MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5.1 2012 - Upgrade Help

[nbantle]

Hey all -

I have a mid 2012 Mac Pro and I love it. I love that I can add my own cards to it and stuff but it's stuck in the past and I don't know what core changes I need to do to make it relevant. I can't move past Sierra, my USB-C card I installed doesn't work because there are no thunderbolt drivers. I've done so much research. I've tried updating firmwares, downloading drivers, and putting my computer in modes that allow me to do more but I can't get past these obstacles. I think it's time for me to update some of the guts but I don't know where to start and what is considered critical and what would just be a nice upgrade. The first thing I'd love to be able to do is get on the most recent iOS. Is that a hard drive upgrade? CPU upgrade? I enjoy this stiff and have some knowledge but I'm definitely more of a beginner when it comes to knowing what to do. If anyone can provide any sound advice on my next steps I'd really appreciate it! I've been reattaching for a couple months and trying so many things but I feel stuck. Also am I just wasting my time? Can this be salvaged to be a functional new gen computer? I not doing video editing or gaming. It's mainly for office and casual use and as a side project. I do some gaming but have other computers I can use for high need software.

 

[tsialex]

Start upgrading your BootROM, your Mac Pro firmware was never updated.

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

With your current GPU you can update to MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra Mac App Store full installer, fully read the first post of the thread above.

 

[nbantle]

Start upgrading your BootROM, your Mac Pro firmware was never updated.

MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions thread)

Please fully read this first post, you will probably find that you have one or more problems described into the various notes below. Mojave will only install if you have upgraded your BootROM to the current release and your Mac Pro have a Metal capable GPU*. If you are trying to install Mojave...

forums.macrumors.com

With your current GPU you can update to MP51.0089.B00 with High Sierra Mac App Store full installer, fully read the first post of the thread above.

Thanks. It looks like one of the things holding me back from this thread you shared is that I have an incompatible graphics card. Is there one you'd suggest knowing where I'm trying to end up? I don't want to need to buy a graphics card more than once! There is a list to choose from in the forum you shared just asking if you have an opinion.

Here is my graphics card

 

[tsialex]

Thanks. It looks like one of the things holding me back from this thread you shared is that I have an incompatible graphics card. Is there one you'd suggest knowing where I'm trying to end up? I don't want to need to buy a graphics card more than once! There is a list to choose from in the forum you shared just asking if you have an opinion.

Here is my graphics card

View attachment 1777102

Please fully read the post I've linked. You need, it's a requirement, your current GPU for the first step of the firmware upgrade, just the second one needs a METAL supported GPU.

After that and with High Sierra installed, you think about the METAL supported GPU - there are several threads about this, use the search.

GPU Compatibility List for cMP

Content: 1. Summary 2. Information on common GPUs that can be used in cMP 3. GPU power consumption 4. Color compatibility 5. Flashing nuances 6. What to choose? 7. Useful links. 1. Summary 1.1. There are 50+ GPU types that are compatible with cMP (classic MacPro = Mac Pro 1.1-5.1/...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Soba]

Hey all -

I have a mid 2012 Mac Pro and I love it. I love that I can add my own cards to it and stuff but it's stuck in the past and I don't know what core changes I need to do to make it relevant. I can't move past Sierra, my USB-C card I installed doesn't work because there are no thunderbolt drivers. I've done so much research. I've tried updating firmwares, downloading drivers, and putting my computer in modes that allow me to do more but I can't get past these obstacles. I think it's time for me to update some of the guts but I don't know where to start and what is considered critical and what would just be a nice upgrade. The first thing I'd love to be able to do is get on the most recent iOS. Is that a hard drive upgrade? CPU upgrade? I enjoy this stiff and have some knowledge but I'm definitely more of a beginner when it comes to knowing what to do. If anyone can provide any sound advice on my next steps I'd really appreciate it! I've been reattaching for a couple months and trying so many things but I feel stuck. Also am I just wasting my time? Can this be salvaged to be a functional new gen computer? I not doing video editing or gaming. It's mainly for office and casual use and as a side project. I do some gaming but have other computers I can use for high need software.

A couple of thoughts:

1) Do upgrade your BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 as advised by Alex. You can do this immediately without upgrading your OS. The High Sierra installer is needed to update the BootROM, but you do not actually need to install High Sierra afterward. See the post Alex linked for details.

2) After your BootROM update to MP51.0089.B00, you can then consider obtaining a Metal-capable graphics card. This will allow you to update the BootROM to the latest version and install macOS Mojave.

3) Mojave is the last version of macOS that's supported by Apple on the 2012 Mac Pro and it will be supported with security updates until the next version of macOS is released (probably later this year, as usual). There are other ways to install a later OS on your system, but it involves a little bit of hacking with OpenCore (or other methods). I'm not sure I recommend this at this time; it's not officially supported and right now there are issues with the latest version of Big Sur not working reliably even with OpenCore. Having said that, there are lots of threads on this for help and you can decide for yourself if you're ready to undertake it.

4) You can replace your CPU with a faster 6-core version. Your RAM is showing as 1066MHz, but this is due to a CPU limitation. If you upgrade your CPU to a faster one, your RAM will also run faster at 1333MHz. A CPU upgrade will result in a noticeable performance improvement all around and is not very expensive. For details on this, see the first post of this thread and scroll down to the Mac Pro 5,1 section:

Mac Pro CPU Compatibility List

Bokkow and I have created a Mac Pro CPU compatibility list. The intent is to cover all relevant and compatible CPU upgrades for all Mac Pros. These are asked about over and over and over again, so I thought it would be nice to have it all in one place. Constructive criticism, corrections to...

forums.macrumors.com

I'm sure others will have more input, as well.

P.S. The screen grabs you posted are very helpful, but it is not good to post your system serial number in public because this constitutes a security risk. For your own protection, edit the pictures in your post (you can use the macOS Preview app) to blank out the serial numbers.

 

[nbantle]

A couple of thoughts:

1) Do upgrade your BootROM to MP51.0089.B00 as advised by Alex. You can do this immediately without upgrading your OS. The High Sierra installer is needed to update the BootROM, but you do not actually need to install High Sierra afterward. See the post Alex linked for details.

2) After your BootROM update to MP51.0089.B00, you can then consider obtaining a Metal-capable graphics card. This will allow you to update the BootROM to the latest version and install macOS Mojave.

3) Mojave is the last version of macOS that's supported by Apple on the 2012 Mac Pro and it will be supported with security updates until the next version of macOS is released (probably later this year, as usual). There are other ways to install a later OS on your system, but it involves a little bit of hacking with OpenCore (or other methods). I'm not sure I recommend this at this time; it's not officially supported and right now there are issues with the latest version of Big Sur not working reliably even with OpenCore. Having said that, there are lots of threads on this for help and you can decide for yourself if you're ready to undertake it.

4) You can replace your CPU with a faster 6-core version. Your RAM is showing as 1066MHz, but this is due to a CPU limitation. If you upgrade your CPU to a faster one, your RAM will also run faster at 1333MHz. A CPU upgrade will result in a noticeable performance improvement all around and is not very expensive. For details on this, see the first post of this thread and scroll down to the Mac Pro 5,1 section:

Mac Pro CPU Compatibility List

Bokkow and I have created a Mac Pro CPU compatibility list. The intent is to cover all relevant and compatible CPU upgrades for all Mac Pros. These are asked about over and over and over again, so I thought it would be nice to have it all in one place. Constructive criticism, corrections to...

forums.macrumors.com

I'm sure others will have more input, as well.

P.S. The screen grabs you posted are very helpful, but it is not good to post your system serial number in public because this constitutes a security risk. For your own protection, edit the pictures in your post (you can use the macOS Preview app) to blank out the serial numbers.

Thank you. I updated the pictures. I see the list of CPU's. I'm noticing a Watt column. Do I need to worry about getting a CPU too big that I run into any power issues? Or could I just grab the most powerful and compatible one on that list and be fine? For instance this is the one that looked the most promising...

Westmere

6 core

Dual Xeon

X5690

3.46

3.73

1333

130W

 

[tsialex]

Thank you. I updated the pictures. I see the list of CPU's. I'm noticing a Watt column. Do I need to worry about getting a CPU too big that I run into any power issues? Or could I just grab the most powerful and compatible one on that list and be fine? For instance this is the one that looked the most promising...

Westmere

6 core

Dual Xeon

X5690

3.46

3.73

1333

130W

No, 130W Xeons work fine.

 

[Soba]

Thank you. I updated the pictures. I see the list of CPU's. I'm noticing a Watt column. Do I need to worry about getting a CPU too big that I run into any power issues? Or could I just grab the most powerful and compatible one on that list and be fine? For instance this is the one that looked the most promising...

Westmere

6 core

Dual Xeon

X5690

3.46

3.73

1333

130W

That is the fastest Xeon that will work in your Mac. You could also use the W3690 instead, as that’s basically the same processor but designed for single-CPU systems, though the 5690 might actually be cheaper at this point. The only difference is that the 5690 allows you to have 64GB of RAM in your system while the 3690 would limit you to 56GB, but I doubt this is a concern for you.

The replacement is not hard to do as long as you have the right tools and are careful.

I note you have 32GB of RAM, which I assume is 4 x 8GB DIMMs. This Mac Pro uses DDR3 RAM and works best with sets of 3 DIMMS, so you might get a small performance boost (5% at most) if you remove 1 of your DIMMs. It sounds like your work is not very demanding and would not suffer at all by losing 8GB.

If you need more RAM, consider 3 x 16GB DIMMs for a total of 48GB (and I recommend purchasing from Data Memory Systems), but I suspect this would be overkill for you.

Also, your original pictures with serial numbers are still showing up as attachments, so be sure to replace those, as well.

 

[nbantle]

That is the fastest Xeon that will work in your Mac. You could also use the W3690 instead, as that’s basically the same processor but designed for single-CPU systems, though the 5690 might actually be cheaper at this point. The only difference is that the 5690 allows you to have 64GB of RAM in your system while the 3690 would limit you to 56GB, but I doubt this is a concern for you.

The replacement is not hard to do as long as you have the right tools and are careful.

I note you have 32GB of RAM, which I assume is 4 x 8GB DIMMs. This Mac Pro uses DDR3 RAM and works best with sets of 3 DIMMS, so you might get a small performance boost (5% at most) if you remove 1 of your DIMMs. It sounds like your work is not very demanding and would not suffer at all by losing 8GB.

If you need more RAM, consider 3 x 16GB DIMMs for a total of 48GB (and I recommend purchasing from Data Memory Systems), but I suspect this would be overkill for you.

Also, your original pictures with serial numbers are still showing up as attachments, so be sure to replace those, as well.

Thanks for the advice. You are correct. Might do a RAM upgrade in the future too! CPU upgrade is on it's way and I'm research GPU's.

Another issue I'm facing...I bought THIS USB-C card thinking it was compatible. But I'm getting error message and can't figure out what I'm missing. Is there a way to get it working? Will Drivers be available on Mojave?

I'm so appreciative of all your advice and help! I've made more progress in the last few days than I have in the last month or so.

 

[tsialex]

Thanks for the advice. You are correct. Might do a RAM upgrade in the future too! CPU upgrade is on it's way and I'm research GPU's.

Another issue I'm facing...I bought THIS USB-C card thinking it was compatible. But I'm getting error message and can't figure out what I'm missing. Is there a way to get it working? Will Drivers be available on Mojave?

I'm so appreciative of all your advice and help! I've made more progress in the last few days than I have in the last month or so.

View attachment 1777932 View attachment 1777933

This is a USB3.1 card, not a Thunderbolt one. You can't connect Thunderbolt devices to USB3.x only cards.

Look at SystemInformation/PCIe to see if you card is recognised, the root controller/main PCIe device of the USB card will be shown there and then look at USB, not Thunderbolt, to see if the controller is being correctly configured.

 

[nbantle]

This is a USB3.1 card, not a Thunderbolt one. You can't connect Thunderbolt devices to USB3.x only cards.

Look at SystemInformation/PCIe to see if you card is recognised, the root controller/main PCIe device of the USB card will be shown there and then look at USB, not Thunderbolt, to see if the controller is being correctly configured.

Okay good to know. I'll return it I guess. I was trying to get a thunderbolt port. It is being recognized as a USB eXtensible Host Controller. Good news is I've upgraded my CPU and my GPU and have been able to move to Mojave. I'd like to invest in a solid state drive next. Am I correct in hearing it needs to be a Sata II drive? I've heard Sata III are not readable on this machine. Any help is appreciated! Thanks to you all for how far I've been able to make it! Beyond memory I'd love other upgrade suggestions as well.

 

[tsialex]

Am I correct in hearing it needs to be a Sata II drive?

No.

The soutbridge SATA ports are SATAII but you can use any drive that is SATAIII and backwards compatible. Some the drives don't are or have firmware problems when using that way, like Samsung 860/870 QVO line. Samsung 860 PRO/EVO line works fine.

Search the Mac Pro forum for any drive that you want to buy before buying to know if there are incompatibility reports.

I've heard Sata III are not readable on this machine.

Wrong info. Most SATAIII drives can be used.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks to you all for how far I've been able to make it! Beyond memory I'd love other upgrade suggestions as well.

Take a look at a PCIe SSD. Read the first post of the thread below:

PCIe SSDs - NVMe & AHCI

This is a general info thread for blade SSDs that can be used in the Mac Pro. This is a WikiPost so anyone with the proper credentials may edit it. NVMe SSDs can be used as a boot drive in the MP5,1 and MP6,1 with the latest firmware installed (beginning with version 140.0.0.0.0 for MP5,1 and...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[nbantle]

No.

The soutbridge SATA ports are SATAII but you can use any drive that is SATAIII and backwards compatible. Some the drives don't are or have firmware problems when using that way, like Samsung 860/870 QVO line. Samsung 860 PRO/EVO line works fine.

Search the Mac Pro forum for any drive that you want to buy before buying to know if there are incompatibility reports.



Wrong info. Most SATAIII drives can be used.


Take a look at a PCIe SSD. Read the first post of the thread below:

PCIe SSDs - NVMe & AHCI

This is a general info thread for blade SSDs that can be used in the Mac Pro. This is a WikiPost so anyone with the proper credentials may edit it. NVMe SSDs can be used as a boot drive in the MP5,1 and MP6,1 with the latest firmware installed (beginning with version 140.0.0.0.0 for MP5,1 and...

forums.macrumors.com

Alright so I had the Samsung EVO 870. I didn't see that on the list. Ordered a return and purchased an alternative that had confirmation of functionality from the community. Thank you.

 

[nbantle]

I note you have 32GB of RAM, which I assume is 4 x 8GB DIMMs. This Mac Pro uses DDR3 RAM and works best with sets of 3 DIMMS, so you might get a small performance boost (5% at most) if you remove 1 of your DIMMs. It sounds like your work is not very demanding and would not suffer at all by losing 8GB.

If you need more RAM, consider 3 x 16GB DIMMs for a total of 48GB (and I recommend purchasing from Data Memory Systems), but I suspect this would be overkill for you.

@Soba you mentioned a possible 5% memory increase by dropping one of my 8 cards to make it a set of 3. What type of performance boost could I expect moving to 3 x 16GB? I use FCPX for editing. I used Ableton for making recording sets. I'll do some mixing and masters. I do some gaming. So while I'm not trying to push any boundaries I am interested in the performance boost that might come with the upgrade!

Also I've done all the next steps you have listed. If you have anything else worth doing beyond memory let me know! Having fun getting this thing up to speed! I also moved my boot drive over to an SSD which has been amazing.

 

[tsialex]

@Soba you mentioned a possible 5% memory increase by dropping one of my 8 cards to make it a set of 3. What type of performance boost could I expect moving to 3 x 16GB? I use FCPX for editing. I used Ableton for making recording sets. I'll do some mixing and masters. I do some gaming. So while I'm not trying to push any boundaries I am interested in the performance boost that might come with the upgrade!

For some applications, more memory have more performance than marginally faster RAM, for others is the inverse and it's critical to have the faster memory that you can have and a lot of money is spent on this type of optimisation.

FCPX and Ableton are not memory bound applications after you have enough memory, for FCPX the CPU and GPU are the real bottlenecks and you probably already have enough memory to run each one comfortably, but you can still get marginal performance gains via more FS cache.

The optimum is always to have more memory and faster memory, for example moving to three 16DIMMs per processor socket.

Nowadays anything that you do to upgrade a MacPro5,1 will have little gains overall compared to a modern Mac, but for some task you have a perceptible benefit.

 

[nbantle]

For some applications, more memory have more performance than marginally faster RAM, for others is the inverse and it's critical to have the faster memory that you can have and a lot of money is spent on this type of optimisation.

FCPX and Ableton are not memory bound applications after you have enough memory, for FCPX the CPU and GPU are the real bottlenecks and you probably already have enough memory to run each one comfortably, but you can still get marginal performance gains via more FS cache.

The optimum is always to have more memory and faster memory, for example moving to three 16DIMMs per processor socket.

Nowadays anything that you do to upgrade a MacPro5,1 will have little gains overall compared to a modern Mac, but for some task you have a perceptible benefit.

Hey really appreciate those insights! Sounds like I'm probably good then. While it would be fun to max things out it might not be worth it.

 

[tsialex]

Hey really appreciate those insights! Sounds like I'm probably good then. While it would be fun to max things out it might not be worth it.

Sometimes you see people going crazy with MacPro5,1 upgrades and do any possible performance improvement even when it doesn't make any economical sense. Most times it's a specific situation that the person needs to support legacy applications that you can't run anywhere else and any performance improvements will have a return in the workflow.

For everyone else, we have to calculate the benefits. You already have enough RAM, if you ever need more, look at six registered 16GB ECC DIMMs that are known to work with MacPro5,1. If I was in the market for RAM right now, I'd buy three, or six for a dual CPU tray, 16GB DIMMs and not the eight 8GB DIMMs like I did.

 

[nbantle]

Sometimes you see people going crazy with MacPro5,1 upgrades and do any possible performance improvement even when it doesn't make any economical sense. Most times it's a specific situation that the person needs to support legacy applications that you can't run anywhere else and any performance improvements will have a return in the workflow.

For everyone else, we have to calculate the benefits. You already have enough RAM, if you ever need more, look at six registered 16GB ECC DIMMs that are known to work with MacPro5,1. If I was in the market for RAM right now, I'd buy three, or six for a dual CPU tray, 16GB DIMMs and not the eight 8GB DIMMs like I did.

Ya totally. After doing the GPU, CPU and moving to a SSD I'm running really smooth. Probably about $500 in between all those.

 

[Soba]

Ya totally. After doing the GPU, CPU and moving to a SSD I'm running really smooth. Probably about $500 in between all those.

Sounds like you're in a good spot! I hope you're enjoying your "new" Mac.

 

[inhousecreate]

Hi everyone, I’ve been overwhelmed with forums and reading up on what to do with my 2010 MacPro 5.1 and hoping to have some assistance here.



Currently running High Sierra 12-core 3.46GHz with 96GB of RAM with a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO bootable drive and a flashed 4GB GTX980Ti.



The main use for this computer is 4K+ video editing which it’s currently connected to a QNAP NAS over Ethernet and performs really well. Issue is now Adobe Creative Cloud is stuck on an older version that’s no longer compatible with the rest of the computers in our network, so the solution I am looking for is to get it compatible with the latest version of Premiere Pro. I’ve read some people are having issues with running Big Sur on a 5.1? Or they can’t/shouldn't update past a certain point? Overall, I don’t need to be on the latest OS, I’m really just want for stability & compatibility.



Q1/ What OS do I need to take it to in order to achieve this?



Q2/ Can I buy a cheap Metal Compatible card, upgrade my firmware from 138 to 144, upgrade OS to Mojave and then put my GTX980Ti back in? Or am I missing something here?



Q3/ Or should I bite the bullet and upgrade to an 8GB AMD RX580? Or another AMD card? I don’t mind spending on a decent graphics card, which if the 5.1 no longer has a purpose in the future it can be shifted to an eGPU.



Q4/ Anyone got any experience connecting to a QNAP over Thunderbolt3 via a Titan Ridge? I have the Titan Ridge card installed and it’s working fine when connecting external SSDs and other devices, but can’t seem to get it connected directly to the QNAP (TB3 works on newer MBP without any issues).



Q5/ Will the current boot drive work fine for Mojave? Or should I look to something faster?



Q6/ Are there any other worthy upgrades? I’ll need a new Wifi card. Solo10G PCIe Card?



I understand the 5.1 is soon going to be beyond worth spending more money on, but like many others here it’s hard to let go of our old beats, however longer term I’m happy to turn it into a network render machine.



Many thanks in advance!

 

[tsialex]

Hi everyone, I’ve been overwhelmed with forums and reading up on what to do with my 2010 MacPro 5.1 and hoping to have some assistance here.



Currently running High Sierra 12-core 3.46GHz with 96GB of RAM with a 500GB Samsung 860 EVO bootable drive and a flashed 4GB GTX980Ti.



The main use for this computer is 4K+ video editing which it’s currently connected to a QNAP NAS over Ethernet and performs really well. Issue is now Adobe Creative Cloud is stuck on an older version that’s no longer compatible with the rest of the computers in our network, so the solution I am looking for is to get it compatible with the latest version of Premiere Pro. I’ve read some people are having issues with running Big Sur on a 5.1? Or they can’t/shouldn't update past a certain point? Overall, I don’t need to be on the latest OS, I’m really just want for stability & compatibility.



Q1/ What OS do I need to take it to in order to achieve this?

Catalina. BigSur only works reliably up to 11.2.3.

Q2/ Can I buy a cheap Metal Compatible card, upgrade my firmware from 138 to 144, upgrade OS to Mojave and then put my GTX980Ti back in? Or am I missing something here?

No.

Your GTX 980 Ti or any NVIDIA GPU that is not from the Kepler generation (most GTX 6xx/7xx/8xx NVIDIA GPUs with some exceptions are Kepler and supported with Mojave/Catalina/BigSur) are not supported past 10.13.6.

Q3/ Or should I bite the bullet and upgrade to an 8GB AMD RX580? Or another AMD card? I don’t mind spending on a decent graphics card, which if the 5.1 no longer has a purpose in the future it can be shifted to an eGPU.

There are several options, starting from RX 460 and ending on Radeon VII. AMD GPUs based on NAVI processors are not exactly MP5,1 compatible, the 6xxx series don't even work with it. Anyway, you can't upgrade your Mac Pro firmware with any GPU that is not recognised by 10.13.6. A VII or a RX 5700 wouldn't work for firmware upgrades, but once you are on 144.0.0.0.0 this become a moot point.

Q4/ Anyone got any experience connecting to a QNAP over Thunderbolt3 via a Titan Ridge? I have the Titan Ridge card installed and it’s working fine when connecting external SSDs and other devices, but can’t seem to get it connected directly to the QNAP (TB3 works on newer MBP without any issues).

Ask on the TB3 thread.

Q5/ Will the current boot drive work fine for Mojave? Or should I look to something faster?

Should work fine, but there are several faster options like NVMe drives with 15x the throughput.

Q6/ Are there any other worthy upgrades? I’ll need a new Wifi card. Solo10G PCIe Card?

Yes, the question is to spend wisely and buy things that will work with your next Mac/PC.

I understand the 5.1 is soon going to be beyond worth spending more money on, but like many others here it’s hard to let go of our old beats, however longer term I’m happy to turn it into a network render machine.



Many thanks in advance!