

[666sheep]

2400 in iMac for sure, but we are talking about MP here. And 8600M GT runs circles around 2600XT BTW.

 

[elf69]

I do not have a pro.
my imac has a 2400 XT card and I run El capitan.

I play world of tank too.
The card work fine so The 2600 should be ok too.
I'm no expert though.

 

[vincenzo79]

Ok, then sorry for summarizing so much to understand.
The ATI XT 2600 works, but the Mac Pro with Mavericks may be very slow while the card ATI5770 would definitely be more efficient.
What I don't understand is the slowness of Mavericks. What you are referring ?
Thanks,
Vincenzo

 

[LightBulbFun]

a 2600XT will be fine for 10.9 it can push 10.9s GUI with no issue and unless you run programs that use the GPU then you wont see much benefit from a 5770.

 

[vincenzo79]

The benefits, however, would be if I move to 10.10, I seem to understand. Right ?

 

[LightBulbFun]

the 2600XT works in All Mac OS X versions since 10.5.1 and up it still works fine in Yosemite el cap and sierra. you only see a benefit with the 5770 if your using apps or doing things that require a faster graphics card

 

[666sheep]

you only see a benefit with the 5770 if your using apps or doing things that require a faster graphics card

Even stupid Preview.app is OpenCL accelerated since Mavericks.
5770 is a reasonable minimum IMO.

 

[LightBulbFun]

OpenCL accelerated does not mean it suddenly needs a much more expensive card. im just speaking from my personal experience using Main machines with 10.9 and low end cards (Geforce 8600M GT 128MB VRAM and a Geforce 210 to name a couple) for basic web browsing and stuff a 2600XT is fine IMHO

 

[666sheep]

Come on, much more expensive?
Cheapest Mac 2600XT is 39 EUR, PC 5770 is 39 EUR, checked ebay.it while ago.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Depends what the user wants and can do. if he knows how to flash a 5770 or fine running it un flashed then by all means do go for it. but if he wants something that just works OOB with no issues (and needs boot screens) then something like a 2600XT is cheaper then a pre flashed or Mac 5770 (granted 2600XTs are not known for being very reliable LOL)