"SECTION 04-F"
[Category] Hardware/System
[Timespan] 2024 - 2025
[Status] ONLINE
I've come across a very nice 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 (flashed with 5,1 firmware) with dual CPU and 64GB of ECC DDR3 for free from a friend.
His work place was getting rid of it to replace it with the much newer, more powerful and more efficient M3 macs.
With this new powerhouse in hand, I decided to have some fun with it.
It came with an Nvidia GT120, a tired HDD and two 4c8t Xeon CPUs. This configuration was sub obtimal for what I had in mind.
I took it upon myself to upgrade the storage to a couple of SSDs and change the GPU to an RX 280x OC.
Changed the Wireless card to an Airport card for cheap off Aliexpress and change the CPUs to two 6c12t Xeon X5675.
With all these upgrades and the magic of OpenCore Legacy Patcher, I upgraded this machine to run on MacOS Sequoia as it is the last version compatible with x86-64.
This machine now sits in my recording studio I share with a couple of friends. It's the machine running Reaper, Logic Pro, Ableton and other softwares as needed.
Would I recommend anyone do it today? Absolutely not. But it was fun so worth.
MacOS system management
MacOS system istallation
Hardware compatibility
Hardware upgrade
MacOS app management
CPU Delidding