I have recently been gifted a 5,1 Mac Pro from 2010 and I am wanting to upgrade it for the use of Blender. What GPU should I buy and what other upgrades should I do? I have two Intel Xeons, and an HD 5870.
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MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 5,1 GPU Upgrade
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The Definitive Classic Mac Pro (2006-2012) Upgrade Guide
The largest/most-complete guide to all possible classic Mac Pro upgrades covering OS, Firmware, GPU, CPU, Storage, USB, THunderbolt and Network upgrades.
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If you run Monterey, then the RX6600XT 8GB is a very nice upgrade provided you flash the card. Mine is a Sapphire RX6600XT. You can put some RX6800 and RX6900 cards in but they need Pixlas mod to power them. I believe you can also go Radeon Pro W6800 32GB once it is flashed and it will also need Pixlas mod.
I saw another source and the guy said that the RX 6600 XT was what he used. At first I was thinking about getting the vii
Well the RX6600XT uses the same power cables as an RX580 - it runs much cooler and is faster by a huge margin. It also fits easily enough.
So that was my reasoning to get it.
I used Windows on my Mac Pro 7,1 to flash the 6600.
To make this abundantly clear, flashed here does not mean pre-boot configuration support (Boot screens/Boot Picker/etc). If you haven't yet patched the firmware of a NAVI 2x GPU like the RX 6600/6800XT, you won't even complete POST with the un-flashed GPU when installed into a MacPro5,1.
EnableGop does not make an un-flashed/un-patched NAVI GPU to work with a MacPro5,1. The GPU firmware needs to be patched for the NAVI 2x GPU to work with the ancient EFI 1.10 of MacPro5,1, otherwise the GPU expects UEFI HII support which MacPro5,1 does not support and crashes.
You will need to flash it in a PC so it will work properly. Can also use a 7,1 Mac Pro with windows.
Once done it works nicely with Monterey.
RX 6600XT or any other compatible with macOS NAVI GPUs can only work up to Monterey with a MacPro5,1. No support for Ventura or Sonoma with any of the NAVI GPUs since the driver require AVX2, which MacPro5,1 Xeons does not have.
Patching a NAVI GPU to make it compatible with a MacPro5,1 has nothing to do with pre-boot configuration support (Boot Screens and etc), is a way to make it work with the ancient EFI 1.10 of MacPro5,1, I've already explained this here in this thread before.
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Patching a NAVI GPU to make it compatible with a MacPro5,1 has nothing to do with pre-boot configuration support (Boot Screens and etc), is a way to make it work with the ancient EFI 1.10 of MacPro5,1, I've already explained this here in this thread before.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / 6900 XT for macOS?
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AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT / 6900 XT for macOS?
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