Mac Pro upgrade

[Chase Harman]

Looking to purchase an old 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro. I need to upgrade the GPU so it can support 4k @60hz and an secondary 1080p @60hz. Would appreciate help as I have no idea what cards I can get running in hear. Obviously not going to be gaming, going to use for 3d modelling in maya and music production in logic pro x.

[Electronics Wizardy]

gtx 960 would be your best bet.

 

Id keep your current card if you want the boot menu

[PCGuy_5960]

2 minutes ago, imnotchase said:

Looking to purchase an old 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro. I need to upgrade the GPU so it can support 4k @60hz and an secondary 1080p @60hz. Would appreciate help as I have no idea what cards I can get running in hear. Obviously not going to be gaming, going to use for 3d modelling in maya and music production in logic pro x.

Just buy a PC with a 5820K and a GTX 1050 Ti or something along those lines and run OSX on it!

[NelizMastr]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

gtx 960 would be your best bet.

 

Id keep your current card if you want the boot menu

Not new. The 960 is terrible value. 

 

4 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Just buy a PC with a 5820K and a GTX 1050 Ti or something along those lines and run OSX on it!

macOS doesn't support Pascal. Well, Nvidia won't support it for now. The RX460/470/480 are apparently workable though in 10.12.1, because the new MBP 15" uses Polaris. Anything pre 10.12 won't support the RX4xx series or Pascal.

 

9 minutes ago, imnotchase said:

Looking to purchase an old 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro. I need to upgrade the GPU so it can support 4k @60hz and an secondary 1080p @60hz. Would appreciate help as I have no idea what cards I can get running in hear. Obviously not going to be gaming, going to use for 3d modelling in maya and music production in logic pro x.

PC cards won't give you a boot screen, so you'll have to perform the installation with the GPU that's preinstalled. Same for diagnostics, so keep it around. GPU support is determined by the version of macOS you'll be running. El Capitan will support all Nvidia Maxwell cards and all AMD 200 series and some 300 series, and Sierra currently supports AMD Polaris cards. Mind you, they will require some editing to get working right now, I believe.

 

There are no flashable PC cards beyond the 680, unless you're willing to write a custom EFI rom yourself.

[PCGuy_5960]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

macOS doesn't support Pascal. Well, Nvidia won't support it for now. The RX460/470/480 are apparently workable though in 10.12.1, because the new MBP 15" uses Polaris. Anything pre 10.12 won't support the RX4xx series or Pascal.

Then he can build a PC with a 5820K with an RX 470/480 or a R9 380X/390 and install Windows on it

[NelizMastr]

Just now, PCGuy_5960 said:

Then he can build a PC with a 5820K with an RX 470/480 or a R9 380X/390 and install Windows on it

Good luck running Logic Pro X on Windows

[PCGuy_5960]

Just now, NelizMastr said:

Good luck running Logic Pro X on Windows

I am a noob at that stuff  I was just suggesting what he could do hardware wise.... Because those Macs aren't that cheap...

[NelizMastr]

3 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

I am a noob at that stuff  I was just suggesting what he could do hardware wise.... Because those Macs aren't that cheap...

Fair enough  

 

macOS is a requirement here, though, and hardware has to be picked very carefully to ensure the best compatibility. The GPU is the biggest hurdle to take. The 4K requirement needlessly complexes the situation. I'd just grab a GTX680 4GB and flash it and call it a day. Plenty fast for Maya and anything you throw at it in workstation workflows.

 

Indeed, they are expensive still, but a 12-core 2010/2012 Mac Pro is a force to be reckoned with. Especially if you add a PCI-E SSD and a USB3 card to it. It'll pull ahead of a Mac Pro 2013 no sweat. Even the 6-core.

[PCGuy_5960]

1 minute ago, NelizMastr said:

Fair enough  

 

macOS is a requirement here, though, and hardware has to be picked very carefully to ensure the best compatibility. The GPU is the biggest hurdle to take. The 4K requirement needlessly complexes the situation. I'd just grab a GTX680 4GB and flash it and call it a day. Plenty fast for Maya and anything you throw at it in workstation workflows.

 

Indeed, they are expensive still, but a 12-core 2010/2012 Mac Pro is a force to be reckoned with. Especially if you add a PCI-E SSD and a USB3 card to it.

Correct me if I am wrong, but can't he run Mac OS on a VM without an issue?

[NelizMastr]

2 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Correct me if I am wrong, but can't he run Mac OS on a VM without an issue?

macOS won't even boot in a VM on certain hardware, believe it or not. And video acceleration doesn't work, which means some applications simply won't launch.

 

In fact, I run ESXi on my Mac Pro 1,1 8-core and I can't even boot a virtualized instance of Snow Leopard or Lion on it

[Chase Harman]

49 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

Fair enough  

 

macOS is a requirement here, though, and hardware has to be picked very carefully to ensure the best compatibility. The GPU is the biggest hurdle to take. The 4K requirement needlessly complexes the situation. I'd just grab a GTX680 4GB and flash it and call it a day. Plenty fast for Maya and anything you throw at it in workstation workflows.

 

Indeed, they are expensive still, but a 12-core 2010/2012 Mac Pro is a force to be reckoned with. Especially if you add a PCI-E SSD and a USB3 card to it. It'll pull ahead of a Mac Pro 2013 no sweat. Even the 6-core.

can the 680 handle 4k @60hz? Also since I'll be running Sierra you think I can use one of the polaris AMD cards like the 480?

[NelizMastr]

58 minutes ago, imnotchase said:

can the 680 handle 4k @60hz? Also since I'll be running Sierra you think I can use one of the polaris AMD cards like the 480?

As it turns out:

 

http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-680/specifications

 

Yes, the 680 will do 4K@60Hz through displayport. HDMI will only do 30Hz, but the DP1.2 port will do 4K@60. 

 

A 480 might work, but I can't guarantee this since I don't own a Polaris card myself. I'm purely basing my statements on what I've read.

[lieder1987]

Just MAKE SURE that you are willing to flash the GPU or buy the Apple specific variant or your card wont work at all. Also make sure that there is a ROM for the card and OSX before purchasing if you hope to flash. It isnt as widely spread any more but it is still being done.