How long will the Mac Pro 5,1 last? - - Explaining the CPU bottleneck on the Mac Pro 5,1 in 2023

Рет қаралды 15,377

Күн бұрын

Long video, but I think I got a lot of info in
I make videos about older tech - mostly Macs, almost every week. Subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one!
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Пікірлер: 114

@oldrockgeeser9426 7 ай бұрын

It's always the people selling new stuff that tell you what you have is obsolete.

@macgamer1973 7 ай бұрын

An sheep always fall for it. Tim Cook and apple want people to buy those junky non upgradable silicon crap

@Sudds1888 4 ай бұрын

@@macgamer1973 Not this guy! Been running hackintosh for years, currently running Z490 UD AC i9 10900k, UHD630 with the latest Sonoma build, running rock solid, once they end support completely for intel machines i’ll still be running it for years

@rrcoster 3 ай бұрын

fact

@ryanlowseck1164 8 ай бұрын

Works fine in zbrush, Maya, after effects and photoshop. No issues with open core, pixlas mod and rx 6800xt. I use a few 3d printing software too like lychee slicer works very very well.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Hell yeah, I’m really glad to hear! The 6800 XT is a beast, and not too power hungry either.

@Strangeuseoftime 8 ай бұрын

Thorough video dude

@robertchamberlin2362 8 ай бұрын

I still love this machine .I also have the 5,1 dual cpu x5570 but ill be swapping them out with the x5690!

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Woo! Nice. Thanks for the comment

@monteallums7175 6 ай бұрын

Just upgraded my Cheese Grater to Monterey. 12 cores @ 3.46Ghz. Just installed a Thunderbolt Card and new video card. It was not without some frustration. But so far everything is working great! Use mine for audio and home business. It does everything I need and does it well. Many thanks to the people at Opencore for their hard work!

@montaguebarnabasltd 6 ай бұрын

It does take a lot of effort to set these things up, but I think worth it for sure. Glad to hear you got a good spec sorted! On another note you’re the only person I’ve ever come across with the same first name as me and the same spelling!

@monteallums7175 6 ай бұрын

Actually on a my birth certificate it's Montey. But they dropped the y. BTW, thanks for the vid!@@montaguebarnabasltd

@Guanaalex 5 ай бұрын

The Dell Alienware Aurora R11 / R12 used to come with 2-slot AMD Radeon 6800XT card. A very rare gem that I own and use in my MP 5.1. MacVidcards in Poland was skilled enough to flash my 6800XT card with the original MP7.1 Boot screens. If you are a Die-hard 5.1 fan, this would be very much recommended together with the USB2.0 Board upgrade, described at MacRumors forum. BUT, don't forget the Pixlas Mod for that card. :)

@montaguebarnabasltd 5 ай бұрын

That’s a seriously niche but interesting anecdote. Thanks for the info! Yeah MacVidCards do great things. Best of luck with your machine.

@itstheterranaut 7 ай бұрын

Having just built a new Hackintosh (i8700-K, 6600XT) to replace my dual-cpu X5690 2012 5,1 (OC, Big Sur, RX580) the thing I'm really missing is how well built the cMP is. Everything is well thought out, and designed for easy upgrades. I will miss its robustness, and indeed haven't yet taken the plunge by advertising it for sale.

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

Yeah it’s very hard to describe that well built feeling you get owning one of them. Good luck selling if you do.

@starsk13 6 ай бұрын

I have the same, 6 cores cpu and 6600XtT. I like very much, even if sometimes OpenCore is a bit annoying when security updates comes out, also experience some random lag issues under the finder. On the other hand, this mac is absolutely perfect under Window 10

@montaguebarnabasltd 6 ай бұрын

I agree totally. The ‘new version available’ windows opening annoy me especially. It’s minor, minor stuff, though. Windows 10 is the problem when it comes to the 5,1 lol. No matter the computer I’ve had troubles with windows.

@starsk13 6 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd strange, I never had this window :) Lucky me

@RarefiedError 2 ай бұрын

Use mine for productivity work. currently operate with MX Linux , I dump most render tasks to a renderfarm. Ditched osX long ago ( I was smart enough to use opensource software as much as possible always) , have a win10 drive for emergency use only. PS5 for my gaming.

@PersianImm0rtal 8 ай бұрын

x58 Never dies, especially if you overclock them! They overclock insanely well. You can also play at 4K and not bottleneck, because it will put more stress on the GPU and not the CPU. I run an x5690 at 4gherz, with an RTX 3080.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

God I wish there were a way to overclock on the Mac Pro board. Sounds like a sick setup though!

@Pasi123 8 ай бұрын

I'm still on X58 with a X5670 6c/12t @ 4.4GHz and GTX 1080. I also have two X58 based HP Z400 Workstations, one with a X5675 6c/12t and another with an older W3550 (same as i7-950)

@PersianImm0rtal 8 ай бұрын

@@Pasi123 do you know if it will play starfield?

@Pasi123 8 ай бұрын

@@PersianImm0rtal It won't because Starfield requires AVX. The first CPU's to have AVX was Intel 2nd gen

@AldrichQuaiHoi 8 ай бұрын

Assassins creed Valhalla ? it’s needs avx - this the biggest issue with the older xeon processors

@YootubeUK 4 ай бұрын

Impressive stuff I thought. Just replaced my 3,1 with a 12-core 5,1 today. It maybe "old hat" but for what I use it for it rocks.

@montaguebarnabasltd 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! Glad to see you’re still finding yours useful.

@rrcoster 3 ай бұрын

Use opencore and you can run any newer Mac OS X

@YootubeUK 3 ай бұрын

@@rrcoster Hard to install or any different to use?

@thorstenweimar1190 4 ай бұрын

My 4.1 flashed to 5.1 still works amazingly great, 3.33 GHz, 2x6 Core, 48GB RAM…Nuendo, Logic, VectorWorks or Photoshop. No problems with Monterey. I don’t experience any bottleneck. If one part may break you can easily find a spare part! Can you do this with a Mac Mini M3?

@montaguebarnabasltd 4 ай бұрын

Hell yeah. I believe the answer is no!

@Pasi123 8 ай бұрын

Have you tried the new Cinebench 2024? The Windows version requires AVX2 (first added on Intel 4th gen) but the macOS version only needs SSE4.2 I tried it in a macOS VM on my main PC (X5670 @ 4.4GHz) and got 319 pts.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Damnn, I haven’t. I’ll try it and reply when I do lol. Also 4.4Ghz is great for a Xeon of that age

@macgamer1973 7 ай бұрын

I hate this AVX2. This stop BG3 running on intel Mac pros

@Pasi123 7 ай бұрын

@@macgamer1973 BG3 as in Baldur's Gate 3? From what I've seen it doesn't require AVX nor AVX2

@braddl9442 8 ай бұрын

The only place that it would be a real bottleneck would be if your a an actual PRO development guy or Studio. I think for almost anyone else 12 cores still holds up even today. Heck most people for their daily drivers and gaming only need like 4 cores with 8 logic processors. Your average person will only need 8 cores at most.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

It’s hard to single people out as ‘pro’ or not, but I think you’re absolutely right. Yeah 4 cores is absolutely enough for most people. That’s why the MacBook Pro 2012 15” has lasted so long I believe. I think the real problem that’ll develop further down the line is compatibility. Apps and games are optimised for 10th gen or newer intel chips already, and AMD Ryzen stuff. ARM could well be a hit in the gaming/industry professional community once a few things get figured out, too.

@banks3388 8 ай бұрын

I use an RX 6600xt and can confirm it runs better than a 3060ti in some use cases (specifically it performs better at 1080p resolutions). What you'll want to do to fix that is overclock your GPU but I can tell you that I'm personally not doing that because I've got a dual monitor 1080p setup and I don't want the extra heat (I live in an unconditioned house in Australia's east coast).

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Nice insight! Yep, I suppose it’s the VRAM that becomes the limit above 1080p. I’m happy at 1440p though at the mo.

@banks3388 8 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd I mean considering there is like a $200 price difference it makes sense that it'd perform slightly worse but it's still cheaper than a 3060 (which it's better than) so I'm happy with it. Right now it's the sweet spot for budget to mid-range gaming...

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

@@banks3388 yup, same situation here. I think it’s absolutely mid range though, despite its price.

@vb7200 7 ай бұрын

Do you need to do the pixlas mod for the 6600XT? I know on the 68/6900XT's you do but I thought I heard somewhere you don't have to with a 6600

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

Nope, it’s fine as the power consumption is really low.

@vb7200 7 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd was thinking about getting one but I guess Navi cards don’t have hardware accel. in Ventura or Sonoma at the moment, so I’m gonna hold off. I’m on Sonoma, hopefully they’ll have a solution soon. It’s either that or get a Radeon VII. I’d rather get the 6600 as I don’t feel like messing with the PSU.

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

@@vb7200 to be honest, I hadn’t realised that. Probably a good thing I’ve stuck with Monterey thus far

@skip741x3 7 ай бұрын

mac pro 5,1 here... I had been using a 6 core 3.46ghz with 24 gb ram and an rx570... I just got a deal on a 12 core tray with 2 3.46ghz cpus and 64gb ram for 112.00 on ebay...the deal was too good to pass up and there is a performance boost...However, theres also alittle more heat.. not extreme but its noticeable... that said, the previous 6 core tray was, IS, still a fantastic performer and while there are certainly differences in the 12 core vs 6 core as far as speed, they are slight and Not dramatic..the 6 core is still a little beast, cool as a cucumber in operation and super snappy with windows 11 and the latest mac systems up to sonoma...I like them both! point is, if you have a 3.46 6 core and some decent ram and an rx series card, you have a Very capable machine...

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

Completely agree. It’s incredible how long these Xeons have been able to last. It’s sort of fitting that we’re soon unable to update them at all, given that by 2026 or so there’s a good chance these won’t compete at all at most tasks compared to apple silicon or whatever else is on the horizon. I’m still on the lookout for a 12 core under 100 bucks until that day, though.

@acidtechno 5 ай бұрын

96gb is the sweet spot 1333 because the memory controller runs slower with 128gb addressed . glad it worked out :)

@laurencejohnson4106 8 ай бұрын

A well built classic computer and perhaps you could make a video showing it running on Linux Mint or another Linux OS., I'm not a gamer, but I have heard that Garuda Linux can be used for gaming.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Absolutely. Thanks for the comment. The problem I have with Linux distributions is I’ve only ever installed a couple on others’ computers. I don’t really have time or patience when gaming’s fine on windows, tbh.

@laurencejohnson4106 8 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd Installing Linux Mint is very simple and I prefer the Mate edition but the Cinnamon edition is their flagship edition and there are many free games in the Linux Mint repository, if you do decide to give it a try then I suggest that you install it on a separate SSD., and only have that SSD., connected. Seeing how well your Mac Pro performs with Linux would make an interesting video.

@samsowden 10 күн бұрын

@@laurencejohnson4106 steam and proton will allow most windows games to run just fine on linux. some games may require a little bit of settings tweaking.

@gottliebdee263 5 ай бұрын

What is it that you are running to monitor your fps/cpu during those games?

@montaguebarnabasltd 5 ай бұрын

A mixture of Xbox Game Bar’s built in performance stats and the Radeon overlay stuff

@TheWarrrenator 7 ай бұрын

It would be great to see your Mac Pro running a Linux OS.

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

True. I’ve only installed Linux distros on two machines ever, though. Not got much use for it myself.

@Etienne_H 6 ай бұрын

I have a Mac Pro 5,1 Dual CPU 6-Core 3,8Ghz Xeon, 96GB RAM, Synology NVMe card for RAID 1 and an AMD Pro W5700 with 8GB VRAM. And yet I had to buy a Mac Mini M2 in the basic config, because it outperforms the Pro in every aspect except graphics (30% slower). However when it comes to how fluid the system feels.. the Pro felt like a 98 machine by comparison. Safari would really be slow. Least to mention the power bill, that difference alone pays off my new Mac within less than 4 years! It's as obsolete as it will ever be.

@montaguebarnabasltd 6 ай бұрын

Obsolete as it will ever be explains it pretty well I think. It’s useable by many, and considering you don’t need to spend more than about $200 to get a machine with decent graphics and the latest OS rn, it’s about as cheaply as you can get a MacOS and Windows PC setup. I do agree that Apple silicon feels a world away from the 5,1, but it’s more limited with upgradeability, which a lot of us find helpful, along with some other things. There’s no escaping that power bill though!!

@Etienne_H 6 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd I agree, upgradeability would be nice. And nowadays at Apple you gotta pay 8k for that and then can't even add your own GPU or RAM. The mac line-up is pretty bleak right now. I am afraid it's the future though and Apple, at least, won't turn back time.

@montaguebarnabasltd 6 ай бұрын

@@Etienne_H too true. At least the used ARM prices are beginning to come down.

@Etienne_H 6 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd I actually considered buying a used Intel Mac Pro before, simply to keep my upgrades, current software support and better performance. However, those then still go for far beyond 3k. And still end up being power hogs. Just not worth it when compared to ARM. I really hope Apple will make a budget Mac Pro for people who want ARM with PCIe expandability. One thing is for sure, I will never buy a modern Mac without insurance on it. One component fails, the entire thing is fried. Exactly the reason why I kept my Mac Pro for 12 years!

@montaguebarnabasltd 6 ай бұрын

@@Etienne_H yeah I’d love a 2019 pro. Prices aren’t worth it for an Intel machine, though, you’re right. Probably for the best you have insurance. Yup!

@macguru9999 7 ай бұрын

the 2010 is obsolete now, the 2012 is vintage. yeah i know there is not much difference. great computers , i still have one

@blablagal94 8 ай бұрын

What if you go dual CPU? What happens?

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Dual CPUs help a lot where multiple cores/threads are needed. They don’t affect the clock speed though, so things like rendering will see a boost, but not things like gaming or opening applications. Getting a dual cpu tray is very expensive at the moment though. £150 is the lowest I can find one in the uk!

@jrstrong 5 ай бұрын

I believe Steve Jobs 'championed' the upgradability features of the 5,1, so he is still alive today, 6 feet under?

@techpchouse 7 ай бұрын

How do you play cyberpunk without AVX support ?

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

As far as I know, since 2021 CDPR have had AVX instructions removed from Cyberpunk. In general it’s very rare that the 5,1 comes across programs it can’t run outright due to AVX

@techpchouse 7 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd thanks my men ❤️ but COD warzone 2 :(

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

@@techpchouse oh my god that’s why it wouldn’t run!!!! Yeah okay that’s the only one I’ve had an issue with I think…

@techpchouse 7 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd you can google an AVX-supported game list. Their are a few tricks how to play without AVX but i I couldn’t bring it to work :(

@acidtechno 5 ай бұрын

scooped up 3x 5,1s for little next to nothing , fitted rx 6800 and two 6600 open core monty . robust and no issues with hdmi EDID sync as i had on i9900k hackmac after sleeps. %190% bargain . you have to mod psu for power. only downside.

@acidtechno 5 ай бұрын

saying that no mod is needed for the 6600 :) and thats the most cost effective setup , put in 4tb nvme . or tons of cheap sata

@martindomsa 8 ай бұрын

A tripod he needs? May be able to help ;)

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

😳 I’ll have to send you my business email address

@ryananderson8576 5 ай бұрын

itll last for a long time since it has bootcamp windows and i like basic games such as COD Black Ops 3

@montaguebarnabasltd 5 ай бұрын

Yeah potentially. Not on MacOS though, I think.

@doemis8573 4 ай бұрын

I think, the term "obsolete" is used wrongly in this context. It's like saying, you can't use windows 10 anymore, when the update support is dropped. No microsoft executive is threatening you with a gun pointed at your head to stop using it and update to windows 11. As long as there is a usecase, these pcs won't be obsolete. Audio production runs like a charm. Everyday tasks run like a charm. I still use an "obsolete" mac mini from 2011 as a mediaserver. Heavy it-related workstationload? Why would anyone use a computer from 2012 for productive and professional workloads, where speed equals money. These guys upgraded years ago. No tech company should rely on outdated hardware. The wouldn't hassle with opencore anyways.

@montaguebarnabasltd 4 ай бұрын

You make a great point. I think “obsolete for the majority of users” is a more fitting way of describing what I mean, as that’s what I believe to be true. It’s necessary for me to be succinct to some degree and cut corners in my videos to retain viewers, though. I think people know that in this context, there are some use cases. My other videos certainly outline that.

@macgamer1973 8 ай бұрын

Yesterday I tried Starfield with a Radeon 580 , game wouldn’t boot. If you ever get it, please post if it runs on your 6600. Mean I’ll need a new GPU

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

I’ll almost certainly be trying in the next few weeks. I’ll reply when I do! Did you try a reinstall? Maybe roll back or forward your drivers? Also you could verify the game files if on Steam.

@eddyshelton9091 8 ай бұрын

I have a rx580 and it runs im not playing in ultra settings by any means 😅 but it runs lol

@PersianImm0rtal 8 ай бұрын

@@eddyshelton9091 just to clarify, do you run it on an x58 cpu?

@macgamer1973 7 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd no, I refund it back to steam. If it goes on sale for Xmas I’ll but it again. A lot videos show the game is a bore. I played evil west you should try that

@montaguebarnabasltd 7 ай бұрын

@@macgamer1973 ah, that’s unlucky. I’ll look into evil west.

@gametime2473 3 ай бұрын

I used to upgrade and sell these but finally sold my last Mac Pros last year. They are still very capable and game better than most of the new macs despite it being on a 15 year old platform. That's pretty telling regarding Apple's gaming performance over the years. Sadly Apple blocks ANY upgradeability on their new lines of computers. Straight to the land fill.

@montaguebarnabasltd 3 ай бұрын

Ah what a bummer. I used to do the same with Intel MacBooks. I guess the intels were fun while they lasted…

@gametime2473 3 ай бұрын

@@montaguebarnabasltd Yeah, I did some macbooks as well. Non upgradeable computers aren't something I am interested in unless it's super cheap. Using an M2 Mac Mini that I got for 450 new on sale for my business web activity but for everything else I went to PC.

@montaguebarnabasltd 3 ай бұрын

@@gametime2473 exactly, hard to mark up the non upgradeable machines, since there’s no improvement we can make really.

@harmonygritz2839 2 ай бұрын

Having some money left on my debit card isn't obsolete.

@stefannilsson2406 5 ай бұрын

These old cpu's don't have avx instructions and some games and programs will refuse to launch.

@TheNessquest 8 ай бұрын

nice vid but just a fyi the 6900xt is the highest..

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Ah, didn’t hear about that I guess. Thanks

@Locky2701 4 ай бұрын

Why your system firmware is 999.999.999.999.999 instead of 144.000.000.000.000

@montaguebarnabasltd 4 ай бұрын

I’m genuinely not sure, to be honest… I assume it’s something opencore changed when I used the legacy patcher to get to Monterey. It was 144.0.0.0.0 before then!

@JarppaGuru 8 ай бұрын

dont know but commodore 64 still works and is same fast

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

Ah I guess I’ll get one of those

@macgamer1973 7 ай бұрын

When I was kid that was my favorite computer. At age 13 and doing paper route, made enough money to buy commodore Sx 64

@JarppaGuru 7 ай бұрын

lucky you. i bought my c64 when i was40 xD @@macgamer1973

@billgates3699 8 ай бұрын

Oh…THAT Star Wars Battlefront II 😒 I prefer my Star Wars games to not look like an unlicensed Last of Us mod.

@montaguebarnabasltd 8 ай бұрын

I prefer to benchmark modern GPUs using games with graphics that look like they’ve come from this century. To each their own!

@stefos6431 6 ай бұрын

I don't know why people don't speak up about the price of Software now that it's gone to a 6mo./1yr. subscription model....I see no need to pay every 6mo/1yr. The Mac Pro is fine.....If you want to game buy a PS5 or a dedicated gaming PC.......Kiss my ass Apple