MP 1,1-5,1 MP 5.1 father and son project

[Nils Zaayenga]

Hallo,

Ich bin seit 2 Jahren im Forum, aber hauptsächlich in den Foren „Frühe Intel-Macs“ und „PowerPC-Macs“.

Mein 14-jähriger Sohn ist ein begeisterter PC-FAN, zumindest wenn es um Computer geht. Er mag sein iPhone, seine Apple Watch und sein iPad wirklich sehr ...

Gerne würde ich mit ihm gemeinsam den Mac Pro umbauen, als Vater-Sohn-Projekt.

Ich habe es auf Kleinanzeigen.de in der Nähe eines meiner Kunden für 50€ gefunden.

Ziel ist es, dem Mac Pro ein gutes Upgrade zu verpassen und ihn mit einem aktuellen Betriebssystem auszustatten.

Was ist daraus geworden?

Apple Mac Pro „Quad Core“ 2.8 (2010/Nehalem), weiterhin mit 8 GB RAM, 1TB HDD und der Standard-Grafikkarte.

Was ist geplant?

1. Zerlegen und reinigen
2. CPU-Upgrade auf mindestens 3,33 GHz Six Core „Westmere“ Xeon (W3680)
3. RAM-Upgrade auf insgesamt 24 GB RAM
4. Grafikkarten-Upgrade auf nVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB für MAC - geflasht
5. Einbau einer SSD als Bootlaufwerk
6. Update auf MacOS 12

Ich bin gespannt, welche Überraschungen auf mich warten.

 

[clarkm]

For the price of those upgrades you could buy an apple silicon mac mini or macbook that will outperform this. They would also use far less electricity and be much quieter.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money on this for mediocre performance.
I've done it myself an ended up selling mine for $50 too.
The father-son bonding time will be priceless, but i can't see a very good product at the end of the road.

 

[avro707]

1. disassemble and clean
2. CPU upgrade to at least 3.33 GHz Six Core “Westmere” Xeon (W3680)
3. RAM upgrade to a total of 24 GB RAM
4. graphics card upgrade to nVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB for MAC-flashed
5. installation of an SSD as boot drive
6. update to MacOS 12

Upgrade to X5690 instead - that's the best option.

Ram you can do 4x16GB, 64GB in total 1333mhz.

GPU go for an RX580 8GB, the Sapphire Pulse version if you can find it. If you want to go a bit more exotic, you could research into getting a Sapphire RX6600 8GB and getting it flashed so it will boot with the Mac 5,1.

Agree with SSD as boot drive, but be careful which one you choose.

At first glance the machine you got looks very clean.

They are getting on in age those machines, but I won't rain on the parade. I have one 5,1 here still running all the time in my cycling trainer pain-cave running MacOS Monterey. It's a very dependable machine and never gives any issues. My other one is in the original box packed away.

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

For the price of those upgrades you could buy an apple silicon mac mini or macbook that will outperform this. They would also use far less electricity and be much quieter.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money on this for mediocre performance.
I've done it myself an ended up selling mine for $50 too.
The father-son bonding time will be priceless, but i can't see a very good product at the end of the road.

Hello,

I know that the MacPro is no longer the fastest computer.

About the costs:

Mac Pro: 55€
Graphics card: 90 €
RAM: 30 €
SSD + installation material: 20 €

Total cost: €195

The best I can get for that in Germany is a Mac mini i3 from 2018, and then only with luck.

Most importantly, the MacPro will run very rarely. Only to show and tinker.

 

[Melbourne Park]

RX 460/560 beast bang for buck, can go via OpenCore to recent Mac OSs. 460 can fit two cards in.

 

[chaosbunny]

For the price of those upgrades you could buy an apple silicon mac mini or macbook that will outperform this. They would also use far less electricity and be much quieter.
Be prepared to spend a lot of time and money on this for mediocre performance.
I've done it myself an ended up selling mine for $50 too.
The father-son bonding time will be priceless, but i can't see a very good product at the end of the road.

You know, there are people buying oldtimer cars. They have fun restoring and maintaining them, even though a new car would be cheaper and consume much less fuel. The OP made it clear that he's not buying the machine for performance. Depending on use case these old Mac Pros can still be very useful. Mine has many 8TB HDs and I use it as an archive for my photo and video projects. It's easy to change these HDs and I only turn it on when I need to archive something. I also use mine as a Windows gaming machine - plays even newer titles like Cyberpunk or Horizon Zero Dawn just fine.

To the OP, I'd suggest a SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 for the gpu. With its 8 GB GDDR5 memory it'll be much better for your planned up-to-date operating system - be it Mac OS or Windows. You don't need a Mac flashed version, a standard PC version will do, you just will not have a boot screen. Windows installation will be trickier this way, but you said you want a challenging experience.

 

[sfalatko]

In case you haven't seen this - here's a good summary of options to upgrade - The Definitive Classic Mac Pro (2006-2012) Upgrade Guide.

To add to your list of things to investigate/work on - check the boot rom. Here is a nice set of tools to use -

Healthy NVRAM normal behaviour on 4,1->5,1 machines

Macschrauber's Rom Dump I needed to encrypt the disk image as DropBox has flagged it for containing Flashrom. The password is rom. What's new in the latest versions: Update from 20-2-2024 -> checking Fsys for missing items or wrong order sometimes they get into the wrong order or items...

forums.macrumors.com

Enjoy!

 

[bmoraski]

If you don't upgrade the cpu make sure that you re-paste both the cpu and Northbridge. At that age the thermal paste is not so good. Sounds like a wonderful bonding opportunity. Just be careful you don't create a monster. lol

 

[sfalatko]

And before you tackle the Northbridge look at the guide I posted above - you will need to get replacement retaining pins for the Northbridge as the originals might not survive.

Here's another good link on repairing the pins -

clip (snap rivet) for Northbridge heat-sink on 2009 Mac Pro 2X2.26

Just my 46 cents, here. I have just finished completely refurbishing 2 Mac Pro (5,1 - 2010-2012) CPU trays (and am about to do a third) and have had to deal with this problem. In both cases, the original plastic rivets and springs were intact but, after reading numerous reports of failure over...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

Hallo zusammen,

ein kleines Update zum Projekt.

Am Samstag hatte ich endlich Zeit, mit den Jungs am Mac Pro zu arbeiten.

Wir haben es von außen gereinigt, die SSD in den Adapter für 3,5 Zoll eingebaut und die Festplatte in den Rechner eingebaut (war doch nicht so schwer... ).

Anschließend alles verbunden, einen USB-Bootstick mit MacOS 10.13.6 High Sierra eingesteckt und das Betriebssystem installiert.

View attachment 2419764

Er läuft sogar erschreckend leise. Der neue PC meines Sohnes ist deutlich lauter.

Was ich in der Zwischenzeit getan habe:

- 24 GB (3x 8 GB) RAM bestellt
- RX580 4 GB, (Sapphire Pulse) Grafikkarte bestellt (danke avro707)

Dies wird voraussichtlich alles am Wochenende eingebaut sein.

Doch zunächst wollen wir das Innere des Macs reinigen.

Ich werde berichten.

 

[OS6-OSX]

It even runs frighteningly quietly. My son's new PC is much louder.
...But first we want to clean the inside of the Mac.

I will report back.

It may even run frighteningly quietly, but the inside must be "Mac" clean! Not based on PC cleanliness.

 

[haralds]

OCLP does not support nVidia cards. The most compatible card from Mojave to Sequoia is a flashed RX-580 (overclocked?).
RAM is cheap. I was at 48GB and went to 128GB because I could not resist prices today.
The right PCie NVME makes a big difference.

 

[Melbourne Park]

And before you tackle the Northbridge look at the guide I posted above - you will need to get replacement retaining pins for the Northbridge as the originals might not survive.

Here's another good link on repairing the pins -

clip (snap rivet) for Northbridge heat-sink on 2009 Mac Pro 2X2.26

Just my 46 cents, here. I have just finished completely refurbishing 2 Mac Pro (5,1 - 2010-2012) CPU trays (and am about to do a third) and have had to deal with this problem. In both cases, the original plastic rivets and springs were intact but, after reading numerous reports of failure over...

forums.macrumors.com

I was going to do that, but on investigating the temperature it was not necessary.

These apps would be fun and will show various temps. I've used Mac Fan control which is free, and it shows two Northbridge temperatures.

These apps should be fun for your project too. There are probably many more ...

iStat Menus: temperatures, fan speeds, and other system statistics from menu bar
Mac Fan Control: Monitor and control fan speeds & provides temperature readings for various components.
HWMonitor: Detailed monitoring of temperatures and voltages for different hardware components.
Intel Power Gadget: Specifically for Intel CPUs, it provides real-time monitoring of CPU temperature and power usage.
Temperature Gauge Pro: Shows temperatures of various components and can send notifications if temperatures exceed a certain threshold.

 

[Melbourne Park]

OCLP does not support nVidia cards. The most compatible card from Mojave to Sequoia is a flashed RX-580 (overclocked?).
RAM is cheap. I was at 48GB and went to 128GB because I could not resist prices today.
The right PCie NVME makes a big difference.

EnableGop results in the RX580 being able to run many operating systems.

Opencore to operate a 5,1 up to Monterey without any issues. Beyond Monterey 12.x.x, the 5,1 is not fully compatible. I think some have run Ventura but have had issues.

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

It may even run frighteningly quietly, but the inside must be "Mac" clean! Not based on PC cleanliness. View attachment 2421073

Hello OS6-OSX,

The interior cleaning is planned for this weekend. I wasn't able to test the Mac Pro properly when I bought it. That's why I tested it ‘uncleaned’ last weekend. However, a look inside showed that it was relatively clean. Just a little dust.

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

OCLP does not support nVidia cards. The most compatible card from Mojave to Sequoia is a flashed RX-580 (overclocked?).
RAM is cheap. I was at 48GB and went to 128GB because I could not resist prices today.
The right PCie NVME makes a big difference.

Hello haralds,

That's why I ordered the AMD Radeon RX 580 Sapphire Pulse with 4 GB.

The 24 GB RAM I ordered is enough for me. This is purely a fun project. It should be enough for everything I want to do with the Mac Pro.

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

I was going to do that, but on investigating the temperature it was not necessary.

These apps would be fun and will show various temps. I've used Mac Fan control which is free, and it shows two Northbridge temperatures.

These apps should be fun for your project too. There are probably many more ...

iStat Menus: temperatures, fan speeds, and other system statistics from menu bar
Mac Fan Control: Monitor and control fan speeds & provides temperature readings for various components.
HWMonitor: Detailed monitoring of temperatures and voltages for different hardware components.
Intel Power Gadget: Specifically for Intel CPUs, it provides real-time monitoring of CPU temperature and power usage.
Temperature Gauge Pro: Shows temperatures of various components and can send notifications if temperatures exceed a certain threshold.

Hello Melbourne Park,

I use Mac Fan Control, or derivatives for PPC like G4 FanControl, on all my Macs.

My first Mac is a MacBook Pro 15’ from early 2011... In my opinion, this programme is vital for keeping the GPU alive. Also for most other Macs.

My attitude is:

The fans start running at 55°C
From 80°C the fans run at full speed.

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

EnableGop results in the RX580 being able to run many operating systems.

Opencore to operate a 5,1 up to Monterey without any issues. Beyond Monterey 12.x.x, the 5,1 is not fully compatible. I think some have run Ventura but have had issues.

Hello Melbourne Park,

I have no plans to boot higher than MacOS 12 Monterey yet.

For me, MacOS 12 Monterey is one of the ‘nicest’ MacOS, especially with the old devices.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Hello Melbourne Park,

I use Mac Fan Control, or derivatives for PPC like G4 FanControl, on all my Macs.

My first Mac is a MacBook Pro 15’ from early 2011... In my opinion, this programme is vital for keeping the GPU alive. Also for most other Macs.

My attitude is:

The fans start running at 55°C
From 80°C the fans run at full speed.

I'm currently uploading - or maybe its downloading - old 8mm linear tapes, hi8s and digital 8mm tapes, and mini DV tapes, via camcorder to Firewire cable, onto a 2011 MacBook Pro 13". I think its 13.4"!! I have a mid 2017 MacBook Pro with 4 thunderbolt 3 ports, and it shipped with 16 GB Ram and 500GB drive. Now the 13" has a 1TB drive and 16 GB Ram. And a new battery. All installed for what felt like peanuts, and took 30 minutes. The mid 2017 is all soldered together evidently. Soon to be a paper weight I guess. Evidently it can run Sonoma ... probably not too well but ...

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

I'm currently uploading - or maybe its downloading - old 8mm linear tapes, hi8s and digital 8mm tapes, and mini DV tapes, via camcorder to Firewire cable, onto a 2011 MacBook Pro 13". I think its 13.4"!! I have a mid 2017 MacBook Pro with 4 thunderbolt 3 ports, and it shipped with 16 GB Ram and 500GB drive. Now the 13" has a 1TB drive and 16 GB Ram. And a new battery. All installed for what felt like peanuts, and took 30 minutes. The mid 2017 is all soldered together evidently. Soon to be a paper weight I guess. Evidently it can run Sonoma ... probably not too well but ...

Hello Melbourne Park,

one of my main computers is now a 2017 MacBook Pro 15’. It runs MacOS 14 without any problems and I want to update it to MacOS 15 this weekend.

 

[Melbourne Park]

Hello Melbourne Park,

one of my main computers is now a 2017 MacBook Pro 15’. It runs MacOS 14 without any problems and I want to update it to MacOS 15 this weekend.

but it missed out on the T2 chip which made it much faster for video. Mine was entirely rebuilt by Apple, due to its keyboard failing, and then they stuffed up the re-assembly.

Apple should have a program for upgrading their RAM and drives, but if they did that, they fear they'd loose sales. Instead, they could gain a whole lot of them, but what would I know ...

 

[Nils Zaayenga]

Hello everyone,

What has happened in the meantime?

- the RAM has been installed and is working satisfactorily
- the computer has been dismantled and cleaned (3 cans of compressed air and several alcohol wipes have been used to
clean the PC).
- the graphics card has been ordered (RX580 4 GB, (Sapphire Pulse))

The last thing missing was the CPU.

This has now also been ordered

 

[basslik]

Make the upgrade worth while. get the 5690.