Mojave on mid-2012 Mac Pro

[sdwaltz]

Alright, I'm mad. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on the answer to the question.

I have a mid-2012 Mac Pro with a Radeon HD 5770 1gb. It still runs better than new.

If I were to upgrade my GPU, would I be able to install Mojave the "standard" way (i.e., download it from app store, install, and then boom, it's done) or would I still have to go through the same amount of BS that other people have had to go through just to upgrade their "unsupported" Macs that have more than enough horsepower to run the new OS?

If so, what GPU should I be looking at?

If not, Apple is killing me. I'm still having a hard time dealing with the fact that my perfectly good 2011 i7 MBP isn't getting the update. The Mac Pro came as a bigger surprise, I figured it'd be supported until at least 2020.

 

[bookemdano]

We really don't know yet. Apple took steps to physically prevent Developer Beta 1 from running on the cMP 5,1 (presumably because of the GFX issue) but states that support will be added in a future beta. So that means that when they do, they should have an upgrade process determined.

I'd say just slow your roll on everything (installing and buying) until Apple gives us more deets about what they have in mind for the 2010/2012 Mac Pro.

 

[redheeler]

The current beta can't be installed the normal way, however Apple has promised support for the Mac Pro 5,1 is coming in a "later beta", meaning it will be installable normally provided you have a Metal-capable GPU. I will have to wait until final release to try it on my 5,1, as the GTX 970 I have installed is Metal-capable but requires drivers from Nvidia.

To replace your aging 5770, I'd recommend one of the newer AMD cards, which already have support from the native drivers in MacOS. Keep the 5770 though, as with the newer card you won't be able to see the boot screen, meaning from the time you turn on your Mac Pro to the time the login screen appears, or the EFI boot menu.

 

[bookemdano]

Lack of a boot screen seems minor enough (who cares that you don't see the Apple logo when it boots up?) but anyone doing this ought to be aware that it also prevents you from booting from the Recovery partition in case of problems, prevents you from doing firmware updates (which Apple has been releasing lately for the Mac Pro), and greatly hampers your ability to use FileVault drive encryption, boot camp or multiple MacOS installs on the machine.

This is why I'm hopeful that if Apple is going to actually support Mojave on the 5,1 then they're going to give us a GPU solution that doesn't take away all of that functionality. We'll see.

 

[redheeler]

Lack of a boot screen seems minor enough (who cares that you don't see the Apple logo when it boots up?) but anyone doing this ought to be aware that it also prevents you from booting from the Recovery partition in case of problems, prevents you from doing firmware updates (which Apple has been releasing lately for the Mac Pro), and greatly hampers your ability to use FileVault drive encryption, boot camp or multiple MacOS installs on the machine.

This is why I'm hopeful that if Apple is going to actually support Mojave on the 5,1 then they're going to give us a GPU solution that doesn't take away all of that functionality. We'll see.

Not sure why having a non-EFI GPU would prevent firmware updates from succeeding, you simply wouldn't be able to see the gray screen with progress bar while the new firmware is installing. The boot menu is usable if you have memorized the order the drives appear in, simply navigate using the arrow keys. I even once found a tutorial for how to disable or reneable System Integrity Protection without being able to see anything on the screen, and it worked fine.

I do recommend keeping the 5770, though swapping them out if ever needed can definitely be a hassle.

 

[bookemdano]

Not sure why having a non-EFI GPU would prevent firmware updates from succeeding, you simply wouldn't be able to see the gray screen with progress bar while the new firmware is installing. I even once found a tutorial for how to disable or reneable System Integrity Protection without being able to see anything on the screen, and it worked fine.

I do recommend keeping the 5770, though swapping them out if ever needed can definitely be a hassle.

I haven't tried it myself but plenty of people have said so in the Mac Pro forum here that you must have an EFI Graphics card installed in order to update the firmware on the cMP. EDIT: See also here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8087613

Edit: And yes you can do some things (like enter a FileVault password) blind. But is Apple really going to recommend that experience to its 2012 Mac Pro users (whose machines have not yet entered Obsolete status)? Maybe I'm just an optimist, but I hope they've got something better up their sleeve.

 

[sdwaltz]

Thanks for the input, y'all. I didn't plan on trying to upgrade the Mac Pro to Mojave until the GM anyway, so it's good to know that Apple is working on it.

Hopefully it's as simple as buying an EFI graphics card (I want the full experience Apple logo and all, as silly as it sounds), installing it, and then installing Mojave as normal.

 

[macsba]

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 (2012) with a AMD Radeon HD 7950 GPU. I'm just going to wait for Apple to release the Mojave beta for the 5,1 Mac Pro.

 

[MisterAndrew]

You can enter Recovery mode using a non-EFI GPU. You don't see the initial boot screen as in starting the OS, but it comes up. It uses the OS drivers.

You also won't need an EFI GPU to run Mojave. It just needs to support Metal. There are a few discussions about it in the Mac Pro subforum. It's possible Apple will sell a new video card for the Mac Pro 5,1 (drivers in 10.13.6 and 10.14 indicate a possible Radeon Pro 580), but we don't know yet.

 

[nliechti]

Alright, I'm mad. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on the answer to the question.

I have a mid-2012 Mac Pro with a Radeon HD 5770 1gb. It still runs better than new.

If I were to upgrade my GPU, would I be able to install Mojave the "standard" way (i.e., download it from app store, install, and then boom, it's done) or would I still have to go through the same amount of BS that other people have had to go through just to upgrade their "unsupported" Macs that have more than enough horsepower to run the new OS?

If so, what GPU should I be looking at?

If not, Apple is killing me. I'm still having a hard time dealing with the fact that my perfectly good 2011 i7 MBP isn't getting the update. The Mac Pro came as a bigger surprise, I figured it'd be supported until at least 2020.

I'm using a Mid-2010 Mac Pro (5,1) with a brand new Sapphire RX 580 Pulse - 8GB DDR5-RAM running with Mojave. I have just opened the mac, took out my old Radeon HD 5770. Installed the new GPU (slot 1). Started the mac again on High Sierra. Launched the installation of Mojave. At that time, i was asked to perform a kind of firmware update, with a reboot. After that, i was able to run the installer of Mojave. The Mac runs perfectly. I just have a problem with my Bootcamp (Windows 10) partition yet.

 

[sdwaltz]

I'm using a Mid-2010 Mac Pro (5,1) with a brand new Sapphire RX 580 Pulse - 8GB DDR5-RAM running with Mojave. I have just opened the mac, took out my old Radeon HD 5770. Installed the new GPU (slot 1). Started the mac again on High Sierra. Launched the installation of Mojave. At that time, i was asked to perform a kind of firmware update, with a reboot. After that, i was able to run the installer of Mojave. The Mac runs perfectly. I just have a problem with my Bootcamp (Windows 10) partition yet.

Awesome, great to know that installing a metal-capable GPU makes the upgrade process as simple as all the Mojave-capable machines from the factory.

 

[boomer1990]

Alright, I'm mad. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on the answer to the question.

I have a mid-2012 Mac Pro with a Radeon HD 5770 1gb. It still runs better than new.

If I were to upgrade my GPU, would I be able to install Mojave the "standard" way (i.e., download it from app store, install, and then boom, it's done) or would I still have to go through the same amount of BS that other people have had to go through just to upgrade their "unsupported" Macs that have more than enough horsepower to run the new OS?

If so, what GPU should I be looking at?

If not, Apple is killing me. I'm still having a hard time dealing with the fact that my perfectly good 2011 i7 MBP isn't getting the update. The Mac Pro came as a bigger surprise, I figured it'd be supported until at least 2020.

I just did the upgrade to one of my spare internal disks. Staying on High Sierra for my primary OS until I see if a few things come thru and what other bugs I hit. I upgraded from a 5870 GPU to an RX580 which is compatible and an improvement as well. The big difference is you lose the boot screen. So you need to either set it in the startup disk menu or there is a method to get to it from the recovery partition.

 

[macsba]

Thanks for the input, y'all. I didn't plan on trying to upgrade the Mac Pro to Mojave until the GM anyway, so it's good to know that Apple is working on it.

Hopefully it's as simple as buying an EFI graphics card (I want the full experience Apple logo and all, as silly as it sounds), installing it, and then installing Mojave as normal.

Hello sdwaltz;

Couple of years ago I saw the handwriting on the wall and changed my video card to
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3072 MB. Lucky I can use it for Mohave. For me, no software updates was needed for the card. Just plug and play. Currently when I change the boot up drive, I have no problems. When running Mojave, there's no problems for me. Very smooth.