CamFire
Prominent Member
(Rant in disguise)
Don't want the latest Mac Pro - unless I get it free or I win Lotto.
Don't want to consider a Mac Pro (2013) due to its lack of upgradeability internally. Don't start me on upgrades with external Thunderbolt devices, etc. - too messy on the desktop. Still, it is my guilty pleasure to have one just for home online use but in office I keep swapping SATA drives - Fusion drives, M2 SATA adaptors, etc. - so no good for this Darth-Vader MacPro.
So, I'd started looking online on "refreshing" a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009) which I use in a four-monitor setup in office; yes, plenty of screen-deskspace is needed to examine logic circuit structures. Originally equipped with a ATI HD5770 to drive 3 displays, I added a GT120 for the fourth. Now Apple decided both cannot be used at all for macOS Mojave - what aw****r shame. Talk about being victims in such typical industry squabbles - OpenGL, DirectX, Metal, blah-dee-blah.
And no, I am NOT approaching the situation with just loads of cash. Skint it might look like - but hey, there's a challenge. This is intoxicating...
Scrutinising the famous "bay" for such Metal-supported graphics cards, I avoided the ones aimed at gaming or are capable of loads of compute power (FPS, FLOPs, etc.) but cannot help swearing at the prices flashed-compatible ones fetched.
Then, spotted the humble NVIDIA GeForce GT630 2GB (with Dual DP DVI) (with the Kepler architecture, not Fermi, my puny online research uncovered) claimed to be flashed to support the boot screen. Very simple card, no pesky power cables to connect, not enough compute horse-power for intensive graphics - but hey! suits me just fine.
But, I won't be filling others' pockets just for the boot screen - so managed to get two such GT630 for about twenty quid. For both, in case you're asking.
Here starts the nervous journey - as bricking the Mac Pro is NOT an option. Took out all the "old" cards and plugged two GT630's in. Starting with just one monitor, the MacPro booted off in High Sierra and upon logging in (I use multiple user accounts and hence a login screen), the Mac Pro *crashed* after giving some hint of the desktop on the display. Right - stay calm, stay focused. Damn, what next?
Don't want the latest Mac Pro - unless I get it free or I win Lotto.
Don't want to consider a Mac Pro (2013) due to its lack of upgradeability internally. Don't start me on upgrades with external Thunderbolt devices, etc. - too messy on the desktop. Still, it is my guilty pleasure to have one just for home online use but in office I keep swapping SATA drives - Fusion drives, M2 SATA adaptors, etc. - so no good for this Darth-Vader MacPro.
So, I'd started looking online on "refreshing" a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009) which I use in a four-monitor setup in office; yes, plenty of screen-deskspace is needed to examine logic circuit structures. Originally equipped with a ATI HD5770 to drive 3 displays, I added a GT120 for the fourth. Now Apple decided both cannot be used at all for macOS Mojave - what a
And no, I am NOT approaching the situation with just loads of cash. Skint it might look like - but hey, there's a challenge. This is intoxicating...
Scrutinising the famous "bay" for such Metal-supported graphics cards, I avoided the ones aimed at gaming or are capable of loads of compute power (FPS, FLOPs, etc.) but cannot help swearing at the prices flashed-compatible ones fetched.
Then, spotted the humble NVIDIA GeForce GT630 2GB (with Dual DP DVI) (with the Kepler architecture, not Fermi, my puny online research uncovered) claimed to be flashed to support the boot screen. Very simple card, no pesky power cables to connect, not enough compute horse-power for intensive graphics - but hey! suits me just fine.
But, I won't be filling others' pockets just for the boot screen - so managed to get two such GT630 for about twenty quid. For both, in case you're asking.
Here starts the nervous journey - as bricking the Mac Pro is NOT an option. Took out all the "old" cards and plugged two GT630's in. Starting with just one monitor, the MacPro booted off in High Sierra and upon logging in (I use multiple user accounts and hence a login screen), the Mac Pro *crashed* after giving some hint of the desktop on the display. Right - stay calm, stay focused. Damn, what next?
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