Adding an external GPU to Macpro

[J. Wallace]

Hello everyone.

I saw this product today and was wondering if anyone here has an opinion on it. Could this extend the life of an older Macpro?

Thanks to all for your feedback.

 

OWC Mercury Helios FX

 

Edited June 27, 2018 by J. Wallace
fix link

[PVA - Admin]

Does that older Mac Pro have a compatible Thunderbolt 3 port? I wasn't sure if you could add those with aftermarket cards or not. If so, it should work as long as its running the latest macOS

[J. Wallace]

1 minute ago, JimW said:

Does that older Mac Pro have a compatible Thunderbolt 3 port? I wasn't sure if you could add those with aftermarket cards or not. If so, it should work as long as its running the latest macOS

Good question Jim, it's a 2012 version, specs here,  Perhaps a thunderbolt port could be added via a PCLe slot ??? Just a thought. I'm really fond of my computer and am in denial about upgrading it, probably because I don't find the alternatives to exciting.

[PVA - Admin]

3 minutes ago, J. Wallace said:

Perhaps a thunderbolt port could be added via a PCLe slot ???

Id not looked into it before, I see a few of those available but they don't explicitly list compatibility with macOS. However, unless Apple is actively blocking it I would think it would be possible.

[J. Wallace]

Thanks for your valuable feedback @JimW

[zoomer]

30 minutes ago, JimW said:

Id not looked into it before, I see a few of those available but they don't explicitly list compatibility with macOS. However, unless Apple is actively blocking it I would think it would be possible.

 

I wasn't even able to add a USB3 port card into my MP 2.1

(there are only a few cards that will work and are quite expensive)

So I think it is just a matter of getting one with a compatible driver

if TB will work at all.

And not granted that such a TB will be accepted by Apple as

eGPU compatible (?)

(As Apple also deactivated TB2 of nMac Pros for eGPU)

 

But not necessarily impossible 🙂

 

[JohnAthayde]

Even if you et a thunderbolt card, it won't act as a thunderbolt does on the older MacPros. It's a motherboard capability issue (at least with my 3,1). There's a lot of stuff people have done on getting 6G+ video cards in the older Macs, which is probably a better bet if that's where you're hitting a pain point. 

[rDesign]

To follow on the other responses, this AppleInsider article makes it sound like this would be possible , but it requires using some third-party hacks (not Apple-approved) to get it to work. Not something that I’d want to do to my primary workstation.

[Gaspar Potocnik]

If you have a cMP you can add the newest gpu natively, I equiped mine with a Vega 64 it gave it a new life!

 

On the other hand I’m waiting for a usb c pcie from sonnet to arrive and test my egpu and see how it goes, I’ll post as soon as I have it.