cMP3,1: Looking for advice on Mojave vs OpenCore+Monterey

[pullman]

Hello everyone

I'm trying to make an informed decision on whether to go for dosdude's Mojave or open core+Monterey on my cMP3,1 (see signature). I am currently running High Sierra.

Will using open core result in loss of any functionality, provided I use the required GPU? I currently have a Quadro M4000 which, being Maxwell, works, right? I realise I'd need to switch it for Mojave.

Looking at the dortania site I see there's a risk of possibly losing some USB connectivity, but I'm not sure this applies to my computer. According to Sys Info it has a USB 2.0 bus.

In order to install High Sierra I swapped out the bt/wifi card for a BCM94360CD. I've seen on p. 14 in the OC Monterey thread that there's no support for the BRCM20703. Sys Info reports that my card uses the Broadcom 20702B0 chipset (firmware v150 c9317) chipset. Does that mean I need to replace the card for another one (which)?

The reason I am considering Mojave is that I am using certain 32-bit software, such as Hasselblad's Flexcolor scanning software. But I believe I could run that virtually in Windows would possibly make Monterey an option. Alternatively I could of course dual-boot and keep an older OS for scanning. I find it an attractive idea to be able to use the most recent OS version, if possible.

Thank you very much in advance for your thoughts
Philip

 

[Amethyst1]

Will using open core result in loss of any functionality, provided I use the required GPU? I currently have a Quadro 4000 which, being Maxwell, works, right? I realise I'd need to switch it for Mojave.

The Quadro M4000 will not work in Mojave or later versions, since Maxwell GPUs need NVIDIA's Web Drivers which only work up to High Sierra.

 

[pullman]

Thank you for replying and noticing the error – I have the M4000 as indicated in my signature. I've updated the original post.

The Quadro M4000 will not work in Mojave or later versions, since Maxwell GPUs need NVIDIA's Web Drivers which only work up to High Sierra.

 

[Amethyst1]

Thank you for replying and noticing the error – I have the M4000 as indicated in my signature. I've updated the original post.

The M4000 is no good for Mojave and up. You need either a NVIDIA Kepler GPU or a supported AMD GPU.

 

[pullman]

Thank you, yes I know that (which I also wrote in the original post).

The M4000 is no good for Mojave and up. You need either an (older) NVIDIA Kepler GPU or an AMD GPU, such as a Polaris one.

 

[Amethyst1]

Thank you, yes I know that (which I also wrote in the original post).

I misunderstood then. I apologise for that.

 

[pullman]

No problem at all 😀

I'm still hoping someone might chime in on the questions.

I misunderstood then. I apologise for that.

 

[joevt]

Install all the

go for dosdude's Mojave or open core+Monterey on my cMP3,1

Yes.

 

[rpmurray]

I'm planning on trying OC with Monterey on my Mac Pro 2008 (3,1) sometime in July. I've used OpenCore Legacy Patcher on my 27 inch iMac 2011 and it's like a whole new machine, so can't wait to try it on the Mac Pro.

If you have two drives you can spare to try each installation I'd do that. I don't really need Mojave but I tend to always upgrade to a fresh drive with only the new OS on it when testing a new OS. I can always fall back to what it is currently running (High Sierra) should I run into hardware or software problems during testing. And with the drive having only Monterey on it I can retry with newer versions of OC as they come out until I either update any hardware that's needed, any software that's incompatible, or give up the enterprise if I deem it not worth the trouble anymore. For that reason I have some spare Samsung SSDs that I use for this purpose.

 

[rpmurray]

Install all the
Yes.

View attachment 2024841

What! No Windows Vista?

 

[MacHosehead]

Hello, I have a MacPro3,1 running Monterey but I am not sure I can answer all of the questions. The bluetooth should work. It is reported the same for me. I have the original Nvidia GPU card that is root patched to work for Monterey. It works well for most things but there are some compromises. I have read that the USB issue is that a port might initialize to 1.1 and that using a 2.0 hub will fix it. I am using a USB 3.0 card that works out-of-box so I generally avoid onboard USB.

I have High Sierra on HD and Monterey on SSD but it is pretty easy to make a new partition on the disk you have and install Monterey to that.

 

[joevt]

What! No Windows Vista?

I used to have Vista 32 bit and 64 bit and XP but I removed them Jan 2014 just before installing Windows 8.

/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *320.1 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows Vista 64 b      69.8 GB    disk3s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows Vista 32 b      59.1 GB    disk3s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows XP b            96.6 GB    disk3s4

 

[pullman]

Thank you very much for this great idea. I do have some drives I could use. They're in the optical bay though so I guess I'd better put them in the RAID array. I seem to remember having read it's best to remove other drives.

A possibly stupid question – will installing Open Core prevent me from going back to El Capitan, being the latest supported OS for the 3,1? I'm asking because I've understood (possibly wrongly of course) that OC does some pretty intrusive things with the computer. I'm not sure I would want to do that but I'm curious.

I'm planning on trying OC with Monterey on my Mac Pro 2008 (3,1) sometime in July. I've used OpenCore Legacy Patcher on my 27 inch iMac 2011 and it's like a whole new machine, so can't wait to try it on the Mac Pro.

If you have two drives you can spare to try each installation I'd do that. I don't really need Mojave but I tend to always upgrade to a fresh drive with only the new OS on it when testing a new OS. I can always fall back to what it is currently running (High Sierra) should I run into hardware or software problems during testing. And with the drive having only Monterey on it I can retry with newer versions of OC as they come out until I either update any hardware that's needed, any software that's incompatible, or give up the enterprise if I deem it not worth the trouble anymore. For that reason I have some spare Samsung SSDs that I use for this purpose.

Thank you, this is immensely helpful to me. Which compromises do you mean re. your Nvidia card, do you mean in terms of capability to run Monterey as a modern graphics-intensive OS or something else?

A USB 3 card is a good idea. Is it possible to put that in one of the x4 slots or must it be in the x16 slots?

In terms of installing Open Core, do you have any practical suggestions regarding or was it as straight-forward as the instrux seem to suggest?

Hello, I have a MacPro3,1 running Monterey but I am not sure I can answer all of the questions. The bluetooth should work. It is reported the same for me. I have the original Nvidia GPU card that is root patched to work for Monterey. It works well for most things but there are some compromises. I have read that the USB issue is that a port might initialize to 1.1 and that using a 2.0 hub will fix it. I am using a USB 3.0 card that works out-of-box so I generally avoid onboard USB.

I have High Sierra on HD and Monterey on SSD but it is pretty easy to make a new partition on the disk you have and install Monterey to that.

 

[pullman]

Thank you Joe. Have you by any chance run Windows virtually on Monterey (or another OS) installed via open core? I'm curious how that would run on an old Mac Pro.

I used to have Vista 32 bit and 64 bit and XP but I removed them Jan 2014 just before installing Windows 8.

/dev/disk3
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *320.1 GB   disk3
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk3s1
   2:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows Vista 64 b      69.8 GB    disk3s2
   3:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows Vista 32 b      59.1 GB    disk3s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data Windows XP b            96.6 GB    disk3s4

 

[rpmurray]

Thank you very much for this great idea. I do have some drives I could use. They're in the optical bay though so I guess I'd better put them in the RAID array. I seem to remember having read it's best to remove other drives.

A possibly stupid question – will installing Open Core prevent me from going back to El Capitan, being the latest supported OS for the 3,1? I'm asking because I've understood (possibly wrongly of course) that OC does some pretty intrusive things with the computer. I'm not sure I would want to do that but I'm curious.

No need to remove the other drives as long as you're careful about where you're installing OpenCore/Monterey. Basically the same advice as for a native install. I think the only reason it's suggested is to keep you from accidentally erasing something important. Make sure you have good backups first.

No, installing OpenCore won't keep you from going back to El Capitan. OCLP doesn't make any permanent changes to the hardware, like updating firmware and such so it's completely safe. The GUI for the installation makes it a pretty easy install and walks you through it. You may want to check out the Youtube videos that Mr. Macintosh puts out discussing using OpenCore Legacy Patcher. I watched the one for 0.4.4 which gave a good quick overview of how it works and then the ones for all the releases since then (0.4.7 is current) to get caught up on any changes. It's not rocket science, so even a monkey like me can do it.

Edit: Before you ask, no, you don't need to install 0.4.4 first and then upgrade through the other releases. You can jump straight to 0.4.7.

 

[joevt]

Thank you Joe. Have you by any chance run Windows virtually on Monterey (or another OS) installed via open core? I'm curious how that would run on an old Mac Pro.

I think virtual machine performance on MacPro3,1 has been broken since Mojave 10.14.4. Mojave 10.14.3 is the last macOS version that had proper performance. However, if you set the number of CPUs to 1 then the VM will not be too slow.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...in-10-and-enabling-vt-x.2343812/post-31081036

 

[MacHosehead]

Thank you, this is immensely helpful to me. Which compromises do you mean re. your Nvidia card, do you mean in terms of capability to run Monterey as a modern graphics-intensive OS or something else?

A USB 3 card is a good idea. Is it possible to put that in one of the x4 slots or must it be in the x16 slots?

In terms of installing Open Core, do you have any practical suggestions regarding or was it as straight-forward as the instrux seem to suggest?

I believe there is a page that lists the issues of using a non-Metal GPU with Monterey. Some apps, such as iMaps, might not work and in a few other apps a button might not appear. Generally though, it works quite well. Apple tv seems to work OK. (tried some more, it's buggy too)

The USB 3 card is nice but only certain ones will work without an additional driver. The one I have is made by Orico. It is a x1 card. You also have to provide additional power for it.

OCLP writes to the EFI partition of the boot drive so you can still boot to the original OS.

 

[M-Serhio]

Hello everyone

I'm trying to make an informed decision on whether to go for dosdude's Mojave or open core+Monterey on my cMP3,1 (see signature). I am currently running High Sierra.

Will using open core result in loss of any functionality, provided I use the required GPU? I currently have a Quadro M4000 which, being Maxwell, works, right? I realise I'd need to switch it for Mojave.

Looking at the dortania site I see there's a risk of possibly losing some USB connectivity, but I'm not sure this applies to my computer. According to Sys Info it has a USB 2.0 bus.

In order to install High Sierra I swapped out the bt/wifi card for a BCM94360CD. I've seen on p. 14 in the OC Monterey thread that there's no support for the BRCM20703. Sys Info reports that my card uses the Broadcom 20702B0 chipset (firmware v150 c9317) chipset. Does that mean I need to replace the card for another one (which)?

The reason I am considering Mojave is that I am using certain 32-bit software, such as Hasselblad's Flexcolor scanning software. But I believe I could run that virtually in Windows would possibly make Monterey an option. Alternatively I could of course dual-boot and keep an older OS for scanning. I find it an attractive idea to be able to use the most recent OS version, if possible.

Thank you very much in advance for your thoughts
Philip

Hi pullman! I'm facing the same choice. What did you decide and why? If you've installed OpenCore + Monterey - how does it feel? Is it worth it? Thank you.

 

[pullman]

Hi Serhio

Unfortunately I haven't had the time yet to do this and I also haven't yet bought an AMD Metal card. With my current card (an Nvidia Quadro M4000) I can't install it as there is no driver support in any OS beyond High Sierra. From what other posters above have written I am pretty sure that it is worth it though. I'll post back once I have had the chance to get it done.

Best
Philip

Hi pullman! I'm facing the same choice. What did you decide and why? If you've installed OpenCore + Monterey - how does it feel? Is it worth it? Thank you.

 

[pullman]

Hi all

I'm slowly moving towards being able to install OC on my 3,1 because I have today found a suitable video card, yay.

But a thought struck me concerning the potential bluetooth issue. I'm using a wireless keyboard and a wireless trackpad. Do you think this will be a problem during the installation (se the OP re the bt card I have installed) such that I had better get wired versions of these?

I'm just trying to iron out as many wrinkles as possible in advance so thanks very much for your thoughts.
philip

 

[MacHosehead]

For me, I like to have wired keyboard and mouse on hand just in case. With the card you swapped out, any Apple installations should have bluetooth working. I was not sure if bluetooth works during OCLP bootpicker, but it appears to. Wired keyboard and mouse can be pretty cheap, though.

 

[pullman]

Thank you, yes that's a good idea. They're not an arm or a leg so it's probably a good idea to have on hand. Thanks for your continued support 😀

For me, I like to have wired keyboard and mouse on hand just in case. With the card you swapped out, any Apple installations should have bluetooth working. I was not sure if bluetooth works during OCLP bootpicker, but it appears to. Wired keyboard and mouse can be pretty cheap, though.