# MacPro 5,1 needs 4K video upgrade....help...



## Dewdman42 (Jul 12, 2018)

I have a 2010 MacPro 5,1 with an original vid card and I am going to upgrade my display to something 4k. I understand I will need a new video card to support the higher resolution and after googling around about it, I am entirely overwhelmed, I have absolutely on idea which cards would one the right ones for me. Anyone have any suggestions about that? I'm not afraid to flash one, if that opens up options.

I would definitely like to get a card that doesn't require special drivers if possible, in other words once its flashed will work with updates from Apple. Is that even possible? 

Metal will be important for the future.

Otherwise I don't play games or anything...just run my DAW (LPX) and other music apps on it mainly....which means a "quieter" card is more interesting to me than some kind of super fast GPU, but what have some of you done for this?

For the display, I'm presuming that I want to get one with DisplayPort inputs on it? Anything else to keep in mind?

Thanks in advance.


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## Dewdman42 (Jul 13, 2018)

alright, well I found out at least, the best card to get, fully supported by Apple is the

*Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580*
it works without any special drivers and provides 4k resolution as well as Metal, etc..and Apple has recently announced support for it in the OS. Yay! Around $300 for anyone looking.

Now the question is...which 43inch 4k monitor and why? I'm guessing I want display port on it, but maybe not? What do you guys think? Its really important to me that I will be able to read all fonts and so forth from around 3 feet away as my DAW station is going to be setup that way.


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## MPortmann (Jul 13, 2018)

Dewdman42 said:


> alright, well I found out at least, the best card to get, fully supported by Apple is the
> 
> *Sapphire PULSE Radeon RX 580*
> it works without any special drivers and provides 4k resolution as well as Metal, etc..and Apple has recently announced support for it in the OS. Yay! Around $300 for anyone looking.
> ...



I just installed this in my 2010 5,1. Works amazing and solved many issues I was having


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Jul 13, 2018)

I have a Sapphire Radeon 7950 Mac Edition, that I have had for a few years now and that supports 4K perfectly 
Currentyl driving two 1440p DELL 25" Displays with it using MST though

I would certainly get one with DP as it outputs the highest possible resolution!


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 13, 2018)

You can find Gigabyte Radeon 460s on eBay for $100 - 125.

That's the 4GB one. The 2GB one is about $80. Both support 4K.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 13, 2018)

I had a 40" Samsung connected for about a week, and I'm about 12-1/2' (EDIT - *2* 1/2, not a dozen feet!) away from the screen. My eyes are good - no reading glasses - and I could see everything fine.

The problem, as I've posted before, was that I just didn't like turning my head that much. It was too much screen real estate.

So I went back to my 30" Cinema Display, which has the same dot pitch but less screen. It's the right size for me, and it's also a much nicer monitor - as it should be, because it was something like $2300 when I bought it 12 years ago.

I now have the Samsung 5' away as a 1080p second monitor and TV.

This is all stuff I've posted before, but unfortunately not everyone hangs on my every word.


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## MPortmann (Jul 13, 2018)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I had a 40" Samsung connected for about a week, and I'm about 12-1/2' away from the screen. My eyes are good - no reading glasses - and I could see everything fine.
> 
> The problem, as I've posted before, was that I just didn't like turning my head that much. It was too much screen real estate.
> 
> ...



Hey Nick-used to read every word of yours as subscriber to VI magazine back in the day if that counts


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## gsilbers (Jul 13, 2018)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> You can find Gigabyte Radeon 460s on eBay for $100 - 125.
> 
> That's the 4GB one. The 2GB one is about $80. Both support 4K.




any ideas if it will be mojave OS X compatible?


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## Dewdman42 (Jul 13, 2018)

Has to support Metal in order to work on Mojave.

Apple has apparently made a statement recently supporting the RX580 officially. 

Certainly the price is way better for those 460's, but I would have to hear more about it...the RX580, or even the 560, is probably the route I will go.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 14, 2018)

This, from a quick search, would say the RX 460 supports Metal:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/benchmarks-show-increased-macbook-pro-215204505.html

But I'd say it makes sense to wait if you don't need a 4K-capable card today.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 14, 2018)

Apparently the RX 480 can be made to work too, although I don't know whether it's a good idea or not:

https://www.theitsage.com/install-radeon-rx-480-gpu-macos-sierra/

What I do know is that I will not spend 300 freaking dollars for a stupid graphics card just to run the latest macOS.


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## MarcelM (Jul 14, 2018)

an older radeon 7950 or the rebranded r9 280 will do just fine and you get used ones for around 60 bucks.

card works out of the box for me in sierra/high sierra


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## gsilbers (Jul 14, 2018)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> This, from a quick search, would say the RX 460 supports Metal:
> 
> https://finance.yahoo.com/news/benchmarks-show-increased-macbook-pro-215204505.html
> 
> But I'd say it makes sense to wait if you don't need a 4K-capable card today.



glad its *Mojave* OSX compatible. at $120ish its good to know i can still use my old 2009 mac pro. until at least a good desktop option in mid/late 2019 comes around.


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## Dewdman42 (Jul 14, 2018)

It is for now. The thing to keep in mind is that Apple could break compatibility at any time on any video card it wants to. They make absolutely no promises about supporting third party vid cards. So these seem to work now, and hypothetically, the drivers that ship with OS X will continue to work with those cheaper cards, so you can definitely save some money that way. 

Apple has made an actual announcement where they have said that the RX560 and RX580 will be supported. So in truth its probably more video card then most of us actually need, but since Apple has actually named it as being supported rolling forward. its perhaps safer. Its also 2-3x the price...so...there is that.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 14, 2018)

Dewdman42 said:


> Apple has made an actual announcement where they have said that the RX560 and RX580 will be supported.



Actually it's the 570. This is the document:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544


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## Dewdman42 (Jul 14, 2018)

It says this: 

*AMD Radeon RX 470, RX 480, RX 570, RX 580, and Radeon Pro WX 7100*

You're right though it doesn't say 560, surprisingly, as many people report that one works also and its very similar to the 580 if not the same as I understand it...just not quite as much GPU power, but basically the same architecture..


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## Dewdman42 (Jul 14, 2018)

specifically also notice it recommends in the following paragraph the "Sapphire Pulse" series. So the RX you want is the sapphire Pulse RXnnn


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## Nick Batzdorf (Jul 15, 2018)

The one I want is... well, I don't want any of them, because it's a stupid waste of money - exactly the kind of useless junk I hate having to spend money on. But if I do buy one, it'll only be because I *must* update to the next macOS.

It'll be the cheapest one that works without having to start up in recovery mode and type shit to install it (or system updates), and hopefully it'll support 4K in case my 30" Cinema Display dies and has to be replaced. (And touch wood it shows no sign of that.)


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