8-Core 2.26 CPU Upgrade Help !

[dachayce]

I just recently bought a Early 2009 8-Core 2.26 Mac Pro. I've been reading for days now about swapping the two Quad 2.26 processors (X5550) for two Quad 2.93 processors (X5570). I'm not looking to get into the whole Hex Core processors and updating firmware thing from 4,1 to 5,1.

But is what I'm trying to do really that hard to do? I read all about the "integrated heat spreaders" and the possibility of damaging the sockets from tightening the hex screws to tight. But when I bought this MP off ebay, it says clearly in product information for all these Early 20009 Mac Pros its:

"Compatible with a 3.33 GHz processor or with two 2.93 GHz Intel Xeon processors"

If anyone could just give me some feedback or a minor step by step process on how to go about this and the best way to do it, I'd truly appreciate it. Even if you have a better solution or idea, that'd be great.

 

[spoonie1972]

the swap isnt a big deal. just be careful, and use the search here - it's been done a bunch of times and really, as long as you don't rail down on the heatsink screws you'll have no problems.

I used washers myself, but upon doing the tightening to the lightest-degree of resistance, i looked to see that the heatsink made contact with the top of the heat-spreader. from there, i did 1/4-turns z-pattern on each screw until i felt that the sink, goo, and the head-spreader made decent contact. You don't have to 'kill' it.

not really a big, scary process unless you've never changed a chip before, pc or mac.

YMMV. Good luck.

 

[dachayce]

Thank you very much for you post. I was just curious on what kind of washers I should use and where exactly they are placed. I also here of people removing the thermal slip on the HS and replacing it with a 2mm one. Which in your opinion is better? The thermal pad or washers ?

 

[xcodeSyn]

I've been reading for days now about swapping the two Quad 2.26 processors (X5550) for two Quad 2.93 processors (X5570).

Many people here had done the upgrade successfully, but this thread offers a recent unsuccessful attempt, which serves as a reminder of potential risks involved. While the info on how to upgrade the 2009 DP is scattered in many different threads, this one provides a good starting point and many other useful references are mentioned. Good luck with your research.

 

[spoonie1972]

here you can see some nylon washers (in this case, 3 of them are stacked on each post, coming to approx 2.1mm in height). i'd call this, more than anything else, a 'safety net' so that you can see the heatsink make contact wit them (or not) and the top of the CPU.

prior to putting on the heatsink, just look at the cpu and your washer height from the parallel plane - if they're the same height, or if the washers are slightly lower, you know how much room you have to 'squish' the cpu down on the spring-loaded pins are probably going too far. Again, it's more about feel here (in my opinion).

also, here's my pic of the extra thermal padding on the heatsink: (the new stuff is blue)