Graphics card supporting Mac Pro 5.1 and Thunderbolt

There is no way to add Thunderbolt to a computer. Thunderbolt has to be built into the logic board.

There are some Thunderbolt PCIe cards but those only add Thunderbolts ports since the logic boards has the Thunderbolt hardware

Yes, there are many cards that run a 4K monitor and at least one that can drive a 5K monitor.

See:

User Tip: Mac Pro silver tower (2006-2012) Replacement Graphics cards

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1440150

http://www.macvidcards.com/index.html

As Illaass said you cannot add Thunderbolt to a classic Mac Pro i.e. your MacPro5,1.

It is possible in theory to fit a standard PCIe video card in a PCIe expansion box and connect that expansion box via Thunderbolt to a computer which of course supports Thunderbolt, e.g. the 'new' MacPro6,1. (It was actually launched in 2013.) This is often referred to as an 'eGPU' as in external GPU. This will not help you with regards to your MacPro5,1 and has limited help currently for even Thunderbolt equipped Macs.

Now taking your post literally, you could be asking for recommendation for a PCIe video card that works both in a MacPro5,1 and also would work in an external Thunderbolt connected box as I described above. The problem here is that for PCIe cards of any type to be officially rated as compatible with being connected via a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion box, they need firmware which supports this approach. The main issue is that with Thunderbolt the card has the potential for being 'unplugged' while the computer is running, whereas this is not realistically possible when fitted inside a computer in a normal PCIe slot. A number of SATA, Ethernet, and FDDI PCIe cards have been updated with firmware to support this, however no Mac compatible video cards have so far.

The following articles regarding trying to use video cards as eGPU cards may be of help. It is expected that in the future this will become a lot easier, especially when Thunderbolt3 finally takes off.

Note: Some of these may refer to Macs since current Macs of course have Thunderbolt, but they may not make it clear they are also really talking about using Windows via Boot Camp and not OS X.

https://thunderbolttechnology.net/blog/you-tweeted-we-listened-thunderbolt-3-cap abilities-and-more

https://bizon-tech.com/us/bizonbox2-egpu.html/

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3079785/hardware/gigabyte-just-showed-an-egpu-wit h-thunderboltusb-c-for-easier-laptop-external-graphics.html

https://www.akitio.com/blog/articles/egpu-thunderbolt3-intel-skull-canyon-nuc

https://odd-one-out.serek.eu/thunderbolt-2-egpu-setup-using-akitio-thunder2/

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-build-an-external-gpu-for-4k-video-ed iting-vr-and-gaming/

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7987/running-an-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-over-thunderbolt -2

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/building-external-gpus-on-mac-egpu.1893792/

straycat23 wrote:

Very helpful. I'm guessing I should wait to see what Thunderbolt 3 has in store. I would really like to be able to use a real Apple Thunderbolt display with my Mac Pro 5.1. I don't really like the 6.1's as everything seems to be soldered in.

No, no, no.

As Illaass and I said, you cannot add Thunderbolt to old computers. You will never be able to use a Thunderbolt display with the classic Mac Pro.

Just what do you mean?

Many graphics cards that the MP 5.1 can use support HDMI output

straycat23 wrote:

Thanks. Does that mean other HD displays can never be used with a Mac Pro 5.1 in HDMI?

you can change the card in a 5,1 form factor mac pro to a myriad of other cards and use the output on the card to drive the display e.g.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Sapphire/100352MAC2/

you can not add a TB port to a 5,1 form factor mac pro, the throughput of the existing connections do not allow the device to function at the required speed.

also to mark a question as solved when you are asking a question that further complicates your original question should be avoided in the future.

straycat23 wrote:

It means I'm getting confused. I now realize that I cannot use a Thunderbolt display, but your earlier post seemed to say I can use another brand display with an HDMI connection to an appropriate card in the PCIe port, and it would display in 4k resolution. Am I wrong? Or am I stuck in 2560x1440 resolution?

You are getting Thunderbolt and Displayport confused.

The classic Mac Pro with a suitable video card can do 4K and even 5K with Displayport connections. It cannot do Thudnerbolt ever.

It cannot do HDMI 2.0 directly but you can also use an active Displayport to HDMI 2.0 converter and then you can connect to a 4K display using HDMI 2.0 and get 4K at 60fps just like you can with Displayport.