Macpro 4.1 Graphics Acceleration GT120

[ZigMac]

Hi all

I installed Mojave on my 4.1 without reading the full instructions. DOH!

It works reasonably well but video is stuttering in Quicktime and doesn'tplay at all in VLC, it jus goes nuts and I have to for close the app. I was asked if I had graphics acceleration enabled and the truth is I have no idea how to check. Could someone point me in the right direction

Really appreciate your help

 

[Pressure]

You need to change your graphic card to enable QE/CI (acceleration). Unfortunately the GT 120 is not supported. The currently recommended cards are these (source):

MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDRR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition
AMD Radeon RX 560
AMD Radeon RX 570
AMD Radeon RX 580
AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
AMD Radeon Frontier Edition

 

[h9826790]

Hi all

I installed Mojave on my 4.1 without reading the full instructions. DOH!

It works reasonably well but video is stuttering in Quicktime and doesn'tplay at all in VLC, it jus goes nuts and I have to for close the app. I was asked if I had graphics acceleration enabled and the truth is I have no idea how to check. Could someone point me in the right direction

Really appreciate your help

4,1 with GT120?

You installed the patched Mojave?

 

[ZigMac]

4,1 with GT120?

You installed the patched Mojave?

Yeah. Works well apart from video playback.

 

[StellarVixen]

For NVidia, anything on Kepler architecture and above is Metal compatible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(microarchitecture)
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Yeah. Works well apart from video playback.

You are probably missing much more than that, such as beautiful UI rendering and effects that got introduced in Mojave, you are just not probably aware of that.

Get some used GT 6xx card somewhere from the Internet, I believe they can be found for dirt cheap.

 

[ZigMac]

For NVidia, anything on Kepler architecture and above is Metal compatible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(microarchitecture)
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You are probably missing much more than that, such as beautiful UI rendering and effects that got introduced in Mojave, you are just not probably aware of that.

Get some used GT 6xx card somewhere from the Internet, I believe they can be found for dirt cheap.

Yeah you're right. Is that an Nvidea? Need to brush up on my GPU knowledge.

 

[Pressure]

There is currently no NVIDIA webdriver out for Mojave, so you need to rely on one of the listed graphic cards above or based on Kepler.

Many people use the SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5.

 

[StellarVixen]

Yeah you're right. Is that an Nvidea? Need to brush up on my GPU knowledge.

Yeah, since you already have an NVidia, I thought you might prefer NVidia.

But, Radeon is even better for Mac, because of better drivers and support.

 

[h9826790]

Yeah. Works well apart from video playback.

If you want Mojave on your 2009 Mac Pro, it's much much better to flash it with 5,1 firmware, then install Mojave in the native way with a Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB (If you don't need that much GPU power, then MSI RX560 4GB also work)

Running a computer with a patched OS with non supported graphic cards is really a bad idea, especially your computer has proper native support (if you know how to do it right).

 

[ZigMac]

If you want Mojave on your 2009 Mac Pro, it's much much better to flash it with 5,1 firmware, then install Mojave in the native way with a Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB (If you don't need that much GPU power, then MSI RX560 4GB also work)

Running a computer with a patched OS with non supported graphic cards is really a bad idea, especially your computer has proper native support (if you know how to do it right).

Would this card be OK? I could buy this and swap it out with the current GT120. Then boot up into Mojave and run the 5.1 flash. Does that sound OK? Do you think their could be a cheaper option for graphics card that would do a decent job?

Thanks for the help guys.
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If you want Mojave on your 2009 Mac Pro, it's much much better to flash it with 5,1 firmware, then install Mojave in the native way with a Sapphire PULSE RX580 8GB (If you don't need that much GPU power, then MSI RX560 4GB also work)

Running a computer with a patched OS with non supported graphic cards is really a bad idea, especially your computer has proper native support (if you know how to do it right).

Here are some other options.

 

[h9826790]

Would this card be OK? I could buy this and swap it out with the current GT120. Then boot up into Mojave and run the 5.1 flash. Does that sound OK? Do you think their could be a cheaper option for graphics card that would do a decent job?

Thanks for the help guys.
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Here are some other options.

The safest way to do it actually boot back to Mavericks with only the GT120 and your original HDD installed.

Flash the 4,1 to 5,1.

Then update the OS to High Sierra (directly run the latest 10.13.6 full installer)

This will further update your firmware to 0089.B00.

Once you reach this point. Remove your GT120, install the new Metal capable graphic card.

Then run the Mojave installer.

The installer will then upgrade your firmware to 138.0.0.0.0. And then let you install Mojave natively.

The PULSE RX560 would work. And in fact, most AMD card that above HD7950 should work. IMO, the MSI RX560 4GB is already the most decent low cost solution. New card with warranty, native and official support from Apple, and it's quite cheap.

 

[ZigMac]

The safest way to do it actually boot back to Mavericks with only the GT120 and your original HDD installed.

Flash the 4,1 to 5,1.

Then update the OS to High Sierra (directly run the latest 10.13.6 full installer)

This will further update your firmware to 0089.B00.

Once you reach this point. Remove your GT120, install the new Metal capable graphic card.

Then run the Mojave installer.

The installer will then upgrade your firmware to 138.0.0.0.0. And then let you install Mojave natively.

The PULSE RX560 would work. And in fact, most AMD card that above HD7950 should work. IMO, the MSI RX560 4GB is already the most decent low cost solution. New card with warranty, native and official support from Apple, and it's quite cheap.

Thanks mate, will give this a go. Although to downgrade I guess I'll need to make a mavericks bootable USB an boot to it. To run the Mojave installer from High Sierra, will I need to use the patch tool? Surely I'd still be out of the window for native upgrade. Thanks

 

[Pressure]

Thanks mate, will give this a go. Although to downgrade I guess I'll need to make a mavericks bootable USB an boot to it. To run the Mojave installer from High Sierra, will I need to use the patch tool? Surely I'd still be out of the window for native upgrade. Thanks

Not if you flash your boot rom, then the installer sees your 4,1 as a 5,1, which support Mojave officially.

 

[ZigMac]

Not if you flash your boot rom, then the installer sees your 4,1 as a 5,1.

The truth is I don't know how this will benefit me, but I can't see it having a negative effect. But you guys know more than me. Should I be concerned?

 

[Pressure]

The truth is I don't know how this will benefit me, but I can't see it having a negative effect. But you guys know more than me. Should I be concerned?

No, upgrading your firmware ensures you are protected against the latest vulnerabilities and getting 5 GT/s on PCIe slots. Not to mention you don't have to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP).

Here is a guide on how to do it.

 

[h9826790]

The truth is I don't know how this will benefit me, but I can't see it having a negative effect. But you guys know more than me. Should I be concerned?

There are few down sides if you flash it to 5,1.

1) The original 4,1 recovery / AHT disc will no longer function.

2) You cannot install any OS earlier than 10.6.4.

3) The boot manager may stop working if you have any bootable volume on a Sonnet Tempo SSD card.

And if you have no idea what's that about. Then most likely you are not affected.

 

[ZigMac]

There are few down sides if you flash it to 5,1.

1) The original 4,1 recovery / AHT disc will no longer function.

2) You cannot install any OS earlier than 10.6.4.

3) The boot manager may stop working if you have any bootable volume on a Sonnet Tempo SSD card.

And if you have no idea what's that about. Then most likely you are not affected.

If none of these will be a problem for me, should I still flash to 5.1? Is there a performance benefit? Thanks

 

[tsialex]

If none of these will be a problem for me, should I still flash to 5.1? Is there a performance benefit? Thanks

You don't have a performance benefit updating to 5,1, but to just have a supported Mac pays for all the work in updating from 4,1 to 5,1.

Do the 4,1>5,1 firmware upgrade, move from your hacked install to a clean one.

 

[ZigMac]

You don't have a performance benefit updating to 5,1, but to just have a supported Mac pays for all the work in updating from 4,1 to 5,1.

Do the 4,1>5,1 firmware upgrade, move from your hacked install to a clean one.

Ah so Mojave is able to install on a 5.1 if you have the correct metal supporting GPU. So if I pick up a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 560 today, I should be good to go? Do you think I should prepare a new USB with the OG version of Mojave while still in Mojave (hacked version), flash to 5.1 while again still in hacked version, and then boot to USB, format and install? Is there a specific type of format I should use? I've been using MAC OS extended journaled.

Thanks guys

 

[tsialex]

Ah so Mojave is able to install on a 5.1 if you have the correct metal supporting GPU. So if I pick up a Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 560 today, I should be good to go? Do you think I should prepare a new USB with the OG version of Mojave while still in Mojave (hacked version), flash to 5.1 while again still in hacked version, and then boot to USB, format and install? Is there a specific type of format I should use? I've been using MAC OS extended journaled.

Thanks guys

Never do firmware upgrades from hacked installs, you can brick your Mac. Install 10.11 (last macOS version supported on 4,1) on a empty disk and do all the song and dance of the 4,1>5,1 firmware upgrade. Then read and do this firmware upgrades MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave

RX-560 works with Mojave, Sapphire Pulse RX-580 has official Apple Support.
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What's your current BootROM version?

 

[ZigMac]

Never do firmware upgrades from hacked installs, you can brick your Mac. Install 10.11 (last macOS version supported on 4,1) on a empty disk and do all the song and dance of the 4,1>5,1 firmware upgrade. Then read and do this firmware upgrades MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave

RX-560 works with Mojave, Sapphire Pulse RX-580 has official Apple Support.
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What's your current BootROM version?

Legend, thanks for that. Looking forward to leaving work and working on this I'll let you know how I go.

 

[tsialex]

Legend, thanks for that. Looking forward to leaving work and working on this I'll let you know how I go.

Don't forget to post what's your current 4,1 BootROM.

If you have B03 or B08, you need to do more steps than the usual B07 to 5,1 firmware upgrade

 

[ZigMac]

Don't forget to post what's your current 4,1 BootROM.

If you have B03 or B08, you need to do more steps than the usual B07 to 5,1 firmware upgrade

Cool will do. Wish I left the mac on so I could remote in. only 10am so long wait Do you think the RX 560 is worth it? Should I get a better spec? I won't be playing games, mainly for some video/pic editing and general browsing etc. Thanks.

 

[tsialex]

Cool will do. Wish I left the mac on so I could remote in. only 10am so long wait Do you think the RX 560 is worth it? Should I get a better spec? I won't be playing games, mainly for some video/pic editing and general browsing etc. Thanks.

Any current card is incredibly better than the GT 120 that you have. RX-560 is half the price of the RX-580, but the latter has better macOS support, have HEVC hardware decoding with Mojave, probably we will get hardware encoding working too.

RX-560 have some driver support problems with 10.13, RX-580 had only with 10.12, none with 10.13.

RX-560 do not need supplemental PCIe power, RX-580 needs a dual miniPCIe 6-pin to PCIe 8-pin cable.

 

[h9826790]

You don't have a performance benefit updating to 5,1, but to just have a supported Mac pays for all the work in updating from 4,1 to 5,1.

Do the 4,1>5,1 firmware upgrade, move from your hacked install to a clean one.

EXCEPT PCIe slot 2 can now negotiate at 5GT/s with PCIe 3.0 standard device. That can be performance benefit. (Without hardware change)

And the cMP can accept higher performance CPU and RAM (with hardware change)

Also move away from patch OS may allow the OS to run “smoother”.
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Don't forget to post what's your current 4,1 BootROM.

If you have B03 or B08, you need to do more steps than the usual B07 to 5,1 firmware upgrade

For info, B08 can direct update to 5,1 firmware