NVMe with ST-NGFF2013-C; Vega Internal GPU; Mac Pro 2013 (6,1)

[tsialex]

"Oh ok. But Dx00 drivers after macOS 13 are super bugged, maybe there are more modern GPU from iMac 2015-2019 which at least can run ok with OpenCore."


iMacs have AVX2 support since the late-2013 (Haswell based i5/i7 CPUs) models.

For a time AVX2 instructions were called as Haswell New Instructions. So, the late-2013 Mac Pro (Ivy-bridge based Xeon) was based on an already outdated CPU when comparing with the iMacs and MBP of the same era.

OpenCore can try to workaround the missing AVX2 support using pre-Ventura drivers and subsystems, but will never be like a supported Mac. For that Apple would need to fully open-source macOS and the whole macOS recompiled for AVX support instead - this won't happen.

 

[underthere]

Wow, this is such a cool discovery. Its interesting to me that they would use just a ton of PCIe X4 connectors instead of regular M.2 or their own 12+16 pin connector, maybe for easy adapting to other standards?

They must be using some kind of PCIe switch chip for the slots, judging by the fact that the 6,1 does not support bifurcation in any way, and the big thermal pad on the heatsink. There sure is a lot of logic on those boards though if its just PCIe slots and a switch. I see some fat inductors, physical buttons, and a programming header for maybe a microcontroller. Wish u/dogtooth97 would post a picture of the rear.

I got a 6,1 a couple weeks ago with the goal of designing an X16 breakout / dev board and possibly a new much faster GPU board to replace the dual GPUs. The first issue is obviously the part number and pinout on that damn 300-pin connector.

Can anyone comment if there will be any issues with GPU EFI firmware like there is with the 4,1/5,1?
Luckily were dealing with UEFI now like with the 2019, so fingers crossed its actually "Unified".

Best of luck to you, hope you get it figured out!

 

[Flint Ironstag]

I know this thread has been quiet, but I have news that's directly relevant to what @CodeJingle was trying to accomplish years ago — and it turns out Apple already solved it internally.
I've been trying to bypass the Thunderbolt 2 bottleneck on my Mac Pro 6,1 for an eGPU setup and stumbled across something incredible. A Reddit user (u/dogtooth97 on r/macpro) just posted photos of three Mac Pro 2013 trash cans with their GPUs removed and replaced by custom PCIe breakout/daughter cards that expose multiple M.2 NVMe slots in place of the FirePro GPU board.
View attachment 2621529View attachment 2621530
Here's what we know so far:

• The board replaces one of the two GPU boards (plugs into the same FCI Meg-Array flex cable connector that the D300/D500/D700 uses)
• It breaks out the PCIe x16 lanes into what appears to be six M.2 slots
• The connectors appear to be from Apple or Amphenol factory
• According to the owner, these are Apple internal development daughter cards used to clone macOS onto prototype hardware with codenames J138 (iMac Pro 2017) and J139 (Mac Pro 2019)
• They were used as HDD/SSD duplicator/imaging stations inside Apple
• These were never sold commercially — they leaked out through Apple's asset disposal/e-waste chain

This is the exact board that CodeJingle spent 100+ hours trying to reverse-engineer by mapping the ~300-pin flex cable traces before abandoning the project. Apple had already designed and manufactured the solution internally — they just never released it.


The original Reddit post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/macpro/comments/1si6l5f/mac_pro_with_pcie_slot_is_real_and_it_wont_hurt

Would love it more if we could stick 2 modern GPUs in place of the stock ones. And retain the original case + cooling.

 

[tsialex]

Would love it more if we could stick 2 modern GPUs in place of the stock ones. And retain the original case + cooling.

You would pay $1500 for that bespoke solution?!? There is no market for it.

 

[Flint Ironstag]

You would pay $1500 for that bespoke solution?!? There is no market for it.

I don't have a need for it today, so no. But folks in China are upgrading VRAM and breathing new life into 'old' GPUs. Who knows what upcycling we might see in the future, and it wouldn't surprise me if 6,1 became favored housings for new internals.

 

[tsialex]

I don't have a need for it today, so no. But folks in China are upgrading VRAM and breathing new life into 'old' GPUs. Who knows what upcycling we might see in the future, and it wouldn't surprise me if 6,1 became favored housings for new internals.

I don't doubt that is technically possible to do it, but I don't see it as a viable product in any way - this ship has sailed long ago.

The number of modded 96GB 5090s to be used for IA in China where they couldn't get H200s legaly is gigantic when compared to the number of people that would be interested in an upgraded MacPro6,1 with something like Vega 48 or 56 GPUs since any newer AMD GPUs require AVX2 support starting with Ventura and Ivy Bridge based Xeons do not have it.

Too few people interested will make it extremely expensive to make, remember the insane cost of the Amfeltec AngelShark? Nowadays Amfeltec does not even publish the current price on the site.