MP 6,1 Upgrading the WIFI/bluetooth 6,1 Mac Pro

[avro707]

On the 5,1 2010-2012 Mac Pro it is quite common to upgrade the WIFI and Bluetooth to get newer convenience features like keyboard/mouse sharing and others.

Is it possible to do this upgrade on the 6,1 as well? I ask because my 2010 Mac Pros have far more modern features than the 6,1. I'm not afraid of taking the 6,1 apart - I have done that before to upgrade the CPU.

Edit: Found this topic after I posted this (which I forgot I replied to):

Mac Pro 2013 - Airport WiFi / Bluetooth LE 4.2 card upgrade

Hi What is the best Airport card to buy to get Bluetooth LE 4.2? I saw that something like this exists but I can't find the part model. Mac Pro 2013 6,1 - Cylinder Please help

forums.macrumors.com

I was thinking of trying one of these:

Apple Broadcom BCM94360CD 802.11ac mini PCI-E WiFi WLAN Bluetooth 4.0 Card | eBay

Model: BCM94360CD. With Bluetooth 4.0. If you could not work out the bluetooth function, You need the right sequence of numbers with pins correctly matching the cables on a Mac. Compatible with: Mini PCI-E card slot laptop.

www.ebay.com.au

 

[tsialex]

MacPro6,1 already have an AirPort Extreme based on BCM94360CD. The BT controller of BCM94360D is BCM_20702B0, the same one SystemInformation shows on your Mac Pro, check it.

 

[hometech99]

MacPro6,1 already have an AirPort Extreme based on BCM94360CD. The BT controller of BCM94360D is BCM_20702B0, the same one SystemInformation shows on your Mac Pro, check it.

Hi

I think hes asking where some users have gotten Mac earlier than the 6,1 into BT 5 range.

Also is there a way, even using external devices to get the 6,1 to BT 5.x, and Wifi6? With no driver from manufacturer, the USB BT and wifi devices dont get recognized either. I have TB2 to PCI-E cages and would use a card if possible instead of USB, if that would even work.

 

[tsialex]

Hi

I think hes asking where some users have gotten Mac earlier than the 6,1 into BT 5 range.

This wasn't what he asked and there is no BT v5.0 that works with a MacPro5,1 or MacPro6,1. MacPro6,1 already have a BCM94360CD card, it was the first Mac that had it, iMacs also got the BCM94360CD for the late-2013 models.

When Apple moved to Bluetooth v5.0, the BT controller moved from the AirPort Extreme card to the logic board itself. There is no AirPort Extreme card with BT5.0 that you can buy and adapt, Apple moved everything to the logic board.

Also is there a way, even using external devices to get the 6,1 to BT 5.x, and Wifi6? With no driver from manufacturer, the USB BT and wifi devices dont get recognized either. I have TB2 to PCI-E cages and would use a card if possible instead of USB, if that would even work.

For various reasons this is not a good idea, first one is obviously drivers that work flawlessly, most Continuity features do not even work, and the cards connected via Thunderbolt stop working after a sleep cycle. Second one is that BT is always connected via USB signals, you will need to add USB to the Thunderbolt case and the third one is the poor WiFi performance.

People with hackintoshes always have problems with WiFi 6 cards (Intel AX210 is the only one that kinda works), there is no easy solution for that since the drivers are 💩 and the performance is subpar even to a BCM94360CD. Read more here:

OpenIntelWireless | OpenIntelWireless

Documentation for OpenIntelWireless

openintelwireless.github.io