Mac with proper graphics power & dual boots

[nostra23]

Hi there,

first of all thanks for helping me here!

My current setup:
Private: Mac Pro 5.1 3.3GHZ 6 Core 1 CPU with 24GB RAM and Radeon RX580
Business: Mac Book Pro 13" 2016
Screen: LG 27" 4K (MacBook Pro via USB-C, Mac Pro via HDMI)
USB 3.0 Hub that is connected to the LG monitor and manually switch mouse/keyboard in between

I currently use my MacBook Pro solely for business stuff with the big screen for XLS and stuff.
The private one... Mostly games and some video edit. I am searching for a machine that can run OSX, run Win10 (need it for certain games).
Its nice that I can just switch beteween private and business with just pressing one button on the USB hub and one on the monitor. Cant use both in parallel currently... but it the 5 second switchover is ok for me.

I am kind of unhappy with the 5.1 and the Radeon. I cant enable FileVault because no bootscreen. Booting from and to Win10 is pain. I have to reset NVRam so that it boots to Mac when I was on Windows.
I failed to install reFIND... and it seems there is no real workaround (cant also do option start.. because no bootscreen)
Also there is no support for bootcamp on 5.1 anymore - so manual install
Also it seems there will be no support for Catalina...
So in one sentence - Its just very unclean and not really fun to operate

The reason why I bought and upgraded the 5.1 is to have a nice powerful Mac that has proper graphics power.

So because of no bootscreen, no real bootcamp implementation, no Catalian support, I think about changing my hardware.

So my thoughts are... there is no clean solution. What are yours?

Mac Mini + EGPU:
Not cheap for a pretty small solution. Also issues with EGPU and Bootscreens. Always dependendt on which EGPU Apples supports.
Not pretty to look at.

iMac 27":
Would love to own one... what a nice machine! But they removed target display mode. Hence no way to connect my MacBook Pro.
Hence I would need to have the fat 24" on my desk as well as the mega big 27" in parallel. While the 27" I can only use for private. Sux. A lot.
All other solutions with Airplay or Apps that do remote desktop stuff... phew. Not a big fan.. and mostly not working because of Tunnel VPN that I have on my MacBook Pro.
The only solution I was thinking about is installing two versions of OSX parallel (business/private) on one system and then just boot/reboot from one to antoher. Or VM... both not very pretty.

Mac Pro 2013-:
Well successor has been already announced. Lots of money for a product end of sale and lets be honest. It wasnt really that powerful for the price... I guess my 5.1 can keep up with the basic version

Mac Pro 2019-:
Not out yet, 6k price... dunno

Feedback welcome!!

Cheers & Thanks

 

[iluvmacs99]

You can always get a MVC flashed RX580 with boot screen for your Mac Pro 5,1. Then install rEFInd to have a boot manager for your OS so you can boot to Windows and back to OSX. The only downside is the Mac Pro 5,1 can't support Catalina. There's really no other viable options that can do what the Mac Pro 5,1 can, which was why I bought a used 5,1 rather than the Mac Mini 2018 due to better expandability and versatility.
In my High Sierra, I use the GT120 as my boot screen and RX-580 as my primary screen. Works great!

 

[nostra23]

Thanks for the answer! Yeah.. MVC 580 will be around 500$ till I have it in hands here in Europe with Tax/toll and everything. Investing 500$ now for something thats out of support soon is strange. Well maybe there will be a Catalina workaround to upgrade. Then its worth the money.
But you get me to an interesting thought. What if I install both graphic cards into the machine and connect it to the same monitor to different inputs? For booting I could just switch to the one connected to the original card.. for gaming I just switch to the input connected to the RX580?

Unsure if there is enough power from the power supply?

 

[iluvmacs99]

Thanks for the answer! Yeah.. MVC 580 will be around 500$ till I have it in hands here in Europe with Tax/toll and everything. Investing 500$ now for something thats out of support soon is strange. Well maybe there will be a Catalina workaround to upgrade. Then its worth the money.
But you get me to an interesting thought. What if I install both graphic cards into the machine and connect it to the same monitor to different inputs? For booting I could just switch to the one connected to the original card.. for gaming I just switch to the input connected to the RX580?

Unsure if there is enough power from the power supply?

If you attach a low power graphics card like the Nvidia GT120 for High Sierra or the Nvidia GT630 (MVC flashed) for metal Mojave compatibility, then yes you can run 2 cards without needing the Pixlas mod. But there will be some minor issues when running both cards together as some software will default to the weakest GPU or it may cause a crash. Thankfully, most of my video and imaging software default to my RX580 and while a few default to my GT120, but those are CUDA specific anyhow. Having said that, you can have 2 graphics card in the machine and connect it to the same monitor with different inputs. The only stipulation is that it will act as though you have 2 screens and will feel kind of awkward to operate. You can customize your 2 screens via the screen preference to your taste. I have it set up this way right now, but plan to get a 4K screen for my RX580 and relegate my 1080p screen I have now for the GT120; so will have boot screen and 4K support with my Mac Pro.

 

[nostra23]

Cool, that sounds doable. I guess I give it a try! Thanks!