Hardware upgrades to run 10.7 on MacPro 1,1

Hello,

I have an original Mac Pro 1,1. It hasn't been used in awhile, its still running 10.4 haha.

OSX Lion is listed as a compatible operating system (I know 10.8 can be installed with some hacks, but I want this machine to be stable).

The computer will be used for office work (internet, MS Office, Acrobat) and some light Aperture work. Currently it has 1GB of RAM and a Nvidia 7300gt GPU.

How much RAM should be added to this machine? I was thinking an additional 4GB for a total of 5GB. My MBP runs 10.8 smoothly with 4GB.

In terms of a GPU upgrade, will the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT be sufficient, or should I use an unsupported card such as Radeon HD 5750?

Due to the fact that future OS's will not be compatible with this machine, I am not trying to sink alot of money into it. A used 8800GT and 4GB of RAM cost around $200 in total.

Thank you for the help!

Depends on what you want to do with the machine but generally about 8GB will be enough for everything. The 8800GT is a popular card BUT make sure you get the model compatible with the Mac Pro 1.1. The model for dual channel Mac Pros 3.1 onwards will not work.

Make sure you purchase matching pairs of Mac compatible memory modules. OWC and Crucial manufacture modules for you Mac Pro.

mr g5 said:

Hello,

I have an original Mac Pro 1,1. It hasn't been used in awhile, its still running 10.4 haha.

OSX Lion is listed as a compatible operating system (I know 10.8 can be installed with some hacks, but I want this machine to be stable).

Click to expand...

Technically speaking…the only thing you NEED to upgrade for your Mac Pro 1,1 to run Lion is to upgrade the ram to 2gig.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/07/mac-os-x-10-7-lion-system-requirements/

But for everyday use…I would recommend at least 4gig…and 8gig would probably be best (like Harry mentioned).

But here are two "watchouts":

1. Your bigger problem is purchasing Lion…since it is no longer available for sale at the Mac App Store. What you need to do is call Apple (800 number) to buy it.
2. Ram for Mac Pro 1,1's is NOT cheap.

Your Mac Pro should have 8 ram slots. The least expensive way to upgrade your ram is to fill all 8 slots with 512meg sticks of ram (purchased via e-Bay). This is the ram that most folks when upgrading are removing. If you fill all 8 slots this way you will have 4gig of ram.

If you want 8gig of ram…then the least expensive way would be to fill all 8 slots with 1gig sticks of ram. Which will cost you approx. $238 bucks (like I said the ram for Mac Pro 1,1's is not cheap):

OWC 53FB1MPK08GB 8.0GB Mac Pro Memory Matched Pair... in stock at OWC

HTH,

- Nick