Apple Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (2008) - Worth the effort?

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SteveAudus Author

Level 1

8 points

Apple Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (2008) - Worth the effort?

I have just been given a old Mac Pro.

Model A1186 EMC no :2180

Mac Pro 2.8 8CX/2X1G/320/2600XT/SD/BT - GBR

It appears to boot, but the ATI graphics card maybe dead, as I am getting nothing on monitor.

But it's picking up ip address from our DCHP server, and I can ping it.

So something working.

Question;

Is this worth messing with? If I do get it working will it update to the latest OSX?

Any suggestions how to remote into it from a Windows PC?

Could anyone suggest a cheap Video card I could use just to see if it is working?

Is it worth messing with?

Thanks for any suggestions?

Posted on Oct 3, 2016 7:34 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 3, 2016 11:51 PM in response to SteveAudus

"Latest" as of a few days ago is 10.12 Sierra, and that Mac is not supported under Sierra.

10.11 El Capitan is still available for download (but has been made deliberately difficult to "accidentally" download). Any downloadable MacOS requires you to have 10.6.8 in place first, because that is the version with a stable Mac App Store.

For emergencies, ask the giver if they have a "Full Retail" 10.6.8 Snow Leopard DVD they could give you, or buy it for US$20 from the Apple online store. Gray discs will only work for the exact model they are made for, so a gray disk for an iMac will not boot and will not Install.

'What graphics card' is motivated by what you plan to do with it. Mac-specific firmware on a graphics card is required to get a picture before the login screen. The Mac-firmware GT120 card is very affordable, but is not that great a card if you plan on Video editing and such.

To run El Capitan you need a minimum of 4GB of RAM, and more is better. Your Mac uses DIMMs in matched pairs in adjacent slots, and if you accidentally fill all slots, the memory switches to double-wide for about a 17 percent speed increase.

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Answer 2

SteveAudus Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 3, 2016 11:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi Grant,

thank you for your reply.

Would this graphics card work? I don't want to spend too much just to see if it works.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-PowerMac-G5-nVIDIA-6600LE-256MB-PCI-E-DVI-Graphi cs-Card-631-0063-630-6978-/131955691173?hash=item1eb92c0ea5:g:XsgAAOSwmLlX7n79

Is there an apple alternative to RDP, on Windows i would use mstsc to remote into a machine, is there simplier on apple?

All I know is that machine sounds like it starts up, and gives me the apple startup sound, and i have an ip address.

Thank you for any suggestions.

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Answer 3

Oct 4, 2016 7:22 AM in response to SteveAudus

if you have a Userid and password, you can use ssh, same as any unix-like OS.

I have never heard of anyone using a card from a G5, ever. So I am very skeptical that it would work. You will need one that has 64-bit kernel support, and that was not introduced until your model Mac Pro was retired (about 2009).

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