Upgrading GPU on Mac Pro Early 2009

cineworks · Jul 6, 2016

Hi all,

I'm hoping to upgrade the GPU on a Mac Pro Early 2009 at work. It struggles to keep up when users work on Adobe After Effects CC.

I'm on a tight budget (this is for a non-profit) and would like to spend as little as possible but get the current NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB up to a 1Gb GPU.

Having never done this before, I'm not sure which models of GPUs are compatible with the machine. Is a used ATI Radeon HD 5770 1Gb okay? Or should I be going for an aftermarket card?

My knowledge all comes from here: http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...ics-cards-dvi-dual-link-mini-displayport.html

Suggestions? Advice? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

pigoo3 · Jul 6, 2016

cineworks said:
Is a used ATI Radeon HD 5770 1Gb okay? Or should I be going for an aftermarket card?

Technically…the 5770 would be an aftermarket card for an Early 2009 Mac Pro. 5770's weren't offered as an upgrade for Mac Pro's by Apple until the 2010 models.

Yes…the GT 120 video card is not that powerful. The Radeon 5770 or Radeon 5870…would be two video cards I would consider if I was doing the same thing.

FYI…in case you didn't know. There are Macintosh & Windows versions of the 5770 & 5870…and the Windows versions will be less expensive. These Windows versions should work ok…but personally I prefer to go with the Mac version. Still some small differences with the Windows cards.

HTH,

- Nick

cineworks · Jul 6, 2016

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the reply!

Just looking on Amazon, and it's not clear how I tell the difference between the Mac and Windows versions. Any clues?

pigoo3 said:
Technically…the 5770 would be an aftermarket card for an Early 2009 Mac Pro. 5770's weren't offered as an upgrade for Mac Pro's by Apple until the 2010 models.

Yes…the GT 120 video card is not that powerful. The Radeon 5770 or Radeon 5870…would be two video cards I would consider if I was doing the same thing.

FYI…in case you didn't know. There are Macintosh & Windows versions of the 5770 & 5870…and the Windows versions will be less expensive. These Windows versions should work ok…but personally I prefer to go with the Mac version. Still some small differences with the Windows cards.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 · Jul 6, 2016

cineworks said:
Just looking on Amazon, and it's not clear how I tell the difference between the Mac and Windows versions. Any clues?

Yes.

Apple 5770s & 5870's usually have one full sized DVI port…and two Mini-Display ports (photo below). Windows 5770's & 5870's can come with all sorts of ports. Two full sized DVI ports, a serial port, an HDMI port, etc. (different combinations).

You will usually come across three sorts of deals when shopping:

1. More expensive original Apple cards.
2. Lower cost Windows cards.
3. Folks trying to sell original Windows cards (for use in a Mac) at original Apple card prices. Basically these are very over-priced Windows cards (you don't want these)!

HTH,

- Nick

cineworks · Jul 6, 2016

Awesome, thanks so much for your help!

pigoo3 said:
Yes. Apple 5770s & 5870's usually have one full sized DVI port…and two Mini-Display ports (photo below). Windows 5770's & 5870's can come with all sorts of ports. Two full sized DVI ports, a serial port, an HDMI port, etc. (different combinations).

You will usually come across three sorts of deals when shopping:

1. More expensive original Apple cards.
2. Lower cost Windows cards.
3. Folks trying to sell original Windows cards (for use in a Mac) at original Apple card prices. Basically these are very over-priced Windows cards (you don't want these)!

HTH,

- Nick

Quinten · Jul 7, 2016

Just get a good card and use the GT120 as secondary GPU , A Nvidia Gtx9xx series card will poop on a 5770 and 5870, Both are not very powerful this day and age, I recommend A gtx960 works great under OS X and twice as much vram Greets Quinten

cineworks · Jul 7, 2016

Hi Quinten,

Thanks for the suggestion! Can you tell me if this one is Mac compatible?

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00T4BWGBM/

Quinten said:
Just get a good card and use the GT120 as secondary GPU , A Nvidia Gtx9xx series card will poop on a 5770 and 5870, Both are not very powerful this day and age, I recommend A gtx960 works great under OS X and twice as much vram Greets Quinten

pigoo3 · Jul 7, 2016

@cineworks.

What I suggested (5770 & 5870) are very good original Apple/Mac video cards (much better than the GT 120). There are lots & lots of Windows cards that will work…and are probably better than the 5770 & 5870.

Many Windows cards will work fine…and work fine 99% of the time. Just sometimes little quirky things pop up.

I just like to be 100% original Apple/Mac.

- Nick

Quinten · Jul 7, 2016

pigoo3 said:
@cineworks.

What I suggested (5770 & 5870) are very good original Apple/Mac video cards (much better than the GT 120). There are lots & lots of Windows cards that will work…and are probably better than the 5770 & 5870.

Many Windows cards will work fine…and work fine 99% of the time. Just sometimes little quirky things pop up.

I just like to be 100% original Apple/Mac.

- Nick

The thing is Nick, Apple cards are not made with magic, they are just equipt with a Mac Rom and by keeping the Gt120 in (Which only uses pci-e power) you still have the benefits of an apple card.

Now furthermore yes the card will work just fine make sure you get the right power cable though I believe a MacPro 6pin to 8 Pin is needed (No it will not damage the Mac the 960 is rated at 128W tdp wich is fine for 6pin+Pci-e power) You can find those cables very cheap on eBay

pigoo3 · Jul 7, 2016

Quinten said:
The thing is Nick, Apple cards are not made with magic, they are just equipt with a Mac Rom and by keeping the Gt120 in (Which only uses pci-e power) you still have the benefits of an apple card.

No disagreement Quinten. Apple cards are not made with magic.

I personally just prefer the most compatibility possible.

And yes…great to keep the GT-120 in there + a better video card (Windows or Apple version). Best of both worlds.

- Nick

Quinten · Jul 8, 2016

I fully agree with you Nick and understand using apple only cards,
Good Luck with your upgrade !

colinlittley66 · Jul 9, 2016

If you do decide on a Ex windows variant 5770 then check out youtube on how to flash the card with atiflash and a Mac flash Bios for the card its not simple and could Brick the card if you don't follow the guides properly. I got mine to workon a Alienware HD5770 card just had to remove a few parts to make it fit but I got it working well and only cost me £20 and a bit of time to get it working but its spot on for the job it does.

Good luck with the upgrade !!!

cineworks · Jul 20, 2016

UPDATED - I just scrolled up and saw Quentin's warning about this. I will look into acquiring another cable!

----
At your suggestion, I ordered a GTX 960 GPU.

However, after putting it in, it didn't work. I think it may have something to do with the cables - if you see the images below, you'll see the 960 came with different cables.

Any thoughts on what I can do? I kept one of the old cables in there to see if it would work (the 960 only has one port, not two, so I could only connect one).

It came with this:

Originally there were two of these in there.

cineworks · Jul 20, 2016

Hi,

So it looks like it needs 6 pin to dual mini 6 pin which has proven impossible to find so far.
Any leads? Preferably in Canada?

Quinten · Jul 21, 2016

What port does your GTX960 use? Can you provide a picture?
And what os are you running ?
Also you have to wait until it is fully booted you won't see anything until the login screen appears

cineworks · Jul 21, 2016

It has a 6-pin PCI port on it.
The computer has two (mini 6 pin) PCIe ports, labelled A & B. The previous GPU had two 6-pin PCI ports and two cables going to the PCIe ports.

I posted photos of the cables above. Here is one of the PCI port on the GTX960.

Quinten said:
What port does your GTX960 use? Can you provide a picture?
And what os are you running ?
Also you have to wait until it is fully booted you won't see anything until the login screen appears

lclev · Jul 21, 2016

Not sure if this will help but I am running a Gigabyte geforce gtx 780 with 3gb of gpu memory in my Mac Pro. My card uses two six pin power connectors which the power supply has but the card is a bit expensive.

IMO - this is a better card as it has 4GB of GPU memory:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B013LDXPFO/

I have a 2009 4,1 MP that I have flashed so it is now operating as an 2010 5,1 MP. I also updated the 2 CPU's and increased the memory to 64GB. I needed it for Premiere Pro and After Effects. I also keep the original GT120 card in it so if I need the grey boot screen, I have it.

Lisa

pigoo3 · Jul 21, 2016

Sounds like one awesome setup Lisa!

- Nick

Quinten · Jul 22, 2016

Use both cards in your MacPro but connect the display to your GT120 so you can see what is happening, then go to about this mac and look under graphics and displays, See what it says here

lclev · Jul 22, 2016

pigoo3 said:
Sounds like one awesome setup Lisa!

- Nick

She does run well. But even with those specs, I have found really elaborate after effects projects can cause some drag. AE is VERY GPU/CPU intensive. She breezes through Premiere Pro video projects though.

As for leaving the GT120 - I agree with Quinten, leaving it in causes no problems. You can actually hook both of them to monitors BUT there can be interesting issues if you leave them both hooked up and try to work with AE. I forgot once and did that. I had some weird and interesting video issues. Once I figured it out and disconnected the monitor on it, all was good.

Lisa

Upgrading GPU on Mac Pro Early 2009

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