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Anyone using a 2009 Mac Pro running Catalina?

There are two separates issues.

  1. Will a Metal card such as the RX580 work on older versions of OSX

  2. Will a metal card be able to run the High Sierra upgrade
The answer to #1 I'm not sure. I do believe support for RX580 was added to earlier versions of OSX. So in theory you can put the RX580 into the machine with Sierra and boot up and and everything will run fine. I can't remember which is the minimum version of OSX required in order to use that card.

However when you boot up, you will see a black screen until just before the desktop comes up.. as is the case with Mojave as well.

But #2 is the issue. The High Sierra installer performs a firmware update from the boot screen (which the RX580 does not provide). Its during that firmware update (which is not in OSX, its in the boot loader). The high Sierra firmware update will require the older video card to be installed in order to get it done.

So basically, yes you can put the RX580 in and probably boot up Sierra and it will probably work. But you will then need to put the old card back in, in order to upgrade to High Sierra, and then put the Metal card back in before upgrading to Mojave.
 
FWIW, currently running a 2009 MacPro flashed to 5,1 and upgraded with an RX570. Currently running High Sierra just fine. Getting ready to try Mojave
 
The answer to #1 I'm not sure. I do believe support for RX580 was added to earlier versions of OSX. So in theory you can put the RX580 into the machine with Sierra and boot up and and everything will run fine. I can't remember which is the minimum version of OSX required in order to use that card.

That's the question for me personally, not #2 (which is the question Dervish Capkiner started this thread with, that I think we've answered).

My interest would be in Mountain Lion, the last one Pro Tools 10 is officially compatible with.

One of these years I may just pick up an old machine to run 32-bit software.
 
FWIW, currently running a 2009 MacPro flashed to 5,1 and upgraded with an RX570. Currently running High Sierra just fine. Getting ready to try Mojave
What peripherals are you planning to get for the upgraded 4,1 MacPro? Nvme pcie adapters?

I have a 4,1 in storage now and am thinking of reviving it if I'm able to flash it to 5,1 and upgrade to High Sierra/Mojave (Need to buy a metal supported gfx).
 
Nvme pcie adapters?

I have a 4,1 in storage now and am thinking of reviving it if I'm able to flash it to 5,1 and upgrade to High Sierra/Mojave (Need to buy a metal supported gfx).

You don't need Nvme, just run SSDs in the internal half-speed (SATA 2) slots. Nobody will know, least of all you.

This is the link to the Apple site Dewdman mentioned:

 
What peripherals are you planning to get for the upgraded 4,1 MacPro? Nvme pcie adapters?

I have a 4,1 in storage now and am thinking of reviving it if I'm able to flash it to 5,1 and upgrade to High Sierra/Mojave (Need to buy a metal supported gfx).

For disk space and stuff I've got 4 SSDs internally that fully saturate the SATA2 busses and 2 large HDDs for storage, plus a USB3 PCI card. I may end up going to a PCIE supported drive - NVME or standard - but my slots are full up with vid cards, audio io, and data io.
 
It better work, that's the reason I picked up the new card. HS has been pretty stable though, and I haven't taken the plunge yet.

All good in Mojave and Catalina at this point?

All good in Mojave over here, in fact better than that - I really like the new features. Desktop Stacks are fantastic - you can be a slob like I am and keep everything neat when you don't need to find something you dumped on the Desktop. And the new screen capture features are bitchin'-A and then some.
 
Sapphire nitro 8gb has just arrived so I am going to try the upgrade to high Sierra before attempting to change graphics card before upgrading to Mohave over the next 24hrs. Pretty scared tbh but here goes...

Thank you for all the advice so far.
 
Sapphire nitro 8gb has just arrived so I am going to try the upgrade to high Sierra before attempting to change graphics card before upgrading to Mohave over the next 24hrs. Pretty scared tbh but here goes...

Thank you for all the advice so far.

Don't be scared, make a bootable clone of your startup drive to go back to if it doesn't work!

That's mandatory any time you update the OS, but I'm sure you'll be fine.
 
Hi folks,

I not only wanted to thank everyone here again now I went through this ( initially scary ) process - thank you very much...really - but also can't believe the difference changing the graphics card has made to the performance of my computer - Logic - and Kontakt. Nothing else, not the RAM or the CPU.. just the blinking graphics card!

Perhaps I was late to the game but I feel like everyone who owns an old cheesegrater mac or who wants to compose with samples and Kontakt and can't afford a £7.5k Imac Pro or £10k Mac Pro needs to know about this way of being able to still use an old Mac.

Thank you again guys for helping out a stranger.
 
I just obtained bootable OSX dmg’s from https://www.hackintosh.download/

You get High Sierra 13.6

I have finally got a copy of High Sierra on my 2009 MacPro. (Flashed to 5.1 last year or before)

Everything went smoothly without a problem. I changed the date on my computer to 2017 just to be safe before installing, and also had to allow System Preferences to “open from unverified vendor” (?) when prompted.

I’ll send him a donation for sure! Just upgrade my wife’s MacBook from OSX El Capitan with Sierra download and then the High Sierra download. All good!
 
I realize this is an older thread but I, with my trusty mid-2010, plan to go to Mojave as well but where on earth does one find the installers these days for High Sierra and Mojave?

To get High Sierra, go to this Apple Support page:


There's a link there that should connect to the High Sierra installer in the App Store. Once you're on High Sierra, you should be able to download Mojave via the App Store, as well.
 
To get High Sierra, go to this Apple Support page:


There's a link there that should connect to the High Sierra installer in the App Store. Once you're on High Sierra, you should be able to download Mojave via the App Store, as well.
Thanks very much rnb! I was thrown off thinking you had been talking about an actual Hackentosh setup and before that I was asking for links that were just above my question. Sorry for deleting my post containing the query. I shall forge on, undaunted. Logic 10.5 was the tipping point for me - that and the new Komplete 13 offerings.
 
Did you guys flashed your new graphic card? I own 2010 Mac Pro with RX580 Saphire Nitro 8GB and I can't see EFI boot screen :( so upgrading to Mojave is possible but risky. I still have old graphic card when I want to change something in system :).
 
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