MP 1,1 CPU and Video Upgrade for Mavericks

[chingaibinga]

Hi All! I'm planning on getting some upgrades for my MP 1,1 in preparation for upgrade to Mavericks but Im still unsure of two things regarding compatibilities and such. I've been searching for some time now and keep getting mixed answers/reviews. I've already done an SSD upgrade and additional ram have been ordered... Only things left are:


1st, the cpu. Originally I was set on a pair of X5355 quads, but was curious if this efi 64 bootloader fix (homebrew bootloader for OS X 10.9)may allow a pair of X5460 to work instead? Or am I still a bit confused about the 32 / 64 bit efi thing?
EDIT: Stumbled upon this thread which pretty much gave me my answer. x5355s it is!


2nd, the video card. I was wondering what my options may be for this? Ideally looking for one that can support quad 22" monitors and have 1 or more gb of ram? My budget being the main factor on this one, it would have to be under $200. PC cards would be considered as well since the popular ones should work with 10.9. (unless I'm wrong on this as well.. )

I mostly use this machine for photo/video editing and livestreaming of gaming sessions from consoles. (using photoshop, imovies, eyetv, etc..)


Any help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Tutor]

Hi All! I'm planning on getting some upgrades for my MP 1,1 in preparation for upgrade to Mavericks but Im still unsure of two things regarding compatibilities and such. I've been searching for some time now and keep getting mixed answers/reviews. I've already done an SSD upgrade and additional ram have been ordered... Only things left are:


1st, the cpu. Originally I was set on a pair of X5355 quads, but was curious if this efi 64 bootloader fix (homebrew bootloader for OS X 10.9)may allow a pair of X5460 to work instead? Or am I still a bit confused about the 32 / 64 bit efi thing?
EDIT: Stumbled upon this thread which pretty much gave me my answer. x5355s it is!

Step 1: The 5365s [ http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/...KJ0808MP (BX80563X5365A - BX80563X5365P).html ] are the fastest ones you can use if you upgrade the firmware to 2,1. See I. Modifying an Intel Mac Pro : 1) Mac Pro 1,1 - here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1333421/ .

2nd, the video card. I was wondering what my options may be for this? Ideally looking for one that can support quad 22" monitors and have 1 or more gb of ram? My budget being the main factor on this one, it would have to be under $200. PC cards would be considered as well since the popular ones should work with 10.9. (unless I'm wrong on this as well.. )

I mostly use this machine for photo/video editing and livestreaming of gaming sessions from consoles. (using photoshop, imovies, eyetv, etc..)


Any help/recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Step 2: After going from OSX 10.6.8 to Lion, I went from Lion to Mavericks, following Tiamo's advice here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1598176/. You can then use many ATI and Nvidia cards. Personally, I like the GT 640/4G for a low cost, low power, low CUDA performance, large frame buffer GPU card ( which you can find at NewEgg for under $100 new and at Newegg (refurbished/warranted) and EVGA (B-stock/warranted - same as refurbished ) for about $80. But your options are many except, for the time being, staying away from the GK110B GTXTitans and GTX780 Tis (highly expensive in any event given your budget) because they currently exhibit OpenCL issues with Mavericks. I've tried GTX480s, 580s, 680s, and regular 780s in mine and they all work fine, before settling with one GT640 (it doesn't require any power cable) and an old GTS 8800 (it requires just one 6-pin power cable) that I had in storage in this particular 2007 Mac Pro. I can live without the boot screen info. If you use Final Cut Pro significantly, you should probably consider an AMD card because it will give you better OCL performance. I'm looking into the R9 280(X) and R9 290(X) for my Final Cut rig, but both are outside of the price range that you've set. You might want to consider a Radeon HD 7870 [ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00298540&IsNodeId=1&Order=PRICED&Pagesize=100 ] to stay within budget. If you want a CUDA capable card and want something a lot more powerful that a GT 640, then watch the B-stock here: http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8 , but also note the disclaimer about "no accessories."

Here're pics from one of my updated 2007 Mac Pros:

 

[saint322]

Diminishing Returns...

I have a 2,1 and will be working through all of this myself soon enough. I am planning on buying a this multi-mount that will replace one of my optical drives so that I can install either one SSD and another 3.5" or two SSD drives. I grabbed a EVGA 01G-P3-1468-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) FTW+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 off eBay for cheap as a test-card of sorts.

My two questions at this point both revolve around where to draw the line on the SSDs and graphics cards. Specifically...

1) What is the fastest SSD that doesn't out-run the rest of the hardware?

EDIT: Answer: 3Gb/sec or 3G drives are the fastest a Mac Pro 2,1 will support.

I'm about 20 pages into the currently 48-page thread on all things GPUs. I understand that with 10.7.5 it is best to stop at a 560, 560Ti or 570 so that you stay in the Fermi chipset. The card I have arriving tomorrow does that. Once I get that running my next project is to forge ahead with the work-around to get 10.8/10.9 up and running. At that point, my limitation due to software becomes a limitation due to hardware, specifically to the PCIe 1.0 speed on the single x16 slot in my tower. With that in mind...

2) What is the fastest card currently available that my mac pro 2,1 can benefit from with the stipulation that this card grab its power from the PCIe slot and from the two 6-pin cables coming off the motherboard (I'll use this setup for the 560)?

In the end, I want to give this old rig a new coat of paint but don't want to drop a 5-speed transmission in it knowing it will only use 3-gears. I want to avoid spending senseless cash on more on expensive gear when the same net speed improvements can be accomplished for less. There has to be a point of diminishing return on both the SSD and GPU front. And that, my friends...is where I turn to you.

-Saint

Mac Pro 2,1 / 2x3GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon / 10 GB 667 MHz DDR2 RAM / OS 10.7.5 / 7300 GT (8800 GT just died)