2012 Mac Pro Security seal on heat sink? Picture attached

[All Taken]

I've just noticed my 2012 Mac Pro has a bead of white silicon along the edge of the heat sink. Correct me if i'm wrong - I'm thinking Apple has added this as a tamper indicator. Alternatively, could possibly be to stop arcing of components and heat sink in that area?

Has anybody seen this before? Is it on 2010 models? Anyone with a 2012 have similar sealing of the heat sink?

Nanofrog - It was said in a previous thread of mine that the retention mechanism on the 2009 board is different to that of a 2010/2012 board Lidless V Heat spreaders. My board (most definitely from a 2012 machine), has a marking '2009' on the right side of the image. Any significance?

 

[The-Pro]

Nanofrog - It was said in a previous thread of mine that the retention mechanism on the 2009 board is different to that of a 2010/2012 board Lidless V Heat spreaders. My board (most definitely from a 2012 machine), has a marking '2009' on the right side of the image. Any significance?

View attachment 379087

Only the 2009 DUAL CPU board has a different retention mechanism then the 2010 and 2012 DUAL CPU board.
I dont know if the 2009 means that it is a board from 2009, but its very likely. Wouldn't matter though because the boards fro 2009 and 2010/12 only differ in terms of firmware. Apple could have updated the firmware on left over 2009 boards to use in newer machines.
You definitely have a CPU with integrated heatspreader since its a single CPU board. So upgraded to a more powerful CPU is very easy.

 

[alphaod]

No that's just a thermal pad. It's taped [using thermal tape] to the heatsink, but not to daughter board. It's also there so those chips on the daugherboard do not short out when it's touched by the aluminium heatsink.

 

[All Taken]

No that's just a thermal pad. It's taped [using thermal tape] to the heatsink, but not to daughter board. It's also there so those chips on the daugherboard do not short out when it's touched by the aluminium heatsink.

You're a star, thank you.

 

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What's the consensus on upgrading a single quad core to a more powerful processor? If I wanted to purchase a W3580/90 for instance, would it be better to pay the upgrade cost at purchase with Apple, currently £400 or buy and install myself for approx £400?

Benefit of having my quad left over but warranty is void unless swapped back without notice...

 

[The-Pro]

selling the quad afterwards makes the upgrade quite cheap.
i'd prefer having the quad left to swap back when something happens.

 

[All Taken]

selling the quad afterwards makes the upgrade quite cheap.
i'd prefer having the quad left to swap back when something happens.

Is the quad desirable or likely to sell at a low price?

If you prefer to have the quad to hand, how does that make fiscal sense? I understand you might sell when warranty is no longer an issue but deprecation erodes the financial difference between direct with Apple vs upgrade.