Best to replace bad video card in 2010 MacPro or sell as-is?

[mhschmieder]

My mid-2010 MacPro died a sudden death right at the start of this five day holiday weekend (I took Friday off, hoping for a long period of productivity on recording projects).

Naturally, just the day before, I had spent thousands of dollars saved up from several months of planning, to order a bass clarinet AND an intermediate-level Celtic harp.

I had no luck in finding either a replacement ATI Radeon HD 5770 or the much better 5870. Via my new housemate's iPhone I was able to find in-stock availability at MacSales (OWC) but there would be a wait, and of course all local Mac specialty stores are shut from SAT through TUE and I can't wait until WED to START the process of repairing my MacPro.

So after a lot of thinking, I decided that it would be best to go for the highest-end iMac that just got released a few weeks ago, as it's great bang-for-buck and likely a step-up on all accounts. I had to research what I would do about recovery and about data, but will deal with that in separate topics.

What I am wondering, from people who have gone through this scenario, is whether a MacPro of that vintage -- currently on the very edge of what is still supported by most current software -- is worth anything anymore, or best sold for parts (probably locally, to avoid shipping charges eating away at whatever scavenging value I would be reimbursed for).

The upgraded video card would be $300; a direct replacement probably roughly half that. But there's no guarantee the computer will work after that. I thought the SSD might be bad at first, when I got some crashes with immediate auto-reboots Friday night, but then on Saturday, weird monitor stuff happened and the third and final crash showed black-and-white patterned vertical bars across the screen.

After that -- and even if I simplified my setup -- I could never again get the monitor to say it was receiving video signal. Lots of reboots and recabling, dusting, etc. Everyone I talk to says the symptoms are clearly an indication of video card failure. The irony is that I was planning on finally upgrading the video card this month anyway.

I seriously doubt $300 to upgrade a video card that might still not be enough (there might be other problems), is worthwhile, as I'd be surprised if a 2010 MacPro is worth more than a few hundred by now -- even with 16 GB of RAM, and even if I include the PCIe SSD (which I can't use on anything else). But there are plenty of people here who have also had sudden computer failures that led to unexpected purchases of new Macs, so I figure I'll get some good advice.

[HCMarkus]

MH, if you are running Sierra and don't need the initial boot screen, this is plug n' play:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product. ... -_-Product

The RX460 will outperform the ATI5770 and 5780 significantly. No driver installation required as long as Sierra is the operating system. $109 at Newegg.

I have the 4Gb card, but that version is now unavailable. The linked version has 2GB of memory. The 5770 and 5780 had 1Gb of memory.

The 2010 Mac Pro will be supported at least through the forthcoming High Sierra. After that, who knows?

[mhschmieder]

Thanks, HC. That might still provide an option for what I do with the 2010 MacPro before preparing it for sale. And I'm not surprised High Sierra will still support 2010 MacPro's as Apple surely knows they would tick off a lot of people otherwise, as few liked the "trash can" and the next model isn't ready yet.

I was wondering about High Sierra as I didn't see that announcement, and the thread on the main forum seemed to be talking about Sierra so I thought maybe the OP was having fun by calling it High Sierra like it's an OS not behaving well due to being "high"?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Unless you can afford to drop a few grand, a video card will be your best, fastest, and least expensive opt. I paid about $400 on my 2008 MP to replace the card.

[mikehalloran]

It looks like the going rate on eBay is around $125 on eBay for the 5770.

[mhschmieder]

Yeah, swapping it for the same card might be the best best before re-sale.

Once stores reopen Wednesday morning (most have been closed since early Saturday due to normal SUN/MON closings of small stores and TUE holiday plus morning-only SAT hours), I'll make some calls to see what I could get for the 2010 MacPro as-is vs. attempting to fix the video problem first.

Also, I can check that place in Oregon that specializes in trades, refurbishments, etc. -- if I can remember their name. Maybe that's MacMall, and probably where I bought the 2010 MacPro anyway. Also known as PC Mall when doing Windoze based business.

[mhschmieder]

The upgraded video card revived the 2010 MacPro to complete functional life, but I couldn't have waited that long and taken that chance, and I do feel the 2017 iMac is more performant overall so have no regrets.

I'll probably have to be a bit cautious about selling the 2010 MacPro, as there may still be apps, plug-ins, or VI's that I haven't launched yet and which may not seamlessly transfer their authorizations and licenses to my new computer without decommissioning on the old one first.

Even though I may not get much for it, and spent $140 on the video card upgrade, it would have been a write-off otherwise. And who knows, I may feel it makes sense to hang onto it for a bit, to try updates before risking the production machine.