CPU Upgrade on Mac Pro tower

[zbest56]

Hello,
This is a topic that i have not been able find anywhere on the internet and the curiosity is killing me. Ive seen videos from people showcasing them upgrading the CPU's in their mac pros, so i know that this is possible. However the mac pro can come with up to 12 cores by using 2 six-core Intel Xeons; this got me thinking if it would be possible to use 2 eight-core Xeons for a total of 16 cores, or if the mac pro simply will only support 12. i do not own a mac pro at the moment but it will be a step down the road building my music studio, and if this is possible i will consider doing it at that stage and i want to be educated then because those CPU's are almost $2k each!
thanks for any help!

Peace out-
zbest56

 

[chris.k]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I could not find a Xeon 5600-series CPU that has 8 cores / 16 threads. Which particular Xeon Model were you looking at?

 

[bax2003]

Mac Pros 2009/2010/2012 support single Quad, 6-Core or Dual these CPU-s, so Quad, 6-Core, 8-core or 12-Core. All these Xeons support hyper threading so these machines have 8, 12, 16 and 24 threads.

 

[zbest56]

Hello and thanks for the replys!

I was not looking at a specific Xeon model, but if you'll look here, you see that there are plenty of 8-core Xeons:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

My question if any of these would work with the mac pro, or if the mac pro uses a different socket or simply has no support for more that 12 cores/24 threads.

thanks again!
zbest56

 

[Studio K]

Hello and thanks for the replys!

I was not looking at a specific Xeon model, but if you'll look here, you see that there are plenty of 8-core Xeons:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...SpeTabStoreType=&AdvancedSearch=1&srchInDesc=

My question if any of these would work with the mac pro, or if the mac pro uses a different socket or simply has no support for more that 12 cores/24 threads.

zbest56

The Xeon processors used in the Mac Pro are Socket LGA1366. The ones you linked to are Socket 2011. Socket 2011 CPU's will not fit in a Mac Pro board.

 

[xcodeSyn]

My question if any of these would work with the mac pro, or if the mac pro uses a different socket or simply has no support for more that 12 cores/24 threads.

As stated by Studio K, the 2009-2102 Mac Pros all used the LGA1366 motherboard and can only accommodate up to 12 cores due to the Westmere architecture with a maximum of 6 cores per CPU. The upcoming 2013 Mac Pro will be using the LGA2011 motherboard but with only one CPU socket. So you still won't be able to get more than 12 cores for the 2013 MP either.

 

[applegeek897]

The reason why the current generation of the Mac Pro only supports 12 cores is because it uses a 1366 socket of xeons which is quite dated by these times, and only go up to a 6 cores per cpu. The newer socket xeons support more then this. The new xeon that will be used in the upcoming 6,1 Mac Pro (Trash Can) will support up to 12 physical cores on a single CPU.

 

[zbest56]

OK thanks for the information. I guess i wont be upgrading anytime soon. but it was worth asking!
Thanks alot
zbest56