MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 GPU recommendation for Mojave

[AlDavis]

Hello,
The AMD Radeon HD 7950 3 GB is currently installed on my Mac (mid 2012). The PCIE fan runs at high speeds (very noisy), the monitor ( LG 4k) now flickers, no boot screen, and the graphic performance is slow when watching videos at times.

Does anyone has a suggestion for a good graphic card that perform very well with OSX Mojave?

Any input would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[iAssimilated]

It ultimately depends on what you want to do with it (other than watch videos). I have an AMD Radeon RX 580 in my work 5,1 Mac Pro that does a good job of running three monitors without issue. Video performance is good and the card doesn't make a noise. No boot screen though.

I have a Sapphire AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 in an eGPU at home (8,1 Mac mini) and it has been a beast! Would definitely recommend this card. It's an upgrade from a Sapphire AMD Radeon RX 580 because it had a few graphical artifacts in a couple of my games.

 

[AlexMaximus]

Hello,
The AMD Radeon HD 7950 3 GB is currently installed on my Mac (mid 2012). The PCIE fan runs at high speeds (very noisy), the monitor ( LG 4k) now flickers, no boot screen, and the graphic performance is slow when watching videos at times.

Does anyone has a suggestion for a good graphic card that perform very well with OSX Mojave?

Any input would be appreciated.
Thank you.

AMD Radeon Vega 56 Power Color Red Dragon with EVGA PowerLink adapter and low noise/low power bios setting is currently the best performance-budget-cooling ratio. You may have to relocate the PowerLink because of length restriction.
However, my own PowerLink on my Vega VII fits perfectly. For my taste, the AMD 580 would be too old in 2020, also because -> A very fast GPU compensates big time for the somewhat slow single core performance of the 5.1.
The CPU's those days didn't really progress that much compared to GPU's and SSD's, - which is actually the reason why an old school 5.1 with pimp GPU blows many new graphic-gimped mac's out of the water.

2009-2012 Mac Pro CPU Pumped Up

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

SHOOTOUT: 2019 Mac Pro versus 2010 Mac Pro.

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

Shadow of The Tomb Raider on Pro Macs

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

Radeon RX 5700 XT, macOS Catalina, 2010 Mac Pro

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

 

[MIKX]

If you don't need raw power for your normal computing then the Sapphire Dual-X 7970 3gb is not that far behind the RX 580 8 gb and is EFI flashable and has the very desirable "DUAL BIOS".
I have one one of these ( Sapphire 7970 ) as a spare GPU, I EFI flashed and downvolted it. Runs my two monitors with ease.Got it for ¥8,000 here in Japan.
While the Sapphire 7970 is not as fast as an RX 580 8gb it is still a viable card for 4,1 or 5,1 Mac Pros

The Sapphire 7970 DUAL-X on eBay is quite cheap now I can help with EFI flash.

Here is my Sapphire running with the EVGa PowerLink ( balances all available power ) last month, still working perfectly.

Excuse my raving about this GPU, it has served me extremely well ?

 

[DPUser]

Have you tried cleaning out the dust inside your Mac Pro and GPU?

I use Gigagbyte RX460s in my 5,1 Mac Pros.As long as one is not editing video, they provide plenty of oomph.

 

[AlDavis]

Have you tried cleaning out the dust inside your Mac Pro and GPU?

I use Gigagbyte RX460s in my 5,1 Mac Pros.As long as one is not editing video, they provide plenty of oomph.

Yes. The PCIe fan still operates at high speed.

 

[xactoman]

Honestly, the RX580 would be perfectly suitable. I bought a Vega 56 to get Mojave compatibility, but nothing on the mac pro uses that much GPU power. I don't play Mac games and none of the creative cloud apps use that much GPU, so save yourself a ton of cash, get the 580 and call it good. Flashed 7970 may be even better.

Based on how the Vega 56 runs on mac it's a totally disappointing card/apple implementation. Metal doesnt perform better and with everyone removing OpenCL or cuda support, it kind of sucks. Even blender can't run an AMD card on the Mac. Boot it to windows and it's impressive as hell.

 

[octoviaa]

Based on how the Vega 56 runs on mac it's a totally disappointing card/apple implementation. Metal doesnt perform better and with everyone removing OpenCL or cuda support, it kind of sucks. Even blender can't run an AMD card on the Mac. Boot it to windows and it's impressive as hell.

Isn't that an irony, Windows run / utilise Mac hardware better than macOS

 

[MacDann]

I'll pile on here with a similar question:

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with two 30" Apple Cinema Displays that is currently running High Sierra with a GTX 680 with flashed EFI. I am considering moving to Mojave, but nearly all the GPUs I see either don't have DVI ports or only one DVI port.

Are there Metal based cars that have dual DVI ports?

 

[tsialex]

I'll pile on here with a similar question:

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with two 30" Apple Cinema Displays that is currently running High Sierra with a GTX 680 with flashed EFI. I am considering moving to Mojave, but nearly all the GPUs I see either don't have DVI ports or only one DVI port.

Are there Metal based cars that have dual DVI ports?

GTX 680 is a Metal GPU and work with Mojave (Catalina if you install it).

 

[AlDavis]

Honestly, the RX580 would be perfectly suitable. I bought a Vega 56 to get Mojave compatibility, but nothing on the mac pro uses that much GPU power. I don't play Mac games and none of the creative cloud apps use that much GPU, so save yourself a ton of cash, get the 580 and call it good. Flashed 7970 may be even better.

I have the 7950. It flickers a lot and it runs my PCIe fan at high speeds. I hope this is not the case with the 7970.

...but check this out. When I boot to Windows, everything is picture perfect and my 4k monitor comes alive! Therefore, it must be an OSX thing.

 

[crjackson2134]

I have the 7950. It flickers a lot and it runs my PCIe fan at high speeds. I hope this is not the case with the 7970.

...but check this out. When I boot to Windows, everything is picture perfect and my 4k monitor comes alive! Therefore, it must be an OSX thing.

I don't have that problem with my 7970 that was flashed by MVC years ago. It still works fine. I did overheat it once and the resettable fuse saved the day, but it wasn't the 7970 that caused the problem.

 

[choreo]

I just installed a Sapphire Pulse RX580 a couple days ago (flashed by MVC) in my 2012 Mac Pro and it is totally silent.

 

[AlDavis]

I just installed a Sapphire Pulse RX580 a couple days ago (flashed by MVC) in my 2012 Mac Pro and it is totally silent.

Do you get a boot screen? Also, try a high resolution with a 4k monitor; then, does the fan operates at high speeds?

 

[Grumply]

The Radeon VII with hardware acceleration for h264/h265 video encoding/decoding enabled goes a loooong way to keeping the 5,1 relevant in 2020.

 

[choreo]

Do you get a boot screen? Also, try a high resolution with a 4k monitor; then, does the fan operates at high speeds?

Yes, I get the Boot Screen (since MVC flashed it of course). I do not have a 4K monitor, but it is driving (3) 27" QHD monitors simultaneously each at 2560x1440 pixels.

 

[minifridge1138]

I'll pile on here with a similar question:

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with two 30" Apple Cinema Displays that is currently running High Sierra with a GTX 680 with flashed EFI. I am considering moving to Mojave, but nearly all the GPUs I see either don't have DVI ports or only one DVI port.

Are there Metal based cars that have dual DVI ports?

You can use an active mini display port to DL DVI adapter. Apple used to sell them.
it’s how I connect my 2nd 30” Cinema Display to my RX 580.
and as tsialex said, your 680 will work with Mojave.

 

[choreo]

I'll pile on here with a similar question:

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with two 30" Apple Cinema Displays that is currently running High Sierra with a GTX 680 with flashed EFI. I am considering moving to Mojave, but nearly all the GPUs I see either don't have DVI ports or only one DVI port.

Are there Metal based cars that have dual DVI ports?

The new 580RX I have has:
(2) DisplayPorts
(2) HDMIs
(1) DVI-D

I have (3) 27" NEC monitors (two of which have DVI-D connectors on the monitors) attached like this
Monitor One (DVI-D In) - Using DVI-D to DVI-D Cable
Monitor Two (DVI-D In) - Using DVI-D to DisplayPort Cable
Monitor Three (DisplayPort In) - Using DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable [Main Monitor]

 

[ScreenSavers]

I'll pile on here with a similar question:

I have a cMP 4,1 flashed to 5,1 with two 30" Apple Cinema Displays that is currently running High Sierra with a GTX 680 with flashed EFI. I am considering moving to Mojave, but nearly all the GPUs I see either don't have DVI ports or only one DVI port.

Are there Metal based cars that have dual DVI ports?

The card I’m using does, and runs two 30” ACDs fine. Flashed Gigabyte R9 270X. Great in Catalina and it has boot screens.

 

[h9826790]

I have the 7950. It flickers a lot and it runs my PCIe fan at high speeds. I hope this is not the case with the 7970.

...but check this out. When I boot to Windows, everything is picture perfect and my 4k monitor comes alive! Therefore, it must be an OSX thing.

Screen Flickering with Sapphire 7950 Mac Edition

No question that you'll see a real improvement over a 5770. Couldn't scrape up the cash for an actual Mac Edition, so I'm running a flashed MSI Twin Frozr 7950 in my 4,1 that replaced the 4870. 10.9 has been a solid upgrade for performance. The little flickering I saw in 10.8.4/.5 are gone in...

forums.macrumors.com

[automerge]1582204327[/automerge]
For info, there is no need to flash RX580, Vega, Radeon VII... for boot screen anymore.

OpenCore developers heard our voice, and provided the solution to us for free.

The boot picker is not that Apple style, but works

The boot picker perform much better than the Apple native one

Verbose mode also available (this video also shows that Radeon VII is the only graphic card card installed on my cMP. And even MVC has no flashing service for Radeon VII yet. Therefore, it can't be a flashed card)

The relavant discussion is at here.

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

 

[MacPoulet]

Hmm. I installed a Sapphire RX 580 last week to replace my aging GT 120 and it isn't silent. The fan seems to kick in all the time, even at idle. Haven't had a chance to look into it yet.

Aside from that, it's a great card.

 

[MacDann]

Thanks to all with your information and suggestions!

MacDann

 

[h9826790]

Hmm. I installed a Sapphire RX 580 last week to replace my aging GT 120 and it isn't silent. The fan seems to kick in all the time, even at idle. Haven't had a chance to look into it yet.

Aside from that, it's a great card.

AirOut: A solution to the racing fan bug

Introduction The racing fan bug is a well known issue that affects certain cMP systems with upgraded video cards, particularly systems with SMC version 1.39f5. On these systems the PCI, PS, and booster fans spin abnormally fast at idle, causing unnecessary noise. Although the issue appears to...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Snow Tiger]

Hello,
The AMD Radeon HD 7950 3 GB is currently installed on my Mac (mid 2012). The PCIE fan runs at high speeds (very noisy), the monitor ( LG 4k) now flickers, no boot screen, and the graphic performance is slow when watching videos at times.

Does anyone has a suggestion for a good graphic card that perform very well with OSX Mojave?

Any input would be appreciated.
Thank you.

A used RX 480 8GB blower fan type GPU . Rebuild it with a fresh coating of Arctic MX4 .

Each one will give you three DP at 4K 60 Hz and one HDMI at 30 Hz . Requires only one 6 pin PCIe booster power cable . You can install two of them easily , if you have the slot space .

It's only 10 percent slower than a RX 580 , but it will not exceed the double wide space available in PCIe Slot 1 of the cMP . The official Sapphire RX 580 unfortunately exceeds the space available in that slot , so that card might press against an adjacent card .

Blower fan type GPUs will help cool the cMP , compared to open air fan type alternatives .

RX 480 Looks like this :

 

[MacPoulet]

AirOut: A solution to the racing fan bug

Introduction The racing fan bug is a well known issue that affects certain cMP systems with upgraded video cards, particularly systems with SMC version 1.39f5. On these systems the PCI, PS, and booster fans spin abnormally fast at idle, causing unnecessary noise. Although the issue appears to...

forums.macrumors.com

Oh wow! Thanks for that lin, I’ll have to try it out today.