Cheapest video card for 2010 MP?

[smirk]

Hey guys, what's the least expensive video card for a 2010 Mac Pro that works during bootup and is supported by Mojave/Metal 2? The computer would just be used for web browsing and light office-type work, not for gaming or anything rigorous like that.

It already has a functioning stock card but the UI seems sluggish. So maybe my first question should be "Could a 2010 stock video card make the Finder and Safari sluggish?"

Thanks!

 

[h9826790]

It's possible to get a HD7950 with less than $100, and then flash it for Mac boot screen. And it should be an upgrade from your stock 2010 GPU.

If you can find any cheap reference R9 280, HD7970, R9 280X, or even GTX680 (both 2GB or 4GB). All these can be good choice for self flash upgrade.

 

[TheStork]

It's possible to get a HD7950 with less than $100, and then flash it for Mac boot screen. And it should be an upgrade from your stock 2010 GPU.

If you can find any cheap reference R9 280, HD7970, R9 280X, or even GTX680 (both 2GB or 4GB). All these can be good choice for self flash upgrade.

I bought both a PC Sapphire 7950 (for my 2008 Mac Pro) and a PC Gigabyte R9 280X (for my 2010 Mac Pro) and had MacVidCards flash both of them. The total price ranged from $245 to $275. You can try to flash them with the known publicly available EFI VROMs, but I didn't want to get into a science project.

However, a less expensive route, if you don't need graphics power, is the MacVidCards flashed GT 640/740 cards for $100-$150 range...when he's got them in stock. YMMV.

Good luck!

 

[MarkC426]

Hey guys, what's the least expensive video card for a 2010 Mac Pro that works during bootup and is supported by Mojave/Metal 2? The computer would just be used for web browsing and light office-type work, not for gaming or anything rigorous like that.

It already has a functioning stock card but the UI seems sluggish. So maybe my first question should be "Could a 2010 stock video card make the Finder and Safari sluggish?"

Thanks!

Why even bother with Mojave if your doing basic stuff.
The standard 5770 should work fine in 10.11/10.12/10.13.
Are you running a huge monitor?

 

[h9826790]

Why even bother with Mojave if your doing basic stuff.
The standard 5770 should work fine in 10.11/10.12/10.13.
Are you running a huge monitor?

Do you mean "high resolution"?

The monitor size should has nothing to do about GPU performance.

 

[MarkC426]

Thanks h98.....
There shouldn’t be any reason for sluggish performance with a hd rez monitor.
I wonder if ‘smirk’ has a 4k display causing the issue!

Glad to see you got your mac going again....

 

[smirk]

Why even bother with Mojave if your doing basic stuff.
The standard 5770 should work fine in 10.11/10.12/10.13.
Are you running a huge monitor?

It's currently driving a 1080p display but I'd probably move it to a 4K if we actually start using this computer "for real".

Right now, my wife and I share a 2016 iMac. She spends a lot of time in the Photos app, and I was thinking of making this Mac Pro our photos machine so she's not always on my computer.

I would want to use Mojave to get the latest version of Photos.app. As Apple introduces photo features into iOS, I've learned it's important to also stay current with macOS so that everything works.

Thanks!
[doublepost=1529948132][/doublepost]As far as the sluggishness, maybe my brain is trying to compare the feel of the 2010 Mac Pro to what it's used to (a 2016 iMac) and is judging the Mac Pro too harshly. The MP just has a single 2.8 GHz quad, so maybe that's what makes it feel a little slow.

 

[MarkC426]

How much ram do you have?

 

[ActionableMango]

Could a 2010 stock video card make the Finder and Safari sluggish?

No, I don't think so. It sounds like you have a bottleneck somewhere, but for those particular applications I very much doubt it is the GPU.

• If you are still running a hard drive, I'd upgrade to an SSD.
• If you are still running the default stock RAM (3GB IIRC), then that is insufficient and you need more.

If both of the above are true, then I'd do both.

As for a Mojave GPU, I'd wait until the Gold Master releases and people see what's up for sure. Requirements have a way of changing during the MacOS beta process. You don't need to upgrade to Mojave on Day 1, in fact that's usually a bad idea.

 

[MisterAndrew]

It's possible to get a HD7950 with less than $100, and then flash it for Mac boot screen. And it should be an upgrade from your stock 2010 GPU.

If you can find any cheap reference R9 280, HD7970, R9 280X, or even GTX680 (both 2GB or 4GB). All these can be good choice for self flash upgrade.

I agree. GTX 680 or HD 7950 (R9 280) are best cheap options. Flash them yourself. It’s pretty easy. For the AMD card use the EFI rom generator from netkas. Don’t use the stock rom unless you know it has same memory (Elpida, not Hynix). For the Nvidia card you can use the stock rom.

I got a GTX 680 because the HD 7950 I bought wasn’t good. I think the 680 is more reliable and has better reviews. Reviews for 7950 & R9 280 cards aren’t very good.

 

[smirk]

• If you are still running a hard drive, I'd upgrade to an SSD.
• If you are still running the default stock RAM (3GB IIRC), then that is insufficient and you need more.

I threw in a spare 850 EVO SSD to play around with the machine, so still SATA II but it's far better than before.

It has 8 GB RAM, which surprisingly (to me) is the same amount in my iMac.

As for a Mojave GPU, I'd wait until the Gold Master releases and people see what's up for sure. Requirements have a way of changing during the MacOS beta process. You don't need to upgrade to Mojave on Day 1, in fact that's usually a bad idea.

That's a very good point. I don't know that I would have upgraded right away (the iMac's still on 10.12), but I didn't want to start using this machine only to have it become "obsolete" in a year. I remember when we were still on Aperture and then Apple introduced Live Photos, which wasn't supported by Aperture. I know we can't predict the future, but knowing that the computer will be able to run the most recent OS for at least a year and a half is helpful.

 

[ActionableMango]

I threw in a spare 850 EVO SSD to play around with the machine, so still SATA II but it's far better than before.

It has 8 GB RAM, which surprisingly (to me) is the same amount in my iMac.

Hmmm, those apps shouldn't be sluggish then. I wonder if something is hogging up your resources. Maybe check Activity Monitor. Look at what's using the CPU and check the Memory Pressure.

 

[smirk]

Well, it may not be sluggish, it's just not as responsive as my much newer iMac. But how could it be?

I didn't see anything in Activity Monitor, which is why I thought perhaps it was the video card not drawing onto the screen as snappily.

I'd say that with the SSD installed, this MP feels about the same as my 2011 iMac Core i7 did when I upgraded it to an SSD.