Confused... Can I upgrade?

[SayCheese]

Hi all,

I know that according to the official Sierra compatibility the 2009 Mac Pro is not supported. However, I've read that the Mac Pro 5,1 is supported.

Looking at the specs on the screen shots below, can I or can't I upgrade?

Any help would be appreciated please.
Thanks,

 

[h9826790]

Yes, you can. Your machine is a 2009 Mac Pro (4,1) flashed to 5,1.

 

[SayCheese]

Yes, you can. Your machine is a 2009 Mac Pro (4,1) flashed to 5,1.

Awesome, thanks. I brought this back in Feb this year as a custom build for my photography business. A friend of mine who is a lot more tech savvy than I am pretty much dictated the specs and I just paid for it. All I know is that it's ultra fast.

 

[h9826790]

If you don't know much about the Mac, DON'T do the upgrade, I double if your card is a flashed 980, you may only have black screen after upgrade. Nvidia web driver required after EVERY OSX update (even some security update).

 

[SayCheese]

If you don't know much about the Mac, DON'T do the upgrade, I double if your card is a flashed 980, you may only have black screen after upgrade. Nvidia web driver required after EVERY OSX update (even some security update).

Thanks. I know enough to do the upgrade. I have an original graphics card that I swap in to do the update, install the relevant Nvidia driver then swap back out to the 980.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks. I know enough to do the upgrade. I have an original graphics card that I swap in to do the update, install the relevant Nvidia driver then swap back out to the 980.

If that's the GT120, and you have spare slot, you can keep both GPU in there, so no need to swap, and gives you boot screen anytime when you needed.

 

[SayCheese]

If that's the GT120, and you have spare slot, you can keep both GPU in there, so no need to swap, and gives you boot screen anytime when you needed.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

 

[AkuskaUK]

If that's the GT120, and you have spare slot, you can keep both GPU in there, so no need to swap, and gives you boot screen anytime when you needed.

So, you can theoretically put any card into the Mac Pro and as long as there is a Apple GT120, you don't need to flash the card?

Would you need to swap the display cables over though, to the better card? Or does just having it on there give you the boot screen?

 

[h9826790]

AFAIK, Yes, OSX can run GT120 + another card without issue. Windows may be more tricky.

For computation, you can plug the cable to which ever card you want. However, for graphics, only the card that connected to the monitor matter. Therefore, I will prefer to connect the monitor to the new GPU, and only swap cable to the GT120 when I need boot screen.

Or you can connect both the GT120 and another GPU to the same monitor, and only switch input when required.