Mac Pro 5.1 Mojave - what GPU cards work?

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by LDS

I tossed a Sapphire RX580 into my 5,1 Mac Pro a few days ago. It has been incident free running Mojave & HDX with 2019.6. It's a non-EFI card, but I'm not fussed by it as my computer stays on for weeks at a time.

One thing that I did discover through the process is that you need to run the OSX Mojave installer from either a USB stick or from one of the internal SATAII ports inside the 5,1 Mac Pro for it to update the firmware on the machine. It won't update the firmware during the installation process if you try and execute the installer from a PCIe based SSD. If you are running a non-EFI card, just follow the instructions given by the Mojave installer. You will experience a black screen during the firmware upgrade process but you can check if it was successful via the system info in OSX (boot rom: 144.0.0.0.0 is what you are aiming for).

Can I ask what Mac OS version you were upgrading from? I thought I read that if you upgraded and previously installed High Sierra 10.13.6 (which I am on) you already had the firmware update ? Is this not the case ?

[Ru_C]

Originally Posted by LDS

I tossed a Sapphire RX580 into my 5,1 Mac Pro a few days ago. It has been incident free running Mojave & HDX with 2019.6. It's a non-EFI card, but I'm not fussed by it as my computer stays on for weeks at a time.

One thing that I did discover through the process is that you need to run the OSX Mojave installer from either a USB stick or from one of the internal SATAII ports inside the 5,1 Mac Pro for it to update the firmware on the machine. It won't update the firmware during the installation process if you try and execute the installer from a PCIe based SSD. If you are running a non-EFI card, just follow the instructions given by the Mojave installer. You will experience a black screen during the firmware upgrade process but you can check if it was successful via the system info in OSX (boot rom: 144.0.0.0.0 is what you are aiming for).

Yeah, i just put a regular 'Sapphire pulse 8gb RX580' that I got from ebay for about £125. It worked find with High Sierra & now with Mojave . If you do any video editing too, it makes FCPX & Davinci Resolve run great with an old 5,1.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by mcnichols

Thanks for the replies so far - encouraging.

By Avid 'qualified' I was referring to the warning on the Pro Tools 2018 System Requirements page relating to the Mac Pro, specifically:

"Notes:
(*) MSI Radeon RX560 required when using macOS Mojave. Other graphics cards have been shown to cause errors in Pro Tools."

So I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone's with experience using this card please, good or bad.

Interesting that Apple do not say anything about a Mac version this card on their recommended GPUs for Mojave, which they do for others, hence the question about the boot screen.

Main reason for wanting to try Mojave is to see if it gets around the intermittent (usually one-off) -9093 error on playback/record, currently being investigated by Avid support.

I’ve got a Mac flashed AMD 7970 in my 5,1. No issues.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Can I ask what Mac OS version you were upgrading from? I thought I read that if you upgraded and previously installed High Sierra 10.13.6 (which I am on) you already had the firmware update ? Is this not the case ?

10.13.6. The upgrade for these old machines is effectively a three part trips. First to firmware MP51.0089.B00 with 10.13.6. Then to firmware 138.0.0.0.0 with 10.14. Then to firmware 144.0.0.0.0 with 10.14.5.

The 10.13.6 firmware won't work with Mojave, but it will allow you to upgrade the firmware without any need to see the boot screen of your Mac. So it doesn't matter if your new metal graphics card is EFI or non-EFI. 144.0.0.0.0 is where you really want to be. It is backwards compatible to 10.6.8, includes NVME support and avoids some of the issues of 142.0.0.0.0. 142.0.0.0.0 will brick any 5,1 running a single CPU (W3###).

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by LDS

10.13.6. The upgrade for these old machines is effectively a three part trips. First to firmware MP51.0089.B00 with 10.13.6. Then to firmware 138.0.0.0.0 with 10.14. Then to firmware 144.0.0.0.0 with 10.14.5.

The 10.13.6 firmware won't work with Mojave, but it will allow you to upgrade the firmware without any need to see the boot screen of your Mac. So it doesn't matter if your new metal graphics card is EFI or non-EFI. 144.0.0.0.0 is where you really want to be. It is backwards compatible to 10.6.8, includes NVME support and avoids some of the issues of 142.0.0.0.0. 140.0.0.0.0 will brick any 5,1 running a single CPU (W3###).

WHOA!

I didn't know we needed PhD in Firmware

Thank you for providing the mathematical equation
Saving this for when I upgrade

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by LDS

10.13.6. The upgrade for these old machines is effectively a three part trips. First to firmware MP51.0089.B00 with 10.13.6. Then to firmware 138.0.0.0.0 with 10.14. Then to firmware 144.0.0.0.0 with 10.14.5.

The 10.13.6 firmware won't work with Mojave, but it will allow you to upgrade the firmware without any need to see the boot screen of your Mac. So it doesn't matter if your new metal graphics card is EFI or non-EFI. 144.0.0.0.0 is where you really want to be. It is backwards compatible to 10.6.8, includes NVME support and avoids some of the issues of 142.0.0.0.0. 142.0.0.0.0 will brick any 5,1 running a single CPU (W3###).

Thanks for your reply Sorry to be so dense but to clarify: ("allow you to upgrade the firmware without any need to see the boot screen" ) does this happen automatically in the background if I install current Mojave over the 10.13.6 I am on now ?

Also I am planning on upgrading GPU to : Sapphire 11265-05-20G Radeon Pulse RX 580 8GB GDDR5 Dual HDMI/ DVI-D/ Dual DP OC with Backplate (UEFI) PCI-E Graphics Card Graphic Cards........Does the (UEFI) mean the EFI you mention ?
Thanks, Kevin.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by SDDP

WHOA!

I didn't know we needed PhD in Firmware

Thank you for providing the mathematical equation
Saving this for when I upgrade

Funny I read that firmware roadmap and said to myself “ Wow, I did all that?”

Whatever firmware updates required for the 5,1 are part of the OS install. It will tell you exactly what to do as far as restarting, pressing buttons, etc. No PhD required.

[LDS]

Originally Posted by K Roche

Thanks for your reply Sorry to be so dense but to clarify: ("allow you to upgrade the firmware without any need to see the boot screen" ) does this happen automatically in the background if I install current Mojave over the 10.13.6 I am on now ?

Also I am planning on upgrading GPU to : Sapphire 11265-05-20G Radeon Pulse RX 580 8GB GDDR5 Dual HDMI/ DVI-D/ Dual DP OC with Backplate (UEFI) PCI-E Graphics Card Graphic Cards........Does the (UEFI) mean the EFI you mention ?
Thanks, Kevin.

UEFI is a replacement for the old BIOS firmware on Windows machines. Unfortunately you need a different mac specific EFI rom to see the boot screen. Unless you routinely access different OSX installations from the boot screen, you probably won't notice much of a difference. The screen will come to life after the KEXT drivers are loaded, which is usually in the first quarter of the OSX loading bar.

Regarding the firmware itself, it is contained within the Mojave installer. When you first execute the installer it will check if you have the appropriate metal compatible graphics card installed, then it will check if you have the appropriate firmware. If not, it will take you through the process of updating. Where it gets a little weird and wonderful and a departure from the past is - you will spend a lot of time with your monitor 'active' but just black (for non-EFI GPUs) or white (EFI GPUs). The instructions are quite simple, and clear. Just make sure you have the RX580 installed before you run the installer, and make sure that you are running the installer from either an OSX installation on a SSD or HDD connected to the SATA II ports of the Mac Pro, or as a dedicated OSX bootable USB installer and it should be pretty breezy. Don't be alarmed if you see a lot of black screen. The firmware took about 4 or 5 minutes to load from memory, in total black... but the really long one is when OSX Mojave installs itself. With a non-EFI graphics card you won't see the installation bar (the bit with the "14 minutes remaining"). Grab a coffee or something. After your computer restarts to install Mojave, you won't see anything on screen until the "welcome to Mojave" splash page.

It's a bit clunky compared to previous OSX updates and installs due to the lack of visual feedback, but it seems to work just all the same.

[K Roche]

Originally Posted by LDS

UEFI is a replacement for the old BIOS firmware on Windows machines. Unfortunately you need a different mac specific EFI rom to see the boot screen. Unless you routinely access different OSX installations from the boot screen, you probably won't notice much of a difference. The screen will come to life after the KEXT drivers are loaded, which is usually in the first quarter of the OSX loading bar.

Regarding the firmware itself, it is contained within the Mojave installer. When you first execute the installer it will check if you have the appropriate metal compatible graphics card installed, then it will check if you have the appropriate firmware. If not, it will take you through the process of updating. Where it gets a little weird and wonderful and a departure from the past is - you will spend a lot of time with your monitor 'active' but just black (for non-EFI GPUs) or white (EFI GPUs). The instructions are quite simple, and clear. Just make sure you have the RX580 installed before you run the installer, and make sure that you are running the installer from either an OSX installation on a SSD or HDD connected to the SATA II ports of the Mac Pro, or as a dedicated OSX bootable USB installer and it should be pretty breezy. Don't be alarmed if you see a lot of black screen. The firmware took about 4 or 5 minutes to load from memory, in total black... but the really long one is when OSX Mojave installs itself. With a non-EFI graphics card you won't see the installation bar (the bit with the "14 minutes remaining"). Grab a coffee or something. After your computer restarts to install Mojave, you won't see anything on screen until the "welcome to Mojave" splash page.

It's a bit clunky compared to previous OSX updates and installs due to the lack of visual feedback, but it seems to work just all the same.

Ah ok got it , thanks for your patience and detailed answer, very much appreciated. Kev

[GuyPicks]

I upgraded my 5,1 with the Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition.
I also upgraded my handoff continuity chip so I can hand off videos from my iPad.
Everything works great.