2010 Mac Pro Dual Processor upgrade

[Andy2k]

I have a 2010 Mac Pro 2.66x2 Xeons. I want to upgrade the CPU's in them. I was looking at the W3680 or X5680? The only real difference I've seen was the X series can run at about 10 C higher Mac temp, oh and the fact that a pair of X5680's are twice the price of the W3680. Would I notice any differences between the two (other than a potentially heavier wallet, that I would be 100% grateful for)? Anyone with two W3680's how do they run? Any issues. Thanks as always for any and/or all feedback.

 

[h9826790]

You miss the most important difference, QPI Link. The W36xx only has one QPI Link, which CANNOT be use on the dual processor system.

 

[flowrider]

Quite true. The W3680 will not operate on a dual CPU machine. I posted the below some time ago:

Intel's Part Number Descriptions Explained here:

Intel has changed what the leading Alpha means. The change happened when going from the 35XX (55XX) to the 36XX (56XX) series.

In the older series it meant:

E = Enterprise and CPUs with a TDP of 80 Watts
X = Accelerated and CPUs with a TDP of 95 Watts
W = Workstation and CPUs with a TDP of 130 Watts

and in every case the leading numeric after the alpha meant:

3 = for single CPU use only (1 x I/O Bus)
5 = for dual CPU use, but will work in single CPU applications (2 x I/O Bus)

In the later series, the above nomenclature rules stayed constant EXCEPT - The "X" prefix means accelerated (95 or 130 watt TDP) and is only used on CPUs with a 2 x I/O bus. The "W" prefix is now used only in the single CPU series (1 X I/O Bus).

In any case in both series, the meaning of leading numeric after the alpha has remained the same. A "3" for CPUs with a 1 x I/O bus and a "5" for CPUs with a 2 X I/O Bus.

I hope this makes sense to you. It took me awhile to figure it out.

Lou

 

[Andy2k]

You miss the most important difference, QPI Link. The W36xx only has one QPI Link, which CANNOT be use on the dual processor system.

Okay, I did miss that part. My apologies, well I guess that settles which processors to buy. Glad I measured twice and cut once on this one. Thanks for your help!
[doublepost=1466543204][/doublepost]

Quite true. The W3680 will not operate on a dual CPU machine. I posted the below some time ago:



Lou

Thanks, I was cruising through the forum and missed this tidbit. Thanks for your help.

 

[pdafan]

You can get a pair of W5590 or W5580 though

 

[Andy2k]

One more question:

A pair of X5690 are around $500 used. 3.46 Ghz

A pair of X5680 is just shy of $300 used. 3.33 Ghz

Is a .13 Ghz jump in speed worth the extra money? Would you really even notice an improvement outside of benchmark testing? I do quite a bit of video transcoding.

 

[h9826790]

One more question:

A pair of X5690 are around $500 used. 3.46 Ghz

A pair of X5680 is just shy of $300 used. 3.33 Ghz

Is a .13 Ghz jump in speed worth the extra money? Would you really even notice an improvement outside of benchmark testing? I do quite a bit of video transcoding.

I doubt if anyone can tell the difference without benchmark software or stopwatch etc.

 

[nigelbb]

I doubt if anyone can tell the difference without benchmark software or stopwatch etc.

The 3.46 GHz is 2.5-3.5% faster. Single threaded tasks pretty much scale with clock speed. Multithreaded not quite scale with clock speed increase. So if your rendering out a video took 60 minutes on the 3.46 it would take a little under 61.5 minutes on the 3.33.