Need some HDX upgrade advice

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by LukeHoward

I tried an Intel i210 PCIe card in a MacPro5,1, was not recognised as an AVB interface under macOS. Maybe a card with a BCM57762 chipset (the one used Apple's Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter) would work, I haven't tried it though.

Nice info, IIRC there was some discussion online at some time (on DUC?) talking about using a Sonnet Ethernet card for AVB. I just wanted to flag it as an issue that would need to be researched... seems the OP is not going the Carbon route.

[Will Russell]

Originally Posted by innerbooty

Thanks for the reply! As far as I understand it (I may well be wrong) High Sierra is the highest I can go on the 2009 Mac Pro - even flashed to 5,1 - without upgrading the processors.

I'm running Mojave on mine all day everyday. What processors do you have currently?

[innerbooty]

The "new" Mac is all shut down right now, awaiting next steps. But I think it's a dual 4-Core 2.66 Xeon machine. Early or mid-2009? I will definitely try installing Mojave on an extra drive and see what happens. But I could have sworn I read in a few places that with those processors High Sierra is my hard limit. Worth a shot though... I am not ruling out Carbon entirely, but definitely leaning towards just getting an HDX card into this cheese grater and forging ahead. Although either way, I would ideally like to be on an OS that isn't at risk of being phased out in six months, so if I can run Mojave that's great... although I would also like to be on a nice, stable version of OS X. I've really enjoyed Mavericks for the last bunch of years. Very solid and stable and friendly and fast (relatively)...

[innerbooty]

Bit of AM Googling reveals that the hurdle to installing Mojave on a 2009 Mac Pro is first, the flash to 5,1. Second, it requires a Metal compatible graphics card.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208898#cards

[c-tone]

The link below has the most extensive information I have found anywhere about upgrading older Mac Pro cheesegraters to Mojave:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...hread.2142418/

If you have already flashed to 5.1, then you might just need the Metal compatible video card as you mentioned, but be aware that there are Avid recommendations in addition to the Apple ones.

[innerbooty]

Thanks, wow, that's a lot of detailed info. And there are Avid requirements even on top of all that? Where would one find those? All seems a bit daunting, and perhaps a recipe for weird errors popping up when trying to run PT. Makes me a bit nervous. My system is so damn stable now, I would hate to lose that. I wonder if HDX on High Sierra is the most assured path of stability while running on a 2009 cheese grater at this point...?

[c-tone]

According to the PT system requirements and compatibility, only the Mid 2012 MacPro5,1 12-Core 'Westmere' 2.66 GHz and
Mid 2012 MacPro5,1 6-Core 'Westmere' 3.33 GHz are approved for Pro Tools 2018, 2019 and 2020, and when using those computers running Mojave, only the MSI Radeon RX560 is approved.

I recommend you set up a different drive for a Mojave boot, and if it doesn't work, then just go back and stick with your already working High Sierra system.

[innerbooty]

Thanks, that's what I'm leaning towards doing, trying Mojave on another internal drive I have set aside. I'll keep High Sierra on the SSD. Although, I'm not even sure I want to go through all the trouble of putting in a new graphics card. I may end up just sticking with High Sierra and then crossing the Pro Tools / OS X upgrade bridge when I am forced to. Although currently there's no concern about jeopardizing stability on this new, spare Mac Pro I am setting up for HDX. When I said "my system is so damn stable now", I meant my current HD2 Accel running on Mavericks. Makes me hesitant to try running HDX - if end up going that way - on a marginally supported, souped up pseudo-5,1 cheese grater. So yeah, might just stick with High Sierra for now... Need to get an HDX card first!