I'm not aware of any reason it shouldn't. I did it on Windows 8 because I had no intention of keeping Bootcamp on my Mac and 8 is the most recent retail DVD I have.
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Mac pro 4,1/5,1 GPU upgrade recommendations
- Thread starter Barton261
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I'm not aware of any reason it shouldn't. I did it on Windows 8 because I had no intention of keeping Bootcamp on my Mac and 8 is the most recent retail DVD I have.
I seemed to have lost the ability to use audio through the display port on the graphics card. Anyone else have this issue? My HD 5870 audio worked perfect when I switched to the GTX 680 I dont even have an option to use it. I only have Digital Out and Internal Speakers.
Would buying a EVGA GTX 970 4GB board for circa $150 in the UK be a worthwhile upgrade from the stock GT120?
Not a heavy user, so felt it may be decent enough for my needs and faster than what I've got now.
Not a heavy user, so felt it may be decent enough for my needs and faster than what I've got now.
In the same boat here. Recently upgraded the CPU's to 12 core 3.46GHz and 48GB RAM, still running the GT120.
After a lot of research I've landed on the AMD R9 Fury (non-X) as the best performance for the price, and a huge upgrade from the stock card. As far as I can tell all I need to do is a kext mod (running El Cap)? It's not clear to me if I'll get a boot screen or not. Could I simply move the GT120 to a second slot for when I need a boot screen, or will the two cards no cohabitate well in the same machine?
Any other suggestions as far as modern, supported GPU's for the 4,1/5,1 era Mac Pros?
After a lot of research I've landed on the AMD R9 Fury (non-X) as the best performance for the price, and a huge upgrade from the stock card. As far as I can tell all I need to do is a kext mod (running El Cap)? It's not clear to me if I'll get a boot screen or not. Could I simply move the GT120 to a second slot for when I need a boot screen, or will the two cards no cohabitate well in the same machine?
Any other suggestions as far as modern, supported GPU's for the 4,1/5,1 era Mac Pros?
If enabling the card requires a kext (i.e. a Kernel Extension, which will load after the kernel, so after boot), you will not get a boot screen. Only firmware updates will get you a boot screen.
So, both cards in the machine then? Will that work ok? The old GT120 for boot, the R9 Fury for day to day ops?
A good speed bump is the R9 280X because it's easy to flash (stick to ref cards), and it has built-in drivers (in essence it's the card that's in the Trashcan MacPro), so you'll never be in trouble with it. Also, it has native support all the way back to OS X10.8.5, incase you have older software that can't run on Sierra. And it's happy running on the internal PSU with two wires from the mobo.
If you're a power user and you need more power, only then I would consider a card that requires drivers or kext mods because it takes away what makes using a Mac great: simplicity.
If you're a power user and you need more power, only then I would consider a card that requires drivers or kext mods because it takes away what makes using a Mac great: simplicity.
Unless you need boot screens every day, I'd just run with the R9 fury and swap it out with the GT120 if you need a boot screen. I'd argue most day-to-day usage of boot screens is choosing which disk to boot from, which you can do within OS X and Windows anyway.
Would you recommend a particular card? Have to say I'm not fussed about flashing unless it's something that can be achieved without any great degree risk of borking the card. Otherwise, once I install an SSD in the Mac Pro, even if it's half as fast as my MacBook Pro's SSD, I'll never see a boot screen anyway!
I think the only function that really need bootscreen is single user mode.
The Apple logo has no real function, so I don't count that as a function (same as correct ident inside macOS).
Recovery partition don't need Mac EFI card anymore.
Boot partition can be selected from system preference / bootcamp apps.
I can personally vouch for the 2GB GTX 680. Works great for what I need and it is hands down one of the most straightforward and well-documented cards to flash. Gives me a solid 60fps at 2560x1600 in SWGEmu via a Wine wrapper.
I had a Radeon HD7870 1GB in before which was ok but quite a lot less powerful than the 680. It's currently on eBay for no reserve at £0.01.
From a purely personal perspective, I wouldn't use any card that required web drivers just because it's additional layer of messing around and whilst I can handle that, I just don't want to. The whole point of having a Mac is that everything works out of the box, which is why going down the Hackintosh route makes no sense to me.
I'm much lower down the food chain - just upgraded my 4.1 to 5.1 with a X5677, and still has the GT120.
Not a nerd, but I can follow instructions - did so with the upgrade above. What should I do as a next step for the graphics card? I don't game or use design software, but I do stream TV programmes and Youtube videos. These can occasionally hang with the GT120 so I'd like something speedier.
Seems that flashing a GTX 680 is the plat du jour, but how would I know which one to flash - a previous post said "must be the right one". And where are the instructions for flashing?
Should I also consider 5770, 5870, 7950 and others? Looking for "cheap and effective" and least possible trouble.
Not a nerd, but I can follow instructions - did so with the upgrade above. What should I do as a next step for the graphics card? I don't game or use design software, but I do stream TV programmes and Youtube videos. These can occasionally hang with the GT120 so I'd like something speedier.
Seems that flashing a GTX 680 is the plat du jour, but how would I know which one to flash - a previous post said "must be the right one". And where are the instructions for flashing?
Should I also consider 5770, 5870, 7950 and others? Looking for "cheap and effective" and least possible trouble.
Would a Asus GeForce GTX 960 Strix 2Gb work ok in a Mac Pro 4,1? Will look around for a flashing solution in the interim too out of interest to make everything look stock. Can get a manufacturer refurbished one with a 12 month warranty on eBay.
Yes, GTX 960 works fine with Nvidia web drivers.
Flashing service -> http://www.macvidcards.com/store/p81/Nvidia_Flashing_Services.html
Unfortunately I'm in the UK, so sending to Macvidcards would be more than the card costs! Happy to attempt myself once I've found the right software, as I've got an old PC I can stick the card into for flashing.
Those ROMs are MacVidCards creations, so good luck finding them online. But, looking at eBay stores one would think they are freely available.
MVC also has official UK partner, so you're in luck (for me, I don't know what would be more expensive, getting card form US or U.K...
)http://m.ebay.co.uk/sch/mac_store_uk/m.html?isRefine=true&_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&_mwBanner=1
Need a boot screen or not? Not really right? There are a lot of people off-loading Titan X card because of the 1080. Drivers from Nvidia are bang uptown date so I did this. Tee hee
Not flashed, just persistent. I have powered it externally, just in case, but feel free to Google for two weeks like I did!Attachments
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125897
Sierra only, no boot screen but no system modification required. Similar to the GPUs used in Apple laptops, so should remain fully functional over repeated OS advances. Low power requirement - PCIe feeds all the power it needs.
I'm running one pushing a 4k main monitor and aux monitor with great results. Although less GPU horsepower than some other options, super simple to make happen and cheap. I paid $90 on sale after rebate.
ed: spelling
Sierra only, no boot screen but no system modification required. Similar to the GPUs used in Apple laptops, so should remain fully functional over repeated OS advances. Low power requirement - PCIe feeds all the power it needs.
I'm running one pushing a 4k main monitor and aux monitor with great results. Although less GPU horsepower than some other options, super simple to make happen and cheap. I paid $90 on sale after rebate.
ed: spelling
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