Most powerful CPU for Mojave

[davorr]

what is the most powerful intel cpu + motherboard that will support mojave?

 

[Jamesbond007]

what is the most powerful intel cpu + motherboard that will support mojave?

If what you mean by support is "official support by Mojave", then the 9th generation Intel CPUs and the corresponding 300 series motherboards are the last supported hardware platform for Mojave. The 10th generation Intel CPUs and the corresponding 400 series motherboards are only supported on MacOS Catalina and later.

The most powerful CPU in that generation is the i9 9900K / i9 9900KF (without integrated graphics), which is a 8 core / 16 thread CPU. Motherboards based on the Z390 chipset are the "best" (expensive) motherboards that can be used with them.

Note that this does not mean you can't run Mojave on 10th generation Intel hardware, but expect issues if you manage to get it running on such a system.

 

[davorr]

Thanks!

May I ask, if those issues which might occur with the 10th gen (e.g. 12900k) are meant as

A) one time issues- like incompatibility of certain components, what can be fixed by a some geek?

or you meant

B) recurring issues, that would drive me crazy and make it impossible to use it as a stable working machine?

The following I'd like to connect to that PC:

• pcie firewire card (form TC Powercore FW, that works only up to Mojave)
• UAD Satelite TB3
• Metric Halo LIO3 USB3 Audio Interface

In a worst case I'd be ready to switch to Windows. Once when I am in Reaper, it doesn't matter anyway what's behind, I guess.

 

[trs96]

with the 10th gen (e.g. 12900k)

That i9 CPU is 12th gen. Don't expect it to work with Mojave.
Here's the easy way to tell 12900K = 12th gen and 11900K =11th gen etc.

 

[davorr]

thanks.

I guess, I'll just have to upgrade my old classic Mac Pro 5.1 with NVME and live with the speed I have.
Or go the Windows path and forget the Mac OS. Then I can enjoy the 12900.

 

[trs96]

Or go the Windows path and forget the Mac OS.

You'll get more out of a 12900K when using Windows. In macOS you have to either disable the 8 e-cores or hyperthreading to get it to work at all.

 

[davorr]

thanks. didn't know about disabling the cores