How to upgrade a Mac Pro 2012 graphic card using an HP display?

Question

How to upgrade a Mac Pro 2012 graphic card using an HP display?

Happy Thanksgiving. I have a Mac Pro 2012 with a HP 30" display. I need to upgrade the graphics card so that I can install the latest Mac OS. I have the Apple article on graphics card recommendations. I also have an display adapter where the HP VGA plugs into it and then there are 2 cables coming out of the adapter: a USB and Mini Display Port. I think I did this awhile ago so I could plug my other Apple Cinema display into the stock graphics card VGA port to run both displays. I'm only using the HP now.

Q: none of the graphics cards that Apple is recommending have Mini Display ports, so I'm wondering if I. an detach my adapter and plug my HP Display's VGA into the graphic card's VGA port directly?

Posted on Nov 26, 2020 11:17 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

133,459 points

Nov 27, 2020 8:47 AM in response to Steven Shmerler

In the US, the used cards for sale on Ebay With BOTH Metal support AND Boot screens, are:

R9 280x flashed for Mac Boot screens, under about US$250, and

RX580 flashed for Mac Boot screens, under about US$375

and random others at a variety of price-points.

Reply

Answer 2

Nov 26, 2020 2:16 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant. Yes I made some mistakes because my display and adapter are plugged in and I can't see them unplugged. But looking at your picture, the plug from the HP is most likely a DVI which plugs into my adapter which then has 2 cables coming out of the adapter being a USB and a Mini-DisplayPort. And as best I can remember, I got this adapter since my stock graphic card has 2 Mini-DisplayPorts and 1 DVI, that to run my HP and my Apple Cinema Display, I used the Apple Adapter to plug the HP into one of the Mini-DisplayPorts, leaving the open DVI port on the graphics card for my Apple Cinema Display so I could run 2 displays. Make sense?

Luckily, I'm only running the HP now, so I can upgrade to a Metal Graphics card so I can upgrade to the latest Mac OS. And I assume that I can retire the display adapter and plug the HP DVI directly into which ever metal graphics card I end up with. Does this start to make more sense than I left you with in my first post?

If so, then the only thing I need to learn/know is what would be the best metal graphics card to buy to upgrade my Mac Pro.

MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition
NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

Thanks again,

Steven

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 26, 2020 12:29 PM in response to Steven Shmerler

The Mac Pro 2012 is not qualified to run the latest MacOS, Big Sur.

Apple only supports it through Mojave, and running Mojave requires a metal-capable graphics card. Convenience suggests use of a card that supports Boot screens, but there are work-arounds and alternatives.

It is not likely that a 30-in display has only VGA interface. Be certain we are talking about the right interfaces to your display, by consulting this chart:

Reply

Answer 4

Nov 28, 2020 8:01 AM in response to Steven Shmerler

For your purposes, any of those would be like using a B-52 bomber to crack nuts.

If you were doing weather forecasting or 3-D modeling, then more display RAM and more "exceptions units" would be nice.

Reply

Answer 5

Nov 28, 2020 2:25 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant, yes I'm aware of over doing things. The ONLY reason I'm considering a card change is because Apple advises that I cannot install a Mac OS later than High Sierra with my stock non-metallic graphics card. So that's the key. I want to stay current OS'wise. I see that your 2nd suggestion the RX 580 is Apple's 2nd choice too:

MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 128-bit 4GB GDDR5

SAPPHIRE Radeon PULSE RX 580 8GB GDDR5

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 Mac Edition

NVIDIA Quadro K5000 for Mac

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Mac Edition

If I'm reading my specs right, it seems that the stock card that's in there now only has 1024 MB of VRAM, versus the RX 580 you suggested which has 8 GB. Shouldn't I get the RX 560 which has 4 GB which is still much larger than 1024 MB. Or is there something inherently better about the RX 580, GB aside?

Thanks,

Steven

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 26, 2020 5:52 PM in response to Steven Shmerler

Are you doing professional-quality Video or photo editing, or just web surfing and email, or somewhere in between?

Reply

Answer 7

Nov 27, 2020 6:56 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Surfing, email, some Photoshop, website coding, no rendering or anything intensive graphically. I’m upgrading my graphics card to a metal card so I can upgrade my Mac OS past High Sierra. Thanks.

Reply

Answer 8

Nov 28, 2020 7:53 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks! Can you recommend one over the other? # of GBs? Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 9

Nov 28, 2020 6:28 PM in response to Steven Shmerler

For the things you want to do with it, you will not notice and difference between the two cards.

That is a good place to be in.

Reply

How to upgrade a Mac Pro 2012 graphic card using an HP display?

Similar questions