MP 1,1-5,1 El Cap OK?

[michaelGR]

I'm considering an El Capitan fresh install to resolve a few minor issues that have shown up recently. My interest are Graphic Design and Auto Cad.

Mac Pro (early 2009 > 2010 EFI 5,1)
El Capitan v. 10.11.6
3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon (I have the 4.46 processor on a separate tray but it runs hotter)
48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2048 MB
with Parallels and W10​

Generally speaking, I'm happy with things the way they are. Fast machine. Gets the job done.
I like to stay up to date but this time around I don't feel like doing the leg work.
I'm not interested in 'bells and whistles' just speed and efficiency.
Are there any practical reasons to upgrade to a newer operating system?

Thanks for your time,
MGR

 

[tsialex]

I'm considering an El Capitan fresh install to resolve a few minor issues that have shown up recently. My interest are Graphic Design and Auto Cad.

Mac Pro (early 2009 > 2010 EFI 5,1)
El Capitan v. 10.11.6
3.33 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon (I have the 4.46 processor on a separate tray but it runs hotter)
48 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2048 MB
with Parallels and W10​

Generally speaking, I'm happy with things the way they are. Fast machine. Gets the job done.
I like to stay up to date but this time around I don't feel like doing the leg work.
I'm not interested in 'bells and whistles' just speed and efficiency.
Are there any practical reasons to upgrade to a newer operating system?

Thanks for your time,
MGR

Security updates? Current web browsers support?

Apple stopped supporting El Capitan in 2018, but still supports Sierra for some months, after September only High Sierra will be supported.

 

[michaelGR]

I was afraid of that. Do you see any problems with High Sierra?

 

[tsialex]

I was afraid of that. Do you see any problems with High Sierra?

High Sierra is a mature macOS release and works fine, with support until September 2020.

You will need to do firmware upgrades to run it, 10.13.6 requires BootROM MP51.0089.B00. Read the first post of the MP5,1: What you have to do to upgrade to Mojave (BootROM upgrade instructions), most things are applicable to you.

 

[michaelGR]

Once that firmware upgrade is complete will I be unable to run El Capitan again? (in case I run into problems)

 

[tsialex]

Once that firmware upgrade is complete will I be unable to run El Capitan again? (in case I run into problems)

New firmwares are backward compatible, btw this is answered there.

 

[michaelGR]

I guess it's doable. Thanks for your advice.

MGR

 

[donluca]

We tend to think about those machines as our daily drivers without really asking ourselves first if your Mac Pro is entirely dedicated to Autocad work.

If you don't use it to browse on the internet or other tasks which may expose you to security issues (and, most importantly, you're 100% satisfied with what you're using now), there's absolutely no reason to update.

I always like to say: "If it ain't broken, don't fix it".

Although, if that's your main and only machine, then, absolutely, update ASAP as you're risking your data integrity to various security flaws.

 

[jscipione]

El Cap works fine but some software has dropped support for the version and will throw up warnings or not work. The latest Safari and Fluid won't work, docker, and homebrew throw up warnings. There are no security updates anymore and you should prob disable hyperthreading in 10.14.5 first but for cad and graphic design El Cap should work fine.