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Some place I read that there is a plastic or whatever cover on the square cpu chip that was very hard to remove. I guess maybe I could call OWC tomorrow and see if they have the glue and hex wrench for sale.
You are probably reading upgrade instructions for the 4,1 dual core models which require a CPU lacking the heat spreader. The square is the heat spreader and it does complicate upgrading the CPUs for the dual core 4,1 models. Since you do not have a dual core 4,1 model the CPU upgrade is as easy as shown in the video. It is very simple. Remove five screws, pull up the lever, swap CPU, apply thermal paste, mount heat sink, secure with the five screws. A very simple procedure.
 
You are probably reading upgrade instructions for the 4,1 dual core models which require a CPU lacking the heat spreader. The square is the heat spreader and it does complicate upgrading the CPUs for the dual core 4,1 models. Since you do not have a dual core 4,1 model the CPU upgrade is as easy as shown in the video. It is very simple. Remove five screws, pull up the lever, swap CPU, apply thermal paste, mount heat sink, secure with the five screws. A very simple procedure.
OK what if I install the required cpu with no problems and it don't boot? Now it's glued on and I have a dead Mac?
 
OK what if I install the required cpu with no problems and it don't boot? Now it's glued on and I have a dead Mac?
I think it best you purchase a quad core 6,1 Mac Pro and be done with it. It'll be more expensive than your $1K budget but it'll solve all your problems.
 
The single core CPU swap isn't all that hard. I had mine done by a service anyway, since I make my living from my cMP and didn't want to risk any downtime. Look for one that will ship you a board up front, you swap it in and ship your old one back, and get a partial refund on the price. I would dig up the service I used but I don't know if he's doing it any more, better to look around yourself if you decide to go that route. (I found mine on eBay.)

As others have said, almost any SATA SSD in a 2.5 inch form factor will do. I put a Mushkin (Enhanced Reactor) in mine.
 
Some place I read that there is a plastic or whatever cover on the square cpu chip that was very hard to remove. I guess maybe I could call OWC tomorrow and see if they have the glue and hex wrench for sale.
[doublepost=1510528222][/doublepost]
How?

1) Open Terminal
2) type
Code:
sudo trimforce enable
3) hit enter
 
Funny. I'll stick with mine at least I know who used it.
Might be safest, or find a local tech who is willing to work on it. You’re not comfortable with this, and don’t have the knowledge to update firmware, etc. My advice is to not mess with it.

CPU swaps are easy for those with experience, but I’ve built hundreds of systems over the past 30 years.

As mentioned in an earlier post, more memory, a better CPU and a SSD will be inexpensive, and even paying a tech to do it shouldn’t be more than a few hours of bench time.
 
Funny. I'll stick with mine at least I know who used it.
I'm not sure what you mean. Unless you were to buy a used 6,1 Mac Pro only you would have used the new one.
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Might be safest, or find a local tech who is willing to work on it. You’re not comfortable with this, and don’t have the knowledge to update firmware, etc. My advice is to not mess with it.

CPU swaps are easy for those with experience, but I’ve built hundreds of systems over the past 30 years.

As mentioned in an earlier post, more memory, a better CPU and a SSD will be inexpensive, and even paying a tech to do it shouldn’t be more than a few hours of bench time.
I believe he already upgraded the firmware.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. Unless you were to buy a used 6,1 Mac Pro only you would have used the new one.
[doublepost=1510576318][/doublepost]
I believe he already upgraded the firmware.
That’s one step down then, so any tech can swap the CPU. They are so cheap on eBay this is a no-brainer.
 
1) Open Terminal
2) type
Code:
sudo trimforce enable
3) hit enter
Might be safest, or find a local tech who is willing to work on it. You’re not comfortable with this, and don’t have the knowledge to update firmware, etc. My advice is to not mess with it.

CPU swaps are easy for those with experience, but I’ve built hundreds of systems over the past 30 years.

As mentioned in an earlier post, more memory, a better CPU and a SSD will be inexpensive, and even paying a tech to do it shouldn’t be more than a few hours of bench time.
I did the Firmware upgrade.
 
That’s one step down then, so any tech can swap the CPU. They are so cheap on eBay this is a no-brainer.
That's a great suggestion. No need to send it out to a Mac specialist when anyone familiar with working on computers can do it. As for the CPU I have provided him a reference to one where the seller had a $25 BIN price on it.
 
My Mac is SATA 2 to Make it a 3 I need this
HighPoint RocketRaid 2721 1 External / 1 Internal SAS RAID Controller
You may correct me.
I do not mean to come off sounding rude but what is it you're looking for from the forum? People have provided you advice on how to address an unspecified performance problem with your system yet you do not appear to want to follow it.

As for the SSD...you do not need to upgrade your system from SATA 2 to SATA 3. The benefit most people observe from an SSD is not from throughput (what SATA 3 improves on over SATA 2) but rather much better random read times (which SATA 3 will have little noticeable impact on).

As has been stated several times...almost any SSD is going to noticeably improve the responsiveness of your system. The primary thing you should be considering with an SSD is the size you want to buy. Other than that any SSD is going to be an improvement so don't put any more thought into it.

EDIT: You may want to consider buying one of these to easily use the SSD in your Mac:

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/MMP35T25/
 
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Changing the CPU is easy but when I put back the screws on my single core 4.1, it didnt feel right.
I had to do it several times and very carefully. DO not overtighten...
Otherwise it takes 20-30 mins.
 
I'm Back. So at OWC Mac Sale, There brand of SSD 1TB with 3 yr warranty 350.00 48GB RAM 278.00 and X5680 Amazon 154.00 If I do it myself. I live in Albuquerque and it's dry here which means plenty of static plenty, but I've swapped out HD's all the time and installed ram with no problem. If I did't get the X5680 but got the ram and SSD would that be a moot point?
3.33GHz Intel Xeon X5680 6 Core 6.4GT/s 12MB L3 Cache Socket LGA1366 SLBV5
 
You can search youtube for CPU swap videos. I've done a couple (MacPro 1,1 and 5,1) and if you understand what each step is, and work carefully, you shouldn't have problems. You definitely need those long-handled hex keys, though, and you need your own thermal paste (Arctic Silver is a favorite).

This advice comes from a guy who's older than you are.
 
1 Tb (well, 960 Gb) Mushkin Enhanced Reactor at Newegg for $260, other brands (Sandisk / Toshiba / Crucial et al) in the mid $280's, Samsung 850 EVO for $320. I wouldn't pay OWC prices for the SSD. Try datamemorysystems.com for the memory. You're on the right track for what to do, IMO.

Speed improvements depend on what you use it for of course, but my personal experience is that roughly 1/2 of the total perceived improvement came from CPU+RAM and the other 1/2 from SSD (I did them separately).
 
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New and exciting News. I talked with a tech guy at OWC and he recommended Accelsior S + 6G 1 TB SSD It will accept there SSD. If I just put it on an adapter and into one of my HD bays it will only accept 3G. that with 32GB RAM 567.00
 

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New and exciting News. I talked with a tech guy at OWC and he recommended Accelsior S + 6G 1 TB SSD It will accept there SSD. If I just put it on an adapter and into one of my HD bays it will only accept 3G. that with 32GB RAM 567.00
If you're comfortable spending that kind of money and know that it will boot your Mac then go for it. However I feel you'll be paying for something you will not ever notice. The SSDs kschendel mentioned will be more than sufficient.
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You can search youtube for CPU swap videos. I've done a couple (MacPro 1,1 and 5,1) and if you understand what each step is, and work carefully, you shouldn't have problems. You definitely need those long-handled hex keys, though, and you need your own thermal paste (Arctic Silver is a favorite).

This advice comes from a guy who's older than you are.
He doesn't even need to search. I provided one for his exact model Mac in post 98.
 
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I'm Back. So at OWC Mac Sale, There brand of SSD 1TB with 3 yr warranty 350.00 48GB RAM 278.00 and X5680 Amazon 154.00 If I do it myself. I live in Albuquerque and it's dry here which means plenty of static plenty, but I've swapped out HD's all the time and installed ram with no problem. If I did't get the X5680 but got the ram and SSD would that be a moot point?
3.33GHz Intel Xeon X5680 6 Core 6.4GT/s 12MB L3 Cache Socket LGA1366 SLBV5

I personally won't go for OWC SSD, it's almost the worst you can go. None of any other SSD cannot run High Sierra except some OWC SSD. Doesn't sounds like really build for Mac (but they charge you for that). Some of their SSD even don't support TRIM or SMART, it's just the basic of the basic in today standard.

Also, they charge you about double on the RAM. And from this forum, I can tell their DIMM is not working better than any other brand, in fact, occasionally see someone complain their OWC RAM causing issues.

New and exciting News. I talked with a tech guy at OWC and he recommended Accelsior S + 6G 1 TB SSD It will accept there SSD. If I just put it on an adapter and into one of my HD bays it will only accept 3G. that with 32GB RAM 567.00

Did you really understand our recommendation?
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realworld_MultiAppStart.png

Is there any real world difference between 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s in your case? I don't think so!

If you really want some god speed, then go for the AHCI PCIe SSD. At least you are paying for the SSD, but not the adaptor, or their brand, or their marketing... And its sequential speed is 3x faster than the OWC SSD you are looking for.

The OWC guys just asking you to overpay something that has no real world value.

The SanDisk 960SSD is just $269 on Amazon (that OWC SSD only has 960GB usable space, not really 1TB). And you want to pay $439 for virtually the same thing??? (In fact, I believe the SanDisk SSD has better quality).
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Also, 4x8GB RAM should only worth around $90 now. They charge you almost $180!!!

Anyway, it's your money, and your machine. As long as this spending makes you happy. That's fine. But since you ask at here. We just tell you the truth that you are going to overpay a lot for what you actually get.
 
New and exciting News. I talked with a tech guy at OWC and he recommended Accelsior S + 6G 1 TB SSD It will accept there SSD. If I just put it on an adapter and into one of my HD bays it will only accept 3G. that with 32GB RAM 567.00

Correct. What I am not sure about is whether you'll actually notice the difference. My machine has both SATA SSD (SATA 3 capable running at SATA 2 speeds, 3 gbit/sec) and NVMe SSD, which is theoretically faster than SATA 3 although I don't have one of the really high end SSD's in there. I can tell the difference when I'm running a many-minutes-long benchmark, but not in interactive use.

I have no objection to people spending their money for peace of mind, or because they are reasonably sure that their workloads (which WILL differ from mine) will benefit. If you're doing a lot of long sequential reads/writes, as might happen if you are streaming videos or something, the SATA 3 adapter might be worth it. Maybe.
 
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