GPU and Processor Upgrade advice 2010 5,1.

[jamespatten]

I have just purchased a Mac Pro 5,1 2010 model currently with 1 x 2.8 quad core processor, currently 8gb ram (will change to 32gb soon) ati radeon hd 5770 1gb graphics card and I'm looking to upgrade it.

Now from what I understand having a "flashed" graphics card means I will see boot vs none flashed where I wont see anything till the home screen?

For me this isn't a massive issue as I normally connect to my Mac Pro via Parallels access when I'm away from home otherwise I'm happy to just turn it on and then wait till it loads.

I will be using the Mac Pro for gaming i.e. x-plane and using it for video editing with final cut pro / adobe premier pro and a Plex media server - I am unlikely to be boot camping this machine as my MBPR 2015 15" can be boot camped if I need windows for anything!

When I am looking at flashed GPU it looks to cost nearly £200 more - see examples

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Mac...bf4b8199d74e8461d7ace6&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1& (flashed)

vs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ASUS-780-...677735?hash=item25d8b73ea7:g:FwYAAOSwXetZObrd (unflashed)

Is it actually worth getting flashed or worth saving the money here and invest in a better processor?

here are the processors I have found!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152505775371?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT ( six core)

or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152524754511?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT (4 core)

Many thanks for any advice!

James

 

[h9826790]

What you are looking is the CPU tray, not the CPU. There is no Hex core CPU in your link, but a 2.8 GHz Quad core CPU (W3530, identical to your current processor). Read it carefully!

For your usage, you should able to utilise BOTH better CPU and GPU. It's hard to tell upgrade which one is more important. But in general, a faster CPU (faster, not more cores) is required to speed up for most of work. Even though a work require GPU power, may still be CPU single thread limiting. So, if budget limited. Go for a faster CPU 1st, e.g. X5677 for low cost upgrade. And then spend the rest on GPU.

From memory, there are 2 types of 780. Rev A and Rev B. Only Rev A can work on cMP without Nvidia web driver. If you install an unflashed Rev B card, you won't see anything after boot until web driver is installed and selected. The main problem is that every single OS update will automatically deselect web driver. Which means you may stuck on a black screen until you find a way to update and re-select the web driver.

 

[jamespatten]

Firstly thank you for the response!

What you are looking is the CPU tray, not the CPU. There is no Hex core CPU in your link, but a 2.8 GHz Quad core CPU (W3530, identical to your current processor). Read it carefully!

sorry I posted the wrong link it would seem though this comes as a six core

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152357001592?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

"WHAT'S IN THE BOX:
MAC PRO 2010 PROCESSOR TRAY
Intel 3.33Ghz 6 Core CPU
16 GB RAM (4x4)"

For your usage, you should able to utilise BOTH better CPU and GPU. It's hard to tell upgrade which one is more important. But in general, a faster CPU (faster, not more cores) is required to speed up for most of work. Even though a work require GPU power, may still be CPU single thread limiting. So, if budget limited. Go for a faster CPU 1st, e.g. X5677 for low cost upgrade. And then spend the rest on GPU.

so something like this would be a better option? does it matter if it is a matched pair?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matched-P...725659?hash=item41c72158db:g:WZsAAOSw-K9ZGuXJ

or is this a better option?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...889941?hash=item33c71cde15:g:ih4AAOSw5cNYgiQr

From memory, there are 2 types of 780. Rev A and Rev B. Only Rev A can work on cMP without Nvidia web driver. If you install an unflashed Rev B card, you won't see anything after boot until web driver is installed and selected. The main problem is that every single OS update will automatically deselect web driver. Which means you may stuck on a black screen until you find a way to update and re-select the web driver.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Mac-Pro-nVidia-GTX780-3GB-Graphics-Video-Card-Dual-DVI-CUDA-EVGA-4K/321874995545?_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226&_trkparms=aid=555014&algo=PL.DEFAULT&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=4ad44cef2ee84064a0577f6cd807be18&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1& - im going to guess would be Rev A where it will work on any Mac and show the boot screen?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/eVGA-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780-3072-MB-03G-P4-2781-KR-Graphics-Card/302342716430?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid=888007&algo=DISC.MBE&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=5c4ece97204445e5a88580ad157de4f3&pid=100009&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=252985726394 or there is something like this for about 200 less currently which I wont see a boot screen and will have to update the file every time apple update the os?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zotac-GTX...278132?hash=item2cc0dd1ff4:g:~0kAAOSwceNZPW8D I would be able to even get a more expensive and powerful graphics card

if this is the only difference I do think none flashed model and saving money would be fine due to most of the time when I access my MacPro it is via Remote Desktop so the display is the display of my Mbpr or iPhone / iPad not the one plugged into the MP which this shouldn't effect right?

 

[h9826790]

Firstly thank you for the response!



sorry I posted the wrong link it would seem though this comes as a six core

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152357001592?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

"WHAT'S IN THE BOX:
MAC PRO 2010 PROCESSOR TRAY
Intel 3.33Ghz 6 Core CPU
16 GB RAM (4x4)"



so something like this would be a better option? does it matter if it is a matched pair?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Matched-P...725659?hash=item41c72158db:g:WZsAAOSw-K9ZGuXJ

or is this a better option?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...889941?hash=item33c71cde15:g:ih4AAOSw5cNYgiQr



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-Mac-Pro-nVidia-GTX780-3GB-Graphics-Video-Card-Dual-DVI-CUDA-EVGA-4K/321874995545?_trksid=p2045573.c100505.m3226&_trkparms=aid=555014&algo=PL.DEFAULT&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=4ad44cef2ee84064a0577f6cd807be18&pid=100505&rk=1&rkt=1& - im going to guess would be Rev A where it will work on any Mac and show the boot screen?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/eVGA-NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780-3072-MB-03G-P4-2781-KR-Graphics-Card/302342716430?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid=888007&algo=DISC.MBE&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=5c4ece97204445e5a88580ad157de4f3&pid=100009&rk=1&rkt=1&sd=252985726394 or there is something like this for about 200 less currently which I wont see a boot screen and will have to update the file every time apple update the os?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Zotac-GTX...278132?hash=item2cc0dd1ff4:g:~0kAAOSwceNZPW8D I would be able to even get a more expensive and powerful graphics card

if this is the only difference I do think none flashed model and saving money would be fine due to most of the time when I access my MacPro it is via Remote Desktop so the display is the display of my Mbpr or iPhone / iPad not the one plugged into the MP which this shouldn't effect right?

Yes, this one looks more relevant, but I still don't know why you want to buy a whole CPU tray but not just the CPU. You only need the CPU, why pay for the extra stuff?

For video work, W3680 difinitely better than X5677. But as you can see, X5677 is so much cheaper. And it will work better than W3680 until the demand goes beyond 8 threads.

That's for budget upgrade. If you want a fast CPU for general stuff (including X-plane). X5677 is a very good choice. But since the W3680 / W3690 / X5680 / X5690 also has some very good deal occasionally, if you can get a cheap Hex core CPU, of course it's better to go for the Hex.

Unless you really need to use boot manager, boot screen is generaly just something nice to have, but not necessary for anything.

However, boot screen and Rev is independent. A flashed Rev B card still work on any Mac Pro. It can show boot screen regardless if there is OS or not. That's drived by the EFI. So, driver independent. In order words, it may still require Nvidia web driver to function properly. Of course you can ask the seller, if he confirm this card can work with stock Apple driver.

For non native supported card (e.g. 970), apart from require web driver, you also need a flashed card to access recovery partition. If you get a natively supported 780. Then you can access recovery partition even without boot screen. That's a huge difference. But as long as you keep the 5770 on hand. You can get any card Nvidia card you want. The worst case just install the 5770 back in to install the driver (remote access also able to install and select web driver).

 

[jamespatten]

I dont know exactly why I was looking at the whole tray, I think I was mistaken with what I was looking for! so if I can get a x5690 this would be the best all round option?

That's for budget upgrade. If you want a fast CPU for general stuff (including X-plane). X5677 is a very good choice. But since the W3680 / W3690 / X5680 / X5690 also has some very good deal occasionally, if you can get a cheap Hex core CPU, of course it's better to go for the Hex.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162293603280?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT - W3690

or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...c8477b88d9a51a817b81ff&pid=100506&rk=1&rkt=1& - X5690

or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...998090?hash=item3f7e9a8f4a:g:DCcAAOSwX61ZGhmT - X5690

so this would be a better option as both that ^ and one below
(I wonder with ones like this if they are cheap because they are fake?)

seem to state both are 6 core!

I will still keep the old graphics card for situations like that where I need to plug back in and download any updates!

I was looking at -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112436323176?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282520617655?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192214278132?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

in your opinion would there be a better one to go for for both the gpu and cpu?

 

[h9826790]

I dont know exactly why I was looking at the whole tray, I think I was mistaken with what I was looking for! so if I can get a x5690 this would be the best all round option?



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/162293603280?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT - W3690

or

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeon-X5690-SLBVX-3-46GHZ-12MB-6-4GT-s-LGA-1366-Hex-6-Core-CPU/152340712137?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid=555014&algo=PL.DEFAULT&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=30ba956dddc8477b88d9a51a817b81ff&pid=100506&rk=1&rkt=1& - X5690

or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeo...998090?hash=item3f7e9a8f4a:g:DCcAAOSwX61ZGhmT - X5690

so this would be a better option as both that ^ and one below
(I wonder with ones like this if they are cheap because they are fake?)

seem to state both are 6 core!

I will still keep the old graphics card for situations like that where I need to plug back in and download any updates!

I was looking at -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112436323176?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/282520617655?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192214278132?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

in your opinion would there be a better one to go for for both the gpu and cpu?

Yes, X5690 is the very best you can go. If just £20 difference. Most likely I will pick the X5690 but not the W3690. However, if the price is almost double, I will simply go for the W3690. Unless you plan to go for 64GB RAM. There is practically no difference between X5690 and W3690 on a single processor cMP.

970 and 980 are very reasonable upgrade for cMP. And yes, for your usage, I highly recommend you upgrade both CPU and GPU. In fact, if budget permit, I may even go for the 10xx series (MacOS Sierra required). High Sierra is coming, since you will use it for video job, get a card that support hardware decode HEVC may be better (e.g. 1060).

 

[jamespatten]

Yes, X5690 is the very best you can go. If just £20 difference. Most likely I will pick the X5690 but not the W3690. However, if the price is almost double, I will simply go for the W3690. Unless you plan to go for 64GB RAM. There is practically no difference between X5690 and W3690 on a single processor cMP.

970 and 980 are very reasonable upgrade for cMP. And yes, for your usage, I highly recommend you upgrade both CPU and GPU. In fact, if budget permit, I may even go for the 10xx series (MacOS Sierra required). High Sierra is coming, since you will use it for video job, get a card that support hardware decode HEVC may be better (e.g. 1060).

I think I will go for X5690! you are right its only £20 difference! will it matter that they are coming from china? I presume they will still be the legit item not a fake?

I was looking at the 10xx series but for now its out of the budget I will come back to this in the future I think!

I think I will pickup Zotac GTX 970 Reference Cooler Model 4GB as it is within the budget for now - this should just be the normal nvida drivers correct?

 

[devon807]

I think I will go for X5690! you are right its only £20 difference! will it matter that they are coming from china? I presume they will still be the legit item not a fake?

I was looking at the 10xx series but for now its out of the budget I will come back to this in the future I think!

I think I will pickup Zotac GTX 970 Reference Cooler Model 4GB as it is within the budget for now - this should just be the normal nvida drivers correct?

You can grab the Nvidia web drivers for sierra here or just go to the nvidia website

 

[blackdbird]

throw a W3690 / and 32gb 1333mhz ram / pcie ssd "SM951 ahci or Apple mac ssd" with pcie adaptor / RX580"only if you find cheap" or rx480 as amd cards are more future proof then nvidia and also a USB3.0 card and it will be more then enough for 1 year or so

and its better to invest in better components rather then getting an old flashed gpu

 

[devon807]

throw a W3690 / and 32gb 1333mhz ram / pcie ssd "SM951 ahci or Apple mac ssd" with pcie adaptor / RX580"only if you find cheap" or rx480 as amd cards are more future proof then nvidia and also a USB3.0 card and it will be more then enough for 1 year or so

and its better to invest in better components rather then getting an old flashed gpu

This is pretty much what im doing, but with a W3670 to start with and just waiting for the price to come down on RX 580'S

 

[blackdbird]

This is pretty much what im doing, but with a W3670 to start with and just waiting for the price to come down on RX 580'S

get a rx480 , practically i came to know that they have the same device ID .. and rx480 will work just fine but you have to mod some kexts now but in high sierra i think they will be working OOB with all compute units unlocked

 

[devon807]

get a rx480 , practically i came to know that they have the same device ID .. and rx480 will work just fine but you have to mod some kexts now but in high sierra i think they will be working OOB with all compute units unlocked

I agree, the final versions of HS should have added support for the 480 OOTB, but right now it's hard to find them because they are all being purchased by cryptocurrency miners

 

[jamespatten]

This is pretty much what im doing, but with a W3670 to start with and just waiting for the price to come down on RX 580'S

would you say the cpu selected should be fine? Zotac GTX 970 Reference Cooler Model 4GB or I should look for a different one? like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112436323176?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT ?

also with http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Xeon-X5690-SLBVX-3-46GHZ-12MB-6-4GT-s-LGA-1366-Hex-6-Core-CPU/152340712137?_trksid=p2045573.c100506.m3226&_trkparms=aid=555014&algo=PL.DEFAULT&ao=1&asc=43782&meid=30ba956dddc8477b88d9a51a817b81ff&pid=100506&rk=1&rkt=1&

should I be worried about it coming form china and only costing £120?

 

[h9826790]

I think I will go for X5690! you are right its only £20 difference! will it matter that they are coming from china? I presume they will still be the legit item not a fake?

I was looking at the 10xx series but for now its out of the budget I will come back to this in the future I think!

I think I will pickup Zotac GTX 970 Reference Cooler Model 4GB as it is within the budget for now - this should just be the normal nvida drivers correct?

I got my W3690 from China as well. Work flawlessly 24/7 for more than 2 years already.

 

[jamespatten]

I got my W3690 from China as well. Work flawlessly 24/7 for more than 2 years already.

amazing thank you! do you know much about the graphic cards?

 

[h9826790]

amazing thank you! do you know much about the graphic cards?

Reference 970 is fine. Nothing wrong to go for this card by considering you will game on it, plus some Adobe apps, also FCPX, etc.

It's quite cheap now, also low power consumption which makes it can easily fit inside the cMP.

 

[jamespatten]

Reference 970 is fine. Nothing wrong to go for this card by considering you will game on it, plus some Adobe apps, also FCPX, etc.

It's quite cheap now, also low power consumption which makes it can easily fit inside the cMP.

amazing so can you tell me the difference between

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112436323176?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT (EVGA GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0)

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192214278132?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

(Zotac GTX 970 *Rare* Reference Cooler Model 4GB)

it seems the evga is a same spec model?