Mac Pro For Gaming 2014
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Aug 01, 2014 In the end, the best comparison to a MacBook Pro in terms of gaming is the Razer Blade. An almost-as-expensive PC with slightly higher specs and similar form and build quality; in use it is practically the same. I don't think it's crazy to buy a Mac to game on. Yes, I would recommend a mac book pro for game development - even 3D game development it will work just fine. For the mass majority of what you will need it won't have any problems, at most you will need a game engine (Unity, Unreal) and an IDE u.
Apple MacBook Pro 13-Inch 'Core i5' 2.6 Mid-2014 Specs
Identifiers: Retina Mid-2014 13' - MGX72LL/A* - MacBookPro11,1 - A1502 - 2875
All MacBook Pro 13-Inch Models All 2014 Models Dynamically Compare This Mac to Others
Graphics intensive games for mac. If graphics tasks slow down your Mac. If your portable Mac is slower than expected when you perform graphics-intensive tasks, such as playing games or editing video, open Energy Saver preferences. Depending on your Mac, you may see options that let you improve graphics performance in exchange for shorter battery life. Feb 21, 2009 Hey guys, I really want to push my MBP to it's limits! What is the #1 most graphics intensive games for mac only. I really don't want to spend the time installing a sheity microsoft os just to play a sick game. I really want something like crysis:D if there is something available for mac. With an AMD Radeon RX 560 graphics card inside, Sonnet’s eGFX Breakaway Puck Radeon RX 560 is an extremely-portable, high-performance, all-in-one external GPU that accelerates popular graphics-intensive games on 13-inch MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, 21.5- inch iMac, or Mac mini with Thunderbolt 3 ports. What are the most graphic intensive games? I know about Crysis, what else? PC/Mac/Linux Society. It runs worse than Crysis. I suppose thats more due to poor optimization than advanced.
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The MacBook Pro 'Core i5' 2.6 13-Inch (Mid-2014 Retina Display) features a 22 nm 'Haswell' 2.6 GHz Intel 'Core i5' processor (4278U), with dual independent processor 'cores' on a single silicon chip, a 3 MB shared level 3 cache, 8 GB of onboard 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM (which could be upgraded to 16 GB at the time of purchase, but cannot be upgraded later), 128 GB or 256 GB of PCIe-based flash storage, and an integrated Intel Iris 5100 graphics processor that shares memory with the system. It also has an integrated 720p FaceTime HD webcam, and a high-resolution LED-backlit 13.3' widescreen 2560x1600 (227 ppi) 'Retina' display in a case that weighs just less than 3.5 pounds (1.57 kg). It does not have an internal optical drive.
Connectivity includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, two USB 3.0 ports, two 'Thunderbolt 2' ports, an HDMI port, an audio in/out port, and an SDXC card slot.
In addition, this model has a backlit keyboard, a 'no button' glass 'inertial' multi-touch trackpad, a 'MagSafe 2' power adapter, and an internal, sealed battery that provides an Apple estimated 9 hours of battery life.
Compared to its predecessor, this model is extremely similar, but it has a slightly faster processor, more standard RAM, and some different identifiers.
Also see:
- What are all the differences between the 13-Inch and 15-Inch 'Mid-2014' Retina Display MacBook Pro models?
- What are all the differences between the 'Mid-2014' Retina Display MacBook Pro models and the 'Late 2013' models replaced?
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- Tech Specs
- Ports
- Global Original Prices
- Popular Q&As
Click on a category for related details. The most commonly needed info is 'open' by default, but all info is important. Asterisks (*) reference data in details fields.
| Introduction Date: | July 29, 2014 | Discontinued Date: | March 9, 2015 |
| Details: | The 'Introduction Date' refers to the date a model was introduced via press release. The 'Discontinued Date' refers to the date a model either was replaced by a subsequent system or production otherwise ended. Also see: All Macs introduced in 2014. |
| Details: | Also see: All models with a 64-Bit processor courtesy of EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Sort. |
| Details: | Geekbench 2 benchmarks are in 32-bit and 64-bit modes, respectively. These numbers reflect an average of user provided 32-bit and 64-bit results as submitted to the Geekbench website. Higher numbers are better. You also might be interested in reviewing all 32-bit and 64-bit Geekbench 2 user submissions for Macs with the MacBookPro11,1 Model Identifier, which may include multiple models. To dynamically compare Geekbench 2 results from different Macs side-by-side, see EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison. |
| Details: | These Geekbench 3 benchmarks are in 32-bit mode and are for a single processor core and all processor cores, respectively. Both numbers reflect an average of user provided results as submitted to the Geekbench website. Higher numbers are better. You also might be interested in reviewing all 32-bit single core and multicore Geekbench 3 user submissions for Macs with the MacBookPro11,1 Model Identifier, which may include multiple models. To dynamically compare 32-bit Geekbench 3 results from different Macs side-by-side, see EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison. |
| Details: | These Geekbench 3 benchmarks are in 64-bit mode and are for a single processor core and all processor cores, respectively. Both numbers reflect an average of user provided results as submitted to the Geekbench website. Higher numbers are better. You also might be interested in reviewing all 64-bit single core and multicore Geekbench 3 user submissions for Macs with the MacBookPro11,1 Model Identifier, which may include multiple models. To dynamically compare 64-bit Geekbench 3 results from different Macs side-by-side, see EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison. |
| Details: | These Geekbench 4 benchmarks are are for a single processor core and all processor cores, respectively. All Geekbench 4 benchmarks are 64-bit. Both numbers reflect an average of user provided results as submitted to the Geekbench website. Higher numbers are better. You also might be interested in reviewing all single core and multicore Geekbench 4 user submissions for Macs with the MacBookPro11,1 Model Identifier, which may include multiple models. To dynamically compare Geekbench 4 results from different Macs side-by-side, see EveryMac.com's Ultimate Mac Comparison. |
| Processor Speed: | 2.6 GHz | Processor Type: | Core i5 (I5-4278U) |
| Details: | This model is powered by a 22 nm, 64-bit 'Fourth Generation' Intel Mobile Core i5 'Haswell' (I5-4278U) processor which includes two independent processor 'cores' on a single silicon chip. Each core has a dedicated 256k level 2 cache, shares 3 MB of level 3 cache, and has an integrated memory controller (dual channel). This system also supports 'Turbo Boost 2.0' -- which 'automatically increases the speed of the active cores' to improve performance when needed (up to 3.1 GHz for this model) -- and 'Hyper Threading' -- which allows the system to recognize four total 'cores' or 'threads' (two real and two virtual). Also see: How fast are the 13-Inch and 15-Inch 'Mid-2014' MacBook Pro models compared to one another? How fast are they compared to the models replaced? How fast are they compared to the MacBook Air? |
| Turbo Boost: | 3.1 GHz | Custom Speeds: | 2.8, 3.0 GHz (i7)* |
| Details: | *This model also could be custom configured with a 2.8 GHz Core i5 (I5-4308U) for an extra US$100 (effectively making it the same as the MacBook Pro 'Core i5' 2.8 13' (Mid-2014), just equipped with less storage. Or, this model could be custom configured with a dual core 3.0 GHz Core i7 (I7-4578U) for an extra US$300. This Core i7 processor has a 4 MB level 3 cache and supports 'Turbo Boost 2.0' up to 3.5 GHz as well as 'Hyper Threading' -- which allows the system to recognize four total 'cores' or 'threads' (two real and two virtual).' EveryMac.com also has documented this custom Core i7 configuration as its own model. |
| Details: | Also see: Can you upgrade the processor in the Retina Display MacBook Pro models? |
| System Bus Speed: | 5 GT/s (DMI2)* | Cache Bus Speed: | 2.6 GHz (Built-in) |
| Details: | *This system has a 'Direct Media Interface' -- specifically DMI2 -- that 'connects between the processor and chipset' in lieu of a traditional system bus. Intel reports that it runs at 5 GT/s. |
| Details: | N/A |
| Details: | *Each core has its own dedicated 256k level 2 cache and the system has 3 MB of shared level 3 cache. |
| Details: | Ships standard with 8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L SDRAM onboard. |
| Details: | *8 GB of RAM is onboard by default, but it could be upgraded to 16 GB at the time of purchase at additional cost. RAM cannot be upgraded later. Also see: Actual Max RAM of All G3 & Later Macs. |
| Details: | *There are no RAM slots. 8 GB of RAM is onboard. It could be upgraded to 16 GB only at the time of purchase. |
| Details: | This model has an Intel Iris 5100 graphics processor that shares memory with the system. |
| Details: | *Apple reports that this model uses 'Intel Iris Graphics' and allocates up to 1.5 GB of system memory for video function. Intel more specifically reports that this processor is packaged with a Intel Iris 5100 graphics processor. |
| Built-in Display: | 13.3' Widescreen | Native Resolution: | 2560x1600 |
| Details: | This model has a 13.3' color widescreen LED-backlit display with IPS technology with a 2560 by 1600 native resolution at 227 ppi (178-degree viewing angle). It also supports scaled resolutions of 1680 by 1050, 1440 by 900, and 1024 by 640. Also see: How can you 'force' or 'hack' the Retina Display MacBook Pro models to run at the native resolution or otherwise fit more on screen than by default? In Germany, site sponsor Conodi provides high quality Mac and PC repair services as well as remote home office setup and troubleshooting. In-person and mail order repair services include the display, motherboard, water damage and more for this MacBook Pro. In Spain, site sponsor iRepairs provides affordable repair and data recovery services. In-person and by mail repair services include the display, battery, keyboard, motherboard, and more for this MacBook Pro. |
| 2nd Display Support: | Dual/Mirroring* | 2nd Max. Resolution: | 2560x1600 (x2*) |
| Details: | *This model supports a simultaneous maximum resolution up to 2560x1600 on two external displays via Thunderbolt. Alternately, it can support a single display up to 2560x1600 via Thunderbolt and a single 1080p display at up to 60 Hz, 3840x2160 at 30 Hz, or 4096x2160 at 24 Hz via HDMI. Also see: How many external displays can the Retina Display MacBook Pro models support? What is the maximum supported resolution of each? Are adapters required? |
| Standard Storage: | 128, 256 GB SSD | Std. Storage Speed: | N/A |
| Details: | The MGX72LL/A configuration has 128 GB of flash storage and the MGX82LL/A configuration has 256 GB of flash storage. Neither could be configured with additional storage at the time of purchase. Apple does not intend for one to upgrade the storage after purchase, but it is quite possible. Also see: How do you upgrade or replace the storage in the 13-Inch Retina Display 'Mid-2014' MacBook Pro? Is it the same storage and process as other Retina Display MacBook Pro models? Is it possible? In the US (and many other countries), site sponsor Other World Computing sells storage upgrades for this MacBook Pro. In the UK, site sponsor Flexx sells storage upgrades for this MacBook Pro. In Australia, site sponsor Macfixit sells storage upgrades for this MacBook Pro. In Southeast Asia, site sponsor SimplyMac.sg sells storage upgrades for this MacBook Pro. Also see: SSD Compatibility Guide for All G3 & Later Macs. |
| Storage Dimensions: | Proprietary | Storage Interface: | Proprietary* (PCIe 2.0 x2) |
| Details: | *As first documented by site sponsor OWC, this model has a PCIe-based SSD (PCIe 2.0 x2 interface). |
| Details: | *This MacBook Pro does not have an internal optical drive. Site sponsor Adorama offers the external Apple USB SuperDrive for US$79. It writes DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL at 4X, DVD-R and DVD+R at 8X, DVD-RW at 6X, DVD+RW at 8X, reads DVD at 8X, writes CD-R at 24X, writes CD-RW at 16X, and reads CD at 24X. Site sponsor Other World Computing also has a variety of compact external optical drive options that may be of interest, including some with Blu-ray capability. Also see: What are the full capabilities of the external SuperDrive available for this MacBook Pro? Can it be used with other Macs? |
| Details: | *This model does not have an internal Ethernet port. However, an optional Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter was offered for US$29. |
| Details: | 802.11ac Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n compatible) and Bluetooth 4.0 standard. Also see: What is 802.11ac? How is it different from 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11n? |
| Details: | Two USB 3.0 ports (up to 5 Gbps). It does not have a Firewire port although an Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter is available. |
| Details: | This model has an SDXC card slot. No expansion bays are provided. In the US (and many other countries), site sponsor Other World Computing sells a wide variety of external expansion options and accessories, including docking stations, adapters, input devices, cases, and more for this MacBook Pro. In Australia, site sponsor Macfixit offers an extensive selection of external expansion options and accessories like docks, stands, chargers, cases, security products, and more for this MacBook Pro. Also see: Which SD Card storage solution is best for the Retina Display MacBook Pro? Which models are compatible? Is this type of storage safe? |
| Incl. Keyboard: | Full-size | Incl. Input: | Trackpad (Inertial) |
| Details: | Apple reports that the integrated keyboard has '78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys, 4 arrow keys (inverted 'T' arrangement) with ambient light sensor.' The multi-touch trackpad supports 'inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap, and drag capabilities.' |
| Case Type: | Notebook | Form Factor: | 13' MacBook Pro (Mid-2014) |
| Details: | This MacBook Pro uses a thin black and silver 'unibody' case design milled from a single piece of aluminum with a 'catchless' magnetic latch. |
| Apple Order No: | MGX72LL/A* | Apple Subfamily: | Retina Mid-2014 13' |
| Details: | *There are two versions of this model. The MGX72LL/A configuration has 128 GB of flash storage and the MGX82LL/A configuration has 256 GB of flash storage. |
| Apple Model No: | A1502 (EMC 2875) | Model ID: | MacBookPro11,1 |
| Details: | Please note that these identifiers refer to more than one model. Also see: All Macs with the A1502 Model Number, the 2875 EMC Number, and the MacBookPro11,1 Model Identifier. For more about these identifiers and how to locate them on each Mac, please refer to EveryMac.com's Mac Identification section. |
| Details: | Apple reports that this model has a '71.8-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery' that provides 'up to 9 hours of wireless web' use. It cannot be upgraded by an end-user. Also see: How do you replace the battery in the 13-Inch Retina Display MacBook Pro? Is it possible? In the US (and many other countries), site sponsor Other World Computing sells quality batteries for this MacBook Pro. In the UK, site sponsor Flexx is a local distributor of OWC batteries for this MacBook Pro. In Australia, site sponsor Macfixit is a local distributor of OWC batteries for this MacBook Pro. In Southeast Asia, site sponsor SimplyMac.sg sells OWC batteries for this MacBook Pro. |
| Pre-Installed MacOS: | X 10.9.4 (13E28) | Maximum MacOS: | Current* |
| Details: | *This system fully supports the last version of OS X 10.9 'Mavericks' and OS X 10.10 'Yosemite' as well as OS X 10.11 'El Capitan.' It is fully supported by the last version of macOS Sierra (10.12) and macOS High Sierra (10.13), also. Running macOS High Sierra (10.13), it supports HEVC (High-Efficiency Video Coding), but it does not support hardware accelerated HEVC. This model is compatible with the final version of macOS Mojave (10.14) and the current version of macOS Catalina (10.15), as well. Also see: Which Macs are compatible with macOS Catalina (10.15)? What are the system requirements? What are the major new features? Has anything been removed from previous versions of the macOS? |
| Minimum Windows: | 7 (64-Bit)* | Maximum Windows: | 10 (64-Bit)* |
| Details: | *The pre-installed version of Apple's Boot Camp BCA supports the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and Windows 8. Boot Camp 6 supports the 64-bit version of Windows 10. Earlier versions of Windows are not supported. |
| MacOS 9 Support: | None | Windows Support: | Boot/Virtualization |
| Details: | Also see: Are there any third-party programs to run Mac OS 9/Classic applications on Intel Macs? Site sponsor OHS specializes in heavily upgraded Macs capable of running both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 applications. For more on running Windows on Intel Macs, please refer to the exhaustive Windows on Mac Q&A. |
| Dimensions: | 0.71 x 12.35 x 8.62 | Avg. Weight: | 3.46 lbs (1.57 kg) |
| Details: | In inches while closed - height by width by depth, (1.8 cm, 31.4 cm, 21.9 cm). |
| Original Price (US): | US$1299, US$1499* | Est. Current Retail: | US$500-US$650 |
| Details: | *This MacBook Pro originally was offered with 128 GB of flash storage (MGX72LL/A) for US$1299 and 256 GB of flash storage (MGX82LL/A) for US$1499. Please note that on average the estimated current retail pricing of used systems is updated twice a year (please refer to the date on the bottom of the page for the date last updated). Photo Credit: Apple Computer. |
Click on a category for additional details. The most commonly needed info is 'open' by default, but all info is important. The icons correspond with the icons for each port on the computer.
| Video (Monitor): | 2 (Thunderbolt 2), 1 (HDMI) | Floppy (Ext.): | None |
| Details: | This model has two Thunderbolt 2 ports as well as an HDMI port. Also see: How many external displays can the Retina Display MacBook Pro models support? What is the maximum supported resolution of each? Are adapters required? |
| Details: | N/A |
| Details: | N/A |
| Details: | Two USB 3.0 ports (up to 5 Gbps). It does not have a Firewire port although an Apple Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter is available. |
| Details: | No internal modem or Ethernet, although an Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter is available. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 are standard. |
| Details: | N/A |
| Details: | Dual internal microphones on the left hand side of the notebook. Has a single headphone jack that also supports audio line out (digital/analog) and the Apple iPhone headset with remote and microphone. |
| Details: | Has a single headphone jack that also supports audio line out (digital/analog). |
| Details: | N/A |
| Details: | 100V-240V AC, 60W 'MagSafe 2' power adapter. |
Global original prices for the MacBook Pro 13-Inch 'Core i5' 2.6 Mid-2014 in 34 different countries and territories follow; organized alphabetically by region.
For global original prices for Intel Macs in one particular country on a single page, please refer to EveryMac.com's Global Original Prices section.
Original Prices - North & South America
| Mexico: | MXN $20,499, $23,799 | United States: | US$1299, US$1499* |
Original Prices - Europe
| Denmark: | DKK 10,099, 11,599 | Finland: | €1349, €1549 |
| Ireland: | €1349, €1549 | Italy: | €1329, €1529 |
| Luxembourg: | €1263,10, 1453,19 | Netherlands: | €1329, €1529 |
| Spain: | €1329, €1529 | Sweden: | SEK 11.995, 13.995 |
| Switzerland: | CHF 1'399, 1'599 | United Kingdom: | £999, £1199 |
Original Prices - Asia
| China: | RMB 9,288, 10,788 | Hong Kong: | HK$9,988, HK$11,488 |
| India: | Rs 94,900, 109,900 | Indonesia: | Rp 16,499,000, 18,999,000 |
| Japan: | ¥128,800, ¥147,800 | Korea: | KRW 1,590,000, 1,840,000 |
| Malaysia: | RM 4,099, 4,699 | The Philippines: | PHP 64,990, 74,990 |
| Singapore: | S$1,688, S$1,988 | Taiwan: | NT$41,900, NT$47,900 |
| Thailand: | THB 43,900, 49,900 | Vietnam: | VND 29,999,000, 34,999,000 |
Original Prices - Australia & New Zealand
| Australia: | A$1599, A$1849 | New Zealand: | NZ$1799, NZ$2099 |
If you have additional original prices for this model, please get in touch. Thank you.
Ten of the most popular Q&As about the MacBook Pro 13-Inch models follow.
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I've spoken before about justifying an expensive computing environment. If I can get 'added value', otherwise described as the ability to use a product beyond it's intended uses, then paying a premium on components is worthwhile. If I can get longevity beyond the manufacturers intended lifespan, then that too is worthwhile.
I've recently was given a 2009 Mac Pro. At one time it was the pinnacle of workstation prowess in the Apple ecosystem. I was asked to see if such an old system can cut it for today's computer workloads. Close to a decade old and comparing it to my 2014 Retina iMac, I didn't expect much from it outside of being able to use it for simple office tasks or web surfing.
My goal, however, was much more ambitious. I wanted to be able to use it as a daily driver for all of my needs. How did it fair for transcoding HD video? How well does it render and run Final Cut projects? How about gaming in VR? Can it game at all? Let's find out!
One last thing. I want to preface this retro review and state out front that during my usage, I purposely tried to update and upgrade components that I had readily available to bring the system closer to today's needed specifications for various workloads. This is not a review of a machine frozen in time. This is also review about the expandability, the adaptability, and the relevance of such a system from 2009 in today's world.
Specifications
My 2009 Mac Pro came with the following components.
- Early 2009 Mac Pro running OS X El Capitan
- 2 x 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors
- 12GB 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM
- ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
- 160GB SSD, 640GB SATA HDD
Software updates
Having an older OS wasn't an issue per se, but my preference would be for it to be able to run macOS High Sierra so that I can definitively say or not say that it's a viable system in 2020. And Apple says that High Sierra is not supported on the 2009 Mac Pro.
macOS High Sierra
However, thanks to brilliant hackers who document their knowledge on various web forums, this limitation is easily by-passed with a firmware upgrade. The default firmware on the 2009 Mac Pro is 4,1. The needed firmware to run macOS High Sierra is 5,1 (the firmware for a 2010 Mac Pro). Upgrading the firmware couldn't have been easier. Once upgraded, the limitations were removed and I managed to install first macOS Sierra, and then macOS High Sierra. The firmware upgrade in essence turned my 2009 Mac Pro into a 2010 Mac Pro. With that firmware upgrade, other benefits also manifested. So with the OS smack dab in the modern age, I was set to look at the hardware.
Windows 10 via Boot Camp
As I stated, I wanted this Mac Pro to be my daily driver so to speak. I try to be OS agnostic, and as such, I use the Apple ecosystem for my daily computing and workflow, I use Windows for gaming, and finally, I use Linux for services.
Installing Windows 10 via Boot Camp should be a straightforward affair. It was not. I won't get into the drawn-out process but I managed to get Windows 10 installed on the HDD and I managed to do it in such a way that Windows 10 ran like a regular install would normally run rather than Windows 10 'know' that it was a Boot Camp install. The benefit to me was that I could download the latest manufacturer driver for my GPU upgrade described below. Otherwise, you'd be limited to using Apple Boot Camp specific drivers that tend to be older and missing features.
Hardware updates
Now that I had a modern OS, I began to wonder how capable of a machine I already had without other upgrades. Looking at my requirements for transcoding, rendering video and gaming, I was anticipating decent enough abilities in transcoding and video rendering, but I had no expectations of it being able to game. However, as I stated earlier, if I could readily upgrade something, I would do so.
Macbook Pro Good For Gaming
Storage
The system came with a 160 GB SSD drive and a SATA 640 GB HDD. Frankly, these are fine for my purpose but note that the standard SATA connections on the motherboard of the Mac Pro would make getting a larger SSD an easy upgrade.
GPU upgrades
Luckily for me, I have two eGPU enclosures both housing AMD RX 580 GPUs. Recently, I noticed that although the eGPUs allowed for my MacBook Pro to have access to a full-fledged GPU, the performance was nowhere near that of a GPU that is housed on a regular PCIe slot. The reason I suspect was due to the fact the the bus speed of the Thunderbolt 3 connection to the eGPU enclose is only 1/4 of a full PCIe x16 bus. The 2009 Mac Pro has two PCIe x 16 slots. Was the 2009 Mac Pro capable of housing my pretty decent and modern GPUs? I decided to find out.
Mac Pro For Gaming 2014 2017
I put both of my AMD RX 580 GPUs into the Mac Pro to hopefully get higher fidelity for gaming and hardware encoding. Since I was able to already install macOS High Sierra, the upgrade was literally plug and play (with some caveats I'll detail in another article). At this point I was amazed with how I could reasonably upgrade hardware components such as a modern GPU (let alone two of them!) in such an aging system. Truly a testament to the engineering that went into designing the 2009 Mac Pro. I went from 1 GB of onboard VRAM to 2x8 GB. The system worked surprisingly well. In fact, as I mentioned previously, since I was able to install the latest AMD 'Adrenaline' drivers, I knew I had the latest and greatest software those GPUs could offer. Yes crossfire worked (mostly, but I'm not certain if the issues I had were due to the Mac Pro or due to crossfire itself).
Don't get me wrong. Although I was able to install two modern GPUs in this machine, there are a couple of allowances I had to accept. Firstly, the Nehalem CPUs aren't nearly fast enough to properly feed one let alone two of the RX 580 GPUs. In fact, in order for me to have stability, I had to reduce the power draw on the GPUs so that it didn't shut off my Mac Pro since the power draw was too high. Benching between various tests the difference was only a few percentage points lower when using reduced power but the benefits of having both GPUs was still apparent. Remember, I'm not looking to see if the 2009 Mac Pro can best a modern equivalent. I'm seeing if along it's lifespan, various upgrades and updates can keep it within an acceptable performance level. So far, it seems like it can.
Another issue, while gaming specifically, is that due to the relatively weak single thread capabilities of the CPUs, is that although average frame rates were decent, the fluctuation of the highest frame rates to the lowest frame rates in a single game could vary wildly causing jarring stuttering at times but not enough for me to state that the game was unplayable. Especially considering the age of the system it was running on. If you're hard pressed and can't afford the newest system, you can STILL get by on this machine from 2009.
Memory and CPU upgrades
So far I have not spent any extra cash on updating the 2009 Mac Pro. Up until I actually tried using the machine, I never even really considered upgrading the CPU or memory. However, seeing how promising the dual GPU upgrade went, I started researching the possibility of purchasing an upgraded CPU and memory.
The firmware upgrade that I performed taking the system from 4,1 to 5,1 made this CPU and memory upgrade an even better proposition. Memory wise, I could now install faster 1333 DDR3 memory. Up to 128GB of it if so inclined. On the CPU front, the firmware update now supports the considerably faster Westmere Intel Xeon chips. Not only do they have faster clock speeds, but they also have more cores per chip. The system could be upgraded to 12 cores running at 3.06 GHz. The most amazing part is that would bring the 2009 Mac Pro on par with the Mac Pros sold up until the release of the 2013 'trash can' Mac Pro and in doing so, giving the 2013 model a run for it's money.
And it's this ability to upgrade it to Westmere that again shows that although not the fastest, not even the most efficient, but still is relevant for today's workloads. With the bulk of the cost of the machine already paid for, these incremental upgrades offer excellent cost benefit over buying a similarly or slightly better spec'd workstation. Remember value added over time.
Although I have yet to perform the upgrade of memory and CPU, I've found some vendors selling the whole CPU and memory tray on eBay at the cost of around $1000 where you can simply swap out the old one and put in the new one. Or if you just want to upgrade only one of the components, you can do so for considerably less. You simply need to make certain that you buy CPUs that are compatible with your current CPU and memory tray. A single core tray cannot be upgraded to a dual-core tray for example. So you need to buy either a single core chip or two dual-core chips. I'm looking out for deals so if you spot any, leave me a comment to let me know!
Final configuration
So after all of the updates and upgrades I performed, the 2009 Mac Pro now looks like this:
- Early 2009 Mac Pro running macOS High Sierra
- 2 x 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors
- 12GB 1066MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM
- 2x Radeon RX 580 8 GB GPUs
- 160GB SSD, 640GB sata HDD
Mac Pro For Gaming
Performance
Although I'll be showcasing some metrics here it is not intended as a scientific comparison between systems. In fact, I'll be using a variety of more modern hardware to compare the various workloads to the 2009 Mac Pro. Again, the purpose of this retro review is to see if the venerable 2009 Mac Pro still has it in this day and age if you were to have upgraded components over the years instead of buying a whole new system. Or perhaps if you like the idea of repurposing older hardware.
The three areas that I'll focus on are Transcoding HD video, rendering video in Final Cut Pro, and finally, VR and regular gaming.
Mac Pro For Gaming 2014 2017
Transcoding HD Video
For my transcoding comparison, I converted Star Trek VI: Undiscovered country from a Blu-ray dump I made a while ago. The starting file size is 22GB in size. I'm using the HandBrake Fast 1080p30 preset and I'm placing the 22GB file onto the desktop so each machine reads and writes to their respective SSDs.
I ran the 2009 Mac Pro against my current work computer, a 2014 Retina iMac with an i7 4970k 4 core 8 thread 4 GHz CPU and 16 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3 memory. I also had access to a 2017 iMac Pro with a 3.2 GHz Intel Xeon W 8 core 16 thread CPU and 32GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 RAM.
- 2009 Mac Pro transcode time: 42 minutes
- 2014 Retina iMac transcode time: 35 minutes
- 2017 iMac Pro transcode time: 16 minutes
The 2009 Mac Pro is not the fastest and yes it's 7 minutes slower than the 2014 iMac but it's far from being outclassed. In fact, I'd even deem it pretty good even if not considering it's age. This is also using the slowest available processors for the Mac Pro. An upgrade to the CPU and memory is looking more and more enticing rather than getting a completely new system. Expectedly, the 2017 iMac Pro is far ahead.
Final Cut Pro
Although we've seen that the 2009 Mac Pro can still keep up with more modern hardware when encoding using the CPU, can it feed the GPUs hardware encoding via OpenCL?
A 10-minute 1080p video was edited with transitions and other effects. The export of the edited video was encoded in h.264.
- 2009 Mac Pro with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs: 9 minutes 45 seconds
- 2014 Retina iMac with M295x 4GB GPU: 1 minute 36 seconds
- 2017 iMac Pro with AMD VEGA 56 GPU: 1 minute 14 seconds
I can't be certain if I was pegging either or both GPUs on the Mac Pro during encoding using OpenCL.
If FCP is your thing, then as of this writing, the 2009 Mac Pro seems to fall flat. However, I'll keep on researching to see if I've set up everything so that the OpenCL capable GPUs are being properly utilized.
Gaming On A Macbook Pro
This being said, the 2009 Mac Pro not unusable for FCP by any means. If finances are a thing and upgrading to the latest and greatest is not an option then this will do your editing and rendering just fine. When doing actual editing pre-export, things such as the scrubbing, the adding of effects and transitions, importing files drawing clips, etc…I could detect no discernible difference in these aspects from any of the machines. And if we get the OpenCL issue ironed out, it'll likely be way superior to the 2014 iMac in this regard.
LuxMark OpenCL test
As a result of the poor FCP performance, I decided to test OpenCL capabilities using LuxMark to see if the system is actually using the GPUs.
- 2009 Mac Pro OpenCL GPU score: 5316
- 2017 iMac Pro OpenCL GPU score: 3600
- 2014 Retina iMac OpenCL GPU score: 1419
- 2009 Mac Pro OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 5982
- 2017 iMac Pro OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 4467
- 2014 Retina iMac OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 1862
Wow. The 2009 Mac Pro blows all of the competition away with its dual GPU setup. As you can see the two RX 580s in the 2009 Mac Pro have beastly OpenCL compute capabilities. Why FCP didn't take advantage of the GPUs is as of yet unknown. But if you use OpenCL, then the dual RX 580s in the 2009 Mac Pro have much better performance than the mobile GPU in the newer iMac or even the 'entry level' iMac Pro. The simple fact that I can upgrade the GPU in the Mac Pro makes the older machine the much better performer over time.
Gaming and VR
Being OS agnostic I've run some quick graphics benches on macOS and Windows 10 using a variety of hardware. This is not to be an apples to apples comparison but to give you an idea of how the 2009 Mac Pro with its updates compared to other more modern machines.
Mac graphics scores at 1080p
I'm not a big Mac gamer, but I wouldn't mind being one if the hardware is capable and the games exist. In any event, here are some synthetic results for the GPUs in a few macOS running systems. Please note that under macOS the tests did not utilize both RX 580 GPUs in the 2009 Mac Pro. List is from best to worst:
- 2017 iMac Pro with Radeon Pro Vega 56 8GB GPU Valley benchmark OpenGL: score 2444 FPS:58.4 avg/30.8 min/103.3max
- 2009 Mac Pro with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs Valley benchmark OpenGL: score 1625 FPS:38.8 avg/16.9 min/62.5 max
- 2014 Retina iMac with M295x 4GB GPU Valley benchmark OpenGL: score 1085 FPS:25.9 avg/14.3 min/44.7 max
- 2017 iMac Pro with Radeon Pro Vega 56 8GB GPU Heaven benchmark OpenGL: score 1423 FPS 56.5 avg/10.8 min/115.2 max
- 2009 Mac Pro with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs Heaven benchmark OpenGL: score 891 FPS 35.4 avg/7.8 min/76.0 max
- 2014 Retina iMac with M295x 4GB GPU Heaven benchmark OpenGL: score 512 FPS 20.4 avg/7.5 min/42.6 max
The Mac Pro outperforms the 2014 iMac. Had both GPUs been utilized during the graphics test under macOS then I'd also suspect that the 2009 Mac Pro would also have bested the brand new iMac Pro. These are not great numbers for any of the systems other than the 2017 iMac Pro having passible scores. However, most gaming is done using Windows with Crossfire support (both GPUs running in tandem to display 3D graphics) so I continued my gaming tests in Boot Camp.
Windows graphics scores at 1080p
For this test I'll be comparing the 2009 Mac Pro to a completely Windows 10 only computer with some powerful specs. It has an Intel I7 6700k with 16GB of DD4 2133 RAM and a Nvidia FE GTX 1080ti. Graphically, the components in the 2009 Mac Pro (nor the graphics components in the iMac Pro) cannot come close to matching the performance of the Windows 10 system. Once again, this comparison is only to demonstrate how the 2009 Mac Pro performs relative to more modern systems.
- 2009 Mac Pro Valley benchmark Direct X 11 crossfire with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs: score 2100 FPS:50.2 avg/20.0 min/84.0 max
Windows PC Valley benchmark Direct X 11 with GTX 1080 ti GPU: score 4788 FPS:114.4 avg/32.8 min/200.5 max
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2009 Mac Pro Heaven benchmark Direct X 11 crossfire with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs : score 2203 FPS:87.5 avg/14.2 min/169.9 max
Windows PC Heaven benchmark Direct X 11 with GTX 1080 ti: score 3564 FPS:141.5 avg/30.3 min/283.7 max
2009 Mac Pro Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor Direct X 11 crossfire RX 580 ultra preset 1080p: FPS:73.89 avg/33.55 min/122.03 max
- Windows PC Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor Direct X 11 GTX 1080ti ultra preset 1080p: FPS:188.00 avg/83.58 min/322.07 max
Now these results show some promise but there are some issues with the wildly ranging frame time minimums and maximums. This will lead to stutter in games. However, once again, it's not a complete dud by any means. Can you get a better gaming system? Of course. But if you have this machine and want to still game with it, it's quite capable. I'd even say it's pretty good. You can easily play games at 1080p on the 2009 Mac Pro if you can ignore the occasional hiccup.
VR gaming
I don't have any metrics when it comes to VR. VR games have a high bar when it comes to system requirements. Technically, the GPUs in our 2009 Mac Pro are slightly above the minimum needed for decent VR gaming. The CPUs are not considered capable enough.
Mac Pro For Gaming 2014 Online
That being said, I still tried my HTC Vive on the Mac Pro with Windows 10. Incredibly, the system was quite capable of running VR applications at their minimum requirements. A machine that was born nearly a decade ago (with a little bit of help from hardware I had at my disposal) still has the chops to run VR. Color me impressed.
Best Mac For Gaming
For those of you who bought the Mac Pro in 2009 and are still using it for your main computing, I say kudos to you for buying a system that has such amazing value. The entry level iMac Pro costs around $5000. When the 2009 Mac Pro came out it cost around $3200. Add to that around $1000 for the GPUs I added to the system and we hit $4200. You could argue that the two machines are around the same price when factoring for inflation. Can someone who buys an iMac Pro today say that they'll be able to still hang with the latest revisions of the Pro line in 9 years time? Without the ability to upgrade components like we can in the 2009 Mac Pro, I sincerely doubt it.
And yes I say that it can hang with the latest and greatest systems. In some areas, like with OpenCL computation, we made it insanely fast. Much faster than an iMac and an iMac Pro. It some areas it plays in the ballpark like when transcoding videos. Others seem to show it's age like when exporting Final Cut Pro videos but it does not show it's age when using a FCP workflow like editing, transforming and scrubbing.
Is it the fastest all-round? No. Does it have the latest hardware ports and technologies? Nope. Can it make a good work/play station without the need to drop another 5 grand for the latest iteration? Definitely. If you happen upon a 2009 Mac Pro that's in working order for a decent price, snatch that baby up. You'll get a lot more out of it than you have to pay into it. So to answer the question 'Is a 2009 Mac Pro is still relevant in 2020?' You're damned right it is.
Do you have and old Mac that you still use on a daily basis? Is there a retro review you'd like to see on iMore? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Mac Pro For Gaming 2014 Download
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