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Need your help to upgrade my GPU

M

mordahari

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
4
0
Hi , i know there is a lot post on GPU upgrade . i think i read all of them and still think i can't find what to do !!
i have mac pro Mid 2012 5.1, i bought 4k monitor (LG 34uc99) a few days ago and found that my default card not supporting 4k resolution so i'm really stuck and need your help.
im not a gamer or graphic editor, i need the card for sound editing so i can used a basic card , just need to support 4k resolution and able to run as boot (hope i wrote it ok :) ) my budget is not really high !

need your help please !! thanksss
 
mordahari said:
Hi , i know there is a lot post on GPU upgrade . i think i read all of them and still think i can't find what to do !!
i have mac pro Mid 2012 5.1, i bought 4k monitor (LG 34uc99) a few days ago and found that my default card not supporting 4k resolution so i'm really stuck and need your help.
im not a gamer or graphic editor, i need the card for sound editing so i can used a basic card , just need to support 4k resolution and able to run as boot (hope i wrote it ok :) ) my budget is not really high !

need your help please !! thanksss
Click to expand...

I think the AMD RX560 should be fine for your needs. OSX has native drivers for it so it works out of the box.
(I have a Asus RX560 in my mac pro 2009 with high sierra).
 
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Ryatzu said:
I think the AMD RX560 should be fine for your needs. OSX has native drivers for it so it works out of the box.
(I have a Asus RX560 in my mac pro 2009 with high sierra).
Click to expand...

thanks !! i need to find a version with "free sync"
 
I can second the RX560 choice. If I remember correctly, you need to be running Sierra or High Sierra for it to work out of the box. Also, you may need a power cable (depending on the card you get). Aim for a 4gb model, it'll be a bit more future proof.
 
mordahari said:
Hi , i know there is a lot post on GPU upgrade . i think i read all of them and still think i can't find what to do !!
i have mac pro Mid 2012 5.1, i bought 4k monitor (LG 34uc99) a few days ago and found that my default card not supporting 4k resolution so i'm really stuck and need your help.
im not a gamer or graphic editor, i need the card for sound editing so i can used a basic card , just need to support 4k resolution and able to run as boot (hope i wrote it ok :) ) my budget is not really high !

need your help please !! thanksss
Click to expand...

Do you use FileVault? If yes, the suggested RX560 may not work.
 
I have a similar question, sorry to thread jump, but I have the same need but have Yosemite installed. Can you suggest a card for that system? I have a failed card, so I can't upgrade the OS before installing a new card unfortuantely.
 
mordahari said:
Not use this :)
[doublepost=1513795281][/doublepost]

Is it matter which brand?
Asus, gigabyte, sapphire ?
Click to expand...

Usually avoid XFX.

Sapphire usually works good. In fact, Sapphire manufactured HD7950 official Mac Edition card. Also, their RX580 PULSE is inside the Apple eGPU developer kit.

cameronjpu said:
I have a similar question, sorry to thread jump, but I have the same need but have Yosemite installed. Can you suggest a card for that system? I have a failed card, so I can't upgrade the OS before installing a new card unfortuantely.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind to buy used card. And don't need extreme GPU power, R9 280 is a good OOTB choice.
 
Cool !! So I bought the "asus ROG-STRIX-RX560-4G-GAMING"
Thanks a lot for the help !!


h9826790 said:
Usually avoid XFX.

Sapphire usually works good. In fact, Sapphire manufactured HD7950 official Mac Edition card. Also, their RX580 PULSE is inside the Apple eGPU developer kit.
Click to expand...
 
h9826790 said:
If you don't mind to buy used card. And don't need extreme GPU power, R9 280 is a good OOTB choice.
Click to expand...

OOTB (out of the box functionality?) would be great, but I think new would be great if possible. Hate to replace a failed GPU with something that's closer to failing again. Any suggestions for what would make a good replacement for under $150? The original GPU was the 5770 with 1GB RAM, so I would imagine something else could be gotten much more powerful these days for cheap. I don't mind about not having access to the initial boot screen if the GPU is not EFI firmware. Thanks -
 
cameronjpu said:
OOTB (out of the box functionality?) would be great, but I think new would be great if possible. Hate to replace a failed GPU with something that's closer to failing again. Any suggestions for what would make a good replacement for under $150? The original GPU was the 5770 with 1GB RAM, so I would imagine something else could be gotten much more powerful these days for cheap. I don't mind about not having access to the initial boot screen if the GPU is not EFI firmware. Thanks -
Click to expand...

You can still go for the new RX560. However, you need another Mac to instal 10.12.6 onto your original hard drive (do NOT go High Sierra in this case. HS may need a firmware update to boot properly, which can only be achieve on your own Mac with a Mac EFI GPU). Or if you can remote control login, you can also install the Sierra on your Mac without any GPU or assist from other Mac.
 
h9826790 said:
You can still go for the new RX560. However, you need another Mac to instal 10.12.6 onto your original hard drive (do NOT go High Sierra in this case. HS may need a firmware update to boot properly, which can only be achieve on your own Mac with a Mac EFI GPU). Or if you can remote control login, you can also install the Sierra on your Mac without any GPU or assist from other Mac.
Click to expand...

Yikes, so that's a big ask. Do you think it'd be at all possible to get a card that I can literally just swap in, that will cost under $200?
 
You could buy an internal hard drive with 10.12.6 preinstalled, swap out your original hard drive and put the RX560 in, and it *should* work. Never done it this way, so no guarantees.
 
Look for Mac GTX 680 cards on eBay or similar. That's about as close to $200 range as you're going to get these days that even comes close to supporting 4K. One issue with most of those generation cards is refresh rate - sometimes only 30hz with certain monitors.
 
bsbeamer said:
Look for Mac GTX 680 cards on eBay or similar. That's about as close to $200 range as you're going to get these days that even comes close to supporting 4K. One issue with most of those generation cards is refresh rate - sometimes only 30hz with certain monitors.
Click to expand...

For GTX680 or HD79xx, I won't buy any flashed card. The extra cost is not the biggest issue, but there are lots of improperly flashed cards. If anything goes wrong, I don't even have the original ROM to fix it. So, unless I can get 100% refund (including shipping cost), I won't try flashed card on these 2 models.

And these cards work OOTB anyway, even unflashed. So, better get the card, use it. And then consider flash it when prefer to have (or need) Mac EFI.
 
cameronjpu said:
Sorry to be dense - would this card do the job? OOTB functionality with no flashing etc required?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2F83MX9921
Click to expand...

It may. Unsure if that exact configuration/model is supported, or if there are only certain variants that are. Does not look like this model is 4K compatible. Believe it is an AMD Eyefinity card, so that may further limit what works/doesn't on a Mac.

Check this thread. Someone did get a 7750 working right out of the box, but that was a more traditional 7750 card:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/confirmed-radeon-7750-working-in-3-1.1566184/

This MIGHT be a closer model to the XFX Radeon 7750 that was used vs. the Eyefinity version you linked above:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZQ5HW6
 
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Same boat here. Would like to toss my flashed xfx 7950 card and upgrade to something newer and PnP. I'm using Sierra and just want to give the cMP a couple more years of life.

Are all the AMD RX 5XX cards supported? Vega cards also?

Don't want to mess with web drivers, ROMs, exotic cooling, etc. and keep my boot screens.
 
CrazyNurse said:
Same boat here. Would like to toss my flashed xfx 7950 card and upgrade to something newer and PnP. I'm using Sierra and just want to give the cMP a couple more years of life.

Are all the AMD RX 5XX cards supported? Vega cards also?

Don't want to mess with web drivers, ROMs, exotic cooling, etc. and keep my boot screens.
Click to expand...

If there was a new card that didn't require web drivers, didn't use hacked ROMs, kept your boot screens, and was plug and play, you wouldn't have to ask what it was because almost everyone would be using it.

So instead you will have to pick your compromise:
  • Newer AMD cards - no boot screens
  • Newer Nvidia cards - no boot screens and require web drivers
  • Newer Nvidia cards flashed with a ROM - require web drivers
 
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bsbeamer said:
It may. Unsure if that exact configuration/model is supported, or if there are only certain variants that are. Does not look like this model is 4K compatible. Believe it is an AMD Eyefinity card, so that may further limit what works/doesn't on a Mac.

Check this thread. Someone did get a 7750 working right out of the box, but that was a more traditional 7750 card:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/confirmed-radeon-7750-working-in-3-1.1566184/

This MIGHT be a closer model to the XFX Radeon 7750 that was used vs. the Eyefinity version you linked above:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009ZQ5HW6
Click to expand...

Man, what a pain. Thanks for your help! Why doesn't Apple make a tiny bit of effort, which I'm sure AMD would happily underwrite since they'd be the ones sellign more GPUs, to make this easier? Just to validate a single new card every year at least! Ugh!
 
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ActionableMango said:
If there was a new card that didn't require web drivers, didn't use hacked ROMs, kept your boot screens, and was plug and play, you wouldn't have to ask what it was because almost everyone would be using it.

So instead you will have to pick your compromise:
  • Newer AMD cards - no boot screens
  • Newer Nvidia cards - no boot screens and require web drivers
  • Newer Nvidia cards flashed with a ROM - require web drivers
Click to expand...
Dang. Thanks for the update. This is a tough situation to be in.
 
I've been OK with a flashed 680 to run a big 4K/60Hz monitor (for Logic) over DP on my 4,1->5,1 cMP. Install was plug and play under El Cap, I think under Yosemite too. Max TDP 195 Watts. And it's a CUDA & Open CL card.

I only get a boot screen over HDMI, but that's workable for those special cases, hooking up the monitor to both, and untangling it after boot. The HDMI (1.4) is limited to 4K/30hz. The DVI of course is even more limited, so my main complaint is the single DP port: I can't run a second 4K/60hz display. But if you can live with that, it's OK.
 
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