MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 graphics card upgrade

[zedex]

Those Highpoints are "rolled gold" - whatever you do don't blame or question this device (SSD7101A). It's a quality PCB with a PLX-brand chip and it works with everything by design. There's a known issue with the ASM2824 but not with PLX switches. Before lamenting the failure of this card I would point to many more obvious suspects:
(1) APFS is a much more likely suspect. Everything works better on HFS+ (including the ability to build a bootable RAID across 4 NVMe disks WITHOUT 3rd party kexts)
(2) Your NVME disk brand and firmware (you are only guaranteed perfect compatibility and max transfer speeds with a Samsung 970 PRO, 970 EVO, SSUBX or SSUAX - beyond that - the chances of your NVMe SSD being the culprit rise exponentially)
(3) When everything "broke" (spinning wheel), your previous bootargs became redundant/useless. You'd have to reset PRAM.. and then fix everything from a SINGLE basic boot drive (like you did with the MOJAVE HDD).. and then reintroduce your HPT SSD 7101 (only after one cold shutdown and one clean restart with the basic boot drive)

(7) the Highpoint card is defective (it's not and I feel sorry for the non-english speaking electrical engineering wizards at Highpoint that can't possibly articulate the sheer number of dependency failures that should be examined before they are obliged to make good on a refund request).

 

[crescentmoon]

I bought the sapphire rx580 for 189.00 in 2019... now I see it for 829.00 on amazon.

 

[zedex]

Generationally, you have to go back to a Radeon HD 7950 to pick up an affordable GPU

 

[crescentmoon]

like this.... https://www.ebay.com/p/2317856281?iid=184964023787

 

[zedex]

WOW - Exactly!! USD 180 and that card is dinged up bad. Listing also notes "untested" (!!)

This GPU famine feels NEVER-ENDING.....

..and FEEDBACK SCORE = 4

 

[MarkC426]

Glad I got 2 RX580 back in 2017..... 😜
1 still sealed in box.

 

[zedex]

Ironically, when friends asked my opinion on the best GPU for a cMP I'd say VEGA56 (best in budget category) or VEGA64 Liquid Cooled (all time favourite). Now either of these cards will cost you more than most of the cMP's listed on eBay :/

 

[avro707]

Well after nearly a week the system has been running reliably. I haven't got the Sonnet card yet that I'm trying for the NVME SSDs and I also don't have the WIFI/Bluetooth card to go in the 5,1 yet, that will be next week.

And I've added another Mac Pro to the stable, a 12 core 2.4ghz 6,1 "dust bin". It is ridiculously fast.

 

[avro707]

One more question - I'm tempted to now try and upgrade this machine to dual core (with a second X5690 and another 32mb RAM).

Can I just grab another X5690 and install it or do they have to be special processors that are "dual processor" versions?

And if that is the case, how do I determine what they are and even if the one I have is suitable for that?

 

[DFP1989]

One more question - I'm tempted to now try and upgrade this machine to dual core (with a second X5690 and another 32mb RAM).

Can I just grab another X5690 and install it or do they have to be special processors that are "dual processor" versions?

And if that is the case, how do I determine what they are and even if the one I have is suitable for that?

I'm assuming you mean you want to upgrade to dual-CPU based on your signature, in which case you need a whole new processor tray.

 

[avro707]

I'm assuming you mean you want to upgrade to dual-CPU based on your signature, in which case you need a whole new processor tray.

That's basically what I'm planning to do. I was either going to buy a new processor tray or just buy an entire 5,1 Mac Pro 2010-2012 with the CPU tray I want and then sell off what I don't want. Or keep it for spare parts then buy the extra processor(s) I need.

I just need to know if all the X5690s are the same or not and how to identify them if there are specific versions for dual processor use.

I'm not in a hurry to do that upgrade but if I see the right processor tray or computer I'll grab it. From everything I've seen it's just a matter of adding more ram and slotting in the new processor tray with the right CPUs.

 

[MarkC426]

It's all here:

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

 

[cbtromba]

First post here in many years.

I've got a quad-core Mac Pro 5,1 - it's still got the standard ATI Radeon 5870 1gb graphics card. I've got the Mac OS upgraded to 10.13.6 High Sierra.

This computer has been superb, but I'm thinking it's worth to upgrade the graphics card. I see suggestions of Sapphire RX280 or RX580 for metal support. But looking around there are hardly any available, eg, like this.

Has anyone got reliable places where I could get one and anything else I need to get to make sure it has enough power to run? Shipping to Australia is important as well.

Thanks.

Try zephyrsmarket.com I have purchased a bunch of stuff through them and they were very helpful and prices were good. Some new stuff and some refurbed stuff.... they guaranteed it all. They have several rx580s for sale.... in the $50-$600 range- ouch. There are some EFI ready cards as well. https://zephyrsmarket.com/collectio...-8gb-sapphire-nitro-for-mac-pro-tower-4-1-5-2

I got my 580 about a year and a half ago... New except for it was taken out of the box and EFI flashed. $280 A couple months later it was twice that much. Good luck!
Chuck

 

[avro707]

Try zephyrsmarket.com I have purchased a bunch of stuff through them and they were very helpful and prices were good. Some new stuff and some refurbed stuff.... they guaranteed it all. They have several rx580s for sale.... in the $50-$600 range- ouch. There are some EFI ready cards as well. https://zephyrsmarket.com/collectio...-8gb-sapphire-nitro-for-mac-pro-tower-4-1-5-2

I got my 580 about a year and a half ago... New except for it was taken out of the box and EFI flashed. $280 A couple months later it was twice that much. Good luck!
Chuck

Hi there,

I've already long finished this upgrade now - I got the Sapphire Radeon RX580 8GB card. Then I also upgraded the CPU to a Xeon X5690 3.46ghz. And the ram to 32GB. Also a 2.5" Samsung 870 EVO SSD for the boot drive. I also upgraded to Big Sur 11.2.3 as well.

And today I took out the old WIFI and replaced it with an upgrade kit that also gives me much newer Bluetooth.

The next potential upgrade is to find a dual processor CPU tray and get a second X5690 CPU and some more ram.

That wireless and bluetooth upgrade was actually a very useful one. This little upgrade adventure really got out of control. And I also acquired a Mac Pro 6,1 which is very fast.

 

[StoneJack]

It looks like I can find a 8GB Sapphire Radeon RX580 8GB brand new - I understand it probably won't give me the bootup displays.

But then there is OpenCore 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

I hope I'm understanding it correctly. I'd like to get the 8GB version.

Thanks for the links above too.

I have Asus RX 580 8GB works without flashing anyting straight out of box in Catalina 10.15.7

 

[StoneJack]

I bought the sapphire rx580 for 189.00 in 2019... now I see it for 829.00 on amazon.

yes me too. Lucky I guess. But now can't find any AMD cards for a new assembly

 

[avro707]

There are definitely newer AMD cards available to buy but they won't work in our old Mac Pro 5,1 machines.

Anything else seems to have been burned out for bitcoin mining.

I'm lucky I got a brand-new RX580 Sapphire card a while back.

Now I've got another Mac Pro 5,1 (dual CPU) which I'm raiding for parts to upgrade my good 5,1 Mac Pro to the absolute highest spec it can go to.

I would have loved to get a Radeon VII, but I'm not paying AUD$3300 for a second hand one. Even broken ones are selling for $500 just for parts only!

 

[avro707]

The final upgrade is done for now, aside from another 64GB of ram coming in a few days, that's it - project completed.

In the screenshot above it's running just 4x16GB in slots 1,2,5,6 for now. I tried to use the 4x8GB I already had but forgot it was not registered while the 4x16GB was registered. It wouldn't start with that combination.

The other thing I've noticed is the A processor runs a bit warmer by about 6-10ºC than the B processor (the one at the front). It seems normal for that to happen from what I'm reading.

Cheers all for the great advice over time.

I will run another Geekbench test when the next lot of RAM arrives. It's nearly double what it was before:

MacPro5,1 - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a MacPro5,1 with an Intel Xeon X5690 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

But I was surprised to see it doesn't out-do the little trash-can Mac Pro 6,1 with the 2.7ghz 12 core, 64GB ram and dual D700s, that got nearly 8000. So that's a speedy little computer. It's also good for warming your hands on a cold morning.

 

[mikas]

"good for warming your hands on a cold morning"

^ yep, the winter is coming..? but a few kilowatts of mac pro power comes to help..

While my 6,1 feels really snappy at times, it's not that much snappier than my 12 core cMP. And the numbers tell us that they are not that far apart from each other anyways. I've got the 2690 v2 10c waiting in a drawer. Soon to be installed in one of my tcMPs, which are all 6 core right now. E5-1650 v2 comes with the lowest multicore score in the table, but it's really good on single core.

The Radeon VII in the cMP really helps a lot with everyday work for me, though I couldn't nag about Vega56 or RX 580 either with about 90% of my tasks.

 

[aviator84]

Hello. I was hoping someone might be able to help me. I have a 2009 mac pro 4,1 that was updated the 5,1. It has a 6core xeon processor and a msi radeon r9 280x graphics card. The graphics card was flashed so it has boot screen support. I installed opencore using the legacy patcher and have Big Sur currently installed along with my native boot mojave. Following the guide I then installed windows 10.(all operatiing systems are on seperate drives) Both Mojave and Big Sur run great without any issues. My problem is windows 10. I have it installed and can boot into it from opencore. The problem is windows is only running on the stock windows display drivers. I've tried several different ways to install drivers for my graphics card but every time I do part way through the install windows crashes. After that I can try to relaunch windows; and I get to the windows boot screen and then it will just crash again.(Won't make it to the login screen) Is there something within opencore that I need to update or modify to get my graphics card working? I've tried both stock amd drivers and radeon drivers from bootcamp drivers .com everything seems to cause windows to crash.

 

[Snahbah]

I've got two 5700XTs in a cMP 5,1 running perfectly. That's all, carry on.

 

[Mic-M4c]

Hi all,
I have a cMP 5.1 with OpenCore.
I want to upgrade my graphic card.

Can I use :
1. Radeon VII (PC version)
2. Radeon RX 590 Nitro+ 8GB (PC version)
3. other best GPU ?

Are the Radeon VII and the RX 590 Nitro+ 8GB compatible with Mojave ? Or only with OpenCore ?

Thank you.

 

[tsialex]

Hi all,
I have a cMP 5.1 with OpenCore.
I want to upgrade my graphic card.

Can I use :
1. Radeon VII (PC version)
2. Radeon RX 590 Nitro+ 8GB (PC version)
3. other best GPU ?

Are the Radeon VII and the RX 590 Nitro+ 8GB compatible with Mojave ? Or only with OpenCore ?

Thank you.

Both RX 590 and Radeon VII work with 10.14.6, but none work safely without Pixla's mod.

Any Nitro+ model will have a power draw greater than what the backplane can provide safely - non-OC RX580 models and the Vega 56 when low power mode is active are the power hungriest cards that you can install without any power modifications.

If you can find a VEGA 56 with a good price, go for it.

 

[Mic-M4c]

Thank you for your help. Then the ultime safety choice is a Radeon RX 580 8GB non-OC

 

[tsialex]

Thank you for your help. Then the ultime safety choice is a Radeon RX 580 8GB non-OC

If you don't need backwards compatibility with Mojave, a RX 5700XT can also be used with Catalina/BigSur/Monterey.

You will need an eVGA PowerLink to balance the two power rails, btw.