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2 dead Mac Pro's into 1 working Mac Pro?

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bibi2205

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 25, 2010
70
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I picked up 2 used Mac Pro's today, the seller told me they were used in Graphics Development at an advertising company. Both are currently in non-working condition. The HDD and ram was pulled from both machines. They were however pretty cheap so I took a gamble as I really couldn't pass them up. I'll start off with some specs and then some questions:

1) Early 2008: Dual 2.8GHz Xeon Quad Core / 2x1G / 320 / 2600XT
2) Mid 2010: 2.8GHz Xeon Quad Core / 3x1G / 1TB / 5770

I did some reading before picking them up and they seem to mostely break down om memory issues, power supply or graphics card. As the ram was pulled and I don't have any ECC memory laying around, I'm not able to test much at the moment. I did however plug them in to see 'what they would still do', even without the memory.

The Mid-2010 does absolutely nothing, which makes me believe it's most likely the power supply. (Although I am aware that the Logic board might also be the problem.) Hard drive 'bays' have been pulled out, which is a pity but nothing we can't handle.

The Early-2008 however does power on. I don't see any immediate diagnostic leds on the mainboard and it does not 'beep' some error code for missing memory, but at least the power supply is still in working condition. I've also noticed that the 2 "boards" where the memory is supposed to go have also been pulled out. I've so far been unable to track those down through Google, could someone give me a clue as to what they're called? That might make things easier. ;) (This one has 2 hard drive bays pulled out and 2 remaining, so I can borrow these for the 2010 if I manage to get it to work.)

I've also noticed a lot of different Mac Pro power supply's are being sold. More specifically, the power supply's are 'destined' to go for the Early 2008 or 2009/2010 models. Are these really specific to the models or would I be able to put the 2008 power supply into the 2010 machine? At first sight they seem compatible, but I haven't done any true research about this yet.

One final question, I've been looking for a teardown or service manual for both these machines but I haven't had much luck in actually finding it. Am I looking in all the wrong places or has Apple done a really good job of hiding it? ;)
 
There is no cross-compatability between CPU, RAM, Motherboard and probably PSU between those 2 machines.

bibi2205 said:
One final question, I've been looking for a teardown or service manual for both these machines but I haven't had much luck in actually finding it. Am I looking in all the wrong places or has Apple done a really good job of hiding it? ;)
Click to expand...

Only available to authorized Apple service centers.

bibi2205 said:
I've also noticed that the 2 "boards" where the memory is supposed to go have also been pulled out. I've so far been unable to track those down through Google, could someone give me a clue as to what they're called?
Click to expand...

Risers.
 
bibi2205 said:
I picked up 2 used Mac Pro's today...
One final question, I've been looking for a teardown or service manual for both these machines but I haven't had much luck in actually finding it. Am I looking in all the wrong places or has Apple done a really good job of hiding it? ;)
Click to expand...
You are right that they are not easy to find, but fortunately someone put them on the Internet, and you can download the 2008 and 2010 Apple Technician Guide from this link. You'll notice that the 2009 and 2010 have very similar parts, but the 2008 MP has very few parts interchangeable with the 2010 MP, if any. For MP parts, DV Warehouse is the place to start your research and you can email them for questions, just don't expect them to have all the answers.

If I were you, I'd sell the 2008 for parts and use the money to fund the parts for another MP. Good luck with your project.
 
Cindori said:
There is no cross-compatability between CPU, RAM, Motherboard and probably PSU between those 2 machines.
Click to expand...
I knew CPU, Ram and Logic Board wouldn't be compatible.. For testing purposes I was hoping the PSU would work though. :)

Cindori said:
Risers.
Click to expand...
I feel so stupid, I should have known that. :)


@xcodeSyn: Thanks for both links, those manuals were hard to find. I'll look at DV Warehouse and probably poke them with (some) questions. I hope they'll atleast have the answers I'm looking for. ;) Selling the 2008 for parts is definately an option I'm considering, after all I got them pretty cheap so it shouldn't be too hard to get my money out of it and make some spare cash to spend on repairs/upgrades.
 
OS6-OSX said:
This site http://www.macpartsonline.com/mac-pro-parts.html can give you part names and prices
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. :)
I've been trying to find European shops with Mac parts, as I'm from Belgium and importing it from the US can get a bit expensive..

I tried to pull the 2010's PSU out today but I'm missing the required screwdriver so that'll have to wait a few days.. It's gonna be a long project, I thnk. :)
 
bibi2205 said:
As the ram was pulled and I don't have any ECC memory laying around, I'm not able to test much at the moment. I did however plug them in to see 'what they would still do', even without the memory.
Click to expand...

You don't need to use ECC memory. The Mac Pro supports ECC memory, but does not require it.
 
ActionableMango said:
You don't need to use ECC memory. The Mac Pro supports ECC memory, but does not require it.
Click to expand...

Sadly this only applies to the 2010 but you're right and I didn't know that until now.. Thanks. :)

I've ordered (and received) new Riser cards for the 2008 and took it on a road trip yesterday to go and buy (used) memory. The seller allowed me to test it before buying so I reinstalled 10.6 at his place and it's fixed! I've spent today upgrading to 10.9 and then doing a clean reinstall and I've been using it for the last 4-5h and it's perfectly stable (benchmarked and stress tested, just to be sure).

Apple_MP_Early2008_AboutThisMac.jpg

Yes, unfortunately it's 667MHz memory and not 800MHz, but it'll do for now and I got it at a very decent price..


I'm dropping the 2010 off at a Reseller tomorrow. I've been looking up prices for a new PSU and it usually comes down to +-320€ without shipping, which is another +-50€. And that's the price for a used PSU. If I'm spending that much I'd really prefer to have a new one. So I sent a few mails to resellers in Belgium and found one that will replace the PSU (with a brand new one) for 300€, which is still a lot but at least it'll be new.. They also offered to do a full 'checkup' to diagnose the problem and as I'm not even sure the PSU is the problem, I decided to accept that offer.. So I guess that's a 'To be continued'. ;)
 
bibi2205 said:
Sadly this only applies to the 2010 but you're right and I didn't know that until now.. Thanks. :)
Click to expand...

I don't think ECC RAM is required in any Mac Pro. You shouldn't mix non-ECC and ECC in the same computer though.

Did you mean FB-DIMMs? I think 2006-2008 use fully buffered memory and 2009+ do not.
 
The 2008 only accepts FB-DIMM's, which (during the DDR2-era) were always ECC. I'm not sure about the older models.. I'll try to look it up though, could be a fun fact to know. ;)
 
That 3,1 has probably 5 years of life left in it if you don't need it for heavy production. With a modern GPU, it really is a great system. Unfortunate that the 2010 is as dead as it is, and you're absolutely right, Mac parts get very expensive. Congrats on the functional '08 - they're great machines.
 
@NOTNICE: Thanks, I'm happy I got it back to work. I've always wanted a Mac Pro but could never afford it, so when I got the chance to buy 2 for a decent price I took the gamble and got them. I knew parts were going to be expensive but the PSU prices shocked me a little, especially when I found out I can get a brand new one fitted for a bit less then the price of a used one, without shipping. :)

The 2008 probably had a pretty heavy life at it's previous owner, I won't be pushing it as hard however. I might use it for a game occasionally but other then that it won't be very heavily used. :)

I dropped the 2010 off at the Reseller today, should hear more from them in 1-2 working days. Hopefully it's the PSU, if the Logic Board or Processor Board are dead it's going to be even more expensive to get it fixed and I might just stick with the 2008 and sell the 2010 for parts and get my investment out of it.
 
The Reseller mailed me today with the repair status.. It turned out to be the PSU, so the 2010 will be fixed in a few days as well. I'm happy, it could have been way worse if it were the Logic Board or Processor Board.

I've been using the 2008 all the time for the last few days and it's perfect (and quiet). Now I need to order some hardware (SSD/HDD's, bays to put them in and RAM) and then I'll be switching to the 2010 (with my Radeon 7950). After that I'm gonna (try to) sell my last 2 Windows machines and I'll be 100% Apple-powered. ;)
 
Congratulations! Glad to hear it was just the power supply. The 2010 is sure to be an incredible machine. Way cheaper on the RAM end too, and the architecture is much better than the 2008. Good luck with your sales, always glad to hear success stories on fix-its.
 
Thanks. :)

I'm glad it's over although I really enjoyed all the searching for info. The 2010 is 'only' a Quad Core 2.8GHz (would have been awesome if it were a 6-core or better) and it's about the same age as my current Windows machine (i7 920 @ 2.66GHz, Turbo 2.93GHz). Both the Base & Turbo Boost speed's are slightly higher on the Xeon processor (2.8GHz - 3.06GHz). I'm not doing it for the speed increase though, I'm getting OS X without having to mess with kext's like I once did on my i7 and a much quieter system, that's way more important to me than the (slightly) higher CPU speeds. :)
 
bibi2205 said:
Thanks. :)

I'm glad it's over although I really enjoyed all the searching for info. The 2010 is 'only' a Quad Core 2.8GHz (would have been awesome if it were a 6-core or better) and it's about the same age as my current Windows machine (i7 920 @ 2.66GHz, Turbo 2.93GHz). Both the Base & Turbo Boost speed's are slightly higher on the Xeon processor (2.8GHz - 3.06GHz). I'm not doing it for the speed increase though, I'm getting OS X without having to mess with kext's like I once did on my i7 and a much quieter system, that's way more important to me than the (slightly) higher CPU speeds. :)
Click to expand...

Don't forget that down the line, you could upgrade that Quad Core Xeon to a beastly 6 core 3.33 or 3.46 once processor prices come down, if you were to ever need more horsepower.
 
NOTNlCE said:
Don't forget that down the line, you could upgrade that Quad Core Xeon to a beastly 6 core 3.33 or 3.46 once processor prices come down, if you were to ever need more horsepower.
Click to expand...
I'll definitely be considering that in a few years when those prices are a bit more interesting. Currently it's not really worth the money.


Also I have just noticed you also have a 2008 Mac Pro and you mentioned:
NOTNlCE said:
With a modern GPU, it really is a great system.
Click to expand...

Mind if I ask what card you're using in yours? Or do you have the stock 2600XT?
 
bibi2205 said:
I'll definitely be considering that in a few years when those prices are a bit more interesting. Currently it's not really worth the money.


Also I have just noticed you also have a 2008 Mac Pro and you mentioned:


Mind if I ask what card you're using in yours? Or do you have the stock 2600XT?
Click to expand...

I currently use an NVIDIA GTX 660 (PC Version) as my primary graphics card. It drives my two main 1080p displays. I also have the stock 2600 XT installed in the 2nd PCIe slot - that drives my side VGA display and provides me with a boot screen.
 
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