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Mac Pro 5,1 GPU recommendation for OS upgrade

H

Hps1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2017
106
28
Hello!

I’d like to upgrade a 2012 5,1 to High Sierra from Sierra. It currently has 1080ti’s in it.

Which natively supported GPU should I get so that the OS update runs smoothly/visibly/etc?

Also if there are any pitfalls to watch out for do let me know.

Thank you
 
Same GPUs listed below for MOJAVE will work with HIGH SIERRA. Recommend the bolded card below.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898

These specific third-party graphics cards are Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012):
  • MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
  • SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
  • NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
  • NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition
----

You can stick with NVIDIA GTX 1080 if you use NVIDIA Web Drivers. Cannot upgrade beyond HIGH SIERRA with that GPU since there are no MOJAVE web drivers. See this thread for latest info:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/faq-nvidia-web-drivers.2170497/

----

See this recent thread for any additional questions/answers. This exact topic has been discussed way too much and everything is already probably covered if you search.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...le-affordable-card-for-mp-5-1-mojave.2172614/
 
Thanks. I did search but saw a lot of Mojave related posts, which I won't be upgrading to as I need CUDA.

I had my eye on the 580 8gb, but was worried the boot/upgrade screen wouldn't be visible (as had read the little brother 560 doesn't).

The card is only so I can upgrade and switch back in the 1080s. I'd use a GT120 if it would do the trick (or 5870? etc)
 
Hps1 said:
The card is only so I can upgrade and switch back in the 1080s. I'd use a GT120 if it would do the trick (or 5870? etc)
Click to expand...

Mac versions of 5770, 5870 and GT120 are all compatible with HIGH SIERRA and should be fine for this specific need.
 
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Hps1 said:
Hello!

I’d like to upgrade a 2012 5,1 to High Sierra from Sierra. It currently has 1080ti’s in it.

Which natively supported GPU should I get so that the OS update runs smoothly/visibly/etc?

Also if there are any pitfalls to watch out for do let me know.

Thank you
Click to expand...
You don't need to swap out your GTX 1080 Ti for another card just to upgrade to High Sierra.

High Sierra supports your GTX 1080 Ti with the Nividia High Sierra drivers. You can download the latest HS driver here > https://www.tonymacx86.com/nvidia-drivers/
 
FYI, you do need to swap an EFI GPU in for firmware updates through MP51.0089.B00. After that it's a Metal GPU requirement for updates. Firmware update prompts do not happen with non-EFI GPUs if on version prior to MP51.0089.B00.
 
I think you know that the 1080Ti can work well in HW, but you want to know which GPU for you to "process the upgrade" (because you need something to see the screen, accept the license agreement etc, and then install web driver for your 1080Ti.

If that's true, then almost any low cost AMD card can do.

If you still keep your original cMP GPU, that's the best card to do this job.
 
I have a MacPro 2012, 5,1
I just updated High Sierra to Mojave 10.14.3. I read the threads about updating BootROM (Firmware) after I had the new graphics card installed and panicked, calling the shop back to "save my old card please". They disagreed with my reasons, but complied. In between, I thought I would try the update anyway. First I updated to 10.14, and firmware upgraded to 138.0.0.0.0. Then I downloaded Mojave 10.14.3 from the Apple store and did a second update, including firmware. It is now at 140.0.0.0, something that other threads stated would be impossible with the card I had installed. I did not have to go through all the hoops listed in this and other threads. Updating was straightforward. I called the shop back, and told them they could recycle the old graphics card. (and ate a lot of crow)
Also, at start-up I have an Apple logo and progress bar, something also mentioned would no longer appear at boot.
In case anyone is interested, I got the OWC Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card Bundle for MacPro 2010-2012. I already have 2 SSD (1 &2 TB) and a hard disk for Time Machine. 16GB RAM.
I also took a picture of the screen to prove what I just said about BootROM.
It could be that I have not "pimped" my Mac Pro as others have in this forum, but I have also not experienced the problems shared here. This is simply a note for others like myself with less exotic Mac Pro's not to get discouraged.
 

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arlenesey said:
I have a MacPro 2012, 5,1
I just updated High Sierra to Mojave 10.14.3. I read the threads about updating BootROM (Firmware) after I had the new graphics card installed and panicked, calling the shop back to "save my old card please". They disagreed with my reasons, but complied. In between, I thought I would try the update anyway. First I updated to 10.14, and firmware upgraded to 138.0.0.0.0. Then I downloaded Mojave 10.14.3 from the Apple store and did a second update, including firmware. It is now at 140.0.0.0, something that other threads stated would be impossible with the card I had installed. I did not have to go through all the hoops listed in this and other threads. Updating was straightforward. I called the shop back, and told them they could recycle the old graphics card. (and ate a lot of crow)
Also, at start-up I have an Apple logo and progress bar, something also mentioned would no longer appear at boot.
In case anyone is interested, I got the OWC Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card Bundle for MacPro 2010-2012. I already have 2 SSD (1 &2 TB) and a hard disk for Time Machine. 16GB RAM.
I also took a picture of the screen to prove what I just said about BootROM.
It could be that I have not "pimped" my Mac Pro as others have in this forum, but I have also not experienced the problems shared here. This is simply a note for others like myself with less exotic Mac Pro's not to get discouraged.
Click to expand...
Interesting. This implies that the OWC Radeon RX 580's vbios is modified to show the boot screen. Can you try to get to the bootloader menu and confirm that you see boot choices?
 
arlenesey said:
I have a MacPro 2012, 5,1
I just updated High Sierra to Mojave 10.14.3. ... Then I downloaded Mojave 10.14.3 from the Apple store and did a second update, including firmware. It is now at 140.0.0.0, something that other threads stated would be impossible with the card I had installed.
Click to expand...

The "old card" is only needed to get to BootROM MP51.0089.B00, after which the "new card", the RX 580, is required to get to BootROMs 138.0.0.0 and 140.0.0.0. It would appear from your story that you had already updated to BootROM MP51.0089.B00 some time in the past.
 
OWC states:
"Note: With this Metal-compatible graphics card installed, you will not be able to see the Apple logo at boot, nor can you access boot options. Once your system has fully booted, the graphics card will function normally. For more details (including workarounds), see the Rocket Yard article on How to Get Ready for macOS Mojave."

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MP1012R580V
[doublepost=1553108907][/doublepost]
arlenesey said:
I am willing to try if you can tell me how to do it. Also what to do if I just get a black screen.
Click to expand...
If you get a black screen just reboot
[doublepost=1553108948][/doublepost]Hold Option Key after the chime
 
arlenesey said:
Also, at start-up I have an Apple logo and progress bar, something also mentioned would no longer appear at boot.
Click to expand...

If you have a USB drive or DVD in, can you hold OPTION and see menu to choose at startup?

Can you please post a video of this to verify when you get a chance? Some users think think the timing where Apple logo appears is boot screen, when in reality it is not.
 
arlenesey said:
I have a MacPro 2012, 5,1
I just updated High Sierra to Mojave 10.14.3. I read the threads about updating BootROM (Firmware) after I had the new graphics card installed and panicked, calling the shop back to "save my old card please". They disagreed with my reasons, but complied. In between, I thought I would try the update anyway. First I updated to 10.14, and firmware upgraded to 138.0.0.0.0. Then I downloaded Mojave 10.14.3 from the Apple store and did a second update, including firmware. It is now at 140.0.0.0, something that other threads stated would be impossible with the card I had installed. I did not have to go through all the hoops listed in this and other threads. Updating was straightforward. I called the shop back, and told them they could recycle the old graphics card. (and ate a lot of crow)
Also, at start-up I have an Apple logo and progress bar, something also mentioned would no longer appear at boot.
In case anyone is interested, I got the OWC Radeon RX 580 Graphics Card Bundle for MacPro 2010-2012. I already have 2 SSD (1 &2 TB) and a hard disk for Time Machine. 16GB RAM.
I also took a picture of the screen to prove what I just said about BootROM.
It could be that I have not "pimped" my Mac Pro as others have in this forum, but I have also not experienced the problems shared here. This is simply a note for others like myself with less exotic Mac Pro's not to get discouraged.
Click to expand...
There is no magic here, if you already had MP51.0089.B00 installed, no need for a Mac EFI GPU to be installed.
 
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startergo said:
OWC states:
"Note: With this Metal-compatible graphics card installed, you will not be able to see the Apple logo at boot, nor can you access boot options. Once your system has fully booted, the graphics card will function normally. For more details (including workarounds), see the Rocket Yard article on How to Get Ready for macOS Mojave."

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MP1012R580V
[doublepost=1553108907][/doublepost]
If you get a black screen just reboot
[doublepost=1553108948][/doublepost]Hold Option Key after the chime
Click to expand...

So I tried rebooting and holding the option key, but unfortunately as mentioned in the sales text and here in the forum, no choices were offered, no menu appeared. The Apple logo and progress bar do appear at the end of the process (wicked fast). I enclose a picture.
 

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bsbeamer said:
If you have a USB drive or DVD in, can you hold OPTION and see menu to choose at startup?

Can you please post a video of this to verify when you get a chance? Some users think think the timing where Apple logo appears is boot screen, when in reality it is not.
Click to expand...

@bsbeamer - I don't have a DVD or USB "startup disk" to try this with - probably reckless of me. Since the advent of OS availability in the App store, and owning 2 computers, haven't found it necessary.
 
arlenesey said:
@bsbeamer - I don't have a DVD or USB "startup disk" to try this with - probably reckless of me. Since the advent of OS availability in the App store, and owning 2 computers, haven't found it necessary.
Click to expand...
You don't need a USB. There will be at least the recovery partition in the boot picker apart from the main OSX
 
startergo said:
You don't need a USB. There will be at least the recovery partition in the boot picker apart from the main OSX
Click to expand...

I held that option key down the whole time and nothing appeared but black screen. I think the case is as bsbeamer states - the Apple logo and progress bar appear fleetingly before the end of process. Sad face.
 
As suspected, sounds like it's a generic off the shelf PC GPU without any modifications.

Can you verify these two items?
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI

Reports from my MP5,1 with Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB are pasted below.

----

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays:

Radeon RX 580:

Chipset Model: Radeon RX 580
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 8192 MB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x67df
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1
Displays:

----

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI:

Radeon RX 580:

Name: ATY,AMD,RadeonFramebuffer
Type: Display Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x67df
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1da2
Subsystem ID: 0xe387
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
[doublepost=1553113821][/doublepost]
arlenesey said:
So I tried rebooting and holding the option key, but unfortunately as mentioned in the sales text and here in the forum, no choices were offered, no menu appeared. The Apple logo and progress bar do appear at the end of the process (wicked fast). I enclose a picture.
Click to expand...

That is basically screen display after driver is loaded.

Can you please verify these two items?
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI
 
bsbeamer said:
As suspected, sounds like it's a generic off the shelf PC GPU without any modifications.

Can you verify these two items?
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI

Reports from my MP5,1 with Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB are pasted below.

----

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays:

Radeon RX 580:

Chipset Model: Radeon RX 580
Type: GPU
Bus: PCIe
Slot: Slot-1
PCIe Lane Width: x16
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 8192 MB
Vendor: AMD (0x1002)
Device ID: 0x67df
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Metal: Supported, feature set macOS GPUFamily2 v1
Displays:

----

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI:

Radeon RX 580:

Name: ATY,AMD,RadeonFramebuffer
Type: Display Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x67df
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1da2
Subsystem ID: 0xe387
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
[doublepost=1553113821][/doublepost]

That is basically screen display after driver is loaded.

Can you please verify these two items?
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays
About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI
Click to expand...

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > Graphics/Displays:
Mine is the same as listed above

About This Mac > System Report > Hardware > PCI:
Radeon RX 580:
Name: ATY,AMD,RadeonFramebuffer
Type: Display Controller
Driver Installed: Yes
MSI: Yes
Bus: PCI
Slot: Slot-1
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x67df
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x1458
Subsystem ID: 0x22fc
Revision ID: 0x00e7
Link Width: x16
Link Speed: 5.0 GT/s
 
MevetS said:
Under "Name" both @arlenesey and @bsbeamer show "ATY,AMD,RadeonFramebuffer", yet mine shows, "ATY,Orinoco". What is the difference?
Click to expand...

Your card has the same part number (inside the ROM) as the card that Apple used in the eGPU developer kit. So, it's "blessed".

The macOS can correctly assign a tailor made framebuffer to your Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB.

For the rest of RX580, macOS will only assign the generic RadeonFramebuffer.

If everything work as expected, that shouldn't make any noticeable difference.

However, without "correct" framebuffer personality, the OS may not know the exact spec of the card (e.g. how many ports are there, or what they are). In fact, at the early stage which RX580 just supported in macOS. Without proper framebuffer assigned may cause something like black screen after sleep.

But AFAIK, there should be no known difference in the current Mojave now.

Anyway, we can mod the ROM to make macOS assign Orinono Framebuffer to the RX580. This mod only recommended to be used on Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB card.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...580-pulse-into-the-mac-edition-card.2101909/-
 
Last edited:
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MevetS said:
Under "Name" both @arlenesey and @bsbeamer show "ATY,AMD,RadeonFramebuffer", yet mine shows, "ATY,Orinoco". What is the difference?
Click to expand...

Elevator pitch version: used for output and port mapping for individual/specific model GPUs

Might be easiest if you read through these threads first:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...x580-pulse-into-the-mac-edition-card.2101909/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/sapphire-pulse-rx580-8gb-vbios-study.2133607/

Follow this for some of the Hackintosh walkthrough:
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ebuffers-for-high-sierra-using-clover.235409/
 
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