MP 1,1-5,1 Best OSX version for mid-2010 Mac Pro?

[macstatic]

I need to (reluctantly) upgrade beyond my current 10.9.5 Mavericks because of compatibility with a new iPad (iOS 13), and have several OSX versions to choose from.
I've tried picking up info from other threads, but they're usually written in a period where a new OS has just been released (reported bad experiences usually related to early releases), or people have different experiences according to which hardware they run it on. Confusing.

Concerning performance, stability and general usefulness, which version would you recommend for my particular Mac?

10.10 Yosemite
10.11 El Capitan
10.12 Sierra
10.13 High Sierra

- Mac Pro 5,1 (mid-2010)
- 2.8 GHz quad-core Xeon
- 24 GB RAM
- ATI HD 5870, 1 GB graphic card
- SSD for OSX and apps
- multiple internal HDDs for file storage and backups

(I can rule out 10.14 Mojave as I don't have a "metal" compatible graphic card, and also 10.15 Catalina as it does away with 32-bit support, which I need for some older software I've invested in).

 

[tsialex]

I need to (reluctantly) upgrade beyond my current 10.9.5 Mavericks because of compatibility with a new iPad (iOS 13), and have several OSX versions to choose from.
I've tried picking up info from other threads, but they're usually written in a period where a new OS has just been released (reported bad experiences usually related to early releases), or people have different experiences according to which hardware they run it on. Confusing.

Concerning performance, stability and general usefulness, which version would you recommend for my particular Mac?

10.10 Yosemite
10.11 El Capitan
10.12 Sierra
10.13 High Sierra

- Mac Pro 5,1 (mid-2010)
- 2.8 GHz quad-core Xeon
- 24 GB RAM
- ATI HD 5870, 1 GB graphic card
- SSD for OSX and apps
- multiple internal HDDs for file storage and backups

(I can rule out 10.14 Mojave as I don't have a "metal" compatible graphic card, and also 10.15 Catalina as it does away with 32-bit support, which I need for some older software I've invested in).

Go for High Sierra, it's the only macOS version of your list that still have Security Updates. High Sierra will be supported until 10.16 is released, so you have 10 months of Security Updates yet.

10.10 and 10.11 can't even run current web browsers. 10.12 can, but Apple don't provide Security Updates anymore.

 

[now i see it]

As far as I'm concerned, MacOS has gone downhill since 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, but that's another topic.
If you've got to choose from the remaining evils you've listed above, I'd go with El Capitan. It runs fine on a 2010 2.4ghz core2duo Mac mini - so it'll run fine on your machine. Every new version of MacOS runs slower than the previous one and requires more resources, so choose the earliest one you can get away with. The versions before ElCap weren't so hot. When Sierra & High Sierra were new, there was lots of bitching about the performance hit they inflicted on computers whereas ElCapitan was considered "fine". But they all look like crap (I think).

 

[macstatic]

Thanks to both for your suggestions.
I agree with you, Now I See it, about OSX going downhill after Snow Leopard. They started removing useful features and adding all sorts of "bling" instead of concentrating on an efficient and professional OS.
I believe 10.4 Tiger was my first OSX version (prior to that I used MacOS 7, 8 and 9 on older (68K) Macs), which I found very nice indeed (especially 7.6.1). I skipped 10.5 but upgraded to 10.6.8 Snow Leopard which I used for years and years after it got discontinued. Reluctantly I had to upgrade to 10.9.5 at some stage because more and more software wouldn't work with Snow Leopard, and now again I'm forced to upgrade.

Back to the subject: I've finally managed to create 3 partitions on an SSD inside my Mac with 10.11 El Capitan, 10.12 Sierra and 10.13 High Sierra. So I'm free to boot into any of them in addition to my current 10.9.5 without risking messing up things. I haven't tried out 10.10 Yosemite, and 10.4 Mojave refused to install because of my lacking "metal" GPU support.

I see that even here when I mention my specs there's differing views on what OS is worth going for. I haven't (and still don't have) much interest in upgrading just to have the latest and greatest. If it works don't fix it as the saying goes, and upgrading is always very time consuming and frustrating. It's only a matter of (shorter or a little longer) time before the non-current OS at a given time loses security updating support or what have you anyway, and my aim is just to set up something that simply works without too many trade-offs.

Does 10.11 El Capitan fit that bill?
Out of the three I've tried there's no instant and obvious difference in performance, but then again I haven't invested time into installing lots of apps and actually using it. Just the usual playing around in the Finder, surfing the web and so on.

 

[macstatic]

After testing all three (10.11/10.12/10.13) I chose 10.11 El Capitan because it allows me to continue using some older apps I need and seems to be "leaner" than 10.12.
10.13 is useless for my use as my older apps refuse to even install. Hopefully I won't need to update again for a while after this.

 

[tommy chen]

but some USB PCIe cards does not work in capitan of faulty USB kext apple never repairs

 

[macstatic]

Do you have any more info on this?
I don't have any such cards, but have been considering adding USB-3 at some stage.

 

[tommy chen]

you can see it at some manufacturers in the tech specs:

Allegro USB-C PCIe USB 3.2 Gen 2 - Sonnet

some others works but it can still come to failures even if there are some suggested solutions

 

[AlexMaximus]

Do you have any more info on this?
I don't have any such cards, but have been considering adding USB-3 at some stage.

The best MacOS of your mentioned list is El Capitan in my opinion. I never upgraded to Sierra or High Sierra. Both of them have been buggy in my world. However, since I jumped to Mojave, I would only recommend Mojave in 2020. This is the best macOS System ever since with the longest service support. Don't worry about the Metal GPU card issue. Just get a simple 580 4GB, they are very well priced, -about 100 bucks on eBay. You will be very happy with Mojave.

 

[MacUser2525]

The best MacOS of your mentioned list is El Capitan in my opinion. I never upgraded to Sierra or High Sierra. Both of them have been buggy in my world. However, since I jumped to Mojave, I would only recommend Mojave in 2020. This is the best macOS System ever since with the longest service support. Don't worry about the Metal GPU card issue. Just get a simple 580 4GB, they are very well priced, -about 100 bucks on eBay. You will be very happy with Mojave.

I will second that Mojave I think it beats the Mavericks as my favourite I have used, the El Capitan is up there too. For the video card if not needing a lot extra from it a rx560 works great as well.

 

[macstatic]

The problem with High Sierra and upwards is compatibility with older software I'm still using, so El Capitan will probably do fine for my use.

Regarding the faulty USB KEXT in El Capitan; is this a general problem affecting all USB-3 cards? I read the Sonnet link above and indeed it mentioned OSX 10.10 and 10.12 (and upwards), stating 10.11 was incompatible.

 

[AlexMaximus]

The problem with High Sierra and upwards is compatibility with older software I'm still using, so El Capitan will probably do fine for my use.

Regarding the faulty USB KEXT in El Capitan; is this a general problem affecting all USB-3 cards? I read the Sonnet link above and indeed it mentioned OSX 10.10 and 10.12 (and upwards), stating 10.11 was incompatible.

I had El Capitan on my system for two years (with a Nvidia 980Ti). Never had any problem with USB-3 Pcie cards. This might be brand specific.
At first, I used a cheap one from Amazon (Inatech) and then I replaced it with a Caldigit combo card with 2 x eSata + 2 x USB-3 A ports to save a slot. This one was replaced later on with a Startech USB-3 Card (2x USB-3.1 / A-Port + 1x USB-3 / C-Port. All of them worked great.

USB 3.1 Card - 5-Port PCIe USB C&A + IDC - USB 3.0 Cards | Add-on Cards & Peripherals | StarTech.com Germany

USB 3.1 PCIe Card - 5 Port - USB 3.1 10Gbps - 1x USB-C, 2x USB-A + 1x 2 Port IDC 5Gbps - USB-C Card - USB 3.1 Controller - PCI Express USB 3.1 Card | Germany

www.startech.com

This current one works great on the MP 5.1, - highly recommended to save a slot and Upgrade to USB-C (10Gbps)

 

[ZombiePhysicist]

I would seriously consider upgrading your video card to Mojave. Mojave is the last OS to support 32bit apps. It will be a "thing" maintained for quite a while. Will give you access to the most modern services. Your mac can handle it, just needs a new video card. Get a cheap one and let that machine run the last OS it's capable of.

 

[KevWind]

I suppose it depends on your specific use I use my machine as a home studio DAW platform for Pro Tools HD native to be exact.
El Cap was very problematic for PT so I stayed in Yosemite until High Sierra which worked pretty well but have now changed GPU's a ndmoved on to Mojave and am very pleased.
But if your primary use software can't go there then I suppose El Cap will do.

 

[pixelatedscraps]

I'd like to jumpstart this thread and get some input on my system. I run a photography studio and use the Mac Pro 5,1 (2010) as my daily office driver since selling my iMac Pro earlier this year. The 16" MacBook is also mine and I use that on-site for shooting tethered into Capture One and for any on-site editing or overseas projects.

I manage the studio so my requirements are more administrative than heavy loads right now. This may all change should we have to downsize further due to Covid and I go back to retouching as well.

Mac Pro 5,1 running 10.14.6
64GB RAM
RX 560 4GB GPU
480GB PCie SSD
4TB HDD

My studio has subscriptions to Adobe and Capture One and we update our camera bodies every 3-4 years. With this in mind, we are encouraged / forced into keeping our versions of MacOS fairly up to date (I recently had to upgrade to Mojave to keep running the latest versions of Capture One and Adobe Lightroom, for instance).

Lately, every 15-20 mins or so my cMP will freeze for a few seconds with no response. Sometimes the mouse works but I can't switch between apps. This will repeat and continue even after a reboot. I've managed to isolate to a combination of running Adobe Lightroom and streaming music from Spotify to our office BT speaker. It's a fresh install of Mojave and this is what I usually have running at any one time.

Is it time to relegate my cMP to admin duties only? Downgrade to High Sierra (never had these issues on that version) and uninstall the Adobe / Capture One subscriptions and use it as a media server / accounting station?

3rd Party Apps
-Adobe Lightroom CC
-Capture One
-Spotify
-Safari
-Vivaldi
-Whatsapp
-Transmission
-Microsoft Word
-Microsoft Excel

Native apps
-Pages
-Keynote
-Notes
-Calendar
-Mail

Background Tasks
-Lulu firewall
-Rectangle
-Tuxera
-Dropbox
-Google Drive
-BT connection to a BT speaker

 

[macstatic]

Thanks for sharing!
Being into photography myself I found your posting very interesting to read.
Do you have any good backup solutions? I'm using Time Machine of course, but also have external removable drives (so I can have additional backups of my photos etc. located somewhere else in case the Mac is stolen, there's a fire, flood etc.) which I back up with Chronosync. Has worked great for years. I've been using a 4-bay 19" rack mounted Proavio StudioRack S4 for this, connected via Firewire 800, but it doesn't support drives larger than 3 or 4TB, so I'm looking into other multi-bay removable drive enclosures but with USB-3.2 this time (I invested in a Sonnet Allegro (USB3-4PM-E) 4-port PCIe card recently) which should be faster than Firewire 800 and support larger drives.

I can't say what the cause of your freezing issue is, but you could try a couple of tools in order to track it down:
Activity monitor (inside /Applications/Utilites/) can be used to determine which apps demand how much CPU usage, network activity, disk activity etc.
Little Snitch is a tool which monitors network activity and lets you block/allow apps to "phone home". You get an alert if an app tries to make an online connection, then get to allow or block it permanently or just for the session. Since your freeze-up occurs regularly I suspect an app trying to go online for whatever reason, and this could help you pinpoint that. The trial version very generously allows you to run it with all the features of a full license except it stops after 3 hours. After that you just start it again for another 3 hours.

Some other thoughts.... could it be that your HDD is very full?
How is your your SSD set up? I use mine for apps and MacOS while a large HDD is for my users with all files etc. A separate internal HDD is for Time Machine backups.