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Studio K

macrumors 6502
Feb 17, 2013
361
7
United States

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,321
3,003
I am going to do 3.46 hex swap into my 4,1 quad .. if i currently have 1066 ram can I install the cpu and upgrade the ram after or will that not work ?

In a word - YES! I'm assuming you have upgraded the firmware in your 4,1 to 5,1 to allow the Hex to work and also allow the faster RAM. Otherwise, No, nothing will work.

Lou
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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In a word - YES! I'm assuming you have upgraded the firmware in your 4,1 to 5,1 to allow the Hex to work and also allow the faster RAM. Otherwise, No, nothing will work.

Lou

my machine wont be here for a few more days .. same with the cpu .. as soon as I get it I will update the firmware and just use the 1066 ram until I buy some 1333
 

ticotoo

macrumors member
Jul 8, 2010
72
14
use old ram

my machine wont be here for a few more days .. same with the cpu .. as soon as I get it I will update the firmware and just use the 1066 ram until I buy some 1333

Don't' bother to get new ram unless you have problems. When I upgraded my 5,1 to a 3.33ghz hex, my old ram is now running at 1333 mhz. Just be sure & rest the NVRAM / PRAM.
 

jetjaguar

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Apr 6, 2009
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Don't' bother to get new ram unless you have problems. When I upgraded my 5,1 to a 3.33ghz hex, my old ram is now running at 1333 mhz. Just be sure & rest the NVRAM / PRAM.

alright cool .. then I can put that money towards a gnu upgrade .. maybe a 780gtx or a 4gb 680gtx
 

jetjaguar

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Apr 6, 2009
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well everything should be here tomorrow or thursday. I have swapped cpus tons of times in my pc days but for some reason I am nervous about doing this:eek:
 

Donar

macrumors 6502
Jul 12, 2008
385
73
Germany
well everything should be here tomorrow or thursday. I have swapped cpus tons of times in my pc days but for some reason I am nervous about doing this:eek:
Piece of cake if you have build a PC before / swapped CPU on other machines.
I was really amazed - the cpu swap took me about 20 minutes on my MP 4.1. I think for my custom build computer i would need about an hour or more because i would have to remove the whole mainboard before i could even think about touching the heat sink.

Edit: Seems like 2.66 GHz MacPro's 4.1 will be a rarity if people keep swapping quad cpu to hex cpus. :D
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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Piece of cake if you have build a PC before / swapped CPU on other machines.
I was really amazed - the cpu swap took me about 20 minutes on my MP 4.1. I think for my custom build computer i would need about an hour or more because i would have to remove the whole mainboard before i could even think about touching the heat sink.

yea i guess i will see tomorrow or thursday:eek:
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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dont know if I am allowed to ask this here but does anyone have the firmware updater? netkas's site has been done for awhile :(
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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i just finished installing the 3.46 hex .. talk about anxiety even though i have swap cpus on pcs for a long time .. just been awhile

running geekbench currently on SL .. didnt install ML yet.
no idea about temps yet as i dont have any software besides the OS on my mac pro

edit

scored 14,252 .. low but my ram is only running at 1066 .. need to buy some 1333 ram.
plus need to upgrade from SL ..
 

Studio K

macrumors 6502
Feb 17, 2013
361
7
United States
i just finished installing the 3.46 hex
running geekbench currently on SL .. didnt install ML yet.
no idea about temps yet as i dont have any software besides the OS on my mac pro
scored 14,252 .. low but my ram is only running at 1066 .. need to buy some 1333 ram.
plus need to upgrade from SL ..

Temperature monitor is a free app. iStat is $16.
I'm curious to hear about your CPU temps now that you've upgraded.

I don't think the speed difference b/n 1066 and 1333MHz ram is enough to impact your geekbench significantly.
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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Temperature monitor is a free app. iStat is $16.
I'm curious to hear about your CPU temps now that you've upgraded.

I don't think the speed difference b/n 1066 and 1333MHz ram is enough to impact your geekbench significantly.

Then I don't know. Cuz most people at getting around 16000 with the 3.33 and 3.46. So something is off.

As far as temps .. I only checked once with istat and the CPU was at 36c
 

Studio K

macrumors 6502
Feb 17, 2013
361
7
United States
what is a good program to run to stress out the cpu and see how high temps rise ?

Handbrake (video encoder) is a good one. Runs all cores at 100%. A 2-hour DVD takes about 15 minutes and that is enough time to heat up your CPU.

There is also the 'yes' command. Launch Terminal and type:
yes > /dev/null &

Do about 8 lines of these to get all the cores/threads working.

Watch your CPU diode and your fan speeds, too. CPU fans don't seem to speed up until your CPU gets really really hot.
There was a guy with a W3690 who ran some of these tests. His CPU temps would top out at about 89C for the cores (upper-70's for diode). So the CPU fans never spun up. This was after 20 minutes of 'yes' and an hour of Handbrake.

My quad-core CPU will heat up to nearly 100C (cores) and 85C (diode) before the fans come to the rescue.

What's your room/ambient temperature?
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
buy istats set your own fan speeds and never worry about a hot cpu. glad to see another successful upgrade. This thread has been something I am happy to have started. I figure 1000 people have done this maybe more.
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
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i have istat and i dont see an option to change fan speed. I also have SMControl but havent used it yet

in istat the only sensors i see for cpu temp are

CPUA TDiode
CPUA Heatsink
CPUA Core0 relative to ....

what is the recommended fan speed for SMC fancontrol to use ? I dont want it loud.
 
Last edited:

Studio K

macrumors 6502
Feb 17, 2013
361
7
United States
i have istat and i dont see an option to change fan speed. I also have SMControl but havent used it yet

in istat the only sensors i see for cpu temp are

CPUA TDiode
CPUA Heatsink
CPUA Core0 relative to ....

what is the recommended fan speed for SMC fancontrol to use ? I dont want it loud.

Before you change fan speeds, stress your CPU for a bit and see what CPUA TDiode reports when you are at full load.
Core0 relative to ProcHot is how many degrees your cores are from 100C. It is a countdown, so the higher the number, the better. The number will decrease as you heat up.

When changing the fanspeeds, I've noticed that 1100 rpms for INTAKE & EXHAUST are as high as you can go before you begin to really notice the fan noise. Raising those 2 will automatically raise BOOSTA to more than 1500 rpms. BOOST fan (Cpu fan) reacts to changes in INTAKE/EXHAUST, so I never adjust it manually.

I only ever reset the minimums on iNTAKE and EXHAUST fans. I never touch the others. Never had a need to.
Those higher speeds I mentioned will keep my CPU at 74C (TDiode) under full load.
Without raising them, TDiode is 84C. Not good.
 
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