MP 1,1-5,1 Hex 3.2 update from 2010 quad 2.8 photos new! CPU to use!

[khollister]

I can imagine you're missing your Pro -- now that I have one, I can't imagine doing my work without one! And I'm not a power-user either; most of the CPU gets donated to the folding@home team, but all of the single-threaded software really benefitted from the boost going to the 3.33 chip.

We're all looking forward to a new Pro, I think, even if it's just so we have confirmation of Apple's continued interest in their pro-level equipment.

If/when the new Pro debuts, I'll be looking out for your words of advice on mods!

Yeah - I upgraded mine a few months ago and just transcoded 375 blu-ray rips via Handbrake to m4v's for ATV3! I used a Mini server I have as well to work in parallel and the difference was huge. The Mini was almost twice as slow and ran CPU temps of 90C or higher even with the fan screaming. The Pro ran CPU temps of 60C (or less) with all 6+6 cores rocking and the fans barely ramped up. The GPU fan would kick into overdrive once in a while (assume the PCI bay got pretty hot). If I had done all of those with the Mini, I would have probably reduced it to radioactive slag - the Pro ran 100% at a duty cycle of probably 95% (final muxing in HB doesn't stand on all of the cores) 24x7 for 2-3 weeks. I had to turn down the AC in that part of the house due to the heat thrown off

 

[sidabet]

Use of Arctic Silver 5

Great explanation of how to swop the CPUs on a Mac Pro.

I went to the Arctic Silver website and they reccommend using a drop of Arctic silver the size of a grain of rice or middle dot method . Then bolting down the heat seat without spreading the Arctic silver. They also advise tinting both the cpu and heat sink.

See http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

Having installed a few CPUs over the years I normally cover the entire surface of the CPU heat sink.

Any thoughts on this method proposed by Arctic for the Mac Pro?

 

[philipma1957]

Great explanation of how to swop the CPUs on a Mac Pro.

I went to the Arctic Silver website and they reccommend using a drop of Arctic silver the size of a grain of rice or middle dot method . Then bolting down the heat seat without spreading the Arctic silver. They also advise tinting both the cpu and heat sink.

See http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

Having installed a few CPUs over the years I normally cover the entire surface of the CPU heat sink.

Any thoughts on this method proposed by Arctic for the Mac Pro?

either way. I did a pea size and spread it with a rubber gloved finger.

I have done a few intel cpus in diy pc builds and the smash the pea with the heatsink method also works.
Just clock your temps for 2 to 3 days either way so you can see if the cpu is running hot. Even though I sold my mac pro about 6 months ago the buyer drops me a line and is still happy with the gear. (it still works as of april 27th)

 

[sidabet]

either way. I did a pea size and spread it with a rubber gloved finger.

I have done a few intel cpus in diy pc builds and the smash the pea with the heatsink method also works.
Just clock your temps for 2 to 3 days either way so you can see if the cpu is running hot. Even though I sold my mac pro about 6 months ago the buyer drops me a line and is still happy with the gear. (it still works as of april 27th)

Thanks for your help.

Now that the price of the Xeon W3680 has come down to £450 here in the UK I think this is the way to go. From the forum posts my understanding is the Xeon W3680 is a straight swop for my original Mac Pro 2010 Quad CPU.

 

[philipma1957]

Thanks for your help.

Now that the price of the Xeon W3680 has come down to £450 here in the UK I think this is the way to go. From the forum posts my understanding is the Xeon W3680 is a straight swop for my original Mac Pro 2010 Quad CPU.

yes and after you do the job you can still get some money for the oem quad core. make sure the swap works run for a few weeks and then sell the quad core on ebay uk


http://ark.intel.com/products/42931/Intel-Xeon-Processor-X3460-(8M-Cache-2_80-GHz)

usa prices for the oem quad core

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=intel+x3460&_sacat=0


uk prices


http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=+xeon+x3460&_sacat=0&_odkw=x3460&_osacat=0


used you may clear 150 pounds this lowers you to 300 pounds.

 

[tinycg]

Does anyone know if the w3680 would work as a swap on a 2009 octo? Running at 2.2, I know I'd have to get 2 chips, just wanted to know if the straight swap still applied or if I'd have to use another chip?

 

[PumpkinPCL]

Does anyone know if the w3680 would work as a swap on a 2009 octo? Running at 2.2, I know I'd have to get 2 chips, just wanted to know if the straight swap still applied or if I'd have to use another chip?

I believe dual processor machines need to use 5500 series cpu's (5600 with EFI update).

All We Know About Maximizing CPU Related Performance

 

[tinycg]

So there's no good swap alternative for the octo's then, looking at pricing for slightly bumped 5500s doesnt seem worth it at x2, and either do the 5600s. Bummer.

 

[philipma1957]

So there's no good swap alternative for the octo's then, looking at pricing for slightly bumped 5500s doesnt seem worth it at x2, and either do the 5600s. Bummer.

yeah you would need to get lucky if you have the dual cpu machine finding some use cpus on ebay at that price is hard to do.( and risky)

 

[caymandrew]

Awesome thread. Have an Aug 2010 Mac Pro with the single 2.8 W3530. I called Apple Tech Support to find out what the max was I could upgrade the processor too. They said "You can't..It voids the warranty"... And then the super polite ts girl says, "but you can google and find some forums..but you have our official answer"...

So I googled. And found this Gem of a thread.

Just bought the 3.47 W3690 for 850 as well as the AS5 and cleaner. Geekbench score is currently 8789 but, I also really like the bench test by CINEBENCH

Where I'm scoring a 5.06 CPU and 35.11 fps in OpenGL

Should have the new stuff in a day or two and will update.

 

[caymandrew]

Very easy install thanks to this thread. Geekbench score went to 8789 to 15991

 

[philipma1957]

Very easy install thanks to this thread. Geekbench score went to 8789 to 15991

Image

It does bring the mac pro back to life. Next drop in a nice ssd!

 

[caymandrew]

It does bring the mac pro back to life. Next drop in a nice ssd!

Is there a significant difference in speed? If the OS is on SSD, but all of my content and projects spread across SATA?

Thanks!

 

[philipma1957]

if you are light on ram and do a lot of page outs and swaps an ssd helps in your case.

 

[Denmaru]

Mac Pro 5,1 supports D0 and B1 stepping, Mac Pro 4,1 does only D0.

Wait, what?

I plan to buy a used 4,1 Mac Pro, use the EFI-Hack to upgrade it to a 5,1 and install a hexacore W3680.

The Problem is: I can only find ones with B1 stepping.

So my question is: I really have to find a D0 one, or else I can not use it in a 4,1 Mac Pro regardless of applying the EFI-Hack that turns it into a 5,1 Mac Pro?

 

[PowerPCMacMan]

To make you feel better about this my Mac Pro was originally a 4,1 of which once I applied the firmware update, I was able to get the w3680 or 3.33 6-core and I have had no problems at all. The logic board of the 2010 supports both D0 and B1, so you shouldn't really have any problems at all.

Just remember that the w3680 uses 1333 mhz memory and the 1333 mhz is governed by the processor. For example, the Nehalem 3.2 uses 1066 mhz memory, but its also 1333 mhz ready so long as you have a processor in there which supports it.

Again, I am not really following as to why you think the w3680 won't work once you apply the 4,1-5,1 firmware update.

Wait, what?

I plan to buy a used 4,1 Mac Pro, use the EFI-Hack to upgrade it to a 5,1 and install a hexacore W3680.

The Problem is: I can only find ones with B1 stepping.

So my question is: I really have to find a D0 one, or else I can not use it in a 4,1 Mac Pro regardless of applying the EFI-Hack that turns it into a 5,1 Mac Pro?

----------

To make you feel better about this my Mac Pro was originally a 4,1 of which once I applied the firmware update, I was able to get the w3680 or 3.33 6-core and I have had no problems at all. The logic board of the 2010 supports both D0 and B1, so you shouldn't really have any problems at all.

Just remember that the w3680 uses 1333 mhz memory and the 1333 mhz is governed by the processor. For example, the Nehalem 3.2 uses 1066 mhz memory, but its also 1333 mhz ready so long as you have a processor in there which supports it.

Again, I am not really following as to why you think the w3680 won't work once you apply the 4,1-5,1 firmware update.

Wait, what?

I plan to buy a used 4,1 Mac Pro, use the EFI-Hack to upgrade it to a 5,1 and install a hexacore W3680.

The Problem is: I can only find ones with B1 stepping.

So my question is: I really have to find a D0 one, or else I can not use it in a 4,1 Mac Pro regardless of applying the EFI-Hack that turns it into a 5,1 Mac Pro?

 

[Denmaru]

Thank you for your reply, PowerPCMacMan - It's nice to see that this thread is still active.

As I wrote, the point is to buy a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009), apply the EFI-Hack to upgrade it to a 5,1 and then to put a 6-core W3860 Xeon in it. Was the Xeon you put in a D0 or B1-Stepping one?

Now that fairbanx wrote that the Mac Pro 4,1 only supports a D0 stepping and I can only find Xeons with B1 stepping, I am afraid that the 6-Core Xeon I plan to put in my 4,1 (2009) Mac Pro that I have upgraded to a 5,1 via EFI-Hack won't support this Processor.

Again, I am not really following as to why you think the w3680 won't work once you apply the 4,1-5,1 firmware update.

While I know that the EFI-Hack turns the 4,1 (2009) into a 5,1 (mid 2010), it doesn't change the fact that this was once a 4,1 (2009), and thus I wondered about fairbanx's words.

To shorten my post, here are my planned steps. Will this work out?

1) Buy a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009) with a Single Quad-Core Processor.
2) Install the EFI-Hack to turn it into a 5,1 Mac Pro (2010).
3) Install a Xeon W3680 3,33Ghz Hexacore-processor.
(At this point, I'll still have the old 1066Mhz Memory installed.)
4) Reset SMC and PR-RAM.
5) Boot up and be happy (with old 1066Mhz RAM or do I *need* 1333Mhz RAM?)

Thank you for your answers!

 

[philipma1957]

Thank you for your reply, PowerPCMacMan - It's nice to see that this thread is still active.

As I wrote, the point is to buy a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009), apply the EFI-Hack to upgrade it to a 5,1 and then to put a 6-core W3860 Xeon in it. Was the Xeon you put in a D0 or B1-Stepping one?

Now that fairbanx wrote that the Mac Pro 4,1 only supports a D0 stepping and I can only find Xeons with B1 stepping, I am afraid that the 6-Core Xeon I plan to put in my 4,1 (2009) Mac Pro that I have upgraded to a 5,1 via EFI-Hack won't support this Processor.



While I know that the EFI-Hack turns the 4,1 (2009) into a 5,1 (mid 2010), it doesn't change the fact that this was once a 4,1 (2009), and thus I wondered about fairbanx's words.

To shorten my post, here are my planned steps. Will this work out?

1) Buy a Mac Pro 4,1 (2009) with a Single Quad-Core Processor.
2) Install the EFI-Hack to turn it into a 5,1 Mac Pro (2010).
3) Install a Xeon W3680 3,33Ghz Hexacore-processor.
(At this point, I'll still have the old 1066Mhz Memory installed.)
4) Reset SMC and PR-RAM.
5) Boot up and be happy (with old 1066Mhz RAM or do I *need* 1333Mhz RAM?)

Thank you for your answers!

you can keep the old ram

 

[iAmRod]

wow my 2010 2.8 quad and 24gb of ram only scores a 8500 on geekbench

Do you think it would be higher if you only put three of those sticks in ... you know, the whole "triple channel memory" thing? Does putting in a fourth reduce overall memory performance?

(btw, love your username .. brings me back to my younger days and watching Gojira flicks on Saturday afternoons)

 

[El Awesome]

Do you think it would be higher if you only put three of those sticks in ... you know, the whole "triple channel memory" thing? Does putting in a fourth reduce overall memory performance?

If he got a Quad and 24 GB, he got 3x 8GB sticks installed
6x 4GB is not possible, only in Dual CPU ones

 

[Denmaru]

you can keep the old ram

Thank you for the reply - but will steps 1-5 work out nonetheless, e.g. is it possible to install a Xeon W3680 3,33 Hexacore with B1-Stepping in a Mac Pro 4,1 that has been EFI-hacked into a 5,1 Mac Pro?

I still wonder about fairbanx's words, and 570€ is a lot of money to spend on a processor that might not work because it's the wrong stepping.

 

[monokakata]

Just adding another data point -- I installed a W3680 yesterday in my mid-2010 5,1 (it took about 15 minutes, but I've done that sort of thing before) and my 32 bit Geekbench went from mid-9000 to mid-14000.

This with 24 gig RAM.

FCP X is noticeably more responsive when zooming in and out of the timeline (or whatever FCP X calls it) which makes editing much more pleasant. Lightroom 4 does everything much more quickly also.

 

[philipma1957]

good i am glad it worked for you. this was a fun project for me a while back. Now that apple refused to really do a mac pro upgrade this year a lot more people have done this in the last 5 months. Well intel made some coin selling the w3680's .

I guess Apple is just too rich to do an upgrade.. In the meanwhile keep upgrading 2009 and 2010 mac pros.

 

[mjmonjure]

I have a FC560LL/A coming from Apple, its a refurb with the following:

Originally released August 2010
One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor
3GB (3 x 1GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC memory
1TB Serial ATA 7200 rpm
18x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5 memory

$1869 + Tax

From what I have read from this highly informative post and string, I need only purchase the W3680, swap it, and thats it for a bump to 3.33Ghz. Shouldn't need any efi hack, special fans or anything else for the big bang in processing speed (aside form the thermal paste and cleaning materials). I will also do 24gb RAM and SSD upgrade, but for the proc upgrade, I should be good to go. Does this sound about right?

Provantage has it at $586 at the moment, so just looking for some nodding replies before ordering.

 

[philipma1957]

I have a FC560LL/A coming from Apple, its a refurb with the following:

Originally released August 2010
One 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor
3GB (3 x 1GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 ECC memory
1TB Serial ATA 7200 rpm
18x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB GDDR5 memory

$1869 + Tax

From what I have read from this highly informative post and string, I need only purchase the W3680, swap it, and thats it for a bump to 3.33Ghz. Shouldn't need any efi hack, special fans or anything else for the big bang in processing speed (aside form the thermal paste and cleaning materials). I will also do 24gb RAM and SSD upgrade, but for the proc upgrade, I should be good to go. Does this sound about right?

Provantage has it at $586 at the moment, so just looking for some nodding replies before ordering.

yes go for it. you should have it up and running in an hour or so!