• Registered: 2018-03-30
  • Posts: 27

Topic: teach me Titan Ridge / Alpine Ridge TB upgrade for Mac Pro 5.1

i love my old "Cheese Grater" Mac 5.1 but it does not have Thunderbolt to connect my new UFX+
I understand that there are "Gigabyte" Cards named Titan Ridge and Alpine Ridge that could expand the old Mac Pro.  There is a promising video on YT how to install everything but there are some questions left: wich one should i buy, the alpine or titan? Do i need the "header" i mean internal power connection to the card? Shall i buy it preflashed or not? If i buy it preflashed, do i need to install additional software also?
Is there a colleague runnig this system sucessfully? I want to change my system to "deskless" so i
want to exploit the full channel amount (internal, 2 Adat, 64 Madi). I think Tunderbolt would be the best way to achive this, right?
Maybe its the moment to change my system to M1 but i can not afford the new mac pro and the very promising mac mini m1 lacks some pro features like multiple display support and is not extensible.
And i hate the idea to be forced to a new OSX.

2 Reply by MC

  • MC
  • MC
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • From: Germany/Thailand
  • Registered: 2007-04-06
  • Posts: 25,615

Re: teach me Titan Ridge / Alpine Ridge TB upgrade for Mac Pro 5.1

I can't believe the 'Gigabyte' cards work with anything else than Gigabyte motherboards. And you won't find someone here who does such mods to a Mac computer.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

3 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-10-06 09:15:56)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,231

Re: teach me Titan Ridge / Alpine Ridge TB upgrade for Mac Pro 5.1

I think you refer to this "solution": https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/produc … w-possible

I personally find it too cumbersome always having to boot Win10 via Bootcamp first, to initialize the Thunderbolt card and then having to "warm boot" into MacOS. You would have add-on costs for a Bootcamp and a Win10 license, need to reserve some space for it on disk or need an additional one and you need to pay for quite pricey TB adapters and cables.

I think it would be easier to either use or to upgrade your Mac to USB3.

The UFX+ works just as well over USB3. See here on Windows a comparison of RTT (round trip times), USB3 is as good as TB, the tiny difference is not relevant in any way:

https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/index.php/Attachment/2343-UFX-UFX-RayDAT-Latencies-v2-jpg/

You even have the advantage of cheaper cables (a well triple shielded one from Lindy costs about €25) and that USB3 cables can even be 3m long, TB cables only 2m in comparison and are more expensive. This also gives you more flexibility in the setup regarding placement of HW components. Here the Lindy USB3 cable that I use without issues:
https://www.lindy.de/3m-USB-3-2-Typ-A-a … &ci=80

I would use a card from Sonnet. The cards with Fresco USB3 chipset have been tested by RME:
https://www.sonnettech.com/product/alle … 4port.html

See also manual chapter 40.3:
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/fface_ufxplus_d.pdf
https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/fface_ufxplus_e.pdf

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2018-03-30
  • Posts: 27

Re: teach me Titan Ridge / Alpine Ridge TB upgrade for Mac Pro 5.1

Dear Ramses, you are very helpful as allways, many thanks for helpin me out.
I will go the USB3 route. But i didnt refered to the solution you linked above, i dont think it is necessary to install windows.
a quick goole search "titan ridge, mac pro 5.1" will show up some videos explaining the installation (open core installation and EFI files must be copied - but,  as i understand in opposite to Mr Carstens oppinion - they will work definitely on a mac pro).

5 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-10-06 10:05:57)

  • ramses
  • DAW Mastermind
  • Offline
  • From: UTC+1
  • Registered: 2012-10-14
  • Posts: 13,231

Re: teach me Titan Ridge / Alpine Ridge TB upgrade for Mac Pro 5.1

You're welcome and good luck for the upgrade :-)

BTW wondering why the installation of TB is "soo easy" on mac.
On Windows you need also support in the BIOS and on the mainboard itself to make a link between mainboard and TB card, I think this is for video. So without a proper board that is prepared for TB you have no chance ...
I hate this, because this is fully against the usual concept, that you can upgrade your PC with an add-on card and drivers.

As I do not need TB for monitors ("screens") they should have provided a possibility in the standard to simply use the TB card for data transfers alone. IMHO a "not so nice" standard from end user perspective.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14