MP 1,1-5,1 Specific GPU recommendations - Exclusive Windows gaming use

[SideStepSociety]

Apologies if this is a double post or covered elsewhere, but most of what I saw was relating to dual boot setups.

I’ve got a Mid-2012, Mac Pro5,1, A1289(EMC 2629) lying around that I’d like to use exclusively with Windows for gaming. I realize it’s probably not the best computer when it comes to being a gaming rig, but as I understand, it does have a bit of potential considering it’s age.

I’m wondering if anyone has any info into the highest performing gaming GPU I might be able to install in this Mac Pro. I’m not very familiar with hardware logistics when it comes to GPUs, power supplies, or other components that relate to GPU efficiency, so any insight is appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Why wonder when you can read.

GPU Compatibility List for cMP

Content: 1. Summary 2. Information on common GPUs that can be used in cMP 3. GPU power consumption 4. Color compatibility 5. Flashing nuances 6. What to choose? 7. Useful links. 1. Summary 1.1. There are 50+ GPU types that are compatible with cMP (classic MacPro = Mac Pro 1.1-5.1/...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[macguru9999]

I would recommend a flashed radeon rx480 for all round use. or a sapphire 8gb radeon 580 unflashed for windows only..

 

[KeesMacPro]

I’ve got a Mid-2012, Mac Pro5,1, A1289(EMC 2629) lying around that I’d like to use exclusively with Windows for gaming

IMO there's a lot more involved than just install "the best" GPU to get a MP 5,1 ready for gaming under Windows in a satisfactory way....
Besides the link post#2 , you could take a look e.g. here to get an idea about the money, time and effort involved to get it done:

cMP {classicMacPro}{4,1 & 5,1} - Upgrade Guide Sticky Discussion

Hey Folks, Lets start a discussion and collect everything relevant for cMP upgraders out there. Topics to consider: CPU Upgrades Compatibility chart CPU Delid / standoffs 4,1 to 5,1 firmware upgrade Memory Compatibility and Upgrades UDIMM Model Numbers RDIMM Model Numbers RAM...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[AlexMaximus]

I do play some Steam Titles, most of all Cyberpunk, DayZ, Frost Punk and the Metro Redux Series. Everything runs perfect on my machine seen in my sig below. Over the years, this machine has been my main computer With plenty of upgrades. I do recommend the RX 580 pulse with a fast NVME ssd in slot #2. Among others, I used to have a Vega VII in this baby, but the 580 is the sweet spot.

 

[SideStepSociety]

Why wonder when you can read.

GPU Compatibility List for cMP

Content: 1. Summary 2. Information on common GPUs that can be used in cMP 3. GPU power consumption 4. Color compatibility 5. Flashing nuances 6. What to choose? 7. Useful links. 1. Summary 1.1. There are 50+ GPU types that are compatible with cMP (classic MacPro = Mac Pro 1.1-5.1/...

forums.macrumors.com

Appreciate the post, but I had previously reviewed this link and seemed to be focused on cards that had at least some compatibility with macOS. I’m willing(want) to sacrifice all compatibility with macOS should it provide more options for performance.

IMO there's a lot more involved than just install "the best" GPU to get a MP 5,1 ready for gaming under Windows in a satisfactory way....
Besides the link post#2 , you could take a look e.g. here to get an idea about the money, time and effort involved to get it done:

cMP {classicMacPro}{4,1 & 5,1} - Upgrade Guide Sticky Discussion

Hey Folks, Lets start a discussion and collect everything relevant for cMP upgraders out there. Topics to consider: CPU Upgrades Compatibility chart CPU Delid / standoffs 4,1 to 5,1 firmware upgrade Memory Compatibility and Upgrades UDIMM Model Numbers RDIMM Model Numbers RAM...

forums.macrumors.com

I figured as much. I know there are some tie ins with GPU and CPU bottleneck, etc. Appreciate the link, I’ll read it through. 👍🏻

I guess I should’ve clarified that I’m not looking to make THE PENULTIMATE Mac Pro gaming rig, but rather, a high end graphics upgrade via GPU (and perhaps some other minor modifications?). For an extreme (maybe non-existant) example, modifying the entire case/chassis to accommodate a different motherboard.

I do play some Steam Titles, most of all Cyberpunk, DayZ, Frost Punk and the Metro Redux Series. Everything runs perfect on my machine seen in my sig below. Over the years, this machine has been my main computer With plenty of upgrades. I do recommend the RX 580 pulse with a fast NVME ssd in slot #2. Among others, I used to have a Vega VII in this baby, but the 580 is the sweet spot.

Thanks for the details! What resolution? Average FPS? Any benchmarks to share?

 

[VitaminK]

Using a blower style will work a bit better for gaming, like a Vega 64 or 5700 reference board. My Vega does bottleneck but has noticeable quick and cooler in gaming then an rx 580.

 

[AlexMaximus]

On the resolution side, I use an Apple Cinema Display 27 (same as Thunderbolt Display without TB) in max setting. So I guess it’s full HD or 2K with Win10 Pro 64Bit. On the quality side it usually is at least on High setting with even some Ultra settings. My 580 doesn’t throttle because of the Corsair 55 AIO water cooler On it. Everything in terms of power runs off the gpu board so with this mod you don’t need any sata power like others use. It usually stays around 40 degrees. I never used an FPS monitor but I guess most steam titles are at least on 60 or better, many are on 80 if the game has an built in FPS monitor such as the newer Tomb Raider titel. The 120 mm fan & radiator combo fits perfectly in front of the little gray pcie fan block, blowing out through the front panel. You just need to turn the original pcie fan 180 to have a perfect push pull system to the front. I tinkered a lot with this machine and tried out many Vega versions. I also did the pixlas wich I don’t need any more. I had the standard Vega 64, later the limited edition with metal shroud, then a Power Color Red Devil Vega 56 and after that a Vega VII for about a year. Every duct fan versions (both Vega 64) where complete junk for gaming. They run extremely hot. They don’t get the heat out. Don’t get a duct fan version unless you want to water cool it.
The Power Color 56 Red Devil was better than both Vega 64 because of the 3 fan design. The Vega VII was best, however overkill in terms of cost. However, the benefit of the expensive VegaVII was limited in games because the CPU single core score kicks in earlier and prevents the Vega vII to really shine in games. That’s the reason why you do not want to go higher then the 580. Everything better (at least for games) will be bottlenecked by cpu, at least this is how it feels. I downgraded from the VegaVII to the 580 because the Vega has no boot screen. The 580 I have is a flashed version with full bootscreen support, it works great on Catalina and Windows 10. Since this is my only tower, this is the very best config I have found so far.

 

[macguru9999]

On the resolution side, I use an Apple Cinema Display 27 (same as Thunderbolt Display without TB) in max setting. So I guess it’s full HD or 2K with Win10 Pro 64Bit. On the quality side it usually is at least on High setting with even some Ultra settings. My 580 doesn’t throttle because of the Corsair 55 AIO water cooler On it. Everything in terms of power runs off the gpu board so with this mod you don’t need any sata power like others use. It usually stays around 40 degrees. I never used an FPS monitor but I guess most steam titles are at least on 60 or better, many are on 80 if the game has an built in FPS monitor such as the newer Tomb Raider titel. The 120 mm fan & radiator combo fits perfectly in front of the little gray pcie fan block, blowing out through the front panel. You just need to turn the original pcie fan 180 to have a perfect push pull system to the front. I tinkered a lot with this machine and tried out many Vega versions. I also did the pixlas wich I don’t need any more. I had the standard Vega 64, later the limited edition with metal shroud, then a Power Color Red Devil Vega 56 and after that a Vega VII for about a year. Every duct fan versions (both Vega 64) where complete junk for gaming. They run extremely hot. They don’t get the heat out. Don’t get a duct fan version unless you want to water cool it.
The Power Color 56 Red Devil was better than both Vega 64 because of the 3 fan design. The Vega VII was best, however overkill in terms of cost. However, the benefit of the expensive VegaVII was limited in games because the CPU single core score kicks in earlier and prevents the Vega vII to really shine in games. That’s the reason why you do not want to go higher then the 580. Everything better (at least for games) will be bottlenecked by cpu, at least this is how it feels. I downgraded from the VegaVII to the 580 because the Vega has no boot screen. The 580 I have is a flashed version with full bootscreen support, it works great on Catalina and Windows 10. Since this is my only tower, this is the very best config I have found so far.

Its good to hear from someone who actually uses the machine for gaming ... Tell me, do you think it matters whether you buy the 4gb version of the rx580 or the 8gb ? I have a customer who is hanging out for the larger memory. Also, I had the 8gb and sold it to get an rx480 which is a lot quieter... Do you find the fans spin up to near full when gaming or moving around a complex render, or was it just the one i had (macvidcards 580) ??

 

[AlexMaximus]

Its good to hear from someone who actually uses the machine for gaming ... Tell me, do you think it matters whether you buy the 4gb version of the rx580 or the 8gb ? I have a customer who is hanging out for the larger memory. Also, I had the 8gb and sold it to get an rx480 which is a lot quieter... Do you find the fans spin up to near full when gaming or moving around a complex render, or was it just the one i had (macvidcards 580) ??

I have watched many GPU comparison videos on YouTube to find out how much the video Ram really matters in games. It seems that game developers gauge their games towards the mainstream equipment that most potential gamers use at the time of the game release. This means even newer titles tend to run pretty good on middle of the ground systems. This explains why a decade old Mac Pro can still run games surprisingly well if it has a GPU from 2018 and a nvme in slo #2. Cyberpunk for example uses between 3.5 and 4 GB VRAM, but maxes out the Xeon cpus and similar in most cases. The Xeon is a real great cpu for my purposes (Fusion 360 & 3D Printing with ocational DJI Mavic Air footage), but it throttles way way before any video ram constraint comes into play. This is a bit like the first aid problem. A world class surgeon 30 minutes after an accident can’t do sh#€ if you miss out on O2 in the first five.
When my 580 still had the stock cooler & heat sink on it, fans did go full blast on advanced titles. This shows how antiquated air coolers are in 2021. The 480 has been known as the predecessor. AMD at That time was in trouble and hastily fast tracked the 580 on the market. The chip design has not really changed between the two, they just cranked up the power draw & frequency On the 580. So in short, the 480 is actually very similar to the 580 but with less power thurst and less heat output. To sum it up, if you don’t do Resolve or 4K, - for gaming only you might be super dandy fine with 4GB, especially on the golden Mac Pro 5.1.

 

[SideStepSociety]

I have watched many GPU comparison videos on YouTube to find out how much the video Ram really matters in games. It seems that game developers gauge their games towards the mainstream equipment that most potential gamers use at the time of the game release. This means even newer titles tend to run pretty good on middle of the ground systems. This explains why a decade old Mac Pro can still run games surprisingly well if it has a GPU from 2018 and a nvme in slo #2. Cyberpunk for example uses between 3.5 and 4 GB VRAM, but maxes out the Xeon cpus and similar in most cases. The Xeon is a real great cpu for my purposes (Fusion 360 & 3D Printing with ocational DJI Mavic Air footage), but it throttles way way before any video ram constraint comes into play. This is a bit like the first aid problem. A world class surgeon 30 minutes after an accident can’t do sh#€ if you miss out on O2 in the first five.
When my 580 still had the stock cooler & heat sink on it, fans did go full blast on advanced titles. This shows how antiquated air coolers are in 2021. The 480 has been known as the predecessor. AMD at That time was in trouble and hastily fast tracked the 580 on the market. The chip design has not really changed between the two, they just cranked up the power draw & frequency On the 580. So in short, the 480 is actually very similar to the 580 but with less power thurst and less heat output. To sum it up, if you don’t do Resolve or 4K, - for gaming only you might be super dandy fine with 4GB, especially on the golden Mac Pro 5.1.

I don’t suppose you’d know of any comparable Nvidia cards, would you? I occasionally make use of the remote play feature Nvidia cards provide and wouldn’t mind to keep that the same.

Looking at GTX 1650 Supers from what I’ve read and the pricing is certainly reasonable. Any idea if that would work in this scenario? I’m thinking maybe this one:

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Overclocked 4GB Edition Gaming Graphics Card (TUF-GTX1650S-O4G-GAMING) - Newegg.com

Buy ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Overclocked 4GB Edition HDMI DP DVI Gaming Graphics Card (TUF-GTX1650S-O4G-GAMING) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

 

[Stex]

Cyberpunk for example uses between 3.5 and 4 GB VRAM, but maxes out the Xeon cpus and similar in most cases.

@AlexMaximus thanks very much, very interesting! I am an occasional gamer mostly on iOS (iPad Pro and Apple TV4K) and ScummVM games on the cMP. I have been wanting to play Cyberpunk 2077 for some time and your account convinced me to install Windows and buy the game!

I do not have a water cooling system as you do, but like you I have the RX580 and my boot NMVe on slot 2 (more in my signature). When you say Cyberpunk 2077 maxes out the CPU, you mean literally 100%? And does the game performance suffer at all or does it run without issues? I know you already mentioned it runs fine on your system, but I am a bit hesitant since I would only install Windows to play this game. I would only go through that (probably long/complicated?) process if I can count somewhat on my system being able to handle the demands of the game... anyway any feedback would be very welcomed for me to make a decision. Thanks!!!

 

[AlexMaximus]

I don’t suppose you’d know of any comparable Nvidia cards, would you? I occasionally make use of the remote play feature Nvidia cards provide and wouldn’t mind to keep that the same.

Looking at GTX 1650 Supers from what I’ve read and the pricing is certainly reasonable. Any idea if that would work in this scenario? I’m thinking maybe this one:

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Overclocked 4GB Edition Gaming Graphics Card (TUF-GTX1650S-O4G-GAMING) - Newegg.com

Buy ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER Overclocked 4GB Edition HDMI DP DVI Gaming Graphics Card (TUF-GTX1650S-O4G-GAMING) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

Actually I do. There was a time before Apple switched to AMD. And in those days almost everyone who needed power used NVidia cards only in their MP4.1/5.1. Nvidia used separate Web drivers those days.
Those Web drivers do work in MacOS ElCapitan, Sierra and High Sierra only. If you choose the Nvidia route, you can not go beyond High Sierra. Cards that are supported are the 980, 980Ti, 1070, 1080, 1080Ti and Titan cards with Maxwell and Pascal Chip sets. Anything newer doesn’t work. However, if you check capabilities on those cards you will be surprised. I ran a EVGA 980Ti with boot screens these days together with ELCapitan and Win7.
The 980 Ti is also a sweet spot because it’s the last card that can be run without a pixlas mod. I used the EVGA Power Link which worked great. This little hardware mod makes sure, both Apple 6-Pin cables are equally powered and filters out small peaks & unbalances that can occur during 100% gpu load to avoid sudden switch off or damage.

 

[SideStepSociety]

Actually I do. There was a time before Apple switched to AMD. And in those days almost everyone who needed power used NVidia cards only in their MP4.1/5.1. Nvidia used separate Web drivers those days.
Those Web drivers do work in MacOS ElCapitan, Sierra and High Sierra only. If you choose the Nvidia route, you can not go beyond High Sierra. Cards that are supported are the 980, 980Ti, 1070, 1080, 1080Ti and Titan cards with Maxwell and Pascal Chip sets. Anything newer doesn’t work. However, if you check capabilities on those cards you will be surprised. I ran a EVGA 980Ti with boot screens these days together with ELCapitan and Win7.
The 980 Ti is also a sweet spot because it’s the last card that can be run without a pixlas mod. I used the EVGA Power Link which worked great. This little hardware mod makes sure, both Apple 6-Pin cables are equally powered and filters out small peaks & unbalances that can occur during 100% gpu load to avoid sudden switch off or damage.

Awesome info! Any thoughts/comments on compatibility with this model of 1080?

PNY GeForce GTX 1080 8GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Graphic Card (VCGGTX10808XGPB-OC)

Nvidia's flagship GeForce GTX 1080 just got even better, powered by the new NVIDIA pascal architecture and optimized with PNY XLR8 triple fan XLR8 cooler; PNY GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 gaming Edition offers faster performance and silent operation. Take on today's most challenging, graphics-intensive ...

www.amazon.ca

I seem to recall a mention of (and maybe you touched on it in your post) the need for an additional power cable to be run to the GPU in some cases. Provided this would fit/work, would any additional components (cables, etc.) be required?

 

[AlexMaximus]

Awesome info! Any thoughts/comments on compatibility with this model of 1080-TI?

PNY GeForce GTX 1080 8GB XLR8 Gaming Overclocked Graphic Card (VCGGTX10808XGPB-OC)

Nvidia's flagship GeForce GTX 1080 just got even better, powered by the new NVIDIA pascal architecture and optimized with PNY XLR8 triple fan XLR8 cooler; PNY GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 gaming Edition offers faster performance and silent operation. Take on today's most challenging, graphics-intensive ...

www.amazon.ca

I seem to recall a mention of (and maybe you touched on it in your post) the need for an additional power cable to be run to the GPU in some cases. Provided this would fit/work, would any additional components (cables, etc.) be required?

PNY has some real nice cards indeed. Your link doesn't work here in Germany, however I have found this baby here on PNY.

GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC

<p>GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC</p>

www.pny.com

The fan design would work wonders, but the problem will be the cards length. The MP might limit your card length because of the gray PCIe fan box. Make sure you measure it, otherwise it will not fit physically.
Attached you will find two pics, one with my old 980Ti & PowerLink setup, and the second one shows my pixels mod that I did for my Vega VII upgrade in 2020. With the 1080 flag ship you will need pixlas mod. However, it is actually really easy to install if you follow instructions from the internet. Just put the cable in before you put on those plugs. If you don't, its a major pain to fiddle the cable in with those plugs already attached.

Follow these instructions:

Mac Pro Pixlas Mod - The House of Moth

Modify your Mac Pro power supply to relieve the board and feed powerhungry GPU's

thehouseofmoth.com

 

[SideStepSociety]

PNY has some real nice cards indeed. Your link doesn't work here in Germany, however I have found this baby here on PNY.

GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC

<p>GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC</p>

www.pny.com

The fan design would work wonders, but the problem will be the cards length. The MP might limit your card length because of the gray PCIe fan box. Make sure you measure it, otherwise it will not fit physically.
Attached you will find two pics, one with my old 980Ti & PowerLink setup, and the second one shows my pixels mod that I did for my Vega VII upgrade in 2020. With the 1080 flag ship you will need pixlas mod. However, it is actually really easy to install if you follow instructions from the internet. Just put the cable in before you put on those plugs. If you don't, its a major pain to fiddle the cable in with those plugs already attached.

Follow these instructions:

Mac Pro Pixlas Mod - The House of Moth

Modify your Mac Pro power supply to relieve the board and feed powerhungry GPU's

thehouseofmoth.com

Thank you so much for all your advice!

The factory Apple RAID card is a little over 12.5” long from the front false I/O shield and ~4.5” wide, while the PNY GPU is 12” long and 5.3” wide, so it indeed might be snug, but seems like it should fit, unless I’m missing something?

The internals of the case also seem to suggest there’s about 12” of length available, though I’m curious about how I should be measuring this. Do card manufacturers use a standard distance between the I/O shields and the PCI slots? I.E. if one manufacturer reports a card being 12” long, and the other reports it at 8” long, the PCI terminals are located in the same position regardless? I stacked up a couple different cards I had kicking around, and that seems to be the case, but I thought I should confirm I’m taking my measurements properly.

 

[AlexMaximus]

@AlexMaximus thanks very much, very interesting! I am an occasional gamer mostly on iOS (iPad Pro and Apple TV4K) and ScummVM games on the cMP. I have been wanting to play Cyberpunk 2077 for some time and your account convinced me to install Windows and buy the game!

I do not have a water cooling system as you do, but like you I have the RX580 and my boot NMVe on slot 2 (more in my signature). When you say Cyberpunk 2077 maxes out the CPU, you mean literally 100%? And does the game performance suffer at all or does it run without issues? I know you already mentioned it runs fine on your system, but I am a bit hesitant since I would only install Windows to play this game. I would only go through that (probably long/complicated?) process if I can count somewhat on my system being able to handle the demands of the game... anyway any feedback would be very welcomed for me to make a decision. Thanks!!!

Hi Stex,

I just started up Cyberpunk another time to check on it, but it is very stable. It doesn’t crash and it’s very playable. There is no chocking. I can play with the preset set to high, no problem. If you like this kind of game, I highly recommend every Deus Ex title As well. I played through all of them, great game and also fast. In the past three years of gaming, I have really only experienced one single title that doesn’t run good on this Mac Pro, and that is Mad Max. Considering my current collection of steam titele via bootcamp, it is an outstanding score. When it comes to Cyberpunk, there is even more and further room for improvement through special gpu settings by plenty of geeks that post on YouTube. So far I did not felt the need to modify settings, it’s great the way it is.
The only thing that might be of importance is a possible noticable fan courve during play with your stock cooler; and your upcoming challenge of installing windows 10 with boot camp. In order to get my fully dual boot system back, I had to send my 580 in for flashing and later to install the iMac Pro drivers to get win 10 correctly installed the way I want it. There was some effort waiting but it was fully worth it. I just wanted to mention that.
By the way, below you find som fan/geek material that you may like..

 

[h9826790]

PNY has some real nice cards indeed. Your link doesn't work here in Germany, however I have found this baby here on PNY.

GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC

<p>GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC</p>

www.pny.com

The fan design would work wonders, but the problem will be the cards length. The MP might limit your card length because of the gray PCIe fan box. Make sure you measure it, otherwise it will not fit physically.
Attached you will find two pics, one with my old 980Ti & PowerLink setup, and the second one shows my pixels mod that I did for my Vega VII upgrade in 2020. With the 1080 flag ship you will need pixlas mod. However, it is actually really easy to install if you follow instructions from the internet. Just put the cable in before you put on those plugs. If you don't, its a major pain to fiddle the cable in with those plugs already attached.

Follow these instructions:

Mac Pro Pixlas Mod - The House of Moth

Modify your Mac Pro power supply to relieve the board and feed powerhungry GPU's

thehouseofmoth.com

I used to run the PNY XLR8 1080Ti on my cMP. It's works very well.

Getting my 5,1 ready for Vive VR!

Just switched to the Green Team. After discuss with another member here. I agree that I should choose a reference 1080Ti. That should have least problem. Because Nvidia test their web driver with their own reference card. However, the actual Nvidia brand 1080Ti is considered very expensive...

forums.macrumors.com

I haven't check the details, but I don't think the 1080 is longer than 1080Ti. So, it should able to fit into the cMP nicely.

 

[SideStepSociety]

Awesome. I’ve found a new Founders Edition 1080 TI on eBay for a “reasonable” price. Ordering that along with the cables for the Pixlas mod.

Really appreciate all of your help! I’ll post some pictures once everything gets here. 🙂

 

[Stex]

The only thing that might be of importance is a possible noticable fan courve during play with your stock cooler;

I would not mind the fan noise (thanks to AirPods Max noise cancellation!) as long as the GPU does not throttle. And also, whenever I do tests and such and leave the side panel open, the temps decrease quite a bit for all components. So I would not mind playing this game with the panel removed, that might be the best cooling strategy! If only we could get a side panel with wholes like the front and back!

and your upcoming challenge of installing windows 10 with boot camp.

What MacOS are you running? Are you using OpenCore? I think with OpenCore you don't need Bootcamp? Other please correct if wrong. I just started going through various threads that explain that in detail, but so far my understanding is that OpenCore would allow us to have Windows 10 without Bootcamp?

In order to get my fully dual boot system back, I had to send my 580 in for flashing and later to install the iMac Pro drivers to get win 10 correctly installed the way I want it.

Would you mind to elaborate a bit on this? How are iMac Pro AMD drivers (for MacOS I suppose?) helping you in Windows..?

By the way, below you find som fan/geek material that you may like..

Great videos, thanks so much for sharing. I am definitely on board to make it (Win+Cyberpunk) happen. Never considered my cMP capable to run such games somehow... but thanks to your account I discovered yet another side to this immortal machine!!!

 

[AlexMaximus]

I would not mind the fan noise (thanks to AirPods Max noise cancellation!) as long as the GPU does not throttle. And also, whenever I do tests and such and leave the side panel open, the temps decrease quite a bit for all components. So I would not mind playing this game with the panel removed, that might be the best cooling strategy! If only we could get a side panel with wholes like the front and back!



What MacOS are you running? Are you using OpenCore? I think with OpenCore you don't need Bootcamp? Other please correct if wrong. I just started going through various threads that explain that in detail, but so far my understanding is that OpenCore would allow us to have Windows 10 without Bootcamp?



Would you mind to elaborate a bit on this? How are iMac Pro AMD drivers (for MacOS I suppose?) helping you in Windows..?



Great videos, thanks so much for sharing. I am definitely on board to make it (Win+Cyberpunk) happen. Never considered my cMP capable to run such games somehow... but thanks to your account I discovered yet another side to this immortal machine!!!

Regarding Bootcamp, there have been actually two kind of time periods in the Mac Pro 5.1 world. Before the introduction of Open core and after it. When Open core wasn’t around, one had to choose between either a flashed video card (MVC & others), a rare and usually dated Mac Edition card or the paid boot loader software such as this one here:

Boot Runner – Twocanoes Software

twocanoes.com

Apple always wants to make your device obsolete and artificially constrains your device capabilities as you come closer to their projected end of its live cycle. The solutions mentioned above mitigated that trend.
However, they kept going in this direction and stopped bootcamp capabilities in the software for those old devices. To circumvent this and keep bootcamp on the 5.1, you had to use the drivers from newer devices and modify them that they fit on your old device To break apples controlled product obscolescence. I used that Method and modified the iMac Pro 2017 bootcamp drivers so that it runs on a 5.1 for windows 10. (Through instructions on the internet) That’s the old strategy And it works flawless with a modified gpu that has boot screens. Currently I run the latest version of Catalina with the dosdude patcher. This config really works like a new bought Mac.
Open Core changed all that and made the above method unnecessary. However, instead of the processes above, you have to install open core and make all modifications there. I have tried once to do the open core install, but I have failed because of my insufficient discipline and motivation to dig into script and lines of code in terminal. For me it was easier to stick to the old way to do things But it’s for sure a great way as well to reach the same outcome with open core. I am just not familiar with it.

Install Win10 BootCamp Drivers on a Mac Pro 5,1

So, as many Mac Pro users have learned, Mojave requires the boot drive file system to be formatted as APFS and the installer converts it to such (want it or not). If you try to force any variation …

bucknastie.wordpress.com

 

[Stex]

Thanks very much @AlexMaximus -- I learned a lot of new things/tricks from your comprehensive response/experience. I will start digging deeper into other threads about Windows on cMP etc and hopefully manage to get my cMP to run Cyberpunk fine!

 

[h9826790]

whenever I do tests and such and leave the side panel open, the temps decrease quite a bit for all components.

For info, you may check the RAM temperature. They usually run few degrees warmer with the panel opened (due to the designed air "flow" no longer works).

 

[Stex]

For info, you may check the RAM temperature. They usually run few degrees warmer with the panel opened (due to the designed air "flow" no longer works).

Thanks, will do!

Interesting! I would have never imagined -- and I know from other threads that this is your expertise! 🌬️✈️🌬️

 

[SideStepSociety]

🙂

I wish I’d have taken pictures during the install, but got a bit too preoccupied with the install itself. 1080 ti Founders Edition with Pixlas mod: complete!

Now, I’m curious how I can make the most of this. Simply by by installing the card, I’m noting a drastic improvement over my previous card, but outside of per-game settings, I’m wondering if there’s a way to increase FPS and visual quality. Does anyone have any general hints/tips/tricks/basics that I might be overlooking?

I’m also curious if my understanding of FPS is wrong. I’ve currently got the unit hooked up to a Sony TV (yes, I’m a couch PC gamer). Am I right in assuming that FPS is determined by the refresh rate of the display? Eg. At 4K, the TV functions at 30hz, and is therefore capped at 30FPS, whereas at 1080p, it functions at 60hz and may be limited to (up to) 60FPS?

Thank you all for your insight along the way. 🙂