Mac Pro 5.1 Firmware Download Updated

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Hanging out in the various Facebook groups and other communities, I rarely meet anyone anymore that has a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro that nevertheless runs the stock firmware. But there are many Mac Pro users that are not enlightened of those communities or of the upgrade potential and possibilities for their Macs. They don't run across this kind of information on a daily ground like this geek. I took this knowledge for granted, forgetting there's a whole world of people out there that have no idea this knowledge exists.
If you lot are i of those people or know one of those people that accept a 2009 iv,1 Mac Pro and want to clasp some other decade of life out of it, this folio is for you!

This topic has been covered in the past merely all those guides appear outdated, have broken links, needlessly complicated processes, or a combination of all those. Therefore I've decided to write a clear, to the indicate, 2021 version with links to pieces of this puzzle still available from their original source, and pieces no longer bachelor that are now hosted on this website. So y'all'll have everything you need in ane place.

Terminology (simplified):

four,ane Mac Pro – four,1 refers to the Model Identifier of the 2009 Mac Pro, MacPro4,1
5,1 Mac Pro – 5,1 refers to the Model Identifier of the 2010 and 2012 Mac Pro, MacPro5,one
Firmware – Code on a scrap that gives the machine the nuts of how it needs to operate
SIP – Organization Integrity Protection. A feature introduced in Mac Os 10 ten.eleven El Capitan that protects sure system components such as the firmware from existence edited or tampered with
CPU – Short for Central Processing Unit, too known equally the Processor
GPU – Short for Graphics Processing Unit, too known as the Graphics Card
Mac Flashed GPU – A graphics menu that allows you lot to see the startup/boot screen on a Mac. This can be an Apple GPU that came with your Mac Pro, or an aftermarket GPU that had Mac firmware flashed to it.
Metal – A new to macOS graphics framework that is required to install and run macOS Mojave and newer. Non every GPU can support this new Metal framework. It replaced the older and slower OpenGL framework y'all may accept heard of or be familiar with. If your 4,1 Mac Pro has the GPU that came with the machine, you can be certain information technology is not Metal capable.

How:

The 4,1 and v,one Mac Pro are 99.nine% identical. The only major difference existence the kind of processors they accept in a dual-processor setup. So, giving the logic lath of the 4,1 the firmware of the 5,1 allows you to do everything a real 5,1 Mac Pro can do.

Why:

Having your 4,1 Mac Pro recall it'southward a 5,1 Mac Pro, allows yous to upgrade the OS past ten.11 El Capitan. 10.12 Sierra, 10.13 High Sierra and ten.fourteen Mojave volition all install natively without further patching or other trickery. You lot will also exist able to replace the 4-core processor with a vi-cadre processor. Or two if you accept a dual-processor model. This can get your Mac Pro upward to one or two Intel Xeon X5690 6-core 3.46GHz chips which is a major boost in performance. 3.06GHz and three.33GHz processors are besides options.
With faster processors come more perks than just a raw speed increment. The system bus will operate faster, the amount of cache goes up and last but non to the lowest degree; your Mac will be able to use faster RAM. The 4,one Mac Pro uses 1066MHz RAM, the 5,1 Mac Pro uses 1333MHz RAM. Now that your iv,1 thinks information technology'south a 5,i and with a newer processor, it tin utilize the 1333MHz RAM equally well, adding to the performance increase.

Prerequisites:

A 2009 (4,ane) Mac Pro.
A Mac or Mac flashed graphics card (GPU) is required.
You must run Mac OS 10 10.9 Mavericks or newer.
The Firmware Tool
The firmware deejay images (four,ane and 5,1 firmware disk images in one zero file)

Steps:

Make sure your Mac is connected to the internet.
The Firmware Tool initially needed an cyberspace connection to download the firmware files from Apple'southward website. Still, the links the Tool used to get those files stopped working long ago. Even though the Firmware Tool tin can't download these files anymore, it will still require an internet connexion or information technology will error out and quit. In 2017 someone fixed the links the Tool used to download those files merely they broke again shortly after. This is why I but host these files on my own server now.
Disable SIP (If you run Mac Bone X 10.xi El Capitan)
• Kick to your recovery drive or from an installer drive
• Open the Terminal app
• Type "csrutil disable" without the quotes
• Hit the Enter key
• A bulletin will confirm System Integrity Protection is now disabled
• Restart your Mac
Open the FirmwareFiles.naught and open MacProEFIUpdate1-five.dmg to mount the disk images on your desktop (don't install the package it contains)
Run the Firmware Tool
• Read all of the data the Tool provides
• Click the "Upgrade to 2010 Firmware" button
Follow the instructions when the flashing is washed
• Close down the Mac
• Printing and hold the ability button until it starts to chop-chop glimmer, then allow go
• A loud tone will follow
The optical drive ejecting confirms the detected firmware is valid and the update will begin
• A thick empty progress bar will slowly fill up as the firmware is updated
• The Mac will restart once the update has been completed
Your Mac is at present, for all intents and purposes, a 5,1 Mac Pro. The firmware at this betoken should exist "MP51.007F.B03".
• Get to the Apple menu > Well-nigh This Mac > Organization Report
(optional) Boot to your recovery sectionalisation or a flash drive installer and re-enable SIP if you want.
• Same process as disabling it, merely this time type "csrutil enable", without quotes, in the terminal

Can this be reversed?

Yes, using the same files you can downgrade the firmware back to that of a 2009 4,one Mac Pro. Keep in heed that you'd as well have to put the quad-core processor dorsum in. Downgrade the operating system to 10.11 El Capitan. And the 1333MHz RAM you may take installed may experience some weird quirks. The RAM *should* downward clock it'south speed to 1066MHz only this is hit or miss depending on the brand and capacity of the RAM modules.
I propose y'all salve the FirmwareFiles.zip and the Firmware Tool app. If for whatever reason yous want to downgrade your Mac Pro dorsum to the original firmware, the aforementioned tool and files are needed. That said, I take yet to see a proficient reason to downgrade the firmware.

Which processor(due south) should I pick?

I'yard a big fan of the half-dozen-core X5675 three.06GHz processors. They run fast, use a lot less ability than their 3.33 or 3.46GHz alternatives, and within a Mac Pro pretty much always run at their turbo boost speed of three.46GHz. As well a pair of these averages $50 on eBay. Information technology all depends on what you utilize the Mac for. I recommend taking a look at the Definitive Classic Mac Pro Upgrade Guide to meet which processors are available to selection from, then pick one accordingly. Once you're all done and enjoying a Faster and better Mac Pro, go back to the guide I just linked to and read all of it. You lot'll learn a ton and might get other good ideas on how to farther improve your Mac!

Is there more that can be done?

Since y'all asked, yes there is! Your Mac is already identifying as a 5,1 and there are more firmware updates you tin now practice. If you're running Mac OS ten.eleven El Capitan or ten.12 Sierra, you can use the 10.thirteen High Sierra installer to get firmware "MP51.0089.B00" which brings APFS support and several security problems fixes to the microcode. If you have a GPU that is Metal capable, you tin can use the Mojave installer to get firmware version "144.0.0.0.0" which brings all improvements from previous firmwares along with NVME SSD boot support and other enhancements.
These firmware updates are part of the OS installers only they are separate steps. So you can run the installer, do the required firmware upgrade, then quit the installer. This allows you to use the latest firmware without having to run that particular operating system. Unless you want to, of grade.

Your Mac Pro must accept a Metal capable graphics menu installed if y'all want to apply the Mojave installer firmware. And due to Apple's refusal to permit sure GPU drivers, non all Metal capable GPU's work on Mojave. So practise your inquiry before picking a metallic-capable card for your Mac. If yous practise non take a Metal capable graphics card, follow the steps beneath simply utilise the High Sierra installer instead. This will still give you newer firmware which tin't hurt to have.

Steps:

Download the latest High Sierra/Mojave installer
• Y'all tin get Loftier Sierra hither
• Or you tin can get Mojave here
Run the installer, select a language if information technology asks for it
Yous'll run across a window stating a firmware update is required to install macOS High Sierra/Mojave, along with instructions on how to practise this update
Follow the instructions and do the update
The firmware update volition install and the Mac will restart. The optical drive ejecting confirms the detected firmware is valid
If the macOS installer pops up again afterwards the restart, just quit out of information technology (or continue the OS install if you want), the firmware is all we were afterward in this case.
The firmware at this signal should exist "MP51.0089.B00" if you ran the High Sierra installer and "144.0.0.0.0" If you lot ran the Mojave installer
• Here is the same Mac displayed in an earlier screenshot, now with a six-Core CPU and the Mojave firmware

No need to attempt this with macOS x.xv Catalina or 11.i Big Sur. These operating systems are not natively supported by the 5,1 Mac Pro so no new firmware was made for these machines. The Mojave firmware is as good as it gets. But hey, that's firmware several years newer than the one you lot were running before!

Y'all can become macOS Catalina or Big Sur installed on your Mac Pro, quite hands too just I'll get into that another time. But know those operating systems won't offering any firmware benefits.

I hope this to-the-signal guide was helpful. Let me know in the comments whatsoever feedback you may have!

Mac Pro 5.1 Firmware Download Updated