Apple's new macOS Mojave update is not compatible with mid-2010 and mid-2012 Mac Pros with stock GPUs, but it is supported on 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro models that have been upgraded with graphics cards that support Metal.

Apple today shared a new support document that provides a list of graphics cards that are Metal-capable, which will be useful for 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro owners who want to purchase a new graphics card to upgrade to macOS Mojave.

2012macpro
According to Apple, the following graphics cards are known to be Metal-capable and compatible with macOS Mojave on the mid-2010 and mid-2012 Mac Pro models:

  • 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

Apple also lists other AMD graphics cards that "might" be compatible with macOS Mojave:

  • AMD Radeon RX 560
  • AMD Radeon RX 570
  • AMD Radeon RX 580
  • AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
  • AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
  • AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
  • AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
  • AMD Radeon Frontier Edition

You can check to see if your graphics card is compatible by holding down option while selecting Apple logo to access System Information. Under Graphics/Displays, if "Supported" is listed next to the Metal entry, the graphics card will work with macOS Mojave.

According to Apple, once a Metal-capable graphics card has been installed in a 2010 or 2012 Mac Pro, macOS Mojave can be downloaded and installed after turning off FileVault.

Top Rated Comments

647156 Avatar
647156
48 months ago
Apple officially accepting that people upgrade the hardware inside Macs, accepting (and in fact supporting) that non Mac cards (i.e. PC cards) that don't show boot screens can be used, and officially supporting an OS version on third-party hardware upgrades (in fact requiring those upgrades) - all pretty much unprecedented in the history of the Mac.

A very clear admission from Apple themselves that the "trashcan" Mac Pro has been a dismal failure, as there is no way they would have even considered supporting a new OS on 5 to 8 year old hardware that requires a third-party upgrade designed for PCs under normal circumstances...
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Darmok N Jalad Avatar
Darmok N Jalad
48 months ago
man this is confusing... I did some reasearch and some of these cards look like they are not expensive on amazon but I do not know for sure if they are the versions supported by OSX.
I’m sure it won’t be long before the industrious cMP community confirms compatibility. I had a non-flashed 7870 in my flashed 2009, and I’m pretty sure Metal support said yes. I don’t have my cMP anymore, so I can’t confirm.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bladerunner2000 Avatar
bladerunner2000
48 months ago
Awesome. I can either stay on an older system, or replace my video card with a much, much less capable card. What to do...
Hackintosh.

Should be obvious.
[doublepost=1537840325][/doublepost]
Pre sure a 2080ti would stomp anything on that list, metal or no metal
Even a regular non-Ti 1080 would stomp all those cards. It's amazing how Apple is so cheap on the GPU end yet it hypes up their graphics so much. Hilarious.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bladerunner2000 Avatar
bladerunner2000
48 months ago
Yep. So sad. It's the single reason I have been driven away from Apple Desktops.
I now run a water cooled PC with absolutely incredible performance. Every component is the best you can buy, and it probably still cost less than the Mac Pro.
Definitely less than the iMac Pro....

Each to their own.. but everyone should be able to agree.. Apple GPU offerings are terribly behind
I jumped ship on the desktop end about 4 years ago. Built myself a Hackintosh instead. Paid about 1/4 the price of an iMac and got about twice the performance and a whole slew of upgrade options. Not to mention; a GTX 980. Sure, it's a bit dated, but STILL holds it's own against whatever garbage Apple sells.

Only thing I need to do now is to sell my 2012 MacBook Pro and completely cut off Apple from getting any more money from me.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bunnspecial Avatar
bunnspecial
48 months ago
Awesome. I can either stay on an older system, or replace my video card with a much, much less capable card. What to do...
Any of the cards recommended by Apple will absolutely murder the Radeon 5870, which was the best card shipped in these computers.

With that said, I'm keeping my 5770 and not upgrading to Mojave because my specific use case for my Mac Pro requires that I run Snow Leopard natively(not virtualized).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Supermacguy Avatar
Supermacguy
48 months ago
Unless the GM changed something, Mac Pro 2009's updated to 5,1 with a compatible card have been working since beta 2. Extremely long thread (22 pages at posting): https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/official-mojave-mac-pro-metal-gpu-card-list-finally.2124795/
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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