MP 1,1-5,1 Upgrading Graphics Card for Mac Pro 5,1 (mid 2010)

[frez]

I've read several posts for the method for upgrading the card - I have the stock ATI Radeon 5870.

It looks like the Sapphire Radeon RX 580 is the most straightforward upgrade.

I already have an OWC Mercury Accelsior E2 PCIe SSD 1tb card, which is my start up disk (APFS) and I'm running 10.13.6 (High Sierra) with bootcamp running Windows Professional 8.1.

I'm planning to use: Maya, Adobe CC (Photoshop, After Effects, Lightroom), Houdini, FCPX, Resolve, Unity and Unreal. This is mostly for opening and inspecting files as opposed to any high-end rendering.

My questions:

1. The card costs $110 more at OWC than NewEgg. Are they the exact same card?

OWC Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Upgrade Solution (2010-2012)

Add Metal support to your 2010-2012 Mac Pro Tower and upgrade to macOS 10.14.x Mojave. See 1.5x better performance than Radeon HD 7950.

eshop.macsales.com

vs.

SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 580 Video Cards 11265-05-20G - Newegg.com

Buy SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Video Cards 11265-05-20G with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

2. I visited AMD's website and couldn't find Windows 8 drivers -- is it supported?

3. Will either card show me a proper boot screen? (I need to be able to choose MacOS vs. Windows on start up) If not, then is there a workaround?

4. Will they come with the appropriate cables to connect? If not, then what is the best place to order from? Some of the links I found in other threads were dead.

5. Apple's support page says that FileVault must be turned off. Is this for the install only or always?

Install macOS 10.14 Mojave on Mac Pro (Mid 2010) and Mac Pro (Mid 2012) - Apple Support

Learn how to prepare your Mac Pro (Mid 2010) or Mac Pro (Mid 2012) for macOS Mojave.

support.apple.com

6. Is there another card I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance,
Frez

 

[StuAff]

I've read several posts for the method for upgrading the card - I have the stock ATI Radeon 5870.

It looks like the Sapphire Radeon RX 580 is the most straightforward upgrade.

I already have an OWC Mercury Accelsior E2 PCIe SSD 1tb card, which is my start up disk (APFS) and I'm running 10.13.6 (High Sierra) with bootcamp running Windows Professional 8.1.

I'm planning to use: Maya, Adobe CC (Photoshop, After Effects, Lightroom), Houdini, FCPX, Resolve, Unity and Unreal. This is mostly for opening and inspecting files as opposed to any high-end rendering.

My questions:

1. The card costs $110 more at OWC than NewEgg. Are they the exact same card?

OWC Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Upgrade Solution (2010-2012)

Add Metal support to your 2010-2012 Mac Pro Tower and upgrade to macOS 10.14.x Mojave. See 1.5x better performance than Radeon HD 7950.

eshop.macsales.com

vs.

SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 580 Video Cards 11265-05-20G - Newegg.com

Buy SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 580 8GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 CrossFireX Support Video Cards 11265-05-20G with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.com

2. I visited AMD's website and couldn't find Windows 8 drivers -- is it supported?

3. Will either card show me a proper boot screen? (I need to be able to choose MacOS vs. Windows on start up) If not, then is there a workaround?

4. Will they come with the appropriate cables to connect? If not, then what is the best place to order from? Some of the links I found in other threads were dead.

5. Is there another card I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance,
Frez

1. Card is the same. OWC include the custom power cables, that's it. Buy a regular card at the regular price and just get the cables somewhere else.
2. Strangely, no, Windows 8 is not supported. 7, 10, but not 8. I didn't get that either.
3. No. Either get an EFI-modded card from MacVidCards or install and use OpenCore (there's a big thread on this forum about that). Otherwise, no boot screen
4. No. Got mine here https://www.moddiy.com/products/App...-to-Standard-PCIE-8-Pin-Video-Card-Cable.html
5. Pass....

 

[startergo]

Card is the same. OWC include the custom power cables, that's it

Interesting they state 1x8 pin connector:

Other Requirements

• 500 Watt or greater power supply (Recommended)
• 1 x 8-pin Power Connector

Edit: It is supposed to be 8 pin connector only

 

[frez]

1. Card is the same. OWC include the custom power cables, that's it. Buy a regular card at the regular price and just get the cables somewhere else.
2. Strangely, no, Windows 8 is not supported. 7, 10, but not 8. I didn't get that either.
3. No. Either get an EFI-modded card from MacVidCards or install and use OpenCore (there's a big thread on this forum about that). Otherwise, no boot screen
4. No. Got mine here https://www.moddiy.com/products/App...-to-Standard-PCIE-8-Pin-Video-Card-Cable.html
5. Pass....

Thanks for the quick reply .. I'll look up OpenCore.

Super strange about Windows 8 - the Mac Pro is not upgradeable to Windows 10 .. so this leaves me with a bit of a conundrum.

 

[flowrider]

^^^^For a cMP you'll need a dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable like this for the RX580:

Dual Mini 6 Pin PCI-e Male to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Cable Mac Pro 18AWG GPU | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dual Mini 6 Pin PCI-e Male to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Cable Mac Pro 18AWG GPU at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

And - IMHO, OWC is way overpriced for most everything. I stay away 👎

Personally I like Gigabyte and Gigabyte Aorus GPUs - I like their coolers 👍 Their Aorus line is a better build.

Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 Gaming 4GB Graphic Cards GV-RX580GAMING-4GD

Powered by Radeon RX 580 and integrated with 4GB GDDR5 256-bit memory interface. Featuring WINDFORCE 2X with Blade Fan Design

www.amazon.com

Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 580 4GB Graphic Cards GV-RX580AORUS-4GD

Powered by Radeon RX 580 and integrated with 4GB GDDR5 256-bit memory interface. Featuring WINDFORCE 2X with Blade Fan Design

www.amazon.com

Lou

 

[startergo]

Thanks for the quick reply .. I'll look up OpenCore.

Super strange about Windows 8 - the Mac Pro is not upgradeable to Windows 10 .. so this leaves me with a bit of a conundrum.

cMP5,1 and Apple BOOTCAMP assistant for creating Windows 10 partition

Here is a little study on the official BOOTCAMP for the cMP5,1. It may be valid for other Macs, but it is not guaranteed. As you may know BOOTCAMP assistant throws this message, when you try to open it in an APFS formatted drive (Mojave and Catalina): I modified the BOOTCAMP Info.plist from a...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Digital Nomad]

You can install Windows 10 on the MacPro - but you need to use a DVD and remove all drives (except one drive you will use to install Windows). This is a great starter article: https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-and-windows

To get the right drivers you will need to boot into High Sierra and create a USB stick for Windows 8 via the Bootcamp utility. Then once you run it on your MacPro, you need to enable the developer mode to facilitate updates from Apple. Hope this helps

 

[StuAff]

Absolutely no problem about installing Windows 10 on any Mac Pro- even the 1,1 is compatible let alone the 5,1. 'It works' and 'Apple supports it' have long been two very different things, the former list is much longer than the latter. One of the first things I've done with each of my three MPs has been to install Windows…

+1 for @flowrider's recommendation. Been very happy with my Aorus RX 580, excellent bit of kit.

 

[ashleykaryl]

I can run Windows 10 on my Mac Pro 5.1, however it started life as Windows 7 from a DVD. It should be possible to download for free and install on a drive, but I would seriously recommend running Windows 10 from an SSD if possible. On an old SATA drive it's really painful, especially with all those updates. I have the RX560, which was dead easy to install and didn't even need the power cable like the original 5870.

BTW Keep that original 5870. There are times when you may need that.

 

[frez]

^^^^For a cMP you'll need a dual mini 6 pin to 8 pin cable like this for the RX580:

Dual Mini 6 Pin PCI-e Male to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Cable Mac Pro 18AWG GPU | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Dual Mini 6 Pin PCI-e Male to 8 Pin Graphics Card Power Cable Mac Pro 18AWG GPU at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

And - IMHO, OWC is way overpriced for most everything. I stay away 👎

Personally I like Gigabyte and Gigabyte Aorus GPUs - I like their coolers 👍 Their Aorus line is a better build.

Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 Gaming 4GB Graphic Cards GV-RX580GAMING-4GD

Powered by Radeon RX 580 and integrated with 4GB GDDR5 256-bit memory interface. Featuring WINDFORCE 2X with Blade Fan Design

www.amazon.com

Gigabyte AORUS Radeon RX 580 4GB Graphic Cards GV-RX580AORUS-4GD

Powered by Radeon RX 580 and integrated with 4GB GDDR5 256-bit memory interface. Featuring WINDFORCE 2X with Blade Fan Design

www.amazon.com

Lou

Thank you .. I'll take a look.
[automerge]1590307899[/automerge]
Looks like Windows 10 is indeed doable.

Thank you all for the responses.

I'll do some reading with the suggested link from @Digital Nomad

 

[eicca]

I installed Win10 via VirtualBox. Surprisingly easy and worked great, if not a bit slow.

Install windows on MacPro 5,1 without cd nor usb drive

Install windows on MacPro 5,1 without cd nor usb drive - Install Windows on MacPro 5,1 on physical drive through Virtualbox.md

gist.github.com

Install all the Bootcamp drivers and utilities and stuff while still in VB, then reboot to Bootcamp side and install GPU drivers and whatnot. You can't use boot screen to pick your startup OS, so use either "Startup Disc" in macOS or Bootcamp utility when in Windows to select boot disk.