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Desire to upgrade MP 5,1 - advice?

Z

zayaso

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 29, 2014
56
6
First of all, I want to say thank you very much to the creators of this forum, the mods, and the individuals who contribute their time, knowledge, and expertise to folks like me who are novices in the inner workings of a computer. You need network architecture or routing/switching/DNS/DHCP configurations- I'm your guy. GPU, CPU, inner workings of PCi slots and power requirements- I need your help please.

I have been reading a ton of the threads on this site in regards to upgrading, and I desire to upgrade my CPU, GPU , HD and possibly my monitor.
System info:
MP 5,1 (mid-2010) 2x2.4 QC Xeon; ATI Radeon HD 5770; 1TB SATA WDC drive (stock) and an additional Seagate 1.5TB SATA; with 32GB RAM DDR3 1066MHz (only upgrade I did); 30" Apple Cinema HD; OSX 10.9.5 and a bootcamp Win 7.

Question 1- CPU; I have an 8 core system, should I upgrade to the 12 core? And is the W3690 or X 5690 the correct CPU's to purchase?

Question 2- CPU- If i upgrade to a hex-core CPU will the ability to increase RAM be possible?- I couldn't deduce this from some of the other threads, sorry if it's a silly question.

Question 3- GPU- Should I ditch my ATI Radeon HD 5770 and replace it with the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780i or the EVGA Geforce GTX 780? Or should I wait and get the GTX 980 when the driver issues are fixed in Yosemite? :)

Question 4- HD- I want to swap to an SSD for faster performance. I read somewhere that the MP 5,1 for SSD's has a max read of 3Gb/s- is this true? if so, would the Crucial M550 or MX100 be good or is there a better recommendation ( I saw Samsung SSD's in some threads)?

Question 5- Display- I wanted a new display, and no Thunderbolt ports in my system- my apple cinema HD sometimes the images do not display and i get red-green-blue lines going across my monitor. I'm thinking the display is starting to fail- I've had it about 4 years now. In a different thread there was talk of the Planar PXL2790MW (http://www.planar.com/products/desktop-touch-screen-monitors/24-inch/pxl2790mw/), but I would really like to know what other MP owners use.

Thank you in advance to everyone for your help with this- I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty having conducted ROM chip upgrades on routers many times, but I want to make the correct purchases for my system. Thank you again
 
zayaso said:
Question 1- CPU; I have an 8 core system, should I upgrade to the 12 core? And is the W3690 or X 5690 the correct CPU's to purchase?

No and Yes. The W3690 is for Single CPU applications only and will not work in a Dual Processor system as you have. The X5690 is for both Single and Dual CPU applications. As far as core count, unless you use applications that support multiple cores, 12 cores may or may not be the right answer for you. I have updated my CPUs to 3.46 MHz 4 core CPUs (8 total) (X5677). For me, I felt the higher clock speed was the correct choice. And, I felt a 4 core of equal speed of the 6 core would run cooler.

Question 2- CPU- If i upgrade to a hex-core CPU will the ability to increase RAM be possible?- I couldn't deduce this from some of the other threads, sorry if it's a silly question.

No the total RAM capacity will remain the same, however the RAM speed will increase to 1333MHz if the CPU supports it. The RAM shipped with the 2010 Mac Pro is 1333MHz but only runs @ 1066MHZ as the stock Processor supports a top RAM Speed of 1066MHz. However, if you have replaced your RAM and replaced it with 1066MHz rated RAM, it will continue to run at 1066MHz.

Question 3- GPU- Should I ditch my ATI Radeon HD 5770 and replace it with the Nvidia Geforce GTX 780i or the EVGA Geforce GTX 780? Or should I wait and get the GTX 980 when the driver issues are fixed in Yosemite? :)

I'm running a MVC modified Gigabyte GTX780 with Great results. However, if I were buying today, I would wait for the GTX980. But, as of right now, the GTX980 does not yet run correctly in Yosemite due to immature driver issues.

Question 4- HD- I want to swap to an SSD for faster performance. I read somewhere that the MP 5,1 for SSD's has a max read of 3Gb/s- is this true? if so, would the Crucial M550 or MX100 be good or is there a better recommendation ( I saw Samsung SSD's in some threads)?

It's not the SSD that's the problem, it's the interface. I'm running two Samsung SSD's connected to two Apricorn Solo x2 PCIe interface cards. They allow the SSDs to run at 6GBs per second.

Question 5- Display- I wanted a new display, and no Thunderbolt ports in my system- my apple cinema HD sometimes the images do not display and i get red-green-blue lines going across my monitor. I'm thinking the display is starting to fail- I've had it about 4 years now. In a different thread there was talk of the Planar PXL2790MW (http://www.planar.com/products/desktop-touch-screen-monitors/24-inch/pxl2790mw/), but I would really like to know what other MP owners use.

I'm using an HP IPS 24" Display and I like it a lot.
Click to expand...

Answers in RED above.

Please don't upgrade your Mac with Dirty Hands!

Lou
 
Last edited:
Lou,

Thank you for the quick response! WoW!
My understanding of what you told me is that if I want to upgrade my CPU it should be to the X5690 and if I want to swap RAM I can as well.
The GPU card I can wait or use a GTX 780- since Yosemite appears to be around the corner, perhaps patience is the name of the game :).

I would like to know what others use as monitors, but could you send me a link to the monitor you have?

Further questions on the PCI E slots in regards to power:
You mention the Velocity kit to maximize performance from SSD's (http://www.apricorn.com/vel-solox2.html), but will I need to add external power for my PCI E slots if I use a newer GPU card and have the velocity kit plugged in as well? How are you configured in this area?
Example: Apple states my system uses 300W for PCI express slots, the GTX 780 Ti has idle power of 80W, TDP of 250W, and max power of 372W.

Thank you for the help!
 
@zayaso

The Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 doesn't need additional power connectors if you're only going to install a single SSD. If you want to use a second SSD that is connected to the same card, THEN you will need additional power. You can also add a second Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 in a different slot to avoid the issue of additional power connectors.
 
@crjackson2134

I appreciate the help in this area, I truly do, as I have never built or modified any of my systems in this manner.

My concern is Apple's statement that my PCI E slots only have 300W of stock support.

So:
If I add a newer GPU card, like the GTX 780 Ti (idle power of 80W, TDP of 250W, and max power of 372W) and the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 for one SSD, will I need to add an additional PSU? (Where will I be from a power standpoint- less than 300W?)

Or

Only if I add two SSD's to a single Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 plus a newer GPU card, like the GTX 780 Ti, will I need the additional PSU?

Thank you for all the help! Also, what type of monitor do you use if you don't mind my asking?
 
With Yosemite at GM Candidate, the 980 drivers are as good as they're going to be for Yosemite launch. They'll likely improve in future versions, but just keep that in mind.
 
zayaso said:
:
If I add a newer GPU card, like the GTX 780 Ti (idle power of 80W, TDP of 250W, and max power of 372W) and the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 for one SSD, will I need to add an additional PSU? (Where will I be from a power standpoint- less than 300W?)

I wouldn't run a GTX780ti on stock power. My GTX780 is an overlocked version, and that is the strongest GTX780 series I would run on internal power.

Or

Only if I add two SSD's to a single Apricorn Velocity Solo X2 plus a newer GPU card, like the GTX 780 Ti, will I need the additional PSU?

The Solo x2 and one SSD combo are well within the tolerance level of a PCIe slot. Running two SSDs off one card and or using the GTX780ti would require additional power.
Click to expand...

Lou
 
goMac said:
With Yosemite at GM Candidate, the 980 drivers are as good as they're going to be for Yosemite launch. They'll likely improve in future versions, but just keep that in mind.
Click to expand...

You have given good advice in the past, but on this I need to call "baloney".

The 980 requires the Web Drivers which...will be out tomorrow.

So I (or whoever tests) will let everyone know how the 970/980 work in GM....tomorrow. (Thursday latest)

Considering Apple's recent DISMAL performance on the update releases, I think we should be happy that Nvidia will be in charge. They have had Curly and Moe working on updates in Cupertino, I understand that they are including Larry in next round.

Will OpenCl be fixed? Probably not given Apple's desire to keep the 7970 (sorry I meant "D700") looking "top of the heap". I wonder if they will be throwing a 3 year birthday party for it next month? Some candles or sparklers in the top of the nMP should look awesome.
 
Last edited:
MacVidCards said:
The 980 requires the Web Drivers which...will be out tomorrow.

So I (or whoever tests) will let everyone know how the 970/980 work in GM....tomorrow. (Thursday latest)
Click to expand...

You typically seem to have Nvidia inside connections, so maybe you know... but I don't know if it's a guarantee that the new web drivers will fully support the 980 well either.

The 980 drivers will eventually get there, so I'm not trying to discourage OP away from the 980 completely, just trying to suggest the difference between getting a card that's known to work well now vs. a card that may (likely will) work well at an unknown point in the future.

Apple's Nvidia drivers come from... Nvidia. So as far as the drivers being astoundingly different from what Apple uses? Meh. Apple does tend to lag behind a bit on driver drops (as they have a much longer QA pipeline), but they're all coming from the same source. I'd expect NVidia's web drivers will be newer than what drops with Yosemite, but I'm not sure that's a guarantee of 980 support.
 
Lou,

Thank you for your reply to my additional questions!

crjackson, gomac, macvidcards- thank you for the additional information for my consideration.

I will not purchase the GTX 980 card at this time, the GTX 780 is sufficient for me. I will start with upgrading to an SSD and the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2, followed by the GPU card. As it's an un-flashed version I will keep my older Nvidia GT120 around in case I need it for boot purposes, but will sell my ATI Radeon HD 5770.

Monitor wise- I would still like to know what people are using, I have read the threads regarding IPS monitors but with so many on the market I'd like to know what other MP owners use.

CPU wise I have not made a decision just yet, $850 spend to upgrade an MP is enough right now, and I still have to ensure the boss is ok with it :).
 
zayaso said:
Lou,

Thank you for your reply to my additional questions!

crjackson, gomac, macvidcards- thank you for the additional information for my consideration.

I will not purchase the GTX 980 card at this time, the GTX 780 is sufficient for me. I will start with upgrading to an SSD and the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2, followed by the GPU card. As it's an un-flashed version I will keep my older Nvidia GT120 around in case I need it for boot purposes, but will sell my ATI Radeon HD 5770.

Monitor wise- I would still like to know what people are using, I have read the threads regarding IPS monitors but with so many on the market I'd like to know what other MP owners use.

CPU wise I have not made a decision just yet, $850 spend to upgrade an MP is enough right now, and I still have to ensure the boss is ok with it :).
Click to expand...

I have the 25" HP. Great monitor.
 
I'm sure the Apricorn card is excellent. But it's not the only one you should look at.

I've been happy with my Sonnet Tempo SSD Pro Plus, on which I've mounted 2 x Crucial M550 1 TB drives (configured as single drives, but they could be in RAID 0). The setup works very well. Sonnet has a Tempo model that takes a single drive.

I also upgraded the 5770 in my machine to a 7970 (MacVidCards) and that's been working well also.

Finally, you may want to look at USB3 during your upgrade. There's a very long but informative thread here on MacRumors. I'm using the Highpoint 1144CM, which is OK. I no longer think it's the best solution for me, but I have it and I know how to overcome its glitches, so I'm keeping it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1501482/
 
@OP
Please understand that the HighPoint RocketU 1144CM is a storage device/Raid controller with USB 3.0 connection ports. It only works with storage devices.

The HighPoint RocketU 1144C is an actual USB 3.0 controller that works with a large variety of USB devices (printers, webcams, input devices, storage devices, etc...).
 
crjackson2134 said:
@OP
Please understand that the HighPoint RocketU 1144CM is a storage device/Raid controller with USB 3.0 connection ports. It only works with storage devices.

The HighPoint RocketU 1144C is an actual USB 3.0 controller that works with a large variety of USB devices (printers, webcams, input devices, storage devices, etc...).
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info- I did not know the difference! Greatly appreciate that tidbit of information!

I am at a bit of a loss when it comes to monitors- there are four I am currently looking at. Keep in mind, I do no editing of any kind on video or pictures (other than family photo's) - so i'm looking for a display thats great for gaming and normal every day tasks (web, email, docs, etc). I know monitors are more of a "personal feel" by a person, and btw Dell's are out of the question for me. Any advice would be great! List below:

Monoprice
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_...&utm_medium=11051853&utm_term=VigLink-2470763

Samsung
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-28-Inch-Definition-Monitor-U28D590D/dp/B00IEZGWI2

Planar
http://www.planar.com/products/desktop-touch-screen-monitors/24-inch/pxl2790mw/

LG
https://pcmonitors.info/lg/lg-34um95-219-but-bigger/#!prettyPhoto
 
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RAID card

Get an Areca 1883ix with at least two internal ports. I would get one with an external port so you can hook up some additional external RAID box.

Make sure you get:

http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=189&ParentCat=420

This cable will allow you to use your existing drive bays running at 6G speeds.

Get a new GTX 980 from MacVidCards or get one and live without the start up screen.

And do upgrade to dual X56xx hex core chips. Pick the one that fits your budget.

I had to sweat bullets for about two hours upgrading a 4,1 to dual X5670s, but you should be able to drop yours in about 30 minutes total time. One hour if you are inept.

You will have one smoking fast computer. Good luck.
 
@stjames70 & crjackson2134- thank you both very much for your insight!

I had already ordered the Apricorn Velocity Solo X2, the GTX 780 video card, and an Samsung EVO 1TB SSD- holding off on the CPU purchase right now.

I am considering various monitors, and I posted a response yesterday but it's waiting mod approval, so I will condense the monitors that I am considering to this post.

A- the Monoprice 30" IPS LED backlit LCD panel WZQGA
B -the Planar 27" LCD PXL2790MW
C- the Samsung 28" Ultra High Definition LED U28D590D
D- the LG 34" 34UM95

I am considering either the Monoprice or Planar due to having DVI-Dual Link ports and my new GPU supporting this; the Samsung and LG I would have to use display port-to-HDMI cable, and I have read that some folks have issues with resolution to those monitors.

Anyone having experience with any of these monitors on their MP setup- please let me know- I am very interested in knowing what "glass" other folks are looking at on a daily basis. Thank you again!
 
^^^^All Nvidia cards that I'm aware of have a Display Port. IMO, you want a monitor with Display Port. DVI is really yesterday's technology.

Of the monitors you list, both the Samsung and the LG have Display Port.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
^^^^All Nvidia cards that I'm aware of have a Display Port. IMO, you want a monitor with Display Port. DVI is really yesterday's technology.

Of the monitors you list, both the Samsung and the LG have Display Port.

Lou
Click to expand...

Lou,
Thank you for that information- I had to educate myself on the new display port connections, as I'm so used to the connectors on the MBP's and MP.

My new ASUS GTX780 card should be arriving today, and it's not a mac version but I should be able to plug it in and it should work? Or do I have to download drivers from somewhere first? This is the link of the card I ordered:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

Thanks all
 
^^^^Yes, that card should work fine with Apple Drivers in OS 10.9.5 or 10.10, However to use Cuda, you need to download the Cuda Driver. Also for best performance, I would download the appropriate Nvidia Web Driver. It comes with a Control Panel that allows you to shuffle between the Apple and Nvidia Drivers should you so choose.

And, I'm sure your aware that you will not get a boot screen with that card, because it does not have an Apple EFI. And, if you don't have them, you will need 2 Apple 6 pin power cables.

Lou
 
flowrider said:
^^^^Yes, that card should work fine with Apple Drivers in OS 10.9.5 or 10.10, However to use Cuda, you need to download the Cuda Driver. Also for best performance, I would download the appropriate Nvidia Web Driver. It comes with a Control Panel that allows you to shuffle between the Apple and Nvidia Drivers should you so choose.

And, I'm sure your aware that you will not get a boot screen with that card, because it does not have an Apple EFI.

Lou
Click to expand...

Thanks Lou, yes I am aware of the boot screen- should not be an issue for me.

The card just arrived so I have a question on power to the card- I have a 6pin connector for power that I can connect to the card, but what about the 8 pin connector the card has?
The box came with a Y type of cable - and I see two connectors on my motherboard.The manual is not very helpful in this area- "Reconnect all power cables". :confused: Help!
 

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