Upgrading a Mac Pro 5.1 12core 2.4Ghz

[JGM]

Originally Posted by henningaround

Wouldn't it be more efficient to exchange the graphics card?

Could you expound on this in terms of getting better performance and stability in Pro Tools?

Thanks

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by JGM

Could you expound on this in terms of getting better performance and stability in Pro Tools?

GPU problems easily lose snappiness from your system. And should you ever want to install Mojave, you need Metal compatible GPU.

[JGM]

Originally Posted by JFreak

GPU problems easily lose snappiness from your system. And should you ever want to install Mojave, you need Metal compatible GPU.

Ok.
I got it.
I will look more into this.

[lancemcv]

You may not want to Raid 0 your boot drive, Apple no longer supports raid 0 boot drives and uses APFS instead of Mac OS Journaled. The only way to do that is to clone your system to the raid but you will have to use Mac OS Journaled and then you are stuck in High Sierra and APFS is optimized for modern SSDs. PCIE 2.0 is limited to 2000 MBps in a 4x slot. I get around 1500 read and 1200 write on mine which is plenty fast for your system drive. I don't see the point in raiding your boot drive. I would just use one for boot and one for Pro Tools record. My Mac Pro is running Catalina with an RX5700XT with no power mods and working nicely with Pro Tools Ultimate. I am using OpenCore so I get the boot screen. You can also get a thunderbolt Titan Ridge card on eBay that has been flashed for mac so there is that if you want thunderbolt, but I have USB 3.1 card and thats good enough for my needs. My second 16x pcie slot is blocked by my 5700XT so I cant use it, thats the one downside of the Gigabyte RX5700XT OC edition its a 2.5 slot wide card but the graphics performance is a but leap from a RX580. Nice that the old 5,1 still has some new tricks up it's sleeve.

[lancemcv]

I would not raid your NVME as Apple no longer supports raid 0 boot drives, although you can format the NVMEs in Mac OS Journald and raid 0 then clone your system to your raid you may be stuck in High Sierra. Apple uses APFS now and it's optimized for SSD storatge. I have an NVME and get around 1200 write and 1350 read in my pcie 4X slot and boot in about 15 seconds. I am running Catalina and have a RX5700XT installed for my GPU plus I get boot screen thanks to OpenCore. The RX5700XT is a 2.5 wide card so it eats into my second 16x slot so I can't use it which is the only downside of my card, its a Gigabyte OC edition. On the plus it does not need a power mod and is running off the two pcie mini connectors and it is much faster than RX580. I put a bluetooth antenna extension in the unused 16X slot bay door which is great as the antenna now sits on my desk and I no longer have a wonky bluetooth signal as my computer is in a closet. My two remaining 4X pcie slots have a Sonnet USB 3.1 and the NVME card. I would get an NVME card with a heat sync as they get hot and performance will drop if they run hot. All is playing very nicely with the latest Pro Tools Ultimate running Catalina 10.15.5. You can now also not put a thunderbolt card in your 5,1 via the Gigabyte Titan Ridge which you can by flashed for Mac on Ebay, I don't have any thunderbolt gear so not needed for me at the moment but it is pretty cool that the old 5,1 still have some new tricks up its sleeve.

[JGM]

Originally Posted by lancemcv

You may not want to Raid 0 your boot drive, Apple no longer supports raid 0 boot drives and uses APFS instead of Mac OS Journaled. The only way to do that is to clone your system to the raid but you will have to use Mac OS Journaled and then you are stuck in High Sierra and APFS is optimized for modern SSDs. PCIE 2.0 is limited to 2000 MBps in a 4x slot. I get around 1500 read and 1200 write on mine which is plenty fast for your system drive. I don't see the point in raiding your boot drive. I would just use one for boot and one for Pro Tools record. My Mac Pro is running Catalina with an RX5700XT with no power mods and working nicely with Pro Tools Ultimate. I am using OpenCore so I get the boot screen. You can also get a thunderbolt Titan Ridge card on eBay that has been flashed for mac so there is that if you want thunderbolt, but I have USB 3.1 card and thats good enough for my needs. My second 16x pcie slot is blocked by my 5700XT so I cant use it, thats the one downside of the Gigabyte RX5700XT OC edition its a 2.5 slot wide card but the graphics performance is a but leap from a RX580. Nice that the old 5,1 still has some new tricks up it's sleeve.

Thank you so much for this message. There's so much in here to digest that a few more reads is necessary. I may have a few questions for you, but I want to research all that you've said to be better informed before questioning.
But thanks again lots of good info in this one post. And I feel its going to help me make the correct decisions going forward.
One question to start, what's your system specs?

[lancemcv]

Sure thing, I have several 5,1 upgrade videos on my YouTube channel if you want to check them out 3 are processor upgrades. Sorry I posted twice before but thought the first one didn’t stick, https://youtu.be/YAdgT-hJuXU

PM me here with your phone number if you want to discuss further.

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by SDDP

So I am on a 5.1 Mac Pro with 12 cores and 2.44GHZ, stock 5770 video card, and 40GB ram (4 x 2gb sticks and 4 x 8GB sticks)

My 5.1 one sessions on an HDN card are getting larger over the years and with the plethora of CPU hungry plugs over the years, I need way more power. My main OS is on an SSD on 10.12.6 and recently upgraded to 2018.12 from PT11. And with 2019 with 384 tracks... well will need every ounce of power I can get out of the Mac.

The options I am looking at:
1) upgrade CPU to 3.46GHz?
2) upgrade ram to 6 x 8GB sticks (getting faster triple speeds?)?
3) upgrade to a XFX RX 580 GPU?

Any of your opinions or reviews from personal experience would be greatly appreciated on which route to go with and how much it can help.

As I am sure this will help others too.

Need some advice as I am about to make the jump to change the CPU. First off, thanks everyone for your comments. From what I've read, (keep in mind I really need the new 2020 7,1 16 core, it's the $10,000 price tag that concerns me...) getting a used CPU shouldn't be and issue as CPU's are very robust, but it's imperative to get a matched pair. Found a few places and wanted to get some feedback if this is safe enough (yes I know aliexpress is way cheaper, but takes over a month for shipping). But wanted to see what a is a good site/link to get a pair that is reliable?

Also, this is a strange one, I have 40gb ram. 4 sticks of 8gb from transintl and 4 x 2gb Apple oem hynix. I want to get the triple speed with 3 on each tray for a total of 48gb, and was going to get 2 x 8gb from OWC, inquired with them and they told me that their ram ONLY works with their own OWC or apple oem. I was under the impression that you can mix any brand? (of course ECC with ECC and the 16gb with ONLY 16gb being the exception). So witht that being said, would this work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-2X-8GB...e/132411021164


Also, after installing the X5690, do I need to reset or change anything else like pram, SMC, NPRAM, etc?

I have the RX 5808gb and on OS 10.13.6

Thanks again!

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by SDDP

Need some advice as I am about to make the jump to change the CPU. First off, thanks everyone for your comments. From what I've read, (keep in mind I really need the new 2020 7,1 16 core, it's the $10,000 price tag that concerns me...) getting a used CPU shouldn't be and issue as CPU's are very robust, but it's imperative to get a matched pair. Found a few places and wanted to get some feedback if this is safe enough (yes I know aliexpress is way cheaper, but takes over a month for shipping). But wanted to see what a is a good site/link to get a pair that is reliable?

Also, this is a strange one, I have 40gb ram. 4 sticks of 8gb from transintl and 4 x 2gb Apple oem hynix. I want to get the triple speed with 3 on each tray for a total of 48gb, and was going to get 2 x 8gb from OWC, inquired with them and they told me that their ram ONLY works with their own OWC or apple oem. I was under the impression that you can mix any brand? (of course ECC with ECC and the 16gb with ONLY 16gb being the exception). So witht that being said, would this work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/16GB-2X-8GB...e/132411021164


Also, after installing the X5690, do I need to reset or change anything else like pram, SMC, NPRAM, etc?

I have the RX 5808gb and on OS 10.13.6

Thanks again!

Are you changing out just the cpu chips or the entire cpu assembly with heatsink, etc.? If just the chip make sure you get heatsink grease. And depending on the exact chip it might be too high to fit correctly and you'd have to end up de-lidding the cpu chip. Whichever way you go make sure you take proper anti-static precautions. It's easy enough to fry a chip with a static discharge you can't feel. And on that make sure whatever you get has proper anti-static packaging.


Ram - ideally you'd have all the same size modules from the same vendor - less headaches that way. There's no indication who's the manufacturer of the eBay ram. If you send OWC your old ram you'll get a credit from them on your purchase.


Almost forgot - yes you will have to zap the nvram/pram with the cpu change.

[SDDP]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Are you changing out just the cpu chips or the entire cpu assembly with heatsink, etc.? If just the chip make sure you get heatsink grease. And depending on the exact chip it might be too high to fit correctly and you'd have to end up de-lidding the cpu chip. Whichever way you go make sure you take proper anti-static precautions. It's easy enough to fry a chip with a static discharge you can't feel. And on that make sure whatever you get has proper anti-static packaging.


Ram - ideally you'd have all the same size modules from the same vendor - less headaches that way. There's no indication who's the manufacturer of the eBay ram. If you send OWC your old ram you'll get a credit from them on your purchase.


Almost forgot - yes you will have to zap the nvram/pram with the cpu change.

just changing out the chips to 5690s

I don't have OWC, just transint ram (4 x 8gb) and apple oem that it came with 4 2gb (hynix)

I will be very carefull with the static, already bought the full kit with Artic silver paste/cleaner/metal bracelett with aligator clips to ground metal, 3mm 5" hex wrench


Since my GPU is non EFI and don't see a boot screen, can I still zap the nvram/pram?