I didn't say it well. Correct, there is nothing wrong at all with the physical processors themselves. They were doing great things last week on Mojave 10.14.3. Some change to a driver (or other software change) was made rendering them unstable for midi audio production on 10.14.4. The solution, in the end, may be to swap out the processors if Apple deems the 5500s to be deprecated. However, I'm assuming (actually, hoping) that something got lost, and that they will fix it in time.
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MP 1,1-5,1 Strange Audio Issue on MP 4,1>5,1 Mojave 10.14.4
- Thread starter rocksarntpeople
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I didn't say it well. Correct, there is nothing wrong at all with the physical processors themselves. They were doing great things last week on Mojave 10.14.3. Some change to a driver (or other software change) was made rendering them unstable for midi audio production on 10.14.4. The solution, in the end, may be to swap out the processors if Apple deems the 5500s to be deprecated. However, I'm assuming (actually, hoping) that something got lost, and that they will fix it in time.
Xeon 5500-series was NEVER officially supported in Mojave. They were depreciated after macOS/OSX El Capitan (10.11), which was the last officially available OS for authentic Mac Pro 4,1 containing these CPUs. El Capitan's latest (and believe final) security update was in July 2018.
The life of Gainestown Xeon 5500-series has only been extended by user hacks and workarounds, which may have finally hit the end of the road with this latest release, for these specific CPUs, if you care about this specific issue. Squeezing three additional OS versions out of officially unsupported hardware isn't too bad. You can pickup a pair of Xeon 5600-series CPUs for under $50 and continue to run the latest macOS Mojave without issue. At that price, cannot see why anyone experiencing this issue would not be shopping...
Agreed. I believe I even posted previously that my 5680's were $130 for a matched pair, already de-lidded, with a 90 day guarantee. With that information, not only are you currently in-line with the officially supported chip line, but there is a very very noticeable performance gain to boot all for an extremely low price point. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
No doubt I will upgrade in light of all this. I only have the the W5590 because that was the only choice OWC gave me when upgrading my processors. I'm going to reach out to them about this.
Price isn't the issue. For me, installation may be. I haven't researched it yet, but I may need to delid the 5600s? I've never swapped out CPUs and don't yet understand the risks involved with that yet. Off topic, though...
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Would you mind posting a link to where you bought these? And any steps/issues in getting them installed? Thanks!
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While still slightly off topic, I would DEFINITELY suggest speaking with OWC as you may have some recourse there. If not, the chips can be had for very little money already de-lidded (which is the kind of sketchy part to do yourself) and installation is exceedingly simple with plenty of illustrated instructions (including Apples own service manual posted on this site).
If the audio clarity is in issue, I would see what you can do with OWC and if they give you a hard time, just pull the trigger on new ones on ebay. Simple as that. Chances are this wont be patched by Apple in a future release, as all things considered, were kind of lucky the 5,1 Pro is still officially supported at this point never mind the 4,1.
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Links to Processor Install How-Tos:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_pro/faq/mac-pro-how-to-upgrade-processors.html
http://tim.id.au/laptops/apple/macpro/macpro_early2009.pdf
Where To Buy: Ebay.com
Search Criteria: Whatever Processor Model in the 5600 series youd like. For reference I bought X5680's a simple search will yield tons of results both lidded and non-lidded. Look for the Non-Lidded ones (usually a tad more expensive)
**For a list of compatible CPU's, see here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-pro-cpu-compatibility-list.1954766/
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Just came across this issue today with my 2009 Pro running Mojave 10.14.4.
I found a less invasive work around, though it still requires an extra bit of hardware.
I have a Griffin iMic (earlier silver model) that I use to connect a cheap microphone, so I moved my line out to the iMic's output. Audio seems to be much better at the default settings. It's still possible to get some hiccups if you set the iMic to its maximum audio quality.
I found a less invasive work around, though it still requires an extra bit of hardware.
I have a Griffin iMic (earlier silver model) that I use to connect a cheap microphone, so I moved my line out to the iMic's output. Audio seems to be much better at the default settings. It's still possible to get some hiccups if you set the iMic to its maximum audio quality.
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I have a similar issue with a 4,1 -> 5,1 2009 Mac Pro. No audio problems with 10.14.0 but needed to convert fusion (home built) drive to APFS when upgraded to 10.14.4 and now I have the audio playback problem.
I get audio playback stuttering when using iTunes for music (audio) files. On Chrome, I get audio stuttering when trying to play Amazon music.
However, in both cases video playback seems to be ok, I haven't noticed any video playback problems, but both streamed audio, audio files on the HD, and audio files on a CD, there is choppy playback (several pauses and "crackling" per sec. of playback.) Quicktime 7 also had playback issues when playing files from the HD.
Now here is the interesting part: If I play the same audio files (can't access streamed files of course, just those on the HD or CD) with Quicktime 10.5, or with Audacity, the files play perfectly. So there is no problem with the hardware, OS per se or data transfer from the HD or CD. It must be something with the APIs or audio buffers that iTunes (and Chrome browser) and Quicktime 7 are all accessing for audio playback and those must be different from what Quicktime 10.5 or Audacity are using.
I told about this before. With Quicktime or Vox Player the issue is much less in 10.14.4 but it's still there, if you listen attentively, you could hear stuttering 2-3-4 times per minute.
With 10.14.5 stuttering is much less even in iTunes, maybe 1 per minute. I didn't check to play audiofiles in 10.14.5 with Quicktime or Vox Player.
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Hi, I'm late to the game, but I can also report, that I have the problems since 14.4. I also have the Original 4,1 with E5520 Processors upgraded to 5,1:
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2,26 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 8 MB
Memory: 12 GB
Boot ROM Version: 140.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5
For me I have the problems with internal devices, like the normal Digital Out as well as USB devices a Behringer UMC1820 or USB headsets. Changing the MIDI Settings to various bitrates and -depths impacts the horror, but does not remove it completely.
What I experienced:
- itunes or Safari exhibits it worst, regardless if the music or video comes from the harddrive or the network
- Chrome has no issues (or at least I cannot hear them)
- If I play a music file via IINA I have also not heard the issues
- worst scenario: playing a youtube video in safari, it is almost unbearable, sometimes you cannot even understand the speaker properly. Now: If I blank the screen (using hot corners) the audio issue is severely reduced, almost undetectable!
Some people suggested doing a complete 14.4 install instead of the 14.3->14.4 normal update that I ran would bring me to firmware 141.0.0.0.0. But as far as I read in this thread, this brings no benefits, right?
So if no-one finds a solution I understand that I would have to go through either a processor upgrade with the risk of breaking my cpu tray or stay with 14.3 indefinitely.
Thanks for all investigating this issue, that is at the moment quite nervewracking, when you want to follow YT tutorials...
Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro5,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 2,26 GHz
Number of Processors: 2
Total Number of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache (per Processor): 8 MB
Memory: 12 GB
Boot ROM Version: 140.0.0.0.0
SMC Version (system): 1.39f5
SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f5
For me I have the problems with internal devices, like the normal Digital Out as well as USB devices a Behringer UMC1820 or USB headsets. Changing the MIDI Settings to various bitrates and -depths impacts the horror, but does not remove it completely.
What I experienced:
- itunes or Safari exhibits it worst, regardless if the music or video comes from the harddrive or the network
- Chrome has no issues (or at least I cannot hear them)
- If I play a music file via IINA I have also not heard the issues
- worst scenario: playing a youtube video in safari, it is almost unbearable, sometimes you cannot even understand the speaker properly. Now: If I blank the screen (using hot corners) the audio issue is severely reduced, almost undetectable!
Some people suggested doing a complete 14.4 install instead of the 14.3->14.4 normal update that I ran would bring me to firmware 141.0.0.0.0. But as far as I read in this thread, this brings no benefits, right?
So if no-one finds a solution I understand that I would have to go through either a processor upgrade with the risk of breaking my cpu tray or stay with 14.3 indefinitely.
Thanks for all investigating this issue, that is at the moment quite nervewracking, when you want to follow YT tutorials...
Right. I did dosens 10.14.4 installs - clean or update from 14.3, no difference.
I preffere this.
For the record, there is zero risk of breaking the CPU tray upgrading chips IF you use delidded chips like the board intends. The only risk to swapping the chips is in using lidded processors.
It really is a very simple and VERY worthwhile upgrade plus it removes the issue entirely.
While I understand the want to find a work around for it, in my experience, this could only be one of many further issues to follow using unsupported processors. As this (and maybe other undocumented issues) exist solely with the gainstown chips, it would be recommended to take the opportunity to upgrade and therefore increase the mileage of the machine as a whole. However the choice is really up to the user.
It really is a very simple and VERY worthwhile upgrade plus it removes the issue entirely.
While I understand the want to find a work around for it, in my experience, this could only be one of many further issues to follow using unsupported processors. As this (and maybe other undocumented issues) exist solely with the gainstown chips, it would be recommended to take the opportunity to upgrade and therefore increase the mileage of the machine as a whole. However the choice is really up to the user.
I only was hesitating, because people reported, that a very specific torque (in ?? Nm) should not be exceeded when screwing the heatsinks back on. Too much might break the board, too little will have insufficient thermal conductivity.
But I have now ordered a pair of delidded CPUs and will try to take the plunge.
Looking in the manual I posted before should give you the info. Basically follow the star pattern and do them hand tight. That’s really all there is to it. It’s computer parts so use your judgment, however they aren’t glass either lol
In fact, I believe the posts and heatsinks are actually designed in such a way to prevent over tightening so long as the lids are off the chips, but maybe someone else can chime in on that part.
In fact, I believe the posts and heatsinks are actually designed in such a way to prevent over tightening so long as the lids are off the chips, but maybe someone else can chime in on that part.
While this helped iTunes playback, it turned out that it caused issues with Youtube playback.
Last night I removed the CPU B from my dual tray, no more stuttering with iTunes. Now people who have the problem constantly need to check this too.
Do the same and check if stops the problem for you. CPU B is the one that have the RAM slots near the CPU tray connector on the back. CPU A is the one that have the RAM slots on the front.
This is an important test, will narrow a lot for Apple.
One thing of note: when you run a dual CPU tray with just CPU A, the fans will run 100% of the time. This is normal.
Another thing of note: with single CPU trays, even slower X55xx/E55xx/L55xx Xeons work without the stuttering.
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Anyone having the stuttering, please test this:
To go back to two CPUs:
Code:
sudo nvram boot-args="cpus=1"To go back to two CPUs:
Code:
sudo nvram -d boot-argsI've updated my bug report with Apple to include this new information.
Hey guys, just wanted to share something. I too had issues with the 10.14.4 update but on my end was more UI where it too was stuttery. Easiest way was to load up the screen saver and it wasn't flowing smoothly, it was stuttering. Was told of this thread and disabled one cpu on my dual cpu MacPro and sure enough the stuttering UI went away.
For benefit of everyone on this thread, please share your CPUs (actual model number not just speed), if your machine was a 4,1>5,1 or authentic 5,1 and your BootROM version.
We seem to have narrowed this down, but figuring out what CPUs in the series it impacts.
Will check next week. Signatures do not show on mobile or for all forum members...