A trash can.... Mac :)

[Hopfenholz]

I expect some kind of new thing to show up eventually that will need some kind of AI processor or use massive amounts of memory to make current low spec systems obsolete. It's the only way to push new purchases other than making the OS more secure and locking out all the old hardware like Windows 11.

I agree

 

[Byrd]

Back in business with my Mac Pro following a replacement I/O board - as could never get it to a desktop, the discovery was 32GB RAM, 8 core 3.0Ghz and D500 GPUs. I was convinced they were D700 GPUs judging by many more SMT capacitors around the backside of the card (and searching extensively online for comparison D300/500/700pics) but was incorrect. You cannot determine the GPU based on visuals of the backside of the cards, there are no part numbers BUT the D300 appears to have far fewer SMT component than the higher end cards. Oh well.

Had to start with booting Monterey which installed all the firmware updates needed, this unit I believe sat unused and would have had old firmware. It's currently booting with an OEM Apple 128GB SSD scrounged from a 2014 Mac mini. I installed my Crucial P3 2TB SSD to find it chimes then full speed fans and nothing else, USB is also disabled which is interesting. The issue was the $7 NVME generic adapter which seemingly shorts on the metal SSD bracket of the MP SSD. I've ordered the $20 SINTECH adapter which hopefully will get it booting happily off the new SSD.

Last observation is on a warm Melbourne New Year's Day, that single fan spins at 750RPM with temps of nothing 45 - 55 degrees C, upping the fan speed to 1200RPM you can't hear so would recommend keeping it there. At full pelt 2000 RPM the fan speed is audible but not annoying. When not happy (with the bad SSD adapter as example) the fans ramp up to a very noisy ?4KRPM and it's like a vacuum on top.

Next mods are 64GB RAM and the 12 core 2.7Ghz CPU.

 

[Cory5412]

Idly,what CPU SKU is everyone using for these?

A thing that was true on the Mac Pro 5,1 and IME tends to remain true of the absolute tiptop SKU on any given platform is that it costs "arguably a lot" - is there some second-best or third-best people are looking at to still beat out the 2018 mini in worthwhileness?

(Or: is the meta different on these given that realistically even the base quads are probably good enough for most people's day-to-day, when paired with the other upgrades.)

(I'm remembering I have a PC Xeon workstation from this same generation, probably with that same base quad SKU in it, I should pop some RAM, a disk, and a cheap graphics card in and see what it's like, especially since I think I have enough RAM to give it 64G.)

 

[Unknown_K]

Mac Pro 5,1 would be socket 1366 and sold with either a X5675 or W3680 topping out at either 3.466 or 3.6Ghz (boost) 6C12T. There is a W3690 that turbos to 3.77Ghz that will currently run you $52 a piece from China, or the X5690 equivalent which I see for low $40's each from China BIN.

The fastest 1366 rig I own (have several) has an I7-980X which is 3.6Ghz but I have it in an Asus Sabretooth X58 running 4Ghz or more.

 

[treellama]

In the 6,1 the 12-core only gets you a 16% speed increase at multicore; despite having 50% more cores, the clock speed is lower and it'll hit its thermal limits quickly. It's also 12% or so slower at single core (it can't turbo boost as high), which is what you notice most in day-to-day usage. So I'm rocking the 8-core in mine.

 

[Byrd]

Yes, I'm thinking the 8-core E5-1680v2 will be fine for general use, however for $25 - 40 for the 12-core CPU you might as well for longevity. Keep fans at 1200rpm to avoid throttling at higher loads.

It all reminds me of the early 68K, PPC collecting days when you could pick up a cheap, once high end Mac and then max it out for little money. Even the Cube was similar I used one as my daily from 2009 - 2013 with a then cheap $200 Gigadesign 1.4Ghz CPU upgrade the rest was basically free. Am looking forward to replacing my 4,1 Mac Pro mostly for size and idle power usage, and better wifi range.

 

[treellama]

I have the E5-2667v2 so that does boost to 4 GHz, higher than the E5-1680v2 or the E5-2697v2. Better for gaming and general UI responsiveness. But the 12-core will win at Photoshop or compiling. Either is a cheap, easy upgrade from the 4 or 6 core base models. They are great machines now for the price. Mine is the D300 model with 64 GB and an Apple 1 TB SSD. Sonoma runs great with OCLP with hibernate/standby disabled.

 

[Byrd]

Haven’t heard of that CPU option will check it out. Might give games a good boost - does it boost to 4Ghz often under load?

Try Sequoia using OpenCore Patcher - it runs just as well as Sonoma, with the animated Classic Mac monochrome desktop, you’ll like.

 

[CC_333]

with hibernate/standby disabled

Why?

c

 

[treellama]

Haven’t heard of that CPU option will check it out. Might give games a good boost - does it boost to 4Ghz often under load?

Try Sequoia using OpenCore Patcher - it runs just as well as Sonoma, with the animated Classic Mac monochrome desktop, you’ll like.

I have not watched the frequency while running a game—just assumed it would do as spec’d. Geekbench single core is similar to other Ivy bridges with the higher turbo.

Sequoia runs well but there is some issue with the WiFi patches that makes command line utilities take close to a second to start up. Not an issue if you are running a single command, but trying to run a configure script will take minutes instead of seconds.

 

[treellama]

Why?

c

It will crash in sleep (sometimes?) if it tries to suspend to disk. It reports a machine check exception after reboot. Regular sleep (suspend to RAM) works fine, and only uses a few watts.

 

[CC_333]

It will crash in sleep (sometimes?) if it tries to suspend to disk. It reports a machine check exception after reboot. Regular sleep (suspend to RAM) works fine, and only uses a few watts.

Ah, OK.

My 2013 rMBP apparently has a similar issue with third party SSDs, even on natively supported MacOS versions.

I disabled suspend to disk, and all is well.

c

 

[quinterro]

The 12-core Xeon processor for the Mac Pro arrived today. However, I’m out of heat sink compound.

I ordered another tube and will work on it over the weekend.

I know the computer was upgraded from a quad-core to the 6-core processor since the seller sent the original processor with the Mac Pro since they didn’t need it. I just don’t know when the upgrade was done and if the GPUs were repasted at the same time.

 

[Unknown_K]

You are better off just repasting the CPU and GPU when you get them on 5+ year old gear.

I got an eBay GTX 970 GPU in the other day that was sold as non-working, but the picture of the card showed it had the factory peal off plastics all over it like it was never used. Anyway, the card had all the port covers including the PCIE slot rubber protector and I didn't see a scratch on the connector so it was unused. While it ran fine, I decided if it is unused the GPU needed repasted and sure enough the paste was dry as the desert.

I go through so much of that stuff that I just buy the cheap stuff from China (30g of GD900 compound is like $2.50 shipped) and while it's not as good as the expensive stuff, you really don't notice a different in real world use.

 

[Byrd]

The 12-core Xeon processor for the Mac Pro arrived today. However, I’m out of heat sink compound.

Same here $34 AUD Aliexpress 12 core on way. Tussled with some of the other CPU options, at end of the day a slightly lower clocked “turbo” core is not at all noticeable and this was the premium CPU offered by Apple in the day. Best of most worlds.

Got 64GB RAM, Crucial P3 2TB nVME running. Using the $7 Apple - nVME adapter with the bottom pins taped to not short out in the slot, and also needed a PRAM reset for it to be detected. The $25 SINTECH nVME adapter is hard to get these days and only benefit is it has the pins covered with liquid electrical tape as difference.

Mac OS X Sequoia 15.2 runs well, everything smooth and snappy apart from a bug with Spotify app and Chrome Showing a red screen on use. Also nearly hangs the machine, known bug of the Dx00 CPU. Workaround is a Terminal launch of the apps forcing OpenGL rendering, runs exactly the same. Keen to try out eGPU waiting for a cheap Apple Thunderbolt 1/2 cable to come. Then I’ll be in business finally but have enjoyed getting to know this great machine in the process!

 

[Hopfenholz]

Would these make a decent gaming rig via Bootcamp or no?

 

[Byrd]

In terms of playing 2010 era games, yes with the 2022 ATI Crossfire Windows driver. Later games wouldn’t be decent. Ramp up the fan speed while gaming. I’m hoping to be able to play GTAV on mine soon.

Frankly Windows 11 better supports the Mac Pro in this era.

 

[quinterro]

Got 64GB RAM, Crucial P3 2TB nVME running. Using the $7 Apple - nVME adapter with the bottom pins taped to not short out in the slot, and also needed a PRAM reset for it to be detected. The $25 SINTECH nVME adapter is hard to get these days and only benefit is it has the pins covered with liquid electrical tape as difference.

I haven't upgraded the SSD yet (still the original 512GB unit), but would like to later with an adapter.

Wouldn't mind trying WIndows 10 via Bootcamp, but will wait until the processor upgrade is complete and a larger SSD is in place. MacOS and Windows feel a little cramped when both are on a 500ish GB SSD (or at least it was on my 2012 MacBook Pro). Hopefully the fan doesn't ramp up on the Mac Pro in Windows like it did with the MacBookPro.

 

[Byrd]

Keep the OEM SSD nearby do find the aftermarket options can have some quirks. With 6,1 I noted issues with refusing to install firmware updates unless OEM SSD inside and fan/usb/pram issues installing an aftermarket drive.

Windows 10/11: Not usually into YouTube guides but this is a great one, he goes into partitioning the internal SSD then using the Ukrainian utility to prepare Windows. I’m going to allocate 500GB for Windows and 1.5TB for OS X when going

 

[quinterro]

Success! Honestly I thought the CPU upgrade was going to be harder than it actually was. Given how many laptops I have repaired over the years, working on the Mac Pro was downright easy.

I have not reapplied the thermal paste on the GPUs yet since I wanted to make sure the processor upgrade worked first. Trying to do more than one thing to a computer will make it harder to identify an issue if one arises.