Got a 12 Core 2.4Ghz in 2012 and it still works great for me as a 3D Artist and for Video Editing. After a cheap upgrade to the 3,46Ghz processors, RX580 and PCI card with 1TB SSD, there is no reason for me to spend tons of Euros for a new machine. Of course it is not a dedicated Gaming Computer, but the newest Tomb Raider titles run at 1080p with all settings to max with 30-50 FPS. This is not too bad for a nearly ten years old Mac.
Mine is a Mac Pro mid 2012 12 cores 3.46 Ghz and 5.1,I got a RX580 and PCI-E NVME M.2 put on Raid Zero 2 TB each,with 128 Gigs of ram,this thing just likes a beast
Last year, I've got 3 olds, not working, Mac Pro 5.1. I successfully rebuilt one working Mac Pro with these parts and then, I'have upgraded it with 2 Xeon X5690 (6 cores each at 3,46GHz), a RX580 8GB, 96GB of RAM, a USB card (everything was used) and a brand new 1TB Nvme Drive... It works pretty well with Catalina. The benchmark says it is as powerfull than my MacBookPro i9 2019, but with 96GB of ram, one 1TB nvme, 2X Sata SSD and 2X 4TB hard drive for archives... and for only around 640 $. It is an old computer and I can't upgrade it anymore... But it works fine right know, powered on 24/7 since 12 month... And more stable than my MacBook Pro. IT IS THE BEST MAC BUILT EVER, I agree.
@@borislavdavis4526 you can get one on eBay for 300 bucks and build it to your liking. Luckily because it’s an older machine the parts aren’t as expensive like they used to be.
I have been using a 5.1 with a 30" Cinema Display. This is one of the best Mac ever created. It is still pretty good for tasks I do. I know I could just buy a Mac Mini with M1 CPU but I just absolutely LOVE this legendary machine.
I bought a 12 core 3 ghz Mac Pro 5,1 for around $1200 USD. So far it's been very reliable and I haven't even upgraded it yet. I was planning to max out the computer to make it metal compatible. Apparently some people are even installing Big Sur on it. So as long as there are are workarounds which allow future OS 1I updates, this computer should have some shelf life for more years to come.
@@bluebird1954 I bought it last year before the M1 was announced. Sure M1 may be a more powerful machine but the feedback I've heard is it's not backward compatible. So, if you have software, peripherals or clients who are still using older versions, then it's hard to work with them. I'd like to get a Mac Pro when they release as an M1/M2 machine whatever the processor will be. But the new computers are not a mature product yet, need more testing and exposue before taking the plunge to spend a couple of thousand on them. Anyways, don't forget all those folks who spent $10-20,000 on the last of the 2019 Intel Mac Pros. They got hosed.
@@idesigncentral7855 I was thinking the same thing. Imagine paying 40 k for them to step away a year later to M1 . I would be 😠. Apple can really stick it to em. What they should do is send everyone a m1 machine that spent all that money.
Nicely Done, well presented. I just received my fourth Mac Pro 5,1 a few days ago. I will now have two set up for video and music editing and transcoding and two strictly for photo editing. The upgrades are easy, relatively inexpensive all things considered and run Catalina with ease. I finally made the switch from Windows about 4 years ago and I wonder to myself what took me so long. Good luck with your 5,1.
I just bought my 6th 5,1 Mac Pro on eBay the other day. I love them. So configurable and just fun to mess with. But I do use them for serious work like Final Cut Pro, Compressor, motion and LogicX plus about 100 other programs.
@@NegroRotary I have open core on mine. It’s a patcher. So you can run all the way up to Big Sur. I stood at Catalina. I have thunderbolt running my Motu 828es .
@@TruenorthmtGod I did a patch for my 2010 MacBook pro and i have catalina, idk if I even bother with big sur unless i have newer apple products right?
I got my 2012 Mac Pro in 2019 for $1200 with dual 3.46GHz 6 core, and 96gb of ram. I added a 1TB SSD, 8TB hard drive, and an 8GB Radeon RX-580. I love it.
I bought my Mac 5.1 new in 2011 with a 30” Cinema Display. The Mac originally had 4 GB of ram, a 4 core processor and a 1 TB drive. I have since upgraded it to dual six core processors, 128 GB of ram and I added 3, 1 TB drives. I use it for Photoshop, image stacking, word processing and Excel. It is still running Snow Leopard and runs beautifully. For me it is an excellent computer and worth every Penny.
Great video! I wish Apple would continue to support this Mac with future OSX versions and I know customers would pay for that service. Apple is stubborn with their business model. I use my Mac 5,1 as my home plex server with over 60TB of movies in 4k. The value of this Mac is legendary.
The OpenCore community has done an excellent job keeping this model relevant through Monterey. Sadly time may be running out now, since Ventura may be the last OS to support intel processors.
Just got my first 5,1 2012 Mac Pro. Stole it for 100 Australian dollars in an auction, normally you can spend between $500 and $1000 for one here. Looking at what can be upgraded at the moment and seriously thinking that it will be my daily driver. my currant PC is from 2014 so wont be a big change in preformance.
I love these machines. I have a 27 inch 5k imac and they are a magnificent machine but with only 1tb of storage, I have had to use multiple external hard drives and they were getting old and I have 4 or 5 tb of data I need to store. It would have cost me $250 AUS to buy 3 or 4 drives. But I found a deal where I bought a 2009 mac pro for $150 which I thought was ok and he offered me two of them for $200. I even went back the next day and bought another that was damaged from the case but works perfectly for $50 as spare parts if I need them. I found a guy that sold me three 500gb WD hard drives for $15 plus two 1 tb hard drives for $15 and a new 1 tb WD hard drive for $15. I found a 256 SSD for $25 and I have a great machines for storage and for use. And I had a 27 inch cinema display and it works perfectly with the mac pro.
I love mine, 4,1 flashed 5,1 12 core 3.33 96gb ram rx 580 8gb with Mojave, one of my prize possessions, love it to bits. the age of the xeon's do show when editing 4k in Final Cut Pro, but it's just about useable, great in HD and amazing for logic music production. love the ability to hot swap all the drives, that's my favourite part.
Got 1 for $250 with 4TB (2 -SSD & 2 Platters) also he threw in a CalDigit HDone with 8TB! Dual CPU with 3.33 Ghz & Metal Graphics card. Love this Beast!!
Awesome find. got into a 2010 5,1 single Xeon hex, swapped out tray for a dual Xeon E5620 set upgraded to X5675's ran nice & cool. & now working on a dual Xeon X5690 into a 2012. That little extra clock feels nice but gets a tad bit warmer then the 5675's The Samsung EVO 870 SATA-3 was the without a doubt upgrade I did on any system of this age. I also opted for tai-channel mode w/ 48g (8x6) (3 sticks per CPU) It will take 96g in Windows 10. Runs Windows 10 pretty good as well. I only wish it had Thunderbolt but I use w/ a beautiful 30" Applee Cinema Display & Mac edition Saphire Radeon RX-570 but. the 2010 had a nVidia Quadro M4000
I have a 2010 in my studio. I’ve never could put a dent into its performance. I have a 16 inch Mac Pro M1 . Yes the M 1 is awesome but so is my 5,1. I’ve used these macs since inception. I’d say the best Mac Pro ever build was a 5,1. I also have thunderbolt 3 on it working excellent
I just found out today that my 5,1 can have a Thunderbolt 3 card. Ordered it today. My stock machine was a 8 core 2.4ghz which I upgraded to 8 core 3.2ghz, 48g ram, usb3 card, usb-c card and a Nvme boot drive. It’s running about 40% of a new Max Studio but I still have some money in my pocket.
Still got mine which is 2012 6 core 3.33Ghz. Getting ready to do the necessary upgrades to bring it up to date and modern. Been using this machine since 2014. Bought it refurbished for $600 around the time the “trash can” Mac came out like a year before.
@@johnsmith7637 I no longer use the Mac Pro. I still have it but I'm not using at the moment. I have a 2020 iMac 27 4K now. I'm thinking about pulling it back out and upstart it again and do something with it since the patches has improved since then. Oh yeah, it is a 6-core 3.33Hz. I will have to go back and look up the specs on the machine. Been a while since I used it.
I bought a 2006-8 Mac Pro 1,1 running El Capitan for $20 maybe 4 years back, when nobody wanted them. It's currently my 'everything' machine. Really nice everything. I gave it a new video card and maxed out the RAM, which was cheep. I keep saying "maybe next year I'll get a new one..." but Apple never makes the replacement machine I want. If this goes on much longer I'll just use my Linux machine more... typically use the mac during the day and linux at night nowadays so I find both really handy.
I agree, Apple has never made a direct replacement to the 5,1 Mac Pro. The current one is far too expensive. It would be a dream come true if Apple made a more affordable and upgradeable machine.
The 12 core machines are starting to come down in price, to where nearly everybody can afford them. If you're looking to buy a Mac Pro, there's not much reason to consider anything with fewer cores, anymore. Also not much reason to flash a 4,1 to a 5,1 anymore, with prices of real 5,1 machines being as low as they are now. The prices people are charging for upgrade kits, to bring a 4, 8, or 6 core machine up to 12 cores, cost more than the 12 core machines, now.
I’ve just bought a 2012 2.4Ghz Mac Pro and I’m so excited to have one! I would like to go the whole hog and beast this lovely Mac Pro to it’s maximum limit! 🤓🎸
I bought two 2009 mac pro computers for $200 AUS and one damaged (the case handle) 2009 mac pro for $50. For $250 I have 3 machines to change parts and will last me forever.
Yes ,absolutely worth it, with my sonnet fusion m.2 4x4 I am getting speeds like 6624Mb/sec on the raid setup and on the bootdisk 3267Mb/sec. It works fluently! In the drive bays I have 4 1Tb SSD's and the machine is blazing fast. Built in Sapphire Nitro+ RX580 special edition 8Gb can do all the stuff I want. And, IT IS THE BEST MAC EVER, I agree with that. 4x 970 Plus NVME 1TB and 4 X Crucial MX500 1TB. The Xeon X5675 is the CPU, good for the environment and climate, it has a TDP of 95 watt. One wish I have; I wish Apple would continue to support this Mac with future OSX versions,I know customers enough who would be very happy.
Nice video and MP! These machines are amazing. I do 4k editing as well. Mine originally came with dual 2.4 quads but I upgraded to dual X5675 3.06 hex’s. It made a huge difference. I run Mohave as I still have need for 32bit apps. My latest upgrades have been a usb 3.0 card and m.2 drive and pci adapter. It really helps with 4k editing. I’ve been considering open core boot loader for some of its features but haven’t taken the plunge yet. It works great as is. Best of luck with your Mac!
Thanks for the video! I'm in a similar situation. I also have a Late 2012 iMac (3.1 GHz Core i7 3770, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB). I replaced the internal SSD and HDD with faster, bigger, newer ones and the machine feels super snappy again but of course it's struggling with modern video editing and game development. I thought about keeping it and going the external GPU route but I want a proper tower and freedom from the old 2012 iMac (non retina) screen. I think this classic Mac Pro running Mojave is the best choice for anyone looking to keep older 32 bit apps, dual boot into Windows, get modularity, and get enough of the cool new hand off and other features between newer devices. I have a 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) so I'm torn whether to max it out or buy a 5,1 and upgrade it. I purchased 48GB ECC RAM, a Radeon RX 580 (8 GB VRAM), 4 HDDs (8 TB each), 2 SSDs (256 GB each on PCI trays), and USB 3.0 PCI tray since it only has older 2.0, all from OWC (Other World Computing). At this point, I'm enough money in to have snagged a nice new, albeit base level, M1 machine. It's going to take some hackery to get it all happy in the 3,1 model and I'm still unsure whether the RX 580 can really be used to its full potential regarding the SSE 4.2 instruction set. I'm leaning into a 5,1.
Good video mate! I agree - the MP 5,1 is a great machine, I love the flexibility of doing upgrading as you go (when you have some dough to add/replace components). A couple of years ago, I bought a 2010 single-processor for CAD$350, it did not have a HDD, but that's okay (I was planning on replacing it anyways). I've been upgrading little by little. First, I added an SDD as boot drive and a 3TB HDD for storage. Then I upgraded the processor to a 6-core Xeon X5690 (the process is so easy), the RAM to 32GB, and a metal-compatible GPU (all used from ebay). Lastly, I added a USB 3 card. All-in, I've spent around CAD$1000, but it runs Mojave like a charm and my workflow (Adobe CC) also runs smoothly. Pretty good for a 12-year old machine.
I just bought 2x 2010 dual processor quadcore 2.4 ghz 5.1’s with 256mb ssd 14 GB memory together with 2 x 27” led Cinema Display and a 23” HD Cinema Display for 750€. I thought it was quite the deal. Going to upgrade processor memory and graphics card and maybe add nvme and usb3.2 .
I just purchased for $150 a 2010 5,1 with 12 core 2.93 GHz w/ 32 GB DDR3 RAM w/Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 4GB of VRAM, and it had a TB HDD along with a 500 GB NVME SSD. The seller threw in 2x 24" cinema displays too along with a keyboard and magic mouse. It was already running High Sierra on the SSD although I did install Mohave on the HDD, I'm wondering if I should install the opencore package and get Big Sur. I don't wanna risk a running system by doing something I don't need to.
This is a really great computer to tune up. Mine as upgraded dual Xeon, 64 gb Ram, two Rx580/8GbRam PCI GPUs, PCI USB 3.1 Gen2 with 5 ports, two internal 1 To SSD and 4 internal HD. No more DVD. Extra 750w PSU to power the two GPUs. Catalina with openCore. It is my main video editing station. I use it daily for my commercial 4k video production. HDs are in pairs in RAID 0 and can sustain 430mb/s validated with Black Magic disk speed test for 4K/50ips - Resolve is awesome dealing with the 2 GPUs. I plan to use a PCI riser 90° to use the last free PCI slot which is for now not usable because of the room the second Rx580 takes. This model was dedicated to be a server, so it has many noisy fans and warms my space much than needed...cannot compare to an actual computer, because of its old specs, but, believe me, it works !!!
Apple did make them to last that for sure. I think the 2010-2012 model that can do 5'1 last few more years easy. My 2012 Mac Pro runs 24/7 and does everything i need for video editing and other task. Cheap easy upgrade are SSD and add usb 3.0 or thunderbolt support. Graphics card if you can find one which hard for any computer right now without spend arm and leg
Honestly, even with the M1 macs comming up and the ones from 2020, I will buy this in august 2021 and upgrade it to max for the same tasks as yours, but especially for music and video editing. I'm planning to change my entire setup, monitor, everything. How's your system so far?
It’s still fast for everything I need it to do and has especially been really good during this whole working from home thing. I use it for 4K video editing and Photoshop so I would still say it is fairly capable.
I have my Mac Pro 5,1 2010, when i buy it in 2011 it was 2gb ram, 1gb vram lol while the time i upgraded it, now i have: 32gb ram, 4gb vram Radeon RX 560, 8tb HDD but my processor its a 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, can i upgrade the processor? My mac runs very nice, adobe suite and final cut
Mac Pro 5,1. is it wroth to use a Mac for 13 years ?, you can replace SSD HDs as many times you desire, upgrade Graphics cards as you need ? indeed but if you disagree you can buy a new Mac every two years but can't upgrade the most important parts... I still use my 2009 Mac Pro. Make the numbers how much you expend after 10 years, Make the numbers how much you will expend with the New Macs after 2022.
Awesome machine. it will hold another 10 years more wink wink. 3,46MHz 12core, Graphics Nvidia 8GB EVGA, 32GB. Upgrading to more RAM 48GB i think it doesnt need more for audio production,
Hi. Tell Me please. Now we have 2022. My mac pro 4.1@5.1 is 12x 3.3 GHz, 48 gigs of ram, rx580 nitro plus GPU 8gb, and 512 ssd on pcie(600 eead/400 write) - and Now i thinking about replace it with mac mini studio 10/24 core 32 gib/1 tb. Make it sense? Im using mostly fcpx, ps, light room. A Little bit davinci resolwe. Im using now Sony a6600 4k files and mavic air2s 5.4 k files. I cant make a test to compare my mac with studio mini. How You think. Its time to upgrade for me or not? I this year ill go to bmpcc. So files will change. Is the 5.1 ready for it? Hełm me please.
Is the PSU going bad a concern with these older Macs? Been thinking about buying a used one for a souped up file and home media server. Is it gigabit Ethernet?
Hi, What's the exactly 6 Core CPU is? Apple says it was 6-Core: 3.33GHz Intel Xeon, but there are many 3.33GHz intel Xeon, what's the real CPU Model is?
I have one of these since 2013. Very noisy! When I write this I hear the whining of the fans all the time. Different sounds at the same time. ’’Whhi, whii, whhiii.’’ During start up it almost sounds like a hair dryer, because the videocard isn’t Apple’s original but a flashed PC-card (AMD Radeon RX570 8 GB). This is annoying. I have Big Sur 11.6.2 in it, installed via open core. It became worse after that upgrade, probably because it have to work harder and get hot more often.
molti interessante. Ti voglio chiedere una cosa: Si può andare oltre il Mojave aggiornando con una GPU ancora piu moderna? Io ho le tue stesse esigenze (ho un imac del 2013) e vorrei prendermi un MACPRO 5.1 da aggiornare con BIG SUR perchè lo uso anche come un utente medio!
thanks. i just salvaged one and about to install mojave on it. one question: did you say the stock graphic card won't work with mojave, or I heard it wrong? thanks!
I need a new Mac and am split on why to do, it's for my personal use but do I get a 5,1 or a 6,1 which I like the design of more, or save for a 7,1? Seems their is a lot of hassle to upgrade the 5,1 to the latest OS.
The 6,1 is still veery expensive and I would say bad value. The 8,1 insanely expensive but if you can afford it go for it. Otherwise I would say your best bet is actually an M1 Mac Mini
I got my Mac new in 2010. I love it but it is just a little slow and I would like to speed it up. I use it mostly for music software (Pro tools) and just internet. Mostly for music. I want to update the processor, maybe the video card if it would help with Protools. Any suggestions for a processor? Oh I am running Mac OS.
Great video! I could use some help or guidance to upgrade my Mac Pro 5,1 but instead of two xeon 5690 processors I have the two xeon W3690 processors. I installed these processors to replace the original single processor to move up to the Mojave OS system. After I installed the RX 580 8G video card I thought I could install the Mojave OS but the Apple website did not allow me to download the OS saying I can add this OS. I am befuddled, is there a way to upgrade with the xeon w3690 processor?? Help
Tbh I would probably recommend the M1 Mac Mini at this point considering the CPU is quite a bit faster and can run newer macOS versions. However, I would wait until March, Apple is rumoured to be releasing some new Macs then.
Yes, with a lot of "Buts.....", to really get Thunderbolt 3 working you need to physically modify the Gigabyte Thunderbolt 3 card, load it with the correct firmware and use OpenCore really make it behave in a sane way.
I personally use a 29” LG Ultrawide which is great for video editing and has 99% sRGB. I would honestly recommend anything from LG. But be weary, the original GPU won’t support all resolutions so make sure you have a better graphics card and you should be fine with any monitor.
@@WincTech u have a Radeon 4870 graphics card, 12core,5,1 mini hdmi and dvi ,would I be able to get nice monitors with that a great picture I'm not playing video games I'm doing music production
An M1 Mac Mini is… $800? Who are you kidding? That easily smokes this hobby of yours in price and power. That said, Mac computers are luxury items IMO. If you are a REAL creative professional that is looking for power on a budget and you are not buying a PC… well, let’s just say I have the M1 and it’s great, smokes your cheese grater, but I’m pissed I am so locked into Apples BS. Can’t game. Can’t boot real Windows. It blows chunks.
The Mac Pro has a lot of advantages for people such as being able to have more than 16GB of RAM, booting Windows, upgrading the graphics card, more ports etc. The M1 is much better in terms of CPU power but comes with a lot of drawbacks.
@@WincTech true that. Tell me this… would you rather that, or a new PC if price weren’t an object? I almost went the 5,1 but I was told it would bottle neck. I really like Mac OS, and I basically NEED Logic in my life, but I also NEED a GPU and full-Windows for games. At least full Linux. M1 will not do it.
I would go for the M1 Mac Mini since I also need macOS and use Final Cut for video editing. However this Mac Pro does just fine for me at the moment. Hopefully by the time I need to upgrade there is some sort of support for external GPUs with the Mac Mini or at least more powerful graphics built in.
@@WincTech yeah don’t convince yourself you can make it work like I did. It’s doing amazing on my audio and video creation needs, but I couldn’t hack my way into games.
I have a 2012 Mac Pro. It’s on the butt end of its life. I noticed you are still on regular SATA 2 using your hard drive bays giving you 3gbs speed. If you install OWC ACCELSIOR S and put your SSD in the PCI slot it will give you the full 6gbs speed. But I’m waiting for the next Mac mini M1 after this year. But ya, the M1 does crush the cheese grater all day even with less RAM. I know being able to afford the 20k 2020 Mac Pro will never be reasonable. Even after 10 years, the 2020 Mac Pro will still cost 8k used.
if you just use it for browser and shool work and watch videos why you bought this trash why you didn't buy a normal cheap pc and it will do the same jop and more
As mentioned in the video I wanted a Mac because I prefer macOS over Windows and I need the power for apps like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, hope that answers your question :)
Got a 12 Core 2.4Ghz in 2012 and it still works great for me as a 3D Artist and for Video Editing. After a cheap upgrade to the 3,46Ghz processors, RX580 and PCI card with 1TB SSD, there is no reason for me to spend tons of Euros for a new machine. Of course it is not a dedicated Gaming Computer, but the newest Tomb Raider titles run at 1080p with all settings to max with 30-50 FPS. This is not too bad for a nearly ten years old Mac.
Mine is a Mac Pro mid 2012 12 cores 3.46 Ghz and 5.1,I got a RX580 and PCI-E NVME M.2 put on Raid Zero 2 TB each,with 128 Gigs of ram,this thing just likes a beast
I have the Same machine (x2) and want to do similar upgrades. Finding an affordable rx580 nowadays is a challenge though.
@@Johnsormani I got a 2009 Mac Pro for 200 bucks. Hopefully these GPUs drop in price
I just bought a 2009 4,1 flashed to 5,1 and installed a PCIe M.2 1 TB SSD and it is sooo fast now! I also paid $60.
Last year, I've got 3 olds, not working, Mac Pro 5.1. I successfully rebuilt one working Mac Pro with these parts and then, I'have upgraded it with 2 Xeon X5690 (6 cores each at 3,46GHz), a RX580 8GB, 96GB of RAM, a USB card (everything was used) and a brand new 1TB Nvme Drive... It works pretty well with Catalina. The benchmark says it is as powerfull than my MacBookPro i9 2019, but with 96GB of ram, one 1TB nvme, 2X Sata SSD and 2X 4TB hard drive for archives... and for only around 640 $. It is an old computer and I can't upgrade it anymore... But it works fine right know, powered on 24/7 since 12 month... And more stable than my MacBook Pro. IT IS THE BEST MAC BUILT EVER, I agree.
What was wrong with it?
Watching in 4K on a 2009 Mac Pro in 2021 on Big Sur. These machines are built to last. 👌🏽
4k?? oh my god
Yesss! I love these but they are expensive but built to last!
I love mine and will never sell it.
@@borislavdavis4526 you can get one on eBay for 300 bucks and build it to your liking. Luckily because it’s an older machine the parts aren’t as expensive like they used to be.
You used the unofficial installer for Big Sur, right? Did you have any issues with it? I’ve been considering upgrading my OS on my 2012.
Still going strong with the Mac Pro 5,1 in 2023. This machine is a spitfire.
I have been using a 5.1 with a 30" Cinema Display. This is one of the best Mac ever created. It is still pretty good for tasks I do. I know I could just buy a Mac Mini with M1 CPU but I just absolutely LOVE this legendary machine.
I bought a 12 core 3 ghz Mac Pro 5,1 for around $1200 USD. So far it's been very reliable and I haven't even upgraded it yet. I was planning to max out the computer to make it metal compatible. Apparently some people are even installing Big Sur on it. So as long as there are are workarounds which allow future OS 1I updates, this computer should have some shelf life for more years to come.
$1200 😳🤔 huh why not the m1s ? There way more powerful
@@bluebird1954 I bought it last year before the M1 was announced. Sure M1 may be a more powerful machine but the feedback I've heard is it's not backward compatible. So, if you have software, peripherals or clients who are still using older versions, then it's hard to work with them. I'd like to get a Mac Pro when they release as an M1/M2 machine whatever the processor will be. But the new computers are not a mature product yet, need more testing and exposue before taking the plunge to spend a couple of thousand on them. Anyways, don't forget all those folks who spent $10-20,000 on the last of the 2019 Intel Mac Pros. They got hosed.
@@idesigncentral7855 I was thinking the same thing. Imagine paying 40 k for them to step away a year later to M1 . I would be 😠. Apple can really stick it to em. What they should do is send everyone a m1 machine that spent all that money.
@@bluebird1954 Maybe but they won't run Windows, Microsoft has stated it will not officially support Apple silicon with its ARM Windows.
What Intel processors do you have? I want to find some on ebay...
Nicely Done, well presented. I just received my fourth Mac Pro 5,1 a few days ago. I will now have two set up for video and music editing and transcoding and two strictly for photo editing. The upgrades are easy, relatively inexpensive all things considered and run Catalina with ease. I finally made the switch from Windows about 4 years ago and I wonder to myself what took me so long. Good luck with your 5,1.
Thanks! I just wish Apple would make another desktop like this that didn't cost a fortune like the new Mac Pro
I just bought my 6th 5,1 Mac Pro on eBay the other day. I love them. So configurable and just fun to mess with. But I do use them for serious work like Final Cut Pro, Compressor, motion and LogicX plus about 100 other programs.
Consider running Opencore. Thunderbolt can be added and youll get your bootscreen back.
is opencore is like an os or just a software?
@@NegroRotary I have open core on mine. It’s a patcher. So you can run all the way up to Big Sur. I stood at Catalina. I have thunderbolt running my Motu 828es .
@@TruenorthmtGod I did a patch for my 2010 MacBook pro and i have catalina, idk if I even bother with big sur unless i have newer apple products right?
Totally agree about Opencore! Big Sur is running great on mine and I love having that bootscreen back :)
I got my 2012 Mac Pro in 2019 for $1200 with dual 3.46GHz 6 core, and 96gb of ram. I added a 1TB SSD, 8TB hard drive, and an 8GB Radeon RX-580. I love it.
I bought my Mac 5.1 new in 2011 with a 30” Cinema Display. The Mac originally had 4 GB of ram, a 4 core processor and a 1 TB drive. I have since upgraded it to dual six core processors, 128 GB of ram and I added 3, 1 TB drives. I use it for Photoshop, image stacking, word processing and Excel. It is still running Snow Leopard and runs beautifully. For me it is an excellent computer and worth every Penny.
why not at least Mojave?
Great video! I wish Apple would continue to support this Mac with future OSX versions and I know customers would pay for that service. Apple is stubborn with their business model. I use my Mac 5,1 as my home plex server with over 60TB of movies in 4k. The value of this Mac is legendary.
Lol they would rather you buy the new Mac Pro if you want an expandable Mac.
The OpenCore community has done an excellent job keeping this model relevant through Monterey. Sadly time may be running out now, since Ventura may be the last OS to support intel processors.
Just got my first 5,1 2012 Mac Pro. Stole it for 100 Australian dollars in an auction, normally you can spend between $500 and $1000 for one here.
Looking at what can be upgraded at the moment and seriously thinking that it will be my daily driver. my currant PC is from 2014 so wont be a big change in preformance.
I found one of these for $100, it’s a great system!
I love these machines. I have a 27 inch 5k imac and they are a magnificent machine but with only 1tb of storage, I have had to use multiple external hard drives and they were getting old and I have 4 or 5 tb of data I need to store. It would have cost me $250 AUS to buy 3 or 4 drives. But I found a deal where I bought a 2009 mac pro for $150 which I thought was ok and he offered me two of them for $200. I even went back the next day and bought another that was damaged from the case but works perfectly for $50 as spare parts if I need them. I found a guy that sold me three 500gb WD hard drives for $15 plus two 1 tb hard drives for $15 and a new 1 tb WD hard drive for $15. I found a 256 SSD for $25 and I have a great machines for storage and for use. And I had a 27 inch cinema display and it works perfectly with the mac pro.
I love mine, 4,1 flashed 5,1 12 core 3.33 96gb ram rx 580 8gb with Mojave, one of my prize possessions, love it to bits. the age of the xeon's do show when editing 4k in Final Cut Pro, but it's just about useable, great in HD and amazing for logic music production. love the ability to hot swap all the drives, that's my favourite part.
Got 1 for $250 with 4TB (2 -SSD & 2 Platters) also he threw in a CalDigit HDone with 8TB! Dual CPU with 3.33 Ghz & Metal Graphics card. Love this Beast!!
Wow, that's an incredible deal! I do wish I had a dual CPU tray but unfortunately they sell for more than what I bought the Mac Pro for.
Awesome find. got into a 2010 5,1 single Xeon hex, swapped out tray for a dual Xeon E5620 set upgraded to X5675's ran nice & cool. & now working on a dual Xeon X5690 into a 2012. That little extra clock feels nice but gets a tad bit warmer then the 5675's
The Samsung EVO 870 SATA-3 was the without a doubt upgrade I did on any system of this age. I also opted for tai-channel mode w/ 48g (8x6) (3 sticks per CPU) It will take 96g in Windows 10. Runs Windows 10 pretty good as well. I only wish it had Thunderbolt but I use w/ a beautiful 30" Applee Cinema Display & Mac edition Saphire Radeon RX-570 but. the 2010 had a nVidia Quadro M4000
Thanks for the review, it is quite interesting, succinctly and informatively told.
I have a 2010 in my studio. I’ve never could put a dent into its performance. I have a 16 inch Mac Pro M1 . Yes the M 1 is awesome but so is my 5,1. I’ve used these macs since inception. I’d say the best Mac Pro ever build was a 5,1. I also have thunderbolt 3 on it working excellent
I will never sell mine. Its in my living room tied to a ultrawide 32" monitor and a RX580, works like a champ!
I just found out today that my 5,1 can have a Thunderbolt 3 card. Ordered it today. My stock machine was a 8 core 2.4ghz which I upgraded to 8 core 3.2ghz, 48g ram, usb3 card, usb-c card and a Nvme boot drive. It’s running about 40% of a new Max Studio but I still have some money in my pocket.
The name “AweslomeGUY5” gets me every time 😂
Still got mine which is 2012 6 core 3.33Ghz. Getting ready to do the necessary upgrades to bring it up to date and modern. Been using this machine since 2014. Bought it refurbished for $600 around the time the “trash can” Mac came out like a year before.
Hi. What's the 6 core 3.33GHz CPU is? W3670 or X5680 or?
@@johnsmith7637 I no longer use the Mac Pro. I still have it but I'm not using at the moment. I have a 2020 iMac 27 4K now. I'm thinking about pulling it back out and upstart it again and do something with it since the patches has improved since then. Oh yeah, it is a 6-core 3.33Hz. I will have to go back and look up the specs on the machine. Been a while since I used it.
I bought a 2006-8 Mac Pro 1,1 running El Capitan for $20 maybe 4 years back, when nobody wanted them.
It's currently my 'everything' machine. Really nice everything. I gave it a new video card and maxed out the RAM, which was cheep.
I keep saying "maybe next year I'll get a new one..." but Apple never makes the replacement machine I want. If this goes on much longer I'll just use my Linux machine more... typically use the mac during the day and linux at night nowadays so I find both really handy.
I agree, Apple has never made a direct replacement to the 5,1 Mac Pro. The current one is far too expensive. It would be a dream come true if Apple made a more affordable and upgradeable machine.
The 12 core machines are starting to come down in price, to where nearly everybody can afford them. If you're looking to buy a Mac Pro, there's not much reason to consider anything with fewer cores, anymore. Also not much reason to flash a 4,1 to a 5,1 anymore, with prices of real 5,1 machines being as low as they are now. The prices people are charging for upgrade kits, to bring a 4, 8, or 6 core machine up to 12 cores, cost more than the 12 core machines, now.
I’m ok with mine. Its perfect for my workload. I did used a 1.1 2006 mp up until 2021 and switched to my 5.1 only to get sse 4.2.
I’ve just bought a 2012 2.4Ghz Mac Pro and I’m so excited to have one! I would like to go the whole hog and beast this lovely Mac Pro to it’s maximum limit! 🤓🎸
my macpro stil works fine with 6 core rx 590 8gb 16gb ecc 240 m.2 ssd pci 3Tb hdd and running mac Os Big Sur i love the mac pro 2010 5,1
That's great to hear!
I bought two 2009 mac pro computers for $200 AUS and one damaged (the case handle) 2009 mac pro for $50. For $250 I have 3 machines to change parts and will last me forever.
Yes ,absolutely worth it, with my sonnet fusion m.2 4x4 I am getting speeds like 6624Mb/sec on the raid setup and on the bootdisk 3267Mb/sec. It works fluently! In the drive bays I have 4 1Tb SSD's and the machine is blazing fast. Built in Sapphire Nitro+ RX580 special edition 8Gb can do all the stuff I want. And, IT IS THE BEST MAC EVER, I agree with that. 4x 970 Plus NVME 1TB and 4 X Crucial MX500 1TB. The Xeon X5675 is the CPU, good for the environment and climate, it has a TDP of 95 watt. One wish I have; I wish Apple would continue to support this Mac with future OSX versions,I know customers enough who would be very happy.
Great info, thanks for sharing! Just looking to score one of these for music production!
Nice video and MP! These machines are amazing. I do 4k editing as well. Mine originally came with dual 2.4 quads but I upgraded to dual X5675 3.06 hex’s. It made a huge difference. I run Mohave as I still have need for 32bit apps. My latest upgrades have been a usb 3.0 card and m.2 drive and pci adapter. It really helps with 4k editing. I’ve been considering open core boot loader for some of its features but haven’t taken the plunge yet. It works great as is. Best of luck with your Mac!
Thank you for the comment! Sounds like you have a real solid machine there
after all these months the wait is over. You should remove one stick of ram to get triple channel memory speeds.
Tbh I don't think it would be worth the trade-off for less memory but thanks for the suggestion
Thanks for the video! I'm in a similar situation. I also have a Late 2012 iMac (3.1 GHz Core i7 3770, 16 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 512 MB). I replaced the internal SSD and HDD with faster, bigger, newer ones and the machine feels super snappy again but of course it's struggling with modern video editing and game development. I thought about keeping it and going the external GPU route but I want a proper tower and freedom from the old 2012 iMac (non retina) screen. I think this classic Mac Pro running Mojave is the best choice for anyone looking to keep older 32 bit apps, dual boot into Windows, get modularity, and get enough of the cool new hand off and other features between newer devices.
I have a 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) so I'm torn whether to max it out or buy a 5,1 and upgrade it. I purchased 48GB ECC RAM, a Radeon RX 580 (8 GB VRAM), 4 HDDs (8 TB each), 2 SSDs (256 GB each on PCI trays), and USB 3.0 PCI tray since it only has older 2.0, all from OWC (Other World Computing). At this point, I'm enough money in to have snagged a nice new, albeit base level, M1 machine.
It's going to take some hackery to get it all happy in the 3,1 model and I'm still unsure whether the RX 580 can really be used to its full potential regarding the SSE 4.2 instruction set. I'm leaning into a 5,1.
Good video mate! I agree - the MP 5,1 is a great machine, I love the flexibility of doing upgrading as you go (when you have some dough to add/replace components). A couple of years ago, I bought a 2010 single-processor for CAD$350, it did not have a HDD, but that's okay (I was planning on replacing it anyways).
I've been upgrading little by little. First, I added an SDD as boot drive and a 3TB HDD for storage. Then I upgraded the processor to a 6-core Xeon X5690 (the process is so easy), the RAM to 32GB, and a metal-compatible GPU (all used from ebay). Lastly, I added a USB 3 card. All-in, I've spent around CAD$1000, but it runs Mojave like a charm and my workflow (Adobe CC) also runs smoothly. Pretty good for a 12-year old machine.
I just bought 2x 2010 dual processor quadcore 2.4 ghz 5.1’s with 256mb ssd 14 GB memory together with 2 x 27” led Cinema Display and a 23” HD Cinema Display for 750€. I thought it was quite the deal. Going to upgrade processor memory and graphics card and maybe add nvme and usb3.2 .
I just purchased for $150 a 2010 5,1 with 12 core 2.93 GHz w/ 32 GB DDR3 RAM w/Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 4GB of VRAM, and it had a TB HDD along with a 500 GB NVME SSD. The seller threw in 2x 24" cinema displays too along with a keyboard and magic mouse. It was already running High Sierra on the SSD although I did install Mohave on the HDD, I'm wondering if I should install the opencore package and get Big Sur. I don't wanna risk a running system by doing something I don't need to.
I do have one in storage. Looking forward to getting it out.
This is a really great computer to tune up. Mine as upgraded dual Xeon, 64 gb Ram, two Rx580/8GbRam PCI GPUs, PCI USB 3.1 Gen2 with 5 ports, two internal 1 To SSD and 4 internal HD. No more DVD. Extra 750w PSU to power the two GPUs. Catalina with openCore. It is my main video editing station. I use it daily for my commercial 4k video production. HDs are in pairs in RAID 0 and can sustain 430mb/s validated with Black Magic disk speed test for 4K/50ips - Resolve is awesome dealing with the 2 GPUs. I plan to use a PCI riser 90° to use the last free PCI slot which is for now not usable because of the room the second Rx580 takes. This model was dedicated to be a server, so it has many noisy fans and warms my space much than needed...cannot compare to an actual computer, because of its old specs, but, believe me, it works !!!
:@)
now Big Sur
still working !
Apple did make them to last that for sure. I think the 2010-2012 model that can do 5'1 last few more years easy. My 2012 Mac Pro runs 24/7 and does everything i need for video editing and other task. Cheap easy upgrade are SSD and add usb 3.0 or thunderbolt support. Graphics card if you can find one which hard for any computer right now without spend arm and leg
Honestly, even with the M1 macs comming up and the ones from 2020, I will buy this in august 2021 and upgrade it to max for the same tasks as yours, but especially for music and video editing. I'm planning to change my entire setup, monitor, everything. How's your system so far?
It’s still fast for everything I need it to do and has especially been really good during this whole working from home thing. I use it for 4K video editing and Photoshop so I would still say it is fairly capable.
I have my Mac Pro 5,1 2010, when i buy it in 2011 it was 2gb ram, 1gb vram lol while the time i upgraded it, now i have:
32gb ram, 4gb vram Radeon RX 560, 8tb HDD but my processor its a 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, can i upgrade the processor?
My mac runs very nice, adobe suite and final cut
mine (very happy) is: Mac Pro 5,1 12-Core 3.46GHz X5690, 96GB, Radeon RX480 w/bootscreen
Kingston 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe/MacOS 11.6.4 Big Sur (OC 0.77)
2x USB3.1 A/C /3x 2TB Crucial SSDs/5TB Seagate HDD (Time Machine) BluRay burner
How can you get boot screen?
@@nopmano3180 you buy a card with flashed firmware from ebay
Just wish it'd use less power. Mine is 250w idle.
Man I wish I could sell my Mac Pros in Canada, highest offer I've gotten for the one I'm trying to sell in the states is $200
Mac Pro 5,1. is it wroth to use a Mac for 13 years ?, you can replace SSD HDs as many times you desire, upgrade Graphics cards as you need ? indeed but if you disagree you can buy a new Mac every two years but can't upgrade the most important parts... I still use my 2009 Mac Pro. Make the numbers how much you expend after 10 years, Make the numbers how much you will expend with the New Macs after 2022.
Awesome machine. it will hold another 10 years more wink wink. 3,46MHz 12core, Graphics Nvidia 8GB EVGA, 32GB. Upgrading to more RAM 48GB i think it doesnt need more for audio production,
X5690 3.46 cpu 64 gb ram get m.2 ssd card 2 tb adapter holds 2 m. 2280 2tb
Or 2280 1tb 8 or 16 gb gpu
Hi. Tell Me please. Now we have 2022. My mac pro 4.1@5.1 is 12x 3.3 GHz, 48 gigs of ram, rx580 nitro plus GPU 8gb, and 512 ssd on pcie(600 eead/400 write) - and Now i thinking about replace it with mac mini studio 10/24 core 32 gib/1 tb. Make it sense? Im using mostly fcpx, ps, light room. A Little bit davinci resolwe. Im using now Sony a6600 4k files and mavic air2s 5.4 k files. I cant make a test to compare my mac with studio mini. How You think. Its time to upgrade for me or not? I this year ill go to bmpcc. So files will change. Is the 5.1 ready for it? Hełm me please.
i have a similar setup. i played Rise of Tomb Raider on it. it was great.
Is the PSU going bad a concern with these older Macs? Been thinking about buying a used one for a souped up file and home media server. Is it gigabit Ethernet?
THANKS!
thanks love these macs and have a few best mac ever made
Hi, What's the exactly 6 Core CPU is? Apple says it was 6-Core: 3.33GHz Intel Xeon, but there are many 3.33GHz intel Xeon, what's the real CPU Model is?
I believe the 3.33GHz Xeon is the X5680, in my machine I have the X5670 which is also 6 core but 2.93GHz
I got one for $60 usd yesterday
I have one of these since 2013. Very noisy! When I write this I hear the whining of the fans all the time. Different sounds at the same time. ’’Whhi, whii, whhiii.’’ During start up it almost sounds like a hair dryer, because the videocard isn’t Apple’s original but a flashed PC-card (AMD Radeon RX570 8 GB). This is annoying. I have Big Sur 11.6.2 in it, installed via open core. It became worse after that upgrade, probably because it have to work harder and get hot more often.
How to get thunderbolt
is th gt 120 model of this device is good
molti interessante. Ti voglio chiedere una cosa: Si può andare oltre il Mojave aggiornando con una GPU ancora piu moderna? Io ho le tue stesse esigenze (ho un imac del 2013) e vorrei prendermi un MACPRO 5.1 da aggiornare con BIG SUR perchè lo uso anche come un utente medio!
Mate that video was excellent... This is exactly what I wish to do.... Is it good with FCPX?
It's great with FCP, I use this computer and FCP to edit all my videos and other projects.
@@WincTech thank you
thanks. i just salvaged one and about to install mojave on it. one question: did you say the stock graphic card won't work with mojave, or I heard it wrong? thanks!
It won't work with the stock graphics card as it is not Metal compatible. In order to update to Mojave you need a metal graphics card (ex. RX 580)
I need a new Mac and am split on why to do, it's for my personal use but do I get a 5,1 or a 6,1 which I like the design of more, or save for a 7,1? Seems their is a lot of hassle to upgrade the 5,1 to the latest OS.
The 6,1 is still veery expensive and I would say bad value. The 8,1 insanely expensive but if you can afford it go for it. Otherwise I would say your best bet is actually an M1 Mac Mini
I got my Mac new in 2010. I love it but it is just a little slow and I would like to speed it up. I use it mostly for music software (Pro tools) and just internet. Mostly for music. I want to update the processor, maybe the video card if it would help with Protools. Any suggestions for a processor? Oh I am running Mac OS.
The fastest CPU you can put in it is an X5690, you can use two of them if your Mac has a dual CPU tray
@@WincTech Thank you Sir! I am going to take a look. I think it does but not sure.
hai, i interest for buying old mac pro 5,1, but i still dont sure what must choice? dual processor or one?
Dual processor if you can find a good deal but if you can’t the single processor isn’t much worse
Great video! I could use some help or guidance to upgrade my Mac Pro 5,1 but instead of two xeon 5690 processors I have the two xeon W3690 processors. I installed these processors to replace the original single processor to move up to the Mojave OS system. After I installed the RX 580 8G video card I thought I could install the Mojave OS but the Apple website did not allow me to download the OS saying I can add this OS. I am befuddled, is there a way to upgrade with the xeon w3690 processor?? Help
You might need to update the firmware on the motherboard
W3690 does not support dual processor, you have to have the X5690 X5680 X5675 X5677 for dual processor
Interesting...What's the latest OS that can be used, Mojave ?
That is correct, although some people opt to use a patcher in order to get a newer macOS version
Would you recommend one of these up graded or the Mac mini M1
Tbh I would probably recommend the M1 Mac Mini at this point considering the CPU is quite a bit faster and can run newer macOS versions. However, I would wait until March, Apple is rumoured to be releasing some new Macs then.
@@WincTech would intel be better than M1 on one of the newer models
Can a thunderbolt 3 card installation to this?
Yes, with a lot of "Buts.....", to really get Thunderbolt 3 working you need to physically modify the Gigabyte Thunderbolt 3 card, load it with the correct firmware and use OpenCore really make it behave in a sane way.
Can a Thunderbolt2 card be installed on these?
Yes. You can by a flashed Titan Ridge card off of Ebay for around $170.
I just bought one of these what are some monitor options I have???
I personally use a 29” LG Ultrawide which is great for video editing and has 99% sRGB. I would honestly recommend anything from LG. But be weary, the original GPU won’t support all resolutions so make sure you have a better graphics card and you should be fine with any monitor.
@@WincTech u have a Radeon 4870 graphics card, 12core,5,1 mini hdmi and dvi ,would I be able to get nice monitors with that a great picture I'm not playing video games I'm doing music production
I recommend an ultrawide, they are so awesome for video editing and I imagine for music production as well
@@WincTech awesome thanks so much
I got just as collectible
😂😂
it's awesome!
M2 is now laughing at the M1….
for 15$ it's worth it
An M1 Mac Mini is… $800? Who are you kidding? That easily smokes this hobby of yours in price and power.
That said, Mac computers are luxury items IMO. If you are a REAL creative professional that is looking for power on a budget and you are not buying a PC… well, let’s just say I have the M1 and it’s great, smokes your cheese grater, but I’m pissed I am so locked into Apples BS. Can’t game. Can’t boot real Windows. It blows chunks.
The Mac Pro has a lot of advantages for people such as being able to have more than 16GB of RAM, booting Windows, upgrading the graphics card, more ports etc. The M1 is much better in terms of CPU power but comes with a lot of drawbacks.
@@WincTech true that. Tell me this… would you rather that, or a new PC if price weren’t an object? I almost went the 5,1 but I was told it would bottle neck. I really like Mac OS, and I basically NEED Logic in my life, but I also NEED a GPU and full-Windows for games. At least full Linux. M1 will not do it.
I would go for the M1 Mac Mini since I also need macOS and use Final Cut for video editing. However this Mac Pro does just fine for me at the moment. Hopefully by the time I need to upgrade there is some sort of support for external GPUs with the Mac Mini or at least more powerful graphics built in.
@@WincTech yeah don’t convince yourself you can make it work like I did. It’s doing amazing on my audio and video creation needs, but I couldn’t hack my way into games.
I have a 2012 Mac Pro. It’s on the butt end of its life. I noticed you are still on regular SATA 2 using your hard drive bays giving you 3gbs speed. If you install OWC ACCELSIOR S and put your SSD in the PCI slot it will give you the full 6gbs speed. But I’m waiting for the next Mac mini M1 after this year. But ya, the M1 does crush the cheese grater all day even with less RAM. I know being able to afford the 20k 2020 Mac Pro will never be reasonable. Even after 10 years, the 2020 Mac Pro will still cost 8k used.
if you just use it for browser and shool work and watch videos why you bought this trash why you didn't buy a normal cheap pc and it will do the same jop and more
As mentioned in the video I wanted a Mac because I prefer macOS over Windows and I need the power for apps like Final Cut Pro and Photoshop, hope that answers your question :)
Hackintosh is much better