MP 1,1-5,1 Recommended upgrades to a 2012 5,1 to last into 10.14/10.15?

[monkeybagel]

Hi All,

I have been a members on here for some time and have always received solid advice. I also don't mind at all to experiment with my setup and of course comb over other wiki's and documents people have clearly put substantial time into. Unfortunately due to health issues as of late it has reduced my time in the forums and computing in general. From what I gather many experts have already done what I want to do, so mitigating the risk of wasting money on a solution that does not work, I would like to get some input based on where my system is now, and where I want to take it.

I currently have a genuine 5,1 I ordered BTO with two 3.06 Xeons, it has 128GB of RAM, and I a 5870 Apple AMD card. I have a 980Ti Flashed by MVC but like many including MVC was disappointed in the lack of 10.14+ support.

I have several 512GB-2TB SSDs that I would like to replace with an M.2 NVMe solution for two or more M.2 SSDs with at least 4TB of storage. I also have two 27" Cinema Displays that I don't intend on replacing right away, but 4k+ is clearly the future so want to be prepared for that. I do occasionally use Windows, so a pre-boot screen is a must. I know there are workarounds, but would rather use a flashed card than swap cards, etc. Do the 3.46GHz procs make a worthwhile difference? I would like to maintain at least one optical bay, and boot from the M.2. Would the experienced please chime in and get me up to speed? I apologize for any typos as m dexterity is affected the past few weeks.

Also, any WiFi and Bluetooth upgrade info is appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[monkeybagel]

I would pay someone at this stage for help. The brain fog and dexterity of typing is too much right now. I have been there and hate asking for people to do their research for them, so I know how it feels, but the situation I am in is fairly poor although I expect it to return.

 

[StuAff]

OK…
First of all, for Mojave (and Catalina, should you wish) you need a Metal-supported GPU. The Mojave installer will not run if you have any unsupported GPU fitted, even if you have a supported card fitted as well. If you aren't ready and willing to go down the OpenCore route (see the rather epic thread on this forum), which would allow use of regular GPUs straight out of the box, you'll be wanting to get a flashed card from MVC, or Marek his EU partner. RX 580 will be probably the best bang for the buck, 5700XT will work but no driver support in Mojave, only in Catalina. Got my Aorus RX 580 flashed by Marek, works very nicely in Mojave, still IDs as an Aorus card in Windows so Gigabyte's control software (overclocking, fan settings, RGB etc) works perfectly. Not cheap, but It Just Works.

NVMe: there's a rather big thread on here as well, but to me it sounds like you'll be wanting one of the cards from Highpoint, OWC or Sonnet. These work, albeit slower, in 'our' Mac Pros, not just the 2019s.

Bluetooth and Wifi: If it works in Sierra/High Sierra, it'll still work in the later OSs. Genuine 5,1 running Mojave here, they work.

Processors: 10-15% speed bump sounds worth having to me, if you can get the CPUs at the right price. I barely notice the difference from 3.33 (my old 4,1) to 3.46, but that's less than 5%....

 

[monkeybagel]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. It is much appreciated. A concern is also the Win10 certs corrupting to BOOTRom. How does one enumerate if and how much damage has been done and how to repair it?

Are there ideal slots for NVMe?
Thanks again. I realize the duplicate questions get old, but it is an unusual circumstance unfortunately.

 

[jvlfilms]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. It is much appreciated. A concern is also the Win10 certs corrupting to BOOTRom. How does one enumerate if and how much damage has been done and how to repair it?

Are there ideal slots for NVMe?
Thanks again. I realize the duplicate questions get old, but it is an unusual circumstance unfortunately.

If you install Windows 10 via DVD, it’ll install in Legacy mode and not have any trouble corrupting your BootROM. I followed a guide here which tells you which drivers to install and how to set it up so you can dual boot back into macOS.

How to: Boot Camp without a Boot Screen

[Update 29 Feb 2020: Members reported that this procedure will install Boot Camp 6.1.9 now, which apparently only allow users boot to the latest macOS drive. For those who has multiple macOS drive. This method doesn't work anymore. Also, latest Windows 10 (1909) seems also not allow Bootcamp 5...

forums.macrumors.com

I was in a situation like yourself recently and I now have a Mac Pro 4,1 -> 5,1 with an RX 580, dual 3.06 6 core Xeons, and 96 gigs of RAM.

The only thing I can say is that I don’t have boot screens anymore and I really don’t miss them. If you spend most of your time in one OS anyway, it’s just a few extra steps to switch from mac to Win10 and vice versa. In Windows, you go to the Boot Camp tray and hit “restart in macOS” - on the macOS end you chose BOOT CAMP as your startup disk (takes a little longer because you need to put in your password). But in all honestly, I’d much rather do that than deal with MVC and spending double on a card just to show an Apple logo.

 

[monkeybagel]

Thanks for the information. I have performed many EFI installations beginning with Windows 8.x (which was nearly useless) to may builds of Windows 10. Does this like indicate the BootROM is close to bricking, and if that happens is it repairable? The RX 50 see to be the go-to GPU, so it sounds like a safe bet.

Can I tell if any damage the BootROM has sustained thus far?

Thank you!

 

[kohlson]

Can I tell if any damage the BootROM has sustained thus far?

Search for the posts/threads from @tsialex.

The sticky threads at the top of the forum address what you're trying to do.

 

[monkeybagel]

I have been reading his posts and they are very, very informative. My biggest roadblock right now is my cognition isn't up to par with the medication I am temporarily on, but I am sure it will come back in time.

Would you mind to point me to the terminal command to dump the BootROM and check the certs?

Thank you

 

[tsialex]

I have been reading his posts and they are very, very informative. My biggest roadblock right now is my cognition isn't up to par with the medication I am temporarily on, but I am sure it will come back in time.

Would you mind to point me to the terminal command to dump the BootROM and check the certs?

Thank you

Sent you a PM with instructions.