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Transporteur

macrumors 68030
Nov 30, 2008
2,729
3
UK
I would agree with the w3680 and the w3690 not as sure as the w3670. The microcode in the w3670 may be a bit different then its cousins since it supports 1066 ram as a max. It also does have the different 4.8qpi.
It depends on the firmwares microcode and what it keys off to allow or disallow a cpu.

Certainly if it just counts cores it won't work. It may do it that way.

It has nothing to do with QPI or RAM speed since both 2009 and 2010 machines support a QPI of 4.8 to 6.4.

As I said, ALL hex cores won't work, in fact all Westmere processors won't work (including 4 core) due to a non supported microcode. Simple as that.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
It has nothing to do with QPI or RAM speed since both 2009 and 2010 machines support a QPI of 4.8 to 6.4.

As I said, ALL hex cores won't work, in fact all Westmere processors won't work (including 4 core) due to a non supported microcode. Simple as that.

More then likely you are correct, especially since my microcode knowledge is very limited at best.
 

zephonic

macrumors 65816
Feb 7, 2011
1,314
709
greater L.A. area
As I said, ALL hex cores won't work, in fact all Westmere processors won't work (including 4 core) due to a non supported microcode. Simple as that.


With microcode do you mean instruction sets?

As far as I can tell the only differences are the "Intel Trusted Execution Technology" and "AES New Instructions".

Everything else seems identical.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=47918,39721,39718,

edit:
My bad, ITET appears to be a hardware extension. AES-NI is an instruction set.

Well, I guess a W3565 is still a nice upgrade from a W3520.
 
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ecstacy2012

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2011
69
0
AMD Phenom II in mac pro 2010?

I was curious to what other processors can be put in the 2010 mac pro for upgrade such as maybe a amd penom II x6 3.2 6 core or what about the intel 990x or 980x>? please if anyone knows or can give some information please do so thanks!
 
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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
32gb ram upgrade works!

Well so far it sees the 4 sticks and picks them up as 1066 total 32gb ...

It has really speed up access to my iphoto library . these are hynix 1333 sticks very good price. 580 for 32gb . price is still good at this site.


https://www.superbiiz.com/detail.ph...-DDR3-1333-8GB-ECC-REG-Original-Server-Memory


use blossom10 for 10 bucks off. I will run a ram test with my applecare test disk. It passes all techtool deluxe tests. lastly I am running memtest in singer user mode. there is a ram limit of just under 32gb. It seems to be a program limit to the test it downsized to 31 gb saying 32gb ram is too big to test. so far the pro and the memtest are cranking away at 31 gb . I will say this a hex 3.2 mac pro with a geekbench score of 15220 and the ability to use 30gb plus ram is very nice indeed. april 13th my 300gb intel ssd arrives. it will then be a done deal for this baby.
 

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bluesteel

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2007
429
55
Earth
fantastic post!!! the time you took to teach us all how to do this is very much appreciated. just awesome.....thank you :D
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
you are welcome. so it is still passing the memtest

I loaded this one below


http://www.command-tab.com/page/10/

if anyone has a more up to date then this let me know this is jan 2008 and has a limit of 31gb so it downsized my ram from 32gb to 31gb to test it. TIA

I ran memtest for 2 passes took 28205 seconds! about 7 hours and 50 minutes. all passed. So it appears this cpu allows 32gb or 30.5 gb of ram.

Tthat little difference is because memtest said the ram of 32gb was too big to test. I would like to know if memtest has a 32gb limit.

well no complaints. about the 32gb ram.
 
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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
rember test results

I had passed memtest in single user mode but could not get a printout here are the rember results of the 3.2 hex cpu with 4 8gb sticks of ram. It all passed. the nice thing is even though intel says this cpu only does 24gb it seems to do 32gb ram. One last test to do my 300gb intel arrived today in the middle of rember test. I will install and get back with impressions of it.
 

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100Years

macrumors regular
Mar 8, 2011
125
0
I was curious to what other processors can be put in the 2010 mac pro for upgrade such as maybe a amd penom II x6 3.2 6 core or what about the intel 990x or 980x>? please if anyone knows or can give some information please do so thanks!
I can confirm that the 980x works fine.
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
last test on the modded 28. to 3.2 is a geekbench 64 bit with the new intel series 320 300gb ssd in it . It jumped to 15367. the ssd has 200 of 300 gb used and is in the spare optical tray in a raptor 3.5 inch heatsink. the thumbnail is below.
 

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JollyJoeJoe

macrumors regular
Apr 3, 2011
114
0
It has nothing to do with QPI or RAM speed since both 2009 and 2010 machines support a QPI of 4.8 to 6.4.

As I said, ALL hex cores won't work, in fact all Westmere processors won't work (including 4 core) due to a non supported microcode. Simple as that.

I am looking for an answer as to whether the X5690 Xeons will work in the 8-core (2.4GHz x 2 quad core Westmere) mid-2010 model, so far I have one person saying the X5680 will definitely work as tried.

I'll also be upgrading to 32GB of 1333Mhz since the hex core xeons support it. Gonna use the 32GB PC-10600 OWC kit.
 

fletchmusic

macrumors newbie
Apr 8, 2010
4
0
I am looking for an answer as to whether the X5690 Xeons will work in the 8-core (2.4GHz x 2 quad core Westmere) mid-2010 model, so far I have one person saying the X5680 will definitely work as tried.

I'm currently considering either the single or dual processor upgrade as well and I'm guessing that 2 X5690s in the model you mentioned must be possible since OWC's Turnkey Upgrade Program lists them as options.

Hopefullly someone on here will carry out the experiment for us :)
 

iamthedudeman

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2007
1,456
316
I just bought a Mac Pro base 2.8. Thank you for taking the time and effort in making this very informative and invaluable walkthrough processor upgrade. I am not going to do the upgrade yet, maybe in a year, but not now. 10000 geek bench score is enough for now. But I am going to do this. How could you not if you got a base mac pro from 2010.

On behalf of every Mac Pro owner out there thank you. This thread is pure gold. Defiantly sticky worthy.

I can't believe that this upgrade is so easy( or is it harder than it looks?). Let me get this straight.

1) Buy processor

2)Buy thermal grease, prep sol, hex key(3mm five inch long prefer), ground wire(cable), microfiber cloth, air in aerosol can, cotton pads, acohol or alcohol pads, q-tips.

3) take out processor tray

4) carefully remove heatsink by very carefully removing five hex 3mm screws evenly a little at a time( quarter turns each until removed?) Same process in reverse when putting them on.

5)Remove old thermal grease using q-tips, alcohol on pads or alcohol pads. Carefully before removing old processor.

6)Safely and slowly remove spring pin not letting the old processor jump out of the socket. Slide all the way back.

7)Remove old processor using latex gloves preferably.

8)Line up new processor with indicator in upper left corner lined up, the processor can only go in one way.

9)Return latch back down slowly again not letting the processor to jump out of socket.

10) Apply prep solution on heat sink and clean heat sink

11) Apply a slight amount of processor grease evenly and slowly using latex gloves with index finger.

12) line up heat sink post in upper left corner and than the lower right corner and carefully place heat sink back into motherboard.

13) Replace hex screws from step four. Same process.

14) Install processor tray back to mac pro and latch down.

15) install temp software of your choice and set fan speeds accordingly.

16) Run tests and make sure everything is okay.

Done.

Is it really that easy?

One question about the temps fans kicking in. Is the fan control in OSX disabled with the new processor install? If so how do you re enable them to use in conjunction with the adjusted fan speed control programs you put on your machine?
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
I just bought a Mac Pro base 2.8. Thank you for taking the time and effort in making this very informative and invaluable walkthrough processor upgrade. I am not going to do the upgrade yet, maybe in a year, but not now. 10000 geek bench score is enough for now. But I am going to do this. How could you not if you got a base mac pro from 2010.

On behalf of every Mac Pro owner out there thank you. This thread is pure gold. Defiantly sticky worthy. (thank you)

I can't believe that this upgrade is so easy( or is it harder than it looks?). Let me get this straight. See reply ☞(Yes under 30 minutes.)

1) Buy processor

2)Buy thermal grease, prep sol, hex key(3mm five inch long prefer), ground wire(cable), microfiber cloth, air in aerosol can, cotton pads, acohol or alcohol pads, q-tips.

see reply ☞ ( buy latex gloves here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FPKR3K)


3) take out processor tray

4) carefully remove heatsink by very carefully removing five hex 3mm screws evenly a little at a time( quarter turns each until removed?) Same process in reverse when putting them on.

5)Remove old thermal grease using q-tips, alcohol on pads or alcohol pads. Carefully before removing old processor.

6)Safely and slowly remove spring pin not letting the old processor jump out of the socket. Slide all the way back.

7)Remove old processor using latex gloves preferably.

8)Line up new processor with indicator in upper left corner lined up, the processor can only go in one way.

9)Return latch back down slowly again not letting the processor to jump out of socket.

10) Apply prep solution on heat sink and clean heat sink

11) Apply a slight amount of processor grease evenly and slowly using latex gloves with index finger.

12) line up heat sink post in upper left corner and than the lower right corner and carefully place heat sink back into motherboard.

13) Replace hex screws from step four. Same process. See reply ☞ ( Very important to rotate the screws when making the heatsink tight )

14) Install processor tray back to mac pro and latch down.

15) install temp software of your choice and set fan speeds accordingly. ( you don't have to I lust like to be able to have a lot of fan speed control )

16) Run tests and make sure everything is okay.

Done.

Is it really that easy? see reply☞ (yes can be done in 30 minutes) ( Also can be undone in 30 minutes)

One question about the temps fans kicking in. Is the fan control in OSX disabled with the new processor install? If so how do you re enable them to use in conjunction with the adjusted fan speed control programs you put on your machine? Reply☞ ( you can use the standard speed controls. I just prefer more control for example, right now I have them as low as possible because I am only net surfing makes for a quiet machine)

Please see replies to certain numbers.
 
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philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,554
2,328
somewhere

iamthedudeman

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2007
1,456
316
Please see replies to certain numbers.

Fixed. :)

Thank you for the replies. Good to know, so I don't have to adjust the speeds OSX will take care of it. Just install and good to go.

The speed of the fans should be the same since the thermal TDP is the same as the quad 2.8. I may adjust them myself via your recommendations. Just have to find the right speeds. I also like a quiet machine.

Thanks for the replies.

Now why isn't this thread a sticky? :confused: Mods?
 

vvrinne

macrumors member
Feb 28, 2010
53
23
Helsinki, Finland
As stated earlier in this therad the 3.2ghz is about half of what the 3.33 costs. I just don't see why anybody would do the 3.33 upgrade since you can just order it direct from Apple with that cpu already in place for 1200$.

Imo the whole idea here is that you can get pretty much the same performance from a 600$ upgrade by putting in the 3.2ghz hexa core yourself (which you can't buy from Apple).
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,554
2,328
somewhere
As stated earlier in this therad the 3.2ghz is about half of what the 3.33 costs. I just don't see why anybody would do the 3.33 upgrade since you can just order it direct from Apple with that cpu already in place for 1200$.

Imo the whole idea here is that you can get pretty much the same performance from a 600$ upgrade by putting in the 3.2ghz hexa core yourself (which you can't buy from Apple).

well i dont know .. i was planning on going with the 3.46 .. but i guess going 3.2 is the best deal .. i just received my mac pro a few days ago but i am already thinking of doing the cpu upgrade since my geekbench score is like 9k :(
 

philipma1957

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 13, 2010
6,402
278
Howell, New Jersey
dollar for dollar the 3.2 is the best deal , but if are going to really push the machine the 3.46 is faster.

Machine test score total price
quad 2.8 = 9700 geekbench 2500

hex 3.2 = 15800 geekbench 2900 if you sell the quad

hex 3.33 = 16200 geekbench 3400 if you sell the quad

hex 3.46 = 16800 geekbench 3400 if you sell the quad


400 dollars after selling off the oem quad is a about a 60 percent speed boost.



900 dollars after selling off the oem quad is a bout a 70 percent speed boost.


you could put the 3.2 hex in and add an ssd for under 650 700 bucks
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,554
2,328
somewhere
dollar for dollar the 3.2 is the best deal , but if are going to really push the machine the 3.46 is faster.

Machine test score total price
quad 2.8 = 9700 geekbench 2500

hex 3.2 = 15800 geekbench 2900 if you sell the quad

hex 3.33 = 16200 geekbench 3400 if you sell the quad

hex 3.46 = 16800 geekbench 3400 if you sell the quad


400 dollars after selling off the oem quad is a about a 60 percent speed boost.



900 dollars after selling off the oem quad is a bout a 70 percent speed boost.


you could put the 3.2 hex in and add an ssd for under 650 700 bucks

true .. im still not sure what I want to do .. the 3.2 by far is the best deal
but i dunno .. i saw a 3.46 the other day for 810 .. should have bought it but didnt
Have 24gb of ram coming tomorrow .. finally will get rid of the 3gb i currently have
I also need to get an ssd and also a 5870
 

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2009
3,554
2,328
somewhere
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

As far as adding an ssd for that little more money ... I would want a 240 because I would like some headroom
 

hammten

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2008
113
0
Hi everyone, what a great thread! I was wondering if a x5690 would be able to go in a single cpu 2010 MP.

Thanks
 
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