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Confirmed: 2687W v2 8-core CPU (150W TDP) works in 2013 Mac Pro

R

reflecti0nX

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 3, 2015
26
1
I swapped a 2687W v2 CPU into my nMP and it boots just fine.

This is an 8-core CPU with 3.4GHz base clock, with up to 4.0GHz turbo on a single core and 3.6GHz turbo on all cores. 150W TDP.

1680 v2, the 8-core CPU Apple sells with the 2013 Mac Pro is only 3.0GHz base clock, with 3.9GHz turbo on a single core and 3.4GHz turbo on all cores. 130W TDP.

Any suggestions for how to best stress-test my Mac Pro to ensure that a 150W TDP CPU can be used 24/7, even with GPUs stressed to the max?
 
It won't stress the GPU's, but Prime95 is what I generally use for stress-testing memory and cpu's.

Option menu: Torture Test
I think the in-place test gives maxiumum heat. Let it run for an hour or so - it's self checking and will tell you if any errors are detected.

Maybe that + some sort of heavy-gpu based program in the background would work....
 
You can stress the CPUs using CPUTest. It hasn't been updated since 2007 but still works for Yosemite. It basically just runs Glucas tests. Assign 1 instance per core on your machine and set for unlimited repetition. You should see CPU load max out in Activity Monitor and you can monitor temps and fans with your app of choice.
 
Comparing the two CPU's, I'm curious why you upgraded, unless, maybe, you happened upon the 2687W for free?

It's, at most, only about 10% faster, which (except for benchmarks) you probably won't notice. Unless I'm missing something (not out of the realm of possibilites!), it doesn't seem worth the trouble to me unless you were just in the mood to tinker! :)
 
^^^^The OP never said he swapped and 8 core for an 8 core. He just mentions the stock 8 core Apple sells for reference. It's my guess he upgraded from a 4 core machine.

Lou
 
I´m thinking about upgrading to the same CPU in my nMP soon. I would love to hear all about your experience with it, can you please get in contact with me OP?:)
 
areluke said:
I´m thinking about upgrading to the same CPU in my nMP soon. I would love to hear all about your experience with it, can you please get in contact with me OP?:)
Click to expand...
This CPU seems to work well in my Mac Pro. No instability issues.

Even after running Prime95 stress test for hours, CPU keeps running at a reasonable temperature and 3.4 GHz (base frequency).

If I run a GPU stress test on both GPUs while running Prime95, then I do see throttling fairly quickly. I don't know if a regular 130W TDP would also throttle in this use case, but I suspect that it would.

Overall, I am happy with this upgrade.

Let me know if you have any questions. I can't send you a PM. Try enabling Enable Private Messaging and Receive Email from Other Members in your settings.
 
dmylrea said:
A bad assumption on my part! Thanks for pointing that out.
Click to expand...
I agree that upgrading Apple provided 8-core CPU to a 2687W v2 wouldn't make much sense, even if it is slightly faster.

On the other hand, you can save some cash and get a slightly faster CPU if you upgrade a 4-core Mac Pro to 8-core 2687W v2 yourself. It's not an easy upgrade, but it can be done.
 
reflecti0nX said:
I swapped a 2687W v2 CPU into my nMP and it boots just fine.

This is an 8-core CPU with 3.4GHz base clock, with up to 4.0GHz turbo on a single core and 3.6GHz turbo on all cores. 150W TDP.

1680 v2, the 8-core CPU Apple sells with the 2013 Mac Pro is only 3.0GHz base clock, with 3.9GHz turbo on a single core and 3.4GHz turbo on all cores. 130W TDP.

Any suggestions for how to best stress-test my Mac Pro to ensure that a 150W TDP CPU can be used 24/7, even with GPUs stressed to the max?
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for sharing. Would it be possible to swap two of these in dual processor units to get 16 cores instead of 12?
 
ZombiePhysicist said:
Cool, thanks for sharing. Would it be possible to swap two of these in dual processor units to get 16 cores instead of 12?
Click to expand...
Not into a Mac Pro, or any other Mac. There are no dual socket Ivy Bridge Macs.

You should be able to build your own dual socket Ivy Bridge Hackintosh. A quick Google search shows it has been successfully done in the past for Sandy Bridge.
 
It's just a mean joke.

Sadly, it appears there won't be another Dual Socket Mac.

The engineers to make it happen were all needed to design the perfect Facebook button.
 
To stress the System i would use:

SystemLoad for max. CPU stress
http://www.bresink.com/osx/SystemLoad.html

plus

Furmark for one GPU (perhaps you can stress both nMP GPUs with 2x Furmark. Is the second GPU also for Video out?)

plus

Luxmark or OpenCL Galaxy for the second GPU

Run all at the same time and wait. If the system shut down its bad, if not its goooooood.
 
AidenShaw said:
... and 80 PCIe 3.0 lanes and 24 DIMM slots...
Click to expand...

Sorry, I suspect you're being sarcastic, but I'm being genuine in my question. Could they not have built a box with two processor sockets supporting up to 24 cores? Meaning if they stuck with a construction more like the classic mac pro?
 
He wasn't being sarcastic.

When they clipped the 2nd CPU they greatly limited the machine.

It shouldn't be possible to make a 2009 better and faster than a nMP, but by holding it back as a FCPX console they have done so.
 
ZombiePhysicist said:
Sorry, I suspect you're being sarcastic, but I'm being genuine in my question. Could they not have built a box with two processor sockets supporting up to 24 cores? Meaning if they stuck with a construction more like the classic mac pro?
Click to expand...

My best guess is the thermal envelope of the machine. The metal loaf heatsinks of the Nehalem/Westmere Mac Pros are almost the same size as the new Mac Pro entirely.

FWIW, I think the nMP is an amazing machine. In most cases its faster them my 4,1->5,1 Mac Pro for what I do in a lot smaller format. While I do sometimes miss the upgradability of the older machines its hard to beat the power to size ratio of the nMP.
 
iamMacPerson said:
My best guess is the thermal envelope of the machine. The metal loaf heatsinks of the Nehalem/Westmere Mac Pros are almost the same size as the new Mac Pro entirely.

FWIW, I think the nMP is an amazing machine. In most cases its faster them my 4,1->5,1 Mac Pro for what I do in a lot smaller format. While I do sometimes miss the upgradability of the older machines its hard to beat the power to size ratio of the nMP.
Click to expand...

Without being an engineer of the caliber of Apple or other tech guys it's hard to say how much of the vision drove the design, or the other way around. It's possible you could scale the thermal core concept to a larger, dual-CPU configuration, or it might be that the design only works at certain sizes and two CPUs would simply be too much heat—although I wouldn’t say that the old Mac Pros were necessarily the best example, since the heatsinks on the Z840s at work are minuscule in comparison, purely from a size standpoint.
 
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