USENIX Association (2007) Cederquist, J.G., Corin, R., Dekker, M.A.C.. This is how they run some of the most popular Mac games right now:Our analysis methods are based on game-based logics for multiagent systems with. As an example, we’ve used the same 2013 13-inch MacBook Pro and 2016 13-inch MacBook Pro for every one of our Mac Performance Reviews. Use the results from that machine as a comparison point. From the machines used to test that game, pick the one that resembles your Mac the most.
![]() Intuitive system requirements checker. Sleek yet super easy to use interface. Stay in the know of game sales. 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). That was the migration I made with my 2009 MBP.I put both of my AMD RX 580 GPUs into the Mac Pro to hopefully get higher fidelity for gaming and hardware encoding. Best performance would come with 8GB and the SSD. For Yosemite to run acceptable on your Mac you'll need 8GB or 4gb and an SSD. Even lion (10.7) won't run well with 2GB. Although I was able to install two modern GPUs in this machine, there are a couple of allowances I had to accept. 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).TitleDeveloper/publisherRelease dateGenreA10 AttackParsoft Interactive1995Flight simulatorA10 CubaParsoft Interactive1996Flight simulatorATrainMaxis1992SimulationView 213 more rowsDon't get me wrong. 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. The system worked surprisingly well. I went from 1 GB of onboard VRAM to 2x8 GB. Truly a testament to the engineering that went into designing the 2009 Mac Pro. Especially considering the age of the system it was running on. 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. I'm seeing if along it's lifespan, various upgrades and updates can keep it within an acceptable performance level. Remember, I'm not looking to see if the 2009 Mac Pro can best a modern equivalent. 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. 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. Memory wise, I could now install faster 1333 DDR3 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. Up until I actually tried using the machine, I never even really considered upgrading the CPU or memory. Memory and CPU upgradesSo far I have not spent any extra cash on updating the 2009 Mac Pro. 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. The system could be upgraded to 12 cores running at 3.06 GHz. Not only do they have faster clock speeds, but they also have more cores per chip. On the CPU front, the firmware update now supports the considerably faster Westmere Intel Xeon chips. Games 2009 Series ProcessorsAlthough IAgain, 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. In fact, I'll be using a variety of more modern hardware to compare the various workloads to the 2009 Mac Pro. 2 x 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processorsAlthough I'll be showcasing some metrics here it is not intended as a scientific comparison between systems. Early 2009 Mac Pro running macOS High Sierra I'm looking out for deals so if you spot any, leave me a comment to let me know! Final configurationSo after all of the updates and upgrades I performed, the 2009 Mac Pro now looks like this: So you need to buy either a single core chip or two dual-core chips. App for mapping buttons on a wii remote with a macI'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. The starting file size is 22GB in size. Transcoding HD VideoFor my transcoding comparison, I converted Star Trek VI: Undiscovered country from a Blu-ray dump I made a while ago. ![]() 2009 Mac Pro with 2x RX 580 8GB GPUs: 9 minutes 45 seconds The export of the edited video was encoded in h.264. Final Cut ProAlthough 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. Expectedly, the 2017 iMac Pro is far ahead. An upgrade to the CPU and memory is looking more and more enticing rather than getting a completely new system. 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. 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. However, I'll keep on researching to see if I've set up everything so that the OpenCL capable GPUs are being properly utilized.This being said, the 2009 Mac Pro not unusable for FCP by any means. 2017 iMac Pro with AMD VEGA 56 GPU: 1 minute 14 secondsI 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. The 2009 Mac Pro blows all of the competition away with its dual GPU setup. 2014 Retina iMac OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 1862Wow. 2017 iMac Pro OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 4467 2009 Mac Pro OpenCL CPU+GPU score: 5982 LuxMark OpenCL testAs 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. Gaming and VRBeing OS agnostic I've run some quick graphics benches on macOS and Windows 10 using a variety of hardware. The simple fact that I can upgrade the GPU in the Mac Pro makes the older machine the much better performer over time. 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. Why FCP didn't take advantage of the GPUs is as of yet unknown. Please note that under macOS the tests did not utilize both RX 580 GPUs in the 2009 Mac Pro. In any event, here are some synthetic results for the GPUs in a few macOS running systems. Mac graphics scores at 1080pI'm not a big Mac gamer, but I wouldn't mind being one if the hardware is capable and the games exist.
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